Graduates, Remember the Rich Young Man

Fifty-five years ago this month, I was sitting in a seminary commencement service like this one, ready to receive my degree. One of my professors was giving the address. The title of his message was this: “Remember the Rich Young Man.” And to help us remember, he gave each of us a one-dollar bill. I don’t recall whether it was his suggestion or not, but I took that one-dollar bill home and said to Noël, “I want to keep this in front of me for the rest of my life.” So, she decoupaged it for me and it has been visible in my study for 55 years, wherever we have lived.

That message and that dollar bill and its presence with me for five-and-a-half decades have been a great service to me. How many thousands of times have I looked up and seen this dollar bill and heard the voice of Jesus:

John, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Don’t want to be rich! Don’t want to be rich! A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Make your life count. But not this way. Not money. Give every ounce of energy you have to spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples in my name. I’ll meet every need you have. I’ll be with you. But not if you want to be rich. Remember the rich young man.

So, in these few minutes that we have together, I would like to try to do the same thing for you that my professor did for me. I’ll start by giving you each a one-dollar bill.

I hope you will frame it, and that under the dollar bill you will put the words “Remember the Rich Young Man.”

Camels, Needles, and Rich Men

Let’s read the story from Matthew 19:16–26.

Behold, a man came up to [Jesus], saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

So, when I say, “remember the rich young man,” what specifically do I want you to remember? Actually, I don’t expect you to remember anything from this message except that some speaker gave everybody a dollar bill and told us to remember the rich young man. If you remember that much fifty years from now, I would be thrilled. Because if you remember the rich young man and the dollar bill, you might return to the story and read it. And if you read this story, you are hearing the very words of the Son of God, the Creator of the universe. And if anybody can set you free from the craving to be rich, it is Jesus, not me.

“I’ll meet every need you have. I’ll be with you. But not if you want to be rich. Remember the rich young man.”

What makes this story so powerful and so hopeful is that it ends with the words, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). What is impossible? Putting a camel through the eye of a needle is impossible. It can’t be done. That’s how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Why? Why did the young man walk away sorrowful? “For he had great possessions” (Matthew 19:22). Yes, but that wasn’t a root problem. Jesus had told him four changes that need to happen in order to enter the kingdom of God.

Four Essential Shifts

First, downsize. Simplify. You have surrounded yourself with so much stuff you don’t need that you are drowning in it. It is controlling you. It is choking you. You have fallen in love with the symbols of wealth because they not only make you comfortable; they make you notable. And you love being comfortable and notable. So, the first thing we’re going to do is cut some of those vines that are around your neck, choking you.

Second, be lavishly generous toward those who have less than you do. Switch your whole mindset from getting to giving. I promise you, young man, it is more blessed to give than to receive. It is more satisfying to meet needs than to increase comforts. You don’t know what you’re missing! You have been duped by a thousand advertisements that having is the key to happiness; that possessing is the path to pleasure. It’s not, young man. Life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions. The Dead Sea is dead because it only receives.

But when Jesus says, first, simplify (downsize), and second, be lavishly generous, he knows that there are desires that need to change underneath this new behavior of simplicity and generosity. Do you desire heaven as your treasure? And do you desire Jesus as your companion — indeed, your Savior, your King? “Sell what you possess and give to the poor, and [third] you will have treasure in heaven; and [fourth] come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21). The question is this: Is that what you want? Do you want heaven more than earth, and Jesus more than riches?

This is when he turned away sorrowful. He didn’t want treasure in heaven; he wanted it here, now. He didn’t want Jesus more than he wanted his stuff. Stuff — that’s what it is. Paul said, “We brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Timothy 6:7–8). There are no U-Hauls behind hearses. It’s just stuff. It’s not true, young man, that he who has the most toys when he dies wins.

Come, follow me. I offer you my companionship now and forever. You like to hobnob with rich people? I made the universe. I own it. People who follow me inherit it. My dear apostle Paul had to make tents at night in order to make ends meet. And you know what he taught everyone who followed me? “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21–23). Listen, my dear young friend. You think you are rich. You’re not. If you walk away, you’re going to miss the greatest investment opportunity in the history of the world.

And he walked away. Bethlehem graduates, I don’t want you to walk away. I want you to remember the rich young man.

Eternal Stakes

In that same commencement service 55 years ago, there was another professor. He had a degree from a prestigious European university. We met at his house several times. I took a couple of courses from him. When I left school, I heard later that he was beginning to invest in the stock market. He was eventually consumed with a passion for wealth. And he walked away. Today he’s not a believer. He doesn’t even believe in God, with his doctorate in theology.

What’s going to keep you on the Calvary road with Jesus — who loved you and gave himself for you — living a life of joyful simplicity, lavish generosity, heavenly-mindedness? The answer is this: God will keep you. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). And one of the means he might use to keep you is a plaque hanging on your wall: “Remember the Rich Young Man.”