Mark: The Rich Young Ruler {part 1} [Mark 10:-31]

Brian Larkin

The gospel of mark • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Mark: The Rich Young Ruler {part 1} []

This section will be broke into two sermons because the importance of the content and the amount of content, but it’s connected as one lesson.

Stand for the reading of the word of God []

My wife recently felt the need to point out that I was just a few short years away from reaching the age requirement to join AARP. AARP is a group where anyone 50 years and up can join and receive benefits on a number of different things. Funny right???

We know there are groups and clubs out there that have specific requirements for membership, for example...

the Ejection Tie Club. If you’ve ever used a Martin-Baker ejection seat to escape an aircraft in an emergency, then you’re qualified to join the Ejection Tie Club. According to Martin-Baker, “Every Club member is given a certificate, membership card, patch, tie, pin. since 1957 there has been over 5800 registered club members.

The Caterpillar club. Those who have used a parachute to survive a disabled aircraft are entitled to contact the parachute maker and receive a pin and a certificate validating their admittance into the Caterpillar club. The clubs motto is, “life depends on silken thread.” Technically the club is supposed to be only for those saved by Irvine parachutes, but no one really makes that distinction anymore.

The 300 Club. Is reserved for an exclusive group of adventurers who will subject themselves to one of the most grueling physically demanding scenarios one could imagine. It’s requirements are: warming your self up in a 200*F sauna at the Amundsen-Scott research station in Antarctica, and then streaking naked around the near-by ceremonial South Pole while temperatures are -100*F or colder. The ‘300’ refers to the range of temperature the body faces in this experience. One member of the club said the experience feels like, someone hitting you with a tennis racket full of needles…not sure why anyone would want to be in that group?

Anyway, we understand some groups have requirements for membership. In today’s text we see a man come to Jesus, who, by all rights, would be gladly embraced by the disciples, and by many churches today. Matthew tells us that this man was young [], Luke tells us he was a ruler []. Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us he’s wealthy. This guy by most people’s standards has all the right requirements for church membership, right?

I mean he’s young, wealthy, he has authority and clout, yet he comes with a good attitude, running to Jesus, kneeling before Jesus, he knows there is something about Jesus and that Jesus has answers, he’s asking the right questions, after all he’s concerned about eternal life. It would appear he’s a very religious man with great moral integrity. I mean this guy is perfect. I bet the disciples were like, “this is exactly the kind of man we need to add to our little group.” He’s got great potential, respected by others, held some office, he’s got morals and manners, with a heart for spiritual things and enough desire to bow at Jesus feet. Yet, in all the bible, this man is the only person who came to the feet of Jesus and left worse off then when he came. Why? We’ll discover the answer to that.

This event is recorded in all three synoptic Gospels [Matt., Mark, Luke]. and this event is always recorded immediately after the blessing of the children as a striking illustration of the failure to attain a childlike spirit. Remember, Jesus said to enter the kingdom of God it must be in simple childlike faith, trusting in God alone. In this story Jesus addresses an important question to any who seek the kingdom of God, “Who or what should have first place in your life?” Jesus demands that we give Him first place in our lives above any and every thing else. Today we’ll look solely at the interaction between Jesus and the rich man, next week we’ll look at Jesus’ use of the rich man to teach the disciples a valuable lesson.

Outlines in your bulletin

The search for eternal life []

Jesus was once again on the move, Mark is recording Jesus movement towards Jerusalem. Jesus is engaging the disciples in teaching about true discipleship, He’s forthcoming about His crucifixion and resurrection as well. The disciples are struggling students who can’t grasp what Jesus is saying, and here is another scene that will challenge the disciples way of thinking as well.

Jesus had just told them to enter the kingdom of God they must enter like a child. i.e. all must come to Jesus with nothing, in total dependence on Him. No one can earn the kingdom. The requirements are simple, childlike reliance on Jesus…it’s that easy. It’s in this context that one who is the complete opposite comes to Jesus.

A man comes to Jesus, notice this man of power, affluence, and influence came with the right attitude [running, kneeling, asking], he’s come to the right person, and came with right all important question [eternal life].

This man was eager to see Jesus, he ran to him, I’m sure he had heard about Jesus’ teaching and he wanted to get to him, he may not have another opportunity to get to Jesus??? He also comes with remarkable respect, he ran and feel down at Jesus feet. He saw Jesus as a distinguished rabbi and paid him great honor. He’s come to Jesus the right way, with humility.

