3 Men and Salvation

Charlie walked into the café looking like he was carrying the world on his shoulders. “Hey, Charlie! How are you doing my friend?”

Charlie let out a long sigh, “I really want to give God my money, I mean, His money.”  

“Right,” I said, “So what is holding you back?”

Charlie drew in a deep breath, gathered his thoughts, and then let it all out.  “I just feel like if I do everything else right, like give of my time, help serve, read my Bible and pray, isn’t that enough?  I mean, I go to church, I volunteer when needed, I donate clothes to Goodwill, and I give food to the food pantry. Why isn’t that enough?” 

I thanked Charlie for being honest with me. Actually, I think that’s why we make so much progress because he is honest with how he feels. “Charlie, do you remember the Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18?  He did everything right. He obeyed hundreds of Jewish laws, ever since he was a little boy. He asked Jesus what else he needed to do in order to inherit eternal life.”  

“Yeah, I remember that,” said Charlie. “I don’t understand why Jesus answered him differently than the way he answered Nicodemus when he asked the same question. Jesus explained to Nicodemus about being born again. But with the rich young ruler, he didn’t answer that way. He told him to sell everything and give it to the poor! I hope you’re not going to tell me to sell everything I have.” 

I was impressed Charlie made the comparison between the two situations. He’s really reading his Bible.  

“Charlie, first I love that you are thinking this through, and you bring up an incredible comparison. Jesus answered differently because he knew their hearts were different. The rich young ruler’s heart was tied to his possessions. He desired his possessions more than he desired God. Jesus wanted him to cut the tie between his heart and his possessions so that he could be free to put God first. Selling his possessions would sever the root between money and his heart. But he wasn’t willing to do that. He wasn’t willing to put God first in his heart. And keep in mind, he was most likely already tithing. He obeyed all the rules and tithing is one of them. This is why he answered Nicodemus differently.  Now, let’s look at another very wealthy man. A bad guy who did not obey the rules at all, the corrupt tax collector Zacchaeus. But Zacchaeus had the opposite response than the rich young ruler. After spending time with Jesus, Zacchaeus stood up and declared he would no longer steal money and he was going to pay people back four times what he stole AND he was going to give 50 percent of his honest earnings to the poor!  Jesus didn’t say ‘well, that’s a good plan. Makes sense.  Glad you’re doing the right thing now.’ No,  Jesus said, ‘Today salvation has come to this house.’ The bottom line, Charlie, is Jesus personally knows our heart. He knows what we desire. He knows what we love. He knows us personally and that is why he addressed each person in these stories differently. You can do the right thing including tithing and still love money more than God.  God wants better for us.”

Charlie considered what I had told him, looked up, and said, “Thanks for helping me with this. I don’t want to be so tied to my possessions that I miss the real gift, Jesus.”  

“Charlie, I think you are really getting this!  God intended giving to be transformational, not transactional. So, same place?”  

“Yep!  Same time.”