Hello, and welcome to a
time of study and growth.
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A time to get to
know Jesus better.
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That really is
my sincere desire.
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In the next few
minutes as we join each other
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and opening the word and
spending time in the text
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to see if we can
discover some things--
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uncovers something about Jesus
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that maybe we haven't
known up to his point.
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I'm Don Pate from
"Between the Lines"
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and it's a privilege to
spend time with you in the word.
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Before we open the
text and begin to read,
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I'd invite you to pray with me.
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Father, thank you so much
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for the rich privilege
that we have of sensing
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and knowing that
you have ancient wisdom,
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deep and eternal insights
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that will make a
profitable difference
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and how we live our lives today,
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if we spend few
minutes in your word.
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And Lord as we're together now,
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going back into
the days of Jesus,
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we would ask that
the Christ would be alive
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and vibrant for us.
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This is our prayer in
the name of Jesus, Amen.
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I don't know
what strata of society
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potentially you come from.
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My life as a boy
growing up my parents
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were lower middle class
here in the United States.
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Certainly we
were not impoverished
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but they didn't
have money to burn.
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My parents were
incredibly sacrificial people.
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Very generous and very
giving but they didn't have,
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you know, much
from which to give.
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They didn't have a
lot of excess around.
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And they were very committed
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to the issues of
Christian education.
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And of course that meant that
we didn't attend public school
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which also meant
school bills and tuition.
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But a growing up in
that level of society
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it was evident to
me that I could notice
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that there were some
kids that I went school with
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or people around us
rather little bit more.
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And there was some sensitivity
in my little heart at times
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about the kids
who had the privilege,
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to do this or they could that,
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and their parents
would expend the money.
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My parents weren't
capable of doing that.
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One of the
stories of the gospels
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that I think is
excellent for all of us,
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no matter whether
you're one of the poor
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little church mice
very sincere little people
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who really don't have much
or whether your person whose,
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you know, the Lord
has been very good to you
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and maybe you haven't been
as grateful as you should be
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or maybe you have.
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But your resources are bit more.
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It doesn't matter
whether you come from
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the side of--of the
spectrum of the pyramid
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where you're at the top.
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You know, there
aren't very many up there,
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but you at the top
and you have a lot more
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in the-- or whether your down
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sort of in the
foundation of society,
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where there are many of
us who don't have as much,
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the broad base of
the societal pyramid.
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Doesn't' matter.
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There is a story in the
gospels in--it shows something
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that is remarkable
about Jesus' intentions
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and Jesus' interactions
with people along the spectrum,
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you know, from
bottom, top both ends,
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the spectrum of society.
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And I think that
many of us, at times,
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we tend to delegate
this person in this story.
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We tend to put this person off
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you know a little bit
out of-well, "you know
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they're not our class
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so this isn't really
a story related to me."
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I think in a few minutes,
if we spend time in the text,
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we're going to discover
that's-- that's a little faulty.
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That's not an
accurate perception
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that this story is given to us.
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And so much so that the Lord
has it repeated and repeated.
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We find this in
this first three gospels,
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Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
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We find this story
and each one brings into
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our awareness a
little different slant.
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It's like taking the diamond
and often Matthew, Mark and Luke
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will be that,
these synoptic gospels,
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the gospels that are
synonymous, that a lot alike.
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Its like taking a diamond
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and you just
barely spin the diamond
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and you get a
different coloration,
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a different
texture, a different side,
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facet of the
diamond will show you things
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that you couldn't have seen
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if you just look that
it from one direction.
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And that is why
it is really healthy
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if you're going to
spend time with the gospels.
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Maybe to find what's called
a parallel of the gospels.
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Where it will show you that
you find this story in Matthew,
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such and such,
and the same story
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is told in Mark, such and such,
and also in Luke, such and such.
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And you go to read the
episodes in all three of those
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now again John may
not tell the same story.
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In fact, he probable won't.
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There are very few
of the gospel stories
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that are told in
all four, very few.
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You'd be surprised,
certainly the episode
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of the crucifixion and onward.
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But before that
you don't have much.
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John is a
decidedly different gospel.
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But when you take
the book of Matthew
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and you turn to Chapter
19 or you turn to Chapter 18
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of the book of Luke.
