The Cost of Following Jesus is Gain

We’ve been in a sermon series called The Ministry of Jesus. In this series, we’ve been saying our goal is to walk through every engagement that Jesus has, every interaction, every conversation that Jesus is a part of, so that we can find ourselves on the receiving end of his teachings, his instructions, his healings, and warnings.

Today, I’m super excited because we actually get an opportunity to pick up from last week’s sermon. If you weren’t here last week, we looked at a passage that was basically about children. What we learned about the children there is that they are trusting, they are helpless, they are dependent. They basically, according to our society, have nothing to offer. But in God’s eyes, as we learned, they are deeply invaluable by God. Today, to pick up from last week, the passage we’re going to look at is basically about a man who has, unlike the children, everything. The contrast between the stories, I believe, are striking. Here’s the plan. If you’re new here, if you’ve been visiting, we teach through the scriptures line by line. Then towards the end, we conclude with a relevant application for our lives. That said, let’s pick up in Mark 10:17.

Are you guys with me? Mark 10:17. If you have a Bible, don’t have a Bible, no worries. It will be up on the screen. Mark 10:17. Here’s what the Bible says. “As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.” Now, let’s just stop here for a moment. Jesus is still traveling. He’s on the road, as we’ve been saying, he’s headed for Jerusalem. He’s headed to the cross. That’s the way Mark, the author, wants us to see this story. As Jesus is traveling, we learn that he’s met face to face with the man who’s described in the Book of Matthew as rich and young. Then when you get to the Book of Luke, he’s also described as a ruler. Although he’s never called, quote, you probably called it already, the rich, young ruler from the scriptures. Over the years, throughout church history, we just made a composite of these descriptions from these different Gospels. That’s how we got the famous Rich Young ruler title for the man. Now, historically, this man gets a bad rap. Of course, we’re going to see why in a moment. But something I want to highlight before we get into that moment is that even though this man is young and he’s wealthy, he owns a lot of property, he has spiritual status.

This man is also pretty enthusiastic. Wouldn’t you say that? He’s eager, he’s earnest, and as a counter with Jesus, the scripture says, he ran up to him and he fell on his knees before Jesus. Now, this in the first century is pretty striking. It’s surprising because Middle Eastern people don’t run. Yet, this man is willing to be countercultural. He’s willing to humbly position himself at the feet of Jesus. He’s willing to do all of this just to get some undivided time with Christ. When he gets that undivided time with Jesus, here’s what he says, Good teacher, he asked, What must I do to inherit eternal life? Now, we’re at this point in Mark’s Gospel where finally someone asks the question, the question most of us have probably been waiting for, What must I do to inherit eternal life? Now, keep this in mind, this question, What must I do to inherit eternal life? Is a little bit different than how do I have a life that lasts forever?

Let me explain. To the Jews and to the Christians in the first century, eternal life was less about a quantity of life and more about a quality of life. Eternal life was much more than people getting their sins forgiven so they can go to heaven when they die. Eternal life was about participating under God’s rule on the earth as it is in heaven in the present. Jesus said, quote, Now this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So that in mind, the man is likely asking Jesus, How do I obtain or how do I earn a life that looks like God is in charge? How do I earn a good standing relationship with God? You know, this question coming from him is pretty interesting because, as we said, this man had much to be proud of in his life. But it appears, deep down, he’s longing for something more. When he tracked Jesus down that day, it seemed like he was looking for a way to secure and validate his standing before God. Perhaps in his mind, what better way to secure and validate his standing for God than to ask Jesus about what he could do to inherit eternal life. Eternal life to this man was like a prize to be won, not a gift to be received.

So instead of telling the man right away what he could do, what Jesus ended up doing is asking him a question that may seem a little random to some. Here’s what he asked, verse 18, Why do you call me good? Jesus answered, No one is good except God alone. We have to pause and ask, what is Jesus getting at here? What does Jesus’s question have to do with this man’s eternal life question? Well, some commentators suggest that Jesus is trying to help the man redirect his focus from what human goodness could accomplish to God’s goodness alone. Just to be clear, Jesus is not rejecting his own goodness because we’ve seen throughout this series that Jesus is indeed good, because, and we talked about this, he’s good because he’s God. Amen. So Jesus is not rejecting his goodness. What seems to be happening here is that Jesus is saying to the man, eternal life is about God’s goodness, not man’s merits. But since the ruler wanted to know what he could do and the law is about doing, it’s almost like Jesus just met him where he’s at, and he just says, Hey, verse 19, you know the commandments.

