Mark 10:17-22 • Just One More Thing
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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
I'm going to ask that others of you turn in your Bibles now to mark the 10th chapter, mark chapter 10, as we'll be looking at verses 17 through 22. In recent weeks we've been talking about how our pattern of worship actually follows the path of the gospel in our hearts, how recognition of the glory of God in particular is holiness, results in our understanding of our need of grace, then as we see the gospel promising that grace, we respond in mission of thanksgiving and praise.
Glory leads to grace, leads to mission. It makes sense logically and spiritually, but what happens when you slip a cog, when the pattern falls apart, when there's a short circuit and the glory of God revealed does not lead to a confession of a need of grace at all? Then what does Jesus do? In Mark 10, as a young man comes to Jesus and short circuits his understanding of the gospel will see truly how Jesus responds for his sake and for ours. Mark 10 verse 17,
speaking of Jesus, Mark writes, "And as he was setting out on his journey a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 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." And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth." And Jesus, looking at him, loved him. "Said to him, "You lack one thing. Sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come, follow me." Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions." I've mentioned already this is a graduation weekend in spades for our family, okay? So I had a daughter graduate on Friday night from seminary with a degree in counseling. I've got one of our sister-in-laws graduating with a Ph.D. yesterday. Then my daughter graduates from high school tomorrow night. And it's a graduation weekend, I am telling you. So we've had meal, then celebration, then meal, then celebration tonight, meal, and another celebration tomorrow. It's lots of things to think about of how graduation affects things as you think about where you're off to, what are the goals. And I want to talk about that a little bit in terms of a man who may think unlikely to be a role model for us. Mickey Mantle. Remember Mickey Mantle, baseball legend? Mickey Mantle, when he was dying, made a request for a song to be sung at his funeral. If Mickey Mantle had not asked that this song be sung at his funeral, we would have thought the words to be so candid that they were inappropriate. These are lyrics to the song that Mickey Mantle asked to be sung at his funeral. "Yesterday, when I was young, the taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue. I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day and only now I see how the years ran away. I used my magic age as if it were a wand and never saw the waste and the emptiness beyond. The game of life I played with arrogance and pride and every flame I'd lit too quickly, quickly died. Yesterday, when I was young, so many drinking songs were waiting to be sung, so many wayward pleasures lay in store for me and so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see. I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out and now the time has come to pay for yesterday
when I was young." For those who admired Mickey Mantle, we can hardly imagine that he would have those lyrics of misspent youth sung at his funeral. After all, he got it all and yet for those who knew him best, they would say, "Though he grabbed for it all, in his own mind and heart he came up empty." Over and over again, no matter what he got, he would say, "There's just one more thing, one more thing that will satisfy, that will fulfill, because I've got so much already but I'm not happy yet." What did he have? Fame? Physical ability? Fortune? Formal religion?
Family. And when those didn't satisfy, the bottle and affairs and over and over again, each thing that he grabbed for came up empty. So that on his deathbed he said to the world, looking at a television camera, "Don't make me a role model. Don't you dare make me your role model." How could it be? He had everything. What happens in this passage of Scripture is we're introduced to a young man who seems to have everything. Not said in this particular passage but in its parallels. This is a rich young ruler who comes up to Jesus with an amazing request, "Master, tell me what I do to inherit eternal life." It's a goal, but as the story begins to unfold, we understand he has got other goals. In his young people head out in life and seek goals. Maybe it's good to say, "What are the ones that are emptier than we might imagine?" Though the world touts them all the time. What we understand from this rich young ruler that Jesus wants to make the gospel clear to is first of all the poverty of his riches. We have to be clear about something right at the offset. The problem with this young man is not his money. I mean, money is not necessarily an evil thing. Though of course the Bible says it can be the root of many kinds of evil. Money itself isn't wrong. Solomon got wealth from the Lord. Abraham got wealth from the Lord. Lydia used her wealth to support the Apostle Paul and Joseph of Arimathea used his wealth to help Jesus. Wealth in itself was not the problem. Money automatically is not the problem. The problem with this rich young man is not his money, it's his God.
