The Love of Money-Mark 10:17-27

Key Elements

In Mark 10:17-27, Jesus responded to a wealthy young man’s questions about how to gain eternal life, revealing to him that following Jesus requires loving Jesus more than anything else including money.

Main idea of the text: Money and wealth are neither good nor bad, but a love for money above all else, especially our relationship with God, leads to a life more devoted to our possessions than to God.

I want my audience to look at their lives and place anything that is an obstacle to following Jesus in subjection to Him realizing that we cannot love money supremely and love Jesus supremely.

Intro

There are many people who have come to the end of their lives and as they’ve looked back they have made the statement “If I had it to do over again, there are some things I would do differently.” In fact, I think all of us probably have looked at our lives and different situations in our lives, depending on what stage of life we are in, and we have had that very thought. “If I had an opportunity, I would have handled that situation better, I would have said that differently, I would have navigated that situation in a different way.” But probably the thing that people who are looking back reflect on the most is the things and the people that they held in high priority in their lives. This past week, I had the opportunity to spend some time at a friend’s church leading his people in a winter Bible study. And I was talking to a pastor who was attending and he shared with me about a man in his church who last Sunday came to the altar during the invitation. And as he took his pastor by the hand, he had tears streaming down his face. That morning the pastor had preached on idols in our lives and the man made this statement, he said, “Pastor I have spent my life making my job the priority of my life and God has convicted me this morning and this afternoon as soon as church is over, I’m going to call my children and ask them for forgiveness.” This man realized that his entire life he had placed his job and earning a living in priority over his family. And more than likely he didn’t realize that he was doing that because he probably thought that working and earning a living was placing his family in top priority. But as he looked back over his life, he was convicted by the fact that in the process of working hard to provide for his family, he had actually neglected his family.

So, it’s interesting when we think about our lives and the priorities of our lives what is revealed, what comes to light. Because the truth is this what we love the most is what’s going to take priority in our lives. And that’s where Jesus is really going today in our text in Mark 10:17-27. In our text today, we see that Jesus responded to a wealthy young man’s questions about how to gain eternal life. And what Jesus revealed to this young man in the process of the conversation is that following Jesus requires loving Jesus more than anything else in this life, and specifically in this young man’s life what he loved the most was his money. Jesus communicates to him that a love for God and a relationship with God must be the priority of his life.

And that’s what we are going to be focusing in on today as we continue this series entitled The Gift of Giving, that our love for God must take priority in our lives over our love for money and our possessions. And if we look at our lives and realize that there is something that is an obstacle to us following Jesus, then we must place those things, whatever they may be, in subjection to Him because we cannot love money supremely and love Jesus supremely.

Which leads us to the main idea of the text today: Money and wealth are neither good nor bad, but a love for money above all else, especially our relationship with God, leads to a life more devoted to our possessions than to God.

Now, we began this series a few weeks ago by exploring a simple but life changing truth and it is this: God owns everything. And we said that grasping that truth first in our lives will change everything for us when it comes to the concept of giving. Because when we realize that everything is God’s and He is the owner of it all and that we own absolutely nothing but all that we have is on loan from God, then it realigns our view of everything we have in life. It shifts our mindset from an ownership mindset to a stewardship mindset. We continued a couple of weeks ago by looking at giving as an act of worship. And we said that as followers of Jesus, we do not give with what we’ll have left over in mind but we give as an act of worship honoring and glorifying Him. And today, we want to shift gears for a little bit and look at what the Bible says about the negative aspect of money, the dangerous side if you will. That again money is not a bad thing but it is really what we as the ones who have money and possessions allow it to do to our hearts.

