Participants: Don Pate
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000025
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00:29 Hello, and welcome to a time of study and growth.
00:32 A time to get to know Jesus better. 00:34 That really is my sincere desire. 00:36 In the next few minutes as we join each other 00:40 and opening the word and spending time in the text 00:43 to see if we can discover some things-- 00:46 uncovers something about Jesus 00:48 that maybe we haven't known up to his point. 00:50 I'm Don Pate from "Between the Lines" 00:52 and it's a privilege to spend time with you in the word. 00:55 Before we open the text and begin to read, 01:00 I'd invite you to pray with me. 01:02 Father, thank you so much 01:03 for the rich privilege that we have of sensing 01:07 and knowing that you have ancient wisdom, 01:13 deep and eternal insights 01:15 that will make a profitable difference 01:18 and how we live our lives today, 01:21 if we spend few minutes in your word. 01:23 And Lord as we're together now, 01:25 going back into the days of Jesus, 01:28 we would ask that the Christ would be alive 01:31 and vibrant for us. 01:34 This is our prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen. 01:39 I don't know what strata of society 01:42 potentially you come from. 01:44 My life as a boy growing up my parents 01:47 were lower middle class here in the United States. 01:51 Certainly we were not impoverished 01:53 but they didn't have money to burn. 01:55 My parents were incredibly sacrificial people. 01:58 Very generous and very giving but they didn't have, 02:01 you know, much from which to give. 02:02 They didn't have a lot of excess around. 02:04 And they were very committed 02:06 to the issues of Christian education. 02:07 And of course that meant that we didn't attend public school 02:11 which also meant school bills and tuition. 02:13 But a growing up in that level of society 02:17 it was evident to me that I could notice 02:20 that there were some kids that I went school with 02:22 or people around us rather little bit more. 02:25 And there was some sensitivity in my little heart at times 02:29 about the kids who had the privilege, 02:32 to do this or they could that, 02:33 and their parents would expend the money. 02:36 My parents weren't capable of doing that. 02:38 One of the stories of the gospels 02:40 that I think is excellent for all of us, 02:43 no matter whether you're one of the poor 02:45 little church mice very sincere little people 02:48 who really don't have much or whether your person whose, 02:51 you know, the Lord has been very good to you 02:53 and maybe you haven't been as grateful as you should be 02:55 or maybe you have. 02:57 But your resources are bit more. 02:59 It doesn't matter whether you come from 03:01 the side of--of the spectrum of the pyramid 03:05 where you're at the top. 03:06 You know, there aren't very many up there, 03:07 but you at the top and you have a lot more 03:10 in the-- or whether your down 03:11 sort of in the foundation of society, 03:14 where there are many of us who don't have as much, 03:18 the broad base of the societal pyramid. 03:20 Doesn't' matter. 03:22 There is a story in the gospels in--it shows something 03:25 that is remarkable about Jesus' intentions 03:29 and Jesus' interactions with people along the spectrum, 03:35 you know, from bottom, top both ends, 03:38 the spectrum of society. 03:40 And I think that many of us, at times, 03:42 we tend to delegate this person in this story. 03:46 We tend to put this person off 03:48 you know a little bit out of-well, "you know 03:50 they're not our class 03:51 so this isn't really a story related to me." 03:54 I think in a few minutes, if we spend time in the text, 03:57 we're going to discover that's-- that's a little faulty. 04:00 That's not an accurate perception 04:02 that this story is given to us. 04:05 And so much so that the Lord has it repeated and repeated. 04:07 We find this in this first three gospels, 04:10 Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 04:12 We find this story and each one brings into 04:16 our awareness a little different slant. 04:19 It's like taking the diamond and often Matthew, Mark and Luke 04:24 will be that, these synoptic gospels, 04:26 the gospels that are synonymous, that a lot alike. 04:29 Its like taking a diamond 04:30 and you just barely spin the diamond 04:33 and you get a different coloration, 04:35 a different texture, a different side, 04:39 facet of the diamond will show you things 04:41 that you couldn't have seen 04:42 if you just look that it from one direction. 