CHRISTIANITY ACCORDING TO CHRIST

Introduction

-{Mark 10}

-There aren’t a lot of sports that I play, but one that I really enjoy playing (and I can’t wait to get healed and get back out there to play) is disc golf. Disc golf is similar to regular golf, but instead of trying to hit that little ball into a hole, you throw discs (that look like Frisbees but they aren’t Frisbees, so don’t call them Frisbees) and try to get those discs into a basket. Of course, like real golf you are trying to get a low score. I’ve plated at Brahan Spring park and Indian Creek and elsewhere.

~Now, those close to the invention and development of disc golf in the Professional Disc Golfers Association are the ones who set up the standards and rules for disc golf that people will follow if they truly want to claim they are playing a real game of disc golf. If you want to play disc golf by the rules, the way that it is meant to be played, these are the guys and gals who determined what those rules are.

~Now, suppose that 4 people go out to play some disc golf. Player 1 thinks he knows better than the association, and he doesn’t like the rule where your foot has to be within a certain number of centimeters behind where your disc landed in order to throw your next disc. So, he decides to modify the rule to his liking and he instead moves 5 feet closer to the basket. Then Player 2 doesn’t really care for the association’s rules either, so he decides that instead of the disc actually having to land in the basket to end that hole, he decides that if his disc lands within 10 feet of the basket that it’s good enough and it counts. Players 3 and 4, they just decide to make up other various rules as they go along as well. And yet all of them claim that they are playing disc golf.

~If you go about changing the rules and making up the rules as you go along, can you truly claim you are playing disc golf, or are you just doing your own thing? The standard for disc golf is set, so if you decide to start making up your own standards and rules, you can’t really say you are following disc golf as it was originally intended.

-So, I’m not preaching about disc golf today. This is an analogy. There are many people sitting in the pews of churches all over the country today that claim to be Christians and claim to want to follow Christianity, and yet they make up their own rules (so to speak) about what Christianity is all about. There are people who want the benefits of being a Christian (and here you can read between the lines—they want the fire insurance) but they want Christianity to fit their own liking. So, in a manner of speaking, they make up their own rules on what it means to be a Christian, and as long as they follow their own rules (that they have set up for themselves) they think they must be doing really good as a Christian and they think God must be really proud of them because they are sticking to their own personal standards.

-You know, if I would just set up my own rules for disc golf, my scores would be a whole lot better than they are, but then would I have a right to say I’m playing disc golf? It’s the same with Christianity—if we set up our own standards and rules about what it means to be a Christian, we really aren’t being Christians are we? So, who is the one that determines what real Christianity is all about? Well, obviously it’s Jesus. Christianity (salvation, discipleship, and all of it) is defined by Christ’s standards, not ours. That means if we want to call ourselves Christians, then we conform ourselves to what Christ says and not just any old idea that pops into our heads. So, we want to look at what Jesus Christ says and I want to lead us to conform ourselves to Christ’s definition of Christianity, and not our own. We are going to take it bit by bit and section by section as we learn some lessons about what Christ has to say about Christianity.

1) Christianity involves life-surrender, not rule-keeping

Mark 10:17–22 ESV

17 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?” 18 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.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

-Known to us as the rich young ruler, this man sincerely desires to know the answer to the question about inheriting eternal life (meaning he wanted to know how be saved and enter the Kingdom of God and go to heaven). He already comes into the discussion with a preconceived notion of what the answer should be, and we can tell by the way that he worded his question. “Jesus, what must I DO to inherit eternal life?” Jesus, give me some rules to follow, or make me feel comfortable in the rules that I have been keeping.

-Jesus meets this man where he is at and He lists commandments 4-10—do these and inherit eternal life. Now, do not think for 1 second that Jesus is saying that following the commandments will get you to heaven or make you a Christian. Jesus knows the angle where this guy is coming from, so He starts there in order to lead the man to the truth.

-When the rich young ruler hears Jesus say that, he jumps all over that. That’s exactly what he was waiting to hear. He tells Jesus that he’s been following those rules since his Bar Mitzvah. But this rich young ruler had a deluded understanding of what he was claiming. Sure, he followed the letter of the law in that he never physically committed adultery or physically murdered people, etc. But this young man completely missed the spirit of the law, such as not to look lustfully or not to be angry with people in the heart.

