Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Gospel Lesson just read, from Mark 10. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Our text presents us with a rather stark and dramatic encounter with Jesus. I would encourage you to think carefully and to put yourself in the place of this man who was privileged to ask Jesus what seems to be the most important question that any human being could ask: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
- First ask yourself – “Do I really desire eternal life?” How important is this to you? For most of us, we have many other desires and concerns that take precedence over this consideration – building a career, raising a family, accumulating lovely things, setting aside an abundant retirement account, having rich enjoyment in life. Even little and mundane tasks may be more important – mowing the lawn, repairing the house, going to a ball game, or even watching TV.
- Most of us are willing to put off this question until we get older and have succeeded in our earthly goals – to the time when we can no longer really enjoy things, when we are aged and are facing disabilities and death. But by then it is too late to think of “doing” good – and those who wait squander an abundance of opportunities to truly do good and to live for God.
- But this question is not the most important thing for us to consider. Rather, it is the answer of Jesus that is critical – for us to think very carefully about what He says, as if He is saying it directly to each of us this very moment. For the very worst thing that can happen to us is for us to be “disheartened by the saying” and to “go away sorrowful” as this man did, having an abundance of possessions but having no real “life” within us, and without eternal life.
- This is not God’s will for us – so let us hear carefully what our dear Savior speaks to us.
I. First We Must Learn: “No One Is Good But God”
Text: “Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.”
A. We Certainly Are Not Good, Not Nearly Good Enough To “Do” What Is Required To Earn Or Gain Eternal Life
Consider the evils described in the Old Testament Lesson, and how they apply to us: “hating those who reprove us, abhorring those who speak the truth, trampling the poor, building nice houses and pleasant vineyards – while caring nothing for the poor, afflicting the righteous, bribed by promises of higher wages.
Consider the evil described in the Epistle Lesson: unbelieving heart, drifting away from full loyalty to God, toying with the deceitfulness of sin, falling into disobedience
B. Consider The Ten Commandments – That We Are Not Able To Keep Them Fully – we hurt and harm others, often with words; we lust and desire; we covet and scheme in selfishness and miserliness and greed; we do not protect one another’s good name, but slander and gossip; we do not properly respect and honor parents and other authorities.
C. Understand Then That The Word Of God, His Commandments, Demand Repentance – And His Word Also Offers God’s Grace And Mercy And Forgiveness, If We Do Not Harden Our Hearts
Text: [This is just the opposite of what this man responded to Jesus] “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”
But the proper response and advice is given in the Old Testament Lesson for today:
“Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.”
And so we heard the warning in the Epistle Lesson as well:
Epistle: “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin [impenitence]. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”
So we too are able to understand the reality described in the Epistle Lesson, that “that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”
Statement: Jesus answered the man’s question in a round-about manner – first to bring him to awareness of his sin and his need for God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness. This general preaching of the commandments did not suffice to bring him to repentance and to despair over his own personal lack of righteousness. In fact, the man lied to Jesus, no one has kept all of the commandments other than Jesus, the Son of God – and this lying occurred even though in his own mind he was quite conscious of the importance of serving God and seeking to do good.
Application: We must understand this – that “no one is good except God alone.” This calls every one of us to repentance – and to acknowledge that only Jesus, only God, can save us. And to emphasize this, to bring poignancy to this, Jesus asks the man to part with what he actually loved most – all of his possessions. His response taught him that he couldn’t even keep the first commandment, that of holding God as our utmost priority and loving Him above all things.
Note that Jesus did this not because he despised the man. Mark noted that Jesus loved him – and this is why He said what He did. It is the same with us – Jesus speaks to us because He loves us.
Transition: And the request of Jesus is the same for us, and it is made with the same love for us. So we also become aware that:
II. The Law Of God May Be Disheartening But It Reveals Our Idolatries – What We Love The Most
A. And For This We Are Called To Repentance – But Also To Rejoice In God’s Gracious Mercy
This is just the opposite of what we read in our text: “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful.”
But to the repentant, God’s Word assures us that:
1 John 1:7 “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.”
And we are further encouraged by the reality that:
Eph. 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
Paul describes exactly what Jesus was trying to accomplish with this pious man, what He was teaching him and what He desired to invite the man to, how it is that we can inherit eternal life:
Rom. 5:19-21 “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
B. This Love Of God Reclaims Our Hearts – Even If We Are Wealthy – But Let Us Beware Of This Great Evil Of Idolatry, And Not Become Hardened, But Repent
Epistle: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
The result of such repentance and renewal of our hearts in the knowledge of God’s great mercy and love for us is described in the Old Testament Lesson for today:
Old Testament: “Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate.”
Statement: It is a fact that this man who encountered Jesus had a deep yearning to please God and to have eternal life. He was disheartened, and instead of repenting, He went away sorrowful – understanding that he loved his wealth and possessions even more than he loved God. What is sorrowful to Jesus, and sorrowful to us, is that he went away – that he didn’t simply repent and throw himself on the grace and mercy of God, and ask a different question: “What must God do for me if I am to inherit eternal life?” This is the more critical and the correct question for each of us! If he had asked it, Jesus would have assured him of God’s forgiveness and love, and would have welcomed him. And in that moment of experiencing God’s love, the man would have known the relative value of his “great possessions,” that they were worth little in comparison to the love of God and eternal life. He likely also would have been moved to do as Jesus asked: 1] to sell all that he had; 2] to give to the poor; and 3] to follow Jesus.
Application: So, if we have desire for eternal life, and deep desire to please God by keeping His Word, let us first honestly consider the many idolatries that are in our hearts – the many things we love and cling to above God. Second, let us sincerely and honestly repent, and confess these sins to our heavenly Father. Third, let us understand the gracious forgiveness and salvation that God has supplied to us in Christ Jesus, in His redemption on the cross. Fourth, let us recognize that we must not allow this idolatry to continue – that ultimately the love of God calls us to turn away from selfishness and evil, and to seek good, the good and welfare of those around us. This is life – a newness and goodness of life that flows from the knowledge that in Christ Jesus, by God’s grace, we already have eternal life.
Conclusion: It is true – we are not good by nature, but full of idolatry. It is also true – God has redeemed us from our sins, and freely given us eternal life in Christ Jesus our Savior.
It is also true that His redeeming love is transformative – so that by and by we recognize that His love and salvation are worth more than any earthly possessions or honor, so that we come to seek good for others as our chief priority in life, to please God. This includes times when we must actually “go and sell” that which is more precious to us than God’s kingdom, repudiating our idolatry and exercising our love for God. May we be sensitive to such times, and willing, rather than hardening our hearts and going away from Jesus.
The only thing that makes a person unable to enter is unbelief. May God grant that we never go away sorrowful – for love of something other than God, and in impenitence and unbelief. Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.