Lacking

Lacking – Mark 10: 17 - 31

Intro: Have you ever left home for a long trip with a funny feeling that you’ve forgotten something? You don’t know what it was, but you just have this nagging feeling. A man tells the story that every time his family drove off on vacation, his mom would look at his dad and say, “We’ve got to go back to the house because I think I left the iron on. I don’t want the house to burn down.” His dad would turn around and go back and each time the iron would be turn off. This continues for years. Finally, one day when his mom told her husband to turn around, go back, and check, he didn’t say a word. Instead, he pulled over to the side of the road, got out of the car, opened the trunk and handed his wife the iron.

I The wealthy man in our scripture today is like the woman in my story. He had a nagging feeling that he was missing something he needed to inherit eternal life.

A VS. 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?’”

B The man shows submission and respect before Jesus. He isn’t out to trick or trap him like the religious leaders had done. He honestly and reverently come to Jesus because of a nagging feeling that all was not right in his life.

C I heard of a t-shirt that would be perfect for the man in our scripture. On the front of the shirt was the following: “FOMO made me do it!” Any idea what FOMO is about? It actually means “Fear Of Missing Out.”

II VV. 18 – 20 / I am struck by the sadness of VS. 20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

A The man is at an impasse. He wants to “save” his life; but, he just doesn’t know how. He has done all he has been taught by the law and yet feels that something is missing. Knowing the commandments is not enough. Being a good person is not enough. The man is looking for something more.

B You may remember the song “Lookin' for Love" It was written by Wanda Mallette, Bob Morrison and Patti Ryan, and recorded by American country music singer Johnny Lee. It was released in June 1980 as part of the soundtrack to the film Urban Cowboy,

Lookin' for love in all the wrong places

Lookin' for love in too many faces

Searchin' their eyes

Lookin' for traces

Of what I'm dreamin' of

C This could be the theme-song for our society and perhaps even the world today. We have people at our borders with the same idea. It is nothing new because the man who came to Jesus felt the same way, he was looking for something!

III VS. 21a – “Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘one thing you lack,’ he said.”

A Some tremendous verbs follow in the rest of VS. 21 – “LACK, GO, SELL, GIVE, COME, FOLLOW.”

B Jesus is not advocating poverty. It is a prescription that would free him from what was holding him back. Mark’s story is not about money. It is about lacking the ability to surrender. The man lacked the ability to surrender everything to follow Christ.

C That is often what is missing in our lives. We lack the ability to surrender our whole self, all that we have, all that we are to something greater than ourselves.

Concl: I want to share a story written by an unknown author. “A wise woman traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry. The wise woman opened her bag and shared her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left rejoicing in his good fortune because he knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. A few days later, the hungry traveler came to the wise woman and returned the stone. He said, “I’ve been thinking. I know how valuable the stone is. I give it back to you in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. --- Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.”

The young man knew he was lacking something. Jesus asked him more than giving up his wealth. He was asking him to give up what he was lacking, what held him back from loving God completely. What he lacked, we may also lack. What holds us back from loving God completely?