-So here is where Jesus turns the conversation on him, and by doing that Jesus points out several things wrong with this man’s claim. First, the man hasn’t really followed the commandments as fully as he thinks he has. Second, not one can keep all the commandments, and we learn in James that to break one commandment means you’ve broken them all. And third, having a relationship with God is not about keeping a set of rules. Paul tells us in Romans that the law/rules can only show us where we fall short, but can do nothing to bring us closer to God.

-So, Jesus sets forth for the rich young, and for us, what Christianity is all about. And what is interesting is what Mark records for us in v. 21, because before Jesus gave the answer is says that He loved this guy. This tells us that Jesus isn’t coming up with some arbitrary rule about being Christian and He’s not being some cosmic kill-joy in setting these standards. Jesus is telling the rich young ruler the truth out of a heart of love. Jesus says what He says because it is the truth about reality and the truth about how to relate to God and it’s what’s best for him.

-What Jesus tells this young man is specific to his life, but it has principles that reach out to every situation. No, Jesus is not saying that each one of us has to sell everything we possess and give it away. But Jesus, using six command words in the instruction that he gives, tells him and us that it is about complete life-surrender to Jesus. You can’t follow enough rules, but you must surrender control of it all.

-To understand the life-surrender we can break these six command words and break them into two groups. Let’s look at the first three. He tells the guy GO…SELL…GIVE. These can be summarized with one word=ABANDON. True Christianity means we abandon ourselves and our rights for the sake of Jesus Christ. This man’s trust and hope was in his riches, and until he abandoned what he clung to he couldn’t cling to Jesus.

-For us this could take on many different forms. We need to abandon all thoughts of leaning on our own goodness. We need to abandon our own preconceived notions about what true spirituality is. We need to abandon all the things that we give preference to over Jesus Christ or whatever we trust more than Jesus Christ. We need to abandon all things that make us stumble in sin. We need to abandon all the things that keep us tied to this earth that prevents us from having an eternal mindset. We need to abandon all our hopes and dreams that are selfish and not in the will of Christ.

-But then there is the second set of command words: COME…TAKE UP…FOLLOW. These can be summarized by one word=COMMIT. Commit yourself to the person, life, teaching, and commandments of Jesus. Commit your life to not fulfilling self, but following Jesus, walking with Jesus, learning about Jesus, living like Jesus. Make a commitment that Jesus is your all in all. ABANDON AND COMMIT. It’s not following a set of rules.

-If you are married, what makes the marriage work is not following your spouse’s rules to a T—where it’s some sort of cold-hearted mechanical actions with no emotions attached to it. It’s about giving your life over to that person—abandoning your will and self to them, and committing your life to them (til death do us part.

-The same with Christianity. It’s not about cold mechanical rule following, but it is about a surrendered relationship to Jesus (abandoning ourselves and committing ourselves). The rich young ruler did not want any part of that, so he walked away sad. He wanted to follow rules but not abandon and commit himself to Jesus. He chose his riches over Jesus, and he has eternally paid the price for his choice.

2) Christianity involves following God’s expectations, not man’s expectations

Mark 10:23–27 ESV

23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult 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 a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

-Jesus tells His disciples that it is near impossible for a rich man to enter into heaven. This completely blows their minds. They’re astonished. The Jews of the day saw riches as an indication that those people were in God’s favor and they were being rewarded. They’re thinking was that if you have lots of money that means God is blessing you because you are such a righteous person. (Their religious leaders were rich so that just fed this line of thinking.)

-But to make sure they understood His point He says it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to get into heaven. A lot of scholars have tried to make that say something other than what it says—trying to soften the blow. But it means exactly what it says. Jesus is talking about the actual animal going through the actual needle. Well, there’s no way a camel can go through a needle’s eye. And there’s the point.

-So, when Jesus says it is that difficult for the rich to get into heaven, He’s completely turning the disciple’s expectations on its head. How? Because the thinking that the rich are privileged enough to go to heaven betrays the thought that eternal life is determined by man’s efforts. That’s the expectation, and that same thought prevails today. Americans with their American Dream and American ingenuity naturally assume that since society rewards hard work and labor, God is going to do the same.

-We have this expectation that God will reward us with heaven by our hard work and effort. I’ve done some good things, so God will let me into heaven. I’ve done some spiritual kinds of things like going to church here and there, so God will reward me with heaven. I haven’t killed anyone, so God will reward me with heaven.