He’s come to the right person. Think about this, I believe Jesus identified with this man more than you think. After all Jesus himself is a young man only around 30 years old, he is greatly respected among many people, and Jesus himself is rich, in fact Jesus is far richer than this rich young man could ever imagine. The Son of God, Jesus has lived for all eternity in the glory, wealth, love, and fellowship of the Father. And what Jesus was about to ask this young man to do was not unfamiliar to Jesus. Jesus had left ALL of the glory of heaven to come to earth to save humanity. Paul says it perfectly in , “Though He was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.”

Tim Keller said, “Jesus gave it all away for you. Jesus was the ultimate rich young ruler who gave up all his wealth in order to get you.” Isn’t that beautiful? The rich young ruler is searching for, what many are searching for, eternal life…Jesus gives him the requirements for eternal life...

The requirements for eternal life []

The man asks the right question, “good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” This is actually an astounding tribute to Jesus. You see the Jews only referred to God as good, never would they refer to a man as good. They understood, much better than we do today, that God is the only source of good [v.18] in the absolute sense of the word good. I believe this man is sincere in his question [we have no reason to believe other wise], I think he understood in some since that eternal life is a real possibility and the way to obtain it needed to be known, he is not satisfied with what he has heard from the Jewish system of his day. In that day, it was taught, that eternal life was obtained by keeping the law of God, i.e. the mosaic system. But he seems to be aware that something is missing from that equation.

Jesus says, “why do you call me good? No one is God but God.” Now Jesus is not saying he is not good or not God, don’t misunderstand this statement. Jesus is trying to get the man’s mind to change, what is good. Let me interject, Jesus is a sense is saying…you’re right, I am good, but do you know why I am good? I am good because I am God. You see what’s in the wrong is the man’s idea of what good is. The man’s view of good is from the perspective of morally doing good, but Jesus is trying to get his idea of good to focus on God, who is the source of all goodness. Every good and perfect gift comes from God. The man’s focus is on his own goodness, or perceived goodness, but Jesus is trying to get him to focus on God the source of goodness. To call Jesus good is to call him God, and if you call Jesus God then that means we do what He says. This man needs a change in theology and a change of heart, there are many today in the same boat.

“He’s a good person”, how often do you hear that? Someone may do good things, but that doesn’t make them good in the eyes of God. I believe we have a hard time with this idea today because we have a misunderstanding of who God is..He is the source of all goodness, He is holy, completely separate from us. A.W. Tozer said in his book, “the knowledge of the holy.” “what we think about God is the most important thing about us.” If have a right thinking about God, then we have a right perspective about ourselves…not good.

Jesus doesn’t wait for the man to respond but goes right into a list of commandments from the second table of the law that have to do with one’s relationship with other people. Do not commit adulterer, murder, steal, bear false witness, defraud [covet], honor your father and mother. The man responds, teacher [notice he dropped the good, he’s a quick learner] all these I’ve kept since my youth. This young man had conducted his life according to the law of God. He had honored it and obeyed all of it! In an external sense there may have been much truth in that. Much like Paul said in with respect to the outward demands of the law as taught by the religious leaders of Israel, I was faultless.

What I find interesting about this is, if this man believed, as it was taught in Judaism of his day, that to have eternal life is to keep their system of law…then why is he asking Jesus, “how do I inherit eternal life?” Anyone else find that interesting? I believe this man knew, in some since, that trying to keep God’s law cannot give you eternal life. You see the law of God is not a ladder we climb to get to God, it’s a mirror that reflects our sin and desperate need for God. I’ll say it again, This man needs a change in theology and a change of heart, and so do many today.

Notice verse 21, I have three points from this one verse.

Jesus looked at him and loved him. Don’t overlook this important phrase because…Even the love of Jesus for a person does not guarantee a person’s acceptance of Jesus, though is does guarantee that Jesus will tell him the truth. I wrestled with this point this week, because it’s obvious that Jesus’ love for him doesn’t overpower his freedom of the will, yet the bible is clear that a person’s choice to yield to Christ is initiated by Christ first, not by man first. So faith is a gift of God as well. So instead of driving myself crazy trying to fully grasp and explain this, I took the word’s of Spurgeon to heart who said, “I don’t attempt to reconcile friends.” The important thing we take away from this is...Do we love people enough to tell them the truth as Jesus did to this young man? I find comfort in the fact that Jesus loved him even when he was in the wrong.

