Can the Rich be Saved?

Prelude

Do we value the things of God more highly than the things of this world? Purpose: What is Jesus’ opinion on the most valuable things in life? Plan: Let’s look at Jesus’ instructions after a rich man turned away from Him in Mark 10:17-31.

The Advantages of Wealth

The wealthy are often mentally tough people who endure discomfort to get what they want. They can buy freedom from worries, afford the best medical care, usually get what they want, and can avoid dangerous jobs and abusive bosses. They are usually optimists about taking risks because they can afford to lose money. However, research proves that most wealthy people are selfish and self-absorbed, but some are also scrupulously honest and upright in their moral character. Jesus met just such a wealthy and upright individual.

What Must I Do (vs. 17-19)

Mark 10:17-19 (NLT) As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’”

He asks about self, not family or friends. Jesus attempted to turn the conversation towards God the Father and enumerated some of the Ten Commandments along with an application of the eighth and ninth, defrauding or cheating others in wages or property.

Sell All (vs. 20-21)

Mark 10:20-21 (NLT) “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” 21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Should all rich people sell their goods and become poor? Here, the King James Bible helps by the use of the word “thou” (you singular) instead of “ye” (you plural).

Mark 10:20-21 (KJV) And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Jesus offered him a higher level of spirituality than the Ten Commandments, a life of self-sacrificial devotion. Jesus was calling the man to become one of his disciples, and do what the other disciples had already done.

He Went Away Sad (vs. 22-25)

Mark 10:22-25 (NLT) At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”

The man loved his enormous real estate holdings more than eternal life. His refusal is contrasted with the 12 disciples who had given up everything to follow Jesus. Even an upright man can be deceived by wealth. We find it easier to trust in our righteousness and wealth than to trust God. The more we have, the harder it is, hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, not impossible, but an absurdly difficult task, like threading a camel through a needle. We are all too attached to material wealth and forget what is permanent. The story does not end there.

Everything is Possible with God (vs. 26-27)

Mark 10:26-27 (NLT) The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. 27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”

Can any of us be saved? 1 Corinthians 13:3 says that giving everything to the poor without love, is still nothing. This does not contradict Jesus, but applies what Jesus is teaching here. Wealth causes great deception, and is a huge spiritual handicap. But, any attempt to enter the kingdom on merit fails. It is God’s gift.

We’ve Given Up Everything (vs. 28-31)

Mark 10:28-31 (NLT) Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said. 29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. 31 But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”

Sacrifice is giving up what we value, our best. What about those of us who HAVE given up so much for God? Will God take care of us? Who comes first, God or family? Jesus answers that even if we must leave our biological family behind we gain a larger family and eternity.

Postlude

Let’s all learn not to be impressed with our own righteousness or the trinkets of this world, but the eternal values of God.

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Readings

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Psalm 22:1-15

Hebrews 4:12-16

The Ten Commandments (5 and 6)

Let's look at the 5th and 6th of the Ten Commandments, as most Protestants count them.

Honor Parents

Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

This is a positive commandment, proactive honoring of parents. How do we keep that in the spirit? We are all familiar with people calling others by their title as a sign of respect, but what such a letter-of-the-law custom does not do, is show what’s really in our hearts. Notice I said “sign” of respect. It’s like holding up a sign that says, “I’m obeying the protocol” and that may be appropriate, but have we ever looked past the words to our attitude? I can call someone sir and still be rude, or I can call someone by a nickname and have an attitude of the highest respect.

What that means is that the rules of etiquette are often just a veneer that covers up the hypocrisy that resides in our hearts. That’s the thing with honoring our parents. We may not always agree with them and we may know some of their darker secrets, but the spirit of the command is that we give them honor from the heart. Why? What if a parent sexually or physically abused us? What if they are drunkards? What if they are hated by all and sundry?

A first reason we ought to honor our parents is that, despite all their sins, they gave us life. In most cases they provided us with food and lodging for at least a couple of decades. Even if, as some have experienced, they tried unsuccessfully to kill us several times, or abandoned us, they did give us a start.

Another reason is something we only begin to discover as we have our own children. Being a parent is very difficult. Lack of sleep, infant toileting, a screaming baby, teenage hormonal attitudes of extremism, and the financial challenges are more than many weak people can handle. We ought to honor them out of gratitude for the start they gave us in life, even if it was only small.