-So, the disciples think that if the rich can’t be saved based on their effort, who in the world can be saved? So Jesus gives the answer: if you rely on man and man’s efforts and man’s self-sufficiency, it is impossible to become a true Christian and it is impossible to have a relationship with God. But what is impossible for man to accomplish by himself, God made possible by His grace through Jesus’ death, and all mankind can do is trust in that.

-I love how God put the Bible together because to make sure that this point is emphasized, this passage is bookended by two stories that make sure we understand that it is all about what Jesus did on the cross. Before this episode is the story of people bringing their kids to Jesus and the disciples try to shoo them away but Jesus says to never stop the kids from coming to Him. He then uses the kids as an example of what true Christianity is all about. Unless you come to Jesus like a child you will not see heaven. Children can do nothing to earn their keep, all they can do is trust. That is God’s expectation which is different from man’s expectation of having to do, do do… Then, after our passage, Jesus for a third time prophecies of His coming death, burial, and resurrection. These are like bookends. God points out to us that there is nothing we can do. Jesus has done it all for us, and all we can do is trust.

-Have you ever gone into a new job with certain expectation about how things were going to happen and what you were going to do, only to find out that it is nothing like you thought it would be. 22 years ago I started seminary with a certain outlook on what seminary and ministry would be all about and how it should all turn out. I tell you what, ministry is rewarding and I am privileged to be a part of it, but it sure ain’t like I was expecting.

-Maybe that’s the way you approach Christianity. You had your thoughts and ideas about what it was all about, only to find out that God’s expectations and your expectations don’t match. Here’s what you do—listen to what Jesus says, ditch your ideas about what you think Christianity ought to be, and follow what Jesus says Christianity is all about.

3) Christianity involves eternal rewards, not earthly rewards

Mark 10:28–31 ESV

28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 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, 30 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. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

-So, the rich young ruler relied on his self-righteousness to be good with God with the idea that it leads to riches. That is the same formula that a lot of heretical preachers try to put forth in our day and age: personal spiritual effort leads to earthly material rewards. But Jesus turn that on its head. Peter, the spokesman for the disciples, points out that they abandoned everything for Jesus. Jesus tells them that whoever truly abandons family and wealth for Him and for the sake of spreading the gospel will be rewarded, just not how the world expects to be rewarded.

-Jesus says that in this life we will receive a hundredfold of these things. How’s that? I see it in the church. If you abandon the safety of family for Jesus you gain a whole new family. I like Jesus’ response when people told him that his family was looking for them. He said:

Luke 8:21 ESV

21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

-The church family becomes closer than biological family. And through the hospitality of the church you receive houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children. That is an eternal reward.

-But Jesus also mentions that all who abandon their lives and commit their lives to Him will receive eternal life in the age to come. And another reward that He mentions that we don’t see as a reward is persecution. That sounds absolutely weird, but it is a privilege to suffer for Jesus. The world rejected Him and if you’re doing the Christianity thing right, it will reject you too. Peter writes:

1 Peter 4:13 ESV

13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

-Yes, we share in His sufferings, but we share in His glory too. So, church family, eternal life, and persecution are the rewards of Christianity. Not new cars and large homes and every conceivable toy that is out there. If you have those, that’s just added bonuses, but they are not the rewards of Christianity. We get the rewards as Jesus Himself defined them.

CONCLUSION

-When you walked into the church today, I don’t know what your expectation about Christianity were. I don’t know what rules you set up for yourself were, thinking that somehow that we representative of Christianity. But if your expectations and rules don’t align with what Scripture says, you need to toss every bit of it out the window and start fresh with a new understanding of what it means to be a Christian given to us by Jesus Christ Himself.

-If you are a Christian, maybe you need to come to the altar and abandon your rules and expectation and take up His cross. Or maybe you need to ask for some fire under your feet to abandon your life and commit it to Jesus.

-There may be some here where all of this is new. You’ve never heard it like that because all you’ve heard is SAY A LITTLE PRAYER AND YOU’RE IN. This is real Christianity and I am calling you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved today.

-In looking at this passage, it made me think about what supposed experts say about Christianity and making churches grow. Modern church-growth experts would have gotten all over Jesus for letting this guy go. I mean, this guy would have been a shoe-in for baptism and church membership. It would have made the numbers look great. The problem is that the rich young ruler wouldn’t have been saved. He’d be a unconverted church member. Maybe that’s you...