I remember when I used to answer every call that came in on our telephone with a sense of excitement and anticipation.
In the days before caller ID, spam calls, and scam offers, answering the phone was always a bit of a mystery. You never knew who might be calling. And of course, you always hoped the call would be for you. But that wasn’t always the case.
Now there isn’t an “our” telephone anymore, just “my” phone or “your” phone—and these days, I decline as many calls as I accept.
If you call me and I don’t recognize your number, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going straight to voicemail. Don’t take it personally; it’s me, not you.
In fact, if my phone doesn’t recognize your number, you might even get a message asking who you are and why you’re calling before my phone rings. And if there’s no reply, that’s fine with me.
Through September and October, our series has been “The Call,” and Deborah, Rob, and I have taken you down the path of various individuals in the Old and New Testaments who answered God’s call on their lives. We’ve looked at Peter, Matthew, Paul and Esther as well as the 7 deacons.
But in our scripture this morning, we come to the only account in the Bible where someone was called to follow Jesus, and said no.
It’s a familiar story, and it’s often referred to as The Story of the Rich Young Ruler, probably because it’s a story about a rich young ruler. Let’s pick it up in Mark 10:17 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?”
The first thing we discover about the man was that He was Curious
The story begins by tell us, as Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem.
If you know the timeline of the Jesus story, you know that this is not just a trip to Jerusalem; this is the trip to Jerusalem.
This is Jesus' final trip to Jerusalem. This trip to Jerusalem will lead to the cross on Golgotha and then finally to an empty tomb.
And Jesus’ trip is interrupted by a young man who comes and kneels down in front of Him, asking the question that was weighing on his heart.
Somehow, somewhere the young man had heard about Jesus. There was something about what he had heard or seen that led him to believe that Jesus had the answer to the questions that many of us ask. Is this all there is? What happens next?
In the 1971 hit song Imagine, John Lennon begins with these words,
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
Imagine all the people
Livin' for today
But most of us either can’t imagine that, or don’t want to.
Instead, the rich young ruler asks the question most of us wonder about. That is, unless you are a committed atheist. If you truly believe that there is no God, then the answer to the question, what happens next? Is: Nothing!
But the question that has weighed heavily on the minds of the rest of humanity since the dawn of time is, is this all there is? And if it isn’t, then what is next?
So, the young man comes to one who he thinks may be able to answer the question.
And this wasn’t just idle curiosity. There is a sense of urgency here and more. We are told that he comes running up to Jesus and then kneels down in front of him.
In order to really capture the magnitude of the what of the story, we need to know the who of the story.
And like many of the stories in the gospels, we find various details in each of the accounts.
It’s Matthew who tells us that the man was young, and Luke who tells us he was a ruler,which many commentators take to mean a religious leader.
All three tell us he was wealthy, but Luke expands on that and tells us that not only was he rich, but he was very rich.
A rich, young, religious leader. Not someone you’d picture coming and kneeling in front of Jesus.
Alexander Maclaren writes, “There were courage, earnestness, and humility in this young ruler’s impulsive casting of himself at Christ’s feet in the way, with such a question.”
We are far enough along in the story that the religious establishment that this young man was a part of, had already decided that Jesus had to die.
And throwing caution to the wind, he seems to forget his social and religious standing and comes and fall before Jesus, as my sister would say, “In front of God and everybody,” and asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Now listen to Jesus’ reply in Mark 10:18–20 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 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. Honour your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
It was in reply to his question that, He was challenged
I don’t know if the young man calling Jesus “Good teacher” was an acknowledgement of who Jesus was, or if it was flattery in an effort to curry favour with Jesus.
But Jesus prefaces his answer with a correction. He says, “Why do you call me good? Only God is truly good.”
Understand, Jesus wasn’t denying His divinity here. Rather, He was challenging the young man to think through what he was saying.
If only God is good, and you’re calling me good, what does that say about who you believe I am?
