Sermon Text: Mark 10: 17-31
The Rich and the Kingdom of God
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.
19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it isto enter the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel
30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.
31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Morning Message:
I believe that living the Christian faith victoriously comes down to having good biblical priorities and constantly adjusting our attitudes. For decades we have watched the steady decline of the Christian church in this country. That is just an honest factual assessment of the failure of the body of Christ to stand against what is biblically wrong and allow the ways of the world to seep in and dilute the church. It’s easy for us to look at the world around us and say, ”Society is morally corrupt and it seems like sin is running rampant in our nation.” All of that is true, but we must look at ourselves, we who have been called by God to be a light to the world. What does the world see when they look at the Christian church? Now I am not going to stand up here and list the failures of the church over the past hundred years; there have been many. The church has compromised over and over again in order to appease the world and become more acceptable to the lost. Last week I talked to you about drawing a line in the sand, choosing holiness, and not moving from your position of righteousness. If we set good biblical priorities for our lives, they should be positions that we do not move from. That doesn’t prohibit you from being loving and caring and compassionate; it simply makes you uncompromising in your faith.
In the first century world, for a wealthy man to give up all his possessions (in this case, all his real estate) meant a demotion in social class. Were the wealthy man to follow Jesus’ command, he would have lost not only the cushion of wealth, he would in effect undergo a social demotion and have to start a whole new life with a faith community that refused to make money or class: the basis of its pecking order. So in effect, this rich man’s priorities were the problem, not his possessions. Jesus knew the heart of this man, and he knows our hearts as well. If you look closely at this scripture you can read between the lines and see where the rich man’s attitude was wrong. Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? In this very question we see his attitude. He wants to inherit eternal life, in other words, “How can I earn it?” Eternal life can’t be left to you by your parents and grandparents who kept the faith and received the free gift of salvation. You can’t buy it, and you can never work hard enough to earn it. Jesus tells him, “No one is good except God.” You can’t be good enough and even Jesus, being the Son of God, can’t make you acceptable to God based on your own merits. Jesus plays along. He tells him to keep the commandments because that is where this man’s heart is. I am sure that he expected that after he told Jesus how good he had been at keeping the commandments that Jesus would declare him saved.
The Bible presents no data to support the idea that being wealthy is wrong. In fact, we find evidence to the contrary: The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it. There are notable examples of godly, wealthy people such as, Job, Abraham, Nicodemus, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, the list goes on and on. So God does not disapprove of people with money. But He does speak out against those who rely on riches, as this man did. It is our attitude toward our wealth that matters to God, because our attitude will determine how we manage the possessions He entrusts to us. I want you to notice how Jesus handled this witnessing opportunity. Jesus looked at him and loved him. We cannot and should not offer Jesus to the world for self-righteous reasons. We don’t need to tell people that they are wrong and we are right. We should not look down on them and judge them just because we have found God’s grace, and they have not yet been that fortunate. Jesus simply loved this wealthy confused man. And then in love, he told him the truth. He told him exactly what needed to change in his life. He gave him the opportunity to change his priorities, to put God and others first, and to adjust his attitude about his wealth. Jesus did not soft sell salvation, but in love told him what true salvation looked like and what must change in his life.
For decades the church, the body of Christ, in this nation has been living like this rich man. We have not been willing to make the hard choices, the unpopular decisions in love. Being different is not always fun, but that is what Jesus has called us to be: salt in a tasteless world; light in the darkness; hope to the hopeless. So, where do we go from here? God is not surprised by the state of the world or by our failures as the church. We do need to start standing for what is biblically right. We need to be who God called us to be. We need to set new, Godly priorities and adjust our attitudes away from the world. Look at everything that is going on in our world. Can’t you see that the day of the Lord is close? I really believe that there is not much time remaining; we need to redeem what time we have left for our Savior.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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