FOLLOW JESUS: THE WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE

Mark 10:17-31, Key Verse: 10:21

1. Who came to Jesus and with what attitude (17,22; Lk 18:18)? What does his question to Jesus show about him? How did Jesus redirect his idea of good (18)? Why do you think Jesus reminded him of the part of the Ten Commandments that are related to people (19)?

2. What does the man’s answer reveal about him (20)? How did Jesus, out of love, challenge him (21)? What is “treasure in heaven” (Mt 6:20-21,24; 1Ti 6:17-19)? What do Jesus’ words “follow me” imply, and how is it related to eternal life?

3. What sad decision did the man make and why (22)? What words of Jesus amazed his disciples and why (23-24a)? What further statement of Jesus amazed them even more (24b-26a)? 

4. What did the disciples ask and why (26b)? What does Jesus’ answer teach about salvation (27; Ro 3:22-23)?

5. What did Peter exclaim (28)? What did Jesus promise those who leave worldly treasures for him and for the gospel (29-30)? Why does Jesus mention persecutions? What does verse 31 mean? How does Jesus’ promise give us hope and courage to follow him?

What Must I do To Inherit Eternal Life
Mark  10: 17-31
Key Verse: 10:21
“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.’”

In today’s passage, Jesus talks with a really interesting young man about how to inherit eternal life.   Usually old people are the ones thinking about eternal life.   It’s been known that older people frequent a church more often, in terms of demographics.    Young people are more interested in friends and having fun.   But this particular young man was quite different because he was seeking eternal life. Jesus loved him and taught him how.   May we  listen to the words of Jesus and seek eternal life today, and apply this passage to our life.  

First, One thing you lack.   Look at verse 1, “’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.’”    We don’t know much about this man, other than he was wealthy,  Matthew’s gospel adds that he was young and Luke’s gospel says he was a ruler, but we don’t know a ruler of what.  Possibly a synagogue ruler.    To have wealth, success, power, and youth are a rare combination to have all together.  Usually rich people are older, but he achieved success in his youth.  Maybe he was one percent of the one percent.    We also know he lived a very moral life.   Yet something was missing in his life and it made him insecure, he questioned things like his purpose and wondered how to be saved.   It led him to go to the feet of Jesus.   When we want to resolve our deep questions about life, and purpose and meaning where is the place we should all go?    To Jesus.  There seems to be some desperation here, he approached with urgency - it says he ran.   I have yet to see a wealthy business man running down the street in a 3 piece suit near my office in downtown Chicago, but this man did not care about what others thought because he really wanted to ask this really important question.   He was running and sweating in the hot middle eastern sun, to make sure he could talk to Jesus.  

Maybe he felt that his time on this planet is going by fast and running out, kind of how I feel after I just had a birthday, which come faster and faster the older I get.   Actually the Bible says that time is short for all of us, even for Moses who lived to be 120 years old, his time was short too.   Hebrews Chapter 11 says that Moses gave up his wealthy position in the house of Pharoah rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a “short time” in the royal court.  Moses realized early on the importance of living a life of faith, over pursuing wealth which leaves us disappointed in the end.  Perhaps the rich young ruler was coming to the realization that the wise and wealthy Solomon came to in the book of Ecclesiastes.   He said all his toil and wealth was “meaningless, grievous, a chasing after the wind”, “I hated life”, and also,  “To the person who pleases God, he gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.”    (Ecc 2:26)   Sounds he had quite an epiphany about his materialistic life, and it wasn’t a good one.  We can see similar cynical rants like this on social media, usually by people who have been disappointed in a similar way.    Upon the time of our death we will hand over our wealth to others, and who knows if it will be used for good or bad purposes. They might go to Vegas with it.   It is cynical, but true.  

The rich man’s question has a lot of noble intentions.  Seeking eternal - life that’s a noble thing.     Romans chapter 2 verse 7 says, “For those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life.”   The fact that we are here today says that we have noble intentions as well, we are seeking these excellent things too, things that are eternal.   We elevate our thinking and our desires above the base level, above playing video games, above working on Sunday to make money, or just sleeping in.   The word “persistence” is used here.   It implies we will have setbacks.   We will have doubts, and things we don’t like, we will at times grow tired, or feel like we are investing with no immediate return in sight. We will be persecuted.  Or we will be tested by Jesus, as we see in this passage.   But if we are persistent though these things, we will have eternal life.   Don’t give up!  Keep seeking God.      