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You'll find the same story
that we find in the passage
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that I'd actually
invite you to turn to,
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which is Mark Chapter 10.
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Now in mark Chapter
10, we meet a young man,
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where traditionally
we just add a subtitle,
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we don't know his name.
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We don't call him, so
and so the son of so and so,
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it's just the Rich Young Ruler.
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And as soon as I
say the word rich,
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many people begin to back off.
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They begin to say, "well
that a story about those people.
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That's not a story
for people like me."
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The Rich Young Ruler puts him
into a some kind of category,
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a classification of
heaven's interaction that,
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"well that's not for
me, that's not for me."
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Many of us tend to think that.
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And the truth is
that's probably a weakness.
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When you turn into the gospels,
and this is really sweet,
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again if you
look at it in Matthew
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you get just a
little different slant.
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Matthew is
looking at from one way.
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And mark is reporting
it from another view point,
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from the eye
witness, probably of Peter.
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And Luke is, by
his own admission
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in the first
chapter, Luke is saying,
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"look I wasn't there,
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I didn't see any
of these stories.
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These are stories that I
have compiled and borrowed
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and taken and synthesized
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so that I can reveal them
to you as I understand them."
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Mark as a second hand
gospel because he wasn't there,
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he wasn't
standing there that day
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when this event took place.
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There's no
evidence of that at all.
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Mark brings some
things into the story that,
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I think, I appreciate.
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So if I'm going to spend
time in Matthew and Luke,
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either Matthew 19 or Luke 18,
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I certainly will
discover some things there.
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But, for whatever reason,
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I kinda like the reporting
style of Mark in this story.
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All three of them do something
this really pretty astounding.
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They give a prologue.
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They give a background as
to what triggered the story.
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Let me urge you to often,
often take the bible stories
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and read in front of them
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and then go and
read behind them.
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Take things as we
say, "in context,"
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and certainly with
writings of Paul or anything us.
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Take things in context
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because then you will get
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a larger grasp
of the big picture.
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Of what it may be that actually
was the exit on the free way
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that Paul was
taking at that moment.
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And you'll understand his drift.
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You'll understand his thinking.
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If you get the larger
picture of the context
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you certainly have a lot less
chance of blowing the message
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into a proportion
that is not accurate.
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Take it in the context.
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When you look at the
context of this episode
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that we traditionally
just relegate to the title,
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The Rich Young Ruler,
something is remarkable,
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the prologue, the foundation
that triggers the story.
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It's so much fun.
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And most Christians probably
have never considered this,
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they've started immediately
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like here in Mark
Chapter 10 and verse 17.
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And they say, "he was
gone forth into the way,
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there came one
running, and kneeled to him,
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and asked him good master."
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That is where we say,
"Well that's where the starts."
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That's not where
the story starts.
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The story actually starts
about 4 verses in front of that.
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Look at verse 13
and you will find this
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in all three of the
gospels that report this story.
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You will find
that Jesus was involved
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in something that is so neat.
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I mean, this is
really refreshing.
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He was playing
with the children.
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Now, I know, playing is sort
of a-- not a direct translation.
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He was interacting with children
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in a way that apparently
the children were comfortable.
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That is such a--to me a
wonderful insight of Jesus
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that I often think, and
you may want to deal with this
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a little bit yourself later on,
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but its my perception
that if we take the gospels
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and we read them
and we see the biography
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as reported by these
gospel writers of Jesus.
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We find that in his
ministry here on this world
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as He walk the street.
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We find the time and time again
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Jesus doesn't do
what's expected of Him.
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For between the lines I
have done a series entitle,
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"The unexpected Messiah."
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And when you review the
stories you begin to see,
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time and time
again, people come to Jesus
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with their own
expectations, their agenda.
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And, time and time again,
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nobody is getting from
him what they're expecting.
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And the good news
is even guilty sinners
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don't necessarily
get what they expect.
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Guilty sinners approach Jesus
expecting a little condemnation,
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a little bit of a snarl,
a little bit of a judgment.
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And often they
find an incredible mercy
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they didn't expect that.
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There are people who have
great messianic expectation
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against the power of the empire
and the threat of the senate.
