You Are Possible For God

10.10.21 Mark 10:17–27

17 As Jesus was setting out on a journey, one man ran up to him and knelt in front of him. He asked, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God. 19 You know the commandments. ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 The man replied, “Teacher, I have kept all these since I was a child.” 21 Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When he heard this, he looked sad and went away grieving, because he had great wealth. 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus told them again, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in their riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were even more astonished and said to one another, “Who then can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For people, it is impossible, but not for God, because all things are possible for God.”

You are Possible for God

It’s a beautiful thing that this young, rich man was thinking about eternity and even worried about it. How often do you hear that from someone? We are so misdirected in this life. I saw a young man riding his bike with both hands off of the handlebars and texting the other day. He was headed towards the bridge. I was waiting to see if he’d biff it or not. Thankfully he didn’t. But he is an illustration of the way people are in this world. God is trying to have a conversation with us in His Word, and even whisper to us in nature, to give us direction in life. But so many people are too buried with their noses in the here and the now that they aren’t even looking where they are going. Well here we have a rich, young, and successful man who was genuinely concerned about eternal things! What a wonderful thing! What’s even better? He went to Jesus for the answer, kneeling before Him!

He asked, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The first thing He addressed was how the young man threw the word “good” around. You hear this done yet today. You can have a child that is lazy and doesn’t do his homework. He mouths off to his teachers. He’s too lazy to get a job. He ends up in prison later on in life for dealing drugs. Yet the parent will still say, “He’s a good kid.” Well, what do you mean by that? It depends on what your definition of “good” is. Our version of “good” and God’s version are two different things. The first lesson for the rich young man is a reset on what goodness really is in the sight of God. It revolves around the First Commandment, to understand and fear how holy our God really is.

It’s hard for us to grasp our sinfulness just by the nature of being born in sin. It didn’t really sink in to the rich young man that he really wasn’t good. So Jesus had to show him by walking him through the commandments. You know the commandments. ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’ ” These aren’t suggestions. Jesus doesn’t ask Him, “Well, what do you think you should do? What is your truth? How do you feel about it?” These are the commandments that GOD commands you to live by. It doesn’t matter what YOU want or how YOU feel about it. This is what God says. These aren’t optional. God doesn’t just say, “You be you. Whatever makes you happy.”

Another interesting thing, I didn’t catch it at first, is how Jesus adds something in there to an extent when He says, “You shall not defraud.” It’s not an exact quote of one the Ten Commandments. To defraud means to deprive someone of something, cause someone not to possess something. So it makes you wonder if this rich young man had received some of his riches from defrauding others of what they needed or could have received. Did he already receive an inheritance that he refused to give to his brothers? Was he being especially selfish with his riches? I don’t know, but Jesus must have added this for a reason.