The Rich Ruler
Icebreaker
Hand out copies of the following figure – or show the figure - to your group. For reference, $1 million is around £780,000. In other words, 1% of the worlds adult population of in 2019 had total wealth of over £780,000 and controlled 44% of the world’s wealth (Source: Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2019).
Invite your group to reflect on these numbers. We may not feel rich when we look at our immediate neighbours but how do looking at these figures impact our thinking and perception of wealth – our own and that of others in the world? Encourage an open minded and positive discussion - one about perspectives, not blame or justification!
Bible Study
As always, the questions below are intended to prompt so please be selective as you think best for your group. Do try and cover both the whole passages in the study Q3 and Q8 though.
Read Deuteronomy 8 v 10-19
In the Old Testament, wealth was regarded as a visible sign of God’s blessing upon his people. This passage does not criticise wealth but has a command and a warning.
1. What are the people commanded to once they have eaten and are satisfied?
Firstly, they are commanded to give praise to God for His provision and not to forget God’s laws and decrees. Secondly, they should remember God’s provision for the people through the ages, particularly during the exodus and God’s provision in the desert.
2. What is the likely consequence of not remembering that God is their provider?
They will become proud and will forget the Lord. They will begin to believe that all their wealth comes entirely from their own hard work and ingenuity. We see a cycle in the OT of what Michael Wilcock suggests is a simple four-stage repetition of Rebellion, Retribution, Repentance, and Rescue as God blesses but his people forget his goodness and faithfulness and fall into worship of self and idols.
3. This was written to the people of Israel many thousands of years ago but what lessons might we take away from this for ourselves in our modern 21st century context?
Read Luke 18 v 18-30
Our main passage today is from Luke 18 v 18-30. This passage is almost identical in the 3 gospels where it is recorded: Matthew 19 v 16-25, Mark 10 v 17-27 and today’s passage in Luke. However, one thing is added in Mark 10 v 21, where the writer records of the young man that, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” If time, you may want to look this up and consider why it was added and the implications.
Encourage the group to try and get into the head of the young ruler when he engages Jesus with his questions. Maybe ask questions such as: what might have inspired him to go and see Jesus? How secure did he feel about his position in life and death, despite his wealth?
4. What was the young ruler asking Jesus for specifically? Why might he have asked this?
In v.18, the young ruler gets straight to the point and asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life.
5. Jesus starts to list the Ten Commandments and the man seemed confident that he had been obeying those since he had been a small boy. What do we think was bothering him?
Maybe he was testing Jesus to see what answer he would give; after all, he seemed to know the laws he needed to obey and felt that he had had a good crack at obeying them. But underneath we sense that he knew he was lacking something and maybe that is priorities were wrong. Might he have been challenged by how the disciples were following Jesus?
In Matthew 22, another well respects pillar of society (this time a pharisee) asked Jesus about what the greatest commandments was. See Matthew 22 v 35-40:
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
6. After considering Matthew 22 v 35-40, what do we feel the young ruler was missing in his approach to obeying the law and eternal life?
He was not loving the Lord “with all his heart and all his soul and all his mind” and if not sharing his wealth with the needy, not loving his neighbour as himself. The key element was that he was ticking the boxes on the Ten Commandments, but he had allowed money and wealth to become his master. Unlike the disciples who dropped everything and followed Jesus he decides that, if he is required to relinquish the hold his wealth has on him, then he cannot follow Jesus fully.
Maybe, if appropriate, discuss in the group whether they feel it is likely that the young man was following all the Ten Commandments without any hiccups!
7. Do you feel that the conversation between Jesus and the young ruler is principally about money - or is it about obeying the greatest commandment in Matthew 22 and our need to accept that our salvation (and eternal life) is dependent entirely on God’s grace?
The contrast between the reaction of the materially poor fishermen to Jesus’ call to follow him and that of the wealthy man says something about how hard it can be to follow Jesus both practically (getting up and following) and in our hearts when wealth is involved.
8. What thoughts has the passage today inspired in us about our material wealth, the degree to which we are prepared to acknowledge God’s hand in our lives and the degree to which we are able to love him with all our hearts, souls and minds…….and to love our neighbour as ourselves?
Prayer
Thank God for all his gifts - material and spiritual - and acknowledge His generous provision in our lives.
Pray that God would show us individually where we are in the conversation over our wealth and those things which might prevent us from fully following Him and accepting His amazing grace.
Pray for those who struggle in our local society. Maybe pray for:
People/families know to you and your group
Christians Against Poverty (CAP). The local debt centre is at Bookham Baptist (https://capuk.org/)
The Food Bank: our church community has generously supported their work in lockdown (https://epsomewell.foodbank.org.uk/)
Besom: acing as a bridge between those that have things and those who are in need. Especially furniture & help with home projects. (https://www.besominashtead.com/)