Christian Faith Requires Clear Thinking. Mark 10:17-23
Our churches in the west contain many people who have given an intellectual assent to the doctrines of the church, but do not have a Biblical faith – a mind set of living their lives for their Saviour. A patient came to my clinic wearing an attractive silver cross round her neck. I commented on this and asked if it indicated that she was a Christian or whether she wasn’t sure about these things.
“Ye-es,” she replied hesitatedly, “but it depends what you mean by a Christian.” I had to think fast as it was not the situation for a long reply.
“Someone who is sold out to the Lord Jesus.”
“Um, then I am not.”
Intellectual assent to Christian doctrines does not make a person acceptable to God. It is a personal response to the lordship of Jesus and nothing less.
Jesus once met a very able young man who appeared to be concerned about all the right things. He was a very likeable man with wealth, status and education, and he was also concerned about obtaining the one thing that really matters, ‘eternal life’.
Mark 10
The Rich Young Man
17As 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?"
18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and mother.'"
20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
21Jesus 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."
22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!"
This man seems to have all the credentials to make an ideal church member – he was a polite, gifted leader of men. There was a earnestness about him. Churches today would queue up to enroll such a person. He ran up to Jesus ‘fell on his knees before him’ and addressed him as ‘Good teacher’. There was clearly a great respect for Jesus and he asked the one question Jesus would like to hear all people ask. Yet Jesus recognised that this show of respect did not indicate what was going on in his heart. In Shakepseare’s play, Richard III, Bolingbroke approached the king. Shakespeare then says that he
“. . . bent his knee before the king – but in his heart he was not really his servant.”
He also sincere and upright. How many of us could say publicly that we have kept all the rules our religion imposes? He claimed to have kept all the ten commandments. He was not proud either as he recognised that he still lacked something essential.
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Clearly eternal life is not just an endless ritual of church services in heaven. Nor are we going to be sitting on clouds with wings on our backs playing tunes on harps over and over again. The word in the Bible emphasises quality of life as well as duration. Dining with Jesus in the presence of friends is a common description of eternal bliss in the Bible. It will be wonderful. It is the life that Jesus longs for all people to have.
“I have come that you may have life and have it in all its fullness.” John 10:10
This young man has started so well, but there is a wretched end to the story. The reason it all went wrong was because he made three common mistakes.
He did not realize who Jesus was.
The rich young man addressed Jesus as ‘Good teacher’. He completely underestimated who Jesus was. He was not kneeling before a good teacher but before the creator of the universe, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who alone had the right to give people eternal life.
You often meet people who like a religious discussion but all too often this goes in circles and no conclusions are reached. How can anyone know the truth about what happens when we die unless someone who has been there can tell us with authority. Speculations will remain just speculations. Jesus says that he has been there and has the authority to tell us something about heaven and hell and who will go where, because he is God himself.
Later Jesus was having a discussion with two of his disciples on related topics. Thomas wanted to know the way to heaven. This is a similar question to that of the rich young man.
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me you would know my Father as well.” John 14:6-7
Philip asked another similar question,
“Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14:9
It is Jesus alone who can give us authoritative answers because he is God. Othere religious leaders don’t claim this and neither do they give the supporting evidence to back up their claims.
The answer to the big questions in life are only to be found in Jesus. One of the most effective university missioners in the19th century was R.A Torrey. He took a week’s mission in Cambridge University, preaching every evening. Although not an emotional speaker he was very persuasive about Jesus. He encouraged any students who were interested to come and meet him after the talks. He wanted people’s faith to be in Jesus and not to be the effect of his preaching. So he would suggest to all the enquirers that they read one chapter of John’s gospel every day for the next three weeks (there are 21 chapters in John). He would suggest that they keep asking,
“Does this have the ring of truth about it. Does what Jesus says make sense. Who is this Jesus.”
The effect of this was astounding and his mission was one of the most effective that university has had in terms of long term results.
When people come face to face with the real Jesus as revealed in the Bible, the effect can be life changing. In his own time people hold their breath with astonishment at what Jesus said and the authority he spoke with.
“No man ever spoke like this man.” John 8:46
He did not recognise his own problem
This rich ruler thought that he could obtain eternal life by doing something.
“What must I do to inherit eternal life.”
