When Good Isn't Good Enough
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INTRO
INTRO
WEALTH OF TAIPEI
Eighth in global cities with the highest number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals
About 1,519 residents of Taipei own at least $30NT million in assets, according to the report.
In Taiwan, the ultra-wealthy own an average of 5.4 homes each.
The mindset of Taipei's upper class as "Work! Work! Work Harder!"
This is the context in which we live. But before we get too critical on just the upper class. Let’s look at some more statistics:
100 years ago people averaged, you ready, 11 hours of sleep a day, now? Just 7 hours.
People are more anxious and depressed and overworked.
When you and I are asked how we are, what’s the normal reply? “WE are good, just _____”? busy....
Before you say that you don’t belong in this camp, if you make $35,000(1 Million NT)or more a year you are in the world’s top 1%. Yet somehow we don’t feel like it’s enough. Wealth and success haven’t brought us the life we thought those things would. We want to look good, be good, and have good things. Yet what happens, what do we do, when we realize that our goodness simply isn’t good enough? Let’s stand for the reading of the text.
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?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “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.” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.” 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.” But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
耶穌又開始他的行程。那時，有一個人跑過來，跪在他面前，問他說：「良善的老師，我當作甚麼，才可以承受永生？」耶穌對他說：「你為甚麼稱我是良善的？除了 神一位以外，沒有良善的。誡命你是知道的：不可殺人，不可姦淫，不可偷盜，不可作假證供，不可欺詐，當孝敬父母。」他對耶穌說：「老師，這一切我從小都遵守了。」耶穌看著他，就愛他，對他說：「你還缺少一件：去變賣你所有的，分給窮人，就必定有財寶在天上，而且你要來跟從我。」那人聽見這話，就變了臉色，憂憂愁愁地走了，因為他的財產很多。
1. Jesus Our Treasure耶穌是我們的寶貝
1. Jesus Our Treasure耶穌是我們的寶貝
TEXT
Jesus is going out on a journey making His way out of town, and this man is running to catch Him before He leaves town. In the previous Gospel stories, we’ve seen people who cry out to Jesus, it’s been the demoniacs, the gentile woman, the man with the demon possessed son, and the man who had leprosy. But this man doesn’t fit any of those categories, yet he is running to get a moment with Jesus.
Let’s step back and consider the description of this man:
1)He was young Matt. 19:22
2) Was a ruler Lk. 18:18
3) Had great wealth Luke 18:23, Mk. 10:22
4) He was morally good Mark 10:23
I can relate to this guy. Not to the young and wealthy part, but to the part of his heart that says, listen, Jesus I’ve worked hard at being a really good person, I’ve worked hard to protect my image and my reputation, I’ve worked hard to be successful, but there’s this gnawing sense in my heart that it’s not enough, and it’s left me empty, and it hasn’t brought me life. So
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
This word “inherit” means to obtain by a legal right.
This man is already thinking that eternal life, the kingdom of God is something that he can obtain by his works. “Jesus what must I do to gain the RIGHT to have eternal life.” “What must I do in order to put God in my debt, where now eternal life isn’t GIVEN to me, but I’VE OBTAINED it through my work, where it becomes my right. This man feels he is entitled to eternal life because of his good works.
QUESTION: How many of us feel that God owes us something?How many of us operate with the belief that because we’ve done certain things for God, or given a certain amount of money TO God, HE OWES us? We’re entitled to a certain kind of lifestyle or certain gifts? Let’s see how Jesus responds.
Jesus Response:
“Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone”
This word “GOOD” greek word means intrinsic in nature: good enough. Why do you call me good? Only God is good alone.
So Jesus says there is no one Good except God alone.
1st thing Jesus is getting at is, if you are calling me good, then you have to recognize that I am God. Because no one is good expect for God.
2nd thing: This would have come to a shock to this man! He probably lived his life thinking he was better than most, doing good things, having a good reputation, so Jesus says that although you’ve done GOOD Things, or GOOD DEEDS, those GOOD DEEDS, or GOOD THINGS, don’t change you, our nature, into being GOOD.