Another reason is that our parents are the first authority figures in our lives, and learning to have a healthy relationship with imperfect human authority is a key to getting along in any society. And most important of all is, that if we can honor the imperfect authority figures in our lives, then we’ll have less problem honoring God.

So, none of us honor our parents perfectly. We all fail. Yet, if our hearts are grateful, and our love of them is sincere, we have the beginnings of the spirit of the commandment. When our obedience was imperfect and we made many mistakes in honoring our parents, we look to a perfect Savior, who honored His heavenly Father even to the cross, saying “nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)

Murder

Exodus 20:13 You shall not murder.

There is another of those commands stated in the negative. A positive way of saying it is to value life. That is a principle or spirit of the law that Christians use in regard to topics like abortion, the poor, immigrants, paying a decent wage and so on. This also introduces several discussions of ethics among Christians such as, should we be pacifists or is there such a thing as a just war? Should Christians be for or against capital punishment? Those are discussions for another day.

In Matthew 5 Jesus explained that a spirit of murder is involved in name-calling and other verbal abuse. Now here is an area where we all fail. How easy does the word “idiot” or similar drop from our lips in traffic? Or when a police officer pulls someone over who has offended us in traffic, are we just a little too gleeful, a little too vengeful? Thank God for His mercy.

The Ten Commandments (3 and 4)

Let's look at the 3rd and 4th of the Ten Commandments, as most Protestants count them.

Blasphemy

Exodus 20:7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

From a flippant OMG to deliberate slander, vain and purposeless use of the most wonderful name in the universe is common. Yet, do we who are careful with our mouths also take the Lord’s name in vain? Do we, who claim the name of Christ and pray to Our Father in heaven, represent Him in such a way in public that we cause others to curse God, or that our conduct itself is a vain representation of the One whose children we claim to be?

Some go to the extreme of not using God’s name even for good purposes, lest there be within that even a hint of blasphemy. Could that avoidance also be using God’s name in vain? Did Jesus take the exact opposite approach in the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father? Afterall, Jesus prayed “hallowed be thy Name.” How can we hallow a name that we avoid. Rather than avoid it, doesn’t Jesus encourage us to use it in a manner that hallows God’s Name? We can see how the letter of the law kills. It has killed in such careful people even the desire to use God’s precious name at all. Can any of us truly avoid breaking this commandment?

The Ten Commandments are written mostly as negatives, thou shalt not… So what is the positive side to this commandment? Ought we to use God’s name in praise, thankfulness and worship? If we avoid it altogether, have we not also broken it, by neglecting the positive use of the Lord’s name? How can we hallow a name that we avoid? No matter which way we go with it, we are incapable of coming to complete and satisfactory obedience. So, does this mean that we are incapable of obeying this commandment in all its intended meaning? Obviously the answer is yes, and that’s why we need Jesus and His gracious sacrifice.

Sabbath

Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

Saturday Sabbatarianism is found among Messianic Jews, Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh Day Adventists, and various churches of God. Some are Trinitarian. Some are Binitarian. Sunday Sabbatarians treat Sunday as a new Sabbath. Both Saturday and Sunday Sabbatarians apply a letter of the law approach to a worship day of their understanding. But, doesn’t the letter kill?

One thing Saturday and Sunday Sabbatarians have in common is the inability to answer why there is not one single command in the New Testament for Christians to keep Saturday or Sunday. By the word command, I do not mean hints or personal examples, but a direct, clear cut, unequivocal mandate. It does not exist.

There is one very clear instruction about rest, and it is directly from the mouth of Jesus. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Why did Jesus not tell us to keep the Sabbath, even though He clearly kept it? Here was His perfect opportunity to emphasize the Sabbath for the Church. Some say that the Sabbath was a given, assumed, but that is an argument from silence. And when Jesus is silent about a topic, we ought to pay attention and ask why.

Jesus did tell a man still under the old covenant, if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17) but how would He have us keep the law, in the letter or the spirit? And notice how Jesus failed to reemphasize the Sabbath command in His answer, when asked which ones (verses 18-22). Why? We’ll get to understand that eventually.

Many people assume that the word commandments always means the Ten Commandments, but Jesus spoke of something that is not one of the ten, love your neighbor as yourself, also a commandment. In fact, our Jewish friends enumerate 613 commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures, not just ten. Unless the adjective ten is included we cannot simply assume that every time the word “commandments” is used it implies the Decalogue. That is a frequent false assumption in Sabbatarian discussions.

