The Original Millennial

A Conversational Nuke

Looking to drop a conversational nuke at your next dinner party? Politics and religion are tinker toys compared the latest cultural hand grenade. Millennials. You can feel your blood pressure rise just reading the word, can’t you?

Ah, Millennials. Some folks call them Generation Y. Why? Because they come right after Gen X, that’s why. These are folks born between 1993 and 2000. 

Millennial Bashing

Forget golf and antiquing, Boomers and Busters favorite past time is bashing Millennials. You’ve heard it. Shoot, you’ve probably said it. Narcissistic. Lazy. Coddled. Entitled. “Selfie” centered. Materialistic. Everybody gets a trophy.

But they have plenty of positive characteristics too. They tend to be confident, self-expressive, upbeat, and open to new ideas. Who wouldn’t enjoy somebody like that around instead of some cranky old dude yelling at kids to get off his lawn?

An Impressive Up-and-Comer

Would you believe me if I told you folks like this have been around a long time. A VERY long time. We meet one in chapter ten of Mark’s Gospel when Christ and His crew are traveling from the boondocks of Galilee to the big city of Jerusalem (Mk 10:17-22).

An impressive up-and-comer has gotten wind that the radical Rabbi/Carpenter is coming through town. He’s got a question. A big question. An eternal question. Just tell me what to do, Jesus. There’s just one problem. He doesn’t like the answer.

We don’t know the guy’s name but we’ve come to know him as the rich, young ruler. We could just as easily call him the Original Millennial. It’s just not THAT millennium! It may be the First Century, but the guy checks a lot of the boxes. Young. In a hurry. Focused on himself. 

THE Trip to J City

We pick up the action with the dude in a dead sprint for our Savior. “As Jesus was starting out on His way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to Him, knelt down, and asked…” (v17).

The Lord isn’t just making any trip to J City. He’s making THE Trip. The one where He has a date with death on a Roman cross at a gruesome place called the Skull. But as Jesus has already told His team twice (Mk 8:31; 9:31), it will end with Him strutting out of the cemetery three days after His death. 

Young, Rich, and Successful

Two of Jesus’ other biographers, Matthew and Luke, both describe this very same meeting (Mt 19:16-22; Lk 18:18-23). But only Mark includes the details of the trip to the big city as well as the man running up to the Lord at the last minute and kneeling to ask his question.

Matt describes the guy as a “young man” and in doing so uses a word (Gr. νεανισκος/neoniskos) that describes him as youthful. It fits someone past puberty and still single. One Bible scholar says it usually paints a picture of a person between the ages of 24 and 40.

Luke tips us off that this guy is a leader of some kind. He’s flying up the corporate ladder. He knows success. To this point, nothing has slowed him down from what he wants.

Cutting to the Chase

The young hot shot sure shows the Son of God the proper outward respect by dropping to his knees when they meet. Not a bad move since he’s basically barged into His office without an appointment.

No time for small talk. He cuts to the chase. Jesus, You’re a busy man just like me. Let’s not pussy foot and around. I’ll get right to the point. “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (v17). 

The Cosmic To-Do List

Calling Him “Good Teacher” seems like the right thing to do. I mean, have you heard what He’s saying?!? He regularly blows the minds of His audiences. But as we’ll see in a second, Jesus is not just a GREAT Teacher…but so much more!

If anybody knows the answer to this question, it’s gotta be Him, right? So the man asks the Son of Man to give him the cosmic to-do list that will ensure He’s on God’s good side when it’s all said and done.

Leveling up to Eternal Life

Let’s face it. Who doesn’t want the answer to THAT question? We’re all looking for the ultimate cheat code for leveling up to eternal life. What do I have to accomplish? What do I need on my resume? How well do I need to perform? Just tell me what to do next, Jesus. I got this.

It’s interesting that both of the Greek terms we translate as “eternal (Gr. αιωνιος/aionios) life (Gr. ζωη/zoe)” focus on quality rather than quantity. It’s not so much that you’ll live forever but how awesome it will be!

