Our Desires Shape Our Lives

What do you want?

It's the first question Jesus asked his disciples,

John 1:38 “Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?””

It's the question buried under almost every other question Jesus asks. Jesus doesn't first ask, what do you know? or what do you believe? What do you want? is the most incisive, piercing question he can ask, because we are what we want.

You Are What You Love, James K.A. Smith, p.1ƒƒ

Our wants, our desires, and our longings are at the core of our identity… everything else flows form what we want, all of our actions and behaviors flow from what we want.

The questions Jesus is asking can help us become more attentive and intentional about what we love.

A big part of following Jesus is about learning to pay attention to what you love, what you desire, and allowing God to reorient/reorder your loves, your priorities.

Here’s another way to think about this…what’s the purpose of the Vineyard church here in Duluth? Why are we here? What are you doing here?

Are you here because you were wide awake this morning and just couldn’t come up with anything better to do? As we come together, what are you hoping for?

Why have Christians, followers of the resurrected Christ continued to gather together for a couple thousand years regardless of the hardship or persecution they’ve encountered? Why?

The fundamental answer , from a biblical point of view… is that what we're "here for" is to become genuine human beings, reflecting the God in whose image we're made….

The point of our regular gathering together is to regularly reorient our lives around the resurrected Christ… to worship is to orient ourselves in the world as God’s image bearers, to receive the gifts from the Spirit of God and from one another… gifts of love and of loving challenge… it a way we participate in our ongoing formation of being (re)created in the image of God and receive empowerment as we go both to and for the rest of the world.

And that we can’t actually do that independently of one another, regardless of how independent we think we are.

“Christ didn't come to make us Christian. Christ came to make us fully human.” H.R. Roomaaker (Dutch theologian, professor, and author)

Christ died for us in order to restore our humanity, and to give meaning back to God’s creation.

In this process of discipleship, we are learning together how to reorient our heart, our loves and desires…because living in the world (but not of it) its easy for us to get off track! There are lots of “course corrections” needed as we go along.

I want to look at a biblical story today that highlights one of the biggest ways our hearts get off track, one of the biggest warnings Jesus gives to his followers…in Mark 10

Let me give us just a little background:

This is another one of those triple synoptic traditions, its an interaction that all three of the gospel writers remember. It left a mark on their souls.

Second, Jesus has just finished blessing the children that parents were bringing to him, highlighting how becoming part of God’s kingdom is a gift God gives to those who acknowledge their helplessness.

And in the dialogue that follows today’s interaction, Jesus is predicting for a third time his upcoming trail and death; highlighting how this kingdom will cost you everything and it’s totally worth it.

Alright, let’s read this passage…

Mark 10:17–31 NIV

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” 20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” 28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Let’s look at the interaction…

Good teacher, what must I do…?

From all three gospel writers we know that this fellow is young, he’s some sort of a ruler (has authority over others), and is wealthy.

It’s not normal for this kind of a dignified guy to run. Or to slide up to Jesus on his knees…That catches our attention, something’s up.

He compliments Jesus and he asks a good question about eternal life and how we're supposed to get it. It's the kind of question that a religious teacher would find fascinating.

Why do you call me good?

Jesus ignores the main question completely and instead confronts his greeting! What‽

It's like if you started an email with "Dear Michael," and I wrote back asking "How 'dear' am I? In what way am I 'dear' to you?"

"Well, excuuse me!"

I think this’ll make sense later…

You know the commandments…

And then, before he has a chance to respond, Jesus recites a bunch of the commandments from (Exod 20:12–16; Deut 5:16–20)

I don’t know if you notice this, but Jesus doesn’t list out the first four commandments, dealing with our love of God. He only highlights the last 6 dealing with how we treat other people…

We’ll get back to that…

All of these I have kept

We might look at this response as prideful or egotistical, but this young man is claiming the very same thing the apostle Paul claimed in:

Phil 3:6 “6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.”

They are not claiming to be sinless, but blameless according the system God had laid out.

