Message preached Sunday, June 5, 2016 from Mark 10:28-31
Theme: When it comes to following Jesus, the gains—both in this age and in the age to come—greatly outweigh the costs.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been considering a remarkable story from the earthly ministry of our Lord. It’s the story of something that happened just as He was setting out on the road to Jerusalem—where He would, shortly thereafter, lay down His life on the cross to purchase our salvation.
The story is found in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark; where we read;
Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17).
This man who came to Jesus was a truly remarkable person. As we have learned from the other Gospels of Matthew and Luke, this was a very wealthy man; and he was also a relatively young and astute man—who had accumulated his wealth at an early age. And he was also a ‘ruler’ among his people—someone who was highly esteemed and respected. But what’s more, he was also a very pious man—a man who had sought to be faithful to God’s commandments all his life, and who came to Jesus very reverently and respectfully.
But he was also one more thing—a very desperate man. In spite of his very high character and outstanding moral conduct, he knew that he still did not possess eternal life. He wanted to know what he still needed to “do” to earn it.
So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions (Mark 10:17-22).
What an amazing encounter this was! When Jesus set before him what it was that he still needed to do—if in fact he truly wanted to “do” what it took to earn eternal life for himself—this remarkable man found that he couldn’t do enough. He couldn’t part with all of his wealth. And as our Lord’s disciples stood by and watched it all, it left them stunned! They thought that if such a man as this could not “do” enough to inherit eternal life, then who possibly could?
Our Lord Jesus is the Master Teacher; and this became a great ‘teachable moment’. Mark went on to tell us;
Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! 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.” And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible” (vv. 23-27).
And I hope you can see that all of this was meant to be a lesson—not only to those disciples, but to all of us who seek eternal life. If anyone would seek to “do enough” to earn salvation, this story should teach them that—humanly speaking—it simply can’t be done. We fallen creatures can never do enough to earn salvation. We could never, in our own power, make ourselves worthy of eternal life. Even that remarkable ‘rich young ruler’ couldn’t do it.
But as our Lord then went on to explain, what is impossible for men is wonderfully possible with God. Jesus Himself was—right then—on His way to Jerusalem to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He was on His way to the cross where He would take the guilt of our sins upon Himself and pay the price for them by dying in our place; so that the debt of our sin could be completely wiped clean by Him, and so that His righteousness before God could be credited to our account, and so that we can be given eternal life as a gift of God’s grace through our faith in what Jesus has done for us.
And that’s when we come to our passage this morning. Having watched all that just happened, Peter spoke up (as Peter often did). Mark tells us;
Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.” So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall 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” (Mark 10:17-31).
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; this amazing passage is a word of assurance to you and me—and from no one less than the Son of God Himself. It’s the message that we can trust what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross so completely that we can now surrender ourselves to Him in what ever way He calls us to yield, give up anything for Him that He asks us to give up for Him, take up our cross and follow after Him wherever it may be that He leads us. We can do this with absolute confidence—knowing that whatever truly good thing it may be that we must give up to following Him will ultimately never be lost to us.
Jesus Himself guarantees to us that, when it comes to following Him, the gains outweigh the losses many times over.
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Let me try to share with you what I believe is the practical value of this morning’s passage.
I am taking it for a fact that there are several of us here today who—for one reason or another—are holding back, in some way, from a total devotion to Jesus Christ. You may even know specifically what it is that the Lord wants you to do; that there is some area of full-surrender that He is calling for you to make for Him in same place in your life. And yet, for whatever reason, you are hesitant to do so—even afraid of doing so. You may fear that, if you give yourself over to the Lord in that particular area that He is calling for from you, you will lose control over your very sense self.
It may that have your sense of self invested in material comfort; and if you yield yourself to Jesus, He may call for you to give up those comforts of life. Or you may have your sense of self invested in your reputation and standing in this world; and if you give yourself fully over to Jesus, you may lose that reputation and sense of respect from others. Or—and let’s be honest about it—you may have your sense of self invested in sinful things; that some immoral habit or practice or relationship is what you think of as your only source of joy and happiness and comfort in the hard realities of life; and that if you give yourself to Jesus, you will have to give that up, and will possibly have to face being unhappy or unsatisfied for the rest of your life.
And do you know what? It may very well be that Jesus is calling upon you to give up something that you have invested your sense of self into. That’s what it means, after all, to be a follower of Jesus. He doesn’t call us to simply become a “Christian”. Instead, he calls us to die to self and follow Him wherever He leads us. As He Himself said in Mark 8:34-38;
“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:34-38).
I was talking about this whole idea the other day with a group of men. We were sitting in a doughnut shop; and as we talked, I was able to point to a table just across the room where I once had a conversation—a few years back—that I’ll never forget. It was with an unbelieving friend. He had come to the place in his life where he knew the gospel; but had consciously rejected it and had made a mess of his life. He knew that he needed to repent of his unbelief and receive Jesus Christ as his Savior. I was urging him to do so; but he said that he won’t do it. And it wasn’t because he had intellectual problems with the Christian faith. He told me very plainly, “I know who Jesus is. I know what it is that He can do for me. But I absolutely will not turn to Him as my Savior; because once I do, I know what He will want from me. And I don’t want to do what I know He will make me do!”