The question posed by the wealthy young man points to several flaws in his thinking.  The first is he had his own standard of righteousness.   He called Jesus “good.”   And to that Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good…..No one is good – except God alone.” (verse 2)      Of course Jesus is good, but Jesus was opposed to him throwing the word around based on his relativistic view of people and himself.   That some are “good”, and that some are “bad”.   Because Scripture says we all fall short of God’s righteous standard.  So the word “good” is a tricky word.   We often hear people associate it with someone who goes to church and volunteers their time for charity.  We say, “they are a good person.”    We cannot be made righteous on our own, we can only become righteous by God’s grace.   The second flaw in his question is it asks what he can do to inherit eternal life.   He was used to getting everything he wanted, mainly by using his money.   If he wanted to buy a house he thought about what he could do to buy the house.   Now he is wondering what he has to do to get eternal life.   But there is nothing that can be done to inherit eternal life.   It is not by our good works and it is not a business transaction.   Money greases the wheels on a lot of things in this world and can open doors in many ways, but one door it cannot open is the door of eternal life.   It is a free gift that is given by God.   Otherwise some would become self righteous and boast how much money they gave to charity.  Then there would be the other extreme - people who made mistakes and sinned, they might feel too sinful and stay out of the church feeling a sense of condemnation.   So Jesus is dismissive of the young man’s paradigm of good and bad.  It is one that we see so often in our culture today.  

Jesus then continued in verse 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.’”    Jesus knew this man’s heart.   He knew he was rigorous in practicing the commandments.   He was a morally good person that followed the letter of the Law but not the spirit of the Law.   The spirit of the Law is captured in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5.   Which tells us to practice mercy, to be forgiving, to love God and love others, to be humble,  and to endure persecution.   Keeping the Law not only involves our actions but also what is in our hearts.   The rich man could not keep the spirit of the Law flawlessly.    Even the apostle Paul kept the commandments but it only exposed the flaws of his inner man and thoughts, and in despair  he cried out to God to be saved from his wretchedness.  

Look at how the rich man replied in verse 20,  “Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.”  No one can uphold the requirements of the Law by themselves.  He was self righteous.  Normally the boasting of a self righteous person makes us walk away when we hear it, or put on headphones, but Jesus was patient with him.   Verse 21 is the key verse, let’s read together.   “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.”    Jesus saw the man’s genuine intentions to grow spiritually in his youth and loved him so much.   It is indeed a beautiful characteristic to see in others.  I watch my son Daniel growing in his relationship with God, sharing the scriptures he has been learning and it is encouraging how he brings his Marine friends to church.  And we have many young people in our ministry who serve God with zeal and it is uplifting to all of us.  It is amazing, they receive leadership training very well with humility and focus.   I’ve attended their power point presentations on spiritual subjects, and they are very promising and articulate, and most importantly they love and serve Jesus.  Who looks upon them with love, as do we (the “non-young people).  

When we ask Jesus a question his answer will be the truth whether it is something we want to hear or not, the question is whether or not we are ready to accept it.    What did he mean when he said, “One thing you lack.”    One thing is not many things.  He didn’t lack ten things, or twenty things.   But Jesus said there was one thing.    And he touched that sore spot, and told the young man to sell everything.   His one thing was his wealth which was an idol to him.   It was not the fact that he had wealth, it was because his wealth was an idol and stumbling block in his spiritual growth.   So, even though there is a only one thing, it can be significant enough to hinder us.  The first commandment prohibits the worship of any other idols.   According to the spirit of the law we cannot harbor hidden idols in our hearts either, even if we don’t have a physical idol.   Money seems to be the most common one.  Especially for males who do not have a personal relationship with God.   They fall under the curse of Genesis chapter 2.   To labor and toil painfully to accumulate just a few perishing things, only to despair and complain.   Complain about work, complain about money, complain about their boss.    “One thing” can be an idol of many different kinds.  Abraham had wished for a son for many years, then he was finally given Isaac.   Abraham was tested and showed he was willing to put God above his son Isaac, and then God blessed him so much after passing this test.  

