Introduction

Last week we saw quite a contrast between receiving the Kingdom like a child and the failure to receive the Kingdom because of a refusal to be vulnerable and dependent like a child. The little children brought nothing to Jesus—in fact, they had to be brought to Jesus. Bringing nothing, they received everything as Jesus blessed them. The rich young ruler brought financial attainment and moral achievement, and received nothing. He could not be open-handed with money, but he was tight-fisted, because money had become a source of security. He could not envision a life with Jesus and without money.

What went wrong? Last week we emphasized the young man’s idolatry with money, but this week I want to delve a little deeper into this man’s failure to understand the call of discipleship. This man’s failure to understand the essence of discipleship is paired with the disciples’ failure to understand discipleship. We are going to dive deep into what they are missing.

Outline:

1. How Much You Have to Give Up (Mark10:17–27)
2. How Much You Have Given Up (Mark 10:28)
3. How Much You Gain (Mark 10:29–31) 

Do you see the ditches of discipleship? You will either despair about how much you have to give up (self-pity) or you will boast about how much you have given up (self-exalting; the main lane of discipleship is delighting in how much you gain (Christ-exalting).

Main Point:

The dominant note of discipleship is what we gain, not what we give up. We deny ourselves lesser things in order to gain greater things.

1) How Much You Have to Give Up (10:17–27)

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 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 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.

Last week, we noted that Jesus challenged this man’s idolatry by asking him to imagine his life as one in which he only has Jesus and not money. “What if it was all gone and all it gets you—respect, admiration, mansions, servants, freedom to do what you want, when you want, where you want. If money is not a god, then you will be able to give it up. Will you give it up to follow me?”

Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.—Mark 10:22

This is the response of a heart that loves money when someone asks you to part with it. There is separation anxiety. This is alarming! Remember that we said that word “disheartened” could be better translated “alarmed” because of the only other place where the word is used in the New Testament (Matthew 16:3). There it says the “sky is red and threatening.” We are using the dictionary definition from one of my favorite Greek dictionaries: “To experience an emotional state of great surprise because of something which appears incredible and alarming.”^[1]

I believe that this is a strong, visceral reaction—like an internal alarm going off in his heart. He is distressed, not just disheartened. This is a strong reaction—he is alarmed, not just sad.

We also looked at the other word “sorrowful.” The word is used of the disciples when Jesus says that one of them is going to betray him. In Mark 14:19, they are grieved and devastated, and one by one ask, “Is it, I?” It is a grief that strikes to the heart. It is disorienting and devastating. The grief is compounded because they are contemplating a loss of relationship (Jesus being cut off from them). Which one of them would have a hand in bringing it to pass? One of them will betray him! We are going to lose Jesus and one of us is going to cause it—and it could be me? The feeling of losing Jesus and betraying Jesus cut them to the core.

As I surveyed this word in the New Testament, I kept running across the common denominator of the loss of a relationship with something or someone. I think an illuminating parallel comes in Matthew 22:37. It says that Jesus was grieved and troubled in the garden of Gethsemane. It was not only the suffering that grieved him, it was the thought of separation from God—facing the wrath of God for the first time—rather than knowing the unbroken love of the Father. I think the meaning of the term here is similar for this man. He is having to contemplate being separated from something that is so precious to him that it could be called the love of his life. It is idolatry. Money for him was what the Father was to Jesus. Losing money would be losing the love of his life, his identity, his joy and hope. 

This man is the proverbial monkey with his hand in the jar grabbing something shiny and he won’t let go. Jesus is looking at him lovingly and telling him to let it go and take his hand to follow him. But he went away. This is the opposite of Mark 10:14–15 where people enter the Kingdom like a child. This man does not enter the Kingdom, he walks away from it because he cannot stand to be like a vulnerable, dependent child.

Now we come to the key question: How does someone ever get to the point of letting go of the shiny object? How will someone ever stop being an adult and become childlike? Answer: It is a miracle and only God can do it. Jesus brings this lesson to the disciples in this teachable moment. Notice that Jesus will say something and the disciples will be amazed or astounded. Then he will say it even more strongly and it will explode all of their categories even more (Mark 10:23–24). 

And Jesus looked around and said to his 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.

