Temporary Riches Can Cost You Eternal Wealth

Intro

Open or keep your bibles open to Mark 10. As we open up I want to take a moment to set the scene in this part of Mark’s Gospel. Many miracles have been performed by Jesus, the disciples know that Jesus is the Christ by the revelation given to Peter, they have witnessed the transfiguration on top of a mount, and now Christ is showing the governance of the upside down Kingdom of God. This term is quite ironic, because it is actually the world and it’s kingdoms that are tarnished, corrupted, reflections of the Heavenly Kingdom. Why do we call this kingdom, the upside down kingdom? The things of heaven are backwards to how we, the world, treat them. This is reflected in Mark 10:31 “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

We see in the verses before our reading that in the Kingdom of God children are greatly desired, for we are called to receive it like they do. In the kingdoms of those days, children were mouths to feed who could not do things as well as adults. We now go into the reading showing how a rich man is poor in the Kingdom of God, though he would be influential in the kingdoms of man.

Mark 10:17–22 “And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 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.’ ” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

The Teaching

Sermon Summary

This passage shows that temporary riches can cost you eternal wealth. Temporary riches can cost you eternal wealth. Even those who seem earnest, those who even outwardly look good, but inwardly serve themselves. As John MacArthur calls them “Self Seekers”. If we seek after our needs and comfort above God’s wants, we are not worthy to inherit the kingdom of God.

Outline

In this passage we see there are three parts that I see in the passage. They are the question, the response, and the gospel. The question, the response, and the gospel.

Content

Verse 17 shows the earnest nature of this man. He ran to the feet of Jesus and called him a good teacher. This was not something that was normally done. Rabbis were not usually called Good Rabbi for the exact reason that Jesus states in His response. This rich man seems to know that something is missing. He asks, “…what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The question of questions. He is not sure of his eternal destination and seeks Christ for an answer to his burning question. This could be the man’s wisest decision of his life. To seek the resurrection Himself to see how to inherit eternal life.

Jesus’ response in verse 18 can seem kind of shocking knowing what we know. Is Jesus denying that He is good, which in turn means that He is denying His deity as so many skeptics claim? This is a probing question. Jesus does this throughout the Scriptures. He says things to help reveal their hearts on the manner, such as the woman at the well and the Canaanite woman asking for healing. In actuality Jesus is almost giving the rich man a hint of who He truly is. He is not denying that He is good, but simply questioning what the man means by good. The reality is, Jesus knows the heart of this man and knows that even if he thinks he is being genuine, the man doesn’t truly know the cost. In our outreach we may have met many people like this. We may have been the person like this. Some of us may still be like this.

Jesus helps reveal that low view God by presenting the law and giving him a chance to see the man’s understanding of the law. He wants to show him that Jesus knows that he is a “good person” or at least a “good Jew.” Isn’t the law a mirror to show us our wickedness? Paul in the book of Romans would show that to be clear, but I don’t think that is entirely the point here. Why do I say this? Jesus does not recite the entire 10 commandments here. He only recites the horizontal commandments, as in the commandments that deal with his relation to others. Why would Jesus do that? To show that Jesus knows that the rich man has been faithful with what he has been taught and at least outwardly seems good, but he still lacks one thing. in verse 21 Jesus calls the rich man to follow the vertical commandments. Out of love and compassion he says this. The word love here, represents a verb, not just a fluffy feeling, but a concrete action taken. Jesus is telling the rich man what He needs to do, not a simple call to be a hermit, but an old commandment. To smash his household idols, repent, and seek follow the Lord. Is this not the Gospel? Did Christ not call us to say as a wedding vow, “I forsake all others! I serve one master and Him alone.” But the rich man could not give up his idols. His money was his security, his comfort, and his status. The upside down nature of the kingdom is that, those who are rich will have a harder time getting into the Kingdom, for they have more to give up. His earthly security, cost him his heavenly one.

When the question was asked, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The response was to show Him that He does well outwardly, but not for the right reasons. For the fruit of that is the man’s rejection of the Gospel. He is the man that in the parable of the sower is choked by the weed that is the things of this life. This is a deep reminder for us, especially in the riches country in the world, that we must be willing to give up everything we have in this life, because Christ might call us to. We must not let our earthly riches cost us our eternal wealth. We must cling to our eternal wealth that we have in Christ Jesus.