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Jesus didn't give
them what they expected.
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What is really sweet
to me, is it seems to me,
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that there is one class,
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one group of
people in the gospels,
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who never have their
expectations diminished
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or shattered by Jesus.
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It's children. Children.
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That's because they
didn't come with expectation.
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They just came.
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Which certainly is, a
healthy beginning to this story
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because as you read
from verse 13 onward,
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it says, "that there were those
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who brought the
young children to Him,
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that he should touch them."
00:11:17.53\00:11:20.09
Have you ever had
this image of Jesus
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sitting by the side
of the lake, splashing,
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kicking his feet in the
water with the children?
00:11:24.91\00:11:27.81
Chasing tadpoles?
00:11:27.82\00:11:30.40
Trying to catch
minnows with the children?
00:11:30.41\00:11:33.48
And have you ever had
this view, this sense of Jesus,
00:11:33.49\00:11:37.23
laughing with children
sitting there on His knee
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and one of them would
kinda poke him in the ribs
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and he'd laugh and
he'd poke them in the ribs?
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Is that impossible to you?
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It's certainly it
wasn't to the children
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it seems, it's seems
that the children easily found
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a comfortable
affinity with Jesus.
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And they were
just joined to him,
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drawn to him and he
easily was drawn to them.
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Because before you even
finish the next two verses
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Jesus looks and he
says, "come on friends
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understand that your going
to have to become like this."
00:12:06.69\00:12:11.13
They were those when
they brought the children
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the disciples looked at
them and rebuke them it says,
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they rebuke those
they brought the children.
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"Ah, the master is too busy,
00:12:17.28\00:12:19.14
you know, we've got some very
important kingdom work to do.
00:12:19.15\00:12:21.92
You know, can't spend
time with the children."
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Certainly in my years
of teaching and pastoring
00:12:24.62\00:12:28.08
very rarely do I find anything
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that is as healthy an investment
of my time in ministry,
00:12:30.44\00:12:35.00
as investing in kids,
investing in the children.
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To give them--
and certainly I fail.
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Certainly I don't always do it.
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Certainly I've made
some decision and choices.
00:12:43.91\00:12:46.20
But my determination to have
God look good to the children.
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That's a powerful
thing for the church to do.
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To have the
children gain a sense
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that in the
economy of the church
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you are precious
and you're important.
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You're not just
peripheral and under feet.
00:13:04.32\00:13:07.38
You're very
important in the kingdom.
00:13:07.39\00:13:09.56
Jesus said so.
00:13:09.57\00:13:12.13
They rebuked the ones
who brought the children.
00:13:12.14\00:13:15.56
They didn't
want the kids around.
00:13:15.57\00:13:17.94
"Kids are, you know, that's not
to going advance the kingdom.
00:13:17.95\00:13:22.63
They're not gone be the
ones who will pay the bills.
00:13:22.64\00:13:25.35
Jesus, He's got some
kingdom business to do
00:13:25.36\00:13:27.30
and we're his men,
we're his entourage.
00:13:27.31\00:13:29.90
Back the kids off."
00:13:29.91\00:13:31.19
That's the sense that
you get in that verse.
00:13:31.20\00:13:33.18
And Jesus when he understood
this is happening around him.
00:13:33.19\00:13:36.85
When he heard those rebukes,
those little criticisms,
00:13:36.86\00:13:40.64
it says, verse 14,
"when Jesus saw this,
00:13:40.65\00:13:42.99
He was much displeased."
00:13:43.00\00:13:45.02
That was not causal to Him.
00:13:45.03\00:13:47.84
He didn't say, "well, you know,
00:13:47.85\00:13:49.10
I understand
where you coming from."
00:13:49.11\00:13:50.64
Jesus did not do that.
00:13:50.65\00:13:51.64
According to this
passage, he was unhappy
00:13:51.65\00:13:56.02
with the people who had
shoved the children away.
00:13:56.03\00:13:58.86
Not happy at all,
he was much displeased.
00:13:58.87\00:14:01.98
And he said to the
ones who were doing
00:14:01.99\00:14:04.23
all this posturing about
the appropriateness of children
00:14:04.24\00:14:11.14
in the economy of the kingdom.