Why were the disciples so amazed by the idea that the wealthy will have a difficult time entering the Kingdom? The disciples evidently hold to a common belief at this time that wealth is a sign of God’s blessing or favor. In other words, if anyone was in the Kingdom, it would be the wealthy. Now, Jesus seems to take that assumption and totally turn it on its head: Far from the wealthy being easily in the Kingdom, they are those who will have a difficult time.

But notice that Jesus raises the stakes in this situation from difficult to physically impossible in verses 24–27.

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.”

How difficult is it? 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. Now let’s do away with the silly idea that there is a gate somewhere called the “eye of the needle” that camel’s enter through. That place doesn’t exist and it totally misses Jesus’ point. We sometimes talk about how hard it is to put a square peg through a round hole. It is hard because they are different shapes, even though the size may be similar. That is nothing compared to a situation in which the size and shape are radically different: putting a huge camel through a hole meant for a thin thread.

A rich person is a camel and the entrance to the Kingdom is like the eye of a needle. And Jesus says the camel and the eye of the needle is actually easier than a rich man entering the Kingdom. The disciples are exceedingly astonished (v. 26), and they should be. They understood exactly what Jesus was saying and they ask the right question: Then who could be saved? Jesus says that no one can be saved in human terms by human effort. It is impossible.

This text blows up the idea often called “decisional regeneration.” That is, one cannot just decide to go from adult-like to childlike. This man could not make himself a dependent child. Nothing that man can do can fit him through the entrance for the kingdom. The rich young ruler was wrong to think that his moral attainments would fit him for the Kingdom. Jesus says that salvation is the work of God and must be the work of God, not the work of man. If it was the work of man or the decision of man, no one would be saved. It is a miracle. Miracles are no problem for God! God has a proven track record when it comes to creation. Just like God made the world out of nothing—he needs to do the same again—humanity will never become like a little child without a new birth.

Do you know what story this sounds the most like in the Gospels? The story of Nicodemus and Jesus. The question is how someone who is an adult could become like a child again:

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”—John 3:3–9

Has God worked this miracle in your life? So many people are confused about how to live the Christian life because they are confused about the start of the Christian life. We often confuse physical maturity and spiritual maturity. We start out as children and then we are supposed to grow up and become adults. We conceive of physical maturity as becoming less and less dependent upon our parents for everything—more and more independent as we become smarter, stronger, and more capable. The spiritual life is the opposite. It takes a new birth for rebellious, self-reliant people to become dependent children again. Spiritual maturity is not becoming better and better so we need our heavenly Father less and less, but the realization that we need him more and more. We come to grips with our weakness and our need—that our life and breath and everything else come from him.

Now what should go without saying at this point is that we can’t take credit for this new creation miracle—this transformation from self-reliant, self-sufficient people to dependent children. But these disciples show that if someone can miss the point, they will!

2) How Much You Have Given Up (v. 28)

Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 

This is hard to read. Peter puts himself and the disciples forward and says, “See.” In effect, he says: Look at us! We are different than that young man that walked away from the Kingdom. You asked him to give it all away to follow you, and he couldn’t. But we could. We did. We have left everything and followed you (v. 28). This is the language of sacrifice and self-denial. The emphasis is set upon how much they have left—how much they have given up. I am sure that Peter thought that Jesus would commend them for this.

Before we look at what Jesus said, let us just remind ourselves that Peter is technically correct. They are following Jesus. Jesus called them and they left their nets and their boats and their father and their tax booths. They left all that they once had behind. So they are right, but at the same time, they are miserably wrong. 

You can get something partly right but make it sound totally wrong if you put the emphasis on the wrong syllable.

When I was in high school, my friends and I had a running joke that came from a comedy series talking about an advertisement for a literacy program. They had hiliarious testimonials. One graduate of the program was supposed to say: “Reading comprehension has improved wonderfully.” The person being interviewed said, “Reading compression has imprahved wonder-full-y.”

Peter put the emphasis on self-denial. Wrong em-PHA-sis! It sounds like spiritual performance. Peter saying, “The rich young ruler couldn’t give it all away and deny himself to follow you. But we did.” Do you see the ditches of discipleship? You will either despair about how much you have to give up (self-pity) or you will boast about how much you have given up (self-exalting). The main lane of discipleship is delighting in how much you gain (Christ-exaltation). Discipleship is about what we gain, not what we give up.

