A rich man approached Jesus asking Him about heaven and in this week's session, Abi is going to look at the relationship between wealth and the Kingdom of God, and answer the question of why you cannot buy your way into heaven as well as how our money and other idols (gods) can hold us back from all that God has for us.
01The Question That Stopped Jesus in His Tracks
A man ran up to Jesus, fell on his knees, and asked the most important question anyone could ask: "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
He was not a sceptic. He was not trying to trap Jesus with a clever theological puzzle. He was wealthy, respected, and by all accounts morally upstanding. He had kept the commandments since he was a boy. He was the kind of person any church would be thrilled to have on the membership roll.
And Jesus looked at him, loved him, and then said something that sent him away grieving.
02The Man Who Had Everything
Mark 10:17-31 introduces a figure traditionally known as the rich young ruler. Mark does not give us his name, but he gives us enough detail to paint a picture. This was someone who had done everything right by the standards of his day. He had followed the rules. He had lived a good life. He was sincere enough to run up to a travelling teacher and kneel in the dust to ask his question.
"He's ticking all the boxes. He's kept the commandments. He's lived a moral life. And he genuinely wants to know what else he needs to do."
Jesus responded by listing the commandments: do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and mother. The man said he had kept all of these since he was young.
And then Mark includes a detail that is easy to rush past: "Jesus looked at him and loved him."
This was not a trick. It was not a trap. Jesus genuinely cared about this man. And because he cared, he told him the truth.
03The One Thing You Lack
"One thing you lack," Jesus said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
The man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
It is tempting to read this as a blanket command that all Christians must sell everything they own. But that misses the point. Jesus did not say this to every person he encountered. He did not say it to Zacchaeus the tax collector, or to Joseph of Arimathea, or to Lazarus and his sisters. The instruction was specific to this man, because Jesus could see what was specific to this man.
"Jesus knew his heart. He knew that money had a hold on this man's life that was preventing him from fully following God. It wasn't that wealth itself was the problem — it was what wealth had become for this particular person."
For this man, money was not just a resource. It was his identity, his security, his sense of worth. And Jesus was saying: you cannot follow me and keep that. Not because I want you to suffer, but because the thing you are clinging to is the very thing keeping you from what you actually want.
04Why the Disciples Were Shocked
What happened next reveals how deeply embedded the connection between wealth and God's favour was in first-century Jewish thinking.
Jesus turned to his disciples and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed. He went further: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
The disciples were even more amazed. "Who then can be saved?" they asked.
Their shock makes sense when you understand the prevailing theology. In that culture, wealth was widely seen as evidence of God's blessing. If you were rich, God must be pleased with you. If you were poor, something must have gone wrong in your relationship with God.
Jesus demolished that assumption in a single sentence. Wealth was not evidence of God's favour. In fact, it could be one of the greatest obstacles to it.
"The disciples' reaction tells you everything. They thought wealth was proof that you were on the right track with God. Jesus said it might actually be the thing keeping you off track."
05The Camel and the Needle
The image of a camel going through the eye of a needle has generated centuries of creative interpretation. Some have suggested there was a small gate in Jerusalem called the Eye of the Needle that a camel could squeeze through if it knelt down and had its baggage removed. It is a nice metaphor, but there is no historical evidence for such a gate.
The more likely reading is that Jesus meant exactly what he said. It is impossible. A camel cannot go through the eye of a needle. And by human effort alone, a rich person cannot enter the kingdom of God.
The point is not that wealth is evil. The point is that wealth creates an illusion of self-sufficiency. When you can buy your way out of most problems, you are less likely to recognise your need for God. When your security comes from your bank balance, trusting an invisible God feels unnecessary.
"You cannot buy your way into heaven. And the more you have, the harder it can be to realise that what you actually need is not something money can purchase."
06What Money Cannot Buy
The rich young ruler could buy comfort, influence, and respect. He could buy the best food, the finest clothes, and a house that impressed everyone who saw it. But he could not buy the one thing he came to Jesus looking for: eternal life.
