{"id":24471,"date":"2022-12-19T22:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T05:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/mark-10_1-16-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-12-06T17:32:51","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T00:32:51","slug":"mark-10_17-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/mark-10_17-31\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Be Blessed for Eternity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 10:17-31 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 10:17-31.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 10:17 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 17:\u00a0 On the outside this man seemed to approach Jesus the right way: he ran up to Jesus (proactive!), he fell on his knees before Jesus (humility!), and addressed him respectfully as \u201cGood Teacher\u201d (honouring!).\u00a0 \u00a0But when you hear the man\u2019s question to Jesus, you get a hint that this man\u2019s approach to God and heaven was flawed.\u00a0 There\u2019s a good chance that what this man was really asking was, \u201cWhat can I do to earn heaven?\u201d\u00a0 Jesus will use this man\u2019s question to show that\u00a0there is nothing a human being can do to earn their way to heaven\u00a0<\/strong>(\u201cWith man this is impossible\u201d \u2013 v27).<\/p>\n

Mark 10:18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 18:\u00a0 \u201cWhy do bad things happen to good people?\u201d people sometimes ask.\u00a0 But according to Jesus, \u201cNo one is good \u2013 except God alone.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus loved people more than anyone, but he was clearer than anybody else that people are sinful and, compared to God, don\u2019t deserve to be called good; rather they deserve to be eternally separated from God because of their sin.\u00a0 That is why Jesus came and died on the cross: not for \u201cgood people\u201d like you and me, but for sinners like you and me.<\/p>\n

So here Jesus is hinting at people\u2019s sinfulness, but he\u2019s also possibly hinting at his own divinity.\u00a0 Notice Jesus didn\u2019t say, \u201cDon\u2019t call me good.\u201d\u00a0 He asked, \u201cWhy<\/em>\u00a0call me good?\u201d\u00a0 In other words, \u201cIf no one is good except God, why call me good\u2026unless I\u2019m God?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark 10:19-22 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'”
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 17-22:\u00a0 This man, like any Jewish boy, probably thought that to enter heaven I need to observe God\u2019s law.\u00a0 But when Jesus says, \u201cgo, sell everything you have and give to the poor\u201d, there was nothing in the Jewish law that required this.\u00a0 So what is Jesus getting at?\u00a0 Jesus is getting at the man\u2019s heart.\u00a0 Jesus was saying, \u201cGod doesn\u2019t simply want your rote obedience.\u00a0 He wants your heart.<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0 By telling this man to go sell everything he has, Jesus was getting to the heart of the issue: he was revealing how this man loved his money more than he loved God.<\/p>\n

Mark 10:23-25 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 23-25:\u00a0 Is Jesus saying that in order to go to heaven you need to sell everything you have such that legally you cannot own anything as a Christian?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Is Jesus saying that money and wealth are inherently evil?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Here Jesus is pointing out how wealth can be deceitful (Mark 4:19).\u00a0 That is, when you are financially secure it\u2019s easy and tempting to put your trust not in God but in yourself and your money.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it is hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

Mark 10:26-27 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 26-27: \u00a0Jesus makes it clear: there is nothing you or I can do to save ourselves.\u00a0 But with God all things are possible.\u00a0 What we can\u2019t do ourselves God can do for us.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus came.\u00a0 The Son of God left all the wealth he had in heaven and became poor for our sakes so that we could become rich.\u00a0 Jesus became not just financially impoverished but impoverished in every possible way, dying on the cross like a sinner so that we could be forgiven, received and welcomed by God.\u00a0 What an amazing Saviour we have in Jesus!<\/p>\n

Mark 10:28-31 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!”
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields–and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 28-31:\u00a0 One extreme way to misapply this passage is to think that in order to be saved you need to be financially poor.\u00a0 The other extreme way to misapply this passage is to think that you can go ahead and live for money and wealth because God loves you anyway.\u00a0 So let\u2019s get it right:\u00a0 God wants our heart and when we place anything such as money or wealth before him, that is idolatry.\u00a0\u00a0The cost of following Jesus is that Jesus is now the One we live for and everything else we have in life exists to serve Jesus.<\/strong>\u00a0 The reward of following Jesus is that whatever we give up in order to follow Jesus we will receive many multiple times over (\u201ca hundred times over\u201d, including both blessings and persecutions) in this life and also for eternity.<\/p>\n

But pay attention to Jesus’ “but” (no pun intended) in verse 31.\u00a0 Jesus warns that following Him does not mean\u00a0you will necessarily be filthy rich and blessed in every possible way.\u00a0 For the reality is that “many who are first will be last and the last first” (v31). In other words, there will be some who lived like royalty on earth who will be paupers in eternity, and vice versa.\u00a0 There will be some who had global fame on earth who will be relative unknowns in eternity, and vice versa.\u00a0 There will be some who enjoyed so much authority on earth who will have very little in eternity,\u00a0and vice versa.\u00a0 So no matter how much you have on earth, the best thing you can do for yourself in this life and for eternity is to live for Jesus.<\/p>\n

God, You alone are good.\u00a0 You are the Saviour we all need.\u00a0 Everything I have belongs to You and exists not for my glory but for Yours.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 10:17-31.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 10:17 (NIV)
\n17\u00a0\u00a0As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” \u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nOn verse 17:\u00a0 On the outside this man seemed to approach Jesus the right way: he ran up to Jesus (proactive!), he fell on his knees before Jesus (humility!), and addressed him respectfully as \u201cGood Teacher\u201d (honouring!).\u00a0 \u00a0But when you hear the man\u2019s question to Jesus, you get a hint that this man\u2019s approach to God and heaven was flawed.\u00a0 There\u2019s a good chance that what this man was really asking was, \u201cWhat can I do to earn heaven?\u201d\u00a0 Jesus will use this man\u2019s question to show that\u00a0there is nothing a human being can do to earn their way to heaven\u00a0(\u201cWith man this is impossible\u201d \u2013 v27). \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24471"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24474,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24471\/revisions\/24474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}