Or perhaps, Jesus was showing the young man, that he wasn’t going to be swayed by flattery or maybe it was simply starting the conversation by letting the man know that regardless of how he might define himself, that nobody was good when compared to God.
And then Jesus reminds the young man of the last six of the Ten Commandments.
It’s interesting to note that five of these six are stated in negative terms. Don’t kill anyone, don’t cheat on your spouse, don’t lie about people, don’t steal from other’s or cheat them out of what is rightfully theirs.
Only the sixth, the command to honour his parents, is presented as something he was to do, as opposed to something he was not to do.
And I’m sure that you caught the fact that Jesus replaces, do not covet, with do not cheat.
I’m thinking that is probably because coveting is a sin of the heart, an internal sin, while cheating points to the man’s external behaviour.
Cheating is the ultimate expression of coveting. It is an inward desire taking an outward form. Coveting is me wanting what you have. Cheating is doing whatever it takes to get it.
And it is here that Jesus begins by establishing where the man is on the moral and social scale.
And the young man doesn’t push back against Jesus statement.
We pick up his reply in Mark 10:20–21 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” 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. . .
It is here that was see that He was Convicted
Jesus established that the man was respectable. Being respectable, often means avoiding not doing things. Don’t say rude things, don’t do rude things, don’t burp in public or spit on the street.
Being respectable often means avoiding bad things. Following Jesus means embracing good things
If we are to truly follow Christ, it doesn’t just mean we stop doing things, although there is that as well; but it also means we start doing other things.
And it was here that the young man was convicted, not about what he was doing, but about what he wasn’t doing.
Jesus was challenging the man to move beyond simply being respectable.
And Jesus doesn’t confront the man out of anger. The story doesn’t tell us that Jesus was angry with the man.
Instead, we are told that Jesus looked at him with genuine love. He saw all that man could be, and then he told him what was missing for him to fulfil his calling, his destiny. And Jesus knew his heart, he knew what he was holding on to.
Let’s go back to the story, Matthew 10:10 Jesus told him,“Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Now if it’s any comfort, this is the only person who Jesus gives that command to. But if you are thinking, phew, I dodged that bullet, you may have been the second.
What happened here was that Jesus identified what would be the stumbling block between this man and his calling.
Maybe for you it would be your career, or your family or your friends. The last time I spoke, I mentioned that in the weeks leading up to my decision to follow Christ, Jesus and I had several discussions about what that would mean, and what I would have to give up.
Selling all my possessions to follow him wouldn’t have been a major sacrifice. We hadn’t had a great summer fishing.
But I had one thing that I was having trouble giving up, and that was my car. It was a 1971 Cutlass Supreme Convertible. It might not seem like much to you, but it was everything to me, and I knew if I ended up in Bible College, that I would have to sell my car.
And for Denn, that was a problem. And yes, you know the story, I ended up following Jesus, I ended up in Bible college, and I ended up selling my car.
Even though we don’t read of anyone else being commanded to sell everything they had, listen to these two descriptions of the early church.
The first one is found in Acts 2:44–45 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.
And just so you won’t think that was a one off, listen to Acts 4:32–35 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.
And so, Jesus commands the man to let go of the things that were holding on to him, but there was more to the command. Let’s go back to the story.
Mark 10:20–21 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” 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.”
He was Called
Jesus didn’t just command the man to sell everything, he then called him to follow him, using the same language as he used when he called Peter and Andrew.
He didn’t command the others to sell everything they had, but he called them to leave their livelihoods, their businesses and their homes.
When Jesus invited Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow him, he was asking that they lay down their nets and leave their fishing boats. When he invited Matthew to follow him, Matthew had to leave his profession as a tax collector.
We don’t know everything the apostles left behind to follow Jesus, but in order to follow Jesus, they had to stop following something else.
But it was always an invitation, it was never a command.
Let’s keep going with the story.