That is the tension at the heart of this story. The man had everything the world says you need, and he knew it was not enough. Something was missing. He could feel the gap. And he was honest enough to ask about it.
Jesus's answer was not "try harder" or "give more to charity" or "add another religious practice to your routine." His answer was: let go of the thing you are holding onto more tightly than you are holding onto me.
For this man, it was money. For someone else, it might be career ambition, or a relationship, or reputation, or control. The specific idol varies. The principle does not: anything that takes the place of God in your life will eventually become the barrier between you and God.
07With God, All Things Are Possible
The disciples' question — "who then can be saved?" — is the right question. Because if even the wealthy and the morally upright cannot earn their way into God's kingdom, then who can?
Jesus's answer is the hinge of the entire passage: "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
Salvation is not a transaction. It is not something you earn by being good enough, giving enough, or achieving enough. It is a gift. And gifts, by definition, cannot be purchased.
"That is the whole point. If you could earn it, it would not be grace. If you could buy it, it would not be a gift. The kingdom of God is freely offered to anyone willing to receive it — but receiving requires open hands, and open hands mean letting go of whatever you are currently gripping."
08Peter's Question and Jesus's Promise
Peter, never one to miss an opportunity to speak up, pointed out that the disciples had left everything to follow Jesus. The subtext was clear: what about us? We did what the rich man could not. What do we get?
Jesus's response was generous. "Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age — homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields — along with persecutions — and in the age to come eternal life."
The inclusion of "along with persecutions" is classic Jesus. He did not pretend that following him would be comfortable. The rewards are real, but so is the cost.
And then he added a line that turns the whole world upside down: "But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
The kingdom of God operates on a completely different value system. The people the world considers successful may find themselves at the back of the queue. And the people the world overlooks — the poor, the humble, the ones with nothing to offer but themselves — may find themselves at the front.
09The Invitation Behind the Challenge
This story is often read as a warning about money. And it is. But underneath the warning is an invitation.
Jesus did not tell the rich man to sell everything because he wanted him to be miserable. He told him to sell everything because he wanted him to be free. The wealth had become a cage — a very comfortable cage, but a cage nonetheless. And Jesus was offering the key.
The same invitation extends to anyone who senses that gap — the nagging feeling that despite having everything, something essential is missing. The answer is not more. It is less. Less of whatever has taken God's place, and more of the one thing that actually satisfies.
What are you holding onto that might be holding you back? And what would it look like to open your hands?
Topics in this talk
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Why We cannot buy our way into Heaven _ LIVESTREAM Matt: [00:00:00] Well, hello. Good day. Good day and welcome. How you all doing? Welcome. Happy Sunday. Sorry, I'm not quite sure what happened there. Uh, it just sort of started playing another video for whatever reason. So welcome. It's great that you are here. Uh, welcome to Frontline Church and Online Church. In fact, I wonder if I do this, whether actually this is gonna work. Let's just try this little new video, shall we?[00:01:00] So there you go. What do you think of that new little intro we've been working on? I appreciate the colors need fixing, but. I love the sentiment of it. And church. Uh, we're a digital church, for those of you who don't know. Um, it's, it's just what we do. We do church online. And, uh, in this time, in this sort of season, uh, where COVID has kind of changed plans for everybody, uh, we're just doing things a little bit differently. And it's good that actually we can have church online. That church is not bound by walls or pews or pulpits. It's just people, uh, getting together. And I like that phrase, Jesus is an adventure. Um, and he is. And that's why we're here, right? We're gathering together to be inspired by the amazing person that Jesus is. And boy, have we got a good service for you coming up. So let me tell you what is gonna happen. Uh, we're just gonna do some notices right here at the start. Um, [00:02:00] and uh, if this is your first time here, if you dunno me, my name is Matt Edmundson. Um, it's great to see you. Uh, I run this digital church, uh, in Christian terms that makes me a pastor. I'm the pastor of this sort of