The Bible repeats this all over the Scriptures, that are the core of human nature, WE ARE NOT GOOD PEOPLE. This is not popular. We may do good things from time to time, and try really hard to live good lives, but at the core of who we are apart from the work of Christ, we are fallen, and have sinful hearts. We could do a quick history lesson and see this over and over again played out. From the wealthiest to the most poor, from the most educated to the least educated, historically people have proven this belief that our hearts are fallen and left to ourselves we will not choose God and others, but ourselves. Look at the current state of many countries right now, in the midst of crisis, we aren’t seeing the BEST of people, we are seeing sin play out in the hearts of people again and again.
There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.
沒有明白的，沒有尋求 神的； 人人都偏離了正道，一同變成污穢； 沒有行善的，連一個也沒有。
Jesus is giving this young man a new standard for goodness. Each of us have our own standard for goodness, and we judge ourselves by it.
One of biggest messages in our culture, and even in the church is that YOU ARE GOOD. (50% of Christians in the US believe )that apart from Christ, people are naturally good people! Culture says what you and I need to do to achieve personal happiness is doing everything that you can to release your inner self, to release this inner goodness that you have. You’re good but everyone else is the problem. Culture will tell you what you need is more and more of being yourself, where as in the Gospel Jesus calls us to die more and more to self. We must become less, and He must become more. Jesus says NO ONE IS GOOD, no one is intrinsically good, except for God, and Him alone. The standard of goodness is not your good deeds rich man, it’s not your nice words, it’s not my kindness, the standard of goodness is God, and Him alone.
So let’s see how this man measures up:
Jesus says “You know the commandments” This guy really has sincerely tried to live a lawful life, a good life. The commands listed here are 6-10(possibly do not defraud is a translation of one), while 1-4 Jesus didn’t quote. If you look at the Ten Commandments the first 4 commandments are considered to be about our relationship towards God, while 6-10 is our relationship to our neighbor. So Jesus ONLY lists out the commandments that have to do with his actions towards his neighbor, and how does he respond?
II know you said only God is good, but… “SEE JESUS I AM GOOD!” “ I have kept all of these from my youth”. Think about that statement. This man has worked his whole life, since he was a youth at being the best person he could be. That’s a lot of work.
Now most religions, most faith’s and most people would say at this point, THIS GUY HAS MADE IT. This is the goal of religion, right? Just to make us become better people. In Taiwan, something we hear regularly is all religions are the same because they are teaching you to be a nice person who does nice things. Well here we have a nice person who has done good things. Compare yourself to this man? Could you or could I say that we’ve kept all these commandments since our youth? Probably not.
And yet Mark tells us that Jesus says what?
Jesus said to him “you lack one thing”. This phrase actually means that “you’ve fallen short”. This mans goodness wasn’t good enough. All of this mans wealth, all of his good deeds, even his good reputation, have left him short.
Life is not found in success. They found that most amount of money you can ever make that will relate to your emotional well being is $75000 about 2million NT. That’s it. After that doesn’t matter. There are people who are spending their lives chasing this lie, that more money equals more happiness, and simply not true.
Morality: here was a man, rich in good deeds. Eternal Life doesn’t just come from trying to be a better person. We all know, no matter how good we try to be, we aren’t as good as we could be. Those of you who are going to a christian school, or who grow up in religion families.
Eternal life isn’t found in being successful or good. It leaves this man “falling short”.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
因為人人都犯了罪，虧缺了 神的榮耀，
All of us, every single one of us, doesn’t matter who much wealth we have, how good we think we are, HAVE FALLEN short of the standard for goodness which is God himself.
Jesus tells this man “go and sell all you have and give to the poor, you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.”
Is Jesus just giving this man something he must “do” to obtain eternal life? No. He knew this man’s heart.
Grieved: Why? What is stopping this man from inheriting eternal life isn’t the deeds he hadn’t done yet, but it is the idolatry in his heart that he hasn’t repented OF. This man did have other gods before God. He had broken the 1st commandment. This man was obeying God for himself, not because he loved God. HE obeyed the commandments of God as long as he could live his preferred lifestyle. How many of us are guilty of this? We obey Jesus’ commands only when they are convenient for us. So this man’s worship of his wealth and possessions kept him from following Jesus.
