Jesus teaches that the question "How do I live forever?" is misguided. A better question is "How do I follow you?"
Matthew 19:16-22 16 Then someone came to him and said, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" 17 And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." 18 He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 20 The young man said to him, "I have kept all these; what do I still lack?" 21 Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." 22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
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The question this man asks Jesus demonstrates what religion is all about: "How do I get saved?" And he'd like to know the minimum required so he can take care of it and get back to his own life. But is "getting people saved" - making sure they have a ticket to heaven - really the point of what Jesus did on earth? "Getting people saved" is the point of religion, but not so much of Jesus. Jesus' work - his life, his death, his resurrection - was about enabling the Holy Spirit to live within us so that we can enter into a new kind of relationship with God - one that allows us to truly follow Jesus. Making followers was the point of Jesus' ministry - not helping people live forever.
This is why when John the Baptist introduces his disciples to Jesus, he says that Jesus has come to baptise them with the Holy Spirit rather than "Jesus is your ticket to living forever." It is also why the prophets talk about the new covenant in terms of a day when the Spirit will live within God's people and through the Holy Spirit they will enter into a relationship with God different from the old covenant. If I am right, then this man is asking the wrong question. Instead, he should ask: "How can I become your follower?" But that is not what this man wants to do. He wants eternal life, not a new way of being. He doesn't want Jesus to transform his life... he just wants to live forever in his old life.
"If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?" is the wrong question for evangelists to be asking! "Are you filled with the Spirit - are you a follower of Jesus?" - these are the right questions! The ones Jesus came to answer.
So Jesus gives this man the religious answer: "follow this list of rules". The man is so confused, he thinks he already follows them which, of course, no one can really do. Yet, he senses something is incomplete - there is something more Jesus isn't saying so he asks again, "what else do I have to do?" Jesus tells him to get rid of his old way of life (sell your pocessions) and follow me into a new life. This isn't the answer the man wanted. He is really not that committed.
Eternal life comes by grace through faith - there is nothing this man can do to deserve it. But following Jesus comes when we surrender our old way of being - letting Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, live out his life through us.
Do we ignore Jesus' teaching that his focus is not on making sure we live forever?
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