04:45 And that is why it is really healthy 04:47 if you're going to spend time with the gospels. 04:49 Maybe to find what's called a parallel of the gospels. 04:53 Where it will show you that you find this story in Matthew, 04:56 such and such, and the same story 04:57 is told in Mark, such and such, and also in Luke, such and such. 05:01 And you go to read the episodes in all three of those 05:05 now again John may not tell the same story. 05:09 In fact, he probable won't. 05:12 There are very few of the gospel stories 05:15 that are told in all four, very few. 05:18 You'd be surprised, certainly the episode 05:21 of the crucifixion and onward. 05:23 But before that you don't have much. 05:26 John is a decidedly different gospel. 05:29 But when you take the book of Matthew 05:32 and you turn to Chapter 19 or you turn to Chapter 18 05:36 of the book of Luke. 05:37 You'll find the same story that we find in the passage 05:40 that I'd actually invite you to turn to, 05:42 which is Mark Chapter 10. 05:45 Now in mark Chapter 10, we meet a young man, 05:50 where traditionally we just add a subtitle, 05:52 we don't know his name. 05:54 We don't call him, so and so the son of so and so, 05:56 it's just the Rich Young Ruler. 05:59 And as soon as I say the word rich, 06:01 many people begin to back off. 06:04 They begin to say, "well that a story about those people. 06:08 That's not a story for people like me." 06:10 The Rich Young Ruler puts him into a some kind of category, 06:16 a classification of heaven's interaction that, 06:19 "well that's not for me, that's not for me." 06:21 Many of us tend to think that. 06:23 And the truth is that's probably a weakness. 06:26 When you turn into the gospels, and this is really sweet, 06:30 again if you look at it in Matthew 06:32 you get just a little different slant. 06:34 Matthew is looking at from one way. 06:36 And mark is reporting it from another view point, 06:42 from the eye witness, probably of Peter. 06:45 And Luke is, by his own admission 06:47 in the first chapter, Luke is saying, 06:49 "look I wasn't there, 06:50 I didn't see any of these stories. 06:52 These are stories that I have compiled and borrowed 06:55 and taken and synthesized 06:58 so that I can reveal them to you as I understand them." 07:03 Mark as a second hand gospel because he wasn't there, 07:07 he wasn't standing there that day 07:09 when this event took place. 07:10 There's no evidence of that at all. 07:12 Mark brings some things into the story that, 07:15 I think, I appreciate. 07:17 So if I'm going to spend time in Matthew and Luke, 07:21 either Matthew 19 or Luke 18, 07:24 I certainly will discover some things there. 07:26 But, for whatever reason, 07:27 I kinda like the reporting style of Mark in this story. 07:32 All three of them do something this really pretty astounding. 07:35 They give a prologue. 07:37 They give a background as to what triggered the story. 07:42 Let me urge you to often, often take the bible stories 07:47 and read in front of them 07:49 and then go and read behind them. 07:51 Take things as we say, "in context," 07:54 and certainly with writings of Paul or anything us. 07:56 Take things in context 07:58 because then you will get 07:59 a larger grasp of the big picture. 08:02 Of what it may be that actually was the exit on the free way 08:06 that Paul was taking at that moment. 08:09 And you'll understand his drift. 08:10 You'll understand his thinking. 08:12 If you get the larger picture of the context 08:14 you certainly have a lot less chance of blowing the message 08:20 into a proportion that is not accurate. 08:23 Take it in the context. 08:26 When you look at the context of this episode 08:28 that we traditionally just relegate to the title, 08:30 The Rich Young Ruler, something is remarkable, 08:33 the prologue, the foundation that triggers the story. 08:37 It's so much fun. 08:39 And most Christians probably have never considered this, 08:43 they've started immediately 08:44 like here in Mark Chapter 10 and verse 17. 08:47 And they say, "he was gone forth into the way, 08:50 there came one running, and kneeled to him, 08:52 and asked him good master." 08:55 That is where we say, "Well that's where the starts." 08:57 That's not where the story starts. 08:59 The story actually starts about 4 verses in front of that. 09:03 Look at verse 13 and you will find this 09:06 in all three of the gospels that report this story. 