digital church, which is good fun, really, really enjoying doing church online. So it's what we do. It's kind of fun. Um, this is, it's not what I do full-time in case you're wondering actually, full-time. I'm an entrepreneur. I run my own businesses, internet businesses. Uh, hence the reason I'm kind of comfortable doing this digital stuff 'cause we do a lot of digital work. So, uh, so that's what I do. That's who I am. I'm married to the beautiful Sharon, uh, who is actually. Not in Liverpool today. We're streaming from Liverpool, by the way, if you are, if you're watching this from somewhere other than Liverpool, we stream from Liverpool. Sharon is in fact in Jersey, so, uh, enjoying herself probably on the beach as we speak. Uh, having a well earned rest with my daughter, Zoe. So in fact, Zach, my son is over in Jersey as well. So [00:03:00] the only people not in Jersey are me and Josh. Uh, we're kind of here. Oh, in fact, uh, Sharon is watching. Um, so we can, we've just got this little hi from me, z and Zoe from Jersey. So hey Jersey guys. Hope you're doing well. Uh, missing you. Uh oh. And Serena's watching as well. Hey, Serena, uh, more folks from Jersey, so it's great that you guys are with us. Great that you are here. Uh, so that's kind of who I am. So if you're watching this live, it's great to have you with us. Make sure you kind of like, comment and she, let me just play that little clip there. So one of the things that we think, uh, we think we think works really well is when you comment and you like and you share what's going on with a broadcast. And just jump in in the Facebook comments. Love to hear your thoughts, ideas, just whack 'em in there. Um, and so I'm just going through them now. Matt's just put here. New vid is great. I'm glad you like it Matt. And thanks for reminding me about the tech. No [00:04:00] music at the start. Yeah, something always goes wrong with these broadcasts 'cause it's live. But that's okay. It's fun. We're getting there. We are getting better. That's for sure. So if you're watching live, do join in, uh, with the likes, the comments and the shares and so on and so forth. If you are watching this, uh, sort of post live, uh, if you like, if we sort of come up on your feed, uh, for whatever reason, we hope you enjoy the service. We hope you get a lot out of it. Um, and uh, again, you can still like, you can still comment, you can still share, and it would be great for you to get in touch with us. Uh, we've got Phoebe watching as well, which is fantastic. Now. That's right. I'm pointing in the right direction. It's funny when you look in cameras 'cause everything's back to front. I should be going that way, but no, that way, this number here in the corner of the screen, that is our WhatsApp number and that comes through to me here in mission control. I would love for you just to let me know how you're watching this Send isn't sending your photographs, um, of how you're watching this. So this was [00:05:00] last week. 'cause obviously Zoe, my daughter in that photo is now in Jersey trying to stab Josh with a pencil. That's what they were doing. Uh, last week Josh was drinking his coffee and Zoe yeah. Was, uh, not happy about something. Um, and then we got, oh, we've got his photo of Matt here. Uh, he sent me this before the service started. He's watching the snooker at this point, getting ready for Frontline city, uh, which is great. I was actually before. Before we went live, I was actually watching the Grand Prix. I won't tell you what happened, I just kind of had that on in the background while I was getting all ready for this kind of stuff, which was great. So sending your photos to that, that, that number there. Uh, that would be great. Sorry Matt, lemme get you off the, there we go. That number there. Uh, sending your photographs. How are you watching this? We would love to see how you are watching the stream. 'cause the beauty of this is you can be anywhere in the world, Liverpool, jersey, wherever, uh, doing anything watching this live stream. So, um, it's just, it's mad how it works, but I [00:06:00] genuinely am loving it. So make sure you send that in, right kids. Let's play your little bit. Oh yes, my little kid's vt. I need some music or sounds to go with that, uh, uh, somehow. So in fact, I could do this. Let's play that music again. Do you like this other piece of music we've got going on? Oh, it's the kids thing's not playing. I, anyway, uh, so yeah, that's the new bit of music we've got going on, uh, which we played at the start anyway, kids last week you did super well, uh, with your drawing. You sent me some photographs there, uh, with super, super line, super drawing, super color, and in going on, so do you know what? I've just gone and realized though I've not uploaded the new color and in sheets. So, you know what, this Sunday, there is no color. Well, you can download from the website, the old coloring in sheet from last week. If you've not done so, you can, you know, you'll see, uh, the one that Abby's got there. You