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08/02/2009 - Preparing for the Age to Come, Mark 10:17-31

When I was a boy growing up it seemed to me that my parents divided up their lives into two time periods, there was life before the war and there was life after the war. Both of them were born in 1920 so they were in their mid-20's during World War II. And I can remember them telling stories and starting out by saying, "Before the war we used to do this or go here or after the war this started or that changed." Anybody here remember their parents talking like that? Life for my parents was lived a certain way before World War II started in 1941 and radically changed after the war ended in 1945.

My grandparents who came here from Germany seemed to divide their lives up around the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. And so life for them life was a certain way before the Depression and then life completely changed after the Depression hit. Jobs were lost and savings accounts evaporated and for many people life was reduced to day to day survival.

For my generation and most of us it's September 11, 2001, that's when the world changed for us. Before 9/11 we could go here or there and not have to worry about terrorists and bombs and other threats. We didn't have to take our shoes off to get through security at airports. There was so much more freedom and so much less fear. But after 9/11 everything changed and the world is a very different place than it was eight years ago.

The Jewish people of Jesus' day also divided time up into two periods. There was the present age and the age to come. They believed that something was going to happen that would radically change everything. A great event was going to take place that would bring freedom for Israel, justice to this world, the end of evildoers, and an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity when all the prophecies of Scripture would be fulfilled. The righteous dead would be raised to life and the whole world would explode into a new and endless season of abundance and joy. And they couldn't wait for the age to come!

For the Jewish people in Jesus' day the present age was full of sin and injustice, violence and oppression, just like it still is now. Bad things happen to good people and those who do evil still get away with it. We see it everyday. But in the age to come all that would change. And that's the hope that we as God's people still cherish. We're still looking for the age to come. And so the question that pressed in on every Jewish person who believed this to be true was, "Will I be part of the age to come? Will I inherit eternal life? Will I be saved? And how can I know it?"

That's the question the man in our story today comes to ask Jesus. There was no more critical question than that and there still isn't as far as I'm concerned. And the response Jesus gives this man is something we all need to hear.

This morning we continue our series in the gospel of Mark with a look at Mark 10:17-31. If you have a Bible meet me at Mark 10:17. It's been a few weeks since we've been in Mark's gospel so let's do a little review.

The gospel of Mark is sixteen chapters long so we're clearly in the second half of the story. And we really turned the corner in chapter eight when Peter declared that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. That we said was Jesus 101, recognizing that this man was more than a carpenter, more than a rabbi, more than a prophet, even more than a miracle worker. Jesus was the promised Messiah that Israel had been waiting for and longing for and praying for for centuries. He is the one who would bring about that great event and usher in the age to come.

But it wouldn't happen right away. So soon after that the Messiah enrolls them in Jesus 201 which is all about what he came to do. If Jesus 101 is all about who Jesus is then Jesus 201 is all about what Jesus came to accomplish. And so immediately at the end of chapter eight he predicts his death, burial, and resurrection. But the disciples don't get it. They don't want to hear it. In fact, Peter yells at Jesus for even thinking that he would be arrested and tried and crucified. But he must be. Jesus 201 is about the cross and the price Jesus would pay for the sin of the world.

And then Jesus hands out the syllabus for Jesus 301 when he says not only must I carry a cross, but anyone who chooses to follow me must carry a cross as well. And carrying a cross we said means denying ourselves and putting God's will above our own which is a decision we need to make every single day. It's all part of reaffirming our primary identity as Christ followers above anything else which is what Greg stressed last week.

(Show Map) So now Jesus has left Galilee and is heading for his destiny with death in Jerusalem. He's going down on the map, but he's going up to Jerusalem because the "City of Peace," which is what Jerusalem means, is located in the Judean Hills on top of Mt. Zion which is about 2,500 feet above sea level.

And as he's making his way up there he's teaching the crowds and he's answering questions and he's blessing children. In Mark 10, the chapter we're in now, Jesus has moved from a discussion on marriage and divorce, to a discussion about children and what it means to be totally reliant on him. And now he has an interaction with a young man who is totally self-reliant.

