Mark 10:17-31 [NLTse]
17 As Jesus was starting out on His way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to Him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 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.’”
20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” He told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
23 Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In fact, 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 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
28 Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow You,” he said.
29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for My sake and for the Good News, 30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. 31 But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”
Sermon
I’ve been preaching through the Gospel of John where last week we came to the occasion of the Lord’s last supper and our Savior washing the disciples’ feet. After modeling servant hood to them, followed by a brief teaching about servant hood, God the Son finished His lesson saying, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (13:17)
“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” So God blesses His servants not for what we know but for how we respond to what we know. A Christian’s happiness (“blessed are you,” says Jesus) comes through obedient service (“if you do them”, these things Jesus commanded). Our Bible study, our Scripture memorization, our doctrinal purity, etc… are all helpful, but they are only truly helpful if they lead us to a faithful and obedient living-out of “the things” Jesus has commanded. It is that two-sided coin of faith and works that James speaks so succinctly about when he writes: “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? … faith without good deeds is useless.” (2:14, 20) Yes, Jesus says, “it is important to know these things. But the blessing comes, not in the knowing, but in the doing.” Enter the rich, young ruler…
This religious leader comes to Jesus asking what he needs to do so that God will grant him eternal life. As I read this encounter I get two very different pictures of the young synagogue ruler: Either he is proud of himself and his lifestyle and looking to Jesus for affirmation of his own self-righteousness or he is insecure in his relationship with God so that, even having lived such a righteous life, he still is burdened by questions about his salvation. The Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector illustrates the two possibilities I see.
“Two men went to the Temple to pray,” Jesus said. “One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank You, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to Heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’” (Luke 18:10-13)
That’s how I see the synagogue ruler, either like the Pharisee or like the Tax Collector: Either his question of Jesus is genuine and he is truly uncertain of his salvation or his question is for show and he’s asking to merely puff himself up even more.
I think it is revealing that Jesus’ first response seeks to probe the man’s understanding of Him. Jesus asks him, “Why do you call Me ‘good’? Only God is truly good.” The Lord is asking, “Has the Father revealed to you that I and He are one?” I picture the Lord studying the man intently, looking for any evidence of saving faith. Because at the heart of God’s gift of eternal life is faith and trust in God Himself. And because Jesus is God, faith in Jesus and seeing the Father in the Son and recognizing the Son because of knowing the Father are fundamental to salvation. But Jesus goes on.
“If you want to receive eternal life then live the way the Father has told you to live: Don’t end a human life; don’t take what’s not yours; don’t have sex if you’re not married; don’t say anything less than what you know to be true; don’t be dishonest in order to get something you want; treat your mother and father honorably and with respect; …” To which the man responds, either arrogantly, “Teacher, I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young,” or imploringly, “Teacher, I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” Either way, Mark says, “Jesus felt genuine love for him.” And so, loving him, Jesus said, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me.” And either shocked and angry or dejected and afraid he went away sad because he had many possessions.
I used to think this was a universal teaching about money, and that a person couldn’t be a Christian who hadn’t first given away all of their money and possessions. And although I still think that money gets in-between many people and their faith in God, I’ve come to see that the Lord is talking to all of us in this passage, though not necessarily about giving away everything we own to benefit the poor.
I’ve come to see in this encounter Jesus’ love in revealing to the young synagogue leader what in his life is separating him from God, and separating him from the confidence and assurance and closeness the young ruler wanted to enjoy with God and which God wants us to enjoy with Him.
Which brings this all back to you and me: What would you say is your attitude towards your relationship with God? Would you say you are more like the Pharisee or are do you think yourself more like the Tax Collector? And what do you think Jesus would say to you if you asked Him what might be keeping you from inheriting eternal life?
I ask the question because of that cutesy but cutting little comment that people make sometimes about how surprised we might be as to who we see in Heaven and who we do not. I ask the question because the rich, young ruler either thought he loved God or wanted to love God, but out of love for the rich, young ruler, the Lord revealed to him that the man really loved his money instead. Might there be something in our lives that we love more than God but – on account of spiritual pride or on account of blinding insecurity – we don’t recognize? Or perhaps it’s not an idol at all but simply something in our lives that is keeping us from receiving Christ as fully and living by faith in Him as consistently and surrendering to His Spirit as completely as we would like and as He made us to?
I believe the Lord Jesus is standing right in front of us all this morning reminding us that it’s not just knowing the Way, the Truth, and the Life, but that blessing comes with living the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And I believe Jesus wants to tell us what we need to do to inherit eternal life.
Of course, if you have not yet come to trust that Jesus is God, that He and the Father are one, then that’s the first step: Believe that today; put your trust in Jesus today! (Pray: “Father, we are sinners separated from You because we want to believe what makes sense to us and do what we want to do, and what others around us in the world have taught us and are doing. We repent of putting others before You and trusting and following others instead of You. What You say is making sense to us and what we see in the lives of Christians around us, well, what we see of their lives is not perfect but we want it, even as we see You working in their lives we want You to work in our lives. We believe that You sent Jesus of Nazareth, that You came among us – God the Son – to show us Yourself, to teach us Yourself, and to pay the penalty Yourself for our sins, and to break the power that sin and the devil have had over our lives. Since we believe You have done this we now believe that You have removed the power of sin and its guilt and shame over us: Our old self is gone! A new self is here! Fill us with Your Holy Spirit! Come, live within us and through us Father, Son, through Your Spirit. Bind us together with Your church – the Body of Christ here on the earth. You have saved us and we promise to trust You in all things and to follow You wherever You may lead us and do whatever You would have us do. May our lives – our words and our deeds and all we come to stand for – draw peoples’ attention, not to us but, to You, bringing glory to You through Your Son. It is in His name we pray. Amen?”)
Okay, so now we can call the Lord Jesus “good” because we know He is God and because God alone is good. And now we can hear from Him what may be keeping us from inheriting eternal life here and now. What in our lives may be keeping us from abundant life. What in our lives may be separating us from that deep communion, koinonia, more blessed fellowship we were made for and long for…
So would you close your eyes with me and know – as we are gathered here in Jesus’ name – that we are here in God’s presence together. If we’ve had any doubts about His presence as we’ve been worshiping Him – in the name of Jesus – may those doubts be driven from us. We are here in God’s presence together! Let’s know Jesus standing before us…
And let’s ask Him: Lord, what must we do to inherit eternal life?
Is food keeping us from You? Is it our possessions? Do we prize our reputation too much? Do we think of ourselves as being too much of a disappointment? Or is it the weight of others disappointing us? Is unforgiveness separating us from You? Or is it our unwillingness to ask others’ forgiveness? Is it drugs? Is it alcohol? Is it lust? Is it wanting things our way? Is greed getting in our way? Or laziness? Is it arrogance and pride and superiority? Is it anger or our demand for vengeance? Lord what may be getting between us and eternal life? What must we do to inherit eternal life from God?
We’re going to sing “Open the Eyes of My Heart.” Let’s remain seated as we pray this song…
If the Lord in His love has not revealed to you what may be keeping you from saving faith and/or knowing more and more of His fullness in your life ask someone close to you, or perhaps even several people close to you – your spouse, your kids or your parents, some close friends – if they would love you enough to tell you what they see in your life that they think Jesus might not want to see there. (It might be especially insightful if we all asked one or several unbelievers around us what they think Jesus might not like seeing in our lives…)
Don’t ignore this. God’s blessing is not in our knowing the good news and His commandments but by living showing that we believe the good news and living out His commandments. And He loves us enough to show us and let us know what to do so we can fully enjoy Him forever!