Matthew 19:16-26

The man was rich! Before we go any further we need to firmly establish that fact, because the rest of the parable rests on it. The Man in this parable was rich - in many ways. He had great possessions, so he was rich materially. He is called a ruler by Luke's Gospel, so he must have had great power. And he was young, so he had the wealth of being healthy and having a future ahead on him. He had all that most people would want in life, wealth, power and youth. And like any rich young ruler he worked hard for what he had, and was accustomed to getting what he wanted. But he felt something missing.

I am sure that this rich young ruler had heard Jesus preaching about the Kingdom of God, and he knew that it was what he lacked. It wasn't just a place in heaven after he died that he wanted. He wanted to know the reign of God in his heart. He sought a changed spirit. So this rich young ruler came to Jesus and said,: "Jesus I want to be part of this kingdom you are always talking about. But what must I do to have eternal life."

Now Jesus had this guy figured out from the beginning. I believe the rich young ruler sincerely sought the kingdom of God, but he was seeking it on his own terms. This rich young ruler wanted to be in control of his participation in the kingdom. He wanted to control it just as he controlled his wealth and his subjects. You can see it in his question, he said, "what good deed must I do to earn eternal life." He didn't want to be given eternal life by someone else. He didn't want to be beholden to anyone even God. He was a self made man and he wanted to earn his salvation all by himself with no help form God, thank you.

So Jesus played right into his hands. He said to the young man, "It is obvious there is one thing that you can do that is that good. All you have to do to have eternal life is keep the commandments." Now Jesus had the man hooked. That is the exact answer he wanted to hear. He wanted Jesus to tell him do this and this and you will be saved. So he asked for details, "Which commandments." And Jesus named six of the commandments.

But this left the lad bewildered. He had done all that and he still did not experience the reign of God in his life. "There must be something more Jesus what do I lack." And Jesus said to him, "Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor then your treasure will be in heaven and you will be truly free to come and follow me." This made the young man sad, for he had great possessions and he was not willing to give them up.

You see, Jesus knew that the man was too attached to his wealth to give it up. Jesus knew that the treasures he had on earth were more important to him than treasures in heaven. So after The rich young ruler left Jesus told his disciples, "It is harder for a rich man to go to heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of the needle." This left the disciples, who had given up everything to follow him to, wonder if it was possible to go to heaven at all. So they asked "Who then can be saved?" And Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but with God all things are possible." A Man or Woman can't save him or herself. We can't do something good enough to earn the kingdom of heaven. The only way to be saved is to be saved by God.

I am going to change gears here for a minuet so don't lose me. I want to talk about drug abuse. Drug abuse, whether it be abuse of alcohol, cocaine or diet pills, is one of the number one problems in our society. It is a thief that robs from us and drains the life blood of our culture. It steals lives. Every year thousands of people young and old throw their lives away to drugs. I am not just talking about throwing away their future I mean their very lives. Each year more and more people, young and old, die because of drug or alcohol abuse. It steals money. Every year people spend huge sums of money to support their habits. Also many turn to crime which makes our taxes and insurance rates go up. All that money could be put to good use but instead it supports someone's habit. It steals families. For the drug addict the only thing that matters is the next fix. It is an obsession which rules their lives. As a result families are torn apart because the substance being abused means more than their closest relationships. In short Drug and alcohol abuse is a major social problem in our society which could damage the very foundation of our country.

The most effective program for combatting drug addiction has been the program developed by Alcoholics Anonymous. It was originally developed for alcoholism but it had been applied successfully to all kinds of addictions. The program is summed up in twelve different steps. I won't go through the twelve steps this morning, but three of them I do want to talk about. The first is "Admit that you are powerless over Alcohol or drugs and that your life has become unmanageable." The second is "Come to believe that a power greater than yourself can restore you to sanity." 3rd "Make a decision to turn your life over to God."

The essence of these first three steps are the beginning of over coming an addiction. The addict must admit the problem and that she or he cannot overcome it by themselves. Then the addict must surrender themselves to the care and protection of a greater power because that is the only was to overcome the problem. In other words overcoming addiction is impossible with people, but with God all things are possible.

You may ask,"well preacher that is nice but what does that have to do with the rich young ruler?" Basically the rich young ruler and the drug addict have the same basic problem. They are trying to trust in their own abilities and that is what is keeping then for being saved. The Rich young ruler was a self made man. He was in control of his life and he greatly valued his independence. He valued it so much that he would not give it and the money that came with it up for the Kingdom of heaven. Even though he dearly desired the reign of God in his heart he would not admit that he couldn't do it and that he would need to surrender himself to a higher power. In the same way the drug addict suffers from the illusion that they are in control. They say "I could give up at any time." And yet they never can seem to. They want and need to believe that they are in control. For it is frightful to take the first step of those twelve steps and admit that my life is out of control. So like the rich young ruler, the drug addict loves their illusion of control more than the reality of their own helplessness.

The campaign called "Just Say No" is a good campaign and a good way to keep people young and old from getting involved in drugs. But the only cure for an addiction that already exists is to Just say Yes, To God. To say "Yes, God, I am not in control and you are my only hope and salvation." But our society prides itself on self reliance and independence. We don't want to need God's help. We want to do it by ourselves. We just say No thank you God we don't need your help. But God is our only hope

If drug addiction is a societal problem maybe as a society we need to learn a lesson from the story of the Rich Young Ruler. We need to say, "Yes God we need your help." Maybe we need to let go of our wealth of pride and say Yes to God's help. For with people salvation is impossible but with God all things are possible.