Sermon Tone Analysis

Have you ever faced an impossible situation and didn’t know where to turn next?

Have you experienced a health issue and there didn’t seem to be any hope?

Have you experienced a financial situation where you didn’t know how you were going to make it through?

Have you experienced a family situation where you did not know how it was going to get resolved?

In the book of Job we are reminded about the impossible situation that Job faced.

Job had lost everything, his family, his livestock, his crops, even his health.

In spite of his situation he is still seeking out God.

Our Scripture text this morning presents us with a seemingly impossible situation.

This is a familiar account from Jesus’ ministry, it’s the story of the rich young ruler.

Matthew and Luke also record this story in their Gospel’s.

This is the story of the rich young man who comes to Jesus and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life.

He asks a pretty straight forward question.

He doesn’t beat around the bush; he doesn’t ask for advice on how to live a better life he simply asks “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

That’s probably not a question that most of us will ever be asked however it’s a question that we should know how to answer.

How would you answer someone who asked you how they could get saved?

· Would you tell them that they need to clean up their act and start living a good life?

· Would you tell them to start obeying the 10 commandments?

· Would you tell them to start reading the Bible?

· Would you tell them to talk to the pastor?

What you would you tell them?

Notice what the young man asks Jesus, he asks Jesus “what must I do?”

A danger in the church is the idea of doing as in if I do this that and the other thing then I’ll be good.

That is not how it works.

That is not how we become a Christian.

We firmly believe that it is by grace alone and by faith alone that we are saved.

Jesus did everything necessary for our salvation, we simply receive that free gift of grace by faith.

Jesus in this encounter reminds this young man about the 10 commandments.

Remember that presumably this young man is a Jew.

Based on what little we know about him he would know the Old Testament; he would know the requirements of the law.

The cross was still ahead of Jesus so he couldn’t point the man to the cross he had to point him to the law.

The 10 Commandments are divided into two parts, the first is our relationship with God and the second is our relationship with others.

It’s this second part that Jesus presents to this young man.

Jesus says to him:

As a good Jewish young man he would have known these commandments backwards and forwards.

He would have memorized them early in his life.

In fact, he reminds Jesus when he says “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

Jesus wasn’t telling him anything new or dramatic.

I think that in the young man’s mind that Jesus was going to tell him something profound.

Jesus tells him to obey the commandments.

How disappointing that must have been for young guy.

He was expecting something profound and he was reminded to do something he’d been doing all his life.

I have had people seek me out for advice many times.

Often they already know the answer but they want to hear if I can say something profound to them.

I almost always give practical real world advice.

People often feel let down because they already knew the answer and I did not offer them anything new.

I’ve done the same thing in my life.

I’ve asked someone for advice or a world of encouragement and they tell me what I already knew and I sort of felt let down.

I can understand how that young guy felt.

Jesus didn’t tell him anything new.

It must have been a letdown for him.

The very next sentence we might read right past without thinking about the implications of it.

Mark is watching this situation play out and when later in life he sits down and records all these events he includes something that was unspoken yet it stood out in his mind.

Mark writes there in verse 21:

Mark 10:21 (CEB)

21 Jesus looked at him carefully and loved him.

Stop and let that sink in for a moment.

Jesus looked at him and loved him.

The word that is used there for love in the Greek is the same word that Jesus used when he said:

It’s the same word that that the Apostle Paul used when he wrote to the church at Ephesus these words:

Ephesians 2:4–10 (CEB)

4 However, God is rich in mercy.

He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong.

He did this because of the great love that he has for us.

You are saved by God’s grace!

6 And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Christ Jesus.

7 God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.

8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith.

This salvation is God’s gift.

It’s not something you possessed.

9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of.

10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things.

God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.

Jesus looked at this young man who wanted to know how he could have eternal life and Jesus loved him.

This was not some superficial love.

This was a profound love that took Jesus to the cross where he died for that young man and he died for you and me.

Jesus died for your sins and for my sins.

Jesus loved him and he loves you.

If you hear nothing else that I say today, hear this.

Jesus loves you.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you may have done in your life.

Jesus loves you!

He loves you and he wants to have a relationship with you!

God loves you in spite of who you are and what you may have done.

I find great comfort in those words from Paul in that passage from Ephesians:

I find comfort in those words because they remind me that it’s not about what I do but it is about what Jesus has done.

It is because Jesus died on the cross for you and I that I can have eternal life.

It’s because of God’s grace.

Jesus told that young man in verse 21:

Can you imagine being in his sandals?

Here is someone who has everything, he’s wealthy and Jesus who he must have looked up to as being from God and was telling the truth in his preacher tells him to go and sell everything and give to the poor and then come and follow him.

Can you imagine that?

Here is this young man who probably had everything he could ever want.

The other Gospel writers refer to him as a rich young ruler.

He had money, prestige, power, position.

He had it all or so it seems.

The one thing that he was lacking was assurance of eternal life.

What was Jesus really telling this guy?

Was he really telling him to sell everything and give it all away?

One thing I notice is that we read into this story and add to the dialogue words that are not really there.

In all three gospel accounts of this passage Jesus tells him to sell everything.