09:10 You will find that Jesus was involved 09:14 in something that is so neat. 09:15 I mean, this is really refreshing. 09:17 He was playing with the children. 09:19 Now, I know, playing is sort of a-- not a direct translation. 09:23 He was interacting with children 09:25 in a way that apparently the children were comfortable. 09:29 That is such a--to me a wonderful insight of Jesus 09:32 that I often think, and you may want to deal with this 09:36 a little bit yourself later on, 09:38 but its my perception that if we take the gospels 09:43 and we read them and we see the biography 09:45 as reported by these gospel writers of Jesus. 09:49 We find that in his ministry here on this world 09:52 as He walk the street. 09:54 We find the time and time again 09:59 Jesus doesn't do what's expected of Him. 10:03 For between the lines I have done a series entitle, 10:07 "The unexpected Messiah." 10:10 And when you review the stories you begin to see, 10:13 time and time again, people come to Jesus 10:15 with their own expectations, their agenda. 10:17 And, time and time again, 10:18 nobody is getting from him what they're expecting. 10:21 And the good news is even guilty sinners 10:24 don't necessarily get what they expect. 10:27 Guilty sinners approach Jesus expecting a little condemnation, 10:30 a little bit of a snarl, a little bit of a judgment. 10:33 And often they find an incredible mercy 10:35 they didn't expect that. 10:37 There are people who have great messianic expectation 10:40 against the power of the empire and the threat of the senate. 10:44 Jesus didn't give them what they expected. 10:46 What is really sweet to me, is it seems to me, 10:50 that there is one class, 10:52 one group of people in the gospels, 10:55 who never have their expectations diminished 10:59 or shattered by Jesus. 11:01 It's children. Children. 11:05 That's because they didn't come with expectation. 11:07 They just came. 11:09 Which certainly is, a healthy beginning to this story 11:12 because as you read from verse 13 onward, 11:14 it says, "that there were those 11:15 who brought the young children to Him, 11:17 that he should touch them." 11:20 Have you ever had this image of Jesus 11:21 sitting by the side of the lake, splashing, 11:24 kicking his feet in the water with the children? 11:27 Chasing tadpoles? 11:30 Trying to catch minnows with the children? 11:33 And have you ever had this view, this sense of Jesus, 11:37 laughing with children sitting there on His knee 11:38 and one of them would kinda poke him in the ribs 11:40 and he'd laugh and he'd poke them in the ribs? 11:43 Is that impossible to you? 11:46 It's certainly it wasn't to the children 11:48 it seems, it's seems that the children easily found 11:53 a comfortable affinity with Jesus. 11:56 And they were just joined to him, 11:58 drawn to him and he easily was drawn to them. 12:01 Because before you even finish the next two verses 12:03 Jesus looks and he says, "come on friends 12:06 understand that your going to have to become like this." 12:11 They were those when they brought the children 12:12 the disciples looked at them and rebuke them it says, 12:15 they rebuke those they brought the children. 12:17 "Ah, the master is too busy, 12:19 you know, we've got some very important kingdom work to do. 12:21 You know, can't spend time with the children." 12:24 Certainly in my years of teaching and pastoring 12:28 very rarely do I find anything 12:30 that is as healthy an investment of my time in ministry, 12:35 as investing in kids, investing in the children. 12:39 To give them-- and certainly I fail. 12:42 Certainly I don't always do it. 12:43 Certainly I've made some decision and choices. 12:46 But my determination to have God look good to the children. 12:53 That's a powerful thing for the church to do. 12:56 To have the children gain a sense 12:59 that in the economy of the church 13:02 you are precious and you're important. 13:04 You're not just peripheral and under feet. 13:07 You're very important in the kingdom. 13:09 Jesus said so. 13:12 They rebuked the ones who brought the children. 13:15 They didn't want the kids around. 13:17 "Kids are, you know, that's not to going advance the kingdom. 13:22 They're not gone be the ones who will pay the bills. 13:25 Jesus, He's got some kingdom business to do 13:27 and we're his men, we're his entourage. 13:29 Back the kids off." 13:31 That's the sense that you get in that verse. 