Hebrews 4:9 is often used by Sabbatarians. It says, “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” On the surface that seems like enough evidence, but a text without a context can be a pretext, and the context of Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 tells a different story. We read of Moses and Joshua who led Saturday Sabbath keeping people, yet who did NOT find rest, even though they had a day of rest.

Some also did not enter a rest from their troubles by entering into the promised land of rest; another generation did. So, those who entered the seventh day rest did not enter a rest in the land. Let us be diligent to enter the rest that they did not enter. That is not the Sabbath. So, yes, there remains a sabbathing, a rest that they did not enter. That sabbathing of rest is not a day of the week. There remains an eternal promised land. Let’s be diligent to enter that rest. Let’s be diligent to rest in Jesus today and every day of the week, from now to eternity.

The Ten Commandments (1 and 2)

Let’s take a look at the Ten Words or Ten Commandments as they are also called. They are introduced by the words, “I am the Lord your God.” Let’s look at that in more depth.

Exodus 20:2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

The Exodus experience is a history that is attested to in archaeology, with historically accurate place names, characteristic four-roomed housing, and parts of ancient Egypt with semitic place names. However, the spiritual lesson for us today is also important. What is the spirit of the declaration that begins the Ten Commandments? It tells us that the God we worship is also intent on freeing His people from every form of slavery today.

What forms of slavery exist today? We are too often slaves to debt, slaves to jobs which do not pay enough to cover the cost of living, slaves to slumlords, slaves to a corrupt food industry, in some countries we are slaves to governments that do not allow freedom of worship, some of us are slaves to a prison system that frequently jails small-time crooks and often only fines those who steal millions from customers, slaves to an advertising world that makes the world look ugly, slaves to utilities that take a monthly bite out of our bank accounts, in the United States many are slaves to a healthcare system that can rob people of their homes, and on it goes.

Why are we still figuratively in Egypt, in one form of slavery or another? We have forgotten the God who frees us. We are not truly free, even in “the land of the free.”

No other gods

Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me.

Most pastors care for small churches and their salary is a large percentage of the local church’s budget. Some church people complain about what they pay their pastors, without a thought for the millions we all pay sports stars, or CEO’s of companies that often have questionable morality. But, one of our gods is money and we do not value those who teach us about the one true God as we ought to.

Another of our gods is materialism. It drives the economy. Rather than encourage saving, advertisers and governments alike encourage spending, because we live the lie taught by economic theories which are driven by environmentally and financially unsustainable growth. A great blight on the Church is the preaching of a materialistic false gospel. Rather than a self-sacrificing Jesus, we worship a tooth-fairy Jesus, who grants our every wish.

Idolatry

Exodus 20:4-6 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

A Jewish Talmud version of the Ten Commandments numbers this together with having no other gods. A lot of people don’t realize that there are over half a dozen variations on how the Ten Commandments are numbered. The Talmud, Reformed Protestants, Septuagint, Lutheran Protestants, Samaritan, Augustinian, Catholic, and Philo all number them differently. However, none of the various enumerations of the Ten Commandments, leaves a commandment out, as some seem to believe. The words are all there, even if the numbering is different.

So what is an idol? First of all, it is not an image. Neither a two dimensional painting, nor a three dimensional statue are idols of and by themselves. All one has to do is look at the Tabernacle to see that. God commanded that two dimensional tapestries of pomegranates and cherubs be woven into the curtains of the Tabernacle and these were not idols. The three dimensional covering cherubs over the mercy seat were statues, but not idols.

When does a picture or statue become an idol? When it is bowed down to and worshipped, it becomes an idol. The bronze snake on a pole, which has become a symbol of medicine, was at first not an idol. God commanded that it be made in Numbers 21, and those who saw it were protected from snake bite.

However, the same three dimensional object began to be worshipped as an idol and so had to be destroyed as we read in 2 Kings 18. What is worship? The original Hebrew in Exodus 20:5 is clear. What is specifically forbidden is bowing down to or serving a likeness as subjects, as any good Hebrew lexicon will show.

So the spirit of the law here is also quite clear. What do we build and subsequently bow down to or serve as subjects? The list could be very long indeed. Everything from jingoism to personal property, from family names or businesses to our own church institutions, and the list goes on.

