The kingdom of God - "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
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The kingdom of God - “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
The kingdom of God - “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Many of the core aspects of life cannot be adequately described in human terms - i.e.
- Life
Life
Life
Love
Happiness
Meaning of life
What happens when we die?
The functions of our bodies
From man’s very limited myopic human perspective, spiritual truths are even more difficult to grasp and describe: i.e.
God
Man
Fallen man
Sin
Salvation
A sin damaged creation
The kingdom of God
Eternal life
What we find difficult to understand and describe, the Word of God often explains in simple terms that even a child can understand and embrace by faith. To be sure, there are truths that in the Scriptures that are beyond the grasp of even the most mature believers, but the basics of the Gospel and salvation are not.
In today’s portion, Jesus would remind us of two wonderful truths, which we need to take to heart and share with others.
The kingdom of God belongs to those who receive it in simple childlike faith -
Parents bringing their children
Unnamed parents and unnamed children underscored the fact that these folks were no one special. But they were to Jesus.
On a recent earlier occasion in Capernaum - - Jesus had used children to remind his disciples that receiving children was a very clear picture of those who by receiving other believers, received Jesus and him who sent him.
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
:
The word used by Mark suggested children up to 12 years of age. It was used of the boy/child in - the boy that had been possessed by the deaf mute spirit.
Some younger - infants -
Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
Lk 18:
Jesus took them in His arms indicates that they were not large.
That he might touch them - whether religious or not parents wanted their children to be touched by those deemed important had been a pattern
Disciples rebuking them
Forgot what Jesus had emphasized re receiving a child is an indicator of receiving Jesus -
The disciples were slow and disbelieving
Jesus’ reaction, comments and actions:
Indignant
Let the children come to me, do not hinder them FOR to such belongs the kingdom of God
No reason to assume that these children or their parents had any special innocence, purity or virtue.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark Discipleship and Children (10:13–16)
In this story children are not blessed for their virtues but for what they lack: they come only as they are—small, powerless, without sophistication, as the overlooked and dispossessed of society. To receive the kingdom of God as a child is to receive it as one who has no credits, no clout, no claims.23 A little child has absolutely nothing to bring, and whatever a child receives, he or she receives by grace on the basis of sheer neediness rather than by any merit inherent in him- or herself. Little children are paradigmatic disciples, for only empty hands can be filled.
No reason to assume that these children are expressing saving faith. Rather children, unless they have been abused, are more than will to accept and embrace the care that they no they need and without which they cannot survive. Children are all too aware that they cannot care for themselves.
What about children who die as infants or before they see their sin and need of a Saviour.
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Special Blessing (10:14)
The eminent nineteenth-century theologian Charles Hodge wrote, “Of such [children] He tells us is the kingdom of heaven, as though heaven was, in great measure, composed of the souls of redeemed infants” (Systematic Theology [repr., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979], 1:27). B. B. Warfield, the respected nineteenth-century Princeton theologian, also argued that Scripture teaches the salvation of infants:
Their destiny is determined irrespective of their choice, by an unconditional decree of God, suspended for its execution on no act of their own; and their salvation is wrought by an unconditional application of the grace of Christ to their souls, through the immediate and irresistible operation of the Holy Spirit prior to and apart from any action of their own proper wills … And if death in infancy does depend on God’s providence, it is assuredly God in His providence who selects this vast multitude to be made participants of His unconditional salvation …
Likewise, there is no reason to assume that this portion supports infant baptism as some denominations and John Calvin himself incorrectly conclude.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark Discipleship and Children (10:13–16)
10:15, especially, has played a significant role in the discussion of infant baptism. The pericope about Jesus and the children, of course, is about blessing children, not baptizing them, but both the blessing of Jesus and the wording of the narrative establish a positive context in which to consider the question of infant baptism. Calvin argued that if children were brought to Jesus to receive the kingdom, which is the sum of the blessing sealed through baptism, why should they be denied baptism? Cullmann argues that the language of the pericope has been chosen by Mark in order to answer the question of the propriety of infant baptism.25 Although Cullmann’s point is possible, it seems more probable that the language of early Christian baptism was taken from this passage, for infant baptism was scarcely an issue at the time Mark wrote his Gospel. Nevertheless, the correlations in language between this pericope and later church baptismal liturgies indicate that the church early perceived the significance of this story for the baptism of infants.
Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
Kingdom of God - God’s sovereign rule
In salvation
In the hearts of His people
nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
Future - literal earthly kingdom
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Rev
Receive = believe -
Repent & believe
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Took the children in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands on them
Took - word translated took means enfold in ones arms as one would a baby.
Blessed - suggests prayed for them one by one.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark Discipleship and Children (10:13–16)
The ritual of blessings was well known in Israel. Noah blessed Shem and Japheth (Gen 9:26–27), Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau (Gen 27; 28:1–4), and Jacob blessed his sons and grandsons (Genesis 48–49). Such blessings tended to be officious in nature, related particularly to the passing on of one’s name or property. “A father’s blessing establishes the houses of his children,” declares Sir 3:9. The laying on of hands was also a priestly rite of investiture in Israel, whereby wisdom (Deut 34:9) and the spirit of office (Num 27:18–20) were conferred on the ordinand. This rite was also continued in early Christianity (Acts 6:1–6; 13:1–3).
Jesus also touched those whom others refused to touch - lepers, the ill and unclean
So should we.