13:33 And Jesus when he understood this is happening around him. 13:36 When he heard those rebukes, those little criticisms, 13:40 it says, verse 14, "when Jesus saw this, 13:43 He was much displeased." 13:45 That was not causal to Him. 13:47 He didn't say, "well, you know, 13:49 I understand where you coming from." 13:50 Jesus did not do that. 13:51 According to this passage, he was unhappy 13:56 with the people who had shoved the children away. 13:58 Not happy at all, he was much displeased. 14:02 And he said to the ones who were doing 14:04 all this posturing about the appropriateness of children 14:11 in the economy of the kingdom. 14:13 He looked at them and He said, "don't you dare do that," 14:16 that's sort of my paraphrase. 14:17 "Suffer the little children to come to me. 14:20 Forbid them not." That's a command. 14:23 That's not a suggestion, that isn't Jesus saying, 14:25 "oh, lets take a vote on this." 14:28 "Forbid them not for a such is the kingdom of heaven." 14:33 I don't know if you ever done any, 14:35 what's called in Judaism, it's called making Midrash, 14:37 it's just Holy mumbling, 14:42 speculation just rolling around ideas 14:45 and opening yourself up to the spirit 14:46 and bouncing ideas off other believer. 14:50 I don't know if you've ever done-- 14:51 made Midrash around that phrase, 14:54 "of such is the kingdom of heaven." 14:55 What is there about children that Jesus said, 14:59 "this, this is what it takes to be a citizen of the kingdom." 15:04 Is it their impetuous nature? 15:07 The fact that, you know, children don't sit there 15:09 and weigh things out real well. 15:11 They just love. They just trust. 15:15 "of such is the kingdom of heaven." 15:18 "Verily I say unto you," Verse 15, 15:19 "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God 15:23 as a little child, he shall not enter therein." 15:31 That isn't negotiable. 15:33 That isn't a semi-suggestion on the part of Jesus about, 15:37 "Well it will be a little tougher." 15:39 No, if we do not receive the Kingdom 15:43 the way a child receives the Kingdom 15:47 it isn't going to happen. 15:49 And we see that phraseology, 15:51 that word in the other gospel's just a little different slant. 15:55 But the bite of it, the strength of it, 15:56 the pathuels of that statement is just as strong. 16:00 You cannot, its not, "well we'll wait and see." 16:05 No, you cannot accept the Kingdom 16:08 unless you accept it as a child. 16:11 Which sort of confronts me with my sense of propriety 16:15 and my dignity and my appropriateness, 16:17 and whether or not my tie is straight, 16:19 and whether or not I've got the correct phraseology 16:21 and whether I can impress you with my academic abilities. 16:26 Unless I become as a child, 16:28 I never really will experience the Kingdom of Christ. 16:32 I am depriving myself of something-- 16:36 of the Kingdom of Christ if I come to the place 16:39 where I make a such a degree of sophistication. 16:42 Don't take it from me, it seems that's where Jesus said. 16:48 Now that is the prologue. 16:50 That is the introduction 16:54 to the story of The Rich Young Ruler. 16:56 Because when you come, just two verses later verse17, 17:00 it says that Jesus got up and walked away from 17:02 being with the children in this interaction. 17:04 He got up and walked away and the rich young ruler, 17:08 notice it says, "he came running." 17:14 That's pretty amazing when you think about it. 17:16 Put this young man in contemporary picture. 17:19 Academically, you know, up in the upper echelon, 17:25 wearing the right clothes, 17:27 having the right heritage and parentage. 17:31 This young man who has some position 17:34 in society that would cause his nose to go up. 17:38 That young man, something triggered him 17:41 to loose all sense of propriety. 17:44 To surrender his sophistication. 17:48 There was something in his observance of Jesus' interaction 17:52 with children that broke this young man. 17:55 That he--for a moment he forgot who he was 17:58 and what his reputation was in Israel 18:00 in the house of faith and it was like, "wow! 18:03 I've got--I've got to this catch this man." 18:06 He saw, according to all three of the gospels, 18:08 he saw something in Jesus' interaction with the children 18:12 that's so amazed him. 18:14 It was like, "I've never seen a religious teacher like this. 18:18 I've never heard a man speak like this. 18:21 I never understood God to feel this way about children." 