"Judaism requires that you dedicate yourself to a way of life in which you keep the commandments, and that you follow the patterns of apology and forgiveness when you make mistakes in your attempt to live them out." Conrad Gempf

Jesus looked at him and loved him

You’ve got to love verse 21

There’s no one else in the gospel of Mark, where he writes that Jesus loved them.

One thing you lack…

Jesus doesn’t challenge that he’s kept the law, as it’s been stated. But now he’s going to drive the point much deeper.

Jesus say’s, “One thing you lack”… and then he lists three things to do…

1) Go sell everything; 2) Give to the poor so that you have treasure in heaven; 3) Come follow me.

Here’s my questions for us to consider: what if the three things Jesus is giving him to do, really are only one thing? And what if this list Jesus is giving him is addressing the issues around the commandments that Jesus didn’t mention, the ones that have to do with a person’s responsibilities before God…worship God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; or have not other God’s before me—What if Jesus is not addressing those commandments??

What if the underlying issue isn't about selling, or giving, or even the following…what if its about a complete reordering of priorities?

He went away sad because of his wealth

Mark describes his reaction with a particularly descriptive word in Greek, stygnazein (stig, na-zo), meaning to be shocked, intensely dismay, appalled, or overcast as the sky, gloomy, disheartened. Dude!

This young man had been able to manage the checklist of spirituality, but a complete reordering of priorities, a re-centering his life around God, a complete reorientation proved too difficult for him.

The commandments were never about an extensive checklist of how to be spiritual, how to make God love you, how to be better than others, or how to get what you think you want when you die. The commandments were always meant to be a covenant relationship, a reorientation to a God-centered way of life.

This makes the earlier nit-picking around the word “good” make way more sense…

Jesus wasn’t nitpicking when he asked, "Why do you call me good?” That is in fact precisely the answer to the man's question. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

If he knows why it is right to kneel before Jesus,

if he knows why it is right to call him 'good',

if he has come in order to follow, then he would have had the 'one thing' which it turned out he lacked.

Knowing why you call him good involves knowing who you think he actually is.

Jesus is putting himself in the place of God in the covenant relationship—Jesus is putting himself at the center as more important that possessions or wealth.

Sadly, this is that last we hear of this young man, this potential follower of Jesus.

What is so dangerous about wealth?

We are designed to live in deep connection with God (heart, soul, mind, strength), and with one another (loving others as we love ourselves).

When I don’t have much money, I need my friends to help me move. I need a community around me to help me get settled at college. I need help watching my kids. But then as my wealth increases, I generally need you less and less to help me through life.

Money affords us the ability to get whatever we want without relationship or connection.

Some of us who are older, look back longingly, from a place of loneliness, at the relationships we had when we were younger…when we actually needed our friends… even though the relationships we often very difficult.

With enough money, I can get whatever I want without entangling myself with the personalities or needs of other people. I may not be able to turn stuff into gold, but I can turn my money into anything I want. If you have enough money, you can find someone who (legally or not) will find a way to give it to you. (The Life We're Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World, by Andy Crouch)

Jesus gave that power an ancient name: Mammon. It's not just a generic noun, it's a name.

Matthew 6:24 (NIV) — 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

money = Mammon (ma-mo-nas) – a comprehensive word for all kinds of possessions and earnings; a personified name with seriously negative connotation.

There were all sorts of other words Jesus, or the gospel writers could've used here to describe money or wealth, that don't have the negative connotation. but they didn't.

"For Mammon does want something very much indeed, because Mammon is ultimately not at all just a thing, nor even a system, but a will at work in history. And what it wants, above all, is to separate power from relationship, abundance from dependence, and being from personhood." (The Life We're Looking For, Andy Crouch, p.76)

Jesus is describing Mammon as a rival Lord. A lord who demands your devotion, your servanthood. Jesus describes Mammon as a lord who will cause you to turn away from, to walk away from, to despise the resurrected Christ. That’s exactly what we see in this young man from our story today.

