WWUTT 2207 Leaving Everything to Gain Everything (Mark 10:28-31)

In Mark chapter 10 Jesus tells his disciples that even on this side of heaven you'll receive houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms and in the age to come eternal life when we understand the text.

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Mark, we've been in chapter 10 and we're finishing up Jesus' exchange with the rich young ruler and then teaching his disciples after that conversation.

So let me begin reading here in verse 23 and I'll go through verse 31 out of the

Legacy Standard Bible, hear the word of the Lord. And Jesus looking around said to his disciples, how hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.

And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, children, how hard 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 man to enter the kingdom of God.

And they were even more astonished, saying to him, then who can be saved?

Looking at them, Jesus said, with people it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.

Peter began to say to him, behold, we have left everything and followed you.

Jesus said, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms for my sake and for the gospel sake, except one who will receive 100 times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms along with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life.

But many who are first will be last and the last first. Now, it's this last section here where Peter says, we've left everything to follow you.

And then Jesus responds to Peter and to the disciples. That's what we're going to be looking at today. But first, a quick recap.

So remember, this rich young ruler comes up to Jesus and says, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus gives him the commands. You know what the commandments say? 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 the rich young ruler is beside himself because, as he says, I've been keeping all these commands from my youth.

But Jesus says, I hold this against you. You must sell all that you have, give it to the poor, then come and follow me and you will have treasure in heaven.

And the rich young ruler walks away sad because he had many great possessions.

And then this is the moment where Jesus turns to his disciples and says to them that it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom because they think that they have all that they need here on earth.

They cannot see the kingdom of God, but I can see all my possessions. So how difficult it is for them to give up all that they have for something that they cannot see.

It's even harder for a person who is wealthy, who has put their love and their worth in all their stuff to give all of that up than it is for a person who is poor and has little to nothing.

It's much easier for them to give it away for the kingdom of God than it is for those who are rich.

The apostle Paul warning Timothy that that he needed to teach the wealthy in his church not to place their trust in riches for it's out of love of money that many have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pangs.

So it's not sinful to be rich, but you definitely would find it a lot more difficult to give up the world for the kingdom of God for those who are wealthy.

Now this was completely contrary to the worldview that the disciples had. And whenever you see somebody who is a good man, like this rich young ruler was, and who has lots of wealth, well, he has that wealth because he keeps the law and God has blessed him.

But here, Jesus is saying that it's impossible to enter the kingdom of God.

For a wealthy person, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. And again, as I mentioned yesterday, camel doesn't mean anything other than a camel.

Eye of a needle doesn't mean anything other than that small opening on the top of a needle.

That's what Jesus was referring to. And you can see the reaction from the disciples when they, when it says they were even more astonished and said to him, then who can be saved if this rich man who has done good and is being blessed by God, if he can't be saved, then what hope is there for the rest of us?

And looking at them, Jesus said, with people, it is impossible, but not with God, nothing that a person does can qualify them for the kingdom of God.

Nothing that they have makes them eligible for the kingdom. With man, it's impossible.

No one can get there by his own merit, by his own possessions, by his own status in the world.

With man, it's impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.

I remember when Bill Gates, you know, the Microsoft mogul, one of the richest persons in the world.

I remember when he was going through his divorce with his wife. Wasn't this back in 2020, it wasn't that many years ago.

And there were headlines. I remember seeing this one article online that said something to the effect of, if there's no hope for Bill Gates, Bill and Melinda Gates, then what hope is there for the rest of us?

And I just remember being astonished at that headline. But you could tell the person that was writing it was thinking to themselves, these are the richest people on the planet, one of the richest couples on earth.

And even their great wealth and power and influence can't save their marriage.

So what hope is there for the rest of us in our marriages? You can just see how the author of this article was completely baffled at this prospect.

Apparently, marriages only work when you're really rich. In fact, you see probably a higher divorce rate among the rich than you see among the poor.

I don't know. I didn't look that up as a statistic, but it's probably true. But a person's wealth does not save them.

Does not rescue them, will not preserve their marriage, doesn't even preserve their marriage.

So how much less is a person's stuff able to save their soul and guarantee them the kingdom of God?

Only Christ gets us to the other side. Only Christ will forgive us of our sins and give us eternal life.

Going back to the example of marriage, your great wealth won't save your marriage, but Christ can.

Your great possessions are not going to make your children happier or have better lives.

What they need most is Christ. Money is not the answer to the world's problems.

Jesus is. And so Jesus saying here, it is impossible for man to enter the kingdom of God, but not for God.

For all things are possible with God. And here is where Peter responds in verse 28 and says,

Behold, we've left everything and followed you. And Jesus said,

Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms for my sake and for the gospel's sake, except one who will receive a hundred times as much.

Now let's consider what Jesus said here. So Peter, his response is, we've left everything and followed you.

So remember what Jesus said to the rich young ruler, you must give up all that you have, give it to the poor, and then you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.

And so Peter is saying, well, we did it right. We gave away all that we have. We've given up everything to come and follow you.

So he's hoping that Jesus response to him is going to be, well, then Peter, you get the kingdom.

