title="English

He Changes Our Use of Money

Mark 10:17:31

I’ve only had one time in my life when I had absolutely no money and didn’t know what to do to survive. I was a missionary in Germany at the time and was back in the states for a quarter of graduate studies. During that visit, I had gotten reacquainted with my girlfriend – now wife (Chris) – and had taken the leap to ask her to marry me. (I had not expected to do this when I had left Europe.) And, the big shocker: She said yes! But, after I had paid my school bill, purchased my flight ticket to go back to Germany, and bought the engagement ring, I realized I had only $1.37 left, a 5 lb. bag of spinach in the freezer, and over a week to go before I was to head back to Europe and get a paycheck. I still remember asking myself many questions: “How do the homeless people I’ve met do this? They must be the most creative people in the world! How do I pay to get to the airport when I don’t even have money for the Chicago tollbooths? How do I eat?” I will never forget how embarrassed I was when I thought I would have to tell my friends and family that I was destitute.

I’ve talked about this time in my life in several sermons in the past so you may know that the Lord provided in rather miraculous ways back then. But, I thought of this time in my life in a new way when I read this week’s Bible text. Remembering my own time of having no money helped me to envision how the man who came to Jesus in Mark 10:17 must have felt when he heard Jesus tell him that he would never find what life is about unless he gave away all his possessions to the poor.

So, as we begin our study of “The Rich Young Ruler” today, I want to ask you to imagine a life without money. Some of you have experienced that. Some may be going through a time like that right now. Imagine everything gone. No retirement plan. No investments. No savings or money market account. No house or apartment. Imagine all that you have is your deep faith in Jesus. Could you live like that? What would you do if someday you met someone, like this man we look at today in Mark 10 met Jesus, and he said to you, “The only way for you to find the life God made for you is to sell all you have, give everything away to the poor, and follow me.” What would you do?

Let’s look at how this happened one day as Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem -- and then we’ll ask what Jesus might be asking of us in our own lives.

One Man’s Quest: A “successful” man had everything but knew something still was missing (10:17).

Read v. 17. The man’s quest was for eternal life. By this, he did not simply want life that would go on and on and on. That kind of life doesn’t sound very appealing to me. When I was a child, I remember sitting on the hard church benches for what felt like hours. I thought, “If heaven is an eternity of this kind of life, I don’t know if I want it!” But, "a life that never ends" is only a part of what the Bible means by “eternal life.” The phrase refers mainly to a quality of life. Eternal life is the kind of life only the eternal God can give.

So, a life that goes on and on was not what the man in Mark 10 was longing for. He was longing for life as God meant for life to be lived. He was longing for “shalom.” Luke 18 tells us this man was young and a CEO-type so he had already experienced much in this world but he knew that something was missing.

What is eternal life? Eternal life is the life Jesus died to make available to us. It is life as all of us long for it to be. The Bible has many phrases for it: shalom, abundant life, treasure in heaven, entering the kingdom of God, being saved. All these expressions refer to the same reality. This was what the impressive young man knew was missing – but that he longed for. Can you relate to him?

His longing comes out in an awkward way. The man asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Do you recognize the flaw in his question? “Do” and “inherit” don’t really fit together. Normally, we “do” in order to earn – not to inherit. Jesus recognized this discrepancy and went to the heart of the matter.

Obstacles: What kept the rich young from the life he longed for?

So, the man had everything the world had to offer but sought Jesus to teach him to do something more – to add something to what he already had -- so that he could live well. And there were big obstacles to his quest.

Obstacle #1: Understanding Who Jesus Was

Read v. 18. The man’s greeting seems, at first glance, to have been a rather innocuous remark. “Good teacher…” he called Jesus. But Jesus saw this unusual and unexpected greeting as an opening to probe how deep the man’s understanding was. What did he mean when he called Jesus “good?” Was it simple courtesy? Flattery? Could he see that the kingdom of God was present in the person in front of him?

So, Jesus asked, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” In the early Jewish writings, there are no examples of a rabbi ever being addressed as good. So, does this man know Jesus is the one and only Son of God? If so, this wealthy young man seems to have potentially had extraordinary insight into the identity of Jesus. Then, when Jesus asked him what he meant by calling him “good”, Jesus forced the man to come to grips with the implications of his own words. “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Do you really know who I am?” The implication: If this man truly believed that Jesus was “good”, he would soon have an opportunity to demonstrate the depth of his belief. In a few moments, this man who sought the life God alone can give would find out if he really believed that when Jesus called, the God who gives eternal life was calling.