He thought that keeping the ten commandments must mean that he was almost there. Not that anyone could hope to keep the ten commandments. Their primary task is to remind us how far short we all come form the standards of holiness that is in God himself. It is a most damnable heresy, and I use that word advisedly that anyone can think that they can earn their way to eternal life, into the kingdom of God. It is a very serious misconception to think,
“Surely God will accept me. I believe in God, I try not to harm others, I work hard, I sometimes pray and go to church. I am better than most. What more can God want?”
Most religions teach that if you keep the religious rules and go through the right rituals and ceremonies then you should be alright before God. The Bible teaches that we are far to far away from God to be able to help ourselves. It is like a person with an irretrievably damaged heart being told by their physician that they need a heart transplant and nothing else will help. Potions, or leaving them to do the surgery themselves would not be a solution. They need to be referred to a cardiac surgeon who could do the job for them.
He never assessed the cost of discipleship
All over the world Jesus is seen as an immensely attractive person. A Chinese postgraduate student, who said that she was not yet a Christian but is interested added that China desperately needs Christianity because of the corruption. She did not see the anachronism of her wanting others to accept Christ but hesitating herself.
C.S.Lewis, in his book ‘Mere Christianity’ recognised this problem.
“When I was a child I often had toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me go to sleep. But I did not go to my mother – at least not until the pain became very bad. And the reason why I did not go was this. I did not doubt that she would give me the aspirin, but I knew that she would also do something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist the next morning! I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain, but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists. I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not begun to ache. They would not let sleeping dogs lie; if you gave them an inch they took an ell.” (An ell was an old English measurement equivalent to 45 inches. It was mainly used in measuring cloth.)
Christ will challenge us about all our lives, our priorities and our secret sins. Nothing will escape his eyes. If we want to find Christ and know his forgiveness and power, He insists that we truly repent and give up those things that he objects to and take up what he likes. Christ must be given control. We may know that something is the matter with us- like toothache, and would like immediate treatment for this. The Lord longs to help, but insists on it being done His way. The reassuring fact is that He does know what he is doing. He loves us and wants us to have the best possible life.
The Danish Christian philosopher, Soren Kierkergaard shrewdly said,
“It is so hard to believe because it is so hard to obey.”
The rich young man said to Jesus,
“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life.”
He was saying in effect, I want what you have to offer. But Christ said, in effect,
“No you don’t. When my will points in one direction and your will points in another, you still want your own way.”
Jesus said to him,
“One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Mark 10:21
Does that mean that you want the casting vote on the use of my money, my ambitions, my time, my marriage partner and the like? “Yes,” the Lord says, but he adds,
“No-one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.” Luke 18:29-30
We never lose by following Jesus. He gives luster to our friendships, he gives direction in our careers and marriages.
“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” Mark 8:36
Jim Elliott was a young American who was killed by some Auca Indians in South America whom he was trying to get to know to share the gospel with them. He had sorted such issues out before he committed himself to active service concluding,
“He is not fool who looses what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot loose.”
So Jesus says to us all,
“Come to me – but it must be on my terms. I won’t lord it over you with a miserable subjection. I want to enjoy a close friendship with you.”
Unfortunately this rich young man went off alone without Jesus. His polish and charm were a veneer – he wanted to live independently of God. The Lord Jesus was sad. He did not stop him. It was his choice, his terrible freedom. There was no late call saying, “Let’s go fifty fifty!”
Sir Kenneth Clark used to be the director of the National Gallery in London. In his autobiography he tells of an experience he was given that he failed to act on.
"I lived in solitude, surrounded by books on the history of religion, which have always been my favourite reading. This may help to account for a curious episode that took place on one of my stays in the Villino. I had a religious experience. It took place in the Church of San Lorenzo, but did not seem to be connected with the harmonious beauty of the architecture. I can only say that for a few minutes my whole being was irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy, far more intense than anything I had known before. This state of mind lasted for several months, and, wonderful though it was, it posed an awkward problem in terms of action. My life was far from blameless: I would have to reform. My family would think I was going mad, and perhaps after all, it was a delusion, for I was in every way unworthy of receiving such a flood of grace. Gradually the effect wore off, and I made no effort to retain it. I think I was right; I was too deeply embedded in the world to change course. But that I had ‘felt the finger of God’ I am quite sure, and although the memory of this experience has faded, it still helps me to understand the joys of the saints.”
We all have the same freedom of this rich young man. The choice is ours. It is the same choice as that given to the crowds in Jerusalem by Pontius Pilate about Jesus,
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” John 19:15
BVP
Oct 2004
