Change Gods: Mark 10:17-34
Everyone worships something!
As a boy, and then a teen I loved football. I especially loved the Green Bay Packers. Who do you root for if you live in Flagstaff, Ariz., in the early and mid1960’s?
Arizona didn’t have a professional football team, so I ended up becoming a fan of the Packers. Why? They were winning all the championships in those days.
My idol was No. 31, fullback Jim Taylor! These were the days when the fullback ran the ball, often as the major running back. Taylor was great. He ran through people, not around them and I looked up to him.
I played football and was into it, until I turned 16 and got a car, part time job and could go to dances on Friday night. At that point I became a party animal!
In fact, I traded “party time” for high school eventually! What was wrong with me? I did what most people do at some point and confused myself with God.
Often, we become our own god! In fact, the most prolific false god known to man is….”self!”
Jesus will address the issue of self as a false god in today’s text, Mark 10:1734.
In verses 17-22 the priority is to follow Jesus!
Jesus finished blessing a group of children and was moving on to His next mission, when a man runs up to Him and falls on his knees before Jesus and asks, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17B NIV)
This man wanted to know from Jesus what Jewish works of righteousness he had to do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus asked why he called Him “Good” when he called Him teacher, then made the point no one is good, but God, which leaves the impression this man assumed Jesus came from God! That’s a good and accurate assumption.
Then Jesus answers his question and begins to outline the Jewish works of righteousness he needed to do. He identifies 6 of the 10 commandments and the man interrupts Jesus and points out he had being doing those things since he was a boy.
Unlike you and I, Jesus could read the man’s heart and knew he was wealthy, and his wealth was the false god getting in his way, so Jesus tells him to sell all he had, give the proceeds to the poor and then come and follow Jesus.
The Scripture says the man’s face fell, and he went away sad because he was wealthy and was unwilling to give up his wealth to follow Jesus.
Does that mean all people who are wealthy must sell off all their assets, give the money to the poor and then follow Jesus? Would Elon Musk have to sell off Tesla, Space-x and his other assets, amounting to more than $200 billion to be eligible to follow Jesus?
Not necessarily, but the wealth would have to be under Jesus and the ultimate priority would have to be following Jesus!
There are multiple false gods in the world, wealth certainly being one of them. Other prominent false gods in our time are government power, abortion and climate change, but they all work their way back to people elevating self above God, making self a false god!
The man had to elevate Jesus and following Him above the false god of his wealth to inherit the Kingdom of God!
In verses 23-27 Jesus makes the point it’s hard to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples are a bit amazed and Jesus comments that it’s really hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Listen to Jesus in verse 25, “It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (NIV)
The New Testament scholar, Moule put it like this, “It’s easier to thread a needle with a great big camel than to get into the Kingdom of God when you are bursting with riches.”
The point is you can’t thread a needle with a camel! It’s an impossibility!
The disciples were stunned and asked the obvious question, “Who then can be saved?” (Mark 10:26B NIV)
At this point, Jesus looks at the disciples and says, “With man this is impossible, but not with God: all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27B NIV)
How does God make the impossible possible? How can God make it possible for lost sinners to enter the Kingdom of God, which is as impossible as threading a needle with a big old camel?
In verses 32-34 of Mark 10 Jesus is on His way into Jerusalem with the disciples. He took the 12 aside and told them again what was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem.
Jesus explained again He would be betrayed by the Jewish religious big shots in Jerusalem. They would condemn Him to death and hand Him over to the Gentiles.
The Gentiles would mock Him, spit on Him and abuse Him. They would flog Him and kill Him, but three days after His death He would rise again.
How is it possible to do the impossible and enter the Kingdom of God? How can a camel threat a needle? The death of Christ to pay for sin, and the bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead to wreck death forever and for good threads the needle with a camel and makes it possible for all we broken sinners to enter the Kingdom of God.
In verses 28 through 31 Jesus makes the point if you follow Him He will take care of you.
Impetuous Peter chimes in, “Jesus, we have done that, we have left everything to follow you.” Jesus makes it clear when you leave family, home, fields (which stand for your work probably) for Him and the gospel you will receive a hundred times all that in this life, along with persecution, but in the age to come you will receive eternal life.
Jesus is making it clear when we follow Him and take on even persecution, He’s going to take care of us in this life and beyond! Why beyond? Because you get eternal life!
Following Jesus and trusting life to Him guarantees life beyond this one! That means you’re going to get off this planet alive! Follow Jesus and He will take care of you here and now and for eternity!
In verse 17 of our text the man asked what he had to do to inherit eternal life. In verse 24 Jesus talked about how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God. Then in verse 30 Jesus goes back to eternal life!
Here’s the major point missed by most. Eternal life is about entering the Kingdom of God! It’s not about saying a simple prayer in a worship service. It’s not about joining a church. It’s not about coming forward at an emotion worship service. Eternal life is about entering a new Kingdom, that][s coming under a new ruler of your life!
Eternal life is about following Jesus as your new King… Your Lord!
The man had to reject his false god of money and follow Jesus. Jesus makes it clear entering a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of God is possible because Jesus is going to pay for sin and defeat death in the resurrection, and He makes it clear when you follow Him, and He becomes your God He will care for you here and now and in eternal life!
Here’s the big deal, get yourself off the throne and put Jesus on the throne! Change God’s from you to Him!
In late 1971 I was finishing my time in the Army, serving in Germany. One Saturday afternoon I started drinking beer with a bunch of guys. I’m not quite sure what happened, but the next morning I woke up in the wrong room.
I laid there and reflected about where my life was headed. I didn’t like where I was going.
While I laid there with a massive hangover, I was taken back to Sunset Avenue in Flagstaff, Ariz. I saw my preacher grandpa sitting in his 1948 Pontiac with his business hat on, reading his Bible and praying before going back in the house to deal with grandma who was in a tizzy about something.
I thought about him and how he walked with Jesus and about how Jesus affected his life and was central to his life.
I was 22 years old in 1971. I had lost grandpa to a heart attack 10 years earlier. His walk with Jesus as his Lord wasn’t possible for me to escape!
I prayed that morning for the first time in months. I asked the Lord to get me through the last few months I had left in the Army and get me home to Arizona. Then I told Him I would go to church, pray and read my Bible.
I went home from the Army on December 17, 1971. I did what I told God I would do and about a month after getting home, I got on my knees and told Jesus He was in charge of my life from that moment on.
I quit being my own God and made Jesus my Lord and God. I changed Gods! That’s Jesus’s point. Follow Him and change.