Message

Now we’ve talked about this before, Jesus talked a lot about money in his earthly ministry. And scripture warns us in many different places about the dangers of money in our lives. In 1 Timothy 6:9-10 we see a warning about the dangers of a desire to get rich. It says...1 Timothy 6:9–10 (CSB)

9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

And yet, despite these clear warnings from scripture, our hearts naturally desire wealth. Even though scripture clearly warns us that when we place money and wealth in too high a priority in our lives that eventually it will harm us physically, spiritually, and mentally. That’s why Jesus Himself warns us in Matthew 6:24

Matthew 6:24 (CSB)

“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

You see, Jesus Himself knew that when money and wealth begins to take priority in our lives over everything else, especially our relationship with God, that there would be consequences for that in our lives. That there would be fear and anxiety that would come calling in our lives. Because the truth is this when we place anything in our lives in a higher priority than our relationship with God, those misplaced priorities will be the source of fear and anxiety in our lives. Again, money is not a bad thing, we need money in our lives to survive. It takes money to pay the bills, it takes money to pay for our kids’ college and sports and events they are involved in, it takes money to make it in this life. Money is important but money better not be too important because when it becomes the priority of our lives then fear and anxiety will be something that we are constantly battling because there will never be enough money.

So, don’t hear me today bashing money or making money and don’t hear me today coming down on people whom God has blessed financially. That’s not the point of the message today. Like we’ve talked about before, I believe that everything we have is a gift from God and God does pour out His blessings on us financially. The point that God wants us to come to today is that everything in our lives must be placed in subjection to Him especially our finances. We must be careful when it comes to the subject of money that that doesn’t become an idol in our lives and doesn’t take priority over everything else especially our relationship with God.

So, today we want to turn our attention to a story in Mark 10:17-27. Again, it’s an event that happened in the life and ministry of Jesus. It’s a very pivotal and life changing event that involved a young man who is referred to as the rich young ruler and it’s an event that really set the trajectory for the rest of his life. And through this conversation, what we notice is that there are certain dangers all of us can experience in our lives if money becomes the priority of our life. What Jesus shows us here is the danger the love of money can bring in our lives when it is placed in priority above all else.

So, let’s look at this conversation in Mark 10. It says this...

From our text today, we see two truths about the love of money and the dangers it can bring about in our lives as followers of Jesus:

1. The love of money and its priority in our lives can lead us to see salvation as something that can be bought and sold. (vs. 17)

So, a little bit of context is important for us here: Jesus was continuing His journey towards Jerusalem. He’s engaging His disciples in conversation and taking every opportunity He can to teach them about what it means to be a true follower of Him. He keeps bringing up His crucifixion and His resurrection and that’s not something that they want to discuss. These 12 men that Jesus is pouring His life and ministry into are struggling to grasp what He’s trying to communicate to them. He’s just told them in 10:13-16 that those who enter the Kingdom of God must do so with the faith of a little child. What He’s trying to get them to realize is that to be a part of the Kingdom of God means that we enter with nothing, that we bring nothing in and of ourselves to the table, we are totally dependent on Jesus and His grace and mercy in our lives and there’s nothing in us that can earn salvation at all. And it’s in the context of this teaching that this wealthy young man approaches Jesus.

And we notice from the very start five characteristics about this rich young ruler:

a. A sense of urgency-It says this in vs. 17, that “he ran up to Jesus....” This man was looking for answers that he needed in his life. He realized that life wasn’t going to last forever and he knew that He might not get another opportunity to ask Jesus the burning questions of his heart. So, with an urgency, he runs to Jesus to ask Him some life changing questions.

b. Humble-the second thing we see in vs. 17 is that “he knelt before Jesus,...” Not only was there a sense of urgency about this young man but there was also the characteristic of humility. He comes to Jesus, unlike the crowds of people, demanding nothing of Him and He bows before Him seeking answers to his questions. He realized that there was something different about this man Jesus. That there was something unique about Him. Never before had he heard such teaching. Never before had he heard such life changing truth. And with incredible respect and reverence, he bows before Jesus in honor, honor that was only reserved for the great teachers and the rabbi’s of the day. He comes to Jesus with urgency and with humility.

c. Wealthy-we find this out later in vs. 22, this man is wealthy. It says that “he was one who owned much property.” And this is eventually what becomes an obstacle for this young man.

d. Position and power-Now, we have to go to Luke’s version of this story in his Gospel to gain this bit of information. Luke reveals that this man was a community leader and held a place of honor among hid people.

e. Had a desire for salvation-In vs. 17, we see this all important question that this wealthy young man asked Jesus. He says “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This man, even at his young age, cared about where he would spend eternity. He wanted the best after life that he could achieve.