Obstacle #2: The Dissatisfaction of Simply Trying to Live Right

Before waiting for an answer, Jesus in v.19 directed the young man’s attention to the second half of the 10 Commandments, the part about how to love people. Interestingly, Jesus mentioned only those commands and not the first half that commands us to love God: “You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”

In response to Jesus’ words, the man made a startling claim. He said, “All these I have kept since I was a boy.” And Jesus did not correct him. I’m not sure the man was claiming to have obeyed them all perfectly. Perhaps he was. But, much more, I think the young man was sincere when he said that he had sought to keep all those commands. I’m pretty sure he was like many people we meet in our own day, i.e., he really wanted to live a good life. But, he had discovered that trying to live a good life had left him still knowing something was missing in his life.

I’ve often heard scholars or activists who claim that all wealth has been gotten in some evil or unjust way. But, I don’t think that’s true. I think Jesus saw this man as a person who had not exploited anyone. Like many people I’ve met in civic organizations, he had tried to find his life by being a good person. Like many great philanthropists in our own day, he had sought to use his wealth to bring others some benefit and help. Don’t you know people like that? When I was involved in raising funds for a university for 12 years, I certainly did. This man was a Bill Gates-type who sought to use his tremendous resources to bring good to others. But, that alone had not filled his inner being. I’m sure that’s why he asked Jesus, “How do I find the life that God has made me to have? What’s missing? What do I have to add to what I’m already doing?”

Obstacle #3: The Lacking Element

In response to the man’s claim to have kept the commands, Jesus pointed out one thing that was lacking: Sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then, come, follow me.

Jesus went to the heart of the matter: Notice that Jesus’ words direct him to the very first command, the greatest command: “You shall have no other gods before me.” This young man had worked hard at keeping the second great command, i.e., love others. But, there is one thing more important. Jesus is forcing him to ask, “What (or who) is at the core of my life?”

The issue is this: When this “good teacher” (for “only God is good”) called the rich young man to follow the call of God on his life, would he put God ahead of anything else? The obstacle the man was facing had to do with his heart’s affection -- with his core identity. So, this was a life-transforming decision. Jesus was calling him to give up all the wealth he had – including all the things his wealth could buy; all the golf and social clubs his money could give him entrance to... It was a decision between the material and the spiritual; the temporary and the eternal. It was a choice of who or what would be his God. If he chose the eternal, the man would jeopardize all the status and influence and reputation and power his wealth had secured. If this man were to accept the offer from Jesus, the decision would surely affect his relationship to his family, his status in the community and the entire way of life that he had established.

Think about this too: If this man had shown up at church with a reputation for doing wonderful things in the community and with a commitment to honoring his family and caring for people, we would probably say, “Come and join our church board!” Just think: He could have bankrolled Jesus’ mission! He could have paid for a new sound system or new children’s facility! I’m pretty sure I could have gotten him a seat on my university’s board. But Jesus told him to give everything to the poor. Most would say, “What is Jesus be thinking?” But this was the demand Jesus made. So, what would the young man do? What would you do?

The Eternal Life Determining Decision

Mark describes the man’s response movingly in v. 22, “At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.” The word “sad” was a very strong and poignant word that probably is better translated “grieved”. It has to do with a person grieving something that is lost -- grieving the loss of something at the center of our lives. It was the word used of Jesus when he was sweating drops of blood and grieved the loss of connection with his Father. In that situation, it meant the loss of Jesus’ sense of identity as being one with his Father when Jesus cried, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” For the rich young man, he longed for something more to come into the center of his soul. But, the grief came because, for that to happen, he had to replace what currently was at the center of his soul with Jesus. He had to give up his money. Money was for this man what the God the Father was for Jesus. It was so integrally connected with his identify that he could not imagine life without it.

Jesus told him that he had to get that out of his life or he would never really bring God in. The young man thought he could find life by holding on to what was at the core of his being and then just add Jesus to it. And Jesus says, “You don’t earn eternal life. You place your faith in me. You follow me in trust. I must be at the core of your being. If you will have life, you need a new name: no longer the “rich young ruler” but simply a Jesus follower.

We have to stop here and let God speak to us deeply today. I was talking with a young woman I deeply respect about this earlier this week. She told me the story of how her mother had become very concerned about her tendency to become attached to material things. Her mother feared that her daughter would become the kind of person who said she believed in Jesus but really lived for material things. So, one day, her Mom told her to go into her room and pull out this thing that she valued more than anything in the world and give it away. I’m sure this was the hardest thing she had ever done. But she found the strength to do it. Do you see how wise this mother was? That Mom did for her daughter what Jesus, out of love, did for this man. Jesus was teaching that our eternal life is determined by what it is we put at the center of our trust. Our eternal life is determined by whether we will surrender in faith to Jesus.