This is straight out of the Ten Commandments, out of the Mosaic law, Mount Sinai, all that stuff. You know the commandments. You should not murder, you should not commit adultery, you should not steal, you should not give false testimony, you should not defraud, honor your father and mother. Now, again, Jesus is listing out these commandments, but he’s not saying, Hey, ruler, here’s how you earn it. Keep the commandments. He’s not saying that, right? I think Jesus is saying, Hey, I know you want to earn eternal life, but if you honestly evaluate your life right now, do you see that your own efforts is not good enough? Do you see that you’re actually incapable of actually earning this? Do you see that your disobedience to these few commandments actually disqualifies you from earning it? Do you see that? I believe Jesus is using half the commandments. This is not all the commandments. He’s using half of the commandments to probe this young man to see whether he is teachable. I think he’s pushing his faith. He’s checking to see if this man will approach the kingdom the way a child does. Not having it all together, not having anything to offer, but coming as someone who’s desperately in need.

But does the man get it? At this point, he doesn’t seem to get it. Here’s why. Verse 20, here’s what his response was, Teacher, he declared, all these I have kept since I was a boy. In other words, this man is probably thinking, Hey, I just might be good enough. Look, I’ve kept all the laws since I was a boy. I’ve had my bar mitzvah or my religious accountability ceremony. Ever since I committed to obey the law at 13 years old, I’ve been blameless. My resume is actually spotless. With your commandment, comment, Jesus, I actually might be doing something to secure my standing before God. Again, this man is just not getting it. But what I love about Jesus is that he’s not frustrated. I probably would have been frustrated. He’s not annoyed. He’s not irritated. He’s actually patient with this man. Let’s look at Jesus’ response. Jesus looked at him and loved him. Have you ever been looked at, not just seen, but looked at? Like someone notices you? Like you walk into a room and someone notices you? And they can read you? This is what happens here. The word look is in Blipo, in Greek, and it means to scrutinize.

It means to examine. It means to see right past, right inside the person. Jesus looks past the man’s skin and into his heart, and we read, He loved him. Interesting. This is the one and only place in all of Mark’s Gospel that we read, Jesus loved somebody. He loved him. Then he says, One thing you lack, you want to know if you’re missing something, if you feel that ache, if you feel like there’s something that’s missing, here it is. One thing you lack. Go sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. Jesus is saying, Here’s what you like. Here it is. Go sell everything. Your house, your fields, your cattle, everything you own. Then come follow me. Come do life with me. Come be my disciple. If you do this, you give up everything you own, you sell it all, you give it away to the poor, you abandon your life from me and my kingdom, you step into a relationship with me, you will have treasure in heaven. The man responds. The man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.

The word sad, more literally, it means in the original language, it’s like grieving. He went away grieving. His face fell. It was gloomy. There was like an overcast on his face because he had great wealth. Money and stuff to this man was way more than a gift from God. It was his God. When Jesus called this young man to give up his money, the man started to grieve because money was for him, what the father was for Jesus. It was the center of his heart’s desire. It was the center of his identity. To give up his money would be to give up the core of his being. In a way, Jesus calls this man to give it all up. To the man, it feels like death. It’s almost like he’s mourning, like he’s bereavement. You know, I was actually talking with my wife about this. But the sad thing about this text is that I really do believe the man got caught up on the wrong thing. I don’t think that the main point of Jesus’s invitation was to sell all you have. The main point of his invitation was to come and follow him.

Sell all you have was just how you do it. But the end goal was to get this man to a place to actually be on the road and to follow Jesus. As you’ve noticed, by the time we get to this place in the story, the contrast between the man’s arrival and his departure is completely different. Do you catch that? Yeah. At the start of the story, what does he do? He’s running up to Jesus, right? Right. He’s showing the right attitude. He gets the right answer. But unfortunately, in the end, he made the wrong decision. He showed up eager, but went away sad. Now, some of us can look at Jesus’s teaching here and wonder, What does this really mean for me? Well, the first thing is Jesus is not implying that eternal life is earned by giving away our material possessions. What Jesus is doing here, he’s identifying the root of this man’s problem. He’s addressing the thing that’s in a way of him receiving eternal life. Does that make sense? The second thing we should realize is that Jesus’s command to this man is not a normative command for everyone. Meaning, Jesus doesn’t say, go sell all your possessions to everyone.

If you read throughout the Gospels, he doesn’t ask that of everybody. Nor does he expect this from everyone. But one thing we can expect from Jesus is that he will look at us like he looked at the man and love us and address the one thing that is stopping us from following him. If you think about it, we all have the one thing. We’re all not that much different from the man. We’re all on a quest towards following Jesus. We’re all on a journey towards the kingdom. What Jesus would say to all of us as we try to follow him is, our first priority needs to be him. Naturally, of course, the question we have to ask ourselves is, What is my first priority right now? Maybe an even deeper question is, How do I know what my first priority is right now? Well, let me ask you some questions. What’s the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning? What keeps your thoughts and holds your attention throughout the day? Here’s the one. What can you not let go of? For the man, it was his money. For some of us, it’s our money as well.