And it’s in this last characteristic that the young man’s problem is revealed. You see, it wasn’t his desire for salvation and eternal life that was wrong, it’s what’s indicated by how he asked this question of Jesus. What does he say at the end of vs. 17, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” His question of Jesus, even as good of a question as it is, implied that he believed that salvation and eternal life in heaven was something that he could work to accomplish that it was something that could be earned that it was something that could be bought and sold. And there’s really only one thing we can attribute this attitude and this thought in this young man’s mind and that is his wealth. You see, everything, we assume that he had achieved in his life he had done on his own. He had earned it, he had accomplished it. He was a self made man, we assume. He had acquired much wealth in the short amount of time that he had been on this earth and this wealthiness is the lens through which everything in his life was filtered. And because everything that he had in his life had come by his on doing and because of his wealth, he assumed that the same manner applied to salvation and eternal life. In his mind, this was something that he could earn.

And as crazy as that may sound to us, that same thought process, as dangerous as it is, is not that far removed people in this day and time. And I’m not just talking about people out in the world and the culture but church members and people who claim to be Christ followers are in danger of slipping into that same mindset. Where salvation and eternal life is not a gift from God and provided by faith and grace alone, but it is something that can be earned, to put it bluntly that can be bought and sold.

When that’s not what salvation and eternal life is at all. Salvation, according to scripture, is made possible by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross and the truth that Jesus Christ died for our sins and on the third day was raised from the dead and is alive at the right hand of God the Father. That it is only through God’s grace and our faith in Jesus and belief that He is the one and only Son of God that we are saved. You see, salvation and eternal life, a relationship with God is not because of anything that any of us do, it is because of what Jesus has done. And that’s the only reason that it’s possible.

Danny Akin in his commentary on Mark puts it this way, “All religions of the world can be categorized under “do” or “done.” I am saved by what I do or by what another has done. Christianity is a done religion/relationship. Eternal life is not achieved; it is received as a gift (John 1:12) based on what Jesus has done for us (John 3:16).”

And this is where the rich young ruler had gone wrong. In his quest for eternal life, amidst his questions about salvation and how to become a follower of Jesus, his great wealth and wrongly led him to assume that just like everything else in his life, he could earn his way into heaven.

And maybe today, you find yourself under the same misconception as this rich young ruler when it comes to salvation and a relationship with God. Maybe today, you have assumed salvation and eternal life is something that can be earned that it is something that can be accomplished that it is something that can be bought and sold. Maybe today you think “If I serve enough or if I give enough or if I teach and lead enough in the church then doing all those things will earn me eternal life.” And Jesus is saying to all of us today that all of those things are good and all of those things are necessary but none of those things alone will earn you a relationship with God. Salvation only comes to us because of what Jesus has done for us.

So, the love of money and its priority in our lives can lead us to see salvation as something that can be bought and sold.

Which leads us to our second truth about the love of money...

Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 221.

2. The love of money and its priority in our lives can become an obstacle to following Jesus and loving Him above all else. (vs. 18-22)

So, Jesus doesn’t waste any time responding to the young man’s question. Look at vs. 18-19, what does He say...

So, Jesus tells him, He says, “You know the commandments” and then Jesus begins to list out for him the last six commandments in which all address our human relationships with one another. Jesus tells him that this is what you must do to inherit eternal life, you have to obey the Law perfectly. Knowing full well that no human being, except for Jesus Himself, could accomplish that. So, what is Jesus doing here? He’s putting before this young man God’s Law and He’s saying this is what you must do and you must do it perfectly and to the letter. Jesus lays before him the Law of Moses as a mirror to show this young man that there’s no way that he can perfectly keep the Law of Moses in hopes that this young man will realize that he is a sinner who, on his own, has no hope.

