Over the last number of years there has been a wave of reality TV shows. Survivor, Amazing Race, the Bachelor, the Bachelorette, Fixer-Upper. There was one that was popular a while back… it was called Hoarders. Did any of you watch any episodes of Hoarders? Could any of you have been on an episode of Hoarders? It details the lives of people who have an inability to let things go. For them, almost everything in life has a sentimental value, so they insist on keeping it. And their houses usually end up looking something like this [show picture of crowded house].
Professionals come in and help them dig out all their stuff and give almost all of it away. If you’ve seen the show, you approach it expecting it to be pretty funny and actually comical, but when you watch it, every time it’s heartbreaking. These people believed that their lives would be better if they held on to all their stuff. But in reality, all that stuff has kept them from experiencing real life.
Last week we talked about the ideal… a whatever it takes mindset when it comes to following and serving Jesus… This week, the pendulum swings… we’re talking about a narrative that illustrates a “whatever” kind of attitude… one that never quite had a full surrender… It comes from Mark 10… often remembered as the Rich, Young Ruler.
The story is simple… there was a man who had a lot of stuff, an influential young “businessman” is compelled to follow Jesus. He wanted to know how he could grow in his walk with God and have certainty of salvation, of eternal life. Jesus tells him to part ways with all his things and follow Him. But he just can’t bring himself to part with his money, so he leaves Jesus instead.
Few stories are more relevant for the American church… and maybe that’s why our tendency is to just explain this one away… We say, “boy, that’s a powerful story for rich people.” We don’t think it applies to us. You see, the rich are people with just a little more money than we have. Or we say, “well, Jesus doesn’t ask everyone to give up wealth, only those for whom it was a problem or an idol.” But, we rarely (if ever) consider just how much of an obstacle money is in our own pursuit of Christ.
To get our expectations right upfront here… this may be one of the most challenging passages in all of Scripture. I heard one preacher who loves the Bible and loves to study say this about this text, “This is one of my least favorite sections in the entire Bible.” This passage is a challenging, confrontational, even offensive passage. But it’s in the Bible for a reason. No matter how uncomfortable it may make us, it is God’s Word, it is true, it is powerful, and God has something important to teach us from it. We can’t cherry-pick our favorite passages when we read the Bible, finding the passages we love and discarding the passages we don’t. “God is love”—get out the highlighter! “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you”—yes, get out the highlighter! “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength”—get out the pen and the highlighter! But we are tempted to skip over passages like the one we are about to read. “Go and sell all you possess and give to the poor…” anyone have that verse highlighted in their Bible?? Some of you know this, but I recently heard that Thomas Jefferson used scissors and cut out sections of the Bible he didn’t like. Give me the moral teachings, give me the wise sayings, but anything that’s costly and sacrificial, let’s get that out of there! We can’t afford to make that mistake. Even though this is challenging, this is God’s eternal truth. God has something to teach us, something to teach you through this. Let’s dive into the passage together.
Mark 10:17 says, “As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
There are several things to point out right away. First, from the parallel passage in Luke, we learn that this man is a ruler. This implies that he’s got some clout… he probably has some political power, from a family of influence… and from the other gospels we learn that he was young and had money. He was wealthy. That’s why he is often referred to as “the rich young ruler.”
Did you notice how he addressed Jesus? He calls Him, “good teacher.” You can tell that he has respect and admiration for Jesus… but maybe not a posture of submission. Without reading too far into the text at this point… I would maybe infer that he’s interested in Jesus’ wisdom, but stops short of pledging any sort of allegiance or devotion to Him.
That reservation, or hesitation is already at play in the narrative… and I think it impacts our story, too. If we approach Jesus the way this man did… as a good teacher… a rabbi… a positive moral role model… then we’ll probably respond to Jesus the same way this guy did, too… we’ll take Jesus’ words as advice, but we get to decide if we’ll apply or not.
By contrast… if we approach Jesus as Lord, the long-awaited Messiah, God in the flesh… then that reality transforms everything. It means that His words are not just merely good advice… but they’re our commands… our marching orders, whether we like it or not.