Eternity in Our Hearts

Each one of us knows deep in our soul that there’s gotta be something more than this life. Where did that come from? The wisest person to ever walk the planet (other than Jesus of course!) says God “has planted eternity in the human heart” (Ecc 3:11).

Heavenly Brownie Points

Just tell me what to do next, Jesus. I got this! The guy assumes that he can perform his way into eternal life. (Insert sad trombone here). Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. Could that be the reason we’re called human beings and not human doings?  

The bad news is we can never pile up enough heavenly brownie points to get there. But the Good News is (and I do mean GOOD NEWS!) this is EXACTLY why the Lord left heaven to make the most amazing search-and-rescue mission the universe has ever seen. He came to bring us life! “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (Jn 10:10).

It’s Who You Know

So when it comes to the life that Jesus is talking about, it’s NOT about what you need to do. It’s all about Who you need to know. And if you’re wondering who that is, you get three guesses and the first two don’t count.

Christ defines eternal life to His crew the night before His crucifixion when He prays to His Dad. “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the One you sent to earth” (Jn 17:3). 

Do You Know Who You’re Talking to?

Back at His meeting with the Original Millennial, the Messiah answers his question with a question.  “Why do you call Me good?” (v18). It’s Jesus' way of saying, “It’s all about who you know and you have no idea Who you’re talking to, do you?”

The Lord tries to help a brother out by dropping a not-so-subtle hint. “Only God is truly good” (v18). God’s own goodness sets the standard for good. And here’s a little secret. He’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. He’s so good that “good” seems to be a ridiculous understatement. 

Righteousness by Comparison

The big idea? Stop judging yourself against others. There’s no such thing as righteousness by comparison. That’s exactly the mistake one particular Pharisee makes when he swings by the temple to worship. 

He catches a glimpse of a slimy tax collecting traitor and then prays, “I thank You, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector!” (Lk 18:11).

God Is Good and You’re Not

The Son of Man wants this guy to realize that he falls far short of God’s definition of good. A guy named Paul puts it this in a letter to some friends in Rome. “No one does good, not a single one…for everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Rom 3:12, 23). Heads up, heaven doesn’t grade on a curve.

Don’t miss Jesus’ point. God is good. You’re not. I’m not. We all need Him. Every single person who’s ever lived needs a Savior. You. Me. Us. Them. As a buddy of mine likes to say, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. So get over yourself.

Six Out of Ten

The Lord asks the young leader to compare his life to God’s original Top Ten. “But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother’” (v19).

If you’re scoring along at home, you noticed that while Jesus points him to the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:3-17; Dt 5:7-21), He only mentions six of them. What’s up that?  Is it possible the Lord forgot to include them?

The Horizontal and Vertical

For quite a while (and by “quite a while,” I mean a couple of thousand years!), folks who study the Hebrew Bible have divided the Top Ten into two sections. The first four are vertical and guide the Israelites in their relationship with God. 

The last six are horizontal and tell humans how to get along with others. Interestingly, Jesus only asks the young dude how he’s doing with the horizontal. What’s the dealio? Stick around. We'll get to that. And I think you’re going to find this fascinating. And probably just a little bit convicting.

Reaching up and Reaching out

In the meantime, the Lord wants us to know that our relationship with Him is tied directly to our relationships with people. We can’t compartmentalize our faith. As my friend Ross Turner liked to say, you can’t reach up without reaching out. One without the other just doesn’t work.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

The Original Millennial wastes no time in saying to our Savior, “Teacher…I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young” (v20). Notice how he drops the “good” part and addresses Jesus simply as “Teacher”? Sure seems clear that he doesn’t believe He’s God. If only he knew.

The rich ruler responds to Jesus that the Ten Commandments aren’t so tough. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. No murder. Check. No adultery. Check. No stealing. Check. No lying or fraud. Check. Parental respect. Checkity-check!

Raising the Bar

There’s almost a cocky “come on, give me something a little harder than that" attitude in his answer. But obeyed them ALL? Really?!? Come on, dude. Hasn’t he heard about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7). It totally went viral.