I love how Warren Wiersbe explains this in his commentary on this text. He says, “The Law is a mirror that shows us how dirty we are, but the mirror cannot wash us. One purpose of the Law is to bring the sinner to Christ (Gal. 3:24), which is what it did in this man’s case. The Law can bring the sinner to Christ, but the Law cannot make the sinner like Christ. Only grace can do that.”

And what is the young man’s response to all that Jesus has said? We see in in vs. 20… Basically, he tells Jesus, “I’ve done all that for my entire life in fact.” This young man, like all the other Jewish people of the day had lived his entire life trying to keep the rules and regulations of the Law of Moses perfectly and to the letter. And Jesus knows that’s really not the case. He might have made a good effort. He might have given it a good shot but this young man, like all of us, was human and had not perfectly kept the Law of Moses. This young man, like all of us, was a sinner who would never be able, on his own, to measure up to the standard of the Law. It didn’t matter how much money he possessed, there was not enough money in the world to buy this young man the perfect sinless life he thought he was living in his mind. And Jesus knew this. You see, in his mind he had done everything perfectly, in his mind he did not see himself as he truly was a condemned sinner before the Holy God. According to him, he had done everything necessary to measure up.

Then Jesus gets to the heart of the matter in vs. 21. Having addressed the last six commandments, Jesus now addresses the first found in Exodus 20:3 and He says this…

Jesus gives him three steps he must take:

a. Release your grasp on the things of the world- “go and sell all you possess and give to the poor.” You see the core issue for this young man was his money was his God. And we’ll see that in just a moment. He trusted in his money more than anything else. Even though he kept the commandments, his money and wealth took priority over everything else. The truth was this that his wealth occupied the place that only God should have had in his life. And if he was going to inherit eternal life, if he truly was going to find a relationship with God, then his first step was to release a grasp on the things that stood between himself and God namely his money.

b. Realign your life with the cross of Jesus Christ- Second, Jesus says “and you will have treasure in heaven.” Up to this point, this young man’s treasure was found in his earthly possessions. It was found in his position, it was found in his power, it was found in everything that his money could afford. But here Jesus is calling him to leave all of that behind-his place of position and power-and identify himself with the shame of the cross. For him to truly find life in Jesus Christ, he was going to have to be willing to lose it here on earth.

c. Resolve to follow Jesus- Jesus says finally “come, follow Me.” Jesus called him to do what He had called the other disciples to do on the shore of the Sea of Galilee not too long before this, to follow Him. To place his trust in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation. To replace his trust in his wealth with a trust in his Savior.

And in vs. 22, we see the young man’s response. It says… The Greek word here for “saddened” gives the picture of storm clouds gathering. It is the picture of a life in the presence of joy and in a moment, in the time it takes to make one decision, sorrow and gloom begin to gather like a storm on the horizon. This young man went away grieving, almost depressed, and it gives us the reason why- “for he was one who owned much property.”

The Message Bible puts it this way, “The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.”

What was the obstacle that kept the young man surrendering fully to Jesus? The love of money. It was his identity. To lose his money meant he would have lost himself.

And the same three steps Jesus gave this young man are the same three steps we must take to live a life where Jesus is the priority:

a. Release your grasp on the things of the world- You see, Jesus is not asking you to give up all that you own. He wants you to live open handed. It all goes back to the concept of stewardship and not ownership. When we realize that everything we have is a gift from God, then we live open handed. For us to truly be followers of Jesus we have to release our grasp on the things of the world. More than likely it’s not that we have a grasp on the things of this world, it’s that the things of this world have a grasp on us. But when we live with our fists unclenched and our hands open God uses what He has blessed us with for His glory.

b. Realign your life with the cross of Jesus Christ- we must be willing to be identified with Jesus. We must be willing to come to the point in our lives where we lay down whatever Jesus calls us to lay down and we pick up the cross of Christ. And it all boils down to where our treasure is found. Is our treasure found in earthly possessions or is our treasure our priority found in our relationship with our Heavenly Father? Are we willing to leave behind power and position and whatever this life might bring to truly find life in Jesus?

c. Resolve to follow Jesus- No turning back. But resolved to live a life that brings honor and glory to Jesus. Making disciples of Jesus that make disciples and living in radical trust and commitment to Him. Putting away anything that stands in the way of the life Jesus has called us to live.

