Your Possessions and the Kingdom, Pt. 1
Click HERE to access this program’s Study Guide
Think about the excitement of receiving an invitation. Perhaps it was an offer you’d been waiting for. But when you read the fine print, you realized you weren’t prepared to accept. Pastor Nick Gatzke introduces us to a young man who received such an offer and what his story teaches us about the kingdom of God
I want to ask you to grab a Bible and open with me to the gospel of Mark chapter 10. Today, we spend some time in Mark chapter 10, starting at verse 17. And as you turn, let me pray. Father in heaven, thank you so much for your word. We pray that today you would continue to clarify our vision of the things of greatest value, that we would resist temptation for things of lesser value. that we would have joy in the things of you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
You know, it seems like everywhere you turn, someone is trying to convince you to trade something of greater value for something of lesser value. The car business is predicated on these types of trades. If you go in to buy a new car and you negotiate the price with the salesperson, you know that it can be quite the pressure cooker. That’s just the way they want it. And just as you near some kind of agreement, someone comes out of the back office and hands the salesperson a little slip of paper with a number on it.
It’s what they’re going to offer you for your trade-in. The whole time you’ve been negotiating in good faith, trying to get the best price that you can for this vehicle, while at the same time recognizing that car dealerships need to make money too. And all the while, someone is in the back tearing apart your car, trying to find everything wrong with it. They’re looking under the seats. They’re evaluating the paint. They’re measuring the tire tread. They’re plugging it into your computer to see what the computer will tell them.
You think your car is probably worth $10,000 or so. And then that slip of paper comes back across the desk. And you see that they confidently proclaim that your car is only worth 60%. of what you thought it was. They’re trying to convince you to trade something of greater value for money of lesser value. And as your heart races and your blood pressure rises and you wipe the sweat from your brow and the salesman thinks, I got them right where I want them, you have a decision to make.
Brian was a friend of mine from school growing up and he had two younger sisters, Kathy and Ann. Ann was much younger and she looked up to her little brother and she always seemed to be hanging around. And one day, Brian decided to show off a little bit by trying to manipulate his sister. She was looking at the coins in her piggy bank when Brian confidently proposed a trade. He said, “Ann, I’ll trade you all of my pennies for all of your dimes.” Ann wasn’t old enough to be able to count the value of the coins. And she looked at him a little bit confused. Brian continued, “you know, Ann, this copper color on the penny means that it’s worth more than the silver color on a dime. Pennies are the only coins with that copper color, don’t you know? And look here, you see how small those dimes are? Pennies are bigger than dimes, which means they’re worth more. You see that, don’t you?” And before long, Anne was nodding in agreement and Brian saw his opportunity to close the deal. “I’ll give you 20 pennies if you give me 20 dimes. Deal?” Anne was excited. Brian walked away, $1.80 richer. He had convinced his sister to trade something of greater value for something of lesser value.
From the beginning of time, Satan has been doing the very same thing with all of humanity. value, worth, desire, the offer of a trade, trying to convince us to trade something of the greatest value for something of lesser value. And that’s the struggle. This struggle of value is what we see in our text today. And so follow with me as we pick up in Mark chapter 10, starting at verse 17, this is what it says. It says, “he being Jesus, was setting out on his journey. A man ran up and knelt before him and asked, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, “why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Do you know the commandments? Or 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 your mother. And he said to him, “teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 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.”
“And Jesus looked around and said to the 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 left everything and followed you. Jesus said, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left houses 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.”
The young man comes to Jesus and he asks, The biggest question that you can ask. Now, there are a lot of important questions in life that you can ask. Some people say there’s no such thing as a dumb question. I totally disagree. There’s a lot of bad questions. But there are a lot of good and important questions that you can ask. Questions like, how do I make my life matter? And how can I maximize my potential? And in a time when divorce is really common, how can I ensure that we stay married? And how can I raise my kids to be healthy, well-adjusted members of society? And how can I be happy? And how can I fulfill my purpose? There’s a lot of important questions to ask in life, but there is one most important question. It is the question that displays the highest of values. What must I do to enter the kingdom? And the man asks that question. And his approach indicated that he had a certain value for Jesus. Jesus and his disciples are about to embark. There’s no doubt there’s a crowd around them.
The young man pushes his way through the crowd. The urgency is in his step. He needed to get some face time with Jesus to ask this most important question before he left the area and lost his chance. And as he approached, verse 17 says that he knelt in front of him to ask the question. Now, you know and I know that when you kneel in front of someone, that’s a sign of great respect. His posture showed a tremendously high value that he placed on Jesus. His address also showed that he valued Jesus.
As he spoke, he addressed Jesus as good teacher, to which Jesus replied, “why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” Jesus’s response is referring to this Jewish custom that calling someone good in this type of way is to heap such high praise upon them that it would be inappropriate because only God himself deserves that high of praise. The man was not referring to Jesus’s skill in teaching as he is a good teacher. He was bestowing to him the highest of titles.
