Scripture Reading:

• Mark 10:17-31, ESV
• Luke 9:18-27, ESV

Opening Prayer:

Father God, we thank you for the honor and privilege of being able to gather for worship in this place. I pray that this time spent in your word would be honoring to you and helpful to your church. I pray that you would open our minds and hearts to receive this word, and that all glory would be given to you alone. Be with us this day, Lord we pray. Amen.

Introduction:

Last week we began a sermon series entitled “The Heart of A Disciple.” We learned the importance of keeping our eyes on God from David’s battle with Goliath, and we learned from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians that God has equipped us with everything we need to follow Him faithfully. My goal was to lay a foundation for the rest of this series so that we could spend the next few weeks discussing the heart that Jesus wants to see in his disciples.

This week, our emphasis is on the idea of commitment, an important trait for any would be Christ follower. More often than not, our struggle as Christ followers is not whether or not we want to follow Christ. Our struggle is what happens when following Christ comes at a cost, or when we have to choose between Christ and something else we love and cherish. For early Christians and for many believers today in high-persecution contexts, the cost may take the form of being disowned from their family, losing their job, or even imprisonment or death. While there is a sense that hostility towards Biblical Christianity is on the rise in America, thankfully we are not yet experiencing persecution at that level.

No, for many of us today the cost of following Christ is usually in the cost of our time, our resources, and comfort. We give our Sunday mornings to worship and we carve out portions of our time every day to pray and the study of God’s Word. We give our energy towards serving others, both inside and outside our church community. We give a portion of our wealth to supporting the church and various other ministries in our community, as well as the unseen charity that many of you do simply out of love for God and neighbor.  

Last week we learned that taking a stand with God’s Word against forces that would want to silence us, confuse us, or distract us from the truth. Make no mistake, if you stand on Biblical truth in a world that does not, it will cost you your comfort and possibly more. These are the costs of faithfully committing yourself to Christ, but the heart of a true disciple knows that anything sacrificed for the kingdom is far and away worth it for the reward of a deeper walk with Christ and the eternal life it brings. 

The Sadness of Success Without Christ (Mark 10:17-31, ESV)

I want to begin this morning by focusing on a familiar passage from the gospel of Mark. As we read in Mark 10, on his travels Jesus encountered a wealthy young man who, by all accounts, seemed to be a great candidate for a disciple. This man had wealth that could be used to fund Jesus’ ministry, he was a young man with authority and respect from his community, and best of all he seems to have been a deeply religious and morally upstanding young man. The rich young ruler is respectful to Jesus, kneeling before him, and he asks the right questions “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

This young man clearly had achieved much in his short life, but he wanted one thing that he lacked. The young man wanted assurance of eternal life, the very thing Jesus came to bring. Now how would we answer this young man’s question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

We might share the good news of Jesus, that Jesus Christ the righteous Son of God came to save sinners, that he died on a cross bearing the penalty of our sins, that he rose three days later having defeated sin and death on our behalf, that he is now seated at the right hand of the Father, and that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Him, but only everlasting life. We might then ask this young man if he is ready to submit to Jesus as His Savior and Lord and then lead him through a prayer of salvation. However, Jesus in this moment takes a different approach with the same end in mind.

Jesus begins with a question “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (v. 18). Then he points the young man to the law “You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother’” (v. 19).  In this way Jesus essentially asks two important questions to test the young man’s commitment.  First, Jesus is essentially asking the same question he asked his disciples two chapters earlier when he posed the question, “Who do you say I am?” and Peter answered correctly “You are the Messiah” (Mark 8:29) or as Luke recorded it “The Christ of God” (Luke 9:20). Second, Jesus points to the Law of God, I believe, to ask the question “and who are you?” or “how would you stand before Holy God?”

These are two basic questions that we have to get right, not only to understand the gospel by which we are saved, but also in order to be faithful disciples of Christ. We have to understand that we are sinners in need of salvation, and that Jesus is our savior and Lord. This is a foundational truth.

“Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Galatians 2:16, ESV

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,  he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”

Titus 3:4-5, ESV

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’”

John 14:6-7, ESV

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12, ESV

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

1 Timothy 2:5-6, ESV

This is just a sampling of the numerous verses found all throughout the scriptures, but the point is clear. We are all sinners in need of a savior, and Christ is that savior. Notice, however, that the rich young ruler’s answer, “Teacher, all these [Laws] I have kept from my youth” (v. 20), skips right over Jesus’ question “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone”. He not only fails to recognize Jesus for who he is, but he also wrongly points to himself as his hope of salvation. He is hoping in his works. He is hoping in his own goodness. 

This is a mistake that so many people fall into. He looks at Jesus and sees another good person like himself. He looks at the Law and sees a list of accomplishments he can add to his moral resume. The rich young ruler doesn’t see himself as a sinner in need of a savior, he sees himself as a good person who needs a teacher. He wants the secret to eternal life, he wants to know what he needs to do to be considered good enough to enter Heaven. 

Jesus could have responded several ways, but he wisely chose to expose the young ruler’s greatest idol, his hard earned wealth. Jesus says, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (v. 21). We are told that the young man went away sorrowful, because he had many posessions. This young man was not the first to be called to leave their old life behind and to follow Jesus, but he is one of the few we see to reject the call. What made the difference between this young ruler and the faithful disciples who left all they had to follow Jesus? 