Several Observations:

Notice that material things are not bad in and of themselves. God made all things. Used properly, they are good. But God did not make them to come into our hearts and take his place. Many people in the Gospels were sent right back into their homes and careers. Of course, money can be used to oppress and to live selfishly. But, that did not seem to be the case with this man. The point is: If we want to find the life of God, we don’t simply need to hear about the bad things we should stop doing. Yes, we will not have abundant life if we defraud people, murder people, or live lives of deceit. But, just giving up bad things alone will not fill our souls. It may turn us into respectable looking people. It might even make us look religious in the eyes of many. But, that alone will not answer the nagging question of what is missing in life. Jesus says we have to look at the sometimes good things that are in the center of our lives and replace them with him. “Sell all you have and give it to the poor. Then, come follow me.” Jesus calls us all to find our sufficiency in him alone.

Notice too that Jesus wasn’t being harsh with him. I’ve heard people read this passage in such a way that Jesus really put this man in his place. No, Jesus looked at this man with “love”. V. 21 uses the strongest word in the language for love, agape. Jesus loved this man who had tried hard to live well. This was a man who was deeply sincere. But, the telling thing is what Jesus said, “One thing is lacking…” The word really means “weighing you down.” One thing was at the core of his being that weighed him down. Jesus knew that he had to cut it out of this man’s heart. There was no room for God in his heart if that was allowed to stay.

And notice too that there is hope even for those who are “successful” because of God’s power and grace. The illustration Jesus used in v.25 for a wealthy person’s chance of going to heaven is one of those “illustrations of the impossible”: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. It was a common idiom of Jesus’ day. The Babylonians referred to an elephant going through a sewing needle’s eye. Jesus chose a camel, the biggest animal in Palestine. Jesus was saying, “You cannot find eternal life with any available earthly power. The danger Jesus is warning about here is that when we have riches, we become too tied to the world and its values.

But there is hope. V. 27: With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God. But, God must be God. He must come into the core of your being. And this man could not let him in.

My guess is that the man had a way of life that was deeply rooted in his having wealth and status. He knew something was missing – but he also thought that his money was a necessary part of a good life. And, many rabbis taught that having wealth was a sure sign of God’s blessing. But, although this man had everything in this world, he really had nothing. That’s why he went to Jesus. There might have been a day, once upon a time, when the man could have followed Jesus -- when money was not so deeply rooted in his core identity. But, by Mark 10, that time was past. Mark needed only to tell us in v.22 that he had “great wealth.”

What Might Jesus Ask of You? It’s another “First Commandment” lesson.

Let’s end by remembering the point that what the Father was to Jesus, money was to the young man. His core identity was wrapped up in his money. Remember too that Jesus loved this man and wanted him to have that life for which God had made him. But, the only way this man would have the eternal life he sought was for him to get that thing out of his life and put Jesus into its place. Many of us read this and think, “But… Jesus can’t be saying that anyone who follows him must give up everything in this material world.” And I agree. Jesus did not ask everyone who followed him to do what he called this man to do. But, I can tell you this: Jesus is saying that we must be willing to give it all away – even anxious to do whatever Jesus asks of us. Jesus calls us to examine our hearts to see if our inner beings are so wrapped up with something that this “something” becomes an essential part of our identity.

So, what might that be for you? For this man, it was money. For many, many people – that‘s what it is. What is it for you? Jesus forced this man to imagine his life without money. I want you to imagine that the thing at the core of your longing is gone. Can you live without it? It could be your children – your good reputation – your academic success. It could be countless good things or bad things. I want you to hear Jesus asking, “Are you ready to give that up and simply follow me when I call you?”

Jesus gave everything – his life and even a time of being forsaken by his Father – in order to bring you and me eternal life. Are you in awe of what Jesus did for you? Are you amazed by it? Do you weep over it? If so, there is great hope for you to find life. The only way I know to be free from the power of money or fame or prestige to weigh us down and keep us from finding the life of God is to say to Jesus, “I trust you. I belong to you. That money and power I have -- it’s yours. That thing and my whole life -- is yours.”

I’m guessing the young man thought that real life couldn’t possibly be found without his career and his possessions? He wanted eternal life – but only if it meant that he could keep those things and simply add Jesus onto them. I can imagine him thinking, “Just a little while longer, Jesus. Just think what I can do for you with my money. Just wait until I’m a partner in the firm – the president instead of the vice-president...” But waiting would only have allowed those things to become more deeply rooted in his life.

So, he went away from Jesus grieving. He wanted more out of life than he’d experienced in his success -- but he went back to his old way of life anyway. I can tell you – 40 years later he would have found those things he lived for no more satisfying than he’d found them as a young man.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). He’s the one who calls you to follow him. Will you?

 

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor