What Must I do: Part 2- The Rich Young Ruler
"Now as He was going down the road, one came running knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" -Mark 10:17
Since coming back to Portland I have been praying for a rich man to be saved. After addressing the choir I sing in at my church and giving the news that God had called me to be a missionary in Portland, a good friend of mine emailed me later that night and told me something God revealed to her driving home. This is what her email said to me:
There is so much depth in this story, so much to see and be aware of especially in the since of coming to Jesus. The rich ruler came and threw himself at Jesus' feet and exclaimed, "Good teacher, what do I do to inherit eternal life?" Immediately Jesus stops him in his flattery towards him. He basically tells the ruler first not call Him good and directs Him toward God saying that only God is good. We see Jesus doing this all the time throughout scripture, Jesus was the Messiah(teacher), we shouldn't cling to our teachers, or see that our teachers/pastors/leaders can save us, only God is good, Salvation only comes through God the Father. There is a question that must be asked when we put works in the mix with Salvation, and that is, "How good is good enough?" Weather you keep the commandments or not, no one is good but God.
I love the next part where Jesus looked at Him and loved him...He loved him while in His sin, that's the good news Paul writes of in Romans, "while we were still yet sinners, Christ died for us." Yet, he also loved us enough to not leave us in our sin. Jesus challenged the young man in the way of how bad did He want to have eternal life? Was it enough to give everything away? Do you see what Jesus was continuously doing? He was aiming for all this mans idols: being good, and money namely. You see, we all want goodness, but so few want it enough to pay the price. We see throughout the Gospels over and over how Jesus demolished the Jewish standard. In this story the Jews saw that if a man was prosperous, he was a good, moral man and he must have had the favor of God. But in the end money can't save you, neither can your good works, nor all the power this man possessed. So, who can be saved? Jesus answers this in verse twenty-seven.
DOCTRINE OF SALVATION
If salvation depended on a mans own effort it would be impossible for everyone. But Salvation is a gift from God, and all things are possible to Him. Jeremiah exclaims in his book, "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." (32:17) There is no one God can't save, but there are times that we put our own limits on God. When we continually reject Him. This young man did, and Jesus didn't run after him either! He watched him walk away then turned to his disciples, the ones who had done the very thing Jesus asked this young man. Who are you trusting? Things or God?
THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD
There is another neat aspect of this story. It is tact into this promise Jesus gives all those who will follow Him for the sake of the Gospel. Though we might leave behind family, or have to forsake family Jesus is pointing to a Father in heaven. Even earlier in this passage of scripture Jesus calls his disciples, "Children." That's what we are...we who have accepted that Father's love. The Greek term used 61 times from Matthew to Jude is "agapetos" is means beloved. It means we personally experience God's agape love. We see a great picture of what is means to be a child of God in 1 John 2:28-3:3. John is encouraging the child of God to continue in Him who saved him. This is the reason and order of the Christian life. If we continue in Him, there must have been a beginning, that beginning? As the sweet old hymn goes, "the hour I first believed." When we live like Jesus, we do Jesus stuff, and that is what Jesus was stressing to the Rich Young Ruler. You want eternal life? Sell everything you have, take up your cross (because we are not only in Christ through the resurrection, but also in the death of Christ.) We are maturing into a selfless believer; it is the act of becoming humble. That's what Mark outlines as Jesus being like, the servant. He's calling us to do the same. The Gospel is not "do the right thing because it's the right thing to do." There is another facet missing. If we want to continue and be in Him, we must see. The old hymn, "I once was blind but now I see." Either we are a child of God or we aren't. There is no in between. Just like being born...either you are, or you aren't. But this love that we receive, we give it away, and in that love we change, and change the World around us.
I pray you accept Him as your Father today. Pray with me if you would for "the rich man" here in Portland. God bless you as you seek Him.
