Mark 10:17-22 tells of one of the most compelling encounters that I believe Jesus ever had.
It tells of a young man who came to Jesus with a question that had no dobut been on his mind for a very long time. In fact, the Bible says that he came running to Jesus.
When I think of someone running to someone, it conjures up a variety of images. "Running to someone" can bring to mind many things.
For one thing, we often run to someone in case of emergency. Working on the fire department, I can tell you that we never arrive at the scene of an emergency of any kind and walk up to it.
I mean, can you see it? A group of firefighters ride up on a structure fire, a motor vehicle accident, a medical emergency, and they all get up and walk to the scene.
It never happens!
They jump off that truck and RUN to the emergency. They recognize that the situation is urgent and they know the solution.
Can you imagine that rich young ruler as he ran? He had long been searching for eternal life. He had money, he had power, he had influence. But he did not have the answer to that burning question on his heart... how to find eternal life!
To him, it was an urgent situation. I often imagine him as a man who was looking for that one thing he had not yet acquired. And that one thing, he knew, was the most important thing he could acquire. And he wanted it!
And in Jesus, he saw the solution. He saw the one Man who had the answer he needed.
Hurry now! Don’t let Him get away! Find out what it is you’ve been wanting to know!
And then he knelt.
Now, kneeling indicates something totally different.
Kneeling, getting down on one or both knees, indicates reverence, respect, submission.
Citizens of England are requested to kneel before royalty.
Why? As an indication that they recognize, if nothing else, the title the royal subject holds. It is an indication of respect.
It is also an indication of humility.
On June 23, 2000, I got down on one knee at Medieval Times in Dallas in front of about 40 of our closest family members and friends and asked Danna to marry me.
You know what I was saying at that moment... literally?
"Danna, I love you and know that God had something in mind when we met each other. I believe that you complete me in every way. And so, I am wanting to put all pride aside, all pretensions that I am some big man or that I have any ounce of self importance, and I am asking you, imploring you, to spend the rest of your life with me as my wife."
Now, that’s not really what I said. I think it was more along the lines of "Here... will you?
But what I didn’t say with my mouth, I communicated when I knelt.
So, we see the rich young ruler running to Jesus out of a sense of urgency, a sense of emergency. But when he gets to Jesus, it occurs to Him who it is he is approaching. This is the Good Teacher that he has heard so much about. This is the one with the answers he has been searching for! And suddenly, he is in awe and it humbles him.
And he kneels.
And out of a sense of emergency and out of a sense of respect and reverence, comes the question:
"Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
And from Jesus comes a statement:
"You know the commandments."
As I looked at that scripture again while preparing this, I got to thinking:
Jesus wasn’t giving the answer at that point.
You notice He didn’t say "Here is the answer" or "This one thing you must do."
That’s because that is not really where the answer lies. It is not in just following the rules. That’s what the Pharisees tried to say. They made salvation and serving God all about keeping the rules.
But the Apostle Paul pointed out in I Corinthians 13 that it takes more than following the rules and keeping them.
"Though I give all my goods to the poor and have not love... it profits me nothing."
Because the way to Heaven isn’t about keeping the rules or being good.
Jesus said in John 14:6: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man gets to the Father except by Me."
That’s the answer to eternal life.. a relationship with Jesus.
But see, that’s where Jesus was going with the rich young ruler.
Because to have a relationship with Him means more than just to know His commandments. To have a relationship with Jesus means putting Him above all else.
Matthew 16:24 says we are to "deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow " Jesus if we really want the abundant and eternal life that He offers.
And that means forgetting what we want, being willing to put aside our goals and dreams, in favor of serving Him!
Selling out to Him!
You see, the rich young ruler had the knowledge, the understanding of the laws of God. He knew as much of the Word as was available at that time.
But he had a first love and it wasn’t Jesus.
It was his possessions.
And Jesus knew that.
So when the rich young ruler asked "What must I do to inherit eternal life"... Jesus reminded him of the commandments. And when the young man said, in essence, "Oh, that’s easy! I’ve kept all those since I was a kid.", Jesus then decided to hit him right where he lived.
"Give up what you love the most!"
