In our age, as in every other, the lure of riches has foiled more than one aspirant to heaven. Through the refining fire of worldly temptation many Demas’s have been exposed. The wealthy man in Jesus’ parable illustrates this point. He had a lot going for him – civility, morality, general respect. His outward adherence to God’s law must have commanded hearty respect from many (Lk 18:21). But his inward disposition was under the grip of gold. Like so many he lacked the ability, or more accurately the heart, to forego earthly treasures out of devotion to Christ. In stunning fashion, Jesus concluded that we might sooner expect a camel to glide through a needle’s eye than a wealthy man like this to enter the gates of heaven (Lk 18:25). The clasp of riches cannot easily be broken. It is powerful. Many today have been seized by this fatal attraction.
Is there anything that can break gold’s grip? The only answer, according to Jesus, is the almighty power of our gracious God. What is impossible with men is possible with God (Lk 18:27). He alone is able to free the fettered heart from its enslavement to mammon. A poor sinner must experience what Thomas Chalmers calls the expulsive power of a sincere love for Christ. Love for money cannot just be removed. It must be replaced. The old must come off and the new must be put on (Eph 4:22-24). Sinners are utterly incapable of re-tooling their souls to aim heavenward. The Holy Spirit must blow through their hearts with the fresh breeze of Christ-glorifying, sovereign grace. Only then will a money-loving, mammon-serving person be freed the clench of copper. A sincere, heart-felt love for Jesus will reorient affections and produce a radical change.
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