Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Some people walk away from the church because they do not like what God’s Word says on certain issues.

So, according to these people, the culture determines what is right and wrong.

What is right or wrong is determined by the majority and not by God.

For this reason, if the Word of God goes against the view the culture holds, they demand the church to get with the times.

For example, marriage should be between one man and one woman for life.

Or the only ground for divorce should be because of adultery or the abandoning of a spouse by an unbeliever.

Or sex should only take place between a man and woman after marriage vows have been exchanged.

And holding onto orthodox view like these offend some people.

This rich young ruler was not different.

He had a question for Jesus.

He did not like what Jesus said, so he refused Jesus’ invitation and walked away.

Someone rightly said, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Some people walk away from the church because they do not like what God’s word say on certain issues.

For example, marriage should be between one man and one woman for life.

Or the only ground for divorce should be because of adultery or the abandoning of a spouse by an unbeliever.

And holding onto orthodox view like this offends some people.

Or sex should only take place between a man and woman after marriage vows have been exchanged.

Jesus teaches His disciples about the danger of wealth (vv.

23-25).

Jesus teaches His disciples about the danger of wealth (vv.

23-25).

Jesus teaches His disciples about the danger of wealth (vv.

23-25).

After Jesus’ encounter with this young rich ruler, Mark states that Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God…Children how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!”

The Greek word for “look” in this verse occurs six times in Mark’s Gospel and only once elsewhere in the New Testament, that is .

It signifies a commanding survey of the situation, as though Jesus looked around to see whether this man’s response to His invitation negatively affected the disciples.

He looked around as if to see whether the disciples were to follow this man.

Jesus made this statement two times.

You should know that repetition is a literary device to get our attention.

Jesus is emphasizing His point, that it is difficult for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.

The rich young ruler was invited by Christ to be His disciple, but he rejected Jesus’ invitation.

And the last we heard of him was that he walked away holding on to his earthly wealth and abandoning Jesus’ offer of eternal life.

His wealth kept him from entering the kingdom of God.

Jesus shattered the disciples erroneous worldview:

Jesus points out that “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.”

What Christ is pointing out here is this.

It is impossible for a person who holds onto his wealth like this rich man to make it into the kingdom of God.

Or it is difficult for those with wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

There have been various attempts to soften this statement.

The most famous is the claim that there was a small gate in Jerusalem known as the needle eye gate.

A camel could pass through only by having its baggage removed and then crawling on its knees.

There is no reliable evidence for the existence of such gate in Jerusalem.

Why was this shocking to the disciples?

Because within the Jewish culture, wealth was seen as a sign of divine favor and blessing.

Satan, speaking about Job in 1:10, says to God, “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?

You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flock and herds are spread throughout the land.”

Here, Satan is besmirching the character of Job.

He is saying that Job is only faithful to God because of the blessings that God bestowed upon him.

The psalmist writes in 128:1-2, “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to Him.

You will eat the fruit of your labor.

Blessing and prosperity will be yours.”

The Jews idea was wrong.

Just because a person was wealthy did not mean that they had a great relationship with God and were on their way to eternal bliss.

Popular Jewish morality was simple.

It believed that prosperity was the sign of a good man.

If a man was rich, God must have honoured and blessed him.

Wealth was proof of an excellent character and of favour with God.

The psalmist sums it up, ‘I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread’ ().

Barclay, W. (2001).

The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Mark (pp. 286–287).

Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press.Jesus’ statement shattered their erroneous worldview.

Few reasons that makes wealth dangerous:

1. Wealth tends to stop us from embracing the kingdom’s message.

In , Jesus speaks about the destructive power of wealth, “…but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things comes in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

In the Parable of the Sower, wealth choked out the Word of God.

2. Wealth tends to take our focus from our heavenly home and have it fixed on this world.

The apostle Paul makes it clear that we are citizens of heaven and not of this world.

3. Wealth can ruin the life of a person.

A man who runs into wealth will be proud and will become a god unto himself.

Watch the lives of men who have fallen.

They tend to fall at the height of their careers when they were making a lot of money.

Read the newspapers.

The verb for saved here conveys the sense of spiritual salvation.

It is synonymous to inheriting eternal life and entering the kingdom of God.

We too have some erroneous views:

Let me point out some erroneous views we have in our culture.

1.

We sometimes think that everyone is going to heaven.

Not only those who have a relationship with Christ, but everyone.

We also think that to be a member of a church, you just put your name on the roll, You do not attend, you do not give, and it is alright.

Some of us think that if Jesus was here today, He would be a Republican.

Some believe that they can live any way they want to after they confess Christ.

Because once saved is always saved.

Some of these wrong views are lodged into our minds and we think that if others do not espouse to them, they are not good people.

Jesus shocked the disciples by pointing out that it will be difficult

Who then can be saved?

Being shocked by Jesus’ statement, Mark points out that “the disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, who then can be saved?”

If the wealthy cannot make it into heaven, who then can be saved?

If the rich could not make it into the kingdom of God then who could be saved?

If this man who was the keeper of the commandments since he was a child and was blessed by God with great riches could not get into heaven, then who could be saved?

The verb for saved here conveys the sense of spiritual salvation.

It is synonymous with inheriting eternal life and entering the kingdom of God.

Jesus looked at them and said, “with man it is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

How do we enter the kingdom of God?

How do we enter the kingdom of God?

We read in Mark that if we will follow Christ, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.

We also heard Jesus pointing out that if we are to enter the kingdom of God, we must be like little children fully depending upon Christ to make it into His kingdom.

Jesus clarified the doctrine of salvation.

Salvation does not depend upon a person’s effort, rather it is a gift of God.

It is by grace we have been saved through faith and not by works so that no one can boast.

The wealthy will not depend upon their wealth to enter the kingdom of God

It is only God who can bring a person into His kingdom.

The reformers talked about the irresistible grace of God.