October 10, 2021
Sermon Title: What is the right question?
Scripture Text: Mark 10:17-31
There are many things we can disagree on but drug and alcohol is not normally one of them. Here is just some of the information.
Despite the rise in opioid addictions, alcohol abuse is the most commonly abused substance in Tennessee
There are an estimated 800 methamphetamine labs operating at any given time in Tennessee. The consequence of meth use is devastating, causing irreversible and serious damage to the body, environmental damage from toxic chemicals, and thousands of dollars in lab clean-up costs.
But the drug that law enforcement officials in Tennessee are increasingly concerned about is heroin. The heroin influx could pose an even bigger problem, with more deadly repercussions, because the drug is sometimes laced with an even more powerful and dangerous narcotic called Fentanyl. Fentanyl is used for drastic and excruciating pain in patients.
All of these intermingled problems that are mixed with and a part of what many call recreational drugs. Are ripping many away from living peaceful and Godly lives.
These problems aren’t just a problem for the individuals themselves but everyone they come in contact with; family, friends, work associates and on and on. Sin never just affects the one sinning.
These are curses upon society. There are so many sins that are in everyday lives that we can't see or feel. There is one thing for sure: Sin is sin. (period!)
We need to start asking the right questions to be healed.
If it keeps us away from living as God intended, it’s a sin. If it gets in the way of working or doing things that will uplift God it’s a sin. God doesn’t have a list from the highest to the lowest sins. Yes there are different consequences for different sins but sinning is sinning is sinning.
We can despise the abuse of Drugs and Alcohol but there are many sins we see and do that can cause as much or more damage. How can we heal these sins and receive eternal life? What is the right question to ask?
Anything that stands between us and God is a sin.
How to overcome these abuses, these sins, or all sin we can see in our Scripture today. We must ask the right question.
Our Scripture reading:
Mark 10:17-31 NLT
17 As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.”
20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
26 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
28 Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said.
29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. 31 But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”
We “must” know the right question to ask when we are trying to kick sin out of our lives. Do you know what it is? Did you see it in our Scripture today?
We are like the rich young ruler because we will never kick sin or sins out of our lives until we ask the “right” question. The rich young ruler asked Jesus the wrong question: “What shall I do…?”
We can’t kick sin out of our lives and get eternal life. It’s not by or through our own efforts.
When Jesus told them how hard it was to kick sin and get eternal life they had their own question in verse 26,27:
26 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
Drugs and Alcohol are horrible sins but what was the sin of the rich young ruler that he needed to be healed? Being rich? No. Could it have been the question he asked?
The rich young ruler asked “How can I” or “What do I have to do to get eternal life”. That’s the wrong question. The right question is “How can God” because “Everything is possible with God”!
