church

INI
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 4, 2013
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

THE LORD WANTS TO SEPARATE YOU FROM YOUR MONEY
Mark 10:17-27

May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole
spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen. Today we turn our attention to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10,
beginning with the 17th verse, as follows:

Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him,
and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
18 So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One,
that is, God. 19 "You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do
not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor
your father and your mother.' " 20 And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher,
all these things I have kept from my youth." 21 Then Jesus, looking at him,
loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever
you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come,
take up the cross, and follow Me." 22 But he was sad at this word, and went
away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 Then Jesus looked around and
said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the
kingdom of God!" 24 And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus
answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust
in riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 "It is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 26 And
they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be
saved?" 27 But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but
not with God; for with God all things are possible." So far the holy Word.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Whose Word assures us that godliness with
contentment is great gain, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

If I've heard this once I've heard it a hundred times, and you probably have,
too: "I'm not interested in going to church - the only thing those people care
about is separating me from my money!" Of course, it's hard to blame people
for feeling that way, since so many churches nowadays do seem to focus almost
exclusively on money and fundraising. To make matters worse, a new business
model seems to be emerging among evangelical mega-churches in which the
pastor himself owns the church. The preacher himself - usually a charismatic
personality - owns the church, runs it like a business, and makes big profits
whenever member offerings go up. We don't do anything like that here, of
course. In fact I'd be astonished if anyone ever accused our church of trying to
“separate people from their money.”

We don't want to separate you from your money, but the Lord does! And I'm
not talking now about stewardship, the money you contribute to church.
Rather, today I want you to look at something broader, and examine the role
that money plays in your whole life. Jesus had a lot to say about this, mostly
about the risk that money and riches pose to your spiritual wellbeing. In our text
for today we meet someone who seemed to be the ideal young man in every
respect but one: he loved money more than God. Our Lord wants to keep us
from suffering his fate. So in a good sense - in a beneficial sense - we can say, in
the words of our theme,

THE LORD WANTS TO SEPARATE YOU FROM YOUR MONEY
I. In order to free you from the crippling service of self
II. In order to set you apart for an unencumbered service of Christ

In the account for today, Jesus was approached by a crippled man. "Wait a
minute," you say, "I don’t remember any crippled man in this story." And in
fact the young man who knelt before Jesus seemed a fine figure of man. The
parallel texts in the other Gospels tell us that he was wealthy, and of such good
reputation that he had already, at his young age, been made a ruler of the
synagogue. - A devout young man, a churchgoer, lots of money, respected in the
community - what's not to like? Sounds like the kind of fellow most of us would
like our daughters to go out with. But there was something desperately wrong
with this young man. Something hidden and unseen in his heart that was
crippling him spiritually.

The question he asked Jesus indicated his problem right away. "Good Teacher,
what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Which is a little like asking,
"What highway do I take to get to Hawaii?" There's no highway you can take to
get to Hawaii, and there's nothing you can do to inherit eternal life. That's not
how you get there! Clearly the young man didn't get it. Jesus said, "Why do you
call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. (Any you don't believe I'm
God, just a "good teacher".) And so many in our day do the exact same thing he
did. They just don't get it. God has already told us how to inherit eternal life,
right here in the Bible. It's been here all along! But they can't be bothered with
the Bible, they bypass God's Word and want to do something, themselves, in
order to be saved. But Jesus won't allow us to bypass God's Word. What does
he do with the young man? He snaps him right back to the Bible. "You know
the commandments, " He said, "Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do
not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and
your mother.' " Jesus had just laid whole mountains of God's Law before him,
summits impossible to scale! These are requirements that no one can keep. That
we haven't kept. But that didn't faze this young man for a second: He answered
and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth."

Now there's a good Pharisee talking. Because you see he was satisfied with his
outward appearance, with a superficial keeping of the Law. Which only went to
show that He didn't understand God's Law at all. He didn't understand that lust
in the heart is as damning as the act of adultery. He didn't understand that
hatred in the heart is as bad murder, that coveting is as bad as stealing. He still
didn't get it.