00:14:11.15\00:14:13.00
He looked at them and He
said, "don't you dare do that,"
00:14:13.01\00:14:16.16
that's sort of my paraphrase.
00:14:16.17\00:14:17.68
"Suffer the little
children to come to me.
00:14:17.69\00:14:20.14
Forbid them
not." That's a command.
00:14:20.15\00:14:23.63
That's not a suggestion,
that isn't Jesus saying,
00:14:23.64\00:14:25.73
"oh, lets take a vote on this."
00:14:25.74\00:14:28.17
"Forbid them not for a
such is the kingdom of heaven."
00:14:28.18\00:14:33.36
I don't know if
you ever done any,
00:14:33.37\00:14:35.03
what's called in Judaism,
it's called making Midrash,
00:14:35.04\00:14:37.85
it's just Holy mumbling,
00:14:37.86\00:14:42.30
speculation just
rolling around ideas
00:14:42.31\00:14:45.14
and opening
yourself up to the spirit
00:14:45.15\00:14:46.90
and bouncing ideas
off other believer.
00:14:46.91\00:14:50.48
I don't know if
you've ever done--
00:14:50.49\00:14:51.90
made Midrash around that phrase,
00:14:51.91\00:14:54.03
"of such is the
kingdom of heaven."
00:14:54.04\00:14:55.86
What is there about
children that Jesus said,
00:14:55.87\00:14:59.15
"this, this is what it takes
to be a citizen of the kingdom."
00:14:59.16\00:15:04.25
Is it their impetuous nature?
00:15:04.26\00:15:07.66
The fact that, you
know, children don't sit there
00:15:07.67\00:15:09.78
and weigh things out real well.
00:15:09.79\00:15:11.02
They just love. They just trust.
00:15:11.03\00:15:15.70
"of such is the
kingdom of heaven."
00:15:15.71\00:15:18.07
"Verily I say
unto you," Verse 15,
00:15:18.08\00:15:19.94
"Whosoever shall not
receive the kingdom of God
00:15:19.95\00:15:23.57
as a little child, he
shall not enter therein."
00:15:23.58\00:15:29.66
That isn't negotiable.
00:15:31.55\00:15:33.89
That isn't a semi-suggestion
on the part of Jesus about,
00:15:33.90\00:15:37.53
"Well it will be
a little tougher."
00:15:37.54\00:15:39.69
No, if we do not
receive the Kingdom
00:15:39.70\00:15:43.93
the way a child
receives the Kingdom
00:15:43.94\00:15:47.21
it isn't going to happen.
00:15:47.22\00:15:49.96
And we see that phraseology,
00:15:49.97\00:15:51.66
that word in the other gospel's
just a little different slant.
00:15:51.67\00:15:54.98
But the bite of
it, the strength of it,
00:15:54.99\00:15:56.83
the pathuels of that
statement is just as strong.
00:15:56.84\00:16:00.70
You cannot, its not,
"well we'll wait and see."
00:16:00.71\00:16:05.85
No, you cannot
accept the Kingdom
00:16:05.86\00:16:08.48
unless you accept it as a child.
00:16:08.49\00:16:11.35
Which sort of confronts
me with my sense of propriety
00:16:11.36\00:16:15.56
and my dignity and
my appropriateness,
00:16:15.57\00:16:17.58
and whether or not
my tie is straight,
00:16:17.59\00:16:18.99
and whether or not I've
got the correct phraseology
00:16:19.00\00:16:21.40
and whether I can impress
you with my academic abilities.
00:16:21.41\00:16:26.36
Unless I become as a child,
00:16:26.37\00:16:28.93
I never really will experience
the Kingdom of Christ.
00:16:28.94\00:16:32.07
I am depriving
myself of something--
00:16:32.08\00:16:36.43
of the Kingdom of
Christ if I come to the place
00:16:36.44\00:16:39.38
where I make a such a
degree of sophistication.
00:16:39.39\00:16:42.83
Don't take it from me, it
seems that's where Jesus said.
00:16:42.84\00:16:48.32
Now that is the prologue.
