jesus calls us, yes us, to follow
Mark 10:17-31
Following Jesus as Lord is very hard – mainly because that “self’ that must be denied. I’ll show you just one way this plays out (though I know you are already thinking of many ways). I want you to consider the situation of the “rich young ruler” in Mark 10:17-31. From every indication, this young man was a good man who wanted to live well. He wanted to find the life that he knew God had for him. He had sought to keep God’s laws all his life. Jesus saw this and had compassion on him.
As I read the text, this man had tried to do all the right things but he knew that something was missing. So, with deep respect, he comes to Jesus and says, “Good master.” Jesus immediately picks up on this and probes to see if this many would be the first Jewish man actually to comprehend who he is. “What do you mean by good?” Jesus says. “There is no one good but God.”
Then Jesus goes to the heart of the matter. “I see what is keeping you from the life you long for so deeply, young man. The solution is so clear. Your possessions are possessing you. They are keeping you from God. Sell all you have and give it to the poor. Then, come, follow me and you will find the eternal life you desire.”
This is Jesus’ specific application of “deny yourself” to this man. The man’s stated desire was to find life but the center of his life was his wealth and position. How could he really live without them? What would his parents say? But, Jesus, the “good one”, had called! Would the man “listen to Jesus?” Would he deny himself and follow Jesus so that he could find life?
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. It’s clear that possessions played the same role in this young man’s life that God the Father played in Jesus’ heart.
Jesus told him that he had to get that idol out of his life or he would never really bring God in. The rich 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.
Brothers and sisters, you must deny yourself, take up a cross and follow Jesus too. And, the point I want to make today is this: We must have the boldness Jesus had to call people away from self and to listen to Jesus, i.e.., to have their thinking and their lives completely and radically shaped by him. I have found that the first guideline in reconciliation, i.e., entering in to respect-filled relationship across the divisions of our world, is often applauded by our culture. But this second guideline is scorned. But both are essential. And both are consistent with the life and ways of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And, when people receive by faith the salvation of Jesus, then we come to the third guideline.
Guideline #3: Walk with – our unexpected, eternal brothers and sisters (10:28-31)
“There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time… with persecutions… (10:30)”
In vv. 28-31, we see the most neglected part of the rich man’s story. When the rich man leaves Jesus, Peter and the disciples are shocked. This man had represented what they had hoped to become when they followed the Messiah. He possessed, power possessions and prestige. It’s clear that Jesus is saying that eternal life is never found through faith in or dependence on temporary material things but trust in God alone. Sell every thing you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then, come. Follow me (10:21).
But today, of the many things we could consider about this text, let us focus on the fact that obeying Jesus would have left this man destitute: no home, no bank account, no savings, no resources to finance his children’s education, no health insurance, no prestige… And, almost certainly he would have been the object of scorn in his family and among his friends. How would he even survive?
C.S. Lewis tried to capture this in one of his poems:
All things (e.g. a camel's journey through
A needle's eye) are possible, it's true.
But picture how the camel feels, squeezed out
In one long bloody thread, from tail to snout.
So, how does this work out in terms of our lives? When Jesus calls us to follow him, man the things we’ve based our lives upon are pulled away. How was this man to live if he followed Jesus? How were Peter and the disciples to live as they followed Jesus and carried the gospel to the world? On one side, there is that great promise for his followers, i.e., “in the age to come, eternal life (v.30).” But that age hasn’t come in its fullness yet? How are we to live now when we follow Jesus?
Jesus provides a very practical answer in v.30: “You will be brought into “100-fold now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and lands…” This is family talk from Jesus. And part of it sounds pretty good – like 100 fold houses and lands. But what about this 100-fold mothers? Do you want that? And 100-fold children? And this is the good news from Jesus! “Don’t worry when you follow me,” he says. “You get those 100-fold mothers and children ‘with persecutions’!” What’s that about?
You’re Trinity students so I hope you have an intuition of what Jesus is talking about. He puts it so profoundly – though you must listen carefully to him. He gives the list twice, once in v.29 and then in v.30:
What you leave: house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, and lands.
What you gain: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, lands and persecutions.