Mark 10:22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
It’s here we see that He was Contrite
It was Jim Denison who wrote, “He was the only man in all the Scriptures who came to Jesus in faith and left sad.”
The man didn’t just walk away, he went away sad, because he knew that he had made a choice. It was at that point that he discovered what he owned, and what owned him.
The story is told that Samuel Johnson was once shown around a famous castle in England with all of its gardens and grounds. Once he had seen it all, he said to those he was with, “These are the things that make it difficult to die.”
The rich young ruler knew what he was giving up, that he was trading what he could never lose, for what he could never keep.
This would be a good landing place. A place for me to challenge you, and ask you what is keeping you from fully following Jesus?
But in staying with the alteration, there is a Conclusion
I was going to say tangent, but that doesn’t start with a C and there are two of them. Consider these as value added items to the message.
Let’s go to where we left off in our scripture reading this morning with Mark 10:23–25 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. 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!”
Most of us are either familiar with passage or at least with verse 25, 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!
And maybe, you’ve heard that the "eye of the needle" was a narrow gate in Jerusalem that only allowed camels to pass through after all the baggage was removed and the camel was forced to kneel, thus humbling itself. And Jesus was saying that the rich would have to strip off their possessions and humble themselves to enter the kingdom of God.
Has anyone ever heard that? I probably have used it in a sermon at some point in the past forty years. it’s a great illustration. But it’s not the truth. There is no historical evidence that there was ever a gate like that in Jerusalem, and if there was, why wouldn’t they simply use a bigger gate? When I figured that out, I stopped using it as in illustration.
It seems like sometime in the Middle Ages, some preacher made it up to take the sting out of Jesus’ words, and it has been repeated over time until it was accepted as fact.
But the apostles got what Jesus was saying. We find their response in Mark 10:26 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
And Jesus doesn’t leave them without hope, he responds by saying, Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
Notice that he doesn’t say, “Humanly speaking, it’s really difficult, you have to humble yourself, almost like going through a really small gate with your camel.” No, he says, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible.” And if that was all he said, it would be really depressing, but he continues by saying, “But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
That is grace, but you have to let go, if you are going to let God do his part.
The lesson here is just because it’s said from a pulpit, doesn’t mean it’s true. I always encourage you to check out what I say for yourself.
The second tangent is a little pet tangent of mine. I can’t prove this, and there are many who might disagree with me, but it is fun.
I think, the Rich Young Ruler was the Apostle Paul. Deborah spoke on Paul’s call last week. But as I’ve said before, there is often an overstory before the story.
Both Paul and the rich young ruler were young when we first met them. They were both religious leaders who knew the commandments. They were both wealthy, and they were loved by Christ.
Paul shows an incredible amount of knowledge about the ministry of Jesus, almost as if he had been there to see it.
Jesus said that what was impossible for the rich man to do on his own would only be possible through God, and Paul’s conversion resulted from a direct intervention by God on the road to Damascus.
We don’t know what happened to the Rich Young Ruler, but I wonder, and again, this is pure speculation. I wonder if, when he rejected Jesus' call, if that turned him against Jesus and those who follow Jesus.
I wonder, if as Paul saw the miracles and love of the early church if it was reminder of all he had missed.
Perhaps that’s what made him so hostile toward the early believers. We are told in Acts 8:3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.
And, it was this same Saul, who we know as Paul. Saul is Aramaic and Paul is Greek, same name different language. Who becomes the great statesman the church has ever known.
It was Paul who spread the gospel of Christ, into Asia and Europe. It was Paul who not only gave up all he had, but eventually gave up his life for Jesus.
Again, I’m not saying this is fact, only a possibility, but if so, what a great lesson we have here.
If the rich young ruler was Paul, then his story reminds us that even when we walk away from Jesus, Jesus still walks toward us.
Even if you said “no” to Jesus yesterday, it doesn’t mean that you can’t say “yes” to Jesus today.
Free PowerPoint may be available for this message, contact me at denn@cornerstonehfx.ca