00:16:48.33\00:16:50.66
That is the introduction
00:16:50.67\00:16:54.06
to the story of
The Rich Young Ruler.
00:16:54.07\00:16:56.17
Because when you come,
just two verses later verse17,
00:16:56.18\00:17:00.20
it says that Jesus got
up and walked away from
00:17:00.21\00:17:02.68
being with the
children in this interaction.
00:17:02.69\00:17:04.95
He got up and walked
away and the rich young ruler,
00:17:04.96\00:17:08.88
notice it says,
"he came running."
00:17:08.89\00:17:14.67
That's pretty amazing
when you think about it.
00:17:14.68\00:17:16.93
Put this young man
in contemporary picture.
00:17:16.94\00:17:19.68
Academically, you know,
up in the upper echelon,
00:17:19.69\00:17:25.10
wearing the right clothes,
00:17:25.11\00:17:27.36
having the right
heritage and parentage.
00:17:27.37\00:17:31.01
This young man
who has some position
00:17:31.02\00:17:34.19
in society that would
cause his nose to go up.
00:17:34.20\00:17:38.22
That young man,
something triggered him
00:17:38.23\00:17:41.68
to loose all sense of propriety.
00:17:41.69\00:17:44.80
To surrender his sophistication.
00:17:44.81\00:17:48.89
There was something in his
observance of Jesus' interaction
00:17:48.90\00:17:52.33
with children that
broke this young man.
00:17:52.34\00:17:55.88
That he--for a
moment he forgot who he was
00:17:55.89\00:17:58.75
and what his
reputation was in Israel
00:17:58.76\00:18:00.95
in the house of faith
and it was like, "wow!
00:18:00.96\00:18:03.85
I've got--I've got
to this catch this man."
00:18:03.86\00:18:06.43
He saw, according to
all three of the gospels,
00:18:06.44\00:18:08.77
he saw something in Jesus'
interaction with the children
00:18:08.78\00:18:12.77
that's so amazed him.
00:18:12.78\00:18:14.12
It was like, "I've never seen
a religious teacher like this.
00:18:14.13\00:18:18.67
I've never heard a
man speak like this.
00:18:18.68\00:18:21.66
I never understood God to
feel this way about children."
00:18:21.67\00:18:29.44
There aren't any
Rabbi's going around doing this,
00:18:29.45\00:18:31.31
not anywhere in Israel.
00:18:31.32\00:18:32.46
I never heard this--
00:18:32.47\00:18:33.46
and something
snapped in the young man.
00:18:33.47\00:18:36.88
And when he saw
Jesus and the entourage,
00:18:36.89\00:18:38.93
the inner circle,
moving way down the road.
00:18:38.94\00:18:41.78
I almost envisioned
that the rich young ruler
00:18:41.79\00:18:43.63
standing there,
weighing out what he's seen,
00:18:43.64\00:18:46.40
what he's observed
and all of a sudden,
00:18:46.41\00:18:47.40
"wow! I've got to catch
him. He is getting away."
00:18:47.41\00:18:50.58
And he takes off, robe flying,
00:18:50.59\00:18:52.86
you know,
sandals kicking up dust.
00:18:52.87\00:18:54.70
He takes off to go catch Jesus
00:18:54.71\00:18:57.12
because it's evident that
Jesus has something to offer
00:18:57.13\00:18:59.82
that he has never heard from any
religious teacher around before.
00:18:59.83\00:19:03.65
And it meets a need, its
strikes him to the heart.
00:19:03.66\00:19:07.62
He came running and
when he got to Jesus,
00:19:07.63\00:19:11.43
again without a
whole lot of weighing out
00:19:11.44\00:19:14.49
the implications of how
this would look to the crowd,
00:19:14.50\00:19:18.72
it says that he
knelt down before Jesus.
00:19:18.73\00:19:22.07
Just fell before him and he
said, very important sentence,
00:19:22.08\00:19:25.71
" good master," verse
17 of Mark Chapter 10,
00:19:25.72\00:19:29.50
"Good master, what shall I do?"
00:19:29.51\00:19:34.45
When you read it
in the other gospels
00:19:34.46\00:19:35.78
they, "what good
thing shall I do?"
