Boo,what scares you? 10/25/2005
Mark 10:17-22
This is the time of the year where you have people going around scaring each other. I love to scare and I love to be scared. My wife Hope will get so mad at me when I do something to scare her. She does not like it when I sneak up on her. Every night this week there has been some kind of scary show on. I love scary movies, I love the roller coaster rides. I love to be scared. But just don’t bring any snakes or needles near me.
One Sunday after church, a Mom asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about. The daughter answered, "Don’t be scared, you’ll get your quilt." Needless to say, the Mom was perplexed. Later in the day, the pastor stopped by for tea and the Mom asked him what that morning’s Sunday school lesson was about. He said "Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming."
But sometimes it is not good and sometimes it is good to be scared. And that is what we will talk about this morning and will ask you the question, “What scares you? “
Read Mark 10:17-22
About the man
This young rich ruler here has no name. We don’t know much about him, other than he was young, rich, and had a lot of power. The same story is told in Matthew 19 and Luke 18. This is how we know he is young because Mark makes no mention of his age.
We know that although he had money and possessions, that what he sought Jesus for was something that he could not buy. Eternal life. We know that he must have been a good person, when tells him to follow the commandments then he quickly replied, “I’ve done all that sense I was a boy”.
His first mistake was to think that he was good enough to make it on his own. And the same is true today.
Many people are brought up right. They know right from wrong. They are good people and treat others the way they would want to be treated. And the truth of the matter is those people are the hardest to reach. They don’t see their need for a Savior and they think all they have to do is be good and they will save themselves. But the truth is the Bible says in Romans 3:23 For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
We have all sinned. There is not a perfect person here. There are some people who are considered better than others but even the sweetest person you have ever met in you life has sinned. And there is a penalty for that sin.
Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is that eternal life that the man was looking for. But all it takes is one sin to separate us from God and spending eternity forever with Him.
There are a lot of “Good people” who think that because they are good, when they die they are going to heaven. But the Bible says in Matthew 7:21-23, Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord have we not prophesied in You name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name. (In other words, have I not been a good person),And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.
Being good isn’t good enough. If you think that is your ticket to Heaven then you ought to be scared. Because the Bible tells us where you are heading.
Mark 9:43b, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched.
Some of us went this past week to a place called the Judgment House. This is a place where they act out different kinds of deaths and they have a room that is called heaven and they have a hell room. Now I have heard some criticism about this alternative to a haunted house because it “Scares someone into getting saved”. It ought to scare you. Hell is real. And the Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27 And as it appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.
So the Judge is coming and we don’t have to be scared, but if your relationship with Jesus is not right then you better be.
Jesus loved him
Vs.21 Then Jesus looking at him loved him.
Jesus loved this man. He didn’t get angry with him because he was coming with wrong motives, or because he was being pushy or difficult. He loved him. And that is the way Jesus is. No matter what you have done or how many times you’ve done it, He loves you.
Now you might be hard on this guy thinking don’t this guy get it. After all when you read the previous chapters; you read of miracles of feeding of the 5000, the miraculous healings, and even this Man Jesus Christ could defy nature and walk on water. What was holding this guy up? Earthly possessions or eternal life? Seems like a no brainer to me.
Some people think that Jesus was just testing the young man. He really didn’t mean for him to give everything away. But I disagree with that. After all, look at the others disciples.
Simon, Andrew, James and John were all fisherman. Jesus walked by and tells them to, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”. And the Bible says that they IMMEDIATELY left their nets and followed Him. This was their job, their source of income.
Matthew the tax collector, Jesus says to him, “Follow Me” and the Bible tells us that he left ALL, rose up and followed Him.
And He still commands the same with us today.
Luke 14:25-27, 33b, Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot by My disciple. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
The key there is forsake all. It is all about priorities. Jesus is seeking followers, not fans. He wants people to be converted, not convinced.
“It’s much easier to be an admirer of Jesus than it is to be a follower. You can admire from a distance and be relatively unaffected – but followers have their lives turned upside down.
What Jesus was asking of this man, was the normal price of being a disciple. Jesus was not calling people to poverty, but to complete faith and trust in Him – to surrender their lives to Him.
I think we would love to live in surrender to Jesus, but we have fear. And yet something in us knows that this is where true life is really found. It’s where faith really breaks through. Standing back from the edge and holding onto the stuff that makes us feel secure is such a lame substitute for jumping over the edge with God.
It’s kind of like an like an airplane waiting to land. It is on a holding pattern circling the airport. You can see your destination. You know that what’s waiting for you is good down there. Loved one’s with hugs and kisses waiting for you. But to enjoy them, you have to land.
And many of us get in a holding pattern in our Christian lives. We accept Christ as our Savior. But we never make Him our Lord. The definition for “Lord” means having dominion and power over. We accept Him as our Savior, knowing that that is the only way to be saved. Then we never give Him the reigns giving Him rule over our life. And we miss out of all the good things that He wants us to have.
Some of you may think that this requirement of total commitment to be a follower of Jesus is contradictory to scriptural truth that salvation is a free gift of God. It’s true that salvation is free, but there is a cost to being a disciple. God paid the price for our salvation…we pay the price to be a disciple.
So what are you afraid of? What is keeping you from making Him Lord in your life? Where are your priorities? For this man it was his riches. For you it could be your hobbies, or your habits. It could be your family or your friends. It could be your work or your play. What ever it is, you are missing out on the blessing of totally surrendering your life to Christ.
The Lord is not so interested in what we have as He is what has us
The reward for not being scared. (Vs. 28-31)
The only way that you can give up everything you have is when you realize that everything you have does not begin to compare to everything God wants to give.
In the verse 28, we find Peter getting excited. He tells Jesus, we left everything for you.
Thank God for Peter with his bad case of Foot-in-mouth disease! I think we can often identify with him when he would speak up to Jesus. It’s as though he is saying; “Good grief Jesus, what do you want from us. Haven’t we all given enough to follow you?
Jesus responds with a promise and what sounds like a riddle.
The promise implies that any sacrifice one would make in following Christ will pale in comparison to the blessings that will follow because of the sacrifices. Now you don’t have to be a mathematician for this math, 100 times more.
The mysterious statement “The first will be last and the last first” challenges the world system and introduces a kingdom value. We live in a “me first” time.
“Me, myself and I” seems to occupy the thinking of most everyone around us.
Dr. Steven. McMillen, in his book None of These Diseases, tells a story of a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst.
To her surprise, she received this letter from the college:
"Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."
Ready to follow…or only willing to lead…
Perhaps right now God is calling us to get back to following Jesus and what he is on about. Perhaps it’s a really simple call to surrender to Him – knowing that He is devoted to us – knowing that He loves us – knowing that we don’t have to fear.