The lesson of the bronze snake is very relevant to the Protestant Reformation. A once viable Church which had carried the message of the Gospel for centuries, had also become corrupt. The imperfect human institution had become an idol, whereby many Christians were bowing down to and serving it instead of the one true God. Any institution that refused repentance had allowed its rules or itself to become an idol.

An impressive saying that our Reformed friends discuss is “reformed and always reforming.” The motto may be an ideal, but is largely ignored by we who are Protestants, because we have become much like the ancient western Church, stubborn and unrepentant. Or, it may be used for watering down the gospel and adopting worldly values, thus labeling modern apostasy as a new reformation.

Obviously, some of us are Protestant because we see so much in Catholicism that is wrong, but we must admit that our churches are also far from perfect. That’s why we all need Jesus and His perfect sacrifice, because none of us can measure up to the perfect law of God. May God have mercy on all of us.

Parts of the Law

When we read the Old Testament, we find there are several parts of the law described. Some Hebrew Scriptures divide the law into three main segments: commandments, statutes and judgments (Deuteronomy 5:31; 6:1; 7:11; 30:16). Some translations use the word decrees instead of statutes and ordinances instead of judgments.

Commandments

The word commandments comes from the Hebrew word mitzvah, which may sound familiar, and commandment is the most popular translation. So the familiar words bar mitzvah mean son of the commandment. Mitzvah also means the code of law and code of wisdom. It comes from the root word tsavah which simply means a charge or command given to someone. Some scholars down through the ages have called this the moral law, but that is a subtle change of meaning. Better to stick with the original meaning than change to different words which may or may not convey the original inspired meaning.

Are all the commandments the foundational principles upon which the rest of the law is based? If there are 613 commandments recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, are they all foundational principles? A further distinction is made between the Ten Commandments and further statutes and judgments.

“Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice. So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess it.” (Deuteronomy 4:12-14)

Yet, Jesus considered something outside of the Ten Commandments to be the greatest commandments. Were these summaries of the Ten Commandments or foundational principles of the whole law? Jesus explains.

But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:34-40)

The phrase “the whole law” means that we cannot divide the law into irrelevant parts that do not exhibit the love of God. The whole law (commandments, statutes and judgments) must be seen as expressions of love for God and neighbor.

Statutes

The word statute is from the Hebrew word choq, which is a prescription describing the limits decreed, a prescribed portion or required tasks to fulfill the commandments. It builds on the basic principles and applies limits to them in civil duties. For instance, the Ten Commandments are expanded throughout the entire book of Deuteronomy.

An example could be the commandment you shall not kill, which is often rendered murder. The idea of not killing at all could be misunderstood as applying to eating meat or even capital punishment and defensive wars. Such questions about this broad principle are answered, as it is expanded upon and given limits throughout the rest of the law. Some have called this the civil law, but again, that is a subtle change in the meaning, because it applies moral limits.

Judgments

The word judgment is from the Hebrew word mishpat. These are verdicts and case studies with specific applications to specific situations. The idea of changing the original biblical divisions of the law from commandments, statutes and judgments to moral, civil and ceremonial has weaknesses. It is safer to try and understand the original words in their context, than to change them in an effort to simplify them for a Christian covenant.

Moral, Civil and Ceremonial?

Where is the division of the law into two or three categories of moral, civil and sacrificial/ceremonial? Paul and other New Testament writers always speak of the law as a whole, even if some translators insert words like moral or ceremonial at times. These categories are from tradition and not the Bible. Are they valid? How do we decide which laws fit which of these categories? Are nine of the Ten Commandments considered moral, but the Sabbath command not? Is the Sabbath not also moral, or is it also civil and ceremonial? What do we do with other laws that fit several or even all three categories? Are we judging God when we judge which of His laws are moral? Doesn’t Paul apply the whole law in spirit for the Christian, regardless of any categories not described in the Bible?

An example of the arbitrariness of using these words moral, civil and ceremonial, instead of commandments, statutes and judgments, might be where a clear moral principle of not oppressing foreigners is immediately followed by what could be called a civil or perhaps ceremonial law about land sabbaths followed by another moral law about providing for the needy and wild animals.

You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove. (Exodus 23:9-11)

Next time we'll begin a discussion of the Ten Commandments.