The Gospel of Mark: A Cluttered Heart

Text: Mark 10:17-31

Theme: The story of the rich young ruler teaches us that those individuals who have cluttered hearts cannot come to Jesus, who demands our hearts be singularly his.

How do we discern if a person has truly made a profession of faith in Christ? Look at the heart! From our passage tonight we will see a man who desires God, but is unwilling to pay the price to come to God.

Last Sunday night, we looked at the Jesus’ call to have a childlike heart. Tonight we look at a man who won’t turn to Jesus because he has a cluttered heart. Last Sunday I preached about the Simplicity, the Teachability, the Trusting, the Responsiveness of a child’s heart, and how those need to be characteristics of the believer’s heart. Tonight, I want to take a few moment to preach about the flip-side of the childlike heart. It’s found in the life of the Rich Young Ruler. He reveals the Tragedy of a Cluttered heart.

I. THE CLUTTERED HEART CAN DESIRE GOD

“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?” (Mark 10:17, ESV)

1. a man comes running up to Jesus

a. in Matthew’s account of the story we discover that the man is young, and in Luke’s Gospel we’re told that he’s a ruler, meaning he’s from the aristocratic elite of Israel

1) put it all together, and this is the story of a rich, young ruler coming to Jesus, with the most important question of life

b. he truly desired the things of God

1) we see that in his question

2) we see that in the fact that he sought Jesus out

2. he was open to what Jesus had to say, and he really wanted it

a. now, the problem is that he did not consider the implications of what he wanted

1) but his desire was there

A. DESIRE FOR GOD IS NOT ENOUGH

1. there are many people today who desire to go to heaven when they die ... they want to be spiritual ... they want to know how to know God

a. but they are not willing to count the cost in terms of their personal commitment to Christ in this life

1) they want to live as they please in this world, and go to heaven when they die

2) they want to have their cake and eat it to

b. Jesus speaks of men’s failure to consider the cost of following Him in Luke’s gospel

Luke 14:27-32 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace." NASB95

2. the old adage is true, You can’t have your cake and eat it too

a. there is a cost to becoming a Christian

b. the price is His Lordship

3. the man was confronted with the choice between himself and God; between fulfillment in this life and fulfillment in the life to come

a. he never questioned the truthfulness of what Jesus said

1) he did not equivocate or argue ... he just walked away

b. what Jesus was offering him was going to cost him his pride and his possessions, he decided that the price was too high — even for eternal life

II. THE CLUTTERED HEART CAN BE MORALLY RIGHT

“And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 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.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” (Luke 10:18-20, ESV)

1. this young man came to Jesus and he asked the right question ... What must I do to inherit eternal life?

a. Jesus responds, “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.’” (Mark 10:19) NASB95

2. the young man’s reply is that he has done so since he was a young boy

Mark 10:20 "And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” NASB95

a. he was a morally upright person

b. he was not saved, but he was “good” as men define goodness

ILLUS. I was “good” before I was saved, but I was a lost good person.

3. there are many people in our community in this situation today

a. in our culture, there are many who live good, clean lives

1) they are honest

2) they treat others fairly and with respect

3) they are faithful to their spouses

4) they give their employers an honest day’s work for an honest day’s wage

5) they do not lie

6) they do not steal

7) some of them even go to church

b. they pretty much live exemplary lives by the world’s standards

c. they are clean, and upright; they are morally and ethically pure

4. but being morally right does not earn a man a place in heaven any more than a desire to go there

A. RIGHT BEHAVIOR IS NOT ENOUGH

1. just as desire is not enough, so right behavior is not enough

a. none of us, no matter how morally and ethically right we are, are perfect

b. we’ve all been plagued with the curse of sin

c. we are all sinners by nature and choice

2. however much we seek to do righteously, all our righteousness adds up to way less righteousness than we need to inherit eternal life

a. unless our righteousness is as perfect as the righteousness of Christ, it is not enough

b. unless we keep God’s law as perfectly as Christ kept it, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God