Now; that’s pretty straight forward, isn’t it? I even told him that I appreciated his honesty. And I wish I could tell you that he repented; but I can’t. But I think that there is something of that same fearful attitude that still remains in the hearts of even many of us who have professed a faith in Jesus as our Savior. We know what kind of a whole-hearted surrender to Him that He demands of us; and we hold back because we’re afraid of what He might take from us if we do. We’re afraid that He might take away from us that in which we have invested our very “selves”. When it comes down to it, we don’t trust Him or what He may make us give up for Him.
And that’s why this morning’s passage is so important. It’s a promise from Jesus Christ—a reassuring promise from the Son of God to those who are His followers—that no one who gives their all to Him will ever come out the loser. If we will believe that what Jesus says in this passage is the absolute truth, and if we will trust Him in it, then we will never have to be afraid of the cost of following Him whole-heartedly. If we insist on keeping our life to ourselves, we will lose it. But if we will trust Jesus and give our life over to Him—surrendering our very “self” over to Him and to His cause—then whatever good thing we lose will be given back in abundance.
We have Jesus’ own word on it.
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Now; look a little closer at this passage with me. We’re told in verse 28 that after the exchange with the rich young ruler, Peter spoke up. In fact, we’re told that he “began” to speak. That suggests to me that things were beginning to sink in for him; and he was beginning to feeling the need to ask the Lord more about it.
Peter was, after all, in a state of deep astonished—and so were all the others. They had just seen an outstandingly moral and outwardly God-blessed man—someone that they would have thought was sure to be welcomed into heaven—come to Jesus in desperation and ask what he still needed to do to be saved. The fact that he felt such a need at all would have been astonishing enough to them. But when Jesus then told the man the remarkable thing he would still need to do, and when the man then walked away despondently—incapable of doing what Jesus said he yet needed to do—the apostles were left to wonder how anyone could be saved at all!
But I suspect that those twelve disciples also began to take stock of themselves. They had come, long before this, to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and that He spoke the words of eternal life. They had placed their faith in Him—as much as they understood to do so. And what’s more, they would have also thought about how, because of their faith in Him, they had left all to follow Him. Peter and his brother Andrew had left their father’s fishing business—the only kind of livelihood they had known—in order to follow Him. They left their boats and nets and gear and profits behind. So had James and his brother John. They left both their father and their father’s fishing business. Matthew the Tax Collector had left all his lucrative tax business, and his connection to the Roman government, to follow Jesus—walking away from his tax collection table and leaving his profits behind. Simon the Zealot had left the world of anti-Roman activism to follow Jesus. There would be no going back for him. No doubt there were several such stories among the other apostles. In a sense, they had done what the rich young ruler could not bring himself to do. They had given up everything to follow Jesus.
And in thinking of all this, we’re told, “Then Peter began to say to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You’” (v. 28). In the grammar of the original language, Peter really says it this way, “See, we have once for all time—as a decisive act in the past—left all; and have as a permanent, ongoing reality—a reality that extends even into the future—followed You.” It was a complete break from all that was behind them, and a complete devotion of themselves to Jesus for all time. They did this because of who they knew Jesus to be. If you were to look at how Peter put this in Matthew’s Gospel, you’d find that he said, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” (Matthew 19:27).
Some have suggested that Peter was asking this out of a selfish motive—as if he were saying, “Wow! Look at us! We did what the rich man wouldn’t do? What kind of reward will we get?” But personally, I don’t think that’s what he meant. I notice that the Lord doesn’t rebuke his motives for asking this question. Instead, I suspect that when Peter and the others saw the rich man walk away sadly—not having received what he sought; and when they realized that they could never do better than that rich man had done; they sincerely wondered. “Lord; we’ve given up everything for You. Is there a future for us? What shall we have?”
Have you wondered such a thing? “I read in the Bible that Jesus demands my all. If I would be His follower, then I must take up my cross—the instrument of death to ‘self’—and follow Him. He Himself went to the cross. If I follow Him in His path of the cross, then just how much will this cost me? What will there be for me?
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Look then at Jesus’ answer. I love how it begins. In verse 29, He says, “Assuredly, I say to you …” In our study of the Gospel of Mark, we have grown to appreciate that everything that Jesus says is important; but also that we should give special attention to what He says when He prefaces His words in this way. He is speaking in the plural—addressing all His disciples; and He wanted them to know that the words He was about to speak were words of sober and assuring truth. This is meant for us as well as for them.
He said that “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall 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” (vv. 29-30). And let’s take those words apart carefully:
- “… there is no one who has left …” That speaks of the universal application of this truth. There will never be anyone—whether rich or poor—that sincerely gave up anything Jesus who will end up being forgotten by Him or unrewarded for their faithfulness.
- But ‘leave’ things they well may! Important things. Things such as “houses …” Many people who have given themselves over to Jesus and His cause have given up the security of a home. It may be that if they follow the path that Jesus calls them to, they will not be able to afford one. Jesus felt that. Once someone wanted to follow Him; and perhaps he was hoping to gain a secure place in this world by being connected to the Jewish Messiah. But Jesus warned this would-be follower, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20).