can use that. Um, or just draw me a picture. We don't need coloring in sheets [00:07:00] every week. Just draw me a picture of something that is in front of you or something that you are thankful to God for. Uh, because Matt messed up and didn't put it up online, so my bad. Uh, but you can just do whatever you want to do. Free flow because it's holiday season and, uh, you know. That's just what we do, isn't it? We just sort of change things around a little bit on holiday. Okay. So let me tell you the outline for the service. I've got a few more notices to go through here. Uh, I'm gonna read through some of your comments. And then the, uh, amazing Abey Sharples is gonna be sharing with us this morning as we carry on our journey through the gospel of Mark. Uh, and I'll explain more about that in a minute. But Abby is gonna be sharing with us. And from memory, Abby's talk is something like, can or can you buy your way into heaven? Or why you cannot buy your way into heaven. I think that was the title we came up with. Uh, why You Cannot Buy Your Way Into Heaven, uh, which is just great. Uh, really, really like it and we all love [00:08:00] it when Abby shares 'cause. Abby is awesome, so make sure you stay tuned for that. After Abby has, uh, shared, we are gonna have a small time or a small, a short time of worship, uh, and we are gonna be singing a song called Worthy of It All. Yes, I'm looking at my notes here. We are singing worthy of it all, and I'll explain a bit more about that song later on down the line, um, and how that's gonna work. So yeah, if you are new to the stream and if you are in fact new to the Christian faith, uh, then jump in the comments. Say hi. If there's something that we say or something that we do that doesn't make sense or just shout out more, try and explain it. We do try and de Christianize what's going on here. Um, but we're not always brilliant at it. So anything, uh, you just, you just let us know what's going on, uh, and we'll try and answer it for you now. Um, just so you know, there is gonna be no Zoom call today because Sharon, as you saw earlier, I'll add that again to the broadcast, is in Jersey, [00:09:00] um, with this wonderful family, uh, having a great time. Uh, and Phoebe, uh, they're all there in Jersey having a big time and so there's gonna be no zoom today. So, uh, just to let you know, there's no, ordinarily what we do after the live stream is we head on over to Zoom for those who want to, and we just sort of catch up, uh, and chat, uh, and pray. Um, so that's why I'm talking about Zoom. We're just not gonna do that today. Uh, right. What's Matt put here? Can I draw a picture of you with decent tidy hairstyle? I don't know, Matt. The challenge is set. Can you do it? I wanna see if you can let me know, because you know, I deserve to see that. I deserve to see that. What nonsense am I talking right now? Anyway, uh, so you should be sending into me your photos of how you're watching this. Send those through. And like I say, it's your first time here. Really welcome. Do join in with the Facebook comments and the likes. You know what [00:10:00] I said to you at the start, I kind of, this. What I do in my spare time, full time. I, I am an entrepreneur. I run my own businesses. Um, and I love, I just love life and how we, how Jesus kind of fuses spiritual, um, aspects that, you know, faith into work and into life and into everything. He's kind of, we said at the start that Jesus is an adventure and that is totally my experience and I pray it's your experience too, that he just rocks your world as you are watching this. It'd be great, um, if you don't know him for you to meet him, that's for sure. So, uh, what's next on my, the reason I'm looking down here, uh, ordinarily we have a teleprompter in front of the camera. I'm just giving you a little background information. Ordinarily I have a teleprompter with my notes on, so, uh, I can look at that and look at you at the same time. Abby, uh, took the teleprompter earlier and I've not managed to set it up in here again yet. So I'm old fashioned pen and paper. I [00:11:00] can show you. See, uh, leaning up against the camera. That's how we roll. Now let me show you this little clip for those of you who haven't seen it. Let's look at the between Sunday intro. Okay. We love that little bit. Matt especially loves that bit of music, but we love between Sunday because we realize that church is not just about what happens on a Sunday, right? So, uh, it's not, we said earlier, it's not about the building, it's not about the walls. It is definitely not about what happens in the next [00:12:00] 40 minutes or so. This is just a pod of it. And so what we like to do is we bring out some extra content throughout the week, which you can join in, uh, as we try and explore a bit more, uh, deeply stuff that we talk about on the Sunday. Now I will share with you, uh, technology allowing me, there we go. This is, uh, YouTube and you can see the last two videos on there. Uh, the between Sunday videos, which