Not Far From the Kingdom
Mark 12:28-34
• Can you imagine how describe felt when he heard Jesus say, “You are not far from the kingdom of God?”
• This had been a busy day for Jesus. Since coming into the temple, He had been confronted by just about everybody in the building. It began with the Sanhedrin who, when Jesus finished speaking, walked away with the truth that Jesus said they may not make it to heaven. The continued with the Pharisees and the Herodians who, when Jesus finished with them, walked away in disbelief and marveled at his wisdom. Next, came the Sadducees. When Jesus finished with them, they knew how Jesus felt about them and their theology. In a word Jesus said, “YOU OUR WRONG!”
• It appears that this one scribe has been watching Jesus for this entire day and has taken in all the confrontations to Jesus and heard all the answers by Jesus. When the smoke cleared, it would seem that this scribe felt like he had the one question which might ultimately reveal Jesus for who He was. So as we have read, this scribe puts the question to Jesus, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Now it is easy for us to get real spiritual, but I ask you how would you have answered that question? Just ponder your response for a second.
• Let it not be lost on you and me that this scribe attempted to come privately, but Jesus answered publicly. He began, “The most important is,“ and at that point, it appears that he spoke to the crowd by saying, “Hear, oh Israel.” It would seem that this scribe had asked a very important question and Jesus wanted to make sure that everybody heard the answer. And with everyone’s attention, Jesus said, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” My personal opinion is that Jesus did not even take a breath and continued, “The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
• The scribe was not taken back at all, in fact, he agreed with Jesus and restate it all that Jesus said and responded you’re right. In our modern day culture were thinking making progress. I mean, Jesus and the scribe or agreeing? Does this mean the scribes believer, a follower, a Christian?
• We should never be fooled, Jesus never is. He looked at this scribe and saw a very religious man, a learned man, a devout man, a faithful man, and yet a man who was only close to the kingdom.
• Over the past few weeks as I have meditated on the Scripture, the thought has run through my mind asking, “What does it mean to be not far from the kingdom?” Because I think like I think, the ensuing question is how many people are like this scribe and believe themselves to be in the kingdom when in the words of Jesus, they are not far.
• For the next few moments, consider and think about with me what it means to be “Not far from the kingdom of God.” What I would like to do for the next few moments is to consider two questions; a) How do you get “Not far?”, 2) What does it mean to be “Not far?”
1. So, how do you get to be not far from the kingdom of God? The beginning of this answer lies in the depravity of man. Because of our sin nature, we will never move toward God on our own. There must be something stirred up inside of us. Left to our own vices, we will immerse ourselves in those things that God sees as sin (I. E. Selfishness, self-centeredness, immorality, and the like). It is only when something is planted inside of us that will find ourselves redirected and close to the kingdom of God. So, to find ourselves not far from the kingdom, I suggest, we need two things;
a. A clear destination. Most people have a clear idea of where they want to ‘end up,’ HEAVEN! I am yet to hear someone with a clear understanding of the place say, “I want to go to hell.”
• Consider the scribe. He was indeed a learned man. The life of a scribe was very structured. He would enter his training, often times, around the age of 13 and would study, learn, and develop until age 30 when he would be 'licensed' or 'installed.' By my count, that was 17 years of study. Many of the scribes graduated to write legal documents - while others spent their lives recording and transcribing scripture. They knew the books of law and prophets and understood, so they thought, the Kingdom of God. They knew that, in eternity, they wanted to be in Heaven with Jehovah God. The understood the concept of “Gehenna”-that place with never-ending fire.
• You and I know the value of having a clear destination that is, knowing where we are going. Today, you came to worship in this worship center. When you left home, you knew the precise location you were headed. What if you were new in town and only knew the name of the church or perhaps the address (with no GPS, IPAD, or Cell phone?) You might get close, but are you sure you could get here? You might get close on your own, but the chances of getting here are not so good...SO you stop and ask directions from someone - and that someone is also not from here, but they THINK they know where you are going, so they give you a 'semblance of directions'.
b. A confused direction. To me, nothing is worse than having a set of unclear directions. When you're in a rural area, you may get direction like "go down to the broken oak, turn left & go to Charlie's house, turn right, across black creek, and look to the top of the hill." If you live in that area, it might make sense, but if you don't, you could well get lost because of the directions.
• For years, these Religious Leaders had committed to memory, enforced, and believed that the way to heaven & thus into the Kingdom of God was by keeping the over 600 laws which made up the Rabbinical law. They knew those laws very well. The very reason Jesus found a kindred spirit with this scribe is because Jesus began with the first law of the Decalogue, "One God and Love Him." Yet, God’s word of the law and prophets always pointed to the coming Messiah.