I don’t think it was just the wealth, because Jesus had wealthy followers. Matthew and Zaccheus were both tax collectors and men of wealth, but Matthew abandoned his tax booth as soon as he received the call and Zaccheus gave back more than he had ever taken as a tax-collector without being asked, simply because he had a life-changing encounter with Christ. What Matthew and Zaccheus had, that this rich young ruler lacked, was an awareness that they were sinners in need of a savior, and Jesus had come to save them. 

Why does Jesus say “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” (v. 23), and again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 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.” (v. 25-26)? It is because those who can afford everything they need will have a harder time understanding that the only way to approach the Father is as a child in need. 

If we fail to understand our sinfulness, our neediness, and how desperate we are for a savior, we will fail to understand the goodness of God in Jesus Christ. Like the rich young ruler, we will make the mistake of seeing Jesus as another good thing we can add to our lives, but when following Him becomes costly or uncomfortable our commitment will disappear. We may be tempted to make the fatal mistake of thinking that following Jesus isn’t worth the cost. 

Notice that the disciples were confused. We are told that they “were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, ‘Then who can be saved?’” (v. 26). When they look at the rich young man the disciples probably see the same thing we would see if we were in their shoes. He is a good man, he works hard, he is morally upright, he is a well respected man of authority. If he’s not good enough to receive eternal life, then what hope do any of us have? Jesus then reminds the disciples that, like the young ruler, they are looking for salvation in the wrong place. What is impossible for man, is possible for God (v. 27).  

Precious Peter, always the first to speak up, seems to get the message. He points out that the disciples who were with Jesus had left everything behind to follow him. Jesus then tells them that their commitment will be rewarded in glory, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (v. 29-31).

The disciples were far from a perfect bunch. They were often slow to learn, quick to jump to conclusions, and prone to jealousy, fear, and doubt. What separated them from the rich young ruler, however, was that the disciples of Jesus were committed. 

Carrying Our Crosses To Glory (Luke 9:18-27)

Earlier I read Peter’s confession of Jesus as “the Messiah of God” as recorded in Luke chapter nine. Immediately following this confession, we see Jesus challenging the disciple’s understanding both of what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah and what it means to be his disciple. He told his disciples that he was going to be a savior who suffers. Though he was the King of Kings, he would be rejected by those he came to save. Though he came to give life, his own people would condemn him to death, and yet he would rise three days later in victory. We know the disciples did not fully understand this at the time, but Jesus was preparing them so that when the time came they would understand. 

Jesus then tells his disciples what it will cost to be a follower of Christ. First he tells them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (v. 23). He tells his disciples that true commitment to Christ comes from a daily commitment to following Christ, and not just any commitment. Jesus uses the visual image of taking up one’s cross. The cross being a symbol of death, Christ was calling us to die to self daily and to seek to follow Christ regardless of the cost. We come to Christ with nothing but our sin. He not only takes our sin and death upon himself, but gives us a share in the kingdom through the power of his resurrection.

Christ tells his disciples that “whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.  For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (v. 24-25). Does this teaching remind you of anyone? Like the rich young ruler, we can try to save ourselves through good works, or seek to gain the world through accumulating wealth and fame, but the end result is the same for all who try. Those who seek to save themselves all perish and die. All who try to gain the world will one day lose it. 

That rich young ruler one day probably grew up to be a rich old ruler. That rich old ruler probably amassed more wealth and more honor in his lifetime, but like each of us he eventually passed from life into death. When he died all his honor and law keeping amounted to nothing. He was still a sinner in need of a savior. All his wealth amounted to nothing, because he foolishly chose to keep his jewels and precious metals instead of trading them in for the great and imperishable treasure of all, eternal life with Christ. 

In John 6 we see another example of the cost outweighing the commitment of some would be disciples. After preaching a difficult and challenging message we are told that not only many in the crowd, but some among Jesus’ own disciples began to grumble amongst themselves saying “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60). When Jesus confronts these grumbling disciples we are told that “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66). Jesus, seeing that only twelve remained, asked the twelve “Do you want to go away as well?” (John 6:67). Once again it is Peter who speaks the obvious truth, a truth that all committed disciples know, but a truth that so many would be disciples miss. 

“Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’” 

John 6:68-69, ESV

This is the heart of a committed disciple. Christ doesn’t necessarily call the best, the brightest, the most gifted, or the strongest. No, Christ calls those who recognize that they are sinners in need of a savior. He calls those who hear and believe His words, and who will follow Him through thick and thin because they know when all is said and done, they will walk with Him in a glory greater than anything this life could offer us. He doesn’t ask us to understand everything, only to follow in faith and persevere to the end. And though the journey may be challenging and costly at times, we do not go it alone. He is with us and will see us through to the end. So let’s renew our commitment today, to the one who gave all to bring us to God.

Prayer of Decision:

Father God, we thank you for your Word. May it be said of us that we have come to know you as our Savior and Lord. If there is anyone here today who needs to make a decision for you, I pray that you would give them the courage to begin a conversation with us about following Christ. Whether they are ready to come down the aisle this morning or whether they want to begin a conversation in private, I pray for courage to begin that journey this morning. Bless this time of decision we pray, Amen. 

Prayer of Dismissal: 

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. 

May he guide you through the wilderness, and protect you through the storm. 

May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. 

May he bring you home rejoicing, once again into our doors.