Sarah and Rebecca did check this out. And I loved the little food coloring analogy with, um, shaving foam and food coloring. Yes, shaving foam and food coloring. That is what we did, uh, what they did in the between Sunday session. You know what, it was fantastic. So if you want to know about water shaving foam and food coloring you, and what that's gotta do with Prayer, you should check out the between Sunday sessions. Just go and, uh, and just check it out on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel on YouTube. Make sure you [00:13:00] get that content. Uh, what's Abby put here? My favorite song? What a bop. I assume you're talking about this one. Is that right? Or are you talking about this one? Because you know, oh, you know what, we're having both playing at the same time. That was a bit disa dead disastrous. Uh, Matt, what were you put here? Love techno love, love, love. Well, we're glad you're enjoying it. But, uh, anyway, so that's between Sunday now, the bit you've all been waiting for, if you remember why. You know what? I'm not gonna spoil it. I'm gonna let Josh introduce it. So here is this week's catch. Josh: Hello. Welcome to Sunday Catch up. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Josh Edmundson. I am one of the leaders here at Frontline City. So good to see you. Well, metaphorically speaking. Um, it's great to have you with us. I hope you have enjoyed the [00:14:00] service so far and I can't wait to dive into the teaching. Coming later on. For those of you who dunno what the catch-up segment is, it's that part of the week where we get to watch videos that we've been sent from the community to see what people have been up to. Um, if you were here with us last time, oh, hold on a second. If you were here with us last time, you might remember my dad, Matt Edmundson, the guy who is MCing a lot of the time, giving the challenge to try and do a cartwheel. Now, I think this was specifically aimed at the kids, but I thought it'd be fun if I gave it a go as well. So here's my attempt from yesterday, take two. Sarah: Woo. Josh: You know what? I didn't think I did too badly. It is the first time I've almost kind of done a proper looking cartwheel. I didn't break anything. So in my books, that kind of counts as a success. However, I know that there are a few people that have [00:15:00] also given it a try. I'm sure they did a much better job than I did. So let's get to those videos now and see how they did and watch what other people have been up to during the week as well. Sarah: Hi, so I'm Sharon, and this is Zoe. It's Wednesday and it's really hot. So we've come to the park and Zoe's doing some knitting. She's here, I'm taking apart a pair of jeans and uh, this is our view. Josh: Go. Matt: Is that all right? Josh: Yeah. Matt: Want you to know I'm doing this in Crocs stuff I do for you. Oh, look at that. Look at that. I want you to know. Professional. Just destroyed my shoulder, but that was awesome. Oh, Sarah: go. 1, 2, 1, go.[00:16:00] Two, one, go. Matt: Well, that was a, that was an abrupt tending, Josh. Uh, wow. I, I was just mesmerized by the fact that Abby was doing one armed, uh, cartwheels. Then I struggled with two arms, so I, I don't even wanna know what I would do if I just had one arm. Uh, so thank you for sending your videos in. Uh, they were great to see. It was good fun. Um, shooting that, uh, cartwheel. Think my shoulder still aches slightly. Um, so maybe next time I need to warm up prop, I don't know. I dunno what's going on. So what's Matt put here? I'm showing off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You should. I need to see the video, Matt, of you doing a cartwheel. Just saying, uh, what's that thing, Abby? I need to hashtag, hashtag. Just [00:17:00] saying. Uh, so make sure you sending your catchup videos to Josh throughout the week. Let him know where you're up to and what's going on. He would love to see that. Um, and uh, if you have yet to submit your Cartwheel challenge, you've still got plenty of time to do that. So basically I've done it. Josh has done it. The Langston kids have done it. I didn't see anybody else doing it. And there's a lot of people that watch this stream, let me tell you. So. I am just laying down the, the challenge. Come on. You've gotta get, uh, the cartwheel challenge going on. And you can, in fact, I think the people that have done it, we could do that nominate thing, right? So Josh, you could nominate somebody. Um, I could nominate somebody and Langston kids. You could nominate somebody. So I am going to nominate, um, oh, who should I nominate? I'm gonna nominate Matt Crew. Matt Crew. You have to do a handstand, uh, handstand, a cartwheel and video it. Uh, especially if you [00:18:00] just call me ancient in the comments, which I can see, by the way. Uh, so I nominate you to do a cartwheel, Josh. You can nominate somebody. Langston kids. I suggest you nominate your dad. 