Ultimately the young man’s problem is everyone’s problem. Choosing between wholehearted commitment to God and other things. That is the requirement for eternal life: to choose God, in Christ without reserve..which that choice is initiated by Christ and is a free gift which we receive or to choose other things before God. Jesus’ demand is direct but not easy, Jesus dealt directly with the man’s real problem…Jesus loved him to much to leave him wondering how to get eternal life. So Jesus says, “you lack one thing.”

One thing, that’s easy enough to change right? In reality that “one thing” he lacked was the only thing that mattered… everything else is worthless apart from undivided love and commitment to God. This one thing points out, he hadn’t kept the law at all. Jesus puts His finger on the ONE Thing keeping him from the kingdom of God.

That one thing he lacked amounted to two things he must do to get eternal life…one: go and sell everything he had and give to the poor and two: he must become a follower of Jesus. He must repent and believe.

Treasure in heaven is another way of describing the key issue. What was the man’s problem? He was an idolater. Money and possessions was his god. Where this man came up drastically short was, wealth was his idol, money occupied the place where God should have been. Having addressed the last six commandments with the man, He now addresses the first one, God must be God in our lives and nothing else. No one and no thing can come between Him and us.

The particular demand Jesus puts on this man to sell all and give to the poor is not a general command for all persons. Jesus is not condemning wealth and commending poverty, this is not a call to asceticism. If you think that way you’ve missed the point. The point is, wealth breeds confidence in one’s self, and that has an addictive quality. While this man may have, relatively speaking, kept those commands that addresses human relationships, he lived in a state of perpetual disobedience, sin, and idolatry when it came to the first and foundational commandment: Do not have any god besides me.

One area in your life could be keeping you from an eternal relationship with God. Jesus offers Himself as a substitute for the man’s wealth…Jesus offers Himself to us as a substitute for our _______? What’s keeping you from God? Only when we give all and submit like a small, weak, vulnerable child and trust Jesus, only then will we have everything we lack. Jesus is all we need. [that’s not just preacher talk]

The call to discipleship is a call to radical trust and commitment to Jesus. Jesus challenges all of us to put away anything and anyone who would be an obstacle to our following Him.

Ultimately, what Jesus is calling for the man to do is the same he calls for everyone to do, and is the same message Jesus came preaching from the very beginning…repent and believe.

Repent: turn from your sin, you love for money, power, fame, popularity, position, etc. etc. and turn to God.

Believe: take up your cross, die to your selfishness, and follow Jesus. That call is to all, rich, poor, male, female, child, adult…all must repent and believe the gospel to be saved.

We either receive the gift of salvation by God’s grace alone or we reject eternal life.

The rejection of eternal life []

after this invitation to eternal life Jesus offers this man, Verse 22 records perhaps the most tragic and sad verse in the bible. read verse 22 again. The literal translation in the Greek reads, “But he, becoming sad and appalled at the word or this saying, went away feeling pain, grieving, for he was having many possessions.” It seems the moment he heard Jesus’ demands for discipleship and eternal life he became emotionally distressed. i.e. the man loved his possessions too much to give them up for eternal life.

His treasure was on this earth. Jesus difficult demand was met with a rejection by the man. As one commentator said, “a person who leads an exemplary life-who even endears himself to the Son of God-can still be an idolater.” This man came with the right attitude [humble and respectful], he came to the right person {Jesus], he was asking the right questions [how do I get eternal life?} This is a sobering story…a man would choose possessions over life in Jesus…yet it’s far to common for us today.

This man is the type of person we see everywhere today. A moral, respectful man, who thinks a good God will reward nice people for doing their very best. Friends the bible is clear, Jesus is plain…we as mankind are rebellious against a holy God and can not save ourselves…only God in His marvelous grace and mercy, through Jesus Christ saves.

While this story teaches us many valuable lessons…the main idea is the same point Jesus has been driving home to his disciples and it’s the point I’ve been laboring throughout this series through Mark. Mankind cannot save ourselves…we are in desperate need of Christ.

What hinders you from a relationship with God? Have you abandoned all to follow Christ?? Repent and belief.

If you are a Christian, does your life of faith in Christ resemble the childlike faith and trust and dependence upon Christ or have you been living more like the rich ruler…what I do? There needs to be a proper balance.

pray: God forgive me for putting anyone or anything before you, I repent, I trust in you alone for salvation. God, help me to see the thing [s] that hinder my relationship with you. and help me I pray to trust you with childlike faith, totally dependent upon you alone. Amen.

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