Finally, Jesus found it necessary to confront the young man with his sin in a
way so obvious that not even he could fail to see it. Jesus, looking at him, loved
him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you
have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take
up the cross, and follow Me." It's clear what Jesus was doing, isn't it? For the
sake of his own eternal salvation, HE WANTED TO SEPARATE HIM
FROM HIS MONEY in order to free him from the crippling service of self.

People will do extreme things, sometimes shameful things, when there’s a
possibility that they might be separated from their money. I knew someone a
long time ago, a nice person. I would have said “a person of integrity.” Well, a
situation came up in which a lot of money was at stake, and this person was
confronted with a choice: do the right thing and lose the money, or do what we
both knew was a dishonest and unethical thing and get the money. To make a
long story short, he went for the money. After that I was always a little
embarrassed whenever he and I met – I was embarrassed and ashamed for him,
because he'd demonstrated so clearly that money was more important to him
than integrity. That was the rich young ruler’s problem, too. He knew what was
right, he knew that what Christ was telling him to do was the right course for
him, perhaps the only course that would save him. But he wouldn’t do it. Our
text says, He was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great
possessions.

He arrived at Jesus feet eager and happy, wanting to inherit eternal life. But he
went away sorrowful. What happened? What was it that made him sad? He
hadn't lost a nickel yet. No one had kicked him out of the church. When he
woke up the next day he would still be the same respected young man whom
everyone was proud of and whom everyone looked up to. Only one thing was
different. The Law had done its work. He knew now that he wasn't right with
God. After all of Jesus' gentle probing he finally saw that, from God's point of
view, he fell far short. It couldn’t be more obvious if Jesus had painted it on a
sign in letters six feet tall: he did NOT love God above all things. It was
painfully evident, even to him, that there was at least one thing he loved more
than God, and that was money. In this young man was fulfilled almost to the
letter what Jesus had said in the Parable of the Sower: “Now these are the ones
sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of
this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering
in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” – Mk 4:18-19.

It’s not surprising that the young man was sad. Self-discovery can be a
devastating thing, especially when what we discover about ourselves is
something ugly and shameful. And what about you and me? Theoretically, I
think all of us would say that our Christian faith is the most important thing in
our lives. I think all of us would say that we would be willing to make any
sacrifice, give up anything else in our lives in order to preserve that saving faith.
That's the theory, anyway. But what a sad day it is when you have to make a
choice in your life and you choose wrong. How ashamed you feel when you
look back and realize that when you had a choice to make between serving
Jesus and serving yourself, you chose to serve yourself.

That's when God's Law convicts us, like it did that young man. God's Law is a
little like your bathroom scale. You dieters know what I'm talking about. When
you know you've been "bad", when you've been overindulging for a period of
time, you tend to avoid stepping on that scale, don't you? Why? Because you
know what it's going to say, and you know you're not going to like what it has
to say. Some people avoid listening to God's Word for the same reason. They
know what it’s going to say to them if they do listen, and they know they're not
going to like it. It's painful! It hurts to be brought face to face with the
realization that you are in fact a sinner, and that you've fallen far short of God's
requirements. It hurts to face the fact that money may have played too big a
part in your life as well. That a preoccupation with money and getting more of it
has distracted you as well from following Jesus as you should. Have you at
times allowed a personal obsession with finances to put your very faith at risk?
It can happen! The danger is there! Paul tells Timothy that "…those who desire
to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful
lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money
is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their
greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." - I Tim 6:9-10.

It's hard for us to hear God's Law. But it's a lot better than the alternative! "If
we but knew it," wrote one theologian, "that dark night of the soul when the
Law convicts us of sin is one of God's greatest gifts. Far better to confront our
sin now and repent, than to go blithely on without repentance and later be cast
into hell."