The young man was evidently in the middle of a crisis, caused by inner despair and the reality of imminent death.   Jesus offers a simple solution - to give up our “one thing” and follow him, and these deep fundamental problems are solved.   Then we have nothing to fear, not even death itself.    Jesus points to the true purpose of wealth, not for our comfort or to be our source of security, but to help others.   He told the man to give it to the poor.   He didn’t need it, and giving it up would mean he has treasure in heaven.   Jesus made reference to wealth many times in the Bible, to be used for eternal purposes.   Including “making friends” (Luke 16:9) that we may open their hearts in a small way so they can listen to the gospel message.  One person prayed for a stubborn man for a long time to receive Jesus, but he was not always receptive until he was facing spiritual problems and practical problems including eviction and no where to live.   He was prayed for and helped until he could get on his feet again, and finally opened his heart and started attending his local church in the city, and began his spiritual journey from that point.   Of course anything that we have in regard to our talents, time, or our treasure is an offering to Jesus that will enable us to build up our treasure in heaven.    The wonderful thing about treasure in heaven is even if our bank account here doesn’t have much, our account in heaven can be overflowing with a lot of zeros.  So we are all rich!  Amen.   Investing in the kingdom of God is the best investment because it is eternal.   It doesn’t go down during a recession, it can even go up.  

What was the rich man’s response?    According to verse 22 he made no verbal response but just simply left sad.    He was sad because he had great wealth and Jesus had challenged him to sell it.   He wanted to serve Jesus and his wealth at the same time, but could not.    His response shows how much he loved his money, if he truly valued the kingdom of God he would have celebrated having a chance to follow Jesus.   But his mood was the opposite and he failed the test Jesus gave him.   We must hold loosely to the things of the world so we do not have a hard time giving them up to God.   Otherwise, like Pastor Ron spoke about, we are like a monkey reaching for a banana in a jar that can’t get his hand out of the jar because he is holding onto the banana.  

Second, The Blessing of Following Jesus.    Jesus told his disciples “how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”   The dominant view of the time was that riches indicate God’s favor.    Verse 25 says how hard it is for a rich man who trusts in his money to enter heaven, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.    This has a lot to do with where we place our trust.   It is easier to have a close relationship with God when we trust in him, not other things.     The disciples thought the rich man was still a good candidate to enter the kingdom of God, he followed the ten commandments.    They had their own relativistic views and began to compare themselves to him.  They said, “who then can be saved?”    There’s a lot of important dialogue going on here Jesus says something very important in verse 27.   “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God;  all things are possible with God.”
In our sins it is impossible to go to heaven, but thank God that he gave us his Son to die on the cross for our sins.   Now the impossible has been made possible.   Our sins are washed away through the ultimate sacrifice God made for our salvation.   Thank God he made this possible for us.   Only God can make things that are impossible, possible.   Only God can raise a person dead in their sins to life.  God has done this for us!

Peter spoke up, “We left everything to follow you!”  (Verse 28).   The fisherman disciples left their livelihood and prosperous fishing business behind.   They also left their old life, maybe lost touch with some drinking buddies.    And we know for certain Peter had a family, maybe that’s why he was the one to speak up here.   It was not easy.  This reminds us of our missionaries who left everything behind and went all over the world including here to the USA to preach the gospel.   But Jesus promised something amazing to his disciples, that in giving up these things they would be so abundantly blessed.    And they would not fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age, along with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life.    Jesus made references to receiving homes, and all kinds of valuable relationships, sisters, brothers, children. Relationships are beautiful and important.    Maybe not all relationships are blood related, and maybe many are brothers and sisters in Christ too.   We are blessed, we have many brothers and sisters in Christ in our church.   People who would drop everything to help us. And many of us are always helping one another.     This is the principle that has been explained in the passage, we must give up our idols and in return we receive everything we need, and most importantly eternal life.  

At our Friday meeting we discussed among ourselves how at one point or another a lot of us experienced severe debt or even poverty.   Including me.    But in those times we did not despair but focused on God.  And God blessed each one of us so much.    It is because the freedom we have to let go of everything and continue to serve God even in those dire circumstances.    

In this passage we are made aware that during times of blessing persecution will come.   It is the devil’s tactic to make us despair right when we are spiritually successful.   But we must be ready and endure persecutions.   Persecution can also make us very fruitful if we endure it.  It makes us depend on God’s great power.   Always in history whenever there was persecution the church grew much faster and much stronger.   Finally there is a warning that the last will be first and the first will be last, which cautions people not to be self righteous by their own merits they will be the last.  

In this passage we learned how to inherit eternal life.   We must give up our one thing that hinders  and follow Jesus.  We will be tested but we must persevere.   It seems impossible, but God makes it possible, and we are assured of treasure in heaven which is by far the greatest blessing.