Do you see what’s different? When we follow Jesus, we do not gain 100-fold fathers for there is only one Father in this family – one Father, as Paul puts it in Eph 3:14, before whom the entire family in heaven and one earth bows its knee. Here’s what Jesus is saying: When we follow Jesus, then he becomes the Lord of life for us. We obey his call upon our lives and find our lives. We receive the life of the “age to come”, eternal life, though not yet in its fullness. Until the kingdom of God comes fully with Messiah’s second coming, we will experience persecution and difficulty. But we will not have to do it alone. We will have the global family of God available to us. Jesus calls some, like the rich man and the apostles, to leave home and possessions to carry the gospel to the world. He calls others to live for him where but are to use what we have to support the family of God and its mission of salvation and reconciliation.
What does this look like? I confess that I am still learning. But, two of my teachers are LAC missionaries Randy and Edie Nelson. After spending 14 years of their lives reaching a nomadic people group in Kenya previously considered “unreachable”, seeing almost all people of that group come to Christ, training leadership to the point of the group sending missionaries to other nomadic peoples, the Nelsons work there was done. To the shock of many, Randy and Edie accepted a call to go to the resort city of Pattaya, Thailand. Like many cities in or world (and in our own country) Pattaya has become a center for trafficking. Randy and Edie have told me how they approached the task.
The Nelsons’ Ministry Strategy
“When we go to a new area, we walk prayerfully among the people and ask God, “What is broken here that needs Your healing? What is wrong here that You wants to be made right?” The answer is everything. But, we ask for wisdom to discern what the most important things are. Then, we ask God for more wisdom to know what first steps we should take toward reconciliation. And we start…”
At the local bus station, Randy and Edie saw young teenagers exiting the busses day by day, sent by their parents into trafficking in order to raise money to alleviate the poverty, hunger and homelessness of their families. And they said, “That’s not right. That’s not how God intends those made in his image to live.” So that’s where they started. They used their support money to rent out the best banquet hall in the city for two nights. Then, they went from bar to bar to invite the young women to come, to feast and to enjoy an evening in their honor.”
The first night, 76 women came. They celebrated the way that each one is valuable and loved by Jesus so much that he died for them. The second night, over 150 came. Many, many came to faith. But, in calling these beautiful people to faith, they could not leave them and their families alone. So, the True Friends was born. I’ve preached there. It is a church seeking to live out this vision of a family that Jesus set forth in Mark 10:28-31. Those liberated from darkness into light walk with one another and support one another. They meet those children and young people coming off the busses at the station and seek to help them find different kinds of jobs than trafficking. I will simply tell you this: They are witnessing the power of God to give hope where there was no hope and to take what was broken and bring reconciliation.
And that’s how we’re approaching the task in California’s San Gabriel Valley too. We’re committed to being witnesses to Jesus as Savior in our community so that in our multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-national, multi-lingual community people will be reconciled to God and to one another in Christ. And we’ve identified four focus areas of brokenness: 1) homelessness, 2) public education, 3) immigration and 4) incarceration/re-entry. We seek to show the love of Jesus and to walk with people in distress. I’ll tell you—it’s messy work because the affects of sin are messy. But I’ll also tell you: We need the lean on the presence and power of God because the issues we deal with goes beyond our ability. And, we’ve seen the power of God to change lives. He has the power to end hostility and bring peace; the power to take what is broken and bring it back together. We who are pastors and MC members believe that God has planted us as a local church incarnationally into this community at this time not randomly but for a reason – to be engaged in his beautiful reconciling work right here. And we want to be faithful to that calling..
And, it is not by coincidence that God has placed you where he has placed you at this time in your life – in your family, in your place of work or lack of work, in your neighborhood or school. You are there as his ambassador of reconciliation. I encourage you to establish some priorities. Ask, “Lord, which areas are the ones you would have me to address first? And what first step should I take. Then be ready for his guidance.
You won’t be alone. We’ll be walking together. Each week, if you are faithful, you’ll gather with your church family in worship and in community so that God’s reconciling work might be completed in your life, your church marriages, your church families and all your church relationships. And then he will send you out into the world as his agents of reconciliation. That’s what God does.
For there are no God forsaken places in this world. There is no brokenness that exceeds God’s power to be able heal and no hostility that exceeds God’s grace-filled readiness to make peace. God loves this world he has made and sent his one and only Son not to condemn the world but to rescue the world through him.
In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s sins against them. And God has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God makes his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
To His glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor
Greg Waybright • Copyright 2014, Lake Avenue Church