He asks an amazing question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” It’s a good thing that he wants eternal life; who doesn’t? But what can we learn from the question itself? There may be something problematic with the question from the start…
I would maybe think that he’s approaching eternal life as a reward to be earned… rather than as a gift to be received. And I know this is a little strange… because if you look at the immediate context, the passage right before this one… Jesus just explained that the kingdom of God belongs to little children. I have a little child. I love her. She is cute. And she’s at a point where she wants to help. Which is great. But her “help” isn’t always very helpful right now.
She’s not really a huge help in my efforts to get the job done. But let me honest with you… I didn’t bring her along because of what she can contribute. I brought her with me to “help” because she’s my daughter and I love her and the investment in that relationship is worthwhile to me, even if it makes the task at hand take a little longer. And I wonder if in some ways the same could be said about us and our relationship with God.
No matter how much we mature… no matter how many people report to us at work, no matter how many letters come after our name…. when it comes to God… He doesn’t really need you. He’s entirely self-sufficient. It’s not like there’s a whole lot we can do for Him on our own. He’s God… and as a loving Father, He still wants us to be with Him. And whatever work is done is done not because He needs us, but because He invites us to join Him in His mission. If this rich, young ruler had that kind of relational, humble approach… I would imagine this entire interaction would have been transformed. Let’s keep reading…
Mark 10:18-19, “And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.”
Where is Jesus quoting from? The Ten Commandments… What’s the question mark here?… He only quotes six of the ten…but if you noticed… He only quotes the ones that have to do with interactions with other people. He leaves out the command about having “no other gods before the Lord” and about “not worshipping or serving created things.”
For this guy, I imagine those other commands would have been pretty convicting… they probably would have hit him square between the eyes. But maybe Jesus takes it easy on him at first. The guy responds in Verse 20, “And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.”
He’s most likely a Jewish boy… which means that at 13 he would have had his bar mitzvah… and become morally responsible for his own actions in the Jewish community… and he makes the claim that since then, he has obeyed all those commands without failure. I don’t know the truthfulness of his claim… it may well be true… but at the very least, he has a very high view of his own moral uprightness.
And Jesus doesn’t challenge him on his ability to keep the rules. Instead, in classic Jesus fashion, He cuts to the heart of the real issue in this man’s life… verse 21, “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
Like, “Hey, I love you, so I’m gonna tell you a hard thing… it’s wonderful that you’ve lived a good moral life, it’s great that you’ve kept all those commandments, but there is this one thing.” This is like a doctor who sends you to do 20 tests, then tells you 19 of them came back looking great, but there’s this one image in the MRI—there’s no doubt about it, it’s cancer. When a doctor identifies cancer in a patient, he or she graciously but directly and promptly makes the patient aware of it and begins a treatment plan to get that cancer out ASAP. That’s what a good doctor does.
And that’s what Jesus is getting ready to do for this man: to identify the one thing that is keeping him from being a fully devoted follower of Jesus. Like your other 10 tests came back great… but one thing came up… here’s your remedy… “‘Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me’”… Just like a doctor with an X-ray or MRI machine can pinpoint the cancer, Jesus has just pinpointed the central threat to this man’s soul: it’s his wealth. Like a good doctor, Jesus not only identified the problem, but he also gave him a treatment plan—give everything you have away and you’ll have treasure in heaven, God will reward you for your generosity, and then, once you are unencumbered by all your possessions and the distraction of managing all your wealth, you will be freed up to focus entirely on being my disciple. That’s Jesus’ expert advice. But just like a patient who listens to a doctor and then decides to ignore the counsel, this man listens to Jesus, but decides he isn’t willing to pay that price.
Verse 22, “But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.” Luke’s gospel says that he was very wealthy. The word for “sad” here is interesting. It’s like when it’s summertime and you’re looking off into the distance and you see a huge storm beginning to build… right around you the sun is shining and the sky is bright blue, but off in the distance it’s dark gray and moving in fast. The word for “sad” in this passage is the word ancient meteorologists would use to describe that experience. This man’s face fell… he went from excited and expectant to dejected and disappointed, all in a single sentence… because he didn’t want to give up his great wealth. It really is tragic.
The man is faced with a decision to make… between two treasures… his money or His Messiah… between the life he always had and the life he always wanted – and he made the wrong choice.
Verses 23-25, “And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus *answered again and *said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
The point is crystal clear. For the people from Palestine who were listening to Jesus, the camel was the largest animal they had ever seen, and the eye of a needle was the smallest hole they could imagine. For the biggest animal they know to go through the smallest hole they can think of, that’s how hard it is for the rich to be saved.
Verses 26-27, “They were even more astonished and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?” [like if that guy can’t do it, then who can??] 27 Looking at them, Jesus *said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
It would be wise for us to recognize how broadly Jesus is talking here… He’s not saying it’s impossible just for rich people to be saved… He’s saying it’s impossible for anybody to be saved. Rich, poor, black, white, male, female, religious, irreligious— salvation is impossible for all of us on our own. But what is impossible with man is possible with God. And then as he always seems to do, Peter chimes in: “Behold, we have left everything and followed you.” (Mark 10:28).
Like, “look at me! That guy wasn’t willing to give everything up to follow you, but we did! What are we going to get??” Verses 29-31, “Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”
Jesus says that those who give up everything always find a reward. God will honor them in this age, which means on this side of heaven… I think Jesus is picturing the church… a hundred times as many houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions… that’s 10,000% interest… pretty good markup if you ask me…. sounds a lot like the church to me….and in the age to come… which means they will receive rewards in heaven and will inherit eternal life.
From this text… at least two things are very clear….
First, Don’t let money take the place only Jesus deserves.
- Of course, if you are a Christian, the obvious response is, “I would never do that!” But I wonder if it happens without us ever realizing it. We live in a world where we go to work, hopefully find some satisfaction in what we do, and we get paid. And many of us are motivated by that paycheck.
- And we need to make money in order to pay for a place to live and a car to drive, and to insure the place where we live and the car we drive… we have to buy food and clothes and pay for kids and kid’s stuff. This is part of our modern world… we are forced to think about finances often, if not every day, maybe even multiple times a day. Money can almost have like a gravitational pull and that pull should never be minimized or underestimated. And these days, I wonder if its as strong as ever.
Things were weird a few years ago… you might remember… the world was caught up in a COVID crisis… outside of the health issues, finances were impacted in some major ways. The stock market dropped by 30% in a month… people were selling their investments left and right. Then the stock market had a little bit of dramatic growth. People started buying investments left and right.
The housing market went through the roof – people were getting on Zillow to find out that their house was worth 30-40% more than they paid for it just a few years ago. They’ve got all this equity and wonder what to do about it. Interest rates were low, inflation was high.
Cars were worth more than what they were paid for, even just two years prior… which was insane. I remember having sticker shock walking through the grocery stores. Crypto currencies went all over the place.
In my adult life, I can’t remember a time when there was a greater focus on money than the last few years. And while money itself might be morally neutral, it is not emotionally or spiritually neutral. Money often has power. It has pull. It was hard on this guy, the Bible specifically says “because he had great wealth.”
It certainly seems like the more money you have, the more control and focus finances are likely to have on your life. When you graduate from college and all you have is a car your grandma gave you and $200 in your bank account… if Jesus said, “You need to give what you have away so you can focus on me” … it wouldn’t be easy! But it might be easier for a person in that situation to get rid of all their stuff than it would be for a person who owns 2 new cars, a house paid off, and a retirement account they’ve spent decades building up.
The more you have of something, the greater the gravitational pull it might have on your heart. If not managed with wisdom and humility, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, money and the stuff that money can buy quickly claims the focus and energy that rightly belongs only to God.