Because what we begin to understand as the story unfolds is this young man's money is not just something he is using, it is using him. It is the object of his devotion, it is what he thinks will give him fulfillment, and yet the sadness is, as is so apparent to us as we back away from the story, he's got everything and still wants just one more thing. I mean, think of it, if we could just kind of put it in today's context. Jesus is going down the road and, you know, this young man drives up in his BMW, right? He gets out, he's got the Hollister jeans on, right? The Abercrombie shirt, right? He's wearing the Nike LeBron's, the most expensive, you know, you can get, and still he wants just one more thing, this thing called eternal life. The fact that he's not happy with what he already has should be a message for us. In fact, we all recognize the message that that money in itself, that wealth in itself, that just what you accumulate is not going to be enough to give you fulfillment, because it's the old story. We all know that story. In my generation, what do the Beatles sing? Money can't bring you up, money can't bring you love, or you move forward, you get Michael Jackson, okay? Money. Lie for it, spy for it, live for it, die for it. A prophecy of his own end in so many ways. And we don't just have to look at the singers. I mean, it's the story everybody knows that you can get all the stuff and still be empty inside. And the cautionary tales just seem to come almost weekly. You know, whether it's Lindsay or Brittany or Tiger or the Donald, they got it all. Except happiness, except fulfillment. And the story gets told again in the present age as well, as rapper Macklemore in the other side speaks of his pursuit of sex and drugs and money, and then sees how it has left, led to the death of his own friends, and writes himself, "We all live on the cusp of death, thinking it won't be us." Yeah, we know the story. But inevitably, when we pursue those things, which you think by their accumulation will make us happy, we are like the drunk who think he's not incapacitated. We're like the man going deaf who thinks he's hearing just fine. And so we say to ourselves, "I won't get caught. I won't be sucked in. The world and its promises of what will make me happy will not get me." Mumford in the song "Babel" says, "I lift my arms to the sky. I cry, "Babel, Babel, look at me now!" And then recognizing what's just been sung says, "Oh God, awake my soul. Look at me now. I got it all. I'm just dead inside.
Awake my soul, God, to something more meaningful, something that will give me fulfillment. And it's not just going to be found in the accumulation of things or my name or fame or glory. It's not going to be found there. What Jesus is doing with this young man, as he begins to just use the man's words to say, "Look at you. Don't you recognize the poverty of your riches? They are not fulfilling you." It's having this young man come to a realization of himself, but he won't do it until he recognizes the God's inadequacy that he is pursuing. And so Jesus says, "Listen, if your God is gain, if you think you just get enough that that will make you happy, then how do you make that God happy? You make the God of gain happy by feeding him what he wants. Oh yeah, I'll do what you want. You give me what I want." And what this young man knows that the God of gain wants is righteousness. And so he comes up to Jesus and says, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" And what Jesus has to make plain to him is not just the poverty of his riches, but the poverty of his righteousness. It's just kind of a strange conversation. I mean, just think of it. The young man runs up to Jesus, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" This is ideal evangelism, right? You know, no knocking on doors, you know, no arrangement, natural quest, you know, just what do I do to inherit eternal life? But Jesus, who has seen this young man come up with all these things, who just wants one more thing, knows there may be a problem. And so to this young man who has said, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus lets the question sit for just a little bit. What must you do to inherit eternal life? It's a preposterous question. You don't do anything to inherit something. You inherit as a consequence of what someone else has done, which is a vital spiritual truth. Eternity is inherited as a consequence of what someone else has done, not what you have done. The young man can't see it yet, though. And so you may remember, as he said, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus kind of, "Well, is that really the question? Is that really what you do to inherit eternal life?" Well, if the question is what you do to inherit eternal life, then do everything. You know the commandments. Don't steal, don't murder, honor your father and mother. Now, be honest, when you first read this account, you were thinking, "I think Jesus should have stayed in seminary a little longer. I mean, I mean, that doesn't sound like the right answer. I mean, it sure sounds like work salvation, right? What must I do to inherit? Well, just be a really, really, really, really good person. Keep all the commandments." Now, just to settle your hearts a little bit, does Jesus really think that what we do is going to gain us eternal life? Just to know the answer to that, let your mind scroll down the text a little bit. Go to verse 33 of the same chapter of the book of Mark. So in Mark 10, look at verse 33. Jesus, remember, is on this journey, and in verse 33 he says, "See, we are going up to where?"