And as you know, from what we have read in previous chapters, the disciples expectation here is that the kingdom is going to be this literal kingdom on earth, where Jesus is going to sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem, and they are going to kick out the

Romans, kick out the Herods and make Israel great again. That's the expectation that the disciples have, that Jesus is going to be an emancipator.

So with Peter's response here, he's hoping that Jesus is going to say, that's right, Peter, we're building this kingdom.

We're going to go back into Jerusalem. We're going to take over this thing and you've given up everything to follow me. So you will inherit this kingdom that will be promised to you.

Now they were certainly acting by faith, but what they thought was going to happen on the other side of this was not going to be a spiritual kingdom.

It was not going to be the kingdom of heaven that Christ inhabits, that is not a kingdom that is on this earth.

That wasn't the disciples expectation. So they had faith. They believe

Jesus and they knew that there would be a kingdom, but their expectation of that kingdom was worldly.

It was something that they eventually were going to see with their eyes on the earth in their lifetimes.

That's what they thought was going to be the fulfillment of this kingdom that Jesus was talking about.

So when Peter says, we've left everything and followed you, he's hoping that the reward is going to be that kingdom here on earth.

And so Jesus talks about leaving house and brothers and sisters and mother and father and children and farms or lands in some translations for my sake and for the gospel's sake.

And then he says, this person will receive 100 times as much now in the present age.

All of these things that he has given up, he's going to receive a hundred times more than that, even now in the present age.

Now that was true for the disciples, although the disciples had this expectation that it was going to be a literal earthly kingdom.

Nonetheless, it was true for them that they would receive all of these things on this side of heaven.

How is it that we receive all of that? We receive houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms and so on.

Well, Jesus had, uh, had already shown them this when he sent out the 12, that was back in chapter six, you had the 12 that were sent out and Jesus gave them instruction saying that whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town and any place that does not receive you or listen to you as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.

So at the, at the sending out of the 12, Jesus had showed them how they were going to receive a hundred times as much of these things.

Even now in the present age, they were going to receive house brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, and farms.

They would enter into those houses and those houses would be as their own homes. The people who would welcome them into those homes would be as their brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers, and then they would receive, uh, the, the produce of the land, the benefits that those families were getting off of the land.

So it'd be like they were inheriting the fruit of those farms, all of these blessings that would come with following Jesus.

We get to be part of the kingdom and share this family and fellowship with everybody else that's in the kingdom.

And our family grows and becomes huge. It's amazing to me where I can go and encounter brothers and sisters in the

Lord. And we are family with one another, even in different parts of the world.

Some of you are probably aware that a little more than a week ago, I preached in two places on the planet, two different locations, the same sermon

I was, uh, I was preaching out of Matthew chapter 16, but I did that sermon once in the

Philippines and another time in Marshall, Texas, about 16 hours from where I live now.

And I didn't physically go to the Philippines. I had recorded that message. And then it was played at the church there, uh, that had asked me to preach for their eighth anniversary.

They were celebrating eight years as a, as a church wanted me to be their guest preacher. Couldn't be there in person, but maybe one day

I'll get that opportunity. But in the meantime, I could record the sermon and it was played there. And I had a wonderful time visiting with their pastor.

Pastor Neil was like, we were brothers. It's like we were good friends all of a sudden, just automatically.

And we shared things about our family and about our faith and about our churches. And uh, and I, it was wonderful to be able to encourage him and pray for him in the work that his church was doing there, reaching out with the gospel, ministering to folks, the way that it was growing baptisms that they were celebrating in and things like that.

And it was, we had so much in common though. We didn't know personal aspects, like I didn't know anything about his hobbies.

We did talk about each other's families, but we didn't know things about a, you know, personal interests and stuff like that, except that our common interest was

Christ and the gospel. And we were brothers though. We're half the planet away.

He's on the other side of the world from me. He's a different nationality with a different background and different experiences growing up than I have had.

And yet we're brothers. And then the other church that I preached at was in Marshall, Texas and pastor

Jason out there. He's on the other side of the world. He's in India and is ministering to the brethren there with some of the ministry that they have planted, churches that they have planted, the teaching that he does at one of the seminaries there, raising up these men and preparing them to be able to lead these churches and even go out with the gospel in their country and their communities and so on and so forth.

So while he's there in India doing that, I was welcome to be able to preach in his church and those people there like brothers and sisters to me, it was a great friendly time.

And even after service was over, we went out to the restaurant and we continued fellowship with each other. And this is exactly what

Jesus promises here. We have received this as Christians. We have, we have grown our family out with many more brothers and sisters and even mothers and fathers, those who look out for us in the faith, who grow us in the faith.

There are probably some of those who introduced you to the gospel and they're like spiritual fathers and mothers to you and raising you up and encouraging you that you may grow in Christ all the more.

And then children, even you will receive children in that you will share the gospel with others and they will come to faith and they will be your spiritual children.

And even more than this, you know, I've witnessed to men and women who are single and may never get married and yet they enjoy how much time they can spend with the children in the church and be part of those families and be welcomed into their homes.