2. Eternal life is God’s grace gift received by faith -
A man, his actions and question - 10:17
A man - young - ; ruler - probably in the synagogue - ; rich -
Ran and knelt - haste suggests earnest and eager BUT
Seeking the Lord commended for those who seek genuinely.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:
“Seek me and live;
but do not seek Bethel,
and do not enter into Gilgal
or cross over to Beersheba;
for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,
and Bethel shall come to nothing.”
Seek the Lord and live,
lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,
Amos
But those seeking must seek all of their heart.
And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.
1 Ch
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
Ps 119:
Possessions, social status that prove a liability rather than an asset
Good teacher - Jesus - why do you call me good - no one good but God
In Judaism only God regarded as good and when although rabbis accepted many title, good not one of them for fear of blaspheming God - cc
What must I do? - indicates lack of selflessness - a product of the legalism and self righteousness of his day betrayed the lack of an accurate knowledge of true salvation.
Eternal life - not extent of life as far as length of life but quality of life that is found in Christ alone not what we do or even the church. The Scriptures emphasize - 17 references in Gospel of John. 50 times in NT - literal means - life of the age to come - “participation in the eternal life of the living Word, Jesus Christ” (Dr John MacArthur.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Jn 3:
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Phil
Jesus, His reaction, question, interaction and directive - 10:18-22
You know the commandments - quoted
“All these have I kept from my youth.” - sincere but superficial - no sense of sin
Like the Apostle Paul saw himself outwardly blameless
as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Phil
But not in terms of heart and motives.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matt 5:
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Matt 5:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matt 5:
Sell all you have, give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.
Later, Jesus emphasized the need to value the kingdom of God more than anything else - Hidden Treasure, Pearl of Great Value.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Matt
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matt 13:
The man went away sorrowful - did not receive the promise of eternal life because the perceived cost was too high. He valued his possessions too. He treasured the more than eternal life.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matt 6
WHAT DO WE TREASURE MORE THAN ETERNAL LIFE?
When we treasure something more than eternal life, we very similar to King Rehoboam, who although he knew better did not consistently set his heart to seek God. The record in 2 Chronicles notes for all to read and remember that although he began well, he later faltered, perhaps because of the influence of his mother who was noted as being an Ammonite - descended from Ben-ammi - son of Lot and his one daughter - - of whom almost none had faith in God. 1 Kings records how led Judah away from God.
And when he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah.
So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.
2 Ch 12:12-14
Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.
1 Kings 14:
Jesus’explanation and interaction with His disciples - 10:23-31
How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God - inherit eternal life
The disciples would have been surprised when the man left sorrowful in sharp contrast to the way that he had run up to Jesus. He had approached Jesus with an apparent sincerity. He had left in sorrow when asked to make the selfless sacrifice that is required of all who truly repent and believe.
Long before Augustus Toplady penned the words of “Rock of Ages” this young man chose to reject the emptying of self so clearly expressed in that beautiful of a bygone era.
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.”
Jesus explanation:
Wealth tends to lead to self security and self sufficiency - do not really need God.
Prone to conceit
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
Vulnerable to making their wealth their treasure rather than Christ and eternal life.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
1 Ti
O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
1 Tim
Jesus’ parable of the rich fool.
And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Lk 12:
To a very real extent the rich young ruler was the product of faulty 1st century theology.
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Poverty of Riches (10:23–27)
According to the simplistic (and wrong) theology of first-century Judaism, wealth was a sign of God’s blessing. Conversely, they saw the poor as cursed by God. Further, those who were wealthy had the means to pay for more sacrifices than did the poor. They also could afford to give more alms and buy more offerings than other people, and the Jews believed that almsgiving was key to entering the kingdom. The apocryphal book of Tobit said, “It is better to give alms than to lay up gold: for alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin. Those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life” (Tobit 12:8–9; cf. Sirach 3:30). Thus, in the Jewish religious system, it should be easy for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, not impossible.
Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a person to enter the kingdom of God.
Not a small side gate - no evidence such a gate existed
Jewish adaptation of a Persian variation of an elephant - largest known animal - and eye of a needle
Hyperbole - exaggeration for the sake of emphasis
Then who can be saved?
Jesus’ teaching countered rabbinical teaching that wealth a sign of God’s blessing and an advantage re salvtion.
If the rich could not be saved by their efforts that seemed to indicate God’s blessing, what hope did the poor and immoral?
No one can be saved by their own efforts BUT with God all things possible.
Paul reminded his Roman readers about Abraham.
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
Rom 3:19-
just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
No grounds for self righteous Gospel or NEW PERSPECTIVE ON PAUL.
We left everything to follow you.
Jesus promise.
And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know,
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
Mk 9:29-
Many who are first will be last and the last will be first = all share equally the blessings of heaven as Jesus explained so clearly in the Parable of the workers in the Vineyard who all received the same pay.
Mk 10:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Matt
Profound truths that Jesus would have us fully understand, believe and tell others:
The kingdom of God/eternal life/salvation is God’s gracious gift that is received by childlike faith.
Have you trusted Jesus only - not parents, not good works, not baptism, not a prayer?
Have you confessed that faith?
Entering the kingdom of God/eternal life/salvation is not earned, not a reward for good deeds/good behaviour, not dispensed by the church or whomever/whatever, BUT ONLY BY GOD.
Because it is only God, there are none that cannot be saved.
There is nothing that God cannot forgive
There is nothing that saves but Jesus & God
There is no greater message that we can and must share.