What Must I Do?
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INTRO
INTRO
Life is fleeting
When you’re younger
When you get older
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Eternal Life (We all have some sense of a life to come)
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
It wasn’t a question of whether there is eternal life—everyone basically believed in eternal life
It was a question of how you get it.
Is it a matter of being really good? Or something else? Because…
Mark 10:17
Some People Seem Really Good
Some People Seem Really Good
The man in our story today seemed really good.
“What must I do?” — Jesus’ response:
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.” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.”
The man claimed that he kept all of God’s commands—never broke one. — Really good guy!
The idea of salvation makes a lot more sense when it comes from someone who has done lots of bad things. (elaborate)
But, the man was not as good as he thought he was because…
No One is Good But God
No One is Good But God
When the man approached Jesus, he called Jesus ‘good teacher.’
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.
Jesus didn’t say this as a challenge to his own goodness.
But, knowing the heart of the man, he said this so that the man could not claim to be truly good all on his own.
Notice the compassion in Jesus’s response:
Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
What does it mean that Jesus loved him.
This guy does not gain eternal life; he does not become part of God’s family; he does not repent of sins.
And yet, Jesus loved him.
The boastful cannot stand in your sight; you hate all evildoers.
Compassion, mercy
Compassion, mercy
The man was putting hope in his outward appearance (law) not in God’s mercy.
Even though the man kept the law and seemed really good, he wasn’t good enough. He wasn’t totally sinless and pure.
The boastful cannot stand in your sight; you hate all evildoers.
Even though the man kept the law, there was still something left to do.
Even though the man kept the law and seemed really good, he wasn’t good enough. He wasn’t totally sinless and pure.
Jesus knew the man loved his wealth more than God—heart issue.
He wanted him to give up his earthly pleasures that he loved so much so that he could gain true treasure in heaven.
Jesus wanted the man’s heart and his heart yearned for money and possessions not for God.
In reality, the question of eternal life has less to do with what is happening on the outside. What matters first and foremost is what is happening on the inside—in your heart—because…
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.
But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
Goodness is Made in Your Heart
Goodness is Made in Your Heart
The man’s response to Jesus demonstrates that although he tried to keep the law very well, he did not love God like he loved money.
But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
Dismay (distress from something unexpected).
Grief (response to loss—What did he lose?)
Possessions/Acquisitions (pride+wealth—Jesus is calling the man to give up the direction of his own life that he worked so hard to build.)
This is the essence of the Gospel—complete abandonment of the life you wanted to live in exchange for the life your Father has called you to live.
Especially, kids, teens, young adults—ought to seriously consider being missionaries, pastors, etc. — giving their entire lives for the sake of the Gospel.
The pursuit of wealth, success, fame in this life is a stumbling block to the Gospel (stands in the way of the life God has called you to live):
The disciples were astonished at his words. Again Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
People make this text about all sorts of things
Most common: city gate, bowing the camel to enter through the eye…
Jesus isn’t saying it’s really hard and you’re going to have to be really diligent to be really good.
He isn’t saying you have to be really humble if you’re going to be rich also.
He is saying it’s impossible.
Peter’s response:
They were even more astonished, saying to one another, “Then who can be saved?”
The disciples knew that this was about more than wealth.
Literally anything you want to do in your life — if it stands in the way — it can become a stumbling block to the Gospel and cost you eternal life.
The point is, if this man who was so good could not attain eternal life by his own goodness, then who can be saved?
And the reality is, according to our own will and purposes, our own efforts, no one can be saved? No one can gain eternal life, because no one’s heart is good enough. But, Jesus tells us that…
God Can Make Your Heart Good
God Can Make Your Heart Good
You can’t fix your heart
But God can make your heart good
Looking at them, Jesus said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God.”
Who can gain eternal life? No one by their own effort. But, with God all things are possible.
If it has to come from within, then not just the rich are in trouble! — we are all in trouble, because no one is good enough.
But, God doesn’t just change behaviors; God changes hearts!
God doesn’t just want to make us look like nice, kind, moral people on the outside.
God wants to change us from the inside out.
Peter began to tell him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, who will not receive a hundred times more, now at this time—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and eternal life in the age to come.
Peter began to tell him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”
Peter knew that surely God had done something in his heart and the heart of the disciples.
They gave up their whole lives for Jesus.
Jesus’s response:
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, who will not receive a hundred times more, now at this time—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and eternal life in the age to come.
Family motif: If you live your life for Christ and not your own selfish gain, then…
You have a home with the people of God even if you aren’t welcome at your own home.
You have brothers and sisters in Christ.
You have spiritual mothers or nurturers in the church and a Father in heaven.
As you follow Christ, the idea is that God will use you to bless others with the Gospel and you will have spiritual children.
You will have fields to provide for your needs.
And Jesus reminds us that it will not be easy, living this life in God’s family, but that there will be persecutions from the world.
And then you will have eternal life in the age to come.
Mark 28.30
How are you saved? How do you get eternal life?
By giving up whatever it is that you pursue in this life and pursuing, following, Jesus Christ alone.
We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.
“We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”
We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.