And though those children do not belong to them exactly yet, they can have influence in their lives.

They can be a mentor or some kind of a role model for them, spiritual guides, sharing with them the gospel and helping to teach them in Sunday school classes and VBS or just the interactions that they have on Sunday morning, you know, things like that.

So there, they do have children, not children within their own homes, necessarily children that are not their possessions, but they do have this family that they've become a part of.

And what a blessing of God that is through the gospel that has been preached to us, this reconciling to God that we have experienced through faith in Jesus Christ and even being reconciled to God's people.

And suddenly we have families and even sharing one another's property with each other, welcoming one another into our homes and sharing the fruit that God has blessed us with, with each other.

And Jesus says they will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms along with persecutions.

Now that gets thrown in there. And perhaps the reason why Jesus included that was so the disciples would not begin to think of themselves as inheriting some earthly kingdom and earthly wealth just because they were in close proximity to Christ.

We're going to receive all of this stuff that he's been promising us here. No, this is not the health and wealth gospel.

You will be persecuted. You will receive all of these things. You will also receive persecutions.

You've left all of these things for my namesake. Well, you're also going to be persecuted for my namesake.

I used to be very, very close with my flesh and blood brothers and sisters.

And even my wife and I, when we first got married, I was still close to my siblings then and we didn't necessarily pledge, but we would talk about it.

You know, we would say, where can we live somewhere that we would be closer to my brothers and sisters?

And we can have that close camaraderie with one another and, you know, our kids will grow up together and things like that.

But it didn't take long within those first few years that we were married that my flesh and blood brothers and sisters began drifting away from the

Lord. And as they went further and further away from God, we knew that they were further and further away from us.

And my commitment was to my church and those people that I was shepherding and they were my family.

And I very quickly saw that I would much rather sacrifice for them and be there for them, for my brothers and sisters in the

Lord, than my own flesh and blood brothers and sisters who were not walking with the Lord and were actually further from me than these people that I was not related to by blood, but I was related to by the blood of the

Lamb. Not by the blood of my parents, but by the blood of Christ. I am now pastoring my third church as the

Lord has led us in ministry to the place where we are now in Casa Grande, Arizona, been here less than a year now, and how quickly it was for us when we moved here and we became part of this church that it just right away it felt like family.

Even when we visited and we were coming in view of a call in September of last year.

Even then in our visit, it felt right. This felt like a family to us. And it's a family because of what

Christ had done for us. Our friends back in Texas still feel like family to us there as well.

It's like going and visiting family. Our church back in Kansas, same there also, and we still keep in touch with them also.

It is wonderful to hear from our brothers and sisters in the Lord, no matter at what point in our lives we had fellowship with them, they played an integral part in the sanctification that continues until the day that we join

Christ forever in his eternal kingdom. We are the family of God. We have the same

Father, our Father who is in heaven. We are united in the same Holy Spirit and all of this by the work of God and by his work, we have received eternal life.

Going back to the question that the rich young ruler asked, good teacher, what shall

I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus says to his disciples, you're going to receive all of these things even in this lifetime and in the age to come, eternal life for those who have left everything to follow

Jesus. In verse 31, he says, but many who are first will be last and the last first.

Those who are seen as first in the world, in our culture, that we would think are top of the list, no, they're actually at the bottom in the kingdom of God and will not inherit the kingdom of God except through Jesus Christ.

What a blessing it is to experience the family of God that we've been called into through faith in Jesus Christ.

And I hope that you have a fellowship like that, a church that you belong to, that you are fellowshipping with and growing with one another, sharing with each other, encouraging one another, even admonishing where you have to admonish.

You know, just like the family that you grew up in was rather dysfunctional. Sometimes the church can feel that way as well, but we are with each other through thick and thin, forgiving each other as God has forgiven us.

And may we have more opportunities that we can grow one another in the Lord until that day when we will be united with him in his eternal kingdom, the eternal life that is promised for every one of us who are in Christ Jesus.

Look out for your brothers and sisters. Those people that you're around at church on Sunday morning, love them because you're going to be with them for a really, really long time.

Amen? Heavenly Father, we thank you for these lessons that we've read here in this exchange that Jesus had with the rich young ruler and then teaching his disciples through these things.

And I pray that even though we experience things in this world, maybe even longing after things in this world, may our hearts not be divided.

We're not more in love with the world than we are with God, but we are ready at a moment's notice to drop everything, drop all that we have so that we might answer the call to follow

Jesus and do what it is that he directs us to do according to his word.

Forgive us our sins and may we be forgiving of others. May we be part of churches where as brothers and sisters in the

Lord, we love each other and are building one another up, ready to share with each other because you have shared so much with us and made us fellow heirs with Christ.

Help us to appreciate that and praise you for that every single day. Be willing to be open about the fellowship that we have with our brothers and sisters, not closed off, not hermits, not living alone, but as the church, we're fellowshipping with each other and building one another up into this holy temple unto the

Lord is talked about in first Peter chapter two until that day when the last stone is added and we will be with Christ forever in his eternal kingdom.

Come quickly Lord Jesus. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

You can find a link to the blog through our website www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word when we understand the text.