Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Mark

God’s Perspective on Spiritual Wealth

Mark 10:23-31

 

Mark 10:23-31

 

I am always intrigued by the flow of events that we find in the Gospel records of the earthly ministry of Jesus.  As Jesus is presenting this series of lessons to His followers about core values in the Kingdom of God, there is this series of events that become teaching illustrations of what He’s talking about. 

 

On two different occasions, Jesus uses a little child to illustrate who will be in the Kingdom of God.  They are very vivid reminders that no one enters Heaven because of their works or accomplishments.  In contrast to that, the rich young ruler that we studied about last week shows up. 

 

He is the epitome of works.  He is willing to brag that he is a keeper of the Law of God.  But he is not willing to repent and follow Christ.  Then, seizing on that opportunity to teach, Jesus shares what we find here in the verses I’ve just read.     

 

And it must have been shocking for this crowd to hear that it is next to impossible for rich people to get into heaven.  In fact, based upon the response of the disciples in verse 26, it appeared that no one could get into heaven if the rich couldn’t. 

 

And remember, we’ve just met the rich, young ruler. 

 

 

And the primary lesson is you want anything more than salvation, if you want anything more than eternal life, if you want anything more than Christ, you lose everything.  He went away grieving because he owned much property and he wasn’t willing to give it up to follow Christ.  It’s an extremely sad story.

 

So Jesus builds on this story starting in verse 23 as He teaches His disciples some lessons about riches and poverty.

 

By the way, what he shares here is not only a broadening of what we see with the rich, young ruler, it is actually a commentary on what we read back in chapter 8, verse 35:  “Whoever wishes to save his life, you’ll lose it. Whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospels will save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? What will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

 

That’s exactly what they had just witnessed as they watched this powerful, wealthy young ruler walk away from Christ.  He forfeited his eternal soul for earthly riches.

 

So out of this conversation, Jesus teaches His disciples a crucial lesson, not only about riches and poverty, but about salvation.

 

First of all, He teaches them about

 

 

verse 23

 

I wonder who all Jesus saw as He “looked around”?  No doubt, the Apostles were there.  I’m guessing a crowd has gathered.  They always did when Jesus was nearby. I think it would be safe to assume there were some rich folks in the audience.  And no doubt, there were some very common, ordinary and even poor and impoverished folks as well. 

 

But no matter who was there, nobody was prepared to hear what Jesus says.  No one saw it coming or would have ever anticipated that statement. 

 

To us, it’s not so shocking but we have 2,000 years of church history and a completed New Testament to shape and influence our assessment of the church.  We know God uses and calls and blesses poor folk. 

 

But according to their theology, iIf you were wealthy, it was because you were blessed by God and if you were poor, you were cursed by God. If you were healthy, you were blessed by God. If you were sick, you were cursed by God. That was the simplicity of their theology. 

 

Now it was a wrong theology, but I’ve noticed wrong theology can be very popular.  So in their way of thinking, the wealthier you were, the easier it was to get into heaven.  And the reasoning was very practical.  If God demanded a spotless lamb for a sacrifice, then the wealthy could just go buy one.  Whatever the law demanded, as far as sacrifices and requirements were concerned, the wealthy man could bring.  So, no doubt, the wealthy were going to heaven. 

 

 

And in most cases, the fact that the rich continued to be blessed meant that God was pleased with them.  The classic presentation of this theology is found in the book of Job.  That’s why his friends were convinced Job had sin in his life.  Otherwise, his earthly blessings would have not been lost. 

 

So when Jesus says, “It is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God,” it was completely counter to everything they were taught and believed.  It is a shocking statement.  No wonder, as verse 24 says, the apostles were astonished at His words!

 

Now remember, they had come to faith in Christ and Peter will make that confession again in verse 28, as we’ll see in a few minutes. But they still had a lifetime of Jewish teaching at work in their minds.  They still saw wealth as a sign of divine blessing and wealth as a means of entering the Kingdom of God because you bought your way in with your giving.

 

So when Jesus says it’s hard for rich folks to get into heaven, they must have been thinking, “Then how will poor folks like us get in?  After all, if it’s hard for them, it must be impossible for us!”

 

And they are so stunned by it, verse 24, that Jesus repeats it.  And the cold, hard fact of the matter is it’s just hard to enter the Kingdom of God. If the rich can’t do it in their system, then nobody can do it. It’s hard.

 

So how hard is it?

 

verse 25

 

This is how hard it is: “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.”

 

So what does that mean?  It means exactly what it says.   In essence, Jesus is saying, “It’s impossible to go to heaven.”  That’s what He’s saying. You cannot put a camel through the eye of a needle.

 

Some have tried to tamper with that saying. Some say the original spelling of “camel” was very close to the spelling of the word for rope and that’s what Jesus was saying.  Some scribe put a vowel in the wrong place and it came out camel when it should have been rope. 

 

Well that doesn’t help much because you can’t put a rope through the eye of a needle either. But that’s not what Jesus said.  He used a very common expression of the day.   

 

Others have said if you can somehow reduce the camel to liquid, you could eye drop the camel through the eye of the needle, or if you could line up his molecules, you could get them through.

 

Some commentaries say there was what was called the needle gate in the city of Jerusalem.  It was a little tiny needle gate and if a camel got down on its knees, then you might get it through the gate.  Are you kidding?

 

First of all, there is no documentation in history of there ever being a needle gate and even if there were, why would you stuff your camel through the needle gate when there were full-sized gates available for that very purpose? 

Who would do that and why?  There’s no needle gate and we’re not talking about reducing the camel down to a liquid.  What Jesus is saying is, with a very graphic, vivid, familiar illustration, this is impossible.    You can’t put a camel through the eye of a needle.  And it’s easier to do that than it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.  What a statement!