3) How Much You Gain (vv. 29–31)

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 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.” 

Jesus is directly addressing Peter. It does not sound like commendation at all. This is no verbal pat on the back. It is a verbal kick in the spiritual pants. Get off your self-exalting kick, Peter. You sound like you made a huge sacrifice to follow me! Do you think following me is about what you have left behind—what you have lost? Yes, it is technically true that you have left things: house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, lands. But you are not suffering from a deficit. This is not loss, but gain. Hundredfold gain! And not just someday in heaven, enjoying eternal life. That would be gain enough. But I am talking about right now. Right now. “Now in this time: “Houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, lands.” You have a new family now. A Kingdom family—new relationships in the family of God.

These verses took a long time for me to understand. But as I have lived away from my immediate family for many years now, I have seen people in the wider family of God become like fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children. The family is multiplied. I could name many of you as my Minnesota fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. I have them in Michigan, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ethiopia, Australia. I could go on and on. 

But most of all—everything you left, you left for my sake and for the gospel, Jesus says. Imagine saying to your wife, “Honey, you should be impressed by how many women I had to leave to become your husband.” That sounds like sacrifice—it doesn’t sound like love and affection or like you are the luckiest man alive to be with her. She should think she is lucky to have you because of all the women you could have had. Yuck! That doesn’t sound honoring. It sounds sick and self-exalting.

The chief characteristic of a disciple of Christ is that he or she is Christ-exalting. It is gain to have Christ and the Kingdom. The Kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field. You sell all that you have in your joy and buy that field (Matthew 13:44). It is like the pearl of great price. You gladly sell all that you have in order to have that pearl (vv. 45-46). God has performed a God-wrought miracle in the heart of a disciple: He has taken out the self-sufficient, self-exalting heart out and put the Christ-depending, Christ-exalting heart in. This is the genuine mark of conversion. We put no confidence in ourselves, we don’t boast in ourselves at all.

Think of what Paul says in Philippians 3:3—“For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” He then goes through and counts his trophies and accomplishments in comparison with others who are trying to boast in and trust in their Jewish heritage and law obedience. But then in a stunning, Christ-exalting turn, he says:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.—Philippians 3:3–11

The same thing happened to me when I became a believer. I had been told all about all that I should do, but God seemed like a cosmic kill-joy. “Don’t do this, don’t do that.” I saw Christianity as a religion—bad people becoming good through self-denial. But God broke through and completely changed my heart. It is about dead people coming to life through a miracle so that now Christ is our delight, our joy, our satisfaction, the love of our life, the pearl of great price.

I saw some of those metaphors in Scripture and I resonated with them, but I was still confused with what to do about all the commands in Scripture about denying yourself. And then, in my sophomore year of college, sitting in the passenger seat on a 20-hour drive to Virginia, the lights turned on. I was reading the book Desiring God. A pastor named John Piper was talking about how he became something called a Christian Hedonist. The only thing I knew about a hedonists was that they were pleasure-seekers. I was not sure what a Christian pleasure seeker was. But then on page 20, John Piper described the moment that he read something C.S. Lewis wrote.

The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. … Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.^[2]

What about you? I speak now to those who are not following Christ. Have you rejected him for all the wrong reasons? Do you think it is all about what you lose? Do you think he is calling you to be miserable on this earth and just grin and bear it with a sad and sober face until you somehow make it to heaven where you can be happy? No! A thousand times, no! Christ is calling you to a feast of joy, not a famine. And all the things of the world that you love, you can actually enjoy more because you don’t need them as gods that capture you and enslave you—you can enjoy them as gifts from the God who gave us all things richly to be enjoyed.

This is no kill-joy Christianity. When Jesus asks you to deny yourself something, it is always to get something better, longer lasting, more satisfying. We put to death things that would kill our joy because they would lead us away from Christ as our chief joy. Jesus paid a debt we could never afford. So many people spend money to delay death, but no matter how much you spend you will never be able to defeat death. Jesus paid it all and rose again to defeat death and open up eternal life and everlasting joy for you.