00:19:35.79\00:19:38.83
What-something, I'm
missing it somewhere.
00:19:38.84\00:19:44.27
"What good thing shall I do,
and the word isn't that I may,"
00:19:44.28\00:19:49.35
and this is powerful,
this is important, "inherit".
00:19:49.36\00:19:53.44
"That I may
inherit eternal life?"
00:19:53.45\00:19:57.63
"What good thing shall I-
"I am not sure that a poor kid,
00:19:57.64\00:20:03.17
somebody who came
from lower end of society,
00:20:03.18\00:20:07.12
I'm not sure that he would
have used the word, "inherit."
00:20:07.13\00:20:11.26
Because you're
dealing with a young man
00:20:11.27\00:20:13.84
whose parents
apparently were something.
00:20:13.85\00:20:17.15
They had a name, they had
a big house up in the hill.
00:20:17.16\00:20:21.15
He was used to
getting things in life
00:20:21.16\00:20:23.37
because they were handed to him.
00:20:23.38\00:20:26.72
He expected to inherit.
00:20:26.73\00:20:30.71
He didn't say what good thing
shall I do that I might earn?
00:20:30.72\00:20:36.38
He said, inherit because he's
coming from his own frame work
00:20:36.39\00:20:40.09
of being born of rich kid.
00:20:40.10\00:20:42.32
Having things handed to him.
00:20:42.33\00:20:46.01
He didn't build the
business from the ground up.
00:20:46.02\00:20:50.33
No, he was going to
take it over for dad,
00:20:50.34\00:20:53.17
when dad was dead.
00:20:53.18\00:20:55.47
He was use to the idea
00:20:55.48\00:20:57.40
that things would just be
handed to him, to inherit.
00:20:57.41\00:21:01.76
"What good things shall I do
00:21:01.77\00:21:04.14
that I might
inherit eternal life?"
00:21:04.15\00:21:07.39
Now the very fact
that the young man
00:21:07.40\00:21:09.26
asked the question
tells you something.
00:21:09.27\00:21:12.65
There's power in the silence
that has triggered the question.
00:21:12.66\00:21:18.86
There's this unspoken
foundation to the question,
00:21:18.87\00:21:23.63
which is, "I obviously
feel I don't have it now."
00:21:23.64\00:21:27.95
If this young man was completely
at peace settled on the fact
00:21:27.96\00:21:33.91
that everything was alright.
00:21:33.92\00:21:35.52
That he and God were
just like this, and, you know,
00:21:35.53\00:21:38.69
he was gonna waltz
right into the kingdom
00:21:38.70\00:21:40.30
and everything was fine.
00:21:40.31\00:21:41.62
That eternal life
was assured to him,
00:21:41.63\00:21:44.22
he never would ask the question.
00:21:44.23\00:21:46.46
The very fact that
he asked the question
00:21:46.47\00:21:48.59
tells you there was
something turning inside of him,
00:21:48.60\00:21:52.08
a sense of dissatisfaction, that
he did not have the security,
00:21:52.09\00:21:57.71
the assurance
that he desperately
00:21:57.72\00:21:59.83
ached for everyday.
00:21:59.84\00:22:02.26
"What good thing must I
do to inherit eternal life?"
00:22:02.27\00:22:07.11
because apparently
I don't have it now.
00:22:07.12\00:22:11.08
Jesus did some interplay with
him and then finally he says,
00:22:11.09\00:22:17.42
"Keep the commandments."
00:22:17.43\00:22:18.95
That's basically
what it says in verse 19.
00:22:18.96\00:22:21.90
"Okay, you're asking
me what you should do
00:22:21.91\00:22:23.15
to inherit eternal life.
I'll tell you what to do?
00:22:23.16\00:22:25.36
Keep the commandments." Can
you imagine the frustration?
00:22:25.37\00:22:29.56
This young man-- his
response immediately is,
00:22:29.57\00:22:32.57
verse 20, "what
are you talking about?"
00:22:32.58\00:22:35.20
He says, "All
these I have observed."
00:22:35.21\00:22:41.29
And it's almost like
Jesus was being facetious
00:22:41.30\00:22:44.65
in order to teach him something.