18:29 There aren't any Rabbi's going around doing this, 18:31 not anywhere in Israel. 18:32 I never heard this-- 18:33 and something snapped in the young man. 18:36 And when he saw Jesus and the entourage, 18:38 the inner circle, moving way down the road. 18:41 I almost envisioned that the rich young ruler 18:43 standing there, weighing out what he's seen, 18:46 what he's observed and all of a sudden, 18:47 "wow! I've got to catch him. He is getting away." 18:50 And he takes off, robe flying, 18:52 you know, sandals kicking up dust. 18:54 He takes off to go catch Jesus 18:57 because it's evident that Jesus has something to offer 18:59 that he has never heard from any religious teacher around before. 19:03 And it meets a need, its strikes him to the heart. 19:07 He came running and when he got to Jesus, 19:11 again without a whole lot of weighing out 19:14 the implications of how this would look to the crowd, 19:18 it says that he knelt down before Jesus. 19:22 Just fell before him and he said, very important sentence, 19:25 " good master," verse 17 of Mark Chapter 10, 19:29 "Good master, what shall I do?" 19:34 When you read it in the other gospels 19:35 they, "what good thing shall I do?" 19:38 What-something, I'm missing it somewhere. 19:44 "What good thing shall I do, and the word isn't that I may," 19:49 and this is powerful, this is important, "inherit". 19:53 "That I may inherit eternal life?" 19:57 "What good thing shall I- "I am not sure that a poor kid, 20:03 somebody who came from lower end of society, 20:07 I'm not sure that he would have used the word, "inherit." 20:11 Because you're dealing with a young man 20:13 whose parents apparently were something. 20:17 They had a name, they had a big house up in the hill. 20:21 He was used to getting things in life 20:23 because they were handed to him. 20:26 He expected to inherit. 20:30 He didn't say what good thing shall I do that I might earn? 20:36 He said, inherit because he's coming from his own frame work 20:40 of being born of rich kid. 20:42 Having things handed to him. 20:46 He didn't build the business from the ground up. 20:50 No, he was going to take it over for dad, 20:53 when dad was dead. 20:55 He was use to the idea 20:57 that things would just be handed to him, to inherit. 21:01 "What good things shall I do 21:04 that I might inherit eternal life?" 21:07 Now the very fact that the young man 21:09 asked the question tells you something. 21:12 There's power in the silence that has triggered the question. 21:18 There's this unspoken foundation to the question, 21:23 which is, "I obviously feel I don't have it now." 21:27 If this young man was completely at peace settled on the fact 21:33 that everything was alright. 21:35 That he and God were just like this, and, you know, 21:38 he was gonna waltz right into the kingdom 21:40 and everything was fine. 21:41 That eternal life was assured to him, 21:44 he never would ask the question. 21:46 The very fact that he asked the question 21:48 tells you there was something turning inside of him, 21:52 a sense of dissatisfaction, that he did not have the security, 21:57 the assurance that he desperately 21:59 ached for everyday. 22:02 "What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?" 22:07 because apparently I don't have it now. 22:11 Jesus did some interplay with him and then finally he says, 22:17 "Keep the commandments." 22:18 That's basically what it says in verse 19. 22:21 "Okay, you're asking me what you should do 22:23 to inherit eternal life. I'll tell you what to do? 22:25 Keep the commandments." Can you imagine the frustration? 22:29 This young man-- his response immediately is, 22:32 verse 20, "what are you talking about?" 22:35 He says, "All these I have observed." 22:41 And it's almost like Jesus was being facetious 22:44 in order to teach him something. 22:47 Jesus wasn't being deceptive or lying. 22:50 He was pulling the rug out from underneath the young man 22:53 so that he could stand up straight 22:56 instead of in the crooked posture 22:57 of his preconceptions. 23:00 Keep the law, 23:03 but I've kept the law and Jesus goes, get it. 23:09 Get the point? 23:11 Up to this point you have and it's wonderful, 23:14 you don't find it in any of these three gospels. 23:16 You don't find Jesus ever looking at him and saying, 23:18 "no you know you didn't, you never kept the law." 23:22 Jesus doesn't challenge him on that. 23:25 Jesus accepts the young man in sincerity when he says, 23:27 "look ever since I was small, I've done everything 23:30 that I knew how to do and it isn't good enough 23:32 I haven't yet attained that sense of security." 