If you are a Christian, is this the way you think? Are you tempted to boast about all that you have given up? Are you tempted to look at others who are not Christians and secretly wonder why they can’t just be more like you? Is Christianity a spiritual attainment that makes you want to boast—or a miracle that makes you want to sing?!

Application: The Kingdom of Self vs. The Kingdom of God

This text forces us to think through how much we value the Kingdom and the relationship between wealth and the kingdom of God. The rich young ruler could not walk away from his money because he thought of money as his source of security and joy. Recently, I have been reading Paul Tripp’s new book, Redeeming Money. He asks a piercing question even about how we talk about money. Do you have a spirit of ownership or a spirit of surrender when it comes to money? In other words, do you think of money as “your” money? You will use money in one of two ways—either to make much of yourself—for your glory and your kingdom, or for the glory of Christ and his kingdom. This is totally the issue in discipleship. Will we point to ourselves and say: “Look how great I am.” Or will we look to Christ and spend our money in such a way that says, “Look how great Christ is.”

I don’t find that people actually love money as a physical entity—they love what money can do for them because they love themselves and they are committed to themselves. Let us test this out, shall we? When we buy things, what are we really buying? We are not just buying stuff, but often we are buying an image. This sounds a little philosophical. Let us consider some examples: When we buy clothes, we don’t just want something to keep us warm, but we buy something fashionable because we want to look cool. Name brands give us a name-brand image. You are willing to pay more for things not because the quality is so much better, but because the image is so much better. We buy a certain pair of shoes because of the image attached to them. You can like a certain car because of the image attached to it (and if is yours, now that image is attached to you). The same is true with living in a certain neighborhood, or a certain size house, a certain kind of lawn. Image controls much more of our spending than we care to consider. ^[3]

It is not wrong feed our children, have a warm home in the Minnesota winters, and even spend money on recreation (rejuvenating and recreating—disengaging well so we can reengage our work and responsibilities well). It is wrong when we spend money because we are more committed to buy better things so that we have a better image—make our image greater, our name greater, our glory greater.

And we build our kingdom through money. We think we are purchasing happiness and the abundant life. We hope that the next big purchase will make us happy and content. By satisfying my desires for stuff, I will have life and joy. Paul Tripp asks us if we can really pray the Lord’s Prayer without a certain approach to money. Will we use money to hallow his name or ours? Will we use money to say, “Your kingdom come, your will be done,” or to say, “My kingdom come, my will be done?” If we are focused on building our kingdom and our image/glory, we will not be able to pray “give us this day our daily bread.” That has always felt a little strange for me. I am always asking for WAY more than this.

Paul Tripp writes: “Could you honestly pray, ‘God, if you would just meet my basic needs (not wants, demands, or desires), I would be so grateful’? What would God have to give you in order to satisfy you? Could it be that, in reality we need much less than we think we need and we have loaded into our ‘need’ definition many things that are not needs at all?” (Redeeming Money, p. 65). This leads to “houses that are bigger than we need, more clothes than we can reasonably wear, more food than we should ever eat, more luxuries than we should desire, and more debt than anyone should ever carry” (Ibid, p. 62).

Many people make small investments in the church and large investments in themselves because they are really sold out to an image or a belief that major purchases can make them happy. That is why a raise does not necessarily mean we will have more margin, but more stuff or more of an image. We build a bigger kingdom or a better name when we get more money.

So that is the question before us: Will you use God’s money for God’s glory in the advance of God’s kingdom to make his name great? Money can connect you to a much better, much bigger kingdom. Is your joy tied to the advance of that Kingdom? For example, your food budget can be a good indicator. Does your food budget grow because you spend more and more on luxury food items (or eating out multiple times—convenience) or does your food budget grow because your heart for hospitality and evangelism has grown?

Rosario Butterfield really challenged us with our food budget and evangelism as I have read her book The Gospel Comes With a House Key. She said (p. 63) …

Practicing daily, ordinary, Christian hospitality doubles our grocery budget—and sometimes triples it. There are vacations we do not take, house projects that never get started … new cars and gadgets that we don’t even bother coveting. Our children will never be Olympic-level soccer stars, wear designer clothes, or have social calendars requiring a staff of drivers. Instead, my children build forts and catch frogs in the backyard, eat popsicles in trees, and bring neighborhood kids to dinner and devotions when the bell rings. … It costs money and time and heartache to run a house that values radically ordinary hospitality and nightly table fellowship, and we are all in. Over the past sixteen years of marriage, we have given away a lot of things. We give away many meals each week (those we serve here, those we serve at church, those we send in Pyrex pans to neighbors who have new babies or new knees, and those we mail to brothers or sisters in prison via iCare packages).

