20th Sunday after Pentecost 10/14/12 "What can I do to inherit eternal life?"

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost 10/19/12 Text: Mark 10:17-22 Title: The Big Question. Today’s gospel reading tells of a man who asked a very important question, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” We focus on the fact that the man was rich because most, if not all of us, do not consider ourselves rich. It really does not make any difference though, if he was rich or not, for it not only tells us about the condition of the heart of the man who asked the question, but tells us something about our sinful approach to religion. We can ask that same question in many different ways. We could ask, “What must I do to find favor with God?”, or “What must I do to be justified before God?”, or “What must I do to get on God’s good side?” The answer to that question whatever form it is asked will tell us about not only one’s belief system, but one’s religion, for the answer to that question, is what every religion in the world bases their faith and practice. All the religions of the world, including Christianity, have guidelines for living which they believe are based on the answer to the questions that I just mentioned. The Bible has the Ten Commandments. Islam has the Five Pillars. Buddhism has the Eight Fold Path. Each and every religion in the world has teachings that tell us what we must do in order to justify ourselves before whatever ultimate authority it believes in. The man in today’s Gospel was asking the question that gets to the heart of every religion. Never the less, there is an inconsistency in his and our question; however it might be asked. The inconsistency is between the verbs “do’ and “inherit.” In order to inherit something, you must be named in a will and the person who made the will must die. You don’t “do” anything. It is the person who makes the will who places you in the will. You don’t write yourself into the will. You really can’t do anything to inherit anything. It is all up to the person who decides who is in and who is out. Either you are in the will or you are not in the will. It is simply not up to you. Never the less, the man asked the question, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Since the man asked what he had to do, Jesus told this man just as he does us to examine his life in terms of the Commandments: “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.” We commonly call this the second table of the law. It deals with loving your neighbor as you love yourself. These words should have crushed the man and crushed us, for no one loves his neighbor as he loves himself, but it didn’t. Jesus had piled up a collection of commands that should have had this man and us begging for mercy. Instead, this man actually thought he had kept these commands, for he replies, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” He truly believed what he said. Now I don’t believe anyone listening to this truly believes that they are sinless, but I do believe that everyone believes there is some good in them that God must take into account. That is why, if this is to be a lesson for us, and it is, it is at this point in the conversation that Jesus pointed out the man’s true failure, as Jesus 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.” With these words, Jesus revealed the man’s heart. He did not fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Instead, his fear, love, and trust were all based on his money and possessions. Without his knowing it, good works, wealth, and prestige had become his god. Since he did not realize his god was in worldly things we need to ask ourselves who is our god? What or who do you fear, love, or trust above all things? What if Jesus appeared to you today and asked you to give up something you truly love and trusted in for your security and happiness? Is there anything he could ask that would cause you to walk away from Him? You might not want to answer that there is nothing that would separate you from God too fast. In your confirmation standing before the congregation you pledged that nothing would come between you and the Triune God; has that promise always been kept? In a few weeks we are going to sing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” where we sing about giving up our life, our goods, fame, child, or spouse. Do you mean it when you sing it? What about your pride; your dignity? What if Jesus asked you to give up your standing in the community, your family, or your possessions? If you are honest, you, just like I, would have to admit that we are also guilty of fearing, loving, and trusting something or someone more than any of us fear, love, and trust in God. Yes, we all have to admit that we far too often worship at the altar of possessions, good works, or pride. Our Gospel tells us that Jesus loved this man with αγάπἠ love. Aγάπἠ love is that special love where a person loves another for no reason other than just to love them. It is a self-sacrificial love that only Jesus can have. It is out of that αγάπἠ love that Jesus told this man what he needed to hear, not what he wanted to hear. This man needed to learn the hopelessness of his situation. He needed to understand that he needed a savior outside of himself. That is how Jesus showed His love to this man; even if it meant that the man would walk away sorrowful. Jesus loves us the same way. He sends the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin, to show us in his perfect light the idols each of us serve and in doing so shows our true nature to us. As much as we don’t like to think about it, in fact many reject it, he wants through God’s perfect Law to take us into the depths of pure terror as he shows us the hopelessness of our possessions and good works. It is in that terror, and it should be a terror, if we take God’s Word seriously, that the Holy Spirit brings the soothing message of the Gospel into our lives. When we realize that there is no hope for us in ourselves, the Holy Spirit shows us the sure hope that is in God. He shows us how God entered history in the person of the God-man Christ Jesus. He reveals Christ to us as the one who kept the law perfectly in our place. Through the Word of God, the Holy Spirit takes us to the cross to show us how Jesus suffered and died to take our place as the target of God’s wrath against sin. The Holy Spirit informs us that Jesus did not remain buried in the tomb of death, but rose victorious over sin, death, and the power of the devil thus assuring us of our forgiveness. Finally, the Holy Spirit gives us the faith that trusts Jesus for salvation. Through that faith we constantly receive the forgiveness of our sins, God declares us holy in his eyes, and we inherit eternal life. We no longer have to ask the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Instead, the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus and declares, “Look what God has done to give you eternal life.” This is the wonderful difference between Christianity and every other religion. For, when we ask, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” we just need to read God’s Word. Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And in Isaiah 64:6 “All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” And in Romans 3:10 “None is righteous, no, not one.” Last, but not least in Romans 3:20 “By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight.” God’s Word makes it very clear that the answer to the question “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” is that there is nothing that we can do. But God does not leave us there with no hope, for his Word also tells us the wonderful soothing and life giving words from God, as they are recorded in Ephesians 2:13, “In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” In 1 John 1:7 “The blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin. And in Romans 3:24-25, “We are justified by [God’s] grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. And last, but certainly not least we are told in Romans 3:28 that “we are justified by faith apart from works of the law, so that no one can boast.” These are the central teachings of the Christian faith. All the doctrines of the Bible depend on the doctrine of justification; this is our being declared innocent before God because of the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Everything in the Bible points to the fact that we do not inherit heaven based on what we do. Instead, we inherit heaven based on what God has already done. The Bible does not tell us what happened to the man in today’s Gospel. We hope that he listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit so that he would be led to repentance. Perhaps he came to faith at a later time. Perhaps we will meet him in heaven. We will not know until then. There is one thing that we can know. When the time comes for us to leave this life, we will inherit eternal life as members of what is called the Church Triumphant. There we shall leave our sins behind and live under Jesus in his new heaven and earth, serving him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true. Amen