Everything and Nothing
Mark chapter 10
Note-
This sermon has thoughts and ideas shared from several SermonCentral Preachers and is not considered to be an original. Thank you to all who played a part in its writing.
Prayer
Introduction-
This week
Death of Rev. Billy Graham- I knew this day would come, he was 99 years old- it is still sad. The world needed him and God has finally in his old age taken him home. I am guessing that is how Apostle Paul felt. He wanted to be with Jesus, his savior, but knew that he had a job to do here. That is probably how Rev. Graham felt. He was happy to see his Jesus, but sad that he would leave the world.
This morning we will look at the rich young ruler and each of those words are important. It is recorded in all the gospels but only Matthew records that he was young. So we see a rich young man who has done well for himself and has an encounter with Jesus and has some questions for him.
Do you know that Jesus don’t mind you having questions? I think he wants us thinking through the scriptures and digesting what it means for our lives.
I sat for lunch this week with 5-6 pastors and they all had an opinion, but only mine was right-LOL!
I don’t know how you guys do it- everyone of us preaching to each other like it was only our way or the highway.
Jesus had just finished preaching about the kingdom of God and how we should come to him like little children.
We pick the text up with a Jewish man running to Jesus with questions-
Mark 10:17-31 Read from Bible slowly and carefully.
Let’s break this down a little-
you have Jesus preaching on the kingdom of God and you have a Jew listening to him and sorting out in his head what is being said and trying to line it up with what he has been taught.
Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? This was new to him.
“No one is good except God, why do you call me good”? That seems strange for the Son of Man to say why call me good- but you will see later that he is addressing wrong thinking but never dismisses who He is.
Jesus says-
You know the commandments- Jesus names several commandments which deal with our relationship with each other.
Don’t murder
Don’t steal’
Don’t commit adultery
No false testimony
Honor your parents.
Our passage introduces us to a young man searching for something.
He is often called the Rich young ruler. Matthew uses young man. Luke describes him as a ruler, or maybe an aristocrat. Matthew, Mark, and Luke acknowledge he is rich.
He was a man with two things- wealth and success, but he turned to Jesus for something more to life.
Illustration-
Have you ever left home and had a funny feeling that you have forgotten something? You don’t know what it was, but just this nagging feeling. A man tells the story that every time his family drove off for vacation, his mom would say to his dad, “Honey, we have got to go back to the house and check because I think I left the iron on. I don’t want the house to burn down.” His dad would turn around and they would go back and check and the iron would be turned off. This continued for several trips. Finally on one trip, when she told her husband to turn around and go back and check, he didn’t say a word and he pulled the car over to the shoulder, got out of the car and opened his trunk and handed her the iron.
Millions of people are searching for something.
They can’t put their finger on what they are looking for.
We come across people like that almost every day of our lives.
Maybe at times you feel the same way.
One writer shares Bono, the singer from the group U2 recorded a song in 1987 about his universal search. He sang: “I have run; I have crawled; I have scaled these city walls; only to be with you. But I still haven’t found what I was looking for. He even ends the song referring to Jesus. You broke the bonds; you loosed the chains; carried the cross of my shame, oh my shame, you know I believe it. But I haven’t found what I was looking for. Years later, Bono then 55 years old interviewed on Focus on the family, a Christian radio program said that he has found what he was looking for – a relationship with Jesus Christ.
These verses give us several life lessons-
Man with questions about the kingdom of God
Rich mans attitude toward the things that he has.
The separation of godly things and human things
Reward of faithfulness
Some would say if I had more money I would give more.
Some…If I had more time I would give more time.
Let me tell you something. If you have 10 dollars and you won’t give one dollar, you would not give 100 dollars if you had 1000.
If you will not give one hour now to help others, if you retired tomorrow you would not give more time because it is a heart issue.
2000 years ago, a Jewish man came to Jesus because He was searching-
Searching is good- he doesn’t have a name because he could have been anyone of us and probably most of us at one time in our lives.
The best time to come to Jesus is when you are young. Not the only time, but just think how many mistakes you may have avoided if you did earlier.
