Sell Everything You Have
by Charles Eaton
What if Jesus meant what he said?
Ok, obvious, but humor me. I think we are often guilty of not taking Jesus as seriously as He intends us to. For example, consider Luke 18:18-22:
18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’” 21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” NIV
Not an unfamiliar text, but one that strikes a chord of horror deep down in the recesses of our green capitalistic hearts.
Sell everything you have.
Not, give 15% tithe and offering combined. Not, donate 20% of your yearly bonus to the charity down the street. Sell it all. The 401k. The pension plan. The retirement fund. Kids’ college fund. Emergency fund. Stocks, bonds, CD’s, all of it. Every single monetary item you possess sold without pomp or circumstance.
Does this seem extreme to you? If it does, take a second to think about why. Jesus essentially labeled Himself a homeless wanderer: “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head” (Matt 8:20). Then, in Luke, Jesus admonishes His disciples to be homeless wanderers as well before He sends them off to minister: “Take nothing for the journey–no staff, no bag, no money, no extra tunic” (Luke 9:3). If worldly gain was so near the bottom of the list for Jesus and his disciples, how did it become such a priority in ours? I submit that the traditional axioms of the American Dream have duped us into balking at the idea of selling everything for Jesus. We have substituted Jesus’ call to go out into all the world and preach the gospel for a call to have two good cars, a white picket fence, and the NFL Sunday Ticket. We incorrectly perceive comfort and safety as Godly entitlements.
Has everyone been called to sell all their possessions? Not everyone–in one instance (Luke 19) Jesus was cool with a guy only selling half, but that doesn’t automatically preclude you or me from this sacrifice. Here’s the kicker: If you believe that God wouldn’t ask this of you, that this is a calling reserved for people who have achieved some sort of Super Saiyan level of spirituality, then you would most likely be the very type of person to whom God would say this. No one can serve two masters.
So many times I have reasoned myself out of a Godly impression, telling myself that the voice I just heard in my head was my own, or perhaps an overreaction to an emotional pull, or perhaps a product of stimulated guilt, or perhaps anything except the voice of the Holy Spirit. While every night I ask God to speak to me that I might know His will. Lip service.
This isn’t really about money. It’s about what you and I value and how much we value it. I’ve learned the hard way that God really hates idols. No matter if it’s good or bad, a blessing or a sin, a promise or a curse, anything that is more important than God is a stumbling block. Here is the litmus test: Imagine with me that God just asked you to give up forever that thing or person that is central to your identity—did your conscience revolt at the thought or start a sentence beginning with “God would never…”?
He might.
Ask Abraham.
What’s worse is that for many of us, our idol is something unquestionably wrong. Maybe for you it’s porn, maybe it’s gossip, maybe it’s neglecting family and God for work. For me it was piracy—something so obviously wrong, yet so easy to gloss over. Faceless stealing is, after all, an offense that is obnoxiously difficult to feel bad about. Whether it was “sharing” music, downloading movies, or streaming popular TV shows, I am an expert at combing the net to find for free what mere mortals must pay for. But a few months ago, in the middle of a three-hour music download binge fest (gospel at that), God started disturbing my conscience about it. He, in His Divine rudeness, wanted me to delete my stash that I have literally taken years to build. Sell everything you have. 40 gigs of music. Dozens of DVD-quality movies. My favorite streaming site and my two backups. All of it. To some, this may seem like a trivial request. To me, it was back-breaking.
Eventually I submitted to God’s request, but I hesitated for weeks. That hesitation completely upended my spiritual life. I received no new inspiration of truth when I read the Word. My soul was enveloped in a murky soup of dread and guilt whenever I started to pray. My conscience was only cleared after I finally did what He asked.
The Bible makes it clear that the selling everything part comes before the following Jesus part. “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Meaning we can’t even call ourselves followers of God without first giving up our idols.
My prayer for you and me is a simple one: May God give us the ears to hear what He says, and the strength to do what we’re told. Honestly, I am terrified of what God might ask me to give up next. Yet swirling in the midst of my terror are strong streaks of anxious anticipation for the upcoming challenge. For this is truly Christianity.
Powerful, Charles! Hold His hand while you follow–it lessens the trembling. Doesn't eradicate it, just lessens it.
Dare I ask whether you gave those DVDs away or sold them? Could others (shut ins, nursing home residences, etc.,) have a use for them and was all the time you spent gathering them the absolute best use of your time? Just askin'.
