When Possessions Possess Us
Preached by Benjamin Vrbicek
October 11, 2020
Scripture Reading
Mark 10:17-31
17 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?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 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.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “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.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “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, 30 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. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
When you attend a fundraising event the host will often mention that at the end of the evening there’ll be an opportunity to give. You just heard Jesus tell someone to sell everything and give away the proceeds. Since we’re a church who takes the words of Jesus seriously, I thought I’d let you know now that at the end of the service we’ll have an opportunity to give our church everything you have. If you need to text your retirement adviser now to see how to get access to those funds, you can do that. I just want you to not be caught off guard.
You’re all looking at me funny, which I understand. We are not going to do that. But that is exactly what Jesus tells him to do. So what is he telling us to do? That’s the question, isn’t it? We’ll come back to this later.
We’re in a sermon series called “All Who Weary: The Idols That Exhaust Us and the Savior Who Won’t.” It’s based in a passage in the book of Matthew 11 where Jesus invites the weary and heavy-laden to find rest in him. This week we’ll hear him invite those who do not own many possessions, but those possessions own them.
Last week I began with a story from college. I’ll give you another college story that relates to that last line in our passage, the one where Jesus says, “many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10:31).
I was volunteering with a youth group because one of my college teammates was the youth pastor for the church, and I wanted to get involved in ministry and share Jesus with people. My friend’s name was Eric. There was a big weekend Christian event that he took the youth to using the church van. I remember riding in the passenger seat as we waited our turn to leave the parking lot—don’t think church parking lot; think massive stadium with lots of traffic and lots of waiting in lines of cars.
At one point our van made it to the front of a line of cars to merge into traffic whizzing by. Eric looked at me in the passenger seat and said, “Jesus said the first will be last and the last will be first . . .,” then he raised his voice and said, “That’s why I like to go in the middle!” Then he slammed on the gas and forced his way into the moving traffic.
My friend was just being silly and trying to scare us a bit, which he did. I think he had the situation more under control than I made it sound. But I’ve often thought about his words because they capture how we often feel about Jesus, whether we realize it or not. Jesus said the first will be last and the last will be first . . . that’s why we like to go in the middle.
At the end of time, there will be a great reversal of values. What we often perceive to be the most important, won’t seem so important, and what we perceive to be lowly and despised, will, in the end, be exalted. “Okay,” we think, “I get it. So, I’ll just go in the middle.” Let’s just have some of Jesus and some of this world, because we don’t want to be too fanatical about things. Let’s be temperate and moderate and have God in our lives but have him on our terms and on our agenda.” This is the core of idolatry—the creation of a god we think we control.
In the passage today we read about a man who wanted eternal life. He wanted to know God and love God and be with God and his people, but Jesus thinks something is off with his profession of faith. Look with me again at how this story begins.
And as [Jesus] 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?” (v. 17)
Think about how awkward this would have been. If you’ve ever heard the story of the prodigal son preached, you’ll know that the father in that story runs to meet his son when he returns. Preachers often, and rightly, highlight the significance in their culture of this dignified, wealthy man running, and how undignified it was to run—running is something servants do, not CEOs. Here in our passage, this man, who we’ll find out later is wealthy and pious, runs after Jesus, and not only that, he also kneels before him.
Picture our church near the end of the Sunday morning as the service ends and we begin to leave. I begin to walk home and someone from some big mansion house up on a hill comes running down and begs me to help him. You’re standing there watching. What would you say if someone did this to you? Look how Jesus responds.
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.’” (vv. 18–19)
That’s an interesting approach, isn’t it? If you want to do something to earn eternal life, well then, just keep the commandments perfectly, Jesus says. But what about grace and not earning our salvation. Can we earn salvation? No we can’t earn our salvation. Only with God is salvation possible, as Jesus will say later. But Jesus knows what he’s doing. He’s leading this man to discover that his true god is not the real God. Look at v. 20.
And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” (v. 20)
I’m not sure what to make of this answer. I want to take it at face value because, as we’ll see in a minute, Jesus seems to not want to quibble with him about it. Yes, in a deeper sense, Jesus has said lust in the heart is the same as adultery and unjust anger the same as murder, but here Jesus overlooks that and goes to, what he perceives to be, the heart of the issue.