Jerusalem. "And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priest and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise." Does Jesus really think what we do is going to save us? No, he knows better. He knows what's ahead, and he knows what he must do for the salvation of many. But the young man can't see it yet. And so, as Jesus said to this young man, "Listen, you just keep all the commandments." What is the preposterous response of the young man? What does he say? "I have." Now, you know, put it in its context. Jesus just got through saying, "Only God is good." And three seconds later, what does the young man say about himself? "Me too." In which case, he has given himself the status and the stature of God. In which case, he's certainly broken the very first of the commandments, right? "You shall have no other gods." And he doesn't even see it. He is so preoccupied with gain of what he can do, of his accomplishment, that he doesn't get the picture what ought to be happening if he has perceived the reality of God saying, "Listen, you, if you are going to be responsible for your eternity, you must keep the commandments perfectly. This glory of the holiness of God should just be forcing this man down on his knees to plead for grace. God, I have not honored my parents as you have desired. God, I've not always kept my word the way you said. God, I can't do this." And yet, what should be coming from his mouth is far from what is coming from his mouth. Now, lest you're too ready to condemn him, recognize how hard it is for even us in the church to say the right thing from our hearts. "I can't do this, God. I haven't lived up to this, and I can't live up to this. I need your mercy." Some of you know the radio preacher, Steve Brown. Steve Brown talks about a sermon that he once gave to try to help people see their sin, to see their need for God's mercy, and in doing so, he just confessed his own need for God's mercy. And he said, "After the sermon, a man came up to him and said, "Oh, preacher, all my life, I hear you preachers and missionaries talk about what awful sinners you are, but you're the first one I believe." Because you believe it. Do you believe it? If an apostle could say, "I am the chief of sinners," can you and I say, "Honestly, before the Lord and in a church even, I am the greatest sinner that I know?" It's hard, because we want to say, "I've kept all these things since I was a kid, or at least since I was a believer. I've done at least better than the people down the street. I'm doing better than those folks ever..." No, no. God be merciful to me, a sinner. I am the greatest sinner that I know. Now, I know we all here at Manicha begin to argue and say, "No, no, listen. I haven't committed the greatest crimes that I know." True. But look at me. Given my knowledge, my privilege, my background, my sin is a greater betrayal of Jesus than those who act in ignorance and unbelief. My sin is greater. And I have so much trouble saying that and believing it, and I don't even recognize how the church in me keeps me from saying what I ought to say. I just want to be churchy. I want to be right. I want to be accepted and understood for my righteousness, and I have not yet perceived the poverty of it. I saw it again this week in ways that made me in one moment ashamed and then one moment next very thankful. You know that Kathy and I are, you know, seeming to go through endless goodbye parties in St. Louis, and that's a wonderful, sweet thing. It's hard. It's hard. In the middle of this last week, we were invited to a gathering where a host family had said, you know, invite your best and longest-term friends, and we'll host something very special for your family. And we went to the home and several families were there that we've known for many years. And as we have known each other well enough to talk about lots of things, we gathered around the table. It's kind of getting late. And a long-term friend of mine just began a sentence this way, "You all remember my troubles." I won't tell you his name. You don't need to know. But a man well known in the political world and well known for the scandal that rocked him and his family and the church. And he said, "You know, when I went through my troubles, I had to call up my father and confess my sin." And he says, "I talked to my father. I began the conversation, "Dad, you're gonna hear some things and they're true. And I just want to apologize to you for ruining our family name." And he said his father stopped him right there. And he said, "Son, there but for the grace of God, go I." My friend said, "I told that to our pastor a few years ago and when I said it to the pastor, my pastor said, you know, that was the only right response.
And my friend said, "That's true, but my father is the only one that said it." I was in his church. I didn't say it. What keeps me from doing that? There but for the grace of God, go I. It is the understanding that I have not quite yet accepted the poverty of my righteousness. That it will not make me right before God that I am desperately, daily in need of the grace of my Savior. Just as this man was, just as we all are, that it will not be our righteousness that pays off the God of gain to get what we think we want. So that this young man can make the progress that he needs. We understand that Jesus is not just revealing to him the poverty of his riches nor even the poverty of his righteousness. But Jesus ultimately has to reveal to him and to us is the counter, the wealth of faith. To see the wealth of faith in contradistinction to what this young man thinks will make him happy and satisfied. You just have to kind of go down to the end of the account of where Jesus is seeing him walk away. Verse 22, remember? Disheartened by the saying, "The young man went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." Now you have to just think for a moment, why is he sad? He's still got all his money. He shouldn't be sad, he's got everything. No, he doesn't have everything. What's he missing? He doesn't have Jesus.
