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Luke 18:18-30 ESV

18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 28 And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” 29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Luke 19:1-10 ESV

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

OPENING THOUGHT: Pastors must talk about money if they are to preach God’s Word and Make Disciples.

I. A DIFFERENT WAY TO MEASURE SALVATION
A. Jesus uses the cheerful eagerness we have to spend money in His service to measure the authenticity of our salvation.
B. These two men are put next to each other for us to see the two responses we all have when it comes to Jesus and money.

II. THE ONENESS OF OUR HEARTS AND OUR MONEY
A. Money is emotional and reveals what we love.
B. Not only does what we love determine how we spend but also how we spend determines what we love.
C. Love is not determined by the size of the gift but the size of the sacrifice.

NEXT STEPS
1. You can either use your life and money to serve Jesus or to serve yourself. You can’t do both. (Matthew 6:24)
Matthew 6:24 — 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
2. The cost to follow Jesus is not just figurative and spiritual but literal and financial as well.3. You must choose whether you will get angry or repent if God’s Word when God’s Word confronts you. (James 1:20, 2 Corinthians 7:8-11)