February 15, 2009
Mark 10:17-22
Uncaged
* Sermon inspired by Mark Batterson’s book, Wild Goose Chase.
17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
18 Jesus answered, "Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ’Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’"
20 He declared, "Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy."
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him, saying, "One thing you lack, 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.
Two weeks ago I spoke about our treasures. At the end of the message I asked you a couple of questions . . .
What is it you treasure?
What is your greatest desire in life?
How much does money - -
the love of money / the fear of money drive your life?
As Paul told Timothy, you came into the world with nothing and you will leave with nothing. In essence, it’s what you do inbetween which will make the difference. How you serve . . . how you give . . . how you live . . . those will be your legacies.
You see, I believe we all want to have hope in this lifetime, but honestly, I think most people struggle having any hope, and that is why we are so negative. It’s why we have no problem finding faults with anything and everything. We do it at home, we do at work, we do it at school, and we do it at church. Everything we get involved in we end up trying to rate or pick apart for what is wrong, instead of looking at life and seeing what is right. Even if it means we have to dig a little, there is a lot that is right in this life . . . but do you see it? Or do you prefer to dwell on what you don’t think is right, which by the way, may in someone else’s eyes may be 100% right.
You see, God calls us to be a people of hope, not because our hope rests in ourselves. If that was the case, then we should be hopeless, but our hope rests on Christ. He is the author and giver of hope and without Him, we are to be pitied.
When we move away from Jesus, we move away from our hope.
When we spew our negativity, we move away from our hope.
When we accept temptation and sin, we move away from our hope.
When we gossip and slander and backstab, we move away from our hope.
When we accept bitterness and unforgiveness, we move away from our hope.
When we place our hope in ourselves, we have lost all hope.
I can go on, but I think you get the point. We need to get back to the reason for our hope, and that is Jesus Christ. He calls us in two very different and distinct ways.
Firstly, He calls you and I to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. That Jesus is the Messiah, the One sent by the Father to earth, so he could lead us down the road to faith and forgiveness; grace and mercy; hope and love; patience and kindness. He desires for you and I to be in a trusting relationship with Him, but too often we accept the humdrum of life. We accept an inverted view of Christianity. This means Christ is on the bottom and we are on top.
Instead of following the Spirit, we invite the Spirit to follow us. Instead of serving God’s purposes, we want Him to serve our purposes. And while this may seem like a subtle distinction, it makes a huge difference. The result of this inverted relationship with God is not just a self-absorbed spirituality that leaves us feeling empty, it’s also the difference between spiritual boredom or spiritual apathy and spiritual calling and spiritual passion. It’s like that old bumper sticker which said, “God is my co-pilot.” If God is your co-pilot then you are in trouble, because God needs to have the pilots seat.
Secondly, God calls us to get involved. There is no such thing as a retired Christian. We are all called to be actively engaged serving Christ. It could be within the church or in the community, but we ALL should be serving. To accomplish this God calls each one of us according to His plans, ways, thoughts, and methodology. And when He calls you and me, He leads the way. God will not call us, then bail out on us. Instead, He leads us to where we need to be going, as long as we allow Him to pilot the ship.
1. We love God
2. We love one another
3. We serve God by serving one another
4. WHY?! Because we love God, because we experience God’s love.
Yet, I wonder if we’ve clipped the wings of the Holy Spirit. You know, it’s kind of like those who have chickens and don’t want them to fly the coop. You clip their wings and they are stuck, they can’t fly away. They never experience the joy and thrill of soaring through the skies. Yet, I wonder if we don’t do that to the Spirit of God and then we end up settling for something much less than what God originally intended for us.
You see, we want to solve the mystery of the will of God the way we solve a crossword puzzle. However, when we try to analyze God, we usually find ourselves paralyzed by the vastness and uncertainty of God. We can’t explain away His plans. In fact, I’d say more times than not, we don’t have a clue, but that is what makes seeking after God and following Him such a great experience. God’s in control, let God take the wheel.
So, since we struggle with making sense of God, we try to make God fit within the confines of our thinking. We try to reduce the will of God to the logical limits of our left brain. But God’s will is not logical and linear. It is downright confusing and complicated.