He doesn't have the fulfillment that he thinks he wants. Now, now I recognize these are tough verses. You need to hang with me a little bit. Is Jesus really saying, "Listen, you give away all your wealth to the poor and that will qualify you for heaven." That is not it. You know Jesus is going to the cross. That's what's going to qualify this young man for heaven. But what he has to understand this, he is not going to find eternal fulfillment in the earth. He is not, if it's just clinging to the money that he thinks is going to make him satisfied, if he can just get one more thing to add to it, Jesus said, "Listen, you are not going to find your fulfillment in the things of earth." And so he's just, "Turn away from that if that's what you think is going to fulfill you. If that's what you think is going to give you satisfaction, I must tell you that will not do it. So give that away and then come follow me." You know that's difficult for the man to hear because he really can't stop holding to the emptiness. But what Jesus is saying to him is clearly the emptiness can go away. Do you understand that? The emptiness can go away. And the way in which we begin to understand that is seeing that this young man as he is looking at Jesus is actually beginning to take an understanding of the full scope of the world. "I recognize that all I have is not making me happy. You got nothing Jesus and yet I'm seeking you to make me happy." How does that work? It works because Jesus is saying what ultimately is going to give us the fulfillment is not of this world. People find that out too. Somebody who's making the rounds of the new shows right now is a wonderful Christian young woman, Kylie Basudi, some of you will recognize the name, made it to the top of the modeling world, one of the national competition only to discover that as beautiful and awarded as she was, the constant hounding was, "Lose just one more pound. Lose just one more pound. Lose just one more pound." And as the bulimia and the anorexia caught her and her friends she recognized there was no fulfillment here. And to honor her God and to honor her husband, she turned away from it all.
And in doing so has written the book I'm No Angel to lead young women away from a sense of body image fulfillment to a sense of heavenly fulfillment in the love of God where the joy is eternal not in the things earthly. We find that I suppose just in the way that Jesus begins to deal with this young man as he just says, "Listen, the emptiness can go away. How do I know that? Because Jesus look will not go away." One of my favorite verses in all of scriptures, verse 21, just the very opening of it. In the opening of Mark 10, 21, these simple words.
"And Jesus looking at him loved him." Now think of that. Here is a young man who in arrogance has given himself the status of God. I'm gonna do what gets me eternal life and I am as good as God. And Jesus should turn away. I mean he really should just turn away. But instead he just looks at him and loves him. It's a very simple message that the approval of Jesus is not dependent upon our achievement. There's no reason that this man should have Jesus love and yet Jesus loves him anyway. And just as Jesus is saying, "My look will not turn away," he is saying, "My love will not go away because my love is not based upon what you do. My love is based upon my mercy shown on the cross and the power that followed as he rose from the dead." What Jesus is saying to you and to me is, "Listen, I am willing to be present and powerful regardless the world thinks is your basis for achievement." What actually does is gives us huge basis for courage and sacrifice and a willingness to live. If I know, listen, God, the creator of the universe, is not judging me based upon what the world thinks. Enough gained, enough shed, enough fame, none of that. What God is saying is, "I will simply love you." And if you recognize that God is promising his love and his presence, then you can live with nobility for someone other than self as Jesus himself did. Going to the cross, he says, "Follow me." Then his purpose is not you anymore. His purpose is heaven. And when you know you have heaven's love forever, regardless, regardless of what the world thinks, you can do anything and know that God will bless it for the sake of his kingdom, his glory, and your heart. Mickey Mantle, ask one more song to be sung at his funeral. Can you imagine what it would be? Even as he's on his deathbed, dying and saying, "Don't make me a role model." His last request for the final song, "Amazing Grace," how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. "I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see." It's the God who says, "I'll walk with you, and I'll love you through it all. Now, as you live for me, we'll do this together. God will walk with you as you say, "I'll do it for him now, the one who gave himself for me." You can sing it. We all can. We don't need the music. You ready? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. "I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see." Father, so work your grace in our hearts that we would turn away from the things of earth to find the fulfillment of heaven. That deep knowledge of a God who would love us apart from achievement and would keep us and hold us and walk with us wherever we must go for the sake of the glory of the kingdom, living for the one that we love because he first loved us. Grant us this glory for Christ's sake, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Let's stand and sing together. Amazing grace as we're led musically. If there are people wondering, what is this eternal thing? Those will come down here. Some will come down here to pray with you, talk with you. If some of you are just struggling with the emptiness, "I got it. Why am I still not fulfilled?" If you need somebody to pray with you, there'll be people here to pray with you. If you don't do it now, pray with them after. Come down after. They'll still be here. Let's sing together.
Ah D
And doth my heart defeat.
Then grace my fears, believe.
From precious feet and very softly,
The hour I first meet.
Through many ages, stars and stars,
I have a praying love.
His grace I want, He saved us all. Then grace, believe.
Men and women will stay here to talk if you would like to talk,
Or pray or ask God's blessing or help in your family.
For now, in that grace that God gives, receive the Lord's blessing.
Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Go in the grace and the peace that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.