'cause that I actually wanna see, uh, but I'll leave that with you. Um, okay. So, uh, that's amazing. Yes, Abby. Sharp pools. We didn't see you do a cartwheel either. Just same. Okay, that's enough catch up. Now. We have been going through Mark's gospel and uh, if this is your first stream with us, you kind of catching us almost well over halfway through it now. We've been spending several months going through Mark's gospel and Mark's gospel is one of the first four books of the New Testament. And it's one of the chronicles of the life of Jesus. Right. And he, and, and, and Mark, who was kind of like, he was close to Peter, he was a disciple of Peter, who was one of sort of Jesus's disciples at the time. He sort of chronicles some of these key events that go on through Jesus' life. Right. [00:19:00] And we've been working our way through them, which has been absolutely fantastic. And this week, uh, Abby is gonna be sharing. Uh, the next part of the journey with us. So, uh, we are gonna get into that. If you remember last week, it was, um, Sarah and, uh, Abby and, uh, Martin. They were talking about the part of scripture where the disciples stop the children going to Jesus. There's this real famous sort of passage about kids coming to Jesus or parents bringing their kids to Jesus, and the disciples going, no, no, no. Leave 'em alone. And Jesus going, hang on a minute. No, no, no. They can definitely come to me. And in fact, uh, this is a good thing and sort of goes on and explains why. And it was great, uh, what they did. And that's all the stuff with the between Sunday session. Um, and this week following on, there is another conversation which happens between Jesus and a rich young ruler. And Abby is gonna be sharing with us on that. So I'm gonna stop talking now. I just wanted to give you a bit of preamble, let you know where we're up to, and Abby is gonna take it from [00:20:00] here in this prerecorded video. So Q Abby. Sarah: Shelby Abi: Way grew up knowing that he wanted to be successful. Success to him meant having lots of money and lots of stuff in college. He set his goal to be a millionaire by the age of 30. He worked hard to achieve his goals, but he missed his goal and didn't earn a million dollars until he was 34. He had money, big houses, cars, and gadgets, but he still felt empty inside, you know, no matter what he achieved, he still felt he needed more. All his possessions weren't making him happy, and this was heartbreaking for him because he had worked so hard to get what he thought he wanted. Only to find that it left him [00:21:00] disappointed and empty. He couldn't see a light at the end of the tunnel. He just had to get more and more. He ended up turning to drugs to numb the pain and disappointment and ended up losing everything while in a jail cell looking at spending the rest of his life in prison. He cried out to God. God answered him and his life has never been the same since. He found that that big hole inside of him could only be filled by God. He was the only one who could fulfill his desires. He turned his life over to God and what a change it made. The Lord gave him beauty for ashes and joy where he had only had mourning. And now his family and his ministry fulfill all the things that he was missing before. God is so good [00:22:00] and Shelby encourages you to live for him. He says that your life will never be the same. Now, this is the life story of a family friend of mine, and you know, his story isn't unique. You know, we see and hear about countless people who in the eyes of the world have it all, yet they still feel so dissatisfied. And this is a story that we see in our scripture this week found in Mark chapter 10. So let's read it together. It's Mark chapter 10, verse 17 to 31. And it says, 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? Why do you call me good? Jesus asked. Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments. [00:23:00] 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, teacher, the man replied. I've obeyed all these commands since I was young. 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 and follow me at this. The man's face fell and he went away sad because he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, and this amazed them. But Jesus said to them again, dear children, it is very hard to enter the kingdom of God. In fact, it is [00:24:00] easier for the camel to go through the eye of a needle and for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were astounded then who in the world can be saved? They asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, humanly speaking, it is impossible, but not with God. Everything is possible with God. Then Peter began to speak up. We've given up everything to follow you. He said. 