• The religious leaders were so busy with the law of God that they missed the grace of God found in Jesus. They believed that they could 'work their way' into heaven. Talk about confusing directions! The religious were saying, "It's all through the law" and Jesus is saying "It's all through ME, I AM THE WAY." I fear that in 21st Century America, in large measure, church people have been and are giving confused directions. We know the Bible says, "Jesus is the way & the only way" however, in practice, have we bought into Oprah's theology of "There has to be more than one way?" Or the Universalist theology that "Somehow, someway, in some fashion, and some day EVERYONE will get to heaven because a good God simply will not send anyone to eternal punishment?” How exactly do we do this? We do this with our lack of passion for bringing glory to God in our lives, we do this with our silence, we do this with lack of living out His word & truth in our lives, and we even do this with our 'tolerance.' Don’t misquote me: When we tolerate public & ongoing sin in those who ‘claim’ to be followers – we give a confusing message.
• When God’s people stand lovingly and yet firmly on His truths, offering hope to the hurting and help to the fallen, and giving a clear call of life-changing salvation from Jesus, people respond because in their hurting, hopeless, and helpless condition they want and need the truth.
• Let’s illustrate it this way: What if you went to the doctor and he said, “You may have a disease which I’m told is terminal. The truth is that for this specific disease medical journals say we have finally found the cure. What I suggest is that you talk to a few people, get their opinions, talk with your family, get their opinions, in fact, see what people at work think, and if down the road you’re not getting any better, then we’ll see what we should do.” Is there anyone in this church building who would respond to that type of medical of advice? The resounding answer is “NO!” And why is that? Because this is a matter of life and death. Quite honestly, if given this uncertain prescription for a terminal disease most of us would change doctors. Can you make the application for the church, lost people, & salvation?
2. What does it mean for you to be “Not Far From the Kingdom? – Jesus told the scribe, this ‘learned’ man, that “He was not far from the Kingdom.” What exactly might that mean for him & us?
a) Obviously, Being not far means that you know the truth. The scribe knew & agreed with Jesus’ teaching about ‘one God, love Him with all you are and your neighbor as yourself.’ This one passage should cause each one of us to pause because KNOWING THE TRUTH HAS NEVER BEEN, IS NOT, AND WILL NEVER BE enough to get into the Kingdom. Few people would have known more about the Old Testament manuscripts than this scribe and Jesus says, “You’re not far.” What could be worse than to “KNOW” the truth (the way & life) and still miss glory?
b) Being ‘not far’ would also mean that you’re “CLOSE.” How close are you to the Kingdom of God? If you left this building and was involved in a horrific accident which thrust you into eternity, exactly how close would you be to the Kingdom? Can I give a personal word? I have never liked to just be ‘close’ to my goal. When I play golf, I don’t want to hit my golf-ball close to the hole, I want it IN the hole. When I play football, I don’t want to be ‘close’ to the goal, I want to cross the goal, score the points, and win. When I see the Kingdom of God, I don’t want to be ‘close’, I want to be in. Years ago I heard a preacher say that some people will miss heaven by 18 inches. That is the distance between their head and their heart. In their head (mind) they know Jesus is the Savior of the world, He died on the cross for their sin, and rose from the dead to make them right before God; but somehow that truth has never made it into their hearts. The Bible says, “For it is with the HEART that man believes and is saved.” It is in the heart that life-change occurs. Are you close? In the early 20th century ‘County Fairs’ and/or ‘Carnivals’ were the rave. You could go and test your accuracy and strength by throwing balls and ringing bells. In those early days, the prize was a ‘cigar.’ The phrase which was commonly used when a man has a near-miss was this; “Close, but no cigar.” When it comes to God’s Kingdom, being close has a terrible payoff.
c) The last thought I will give you is this: Being not far means that you are NOT IN!! There is nothing in this world sadder to me than to realize when this life come to an end, many who expect to be saved will be lost. This is the message of Jesus found in Matthew 7:21-23 (READ). Being ‘not far’ means being ‘not in’ and the only other destination is a place of eternal punishment. The scribe in our story was attempting to stand on his own righteousness and in his own knowledge – and Jesus said, “You are not far.” Do you know what Jesus will say to that scribe in the final day? It will not be, “You’re not far”, it will be “I never knew you.” To know Jesus means you have confessed with your mouth and believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. When this gets into your heart, you will experience forgiveness of your sin & begin a life-long relationship with God through the person of the Holy Spirit who comes to reside in your heart. Then the journey of faith, love, compassion, and concern begins. And the best part is that the Holy Spirit will be a part of your life from now on. When He comes in – you’ll no longer ‘not far’ – you’ll be inside God’s Kingdom.