And it’s here we all feel sorry for the young man.
Because he really wanted eternal life. He really wanted abundant life.
So much that when he saw the Man who he knew had the answers, he broke into a dead run!
And when he reached Him, he knelt out of reverence and respect.
But he didn’t want it bad enough to give up his toys, his possessions.
His money.
And the Bible says he went away sorrowful.
He now found out what it took to for him to inherit eternal life. And he couldn’t handle it. It meant having to give up something he simply didn’t want to give up.
Wonder why he wanted to hold onto his money so bad? I wonder if we had pressed him, what his answer would be?
"I worked too hard for it! It’s my hard earned money!"
Oh, and if he could have only realized the truth of James 1:17:
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
If he could have only recognized the truth of the fact that everything we have is from God. He gives us the breath we breathe, and the abilities and opportunities to provide for ourselves and our family. And He doesn’t stop there. He plans on continuing to bless. He tells us in Malachi 3:10:
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows."
So when we stop and think about it, the blessings we’ve been given and the blessings we continue to receive are from Him and when we look at it through those spiritual spectacles, we realize that we haven’t earned a thing!
I wonder what other reasoning he may have offered us that day for turning down Jesus.
"I have a lot of financial commitments and responsibilities. Surely, the Lord wants me to keep my financial obligations."
And the answer would be obvious... of course He does. God’s word tells us in James 5:12 to let our "no" be "no" and our "yes" be "yes". He doesn’t want us to make any financial commitment we can’t keep. If we commit to the electric company, the phone company, the landlord, the realtor, He expects us to keep our commitments.
Wait, that doesn’t make sense does it?
In one part of His Word, He tells the rich young ruler to get rid of all of his financial wealth. And in another, He tells us to keep our commitments.
Is this the Bible contradicting itself? Is it impossible to do both?
Absolutely not!
One of God’s names is "Jehovah-Jireh" which means "God, our Provider."
We first hear Him referred to in that fashion in Genesis 22. Abraham is asked by God to kill his son Isaac as a sacrificial act of worship. It pains everything inside him, but Abraham follows in obedience and just as he gets ready to plunge the knife into Isaac, God stops him. He lets him know that the request was just a simple test of Abraham’s faith. And then He PROVIDES a ram for the sacrifice to continue.
The lesson learned? God provides through obedience.
If we follow His precepts, if we follow His commands, if we keep His statutes, He provides for those bills, that car payment, that rent. If we’re obedient in ALL that He asks.
And I can hear that young ruler reason to himself: "But what if He doesn’t?"
And that’s where faith comes into play!
We have to trust that God is who He says He is and that He’ll do what He says He’ll do.
Otherwise, what’s the point of following Him?
I hurt for the rich young ruler. But perhaps I hurt for him because he represents so many Christians today.
So many Christians who say they are totally and completely sold out to Christ. They sing hymns like "All To Thee" and "Oh, How I Love Jesus" but the truth is that they are only partially committed to Him. Eternal life is guaranteed because they have received His salvation. However, they are missing out on abundant life because they have refused to totally sell out to Jesus in all aspects of their lives.
He may have their Sundays.
He may have their Wednesdays.
They may have even given Him their marriage and their family.
But there is something they haven’t totally given Him. There is something they are holding back because of fear of what might happen.
And for a great number of them, it comes to their finances.
You see, we don’t preach tithing because the church needs money. We teach tithing because we want to be a sold out body of believers. We want to point others to what a totally committed lifestyle means.
But we can’t do that unless we’re a totally committed body!
All of a sudden, in many of our minds, we find ourselves struggling like the rich young ruler.
"But I’ve worked hard for it!:"
Every good and perfect gift is from the Father.
"But I have financial commitments"
God is the Ultimate Provider.
"But what if He doesn’t provide?"
If He didn’t , that would make Him a liar and God cannot lie.
You now stand at a crossroads. One direction leads to total commitment to Jesus that results in abundant life. But it means having to let go of some things that are dear to you.
The other is the one the rich young ruler took that leads to sorrow because you will have held onto tightly to something that is not yours in the first place.
Which way will you go?
Will you totally sell out?