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, 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 [00:25:00] life, but many who are the greatest now will be the least important then. And those who seem the least important now will be the greatest then. So I just want to take some time to set the scene and think about the rich man that we meet in this story. Now I'm fascinated by this man. You know, this passage in Mark tells us that he's rich, and in other versions of the same story that are found in the books of Matthew and Luke. We learned that this man is young and that he's a ruler. So knowing these things, we begin to get a picture of what kind of man this was. So I imagine a young, successful politician or political leader, you know, a person of influence in our society, someone who has wealth, who worked hard and has worldly success and influence. [00:26:00] Now, I'm sure there are people who come to your mind as those who have achieved fame, wealth, success, and power. And our society often respects and even idolizes these kinds of people. And I imagine it was the same for this young man, you know, he was a successful leader who asserted power and influence wherever he went. However we see in this story that he clearly wasn't satisfied. You know, in the eyes of the of the world, this man had it all, but his life still seemed empty, and he was beginning to question his existence and his purpose, shown by the fact that he comes to Jesus with questions. And maybe he had come to see that security cannot be found in material things or in positions of power or influence, and that true [00:27:00] eternal security could not be found inside himself or his success. You know, he was searching, and some of us today may also be searching for the truth too. Now, I think it's also important to see that this man, as he was searching, was wise enough to come to the right person. He saw Jesus's miracles and heard his teaching, and he believed that eternal life was found in this man in some way. So not only is this rich man searching for truth, but he is also searching for it in the right place. We see in verse 17 that he calls Jesus good teacher. And this phrase is really significant because as Jesus points out, only God is good. So here this man may even be suggesting that he believes that Jesus is the son of God. [00:28:00] He sees who Jesus is and knows that true eternal life must be found in him. And so he approaches him. This man also comes in desperation and humility, forsaking his reputation and his pride. This passage says, this man came running up to Jesus and knelt down in the dirt before him. And this man's attitude compared to many others that we see approaching Jesus is remarkable. You know, the crowds demanding signs and healings, the Pharisees religiously criticizing Jesus's healings and teaching the Sadducees who correct Jesus for his teachings. And even the disciples who at times don't understand or accept Jesus' teachings. And this man instead approaches Jesus with humility, [00:29:00] respect, or, and what seems to be a really sincere heart. So considering all these things, I have a lot of respect for this man of influence. However, despite all the things that he gets right. He still fundamentally misses the mark. He asked Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And the beauty of the gospel is that it's not about anything that we ourselves could ever do. You know, if we were to try and receive eternal life in our own strength, that means we'd have to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as ourself. This is what Jesus refers to as the greatest commandment, the one that encompasses and sums up all the others. So we'd have to do this [00:30:00] absolutely perfectly every single day. Never putting a foot out of line being completely perfect and completely blameless without any sin. And Jesus puts it plainly later in this passage that humanly speaking, that is impossible. Now, I don't know about you, but sometimes I can be like this man and his, his plea for eternal life was becoming something like a business deal or transaction. And he was asking, Jesus, what do I have to do to receive your love? What good thing must I do to be accepted by you? And in a way, this man was treating Jesus almost like an add-on. You know, saying, Jesus, I know eternal life is found through you, and I've been doing all these good things trying to attain true life. So what more can I [00:31:00] do? What more can I do? To add in to the equation something, something good, to be able to reach eternal life. And that is the heart and the center of the simple gospel that on our own we can never tick all the boxes. We will never be able to reach the standard of Jesus. You know, the Bible actually says that all have sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard. And this rich young man saw that, you know, in the eyes of the world, he had it all. But on the inside he knew that something was missing. He knew that on his own he wasn't enough. That he had fallen short. And while we have all fallen so short of God's standard, the second part of this verse in the book of Romans, chapter three says that God in his grace makes us [00:32:00] write in his sight through Jesus. You know, neither us nor this rich man can do anything to receive eternal life and be made right in God's sight. We are only made right before him