And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “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.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (vv. 21–22)
There are many things worth pointing out here. Jesus says that the man lacks one thing but tells him to do five things: go back home, sell all you have, give it away to the poor, come back to Jesus, and follow him. You lack one thing, Jesus says, therefore do five things: go, sell, give, come, and follow. Evidently those five actions were not five things but one. “You want me to give you eternal life,” Jesus says, “but your hands are full of the treasures of this world. You need to have the one thing money can’t buy: poverty of spirit. You need to acknowledge your dependence, like the dependence of a child,” Jesus says.
The command Jesus issues to follow him is a common one, a command he repeatedly issues throughout the gospels. In chapter 1 of Mark, Jesus told Simon and Andrew, two brothers, and then James and John, two other brothers, to follow him (1:17–18). And they do; they follow Jesus. Later, in chapter 8, the command comes more generally to all disciples to follow him. But here, when Jesus says “follow me,” the man says no.
It makes me think about the creation of the world in Genesis. God says to the stars, “You go there,” and they do. Then he says to the earth, “You go there and spin this way,” and it does. “You, flowers, go here and bloom,” and they do. “You, rivers and lakes and mountains and fish and birds, go here and there and do what I tell you,” and they do. “You, Adam and Eve, you may eat from every tree in the garden but don’t eat from this one tree over here,” and they say, “No, we will eat from that tree.”
There is something in the human heart that wants God, but we want him on our terms. Again, we read in v. 21, “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” Notice the phrase, “he had great possessions.” That is true; he did have them. But in another sense, might we ask the question if he owned his possessions or if perhaps instead his possessions own him? Or more to the point: do we own our possessions or do they own us?
That’s uncomfortable to ask, I know. We view our money as a very private matter. You might have a few dear friends in your life, but you likely don’t know how much money they make. I’m not saying you should know how much money your friends make. But I’m highlighting that as an example of how private we are about money, which can make it awkward to talk about at church. This is compounded by the way the church generally has mishandled money.
Our church has handled money really well. But we’ve made a few changes at our church over the last 18 months, which I think have been good changes, but an unintended consequence has been that we talk about money less often than we used to talk about money. It used to be that at our church each week during the worship service, one of our pastor-elders would highlight a gospel, scriptural nugget about money before we collected the offering. We probably did this each week for at least the first five years I was here.
Last summer we transitioned away from that direct focus on the offering to a more traditional and broader pastoral prayer. Then we would just happen to take the offering by passing plates after the pastoral prayer, and these two things in our service—prayer and collecting the offering—had less and less to do with each other, at least directly.
Then, with COVID, we’ve removed the offering time altogether because passing anything from one person to another felt unwise. For the entire summer and now into the fall, we’ve had ushers standing at the back of the church as people leave to collect offerings. That can be a little awkward to stand there and collect an offering, so recently we ordered decorative wooden boxes that we’ll place near the two exit doorways. In a week or two these will replace the ushers standing there holding the offering plate, which will hopefully be less awkward.
Now, why am I talking about this. For this reason. Each of these moves made sense—the move to a more general pastoral prayer, the move away from passing the offering plate, the move to hanging an offering box near a doorway. But the collective result of three “steps” in one direction does mean that we could be neglecting an aspect of discipleship often emphasized by Jesus and certainly an idol in our culture. Each Sunday we used to put before all of us a dedicated two- or three-minute reflection about money, but now we don’t. I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
We have a space behind a shed in our backyard. We’ve cleaned it up now and planted fruit trees, but for the first few years we lived in the house I used that space as a dumping ground for rocks and left-over dirt and whatnot. I remember going back there one summer and thinking, “Woah, how did the weeds get up to my nose?” I hadn’t been paying attention, yet they grew.
Greed is like that. Greed can be a slippery and hidden thing. I mentioned Timothy Keller’s book Counterfeit Gods last week when I discussed surface idols and deep idols. In one section of the book, he writes
Notice that in Luke 12 Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” That is a remarkable statement. Think of another traditional sin that the Bible warns against—adultery. Jesus doesn’t say, “Be careful you aren’t committing adultery!” He doesn’t have to. When you are in bed with someone else’s spouse—you know it. Halfway through you don’t say, “Oh, wait a minute! I think this is adultery!” You know it is. Yet, even though it is clear that the world is filled with greed and materialism, almost no one thinks it is true of them. They are in denial. (Counterfeit Gods, 57–58)
His point is that while many of us would acknowledge that other people around us are owned by their possessions, very few people worry that it could be true of them.