Here is another example. Part of 25 x ’25 is to strengthen the core. We’ve hired two Campus pastors and two Care & Counseling pastors. Why? Are we just spending money on ourselves? Both of those things are for the sake of discipleship. We want to disciple you into finding your greatest joy in Jesus and tying your money to the spread of God’s kingdom instead of building your own.

Yes, we also raised money to build a building at the South Campus. Why? That building makes the family feel like they have a home. I wish you could walk through that building and see how they built ministry into the fabric of every part of it with great intentionality and skill. But we didn’t build it only for ourselves. We built it to accelerate the next decade of spreading. This is not a time to sit back and rest, but to stand up and move forward. It is not about landing, but launching. It is time to pray and give and go and tell and fill these cities—advancing God’s kingdom and his fame, not ours.

Global Focus starts next week. Money is a big issue as we prepare for Global Focus—do we have a heart for the kingdom of Christ and spreading the fame of his name? Another part of 25 x ’25 is that we are pushing hard against a trend in the worldwide church. The places that are the least reached also get the least amount of our offerings. American Christians spend 95% of offerings on home-based ministry, 4.5% on cross-cultural efforts in already-reached people groups, and .5% to reach the unreached. In other words, if you look at the distribution of foreign mission funding, 87% goes for work among those already Christian, 12% for work among already evangelized; but for the non-Christian, 1% for work among the unreached people. The 38 most unreached places in the world receive the least amount of money (.1 percent of all Christian giving is directed toward bringing the name to those places). Christians spend more money to put Halloween costumes on their pets than to engage the unengaged.
_________

¹ Louw, J.P., & Nida, E.A. (1996), Vol. 1: Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains, electronic ed. of the 2nd edition (New York: United), p. 312.

² C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” quoted in John Piper, Desiring God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah), 2003, p. 20.

³ Much of this paragraph was influenced by Paul Tripp, Redeeming Money, (Wheaton: Crossway), 2018, pp. 61–62.

Sermon Discussion Questions

The following discussion questions have been prepared to accompany the sermon on October 21, “The Ditches of Discipleship” (Mark 10:17–31). The questions can be used for discussion in small groups or for personal reflection.

Outline

1. How Much You Have to Give Up (Mark 10:17–27)
2. How Much You Have Given Up (Mark 10:28)
3. How Much You Gain (Mark 10:29–31)

Main Point: The dominant note of discipleship is what we gain, not what we give up. We deny ourselves lesser things in order to gain greater things.

Do you see the “ditches” of discipleship? You may despair about how much you have to give up (self-pity) or you may boast about how much you have given up (self-exalting). The main lane of discipleship is delighting in how much you gain (Christ-exalting).

Discussion Questions

• How does this text highlight the “ditches” of discipleship? Which ditch does the Rich Young Ruler represent in his rejection of discipleship? Which ditch does Peter represent in his boasting about his discipleship?
• In Mark 10:29–31, how does Jesus’ response show us what the dominant note of discipleship should be?
• How would you describe the difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self? How does our use of money demonstrate our allegiance to one or the other?

Application Questions

• Are you more likely to focus on what you need to give up and haven’t or on what you have already given up? How can you walk in the truth that being a disciple is all about what we gain in Christ as our greatest joy? In your understanding of the joy of the kingdom, what part does the greater number of mothers, brothers, and sisters play?
• I almost asked, “Are there ways in which you spend your money to buy an image or build a kingdom?” But we all do this at times. So, instead I’m asking, “What are the ways in which you spend your money to buy an image or build a kingdom?”
• What are some practical ways that you can use money to invest in spreading the fame of Christ’s name and advancing his kingdom?
• What can you take from this message and share with others in your life?

Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to have a spirit of surrender with money. Pray that we might use God’s money for God’s glory to advance God’s kingdom.