You see, if there’s anything that the reaction of the rich young ruler to Jesus’s call on his life teaches us it’s that “we cannot love our wealth and possessions supremely and love Jesus supremely.” Theologian James Edwards puts it this way, “A person who leads an exemplary life—who even endears himself to the Son of God—can still be an idolater.”

The love of money and its priority in our lives can become an obstacle to following Jesus and loving Him above all else...

Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 223.

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Mk 10:22.

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 146.

But there’s some good news at the end of this text. Jesus uses this as a teaching moment for His disciples and He gives us a principle to apply to our lives when it comes to money and it’s this:

When we look to God as our Savior and not money, then our lives become a channel for God to use and not a storehouse of hoarded possessions. (vs. 23-27)

So, Jesus turns to His disciples and takes advantage of this really sad moment. Look at vs. 23-27...

Believe it or not, Jesus is not condemning wealth here or having money. The point that Jesus is making is that when money takes priority in our lives over everything else, it can breed a confidence in ourselves and can become addictive. And if we are not careful, it can become so much of a priority that the things of God go by the wayside.

And then Jesus makes this unusual statement in vs. 25, He says.... Now, that sounded as ridiculous to the disciples then as it does to us now. But Jesus is using this ridiculous comparison to make a point. And the point is found in vs. 27… The point is this: wealth can build a barrier to the one thing necessary to enter the kingdom of Heaven-childlike trust in Jesus. On our own, we are helpless and hopeless to do anything to earn salvation, it is impossible, it is like trying to shove a camel through the eye of a needle; but with God all things are possible, and anyone can be saved because of the perfect atoning sacrificial death of Jesus for our sins on the cross.

And when we live lives of complete surrender to Jesus because of what He has done and not because of what we do then God uses us and what He’s blessed us with for His glory.

So, lets conclude with Three guidelines to see this principle coming about in our lives: (from the book The Gift of Giving by Wayne Watts)

The picture of stewardship in the NT church is that we are to be channels of blessing to others and not hoarding our possessions in a storehouse.

a. So, the first guideline for us is We must guard our hearts against the love of money.

In Proverbs 4:23 (CSB) “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.”

In Matthew 6:33 Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”

When our hearts have been transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and our priority is our relationship with Jesus Christ, then that leaves little room for anything else to take priority in our lives including our money.

b. Second, We must be careful to give for the right reasons.

Jesus warns us as His followers about this also in Matthew 6. He talks about how the Jewish religious leaders gave for people to see them and to talk about how holy they thought they were. And Jesus says don’t be like this. We must give for the right reasons and with the right motives. We want to give in obedience to God and we want to give so that our resources God has blessed us with can be used for eternal purposes.

c. Third, We must make giving our primary objective for gaining wealth.

Proverbs 23:4–5 (CSB) “Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; because you know better, stop! As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.”

God entrusts us with His resources not for us to store it up but for us to give it away. When we try and keep it all to ourselves eventually what will happen is that it will be wasted. But when our objective to gaining wealth is how can I use it for God’s glory, then we will be amazed at how God uses what He has given us.

And it all comes back to where we started, that God is our Savior, He is our priority and we live in surrendered obedience to what He’s asked us to to with what He has entrusted to us.

Conclusion

So, is money an obstacle in your life today or is it a resource that’s being used for the glory and the purposes of God? And this morning, if God has shown you that it is an obstacle, our prayer is that you would come to this altar today and kneel before the Lord and lay that obstacle before Him and ask Him to transform it into a powerful tool to be used for His glory.

Maybe today you realize that you need to become a follower of Jesus. That’s where God being priority over everything else begins. And so maybe today you need to come and surrender your heart and life to Him for the very first time and experience God’s forgiveness and mercy and grace. Maybe you need to be baptized or become a covenant member of this church. Whatever step you need to take today, our prayer is that we would all be obedient.

Pray!