A part of us feels as if something is spiritually wrong with us when we experience this uncertainty. But that is precisely what Jesus promised us when we are born of the Spirit and start following Him. We may have no idea where the Spirit is leading us, and that can be very unsettling. But it is also part of the joy of the adventure of following Christ.
When I look at today’s passage, there is a part of me that really feels sorry for this guy. We affectionately call him, “THE RICH YOUNG RULER.”
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On paper, he had it all. He had wealth and power. But something was still missing. In Matthew 19:20 he asked Jesus, “what do I still lack?” Maybe he was bored with his faith. Maybe it was just too easy for him. After all, who doesn’t like the comforts of life?
Maybe one of our issues is that many Christians are bored with their faith. Think about it, we know our sins are forgiven and even forgotten by God. We know we’ll spend eternity with God when we cross from here to there. And we’re trying our best to live our lives within the rules God has set before us, so we can be in God’s good, pleasing and perfect will. But don’t you sometimes have that gnawing feeling that something is missing?
I think the rich young ruler is representative of a generation that longs to come out of the cage and live dangerously for the cause of Christ. But too many of us end up settling for spiritual mediocrity instead of striving for spiritual maturity. Jesus speaks to that deep - seated longing by challenging us to come out of the cage. Coming out of our cages means giving up the very thing in which we find our security and identity outside of Christ.
In the case of the rich young ruler, his cage was financial security. Jesus said to him, “One thing you lack, go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
A part of us feels bad for the guy, right? How could Jesus demand so much? He asked him to give up everything! That’s a pretty demanding request. Mark even tells us Jesus looked at him and loved him. But it was short lived wasn’t it? Jesus saw the sincerity in the young man. Jesus loved that he wanted more in life, and like us, this rich young ruler, failed to see and appreciate the offer Jesus puts on the table.
I don’t care how much this young ruler had to give up - Jesus offered him so much more. This was the opportunity of a lifetime - - a real relationship with the Son of God. But the guy turned it down. He opted for the cage. And he made the mistake so many of us make: he chose the accessorized life over a lifetime of a relationship with Jesus.
You see, when you think about your life and the choices you make . . . are you accepting the call of God, or are you living in a cage, where you can’t make any moves and you’re stymied.
If Jesus were standing next to us, what would He tell you, you need to let go of. What cage are you holding onto, which hinders your spiritual maturity?
We can call upon lots of addictions which stop us . . .
But what about other issues in life which we simply give in to, and we are left standing there in our cage. It’s no fun to be confined. Try it for a few minutes, it’ll drive you batty. Yet, that is how we live our lives. We clip our own wings, we think it is safer to clip our wings than to accept the call of the Holy Spirit.
Folks, Jesus is calling you and I to go into the world right now and make a difference in His name. My vision for this church is really pretty simple. . .
I believe we are to be passionate and contagious Christians who make a relevant difference in the world. That sounds pretty simple, but put it into practice and it is not as simple as you think.
This means you need to listen to God’s calling in your life. You need to stop trying to control everything around you and allow God to be God, and know that you are not. You need to accept the fact that God wants you to live the great life. God does not want to constrain you and force you to a life of misery because you are a Christian. God wants you to celebrate and be excited about your relationship with Him.
But on Sunday morning we see lots of gloomy faces in worship, as if this is painful. This is all about giving ourselves to God. Worship is about coming into this place not looking to rate a sermon, or rate a song . . . worship is about giving yourself . . . heart, soul, mind and body to God. Not every sermon nor every song is going to move you, that’s cool, that really does not bother me. But when you walk into these doors on Sunday morning, the goal is to devote the next hour to hour and a half to giving yourself to God. When you do that, you won’t have to worry if the entire worship was off key, you’ll still experience Christ. I am 100% certain of that.
But it means we must stop controlling everything around us. We need to allow God to do his thing.
RADICALLY DEVOTED
IRREVOCABLY COMMITTED
RELENTLESSLY DEDICATED
Just like the rich young ruler, we have a choice to make. The same offer is extended. We can stay in our cage end up with everything, and realize it amounts to nothing. Or we can come out of our cage and chase the Wild Goose.