He came to the right person/ Jesus
He came with the right energy- running
He came with the right attitude/ kneeling before Jesus
He asked the right question/ how can I have eternal life
We see his enthusiasm and his hopes were turned to sorrow as the one thing he would not give up was the very thing that Jesus had asked from him.
Before we bust on the rich guy:
What is it that is competing with God ruling your life?
Is it money? Is it relationship? Is it a habit or a pleasure that you are not willing to set aside?
How much do you want goodness?
Do you realize that goodness is not enough?
Do you realize that in Jesus you are more than enough- you are conquers in Christ Jesus!
This Jewish man who was searching for more- asking questions about eternal life was told by Jesus to obey the Commandments- Does that seem strange to you?
We all know that we are saved by Grace and we cannot have eternal life by just obeying rules and laws.
Every Jew knew and memorized the Ten Commandments.
Ten Commandments were divided on two tables- First 4 had to do with our relationship with God and the last 6 were our relationships to each other.
Those commandments on the second table are what were quoted back to him and the Lord skipped one- Do you know which one? Do not covet- so he goes back to this young rich and successful man and says go sell all he has and come back and follow Him.
Covet means to want more and more stuff that other people have-
There is only room for one God in your life and it can’t be stuff! Nothing wrong with stuff- but it cannot be your god.
Back for a moment to the text-
Jesus saying why do you call me good?
He was perfect. He is the Son of God. He never dismissed His authority.
He was getting him to look at him for the right reason, to have a change of heart. If you are looking at me as a messenger of the word- don’t look at me as good. If you are looking at me as the Son of God delivering the word of truth because I am the way, the truth, the way of life, you are correct.
We have to be careful not to lift up the messenger more than the message.
On a week I mourn the death of Billy Graham, he was the messenger of God, he was not God. I am thankful that his ministry was almost spotless, but if he would have fell, I would not have lost my faith because my trust is in the Lord not Billy Graham.
So many fell because of the failure of Jim and Tammy Bakker
So many were turned off because of some of the oddities of Oral Robertson demands.
Many asked how could Jimmy Swaggart have fallen in the 1980’s?
No pastor or messenger is your god.
No church is your salvation.
Do not let any person be put in the spot that belongs to God.
This Jew who kept all the laws and rules so he thought had put material things in the spot that God belonged. He asked about salvation and eternal life and Jesus exposed the one thing that he was not willing to lay down for Jesus and that was the very thing Jesus demanded of him and he was not able to do it.
“Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and follow me.”
Jesus saw in this man that money was his god and ask him to lay it down.
You will not have to sell all your riches unless your riches have been placed where God should be.
There are a lot of rich people in the Bible and today that God will not ask to sell all because their possessions don’t posses them.
You do not lose your treasure when you give to others- you are laying up treasures in heaven. Amen! Good stuff! Get it! Poet and don’t know it.
No one can serve two masters, either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Matthew 6:24
We need money, we can have money, but it cannot be our God. You can replace the word money with anything at all that would be higher than God and He will bring your god down and put it in prospective.
Very quickly-
The perils of riches (anything placed higher than God)
Riches encourage a false independence
Riches shackle people to this earth
Riches tend to make people selfish
Those who are humble on earth will be great in heaven. Those who were great on earth will be humbles in heaven.
If you really want your investment to last- invest your treasures in heavenly things that will last forever.
Close,
Is there something or someone that you put before your God?
Christianity is not something that can be chosen from a buffet of religious options.
We have to obey we have to search or hearts to be sure that nothing gets placed where the Lord is to be.
There is nothing wrong with stuff, but there is if the stuff has you.
This ruler had everything money could buy but had nothing of value when he chose to walk away from Jesus.
Christianity is realizing that we are guilty of sin.
It is a relationship forged in repentance of those sins.
It is sacrificially living your life by loving service and obedience to the one whose mercy and grace set us free.
Would you take a minute and allow the Lord to search your heart and would you be willing to lay down anything that hinders your relationship with the Lord.
Amen
Prayer.