- “… or brothers or sisters or father or mother …” Many have found out for themselves—often through great heartache—that accepting Jesus’ call upon their lives means experiencing the rejection and hostility of family. Jesus felt this too. The Bible tells us that “even His brothers did not believe in Him” (John 7:5). He told His disciples; “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household’” (Matthew 10:34-36). Following Jesus may cost us some of the relationships that are the dearest to us on earth.
- “… or wife or children …” Not all of the early Greek manuscripts have it in Mark’s Gospel that Jesus said “wife”. But it is found in Luke’s report of Jesus’ words. There’s certainly a sense in which Jesus would have experienced this; because He didn’t enjoy the experience of a family life. And it may be that, for some, the call of Jesus requires that they give their lives to His service rather than start a family. But there may even be times when following Jesus costs us a family that we already have. I say this, I hope, with care; but Paul wrote of this. In 1 Corinthians 7, he spoke of how, if a man or a woman becomes a believer, and if their unbelieving husband or an unbelieving wife wishes to leave because of it, they must let them leave. Many have had to pay this difficult price to follow Jesus.
- “… or lands …” This may be a reference to the possessions of the rich young ruler; who apparently was rich in lands. To follow Jesus may involve forsaking the material means of securing for ourselves a comfortable future in this world.
- “… for My sake and the gospel’s …” Jesus makes it clear that this promise—though universally applicable to all people—is not universally applicable to all situations. It is specifically for those who do as Jesus has said in the Sermon on the Mount: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Those who hear Jesus call to follow Him and serve His cause will never be forgotten by Him.
- There is no one who forsakes such things at His call for His cause “who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands …” And do you notice how in the previous list, Jesus used the word “or”; but now uses the word “and”? It may be that we are called upon—at different points of our lives—to give up one or two of those precious things at Jesus call—“house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands”. But we don’t just receive one or two of those things back, but rather all of them—“houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands”. And we don’t just receive them back in a way that is equal to what we left; but we receive them many times more! A hundredfold! And not just in the sweet-by-and-by; but now, in this present time!
How can this be, by the way? I believe it’s because of the Body of Christ—the Church that Jesus connects us to. Think of what it says in Acts 4 about the newly born, Spirit-filled church of Jesus Christ:
Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need (Acts 4:32-35).
This wasn’t speaking of something like secular Socialism, by the way. That’s not voluntary, and it’s not a work of the Holy Spirit. Rather, this is something within the Body of Christ. When we are fully given over to Jesus together, and when the Spirit of God is in charge of our hearts and our lives, then God uses us to meet one another’s needs. Your need is my need, and my need is your need; and what’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours. We have houses and lands a hundredfold that we share together in Spirit-filled hospitable love and mutual care of the church of Jesus Christ.
And we have family together a hundredfold times over too. To follow Jesus may cost someone a brother or sister, or a father or mother, or even a family. But in the body of Christ, we have many brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers and children given back to us. And in many cases, these brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers or children are closer to us than any earthly relationship could ever be.
- “… with persecutions …” I believe Jesus is being honest with us. We may gain in return in this life—a hundredfold—these wonderful things we lose. But with them—in this life—also comes persecutions. As it says in 2 Timothy 3:12; “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” But what a comfort we can be to each other in those persecutions!
- “… and in the age to come, eternal life.” That’s the very thing that the rich young ruler sought to earn for himself; but it’s ours as a gift of God’s grace. We won’t just receive eternal life then in the future. It’s our present possession now in Christ. But it is fully realized then! What a prospect we have! All this—and heaven too!
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Now; notice how Jesus closes this discussion. With reference to that “age to come”, He says, “ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” What does He mean by this? I believe that, in light of their experience with the rich young ruler, He was meaning for His disciples to understand that the order of things in His eternal kingdom is not as it is on this earth. Many who are not “rich young rulers” now will have a position of great reward then—without comparison to what they did not have in this age.
When this story of the rich young ruler is told to us in the Gospel of Matthew, we’re told that Jesus followed it up with this parable:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’
“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:1-16).
We should never assume that if we give up everything for Jesus, we have somehow earned a special standing for ourselves in His kingdom. His kingdom values remain the values of grace; and many who gave up everything for Jesus late in life will be as blessed as those who sought Him early. The ‘thief on the cross’ would receive the same ‘eternal life’ as the ‘rich young ruler’—if they both repent and believe.
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But the point of all this is that, if Jesus calls us to give our all for Him, we can do so confidently. We will never lose. We will always find that, no matter how much it costs us to follow Jesus, we will always end up gaining more than we gave up.
And so, dear brother or sister; if you are feeling the call of Jesus in some way in your life right now to yield yourself to Him—even at the cost of that which seems most dear to you; or even at the very cost of your own sense of self—don’t be afraid. Do as He says. Take up your cross and follow Him. Go where He says to go. Do as He says to do. Surrender to Him whatever area of life it is that He asks you to surrender. The gains—both in this age and in the age to come—greatly outweigh the costs.
We have His sure word on it.