And the irony is that even though he was most likely engaging in some kind of flattery, Jesus’s response is something akin to, don’t you know that calling me good is like calling me God? But the man didn’t yet have faith that Jesus was God. And so he asked the question of the greatest value. His posture displayed that he valued Jesus. His address displayed that he valued Jesus. The young man asked the right question and had the right posture, and it looked like he valued the things of the greatest importance, but Jesus knew where his heart was, and so he probed a bit further.
Look at verse 19. Jesus says, “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 of these I’ve kept from my youth.” Standing on this side of the cross, Jesus’s answer to the question might be a bit surprising. But the young man doesn’t flinch. He asked Jesus what he must do to inherit the kingdom, indicating that perhaps he thought his behavior was the key. And so Jesus speaks to him in the terms of behavior, tells him to keep the law. But you’ll notice that he tells him to keep not the entire 10 commandments. He mentions just the second half of the 10 commandments, not the first.
You see, the first four of the ten deal with our vertical relationship with God. And the last six talk about our relationship with our fellow humans. And so Jesus points him to the last six of the 10 commandments. And I’ve kept them since my youth, the boy says, or the man says. Now, I must confess, when I read that, my first reaction is cynicism. Really? Like, you kept them all? But the more you think about it, the more that you realize that it’s possible to maintain an external behavior and obedience, especially in these six commandments, Internal motives are the heart. I mean, the man didn’t commit adultery. He didn’t murder anybody or steal or defraud. He honored his parents. He didn’t lie. Paul actually says, the apostle Paul says something very similar about himself and keeping the external law and how it applies. But he’s pointing ut how it pales in comparison to what Jesus has done. He says in Philippians chapter three, when
he refers to himself as to righteousness under the law, I was blameless. On the outside, he kept the law as it related to other people.
And at this point, the man claiming to have done all the things since his youth is almost surely filled with a level of self-assurance. I mean, he’s passing the test. He made the grade. The kingdom of God itself is within his grasp. And Jesus, looking at him, verse 21, loved him. And he said to him, “you lack one thing. Go and sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Jesus didn’t take his self-assurance as cynical as I would. It says that there’s something about the man that Jesus had love for.
Looking at him, he loved him. But the requirement of the second part of the law was not enough. There’s one thing that would test. to see what he truly valued the most. And he couldn’t give up his possessions. And he went away saddened. You see, Jesus wanted to know if the external statement of value matched the internal statement of value. He valued the right question. He valued the person of Jesus and his posture and in his address. He valued the right lifestyle by keeping the law or at least the second part of it.
But would he value the son of God and the pursuit of God and the kingdom of God more than he valued his material wealth? And the answer was no. Why did Jesus give him this test? I mean, surely God doesn’t command all of us to give away all of our possessions to inherit the kingdom. Why did he demand it here? He did it because he wanted to highlight the priority of value for the man and for those observed. Because here’s the principle. When Jesus is truly of the highest value in your life, you are willing to give up anything and everything to follow him.
For the man, materialism was his idol. His money possessions had a higher value to him than God. They had taken the place of God in his life. And Jesus always demands that we put away the things of competing value in our hearts when we call him Lord. Let me say that again because it’s so important. Jesus always demands that we put away the things of competing value when we call him Lord. And the man was sad because he wanted it both ways. He wanted the benefit of the most valuable thing, Jesus in the kingdom, but he didn’t want to recognize them as the most valuable. And so he chose his possessions. That danger is ever before me. And it is ever before you.
In his autobiography, Billy Graham recalls a story about demonstrating that true greatness is not defined by wealth or fame, but by character. He writes that “some years ago, Ruth and I had a vivid illustration of this on the island in the Caribbean. One of the wealthiest men in the world had asked us to come to his lavish home for lunch. He was 75 years old, and throughout the entire meal, he seemed close to tears. Until he finally said, I am the most miserable man in the world. Out there is a yacht, my yacht. I can go anywhere I want to. I have my private plane, my helicopters. I have everything I want to make my life happy. And yet I am as miserable as hell. And we talked to him and prayed with him and tried to point him to Christ who alone gives lasting meaning to life. And then we went down the hill to the small cottage that we were staying in. And that afternoon, the pastor of a local Baptist church came to call. He was an Englishman and he too was a widower and spent most of his time taking care of two invalid sisters. He was full of enthusiasm and love for Christ and for others. And he said, I don’t have two pounds sterling to my name. And with a smile, he proclaimed, but I am the happiest man on this island.” And Billy relates to how he asked his wife, Ruth, after they left, who do you think is the richer man?” And she didn’t have to answer because they both knew the answer
###
This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy, but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.