I don't believe Charles actually HAD any DVDs. He had downloaded copies of DVD movies, so all he had were the files. God was calling on him to delete those files. As such, my understanding is that he would have nothing to legally give away or share.
Charles, please correct me if I'm wrong?
Yeah they were digital copies. Not hard disks. And really I don't think I would have felt good about giving them to the sick and shut in even if they were hard copies…still stolen content you know? Wouldn't be right. It's funny how many movies aren't worth watching when I have to pay full price for them hahaha
We each have idols, as we continue a relationship with our Heavenly Father they become more apparent. Charles I am planning to share your blog with a group of youth this weekend, thanks for the heartfelt truth.
Man…this comment really hit me. We have no idea what can sprout from our actions. Praise God.
Only each person can decide what are "idols" and what makes her life worth living. I love books and the Great Courses — they are my "toys." But I share them with those who appreciate them.
Elaine,
If they aren't balanced out with other types of reading/listening and promote only one viewpoint, they may be idols. People do this with politics all the time and get out-of-touch and distort opposing ideas.
Thank you for sharing your testimony here. I appreciate the personal note. It's not easy to give up something we treasure so dearly. May we all have the ears to hear what God is calling us to do, and the faithfulness to follow through as you did.
Charles,
Where do you see God leading you to fill your time and attention once spent on those other things? Is this your calling to discover the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit for ministry in ways you may not have considered before?
Funny you should ask, but yeah, clearing out my digital library has led me to be able to hear God more clearly, which is making the other things I do more effective. One of things I do as a ministry is spoken word poetry, and the media I listen too invariably affects how I write and speak, so the effect of removing this idol is rippling across all various spheres of my life.
Do you have an outlet for that creative energy so it can be a blessing to others? What are you doing to develop and maximize that as a ministry? Are you becoming more intimately aware of God leading?
Yeah a couple outlets. For one there is "Art and Soul", which is the spoken word poetry group on campus here at Oakwood University and we have several shows a year in different venues. I also did a piece for P4CM, which is a farily large Christian poetry show based out of California, and I have a couple videos on youtube. I also consider writing for AToday an outlet to try and show others Jesus. As far as development goes, poetry is a craft just like basketball or construction, so I have menors, read books on it, and go to workshops in order to be more a more effective writer and speaker. Finally, yeah, I can feel God calling me somewhere. Not sure where yet, but i'm sure that will be revealed in due time as long as I stay on the narrow path.
I also like the other part of the verse which most die-hard capitalists and conservative political right wingers will cringe at – "and give to the poor." Luke 18:22. The lesson in the verses chosen for this blog is profound and challenging to say the least. That's Christianity at its best – in my opinion: Giving. It seems clear that wealth, riches and worldly treasure, among the other pertinent things mentioned in the blog, including sin, will sadly keep many out of the kingdom of heaven – Matt 19:24.
How I wish you would be more careful with your use of false stereotypes! Some studies have estimated that conservatives give more to charities than liberals by a differential as high as 15:1. My conservative friends are some of the most generous people you will ever meet on the face of the earth and the ones in the area near where I live probably give close to a million dollars a year to charities.
You could be right about that Bill; that has been my observation. Also stereotyping is part of the problem in our politics right now. So many people bought into the idea that the republican nominee was greedy because he was rich. This was the only argument the other side had. That people could be so gullible was shocking. Common sense seemed to go out the window, and most of the young voters liked the rock star persona better. I know that's not the point here, but such a trite stereotype needs comment.
It's character and not money that Jesus was talking about. But it is also true that the one who has more is also responsible for more in helping others. And then when people think the government will take care of their human responsibilities, they are likely to do less. I wonder how much those democtatic Hollywood celebrities and sports stars give percentage-wise. I understand they are getting a pretty big tax break now! And BTW the rich urbanites of the northeast and west coast voted democratic so a higher tax didn't matter but losing their loopholes did.
The story of the Rich Young Ruler as it was identified to me by numerous preachers always ended up with the intepretation that declared we have to give up in order to receive … in short, we have to buy our salvation by our sacrafice.
Later I heard that in Jesus' day wealth was a common measure of one's standing not just with society, but with God.
When I came to understand that my salvation is God's gracious gift to me and is in no way the result of my action, my effort, my engagement, my 'works' as the translation puts it, but is in summary and in total 'not of yourself' as Paul explains, the Rich Young Ruler story appeared to have a different lesson, a different invitation.