23:35 Jesus never argued with him. 23:39 Keep the law, oh, but I've done it ever since I was young. 23:42 Jesus said, "in that case we better try something else," 23:44 that's a paraphrase. 23:46 Jesus said "look it's going to have to change," 23:51 verse 21 "Jesus beholding him," 23:53 this is so sweet, "Jesus beholding him loved him." 23:55 Jesus knew that in this young man he meant it. 24:01 He was troubled and he meant it. 24:04 He wanted the answer and it invoked 24:06 out of Jesus a responsive, this is a sincere heart. 24:10 You know, many of us as Christians don't realize 24:12 that this story has no end, I love that. 24:16 In all three of the gospels it says that the rich young ruler 24:19 turns away, he had a lot to chew on. 24:23 I mean Jesus had given him, you know, 24:24 something to really struggle with 24:26 but it doesn't say that he stayed away. 24:29 It doesn't say that he walked away and he never came back. 24:31 I love the fact that story is open ended, 24:35 there it has the young man. 24:36 He's got to go away and weigh this thing out. 24:40 And, of course, you can envision hope during the next week, 24:45 crucifixion weekend, Pentecost, 24:47 something that it all falls into place for him and he says, 24:50 "that's it I will do it." 24:51 And what is Jesus asking him to do? 24:54 "One thing thou lackest," verse 21, 24:56 "go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, 24:58 and give to the poor," it isn't that Jesus is necessarily, 25:03 you know, telling him, "okay, this is the check list." 25:06 What Jesus is doing is saying, "look the young man 25:09 that you have been you can't be anymore. 25:13 The life that has been normal and common 25:16 to you cannot be the life that is going to be yours 25:21 for the rest of your days. 25:23 If you want to really inherit the kingdom," 25:28 inherit comes again my friend, "it is that Christian demand. 25:32 You must die self. 25:35 You have to be willing to have the past die. 25:39 What has been your common and your norm, 25:42 your modus operandi for life up to this point. 25:45 It isn't gonna work from here on out." 25:48 You up to this point rich young ruler 25:50 have been the Lord of your fate. 25:54 Not if you want part in this kingdom. 25:56 If you want a part in this kingdom, you died to self. 26:01 You surrender all that you have known as normal 26:06 to whatever God dreams for you 26:09 that is the cutting demand of Christ. 26:13 The young man had much to think about, 26:14 and he turned and walked away and, of course, 26:17 as you finish and you go on through the chapter 26:19 the apostles they-- you know, we kind of wanted 26:22 somebody like this in the inner circle 26:24 because that would impress everybody. 26:25 And then suddenly Peter, of course, 26:27 you know jumps into the picture, he says, hey, I get it, 26:29 I gave up my nets, I left everything that, 26:32 and that I've got lock on the kingdom. 26:33 And Jesus looked at him and said, 26:34 "My friend you haven't lost a thing." 26:37 Jesus answered verse 29, you haven't given up a thing 26:40 if you read it in context. 26:43 That if we get the idea that surrendering this known 26:47 life that has been my life is sudden great active 26:51 self modification and sacrifice. 26:54 I am not getting the big picture, 26:56 I'm giving up something that is only a vapor, 27:00 its not even the real picture of this universe as it operates. 27:04 I am giving up this vapor of a life 27:06 which is only three score and ten more or less, 27:09 for something that's on the other side. 27:11 Jimmy Elliot before he died when he was young man, 27:13 he wrote he says, "He is no fool, 27:15 who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." 27:21 That's a wonderful sentence. 27:22 He is no fool, who gives up 27:24 what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. 27:28 Jesus asked the rich young ruler, 27:31 are you willing to give up what you can't keep anyway, 27:33 you are just going to get old, wrinkled, bald, 27:34 and you're gonna die. 27:37 Are you willing to surrender that 27:38 for something that cannot be taken away? 27:42 But you can inherit, and by the way 27:44 nobody ever inherits anything unless somebody dies. 27:49 Inherit the kingdom 27:52 from the death of our sacrifice what a story? |
Revised 2014-12-17