No one can wholly belong to two different masters. There is no shared ownership of your life in God's kingdom. If you attempt shared ownership, it will result in failure. There are no half measures in following Jesus…it is an impossibility to serve two Lords.

Listen, Jesus does not teach that poverty is the ideal, nor does he categorically condemn all wealth. The greatest enemies to faith in God and obedience to God are pride, self-sufficiency, self-satisfaction.

1 Timothy 6:9 “9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”

Wealth can give you an illusion of fullness

Like our rich young man, we can begin to feel like our lives are full and there no room for God or what he’s doing…

As individuals as well as as a church, we can go through long stretches where we are out of touch with our needs and our failures in view of who God really is.

Wealth can be like a narcotic…

Wealth can make you forget God

When the Israelites were about enter the promised land, God gave them a strong warning to remember where all the blessings came from.

Deuteronomy 8:17 “17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”

Have you come to realize yet that there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman? Nobody lifts themselves up by their own bootstraps. Everything we have comes from his hand alone: the ability to earn, our wealth, intellectually wealthy, relationally wealthy, etc.).

“Money asks for our allegiance in a way that sucks the milk of human kindness out of our very being.” Richard Foster

Wealth can cause us to miss the purpose of life

The parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:13-21 —two brothers arguing over an inheritance, asking Jesus to settle the argument, so he tells a story of a man who had an abundant harvest, built bigger barns and decided to take life easy.

Luke 12:15 “15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.””

…so he tells a story of a man who had an abundant harvest, built bigger barns and decided to take life easy.

Luke 12:20 “20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’”

You fool! – without intelligence, stupid, idiot, etc.

The Greek word, Telos, speaks of the end, the purpose, the goal you were made for; your purpose.

Jesus calls this man a fool because he missed his purpose.

A few of practical suggestions concerning our wealth:

Ask God why he has given this wealth to you.

This is painfully simple: ask God why you have it. Ask him where he wants it to go. Ask him to break the power money has in your life, ask him to help you have single-hearted devotion to him alone.

Plan your budgets in response to what God is concerned about—what is on his heart.

The proper use of money is not to live as high as we possibly can down here, that would be a very poor investment indeed. No, the proper use of money is for investing as much of it as possible in the lives of people, then we’ll have treasure in heaven! We want to free up as much as possible to invest in what God is doing.

Break the power that money has in your life by giving it away.

Those who are rich should hold their possessions loosely, not placing your hope in them but being generous with them, using them for your own benefit—storing up treasures in heaven.

I love the way Richard Foster writes… “For the sake of faithfulness to Christ, we need to find ways to shout no to the god of money. We must dethrone it. One of the best ways is by showing our disrespect for it. When we trample it under our feet we remove its power.” He goes on… “step on it…” This is the same advice Jesus gave the rich young ruler. Do you want single hearted devotion to God in your life? Give it away!

(Money, Sex and Power, Richard Foster, p. 60)

Perhaps there is a needy neighbor next door; Specific ministry God is accomplishing right here. An opportunity to spread the gospel, to plant a church in another part of the city, the state, or the world. A chance to invest in the future of a bright young student. These are wonderful investment opportunities!

Giving is a glad and generous ministry we are called to. In times of persecution, Christians give their lives. In times of prosperity, we give our life’s work. William Law said of the early Christians that they “were glad to turn their whole estates into a constant course of charity!”

We are to use money to advance the kingdom of God.

What an absolute tragedy it is if all we do is use money in the ordinary ways and not make any greater use out of it!

So, what’s God speaking to you about?

Jesus offers himself as a substitute for the rich young rulers possessions — “sell your stuff, give the money away, and then find what you really want in me.”

What do you and I substitute for unconditional reliance on Jesus?

Jesus calls him beyond his safe haven — what's your safe haven?

Ministry Time:

I believe Jesus is looking on you and I with love today, and as he’s asking what you really want, he’s inviting your to reorder, reorient your life, your real life.

And it gets intensely practical when it address your money, and the power mammon has on your life.