Jesus realized that the young man felt utterly dependent on his perosnal efforts to secure his salvation.
Jesus then suggests that the young may could let go of all of the results of that personal effort and the inevitable anxiety over its sufficiency.
Instead, Jesus offered salvation to this young man as a done deal.
There is nothing more he had to do. He could dispense with his wealth, indeed give it to the poor, and walk the rest of his life with Jesus, free of the anxiety of having to engage in the work of saving himself.
That this is more likely the take away is affirmed by Jesus nowhere suggesting that people are to abandon the economy of the day in general. Not at all.
And no, the youg man was not in love with his wealth. He was fearful of Grace.
And the good thing about Grace is that it does not require your cooperation. After all, it is 'not of yourself.'
So the young man turned away from living in Grace, but Grace covered him just the same.
Bill,
Didn’t Jesus’ instruction to the Young Ruler conclude with “…come and follow me”? He had a personal offer to follow God—in person—and rejected it. He was unwilling to pay the price of discipleship.
Jesus didn’t get to offer him grace. We now know—after the fact—that he left grace ‘on the table.’ He couldn’t know it at the time. That is why he walked away sorrowful. Not knowing that His grace was sufficient, the cost of discipleship was too high.
Perhaps our problem is that – corporately and individually in too many cases – we long ago replaced the quest for holiness with a quest for respectability. It was respectability the rich young ruler would lose – and perhaps all that went with it. We should consider the case of Saul, a leader among the Jews, and therefore respectable, which meant a husband and father, and a man of wealth and learning. Then we hear of Paul, a leader among the Christians, and no longer respectable or a husband and father. He still had his learning, but it was now transformed and given away freely. Holiness can come at a high price, and it can take some time to get to where Paul did and be able to say that it all meant nothing.
Perhaps we should also have compassion for the rich young ruler lest we also fall where he did – being able to keep all the law, but failing to keep the two great commandments that make the rest worth keeping. The point is not really about forsaking wealth, but about priorities. Even the poorest of the poor can fail there.
Kevin,
You are right, it is all about priorities; different people have different idols. We certainly don’t have to be wealthy to have idols; that’s for sure. Maintaining perceptions of respectability, or the desire to be well regarded amongst peers—whatever that may entail—may be an idol. Certainly, this story has implications and lessons that go beyond great wealth and position.
But the fact of the matter is that this particular individual was a rich man who was unwilling to sell his stuff and to give the proceeds to the poor to go and follow Jesus. I think it’s fair to say that Jesus indicated that his reaction may not necessarily be unusual for people of wealth. That is unless for some reason we interpret Matthew 19: 23, 24, Mark 10:23-25 and Luke 18: 24, 25 as not literal
"…this particular individual was a rich man who was unwilling to sell his stuff…his reaction may not necessarily be unsusual for people of wealth."
Really? I wonder if his reaction "may not necessarily be unusual" for contemporary Americans of relatively modest means who, even in "poverty" are, by global and historic standards, the wealthiest people in the history of the earth.
Suppose this rich young man, when Jesus' initial response implied that commandment keeping was the prerequisite for eternal life, had said, "Great, thank you very much. I'm good with that. Just wanted to make sure I was on the right track." But he didn't. He felt something was missing, and so he persisted: "What do I still lack?" Jesus knew that a deeper question was at the root of the inquiry. It wasn't a matter of what was missing. The problem was what stood in the way of this young man feeling assurance of eternal life: his possessions.
This is a story of what stands between us and following Jesus – the willingness to give up everything we hold dear. Jesus didn't stop with the admonition to give. He said, "When you have relinquished everything that you treasure more than me, then come and follow me." He was saying, "To follow me is to have eternal life." Simply not having material possessions leaves us envious, resentful, and just as greedy as we were when we had wealth. It is only in following Jesus that we learn to live abundant lives in the midst of uncertainty and want.
Peter seemed to understand the deeper point. He had never been wealthy. But he understood that Jesus wasn't just talking about wealth. Peter commented, perhaps a bit smugly, "We have left all we had to follow you!" And Jesus reply made it even clearer that material possessions were simply a prominent example of what can stand between us and following Jesus. "Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age…and in the age to come, eternal life."