00:22:44.66\00:22:47.88
Jesus wasn't being
deceptive or lying.
00:22:47.89\00:22:50.13
He was pulling the rug out
from underneath the young man
00:22:50.14\00:22:53.56
so that he could
stand up straight
00:22:53.57\00:22:56.13
instead of in
the crooked posture
00:22:56.14\00:22:57.91
of his preconceptions.
00:22:57.92\00:23:00.84
Keep the law,
00:23:00.85\00:23:02.97
but I've kept the law
and Jesus goes, get it.
00:23:02.98\00:23:09.48
Get the point?
00:23:09.49\00:23:11.29
Up to this point you
have and it's wonderful,
00:23:11.30\00:23:14.01
you don't find it in
any of these three gospels.
00:23:14.02\00:23:16.29
You don't find Jesus ever
looking at him and saying,
00:23:16.30\00:23:18.71
"no you know you
didn't, you never kept the law."
00:23:18.72\00:23:22.30
Jesus doesn't
challenge him on that.
00:23:22.31\00:23:25.00
Jesus accepts the young
man in sincerity when he says,
00:23:25.01\00:23:27.39
"look ever since I was
small, I've done everything
00:23:27.40\00:23:30.33
that I knew how to do
and it isn't good enough
00:23:30.34\00:23:32.46
I haven't yet attained
that sense of security."
00:23:32.47\00:23:35.78
Jesus never argued with him.
00:23:35.79\00:23:39.60
Keep the law, oh, but I've
done it ever since I was young.
00:23:39.61\00:23:42.05
Jesus said, "in that case
we better try something else,"
00:23:42.06\00:23:44.52
that's a paraphrase.
00:23:44.53\00:23:46.83
Jesus said "look it's
going to have to change,"
00:23:46.84\00:23:51.39
verse 21 "Jesus beholding him,"
00:23:51.40\00:23:53.54
this is so sweet, "Jesus
beholding him loved him."
00:23:53.55\00:23:55.96
Jesus knew that in
this young man he meant it.
00:23:55.97\00:24:01.91
He was troubled and he meant it.
00:24:01.92\00:24:04.32
He wanted the
answer and it invoked
00:24:04.33\00:24:06.25
out of Jesus a responsive,
this is a sincere heart.
00:24:06.26\00:24:10.11
You know, many of us as
Christians don't realize
00:24:10.12\00:24:12.54
that this story has
no end, I love that.
00:24:12.55\00:24:16.11
In all three of the gospels it
says that the rich young ruler
00:24:16.12\00:24:19.73
turns away, he
had a lot to chew on.
00:24:19.74\00:24:23.09
I mean Jesus had
given him, you know,
00:24:23.10\00:24:24.81
something to
really struggle with
00:24:24.82\00:24:26.31
but it doesn't say
that he stayed away.
00:24:26.32\00:24:29.23
It doesn't say that he walked
away and he never came back.
00:24:29.24\00:24:31.83
I love the fact
that story is open ended,
00:24:31.84\00:24:35.10
there it has the young man.
00:24:35.11\00:24:36.78
He's got to go away
and weigh this thing out.
00:24:36.79\00:24:40.25
And, of course, you can envision
hope during the next week,
00:24:40.26\00:24:44.98
crucifixion weekend, Pentecost,
00:24:44.99\00:24:47.11
something that it all falls
into place for him and he says,
00:24:47.12\00:24:50.10
"that's it I will do it."
00:24:50.11\00:24:51.69
And what is
Jesus asking him to do?
00:24:51.70\00:24:54.49
"One thing thou
lackest," verse 21,
00:24:54.50\00:24:56.27
"go thy way, sell
whatsoever thou hast,
00:24:56.28\00:24:58.36
and give to the poor," it
isn't that Jesus is necessarily,
00:24:58.37\00:25:03.65
you know, telling him,
"okay, this is the check list."
00:25:03.66\00:25:06.79
What Jesus is doing is
saying, "look the young man
00:25:06.80\00:25:09.33
that you have been
you can't be anymore.
00:25:09.34\00:25:13.42
The life that has
been normal and common
00:25:13.43\00:25:16.22
to you cannot be the
life that is going to be yours
00:25:16.23\00:25:21.30
for the rest of your days.