Since coming back to Portland I have been praying for a rich man to be saved. After addressing the choir I sing in at my church and giving the news that God had called me to be a missionary in Portland, a good friend of mine emailed me later that night and told me something God revealed to her driving home. This is what her email said to me:
I don't want to put words in God's mouth, but He may have shown me something. I was praying as I got home and I think He may have given this to me...Pray for a rich man in Portland to be saved....this verse came immediately...This moved me so deeply, since that email on August 7, 2013 I have prayed fervently everyday for the rich man in Portland to be saved. I also have studied and read the story of the Rich Young Ruler a lot from Mark 10:17-31, I encourage you now before you read the rest of this post to go read the full story.
"Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
There is so much depth in this story, so much to see and be aware of especially in the since of coming to Jesus. The rich ruler came and threw himself at Jesus' feet and exclaimed, "Good teacher, what do I do to inherit eternal life?" Immediately Jesus stops him in his flattery towards him. He basically tells the ruler first not call Him good and directs Him toward God saying that only God is good. We see Jesus doing this all the time throughout scripture, Jesus was the Messiah(teacher), we shouldn't cling to our teachers, or see that our teachers/pastors/leaders can save us, only God is good, Salvation only comes through God the Father. There is a question that must be asked when we put works in the mix with Salvation, and that is, "How good is good enough?" Weather you keep the commandments or not, no one is good but God.
I love the next part where Jesus looked at Him and loved him...He loved him while in His sin, that's the good news Paul writes of in Romans, "while we were still yet sinners, Christ died for us." Yet, he also loved us enough to not leave us in our sin. Jesus challenged the young man in the way of how bad did He want to have eternal life? Was it enough to give everything away? Do you see what Jesus was continuously doing? He was aiming for all this mans idols: being good, and money namely. You see, we all want goodness, but so few want it enough to pay the price. We see throughout the Gospels over and over how Jesus demolished the Jewish standard. In this story the Jews saw that if a man was prosperous, he was a good, moral man and he must have had the favor of God. But in the end money can't save you, neither can your good works, nor all the power this man possessed. So, who can be saved? Jesus answers this in verse twenty-seven.
DOCTRINE OF SALVATION
If salvation depended on a mans own effort it would be impossible for everyone. But Salvation is a gift from God, and all things are possible to Him. Jeremiah exclaims in his book, "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." (32:17) There is no one God can't save, but there are times that we put our own limits on God. When we continually reject Him. This young man did, and Jesus didn't run after him either! He watched him walk away then turned to his disciples, the ones who had done the very thing Jesus asked this young man. Who are you trusting? Things or God?
THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD
There is another neat aspect of this story. It is tact into this promise Jesus gives all those who will follow Him for the sake of the Gospel. Though we might leave behind family, or have to forsake family Jesus is pointing to a Father in heaven. Even earlier in this passage of scripture Jesus calls his disciples, "Children." That's what we are...we who have accepted that Father's love. The Greek term used 61 times from Matthew to Jude is "agapetos" is means beloved. It means we personally experience God's agape love. We see a great picture of what is means to be a child of God in 1 John 2:28-3:3. John is encouraging the child of God to continue in Him who saved him. This is the reason and order of the Christian life. If we continue in Him, there must have been a beginning, that beginning? As the sweet old hymn goes, "the hour I first believed." When we live like Jesus, we do Jesus stuff, and that is what Jesus was stressing to the Rich Young Ruler. You want eternal life? Sell everything you have, take up your cross (because we are not only in Christ through the resurrection, but also in the death of Christ.) We are maturing into a selfless believer; it is the act of becoming humble. That's what Mark outlines as Jesus being like, the servant. He's calling us to do the same. The Gospel is not "do the right thing because it's the right thing to do." There is another facet missing. If we want to continue and be in Him, we must see. The old hymn, "I once was blind but now I see." Either we are a child of God or we aren't. There is no in between. Just like being born...either you are, or you aren't. But this love that we receive, we give it away, and in that love we change, and change the World around us.
I pray you accept Him as your Father today. Pray with me if you would for "the rich man" here in Portland. God bless you as you seek Him.
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