Or if it isn’t our money, it’s our jobs. If it isn’t our jobs, it’s our comfort. It’s our safety. It’s our families. It’s our phones. It’s whatever it is, our patriotism. It’s the relationship that you need to let go. Whatever it is, Jesus is saying, if you want me, if you want eternal life, if you want life in the kingdom, you can place nothing else ahead of me. Jesus will not accept second-place worship. God demands exclusive, comprehensive, total worship. You can’t have the kingdom without first having the king. And so when Jesus calls this man to give it all up to follow him to trade what he treasures on earth for treasures in heaven, he unfortunately, the decides to reject it. What’s shocking to me about this man’s rejection is that even though Jesus loved this man, Jesus actually made no attempt to dissuade him from walking away. Do you guys catch that? Jesus doesn’t strong arm him. He doesn’t pester him into the kingdom, but he also doesn’t lower the level of commitment as well. The young man made us to… He made a decision. He walked away. And as a result, Jesus does something interesting.

He shifts his attention from the ruler, and then he shifts his attention towards the disciples. Here’s what he says, Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were amazed at his words. This is a moment for Jesus and his disciples. Jesus uses the retreat of this ruler to teach a lesson to his disciples. Again, as you probably have noticed, Jesus already, like we learned last week, He used a child to show the disciples what person does enter the kingdom. Now, He uses this man as an example of the person that does not enter the kingdom. He says, How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples are shocked by this statement. I would imagine in this moment, the disciples have their mouths open, jaws dropped like, Are you kidding, Jesus? It’s hard for the rich. The disciples were amazed by this because they were living in a worldview that basically said, money equals God’s blessings. In Judaism, riches were a mark of God’s favor. Having wealth was viewed as having an advantage to God’s kingdom.

In those times, money basically was an indication of your righteousness. The thought was that the rich were especially saved. But to help the disciples with their theology, Jesus says it again, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. This is not just for the rich, this is for everyone. It is hard to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus is not belittling the disciples by calling them children. It’s more like Jesus is a dad and he’s like, compassionate, passion, and he’s showing a term of endearment towards them. He’s like, This is difficult. Rich or poor, famous or not famous. This is difficult. Then he goes on to say just to double down, 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. A camel was one of the largest animals in Palestine, and a needle was one of the smallest objects. So this is hyperbole. It’s an exaggeration. It’s actually supposed to be like a joke. Try to imagine the thought of a camel and all of his humps trying to squeeze through the eye of a needle.

This is supposed to be funny. He’s trying to tell a joke to the disciples. It’s supposed to be hyperbole. But to the disciples, this is not a joke. Verse 26, The disciples were even more amazed and said to each other, ‘Who then can be saved? ‘ The disciples are like, Wait a minute, if a young, rich, blessed, Torah-observing ruler can’t be saved, what chance do we have? How in the world can we, as ordinary, normal people, be saved? Verse 27, Jesus looked at them and said, With man, this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God. Out of all the people, the disciples should know that this is true. All things are possible with God. Think about it. They’ve with Jesus, and we’ve seen this and we’ve talked about this time and time again throughout this series. The disciples have seen some impossible things happen, right? They’ve seen people erased from the dead. They’ve seen storms calmed. They’ve seen people walking on water. They’ve seen multitudes being fed. They’ve seen demons being cast out. Jesus is calling these disciples to not only learn from the ruler, but he’s calling these disciples to trust in God.

He’s calling them to trust that even if someone is impressive by the world standards, there’s nothing they can do to earn salvation. This is not a man thing. This is a God thing. Jesus is helping them to see that what is impossible to all created beings is possible to God alone. Then in a moment’s notice, Peter speaks up and says what all the disciples are probably thinking at this time. Peter says, We have left everything to follow you. In this statement, Peter is saying, What about us, Jesus? This man said no to you, but we said yes. We left everything, and they did. We know the story. Peter, Andrew, James, John, they left a lucrative fishing business. Matthew left a high-income career as a tax collector for the Roman Empire. They all pretty much left something significant. They left their family, their homes, their fathers, their mothers. The disciples left their home base. They left their villages. They gave it all up to follow Jesus. We left everything, Peter says. Again, what I love about Jesus is that he’s not offended by that statement. He doesn’t rebuke Peter, but actually, he reassures him. He says, Truly, I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields from me and the gospel will fail to receive 100 times as much in this present age.

Homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields along with persecution, and in the age to come, eternal life. This is the beauty of the kingdom of God. Jesus is basically reminding his disciples that, hey, when you left your homes, remember that you ended up with a place to stay in every town. We talked about that. When you left your family, remember you ended up with brothers and sisters, moms and dads, aunts and uncles all over the family of God, the church. When you left your careers, you ended up with a life full of meaning and purpose. This is life in the kingdom. You gave it all up to get it right back. What I see in this teaching is Jesus telling us to basically do this. Trade what we treasure on earth for the kingdom. Trade your opinion for truth. Trade your indulgence for a commitment to the King. Trade lust for love and intimacy. But in that, what’s beautiful is that you also trade death for life. You trade sin for salvation. You trade shame for security. You trade hell for heaven. You basically make the exchange. And what we do, we give up our wool, we give up our way, we give up the control for our lives, we give up temporary pleasures.

In the end, God gives us his kingdom. Brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you. If you find yourself like Peter, wondering if your sacrifices are worth it, let me just say this, it’s worth it. It’s worth it. I know it’s tempting to look back when things are difficult, but let me just remind you, when you have decided to follow Jesus, you gained far more than you actually lost. It’s worth it. Whatever you give her for God, be encouraged because it’s coming right back to you. A hundred times over, the old church mothers used to say, You can’t outgive God. Now, of course, life in the kingdom is no utopia. Jesus says, Persecutions will come. But no matter what you face in this age, in the age and the age to come, you get eternal life. It’s worth it. Amen. I want to make a quick illustration to prove the worth of the kingdom. Tony did this before, but I thought it was so good, so I thought I’d share it. If you’ve been a disciple for over 25 years, raise your hand. If you’ve been a disciple for over 25 years, raise your hand.

Look at that. It’s so beautiful. Love it. All right, fantastic. Let me ask you a question. Everyone else, just listen in. For the 25 plus people, would you do it all over again? Yes. On the count of three, let me hear you say it out loud. One, two, three. Yes. These people have given up their jobs. They’ve given up their money. They’ve given up opportunities. They’ve given up relationships. They’ve fought through addictions. They’ve seen the hard aid of people becoming Christians and then walking away from God. They’ve seen people that they love deeply die. If you ask them if it’s worth it, they would say, Yes. They would say, Yes. They would do it again and again and again. As a matter of fact, I bet all of them would say, I wish I would have done it way earlier. Someone said facts. The point I’m trying to make just to encourage us, no matter what the cost is, following Jesus is worth it. Being in fellowship with the one who created the universe is worth it. Being with the one who gives forgiveness is worth it. Being with the one who gives freedom is worth it.

Church is worth it. In addition to all of this, the good news is this invitation to follow is for everyone. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or haven’t done, where you’re from or not from. It doesn’t matter if you’re smart enough or experienced enough, following Jesus is an invitation for you. No matter what situation you find yourself in right now, some of us need to be reminded that the cost of following Jesus is actually gain. Life in the kingdom is worth it. As we come for a close, we get to the end of the text with Jesus’s famous words, But many who first will be last and the last first. As we prepare for communion, here’s a thought I want to share for your consideration. The kingdom is worth it. But what could empower us to live in this kingdom? What could empower us to live in a kingdom where the first or last and the last are first? Well, I really do believe it’s only a God who’s lived that out first. Think about it. Jesus is the author of life, and yet he willingly decides to become last. In Jesus, we see the riches of all rulers actually use all of his riches to serve those who were poor and last and in need.

In Jesus, we actually see the King of heaven take the lowest seating society on a criminal’s cross to die for our sins. What hasn’t God given up for you and me? The God who became the least is worth making first. As we take a moment to reflect on the death and burial of Jesus Christ, remember the God you serve is worth it. Amen? Amen. Let’s pray for communion. Heavenly, Father, we’re thankful that this life is not a sham. It’s worth it. That we get an opportunity to be forgiven when we don’t deserve to be forgiven. We get an opportunity to have a purpose when we don’t deserve to have a purpose. Thank you, God, for not giving up on us. Thank you for inviting us into this kingdom. God, I pray for us when we are tempted to look back, when we are discouraged by life, that we can remember this life is worth it. God, I pray that for those here who have not decided to make you Lord, that they will see that this is worth it. God, I pray for all of us that you help us to follow you the way you were intended to be followed.

Thank you for your death. Thank you for your burial. Thank you for your resurrection. I love you so much. It’s in Jesus name, I pray. Amen.