And that's the reason Jesus reached out to this young man and tried to bring
him to repentance. He wanted to save him. In love, He wanted to SEPARATE
HIM FROM HIS MONEY, the thing that was crippling him and keeping him
from forgiveness and eternal life. And it's the same thing the Law does for us,
guarding lest we be enticed by money and begin to love it, and our money and
our possessions start to cripple us spiritually. But you know, God has another,
more positive reason for wanting to separate you from your money. He has
glorious things planned for your life. In your life as a Christian He has joyful
work for you to do, and a love of money would just hold you back. You see,
The Lord wants to set you apart for an unencumbered service of Christ

Jesus said "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the
kingdom of God! 25 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Would you ever try to thread
a camel through the eye of a needle? No. That's one of those things that's so
obviously impossible that no one would even attempt it. And that's how
impossible it is for someone who trusts in money, rather than God , to get into
heaven. 26 And the disciples were greatly astonished, saying among themselves,
"Who then can be saved?"

About now you might be feeling just as astonished and discouraged as those
disciples did. Like you're even worse than that young man was. Like it's
impossible for you to be saved. You say, “Lord, I’m a wretched sinner, and my
past is filled with mistakes and shortcomings. There are plenty of times when
I’ve trusted money rather than God. Plenty of times when I focused on my
finances and forgot about my Father in heaven. Is it possible that even someone
like me can be saved?” Fear not. For Jesus says to you today, With man this is
impossible, but with God, all things are possible. You say, “But Lord, I’ve
broken your commandments, not seven times, but seventy times seventy times
seventy. Sometimes I’m so disgusted with myself. How can I possibly stand
with the righteous on Judgment Day? How can I possibly inherit eternal life?"
My Christian friend, don’t be afraid! For Jesus says, With man this is impossible,
but with God, all things are possible.

In fact, not only is it possible, but when you come before God in repentance,
confessing your sin and seeking His pardon, He cannot turn you away. He
cannot, because by the very blood of His Son He has promised to forgive your
sins. When did He make that promise? At your Baptism, which is why Peter
says, ‘Baptism doth also now save us!” [KJV]. Because at the baptismal font
you entered God’s kingdom. There He washed you in the blood of His Son and
freed you from the punishment and control of sin. And there at that font he set
you apart, he joined you to this tiny, elite group, the Christians, the members of
the household of God. And that’s one of the reasons that The Lord wants to
separate you from your money, that is to separate you from the evil love of
money and seductive influence of money, so that you can be set apart for an
unencumbered service of Christ.

What do I mean by "unencumbered"? We had a church softball league in my
previous parish. I could hit pretty well, but I wasn't a very fast runner. In fact,
when I ran the bases my teammates would often holler, "Unhook the plow!"
That's a vivid mental picture, isn't it? Well you know, there are a lot of
Christians with that problem. That is, they're hooked to the plow of their
money! They could be running like the wind, they could be doing great things
for Christ if it weren't for that constant preoccupation with money slowing them
down and holding them back.

Of course it needs to be said, too, that money isn't necessarily evil all by itself.
If the Lord has blessed you with an abundance of it, then by all means thank
Him for it, and use it responsibly. Use it in God-pleasing ways -- to support
your family, to support the work of the church and the preaching of the Gospel,
to extend the kingdom of Christ. But do be on your guard, won't you? If money
gets to be a plow, unhook it! Don't let it slow you down and hold you back.
Respect God, not money. Love God, not money. Trust in God, not in money.
And serve God, not money. Remember the words of Christ, " No one can serve
two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be
loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. --
Mt 6:24.

The account of the rich young ruler is a sad one, because it's a bad news
example. This is what happens when things go wrong and money gets in the
way of faith. But what if it had ended differently? What if, when Jesus told the
young man to sell all he had and follow Him, what if he had smiled at Jesus and
said, "I'll be right back!" How wonderful that would have been! Well my
Christian friends, Jesus is saying the same thing to you today. Just like that
young man, THE LORD WANTS TO SEPARATE YOU FROM YOUR
MONEY, in a good sense. He wants to free you from the crippling service of
self, and to set you apart for an unencumbered service of Christ. He wants to
empower you, through the mighty working of His Holy Spirit, to make good
choices. To put faith where it ought to be, above everything else. To lay up
treasures not on earth, but in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and
where thieves do not break in and steal. May God grant to us all the strength of
faith so that, no matter what sacrifice He may ask of us for Jesus' sake, we can
smile and say, "I'll be right back!" AMEN.