In Christ’s most famous message, He continually raises the bar on the Top Ten. It’s not just what you do but what you think! So think again!! Obey them all. Please.

An Impressive Religious Resume

If you don’t believe me, take it from Saul, another one of the top rising stars in the Jewish faith. After he became the apostle we know as Paul, he tells his friends over in Philippi that there’s no one who had a more impressive religious resume that he did (Phil 3:4-6). Period.

The man from Tarsus has quite the religious LinkedIn profile. Circumcised at eight days old. Not a drop of that filthy Gentile blood. Proud member of Team Benjamin. A top shelf Hebrew. He was even a member of the exclusive Pharisee club. I mean, there’s nobody better at obeying God’s laws than they are!

A Big Steaming Pile

That all changed when the resurrected Christ blindsides him outside of Damascus. That’s the moment he realized all that what he thought would really impress God was actually a big steaming pile compared to a relationship with Jesus (Phil 3:7-10). 

Some people think this guy may actually be the pre-Paul Saul. I personally don’t think it is but you can certainly see some similarities. Whatever the case, he still thinks that he can pull off complete obedience.

Break One, Break Them All

There’s one big problem with that. It’s impossible. Jesus’ kid brother James says if we break one of God’s commands, we break all of them (James 2:10). Talk about the ultimate pass/fail!

Nobody Loves You More than Jesus

Despite the guy’s ridiculous response, the Lord doesn’t laugh in his face. He doesn’t throw him under the bus. Instead His heavenly heart breaks for young dude. “Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him” (v21).

You know why? Nobody loves him more than Jesus. We can say the same about you. About me. About your spouse. About your children. About your parents. Absolutely nobody on the planet loves them more than He does. 

A Distant Second

Chew on that for a minute. How crazy are you about the one you married? How head over heals are you for your kids? You would do anything for them. But as over the top as your love is for them, it’s a distant second for our Savior’s crazy love for them. 

Jesus loves you when He looks at you too. And He loves every single person we make eye contact with wherever we go. Everyone we meet when we’re walking down the street is someone Christ loves and came to save.

Nick at Night

How much does God love people? The Apostle John tells the story of a guy named Nick came to see the Lord one night. Jesus tells Nick, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

Did you catch that? God loves the entire WORLD! As a result, He gave His only Son. For whom? EVERYONE who believes! There’s a reason these are of the most important words to ever leave the Lord’s lips!

More Than a Feeling

While Jesus’ heart breaks for the Original Millennial, His love for him is so much more than a warm fuzzy feeling. As the boys in the band Boston sing, it’s more than a feeling. God calls us to a love that actually does something. 

And that’s exactly what the Son of God does here. He loves him so much that He’s willing to say what the dude needs to hear. It’s precisely BECAUSE He loves him that He has to say something.

Speaking the Truth in Love

In a letter to folks in Ephesus, Paul says that speaking the truth in love is one of the key ways God uses to make us more and more like Jesus (Eph 4:15). We want others to hear the truth because we love them. Those moments are good for everybody involved!

He Can Almost Taste It

It’s at this point that Jesus begins to answer the rich ruler’s question. “There is still one thing you haven’t done” (v21). Just one thing. One single thing. This is what he came for. He’s so close he can almost taste it.

But let’s press pause and recap. There’s a wee bit of math here and we need to make sure everything adds up. Christ has just asked about how he’s doing with the Ten Commandments…and only listed six out of ten. Hmm. What’s the dealio?

A Single Thing

The Son of God wants to make it easy for the guy. Since I’m not exactly a wiz at math, cutting it down to a single thing on the to-do list works for me. 

Can’t you just see our ambitious go-getter? Okay, Jesus. Lay it on me. I’m all ears.“Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me” (v21).

The Thing That Stands in the Way

In doing so, the Lord ruthlessly attacks the one thing that stands in the guy’s way of trusting God. His portfolio. His wealth. His stuff. It’s the one thing he’s worked his young life to accumulate. Turns out it’s THE obstacle in getting the one thing he wants.