There is a story about a couple in Wisconsin who had the winning lottery ticket. They saw on TV that they had the winning number and they only had a certain amount of time to claim the millions of dollars they had just won. But they were busy. It was during football season, so they had sports. It was fall, so they had a bunch of activities, and sure enough, time ran out, and they lost their chance at all of that treasure. People began to call them reckless, lazy, irresponsible! Who would do such a thing. The truth is. We all do, every single one us.
For this man it was his wealth, but every single one of us have idols in our hearts that keep us from following Jesus. Every single one of us have people or things that we worship instead of Jesus. Maybe it’s comfort, maybe it’s praise, maybe it is wealth and security, maybe it’s relational harmony. But we all have heart idols.
HEART IDOLS: is something besides Jesus Christ that we feel we must have to be happy, something that is more important to our heart than God.
Maybe you’re sitting here saying, I don’t struggle with that. Well let’s allow the Scriptures to help reveal our hearts and see if any of us can relate.
VERSE 22: This man hears Jesus demand(word), and it says that he was “dismayed”. This word “dismayed” can also mean to feel threatened or to feel anger. It that means to cause pain. We are seeing in real time what Jesus said where“wealth comes and chokes out the word”. Jesus’ command to follow Him, to obey Him, has just threatened this mans idol. How many of us can relate? There are these hidden land mines in our hearts, and when maybe someone steps on them, we explode in anger, or depression, or anxiety, or fear? It’s like a child who has his favorite toy taken away and has a temper tantrum!
This is what the Gospel does to the idols in our hearts. Jesus doesn’t want to make good people better, but He comes to make war on the idols of our hearts.
Questions: Where in our lives do we feel threatened even angry, when God comes and asks us to give those up? Where do our emotions RISE when God is asking us to let go of certain things in our lives? No judgment from me. I know that this a regular thing in my life that the Spirit shows me. I can be overly joyous when I receive praise, or I can be crushed when I receive criticism, those are red flags that reveals what are we worshipping, what are we holding onto more than Jesus. Someone once said what we worry about reveals what we truly worship.
Jesus Our Righteousness耶穌是我們的公義
Jesus Our Righteousness耶穌是我們的公義
So What do we do? what can we do? If these idols in our hearts and in our lives keep us from following Jesus what do we do? Keep us from experiencing joy in Jesus, what do we do? This was the same question the disciples asked Jesus.
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.”
駱駝穿過針眼，比有錢的人進 神的國還容易呢！」
Jesus paralleled the absurdity of a camel passing through the eye of a needle with a rich man’s attempt to use his position and possessions to gain entrance into heaven
Look at verse 26.
They were even more astonished, saying to one another, “Then who can be saved?”
門徒就更加驚奇，彼此說：「這樣，誰可以得救呢？」
If this model citizen, wealthy, good reputation, did good deeds, if HE ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH TO BE SAVED, THEN WHO WILL BE SAVED JESUS?! If we’ve seen that life isn’t found in success, it isn’t found in our own morality? Where can we find life?
Looking at them, Jesus said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God.”
耶穌看著他們，說：「在人不能，在 神卻不然，因為在 神凡事都能。」
Jesus says it three times where true life is found. He tells this man to sell his things and FOLLOW HIM, later in the text it says for those who have left everything for HIS SAKE, and for the GOSPEL’s SAKE. Friends, eternal life isn’t found in good deeds, or good things, it’s found in following Jesus. Eternal life isn’t found in our goodness, it’s found in His. Eternal life isn’t something we earn or are entitled to by our goodness, it is given to us because of God’s goodness. Even though our goodness isn’t enough, Jesus’ is. We need to repent of trusting in our goodness, and trust in Christ’s for us! The bible tells us that God doesn’t put your righteousness forward for Him to accept you, no through faith in Christ, He puts Christ’s righteousness forward on our behalf that we might be accepted by God.
This man had spent his life on doing something that Jesus says is impossible.
3. Jesus Our Life耶穌是我們的生命
3. Jesus Our Life耶穌是我們的生命
But then Peter says, look Jesus, we’ve done what the rich ruler could not do! Prideful Peter.
“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.