1) we fall short of the glory of God

3. good behavior is not enough, because it is never good enough

III. CLUTTERED HEARTS CANNOT RESPOND TO GOD

1. here is the sad conclusion to the matter – cluttered hearts cannot respond to God

Mark 10:21-22 "Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property." NASB95

a. the rich, young ruler went away sorrowful

1) his heart was grieved because he had many possessions and great wealth

b. he had a desire for God –

1) he wanted to inherit the Kingdom of God and eternal life

c. he was morally upright –

1) he had kept the commandments of God from his youth

2. but he was unable to respond to God because his heart was cluttered by his possessions

a. he was like a child in many ways – open, teachable – but he could not be responsive and trustful

b. his possessions had cluttered his heart and he was bound by them

1) they shackled him, and his enslavement to them prohibited him from being able to respond in obedience to the command of Jesus

2) when he counted the cost, the cost was too high, because he had an allegiance to other things

A. BONDAGE TO ‘STUFF’ CLUTTERS HEARTS

1. Jesus goes on to describe the extent of the bondage which our possessions can have on us

Mark 10:23 "And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” NASB95

2. His disciples are amazed

a. so Jesus repeats His statement again

Mark 10:24-25 "The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and 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 man to enter the kingdom of God.” NASB95

3. now the disciples are even more amazed

Mark 10:26 "They were even more astonished and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?” NASB95

a. the common perception of that era believed that a sign of the blessing of God was wealth

1) the more things change the more they stay the same, true?

b. yet, Jesus asserts that wealth, instead of being a blessing, can in fact, be a curse

1) Jesus does not say that riches in themselves are anything good or bad

2) Jesus never said that money was in-and-of-itself the problem

c. but money, wealth, and material possessions, all can become problems whenever one’s heart becomes set on them instead of the things of God

4. Jesus illustrates the spiritual hindrance that money and possessions can be by telling one of the most well-known proverbial sayings in the Bible –

v. 25 “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

a. some commentators believe that what Jesus was referring to a gate in Jerusalem that was called The Needle's Eye

1) this gate was about four feet high, and if a camel got down on its knees, with a great deal of effort, it might manage to struggle through

2) the implication is that getting into the Kingdom by one’s own effort is hard but not necessarily impossible

5. but Jesus says that getting into the Kingdom by your own effort is impossible

Mark 10:27 "Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, ... ” NASB95

a. Jesus is using hyperbole

1) He’s referring to a literal needle’s eye – the kind used for sewing

b. obviously, the thought of a camel fitting through that needle’s eye erases all shadow of a doubt as to the possibility of it taking place

6. but Jesus gives us the good news

Mark 10:27 "Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” NASB95

a. what is impossible with men is possible for God

1) God is the God of the impossible

2) in God, the possibilities are limitless

b. God can change the heart of a rich man so that his desire is not set upon the riches, but upon the Lord

c. the danger of riches is that riches can possess the heart

1) that is what draws the strong warning of Jesus

2) Jesus is concerned with anything that makes our hearts unresponsive to God

d. folks – I will tell you something that is true, but something that a lot of Christians will not like ...

1) if you want to know how thoroughly the gospel has permeated a man’s heart, look at what he does with his pocket book

This passage ends with a promise, It is a promise for all of those who take Jesus' command seriously. His disciples went on to ask Him how this applied to their lives. Peter says, in verse 28, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." Jesus replies that everyone who has forsaken something for His sake shall not suffer lack, but will receive a hundred-fold blessing in this life, and eternal life in the age to come. What Jesus is saying is that we can trust Him. He will take care of us. The real issue is the matter of our heart. Is our heart right toward God?

Do we come to Jesus like a little child, open, trusting, simple, uncluttered and uncomplicated, teachable, and responsive; willing to be obedient to Him? Or is our heart cluttered? Are we burdened down and enslaved by the cares of this world? Is our heart set on material things, or on spiritual things? That is the real issue.