Christ must be all.
Sometimes our Lord gave utterance to paradox. Certainly it was so on this occasion. Any ordinary observer would have pronounced the rich young ruler blessed, and would have pitied the poor fishermen who neglected their petty craft and followed the homeless and penniless Rabbi of Nazareth. But God's ways are not our ways. Jesus looked below the surface. To him the case of the favored of fortune and the admired of society was a sad case, and the choice of the twelve was the choice of the good part, which none can take away.
I. THE SPIRITUAL DISADVANTAGES AND PERILS OF WEALTH. This is not a popular or acceptable lesson; and most people would be willing to accept, without a murmur, the position of danger and temptation occupied by the affluent. However, the warnings of the Master are fully borne out by the experience of those who have watched the working of human nature under the influence of riches.
1. To have wealth is to be in danger of trusting in wealth.
2. To trust in wealth is not conducive to humility, penitence, and faith—the dispositions peculiarly suitable to those who would be saved.
3. To lack these dispositions is to be disqualified for the kingdom of God.
4. Yet the grace of God, with whom all things are pOssible, is able to overcome difficulties and temptations great as these.
II. THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING UP ALL FOR CHRIST.
1. Really and truly the Christian surrenders all he has to his Lord. That Lord may give him back, as it were, of what was his own, but even when used for himself, it is consecrated, and is still the Lord's.
"Come, learn, your follies quitting,
That this world's gain is loss;
To his mild rule submitting
Who bare for you! the cross."
2. In so doing the Christian reaps a rich reward. This is twofold.
"When the shore is won at last,
Who will count the billows past?"