耶穌說：「我實在告訴你們，人為著我和福音捨棄了房屋、弟兄、姊妹、母親、父親、兒女、田地，沒有不在今生得百倍──就是房屋、弟兄、姊妹、母親、兒女、田地，同時要受迫害──在來世還要得永生。
“Left” means to leave behind all mutual claims. What does that mean? Well mutual means: held in common. Claim means: authority. Jesus is saying, I will not share my authority, my claim over your life WITH ANYTHING or ANYONE ELSE. For those who have made the claim of my Lordship the primary claim on their life, above, possessions, above mothers, fathers, children, FOR THOSE PEOPLE THEY WILL ACTUALLY RECEIVE these things.
Paul says is this way:
“I count all things as loss COMPARED to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”.
我也把萬事當作是有損的，因為我以認識我主基督耶穌為至寶 Philippians 3:8
What does that mean? Jesus is our life.
1)For a church that is persecuted, for a church that has experienced betrayal, Jesus is saying, if you have had to literally leave family, jobs, behind to follow ME, you are welcomed into a new family, with countless brothers and sisters, if you left behind homes, you will have countless doors open to you because of the hospitality that comes from being a part of the Christian family. WITH PERSECUTIONS! No surprise there. And what? Eternal life.
2) He is saying these things can no longer be the center of your life. Your kids can not, your wife can not, I MUST BE. These things that Jesus lists, usually are the things that hold the most weight in our lives aren’t they? I am a better husband when my heart is fully focused on serving Jesus. I am a better dad when my heart is fully focused on following Jesus. I am a better friend when my heart is fixed on Jesus. That as our vertical relationship with Christ becomes priority it helps and heals our horizontal relationships. Not always. But I do think Jesus does have in mind, not just leaving behind, but stewarding properly these things. Where as before they are idols that we tend to worship that keep us from following Jesus, where as now they become ways in which we can FOLLOW JESUS.
For us as CityLight. CityLight exists, not to simply have a worship service where we can gather on Sunday afternoons, although that’s good. We believe God has given us a calling, to be a bilingual, multicultural, multiplying church. That sees disciples who make disciples who plant churches. That’s why we moved to Taiwan, that’s why families got together and started this church. As your pastor I can promise you, that in our endeavor to obey that call, there will be little things that will pop up and seek to choke out and threaten our obedience to that call as a church. Even good things that seek to replace Jesus as the center of all we do. If this is you’re first time here this afternoon, I can’t promise you that CityLight will be the church you’ve always wanted, but I can promise you, that CityLight church will be a community who will, by the Spirit and grace of God, be a church that wholeheartedly seeks to have Jesus as our treasure, Jesus as our righteousness, and Jesus as the center of every thing that we do.
Let’s stand.
APPLICATION:
I want to end by looking at verse 21. Look at what verse 21 says: “looking at him, Jesus loved him.” It is the love of Christ, the grace of God, that reveals these idols in our hearts to us! Why? So we might repent and enter into the life, the full joy of what only Christ can give us! Not only that, but Mark tells us that Jesus, looking at this man, full of pride, looking at this man knowing that he will still walk away, looking at this man full of idolatry, still loved him. This is the Gospel. Where this man was trying to earns God’s love through His actions, Jesus wanted to give it to Him through His grace. Where this man was attempting to justify himself through his own goodness, Jesus wanted to give him His own.
I want to give us some questions to consider right now as we respond. We are going to leave them on the screen for a couple of minutes so we can ask the Holy Spirit to let us prayer
fully consider Jesus’ words and how we can respond:
QUESTIONS:
Look back at this last week and consider your emotional highs and lows. Where was there anger, anxiety, or worry? Those could be the areas of your heart where you are worshipping something other than Jesus.
2.Do our finances reflect that Jesus is our treasure? 我們的財務代表耶穌是我們的寶貝嗎？
3.Do our possessions reflect that Jesus is our life?我們使用我們的東西代表耶穌是我們的生命嗎？
4. Are you still trying to prove yourself to God, are you still trying to earn or obtain salvation, eternal life through your good works? Would you repent of trusting in your goodness, and come and receive His?我們還是在依靠我們自己的公義嗎？