By historical and global standards, everyone reading this blog is not only wealthy, but is relatively far richer than the the rich young man. We have no less materially that potentially stands in the way of following Jesus, and we probably are less virtuous when it comes to legalistic keeping of the Commandments. It wasn't just a matter of selling his "stuff," as Stephen suggests. It wasn't simply a matter of reducing his standard of living to a more modest level. It was a matter of giving up EVERYTHING – all the presumably inherited nest egg upon which he depended for his sustenance and future well-being. And who among us is more willing to do that than the rich young ruler? When we have "stuff" that enables us to find security apart from dependence on Christ, whether that "stuff" is a government handout, an annuity from our retirement fund, a job that simply provides food, shelter, and clothing, or even the natural God-given bonds of familial relationships, Jesus says, "Give it up so that you can come and follow me."
Unless our hearts are restless, we are unlikely, in our complacency and self-righteousness, to ask the question, "What do I still lack." And so we don't even open our hearts to hear Jesus' radical and personal challenge that comes only to restless hearts: "Give up everything and anything that holds you back from unequivocal surrender to me. For I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
Nice interjection of reason and logic Nathan. I to always thought that the statement was not literal suggesting that if something comes between us and God, get rid of it.
I certainly am not going to sell everything I have and give it away. To whom would I give it? The church so the leaders can blow my hard earned money and waste my prudent investments on what they think is appropriate and necessary?
No, I think I will put my trust in God and keep my powder dry.
There are many appropriate and effective institutions that assist the needy that may or may not be connected to the church. Jesus didn't ask the man to give to the church, but to the poor. I think the more appropriate question is, why not give it all to the poor?
There are many appropriate and effective institutions that assist the needy that may or may not be connected to the church. Jesus didn't ask the man to give to the church, but to the poor. I think the more appropriate question is, why not give it all to the poor?
Nathan: It is mind boggling how that men, like Larry Ellison of Oracle, whose big goal in life was to have a bigger net worth than Bill Gates! I'm glad that you has not achieved that goal. I have read a number of article in business magazines written by former VP of Oracle, who said that working for Larry Ellison was like having the Devil as your boss! In fact, if you've ever looked at this face lately he looks like the Devil, with a pointed goatee. On balance, it would be awesome if found Jesus did some good with this billions. Bringing this issue closer to home, the affluence of the North American SDA church has been a "curse" of sorts, in that its has been a big factor in exposing our youth to many things of the world that have quenched the Holy Spirit in their lives. When you look at the spiritually strong churches of history none were strong in the Lord, were affluent.
Mojo,
Please keep your eyes open because you may find your last statement refuted many times over. Affluence has an ill-deserved reputation for destroying faith in God, yet I count among my friends some who are quite affluent (though not on thescale of Larry Ellison) and who have deep faith in God.
I’m not sure, but it seems that an earlier post in which I noted that Jesus concluded His admonition to the young ruler with “…come and follow me,” may have been inadvertently overlooked by Nathan.
The cost of discipleship—in this case the invitation/opportunity to literally follow Jesus—was simply too high for this particular individual.
It is Jesus’ immediately subsequent commentary which suggests that wealth (even if it’s just what’s personally valued) may not ultimately be as beneficial as it appears to be; whether one’s wealth is relative or real.
In Mark 12:42 and Luke 21:2 (the account of the widow’s mites), we find a good example of what Jesus meant by ‘all’ in terms of giving. Giving off of one’s abundance to a worthy charity is great, definitely commendable – and without doubt a blessing to needy recipients; but that isn’t what constitutes the ‘all’ premised and strongly emphasized in this blog.
Yeah, it’s a tall order, even similar to the ‘love your enemies’ commandment given by Jesus when he preached on the Mount [Matt 5:54]. The widow’s actions, as opposed to the rich young ruler, is a fine example which aptly epitomises what giving all may require at times – even when public opinion, cultural bias, peer pressure and socio-political correctness may oppose or discourage this course of action.
Some would even accuse Jesus of blanket stereotyping here but we all know where the love of money finds its root – don’t we? [1Tim 6:10, 11, 12]
On my last note I don't think its prudent for us to order our ascension robes just yet.
Next time I go book hunting I'll pick it up! Always on the prowl for a good read.
I found a book on Amazon entitled "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor….and Yourself" by Steve Corbett. I just started reading it on my Kindle. Thought some here might be interested; it is written by an experienced welfare worker and a Christian.
A lesson I have learned from the article and the comments: Listen to your conscience. And then be true to it.