Are You Serious in Calling Me Good?

 

Mark 10:17-31

The Rich Young Man

The works of Jesus on earth were basically preaching the good news of the Kingdom, healing the sick, and making disciples. One day, 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?”

“Inheriting eternal life” means that one can live in God’s Kingdom and receive His blessed life when His Kingdom comes on earth.

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”

Jesus said these not to deny His divinity, but He was directing this man to think so that he could make a choice whether he would like to submit and honor Jesus as God. Of course, Jesus is God. He wanted to challenge this man to submit to His commands.

Jesus said again, “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.”

“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

This man was truly a good man in that he had kept all the second part of the Ten Commandments. The second part of the Ten Commandments regulates the ethical relationship between man and man, and he had done them all.

The foremost important part of the Ten Commandments lies in the first part, which requires men to worship Jehovah, God alone, and they shall not have other gods.  Did this man honor only God? Would he submit to Jesus’ commandment?

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.”

At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.

Have You Stored Up Treasure in Heaven?

The rich young man desired to receive eternal life, which is to spend a blessed eternity with God, and hence he sought Jesus humbly. Yet he never expected that the entrance fee to the Kingdom of heaven would cost him to “sell everything he had.”

This cost was so high that he was shocked after hearing it. Hence, his face fell, for he knew that he couldn’t pay this high price. So, he walked away sadly.

Something pitiful about this man was the fact that he was a man who feared God, and he had obeyed God’s commandments since young. He sought the truth humbly, and as an official of his people, he knelt before Jesus and asked Him the question. It was truly something admirable and praiseworthy.

Jesus looked at him and loved him. However, was it because of his wealth that he found hard to enter God’s Kingdom? The disciples saw them and heard their conversation, and they were amazed that such a good person could not enter  God’s kingdom. They said to each other, “Who then could be saved?”

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

Jesus once said, “Everything is possible for one who believes.” (Mark 9:23)

The rich young man was humble, and he feared God. If he could believe in Jesus, honor him as God, he could have been saved and entered the Kingdom of Heaven. He still lacked one thing, and that was in fact his faith.

Men will not be refused by God and miss their salvation simply because they don’t sell their property and give it to the poor.

The Lord Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” Afterwards, he said again, “How hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (v.24)

Therefore, the fact is that the rich find it hard to receive eternal life not because of their great wealth, but because their hearts “trust in their riches”. It is the heart that is “unwilling to let go of the money and trust solely in Jesus.”

If we think carefully the words Jesus said to the rich young man, we will come to understand that the request of God for us is indeed a blessing because he promised us that we will “have the treasure in heaven”.

It means that if the rich young man were willing to give up and not rely on his wealth, and turn and walk with Christ, he would then have received the eternal treasure of heaven that would be imperishable.

The Lord did not indicate to him what this treasure in heaven was. He is also testing us and says, “Will you trust me?” If you can trust me, then you just have to follow me and do what I say!

When he had to choose between his many properties and the Lord Jesus Himself, the rich young man could not bear to let go of the money he loved, and hence, he gave up following the Lord.

In fact, for generations, people who are willing to follow the Lord would have to face a similar choice as the rich young man. Apparently, many here do have money and treasures on earth, but have you ever stored up your riches in heaven?

Let us put Jesus at the first place, and honor, follow and serve Him, and offer our lives and wealth for His disposal. Then we will have treasure in heaven. The words of the Lord Jesus are trustworthy, and we shouldn’t doubt His words. His promises will surely be fulfilled.

Sacrifice and then Receive Hundred Folds Back

The Lord issued a challenge and made a promise to all who follow Him: “Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will 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.” (v29-30）

Many people can’t let go of their monies and they find it hard to follow the Lord. They also have something else to worry and be sentimentally attached to. For some, it will be their career (houses and land), and for others, it will be their family (brothers and sisters, parents, and children).

The Lord Jesus promises that if we were willing to leave all that we were sentimentally attached to for His sake and for the sake of the Gospel, we would receive rewards in heaven and eternal life in the age to come. Besides, if we were to lay down all things for Him, He shall return to us hundred folds in this life.

Abraham, the Father of Faith, was courageous enough to face this test. God specifically told him to leave his father’s home, and then in a later event, asked him to offer his only and beloved son, Isaac, as a sacrifice to Him. Abraham trusted and obeyed God by carrying out His request, and he pleased God and received His compliment. God said to him, “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

Finally, we see that Isaac, his beloved son, not only came back to him unscathed, but God affirmed him once again of His promised blessing to him. God said, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. … and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.” （Genesis 22:17-18）

To forsake everything willingly for sake of the Lord and the Gospel, is the path that leads to a blessed eternal life which starts from today until eternity. We have too many witnesses among us who can testify of God’s faithfulness, that He is able to bless us hundred folds on earth!

What are those things that we are sentimentally attached to and can’t let go which are hindering us from following the Lord? Is it our material riches? Or a comfortable life? Or a successful career? Or our loved ones? Will you be able to do it for the Lord, if He were to ask you to leave them behind or to offer them to Him?

Elkanah said to his beloved wife, Hannah, who couldn’t conceive and was anguished all day long, “Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” （1 Samuel 1:8）The Lord also said to us, “Don’t I mean more to you than all other things?

Yes, Christ is our everything, and He is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for us, so that we shall lack nothing. He shall make us satisfied in all things, whether it is our physical needs, like our daily food and clothing, or our mental or spiritual needs. For He is the source of all these things, and He shall give grace to His beloved sheep and bless them abundantly.

Conclusion

May we not rely on and be sentimentally attached to whatever we should put down or let go, but instead, may we follow God wholeheartedly. May we be concerned about the heavenly things, and gain Christ as our most precious treasure in life.

May we care most for the house of God so that it shall suffer no lack. By doing so, all kinds of ministry in our church will be able to continue this year like before, and we can minister to the needs of our brothers and sisters, and the needs of mission fields in all places.

Let’s take a step of faith and be a faithful child of God in making a faith pledge to give willingly and generously. God will surely bless us hundred folds whether we are in heaven or on earth. Give thanks to God and praise Him!