 

And if they were astonished earlier, they can’t believe their ears now!

 

verse 26

 

Now they knew that Jesus had said there were only a few that would find the narrow way and straight gate.  So they are familiar with the difficulties of following Jesus.  But that’s not what He’s saying in these verses. 

 

What this is saying is, salvation, entering the Kingdom, inheriting eternal life is impossible.  And they recognize that.  If it’s not the rich who can buy the sacrifices and give the alms, who can be saved?

 

And notice how Jesus answers. 

 

Verse 27

 

“With people it is impossible.”  Bottom line: you can’t save yourself anymore than you can stuff a camel through the eye of a needle. The sinner, by his own power and his own will and his money and his religion and his morality, cannot save himself. He cannot enter the Kingdom. He cannot inherit eternal life. And he cannot be saved.

 

In human terms, it is impossible.  However, and this is the good news, it may be impossible with people,  but not with God because all things are possible with God.

 

By the way, that same phrase is used in Luke 1 to refer to the virgin birth. It’s impossible for a virgin to have a baby.  That’s an impossibility.  But this is an impossibility of that same category. Just as a child cannot be born without an earthly father, so a sinner cannot be reborn without a heavenly work of the Spirit of God.

 

It’s interesting that those two statements are made in those two contexts, both having to do with birth.  Both a physical virgin birth and a spiritual birth are divine miracle from above. 

 

Only God can do either one of them.  Only God can birth a baby without an earthly father and only God can give the gift of salvation.  It is a divine miracle and as such, it is impossible with man, but possible with God.

 

So the first thing to understand.  You may have more money than you can spend on earth.  But you live in poverty because it is impossible to purchase salvation.  That’s the poverty of riches.

 

But flipping that over, let’s look at

 

 

verse 28

 

 

Peter begins to roll that around and he says, “Lord, we have done exactly what that young man wouldn’t do.  We’re not like him.  He left and refused to pay the price.  We didn’t.  We’re here.  We’ve left everything. We’ve left our families. We left our fishing. We left our nets. We left our boats. We left it all and we’re following You.”

 

And Matthew adds that he asked, “So what’s in it for us?”  What do we get out of this? We’ve become poor to follow you.  So what do we get out of it?  Are we just wasting our time? 

 

verses 29-30

 

That’s quite a promise, isn’t it?  Anyone who has sacrificed in possession and relationships to follow me will be rewarded, both now and in the future, in three distinct eras. 

 

In the present age, you have the privilege of being a part of the church.  You’ve become a part of the people of God.  Now you have many fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers in Christ.  You’ve got an unbelievable support system! 

 

You’re going to find that you may have given up an earthly family, but you have gained a Christian family. You’ve gained the family of God. And that’s the first thing that He’s referring to.  You’ve got family you didn’t even know about right now in this present age.

 

Then Matthew, and only Matthew, adds the promise of reward in the millennial age. 

 

Matthew 19:28

Isn’t that cool?  There’s going to a time following the Tribulation when the Lord returns to earth and sets up His Kingdom. IT’s called the Millennial Kingdom.  Acts refers to it as the Time of Refreshing or the Times of Restitution.  Revelation describes it as the “Thousand-Year Reign of Christ” when we’ll literally enjoy heaven on earth. 

 

Messiah will rule and Israel will be converted and restored to her land and her glory. Truth will dominate the world. Joy will dominate the earth. Righteousness will flourish. Peace will reign. Joy will abound. The Holy Spirit’s power and presence will be dominant. The curse will be lifted. Life will be long. The earth will produce like it’s never produced since pre-Fall, health and healing will dominate. Jesus will reign in an exalted fashion. Satan and all demons will be bound. This is the glory of the Millennial Kingdom.

 

And in that period when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, He says to His Apostles, “You will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

 

You wonder what’s in it for you?  You think you’ve left a lot behind?  Then try this on for size!  In this life you get the whole family of God and in the coming kingdom, you will reign on a throne over the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

And that’s not all! 

 

Verse 30b

 

Beyond that, you get everlasting heaven with all its glories!

Peter says, “We saw the rich man who ended up spiritually poor. And we’re the poor who are supposed to end up spiritually rich. So what do we get?”

 

Jesus says, “You get a worldwide family, a throne in the coming Kingdom in which you will reign, and in eternity, eternal life! That ain’t bad for a bunch of fishermen! 

 

And the promise is for us as well.  We get everything they get!  A beautiful family called the people of God, we rule and reign with Christ and enjoy heaven for all eternity!  That ain’t bad for a bunch of poor folk!

 

Then notice this final word from our Lord.

 

Verse 31

 

They were always arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom and who would occupy the most important thrones and maybe Jesus anticipates that what He’s just said will stir it all up again, so He offers this final sentence. 

 

And what He says there is so simple, yet it is so often misunderstood.  What does it mean for the last to be first and the first last? 

 

It means everybody crosses the finish line at the same time.  Everybody ends up equal. If you’re first,  you’re last, and if you’re last, you’re first and everybody’s the same. 

 

 

This is a summation of what Jesus taught in Matthew 19 when He tells the story about people who worked all different amounts of work and they all received the same pay.

 

The reasons everyone drew the same wages is because the last are first and the first are last. This three-fold promise of blessing now, blessing in the Kingdom, and blessing in eternity is equally the same for everybody.

 

Yes, the rich man went away spiritually poor forever. But you poor men, stayed and followed Me and you will receive eternal riches.

 

It was missionary Jim Elliot who said, “It’s true that he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to keep what he cannot lose.”

 

Whoever desires truly to inherit the Kingdom must be willing to become poor, admitting it is impossible to be saved without God, so that God can make His rich both now and in the future. 

 

Let’s pray.