J.C. Ryle said “Few of our Lord’s sayings sound more startling than this. Few run more counter to the opinions and prejudices of mankind. Few are so little believed.” And it is quite true. Most of us come to it with our minds already made up, already sure of what the story of the rich young man (verses 16-21) doesn't mean for our lives and already certain that the warning about the rich does not apply to us.
In fact it does apply to most of us who live in North America... we are the rich man of verse 23; and far too many of us asked what Jesus asked this young man earlier would walk away just like he did... here's a text that asks an all important question: "am I - are you - converted?"
The sermon touches briefly on the recent MLK 50 conference for reasons which should become apparent. I will say here that I was deeply disturbed by what I heard from gospel men who spoke at that conference. As a child who spent a brief season as a minority white kid in a mostly black community I was appalled by the solution offered by ordinarily sound men to the problem of racism in America. That, of course, is not the point or purpose of the sermon. But there was some truth in what some of those men said which seemed timely and worth addressing here.
Earlier in the service we touched on the Shorter Catechism Q&A related to the 8th commandment and made it clear then that the solution to the problem is not socialism. Here in this passage is a warning to the rich - but the solution is not (!) to steal from the rich and give the poor. The solution is the gospel.
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