And I wonder if that’s a reason why Jesus says, “You cannot serve both God and money” in Matthew 6:24. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong about being an investor, or being financially responsible, or stewarding your finances well, but if and when it starts competing for your mental and emotional energy, or too much of your time, it can be a dangerous game, even if you turn an enormous profit. You cannot serve both God and money.
In a sermon from 1953, one preacher [Martin Luther King Jr] said, “Daily within our lives, altars smoke with sacrifices to this idol god. We attribute to the almighty dollar an omnipotence equal to that of the eternal God of the universe.”
We are always on the verge of rewriting the Scriptures to read, “Seek ye first money and its power and all these other things will be added unto you,” or “Money is my light and my salvation, what shall I fear”…Choose which you will serve. Will you serve the transitory god of money which is here today and gone tomorrow or will you serve the eternal God of the universe who is the same yesterday, today and forever? Will you serve the god who is with us only in moments of prosperity or will you serve the God who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death and causes us to fear no evil? Will you serve the god whose power is limited to stacking up stocks and bonds or will you serve the God whose creative power stacked up the gigantic mountains as if to kiss the skies and set forth the stars to direct the heavens like swinging lanterns of eternity?
Choose this day whom you will serve… the god of money or the eternal God of the universe. You cannot serve both. That’s the first and unavoidable take away. Don’t let money take the priority only Jesus deserves.
I want you to take a moment right now to ask God to search your heart and show you if that’s happened. If so, ask God to give you the wisdom to know what to do, and the courage to do it. Jesus gave this man wisdom, but this man didn’t have the strength or resolve to follow through. Ask God for both.
There’s a second take away from this passage. Not only do we learn about not letting money take the priority only Jesus deserves, but we also learn: Don’t let anything take the place only Jesus deserves. Yes, for this man, his idol, the thing he was more committed to than Jesus was wealth, and wealth might be that idol for some of us, but this passage is really about not allowing anything to come between us and Jesus. Wealth is just one example.
For some, if Jesus were talking to us personally today, he might not focus only on money but rather on our career, or our image, or social media, or sexuality, or alcohol, or sports, or one of our hobbies. C.S. Lewis said, “History is the long, terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” In his book Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman talks about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. He says, “Followers are willing to deny themselves and say, “I choose Jesus. I choose Jesus over my family. I choose Jesus over money. I choose Jesus over my career. I am his completely. I choose Jesus over alcohol and partying. I choose Jesus over pornography. I choose Jesus over a remodeled house. I choose Jesus over my freedom. I choose Jesus over what people think about me.” A follower makes a decision every day to deny himself and choose Jesus…even if it costs everything.
We cannot hold on to all our stuff and at the same time take hold of Jesus. It doesn’t work like that! Jesus tells a parable about this. In Matthew 13:14, he said, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” He wasn’t bummed out that he had to sell all he had to buy the field, because he knew the field was infinitely more valuable than everything else he had. It wasn’t an obligation; it was an opportunity. Will we have to give things up to truly follow Christ? Absolutely! We have to give things up when we initially decide to follow Jesus, and then we continually have to give things up in order to grow in our relationship with Jesus—that’s part of spiritual maturity and conformity to his image. But we shouldn’t do it begrudgingly with a mopey spirit; it’s something we do with joy.
We can lay it all down with joy because we know deep in our hearts that Jesus is better! I don’t know what Jesus is calling you to lay down, but I do know this… He is better! The story of the rich young ruler teaches that we must be willing to take everything else off the throne of our lives before Jesus will sit down. And here is the thing: if you refuse, Jesus will let you walk away. If you want to ruin your life by clinging to your idols, He will let you, but I’m sure it breaks His heart.
The rich man is not the only one who walks away sad in this passage. I imagine Jesus was sad, too. Jesus came to earth to love him and was preparing to die on a cross to save him, but this man chose to cling to his stuff, rather than his savior. Whatever it is that you might be holding on to, Jesus invites you today to lay it down and take hold of him. Everything else in this world will eventually perish or let us down. Jesus never will.