In today's passage Jesus is going to be talking to a person who has everything going for him, everything this world craves. Mark tells us that he's rich. Matthew tells us that he's young. Luke tells us that he's a ruler. So he's become known in Scripture as the rich, young ruler. He's got money. He's got drive. He's got power. He's got it all.

As a ruler he may have been in charge of a synagogue or even more than that. He may have been a member of the prestigious Sanhedrin, the seventy-one men who served as the Supreme Court of Israel. Certainly if anybody was going to get into the kingdom of God and be part of the age to come it was this man. He was a shining example of human achievement.

So what's Jesus going to tell him? Let's listen in on the conversation. Look at Mark 10:17, 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?"

This man wants to be part of the age to come. That's what eternal life meant to him. He wasn't asking what must I do to get to heaven when I die? The Hebrew Scriptures didn't say much about heaven. Instead, they spoke a lot about a renewed earth and he wanted to make sure that he would be part of all that.

And that's our future too, enjoying the age to come. Heaven is the next stop for the believer, but it's not the last stop. It's a significant one, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord thank God, but it's not our final destination. Our final destination is the resurrection of our bodies to live in a resurrected world. That's what's pictured in the great wedding celebration of Revelation 21, when heaven comes down the aisle and is joined to this earth and the two become one. And we can't wait!

So this rich, young CEO comes running up to Jesus and falls on his knees and says, "Good teacher what must I do to be sure I'll be there?" Now if he would have asked that same question to a Pharisee or a Sadducee or an Essene or the member of some other Jewish sect he would probably have been given a detailed interpretation of the Jewish Law with their own spin on it and then would be told to become part of their group because their group was the "in group."

But what does Jesus say? Look at verse 18,"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone.

Jesus answers a question with a question as rabbis often did in that day. Why do you call me good? he says, No one is good except God alone.

The Greek word he uses for good is the word "agathos" which literally means intrinsically good, good through and through, pure goodness. "Nobody is good like that except God." Which makes me wonder if Jesus is setting this guy up to say, "I know that no one is good but God alone. That's exactly why I called you good because I believe you are the Son of the living God!" Maybe he'll pass Jesus 101 and if he does that would change the whole conversation.

But that's not what he says and so Jesus goes on in verse 19 to tell him,"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.'"

Jesus takes this rich Jewish man who would have known these commands from childhood, lifted right from the second tablet of the Ten Commandments, and says, "If you want to do something to get into the kingdom then keep all these." Right here I believe Jesus gives him every opportunity to humble himself like a little child and say, "Jesus I can't do all that. No one can." I think that would have blown Jesus away and again changed the whole discussion. Jesus is always drawn to the broken and humble.

But instead he says in verse 20, "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."

Wow, not a whole lot of humility there! And maybe he had kept all of these commands, outwardly at least. This wasn't a bad guy. He hadn't killed anybody or slept with someone else's wife. He hadn't stolen anything or defrauded anybody or given false testimony that he could remember. And he'd been a good son to his mom and dad. They were proud of him.

And Jesus, it says in verse 21, looked at him and loved him.

I love that phrase. Jesus loved this guy. And he wants him to have eternal life. He wants him to be part of the age to come. He wants him in the kingdom just like he wants you and me to have eternal life and be part of the age to come and be in the kingdom too. Jesus felt about this man the same way he feels about you and about me. When he looks at you, he loves you. When he looks at me, he loves me. He wants what's best for us and sometimes that means we need to hear hard truth.

So he says to the man in verse 21, "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." ²²At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Jesus looked into this man's heart and saw something that no one else could see. He saw an idol there called wealth. This man didn't just have money, money had him. And while he may have kept all these other commandments, he had broken the first which is You shall have no other gods before me. His assets had become his greatest liability to inheriting the age to come.

And so Jesus says, "Get rid of your stuff, give it to the poor and then you'll be free to follow me." But this man isn't willing to have a yard sale and get rid of his stuff. It means too much to him. So his face fell and he went away sad. Notice, it doesn't say he went away mad at Jesus. He wasn't upset with him. It doesn't say he thought Jesus was crazy to even suggest such a thing. No. It says he went away sad because he knew that Jesus had point his finger right on the issue of his heart.