This story here in Mark ends with sadness. But maybe that’s not where the story ended. We don’t know what happened to the rich young ruler when he left. Maybe his sadness was a sign that he was taking the command of Jesus seriously. We don’t know.
But I love the straight forwardness of Jesus. In v. 21, we read, “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” For however harsh Jesus may come across, one thing is true: Jesus loved him. If his words sting, it’s because he is a great physician who wants to see his patient healthy. The heart of Christ is for this man. He loves him, as he loves his disciples. The heart of Christ is for you.
Speaking of the disciples, they are troubled by all of this. I’ll read their exchange again. In the interest of time, I won’t break it up line by line.
And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them 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.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “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.” (vv. 23–31)
It’s fair to say Jesus disturbed the disciples by the way he handled this man. In their minds, a wealthy and pious Jewish man surely was the closest one could come to being in tight with God. It’s jarring to them to hear that—apart from the sovereign work of God in salvation—he’s far off. The disciples might not have said inheriting eternal life was easy, but it surely it’s not impossible. Surely, a good, pious Jewish man was close to doing the right sort of things. We might say that if you’re the grandson of Billy Graham and you’re educated and attend church, well, salvation might take a little work for you, but come on, you’re like halfway there already.
But from the exchange with the disciples, it seems that Jesus didn’t think he misspoke. In v. 27 we read that Jesus looked at them. It’s the exact same wording that’s used for the way he looked straight at the rich man with love. When pressed, Jesus doesn’t fidget. He doesn’t wring his hands and look down at his toes and mumble. Jesus looks you in the eye when he speaks truth to you because he loves you.
One commentator pointed out that we have two dangers with a passage like this, which is really quiet a common scene in the ministry of Jesus, a conversation about money and greed and the kingdom of God. If we preached about money as often as Jesus did, we be doing it once a month. The two dangers the commentator pointed out are to either dull or deflect the words of Christ. We can dull the force of the words, coming up with ways to believe that what Jesus seems to clearly say, he really didn’t say.
The other danger is to deflect the words as though they apply to others, not us. Perhaps your heart is doing one of those two things right now. “Oh, I know someone who needs to hear this sermon. Every time they get sad they buy a new purse or a new fishing pole.” That’s deflecting the force of the words. Or perhaps you’re thinking, “Surely, he can’t be telling me to give up anything.” That’s dulling the force of the words. We do this because “wealthy” and “well-off” are always someone who has more than us.
We chose this sermon series on idolatry on purpose. I knew what we were doing. I didn’t get sweet talked into this. I didn’t stumble into it accidently. In your heart, there are ravenous wolves, and here I am rattling the cage—on purpose. Because I love you. As we close, I want you to notice something about the way Jesus spoke to the disciples. Look again at v. 24.
And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!
Jesus wants them to know salvation is so difficult, even impossible, that it can only be a gift. It can’t be earned through piety or bought with money.
But also notice that Jesus also calls them children. That may land on you as demeaning or as a rebuke, but in the context of the passage it’s neither. What happened before this passage? If you’re holding a Bible, look at Mark 10:13–16
And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
When Jesus calls the disciples children, he’s saying something similar but also something different to what he says to the rich young ruler. They have come to him, they are following him, and he longs for them to know that as they do, he will take care of their needs, just as father takes care of his children. He’s not speaking to those who don’t know anything about sacrifice. Peter says, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” They have followed Jesus. But I think Jesus sees people who still like to go in the middle. They don’t want to be left out. And because he loves them, he tells them, “Don’t worry; the first will be last and, you, someday, will be first.” I think that’s the message of encouragement many of you need to hear. You need to hear that God loves you and you are his child.
I joked that we’d ask for all your money at the end of the service. We’re certainly not going to do that. Instead, we believe Jesus wants to give you something this morning, so don’t dull or deflect. He wants to give you a chance to be still before him. I talked about that part of my backyard I often ignored where weeds grew up to my nose. If the weeds of greed grow in your heart, if you’ve become enamored with the wrong things, and those things possess you, Jesus wants to free you. Use this morning to talk to him and come to him. You don’t have to go away sad.