00:25:21.31\00:25:23.02
If you want to
really inherit the kingdom,"
00:25:23.03\00:25:28.44
inherit comes again my friend,
"it is that Christian demand.
00:25:28.45\00:25:32.72
You must die self.
00:25:32.73\00:25:35.60
You have to be
willing to have the past die.
00:25:35.61\00:25:39.73
What has been your
common and your norm,
00:25:39.74\00:25:42.30
your modus operandi
for life up to this point.
00:25:42.31\00:25:45.53
It isn't gonna
work from here on out."
00:25:45.54\00:25:48.61
You up to this
point rich young ruler
00:25:48.62\00:25:50.62
have been the Lord of your fate.
00:25:50.63\00:25:54.43
Not if you want
part in this kingdom.
00:25:54.44\00:25:56.65
If you want a part in
this kingdom, you died to self.
00:25:56.66\00:26:01.95
You surrender all that
you have known as normal
00:26:01.96\00:26:05.99
to whatever God dreams for you
00:26:06.00\00:26:09.59
that is the
cutting demand of Christ.
00:26:09.60\00:26:13.05
The young man had
much to think about,
00:26:13.06\00:26:14.91
and he turned and
walked away and, of course,
00:26:14.92\00:26:17.03
as you finish and you
go on through the chapter
00:26:17.04\00:26:19.03
the apostles they--
you know, we kind of wanted
00:26:19.04\00:26:22.47
somebody like this
in the inner circle
00:26:22.48\00:26:24.34
because that
would impress everybody.
00:26:24.35\00:26:25.68
And then
suddenly Peter, of course,
00:26:25.69\00:26:27.18
you know jumps into the
picture, he says, hey, I get it,
00:26:27.19\00:26:29.40
I gave up my nets, I
left everything that,
00:26:29.41\00:26:32.17
and that I've got
lock on the kingdom.
00:26:32.18\00:26:33.23
And Jesus
looked at him and said,
00:26:33.24\00:26:34.47
"My friend you
haven't lost a thing."
00:26:34.48\00:26:37.83
Jesus answered verse 29,
you haven't given up a thing
00:26:37.84\00:26:40.89
if you read it in context.
00:26:40.90\00:26:43.23
That if we get the idea
that surrendering this known
00:26:43.24\00:26:47.56
life that has been my
life is sudden great active
00:26:47.57\00:26:51.95
self modification and sacrifice.
00:26:51.96\00:26:54.40
I am not
getting the big picture,
00:26:54.41\00:26:56.57
I'm giving up
something that is only a vapor,
00:26:56.58\00:27:00.13
its not even the real picture
of this universe as it operates.
00:27:00.14\00:27:04.56
I am giving up
this vapor of a life
00:27:04.57\00:27:06.32
which is only three
score and ten more or less,
00:27:06.33\00:27:09.82
for something
that's on the other side.
00:27:09.83\00:27:11.50
Jimmy Elliot before he
died when he was young man,
00:27:11.51\00:27:13.51
he wrote he
says, "He is no fool,
00:27:13.52\00:27:15.77
who gives up what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose."
00:27:15.78\00:27:20.98
That's a wonderful sentence.
00:27:20.99\00:27:22.28
He is no fool, who gives up
00:27:22.29\00:27:24.23
what he cannot keep to
gain what he cannot lose.
00:27:24.24\00:27:28.33
Jesus asked the
rich young ruler,
00:27:28.34\00:27:31.08
are you willing to give up
what you can't keep anyway,
00:27:31.09\00:27:33.30
you are just going to
get old, wrinkled, bald,
00:27:33.31\00:27:34.92
and you're gonna die.
00:27:34.93\00:27:37.11
Are you willing
to surrender that
00:27:37.12\00:27:38.69
for something that
cannot be taken away?
00:27:38.70\00:27:42.34
But you can
inherit, and by the way
00:27:42.35\00:27:44.44
nobody ever inherits
anything unless somebody dies.
00:27:44.45\00:27:49.92
Inherit the kingdom
00:27:49.93\00:27:52.22
from the death of our
sacrifice what a story?
00:27:52.23\00:27:57.81