Matthew 19:16–22:

“Now someone came up to Him and said, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘Why do you ask Me about what is good? There is only One who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ ‘Which ones?’ he asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’

The young man said to Him, ‘I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws. What do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.’

But when the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he was very rich.”

As we round up our exploration of this passage, I want to draw your attention to something that probably a lot of people miss from the question of the man. The man asked Jesus, “What good thing must I do to gain eternal life?”

He is thinking transactionally. He is not thinking about being a recipient of God’s mercy.

Look at the picture that Jesus painted in the parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector, where the tax collector put himself as being in need of God’s mercy, while the Pharisee came with things that made him think he qualified to get God’s attention, that made him “more special”—something that comes from himself, almost like something that came from the ground, the way the offering of Cain came from the ground. Something that comes from himself, which he wants to offer to God as the means by which he will gain God’s attention, gain God’s approval.

But it must have been amazing for the people hearing Jesus when He said the man who was seeking God’s mercy—who said, “Have mercy on me, a sinner”—went home justified. He was a recipient of God’s favor more than the person who came to God thinking, “This is how I am going to qualify for it.”

So this is transactional for this man, I believe. He has something in mind. He thinks God is also like man: “God, You have eternal life; what do I need to do for You to give me that eternal life? You want me to do this? I will do this. You want me to do that? I will do that.” He said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?”

I want us to understand that he was being transactional. He was not coming to God with the right heart.

Jesus had a conversation with him to show him what exactly was in his heart. He had the wisdom to continue that conversation until it eventually became clear: you were just looking for eternal life, not as the ultimate thing, but as something to add to yourself. That was not really your priority, even though that’s what you presented.

So he said, “What do I do to gain eternal life? How do I achieve it?”

It is not an achievement. That is the point. We need to get it into our minds and hearts that it is not an achievement. It is the grace of God. It is the gift of God. It is the work of God.

You can imagine how surprised these people would have been, who had been told all their lives about how to qualify, how to “gain,” how to be counted among the number. All the lives they had been told, “This is what to do, this is how to do it.”

But Jesus came saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). And a major part of repenting is to be converted and be like little children (Matthew 18:3–4).

Knowing: “I don’t have anything to qualify me. I am only a recipient of the grace of God. I am only a recipient of the mercy of God. I am only a recipient of the goodness of God.”

And there is a tendency for us to think we can “graduate” from that. “Let’s leave that.” No. We must always position ourselves as recipients of God’s mercy and grace.

Just imagine the shock this would have brought to the people listening.

And who is going to bear the brunt of that shock? It is going to be Paul, who starts pushing that this is the way of God—that we are now one in Christ because of the mercy of God, because of what Christ has done.

Paul will have a lot of bad experiences, because people cannot swallow it: that you have nothing to come and boast before God with. “Where then is my identity? How am I a ‘somebody’ if I am not boasting in something?”

This man is approaching things transactionally. A lot of our thinking is like that—transactional. “What do I do to gain?” That is the wrong question.

In another place, people asked Jesus, “What must we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the One He has sent” (John 6:28–29).

But that sounds like “nothing,” right? Just believe. “Is that work? I just believe. How is that anything?”

That is the point. That is the “foolishness of preaching” through which some will be saved while others will keep arguing (1 Corinthians 1:21).

God bless you. See you later.