In Matthew 6:24 Jesus said, 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.

Now all this comes as a shock to the disciples. Look at verse 23, Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" ²⁴The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God." ²⁶The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?"

Notice the different phrases that are used in this passage. The man starts the discussion with a question about inheriting "eternal life" and then three times Jesus mentions entering "the kingdom of God" and now the disciples talk about being "saved" and then in verse 30 Jesus will mention "the age to come," four different phrases all seem to be referring to the same thing.

But the disciples are baffled by Jesus' words. They'reamazed and even more amazed the text says! And as they're watching this man walk away with his head down they're scratching their own heads wondering who in the world can make it in?

In the Jewish culture at that time anyone who was rich was considered blessed by God. And the Old Testament supported that idea. Passages like Psalm 1 talk about the righteous being like trees planted by rivers of water yielding fruit in season and prospering. While the wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away. Riches were viewed as a sign of God's blessing. So if this guy can't make it into the kingdom who can?

Its hard Jesus says for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Why? Because wealth can keep us from being broken and humble before God. It can provide a false sense of security and keep us from becoming like little children which Jesus said in the previous passage we all must become to enter in. Wealth can become the object our trust and our affection and cause us to live for this life alone. Wealth can cloud our perspective so that we know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.

It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, Jesus says, than for the rich to enter the kingdom. The Greek word here for needle is the word for a stitching needle that was used with thread to repair cloth. In Luke's account of this story the word he uses for needle is a suturing needle used to stitch up skin because Luke was a physician. But either way it's a ridiculous image of trying to squeeze a camel through a needle's eye. Humanly speaking it can't be done. It's impossible. And if the discussion ended there we'd all be in trouble. But fortunately it doesn't.

Look at verse 27, Jesus looked at them and said, "With human beings this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

It's possible with God's help to be rich and to be broken enough to enter into the kingdom of God. Abraham was rich. Joseph was rich. David was rich. Daniel was rich, but none of them made idols out of their wealth. And neither should we. They were broken and humble before God. They were all examples of those who sought first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things were added to them.

It's not money that's the issue. It's the love of money that can keep us out of the kingdom of God. The rich, young man had everything, but really he had nothing. And we see examples of that all the time. I don't believe that Jesus is asking all of us to sell everything we have and give it away. He didn't say this everybody. Instead, he was asking this man to do that because if money remained his god he would not enter the age to come and Jesus longed to see him there.

So how do we keep money from becoming our god in a culture that worships it? That's a good question and a complete answer would take more time than we have here. But let me give the short answer. We give it away. That's why the Scriptures are so big on generosity because giving loosens the grip that money can have on us. Which is why every passage in Scripture that mentions giving, and there are hundreds of them, always comes with the promise of reward. Spread the wealth, Jesus says, and you will have treasure in heaven. Generosity is part of what it means to live a full and abundant life with dividends both now and in the age to come.

Look at verse 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 ³⁰will 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. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

Wow! What a promise to those who pick up a cross and follow Jesus. Yes, there's a price to pay, persecution happens, but the reward is so much greater than we can ever imagine both now and in the age to come. Let's not miss out on what Jesus has in store for each one of us. He's coming back to redeem and renew and reward all those who follow him.

This man had to loosen his grip on his wealth. It had become his idol and robbed his relationship with God. But hopefully he repented and addressed that and we'll see him in the age to come.

But what if Jesus was looking at you right now and loving you what might he tell you to give up? What do you need to repent of? Is there something that you're holding on to so tightly that you might miss out on the age to come? Do you have any idols that you need to let go of? Are you broken and humble before God this morning?

As we come to the Lord's Table this would be the perfect to ask God to open your eyes to anything in your life that's keeping you from living for Jesus and his kingdom. This would be a great time to repent and to open your hands and put the idols down so that you can pick up the bread and the cup and reaffirm your love for Jesus and your commitment to following hard after him.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.