One big idea with four simple steps. Notice I said simple, NOT easy. One, leave immediately. Two, liquidate your assets. Three, find folks who REALLY need it. Four, then hustle on back to follow Jesus.

Worshipping Wealth

Here’s the connection to the Big Ten. The young ruler may not have realized it but he’s turned his wealth into the object of his worship. The first four commands reinforce God’s rightful place at the top spot of our lives (Ex 20:3-11). 

Putting anyone or anything else where God belongs never works out well for us. And it’s not just those things that are obvious. It also includes God’s blessings like family, kids, and church. Mark Driscoll likes to say it this way. Making a good thing into a god thing is a bad thing.

Idol Factories

We have this nasty habit of turning anything into an idol. John Calvin hit the nail on the head when he said the human heart is an idol factory. We can crank out stuff to replace God at an incredible pace.

Wealth isn’t necessarily evil. There are lots of godly rich folks all throughout the pages of Scripture. Abraham. Job. David. Solomon. Joseph of Arimathea. God blesses certain people with bigger bank accounts so they can bless others.

Money’s Dark Side

But money comes with a dark side. Paul warns his boy Tim that the love of money is actually the root of all evil (1Tim 6:10). In His most famous message, Jesus drops the mic on the issue. “You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money” (Mt 6:24). Boom.

The Vertical and the Horizontal

From our Savior’s perspective, it was crystal clear that this guy’s stuff is his idol. His money sits on the throne of his life. According to Ben Christian, “The ‘one thing’ is about God, or more accurately stated, the young man had a god that was not God. His wealth, his status, his money was his God.”

We need to understand that our relationship with God is directly tied to our relationships with others. Let me put it another way. We can’t separate the vertical and the horizontal. Our relationship with God has a direct impact on how we treat others, and vice versa.

Starving Unhealthy Appetites

Why sell it all? Seems kinda drastic, don’t you think? That’s because the only cure for an unhealthy appetite is to starve it, not feed it. Getting just a little bit more will never satisfy. Just ask anyone who’s in recovery from any kind of addiction. 

The Usual Suspects

So I gotta ask. What’s your one thing? What is it in your life that stands in the way of total abandonment to Jesus? What have you put in the pole position of your personal worship that should only belong to God?

Here’s just a few of the usual suspects. Family. Marriage. Home. Career. Contract. Image. 401k. Security. Control. Pleasure. Sex. Do I need to go on? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

A Punch in the Gut

Meanwhile, the conversation between Christ and the young ruler comes to a close. Once the Lord gives him the “one thing,” you can hear the brakes squealing. “At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions” (v22).

This First Century Millennial isn’t just disappointed. A closer look at Jesus’ words in the original Greek lets us know the guy is absolutely blindsided. He’s shocked and appalled. He grieves deeply when hears what He says. It’s like a punch in the gut.

Replacing It with Something Better

The one thing Son of God has just him to give up is the one thing he won’t let go of. He has a way of doing that to all of us. That’s because He wants to replace it with something so much better.

And just what is that? Himself. Jesus wants us to know that God is the ultimate blessing. He’s the only thing that truly satisfies. The Psalms are full of cries for more of Him.

Thirsting for God

“My soul thirsts for You; my whole body longs for You in this parched and weary land where there is no water” (Ps 63:1).

“Whom have I in heaven but You? I desire You more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and may spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever” (Ps 73:25-6).

Things Haven’t Changed

A couple of thousand years later there are a couple of things that haven’t changed. One, the so-called Original Millennial reminds us that these folks are nothing new. They’ve been around in one form or another for quite a while. 

Two, it doesn’t matter if you’re Gen Y, Gen X, Boomer, or the Greatest Generation. Jesus wants us to want what is the absolute best for us. That’s Himself. Like the young ruler, it may be money. It may be something else. He has a way of pointing out what it is.

So, let me ask you again, what’s your one thing?

©2019

Jay Jennings