if we believe and accept what Jesus did for us on the cross and choose to follow him. Now, one way that I like to think about this is by thinking about a doorway. So if you imagine that God's glorious standard is the top of the doorway, and if we were to try and be right and blameless like God, we shouldn't fit through this doorway because we'd be too tall. So imagine, say a convicted criminal who was serving a life sentence for the wrong, they'd done. Now, in the eyes of the world, this person's standard would probably be pretty far down the doorpost. You know, in our eyes, we may be more of a good [00:33:00] person than someone like this, so we might be a bit taller when walking through the door. We might think that people like Mother Theresa or Apostle Paul are a good measurement of what our own moral standard should be, but in fact, they too would fall very short of this standard and would easily fit through that doorway. You know, not one of us will ever meet God's perfect standard on our own. And we are in desperate need of a savior who will make us right before God. So if we jump ahead to verse 21, in our passage, we see Jesus telling this man to sell all his possessions and give all the money to the poor, and then to follow him, it says, there is one thing you still haven't done. Jesus told him, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will [00:34:00] have treasure in heaven. And then come and follow me. Well, this is big. This is really big. You know, money is a big focus of our world today. And for one of the between Sunday videos this week, I'm gonna be talking about Jesus' words about money and wealth. In this passage, as I ask the question, can followers of Jesus be rich? So here Jesus talks about how hard it is. For rich people to enter the kingdom of God. So if we took this at face value, I imagine many of us watching this would be a bit stuck because although some of us may face really challenging financial struggles compared to much of the global population, those of us watching this in the West would be considered wealthy. So I don't believe that the figures in our bank account can hold us [00:35:00] back from receiving eternal life. Not at all. But rather it's whether we allow our money to become a God in our lives. And as followers of Jesus, we are to make God the Lord of every part of our lives. And this rich man's God was clearly his wealth because he put that in first place before God. So let's be real though. If we put ourselves in the shoes of this man, our God may not be money, but it may be our work or our food, or physical appearance or relationships or friendships or family, or our status or our passions and dreams. And these things are by no means wrong. You know, God blesses his children and he loves to give us good gifts. But the heart of Jesus's message here is to not allow these things to become God's in our [00:36:00] lives. So as we are thinking about this idea, let's look back to where Jesus begins listing the commandments to this man. So in verse 19, it says, 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. And these commands are taken from the 10 Commandments, which God gave to Moses and the Israelites in the Book of Exodus chapter 20. So I think it's interesting to notice here that Jesus only in, in the Book of Mark, Jesus only references the commands that are about the way we treat other people. But let's have a look at one of the other commandments that Jesus doesn't actually list in this passage. It says in Exodus, you must not have any other God but me. You must [00:37:00] not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them for either, Lord your God. I'm a jealous God. Who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. That's from Exodus chapter 20, verses three to five. Now, this rich young man, he may have been a lovely man. You know, someone who knew how to love others well and who our society would probably describe as a good person. And when questioned by Jesus, the man said, I've, I've kept all these commands since I was a boy, but Jesus knows this man's heart and he knows that it's the other commands that are the issue for him. This passage makes it clear that this rich man has made money his God. So despite keeping the commands to love and treat [00:38:00] others well, he missed this key command from God to have no other God but him. And whether we like it or not, we have all been there. You know, whether it's our money or something else, we have all prized something more highly than God in our lives, and this is what God, God's commands refer to as an idol. So I get to this point in the passage, and very much like the disciples in verse 26, I'm asking then who in the world can be saved? You know, if salvation and eternal life is based on my works and following God's law to the letter every single time, then there is no way I or anyone else could be saved. So honestly, I really understand the disciple's hopelessness in this situation. You know, if that's how we receive eternal life, then [00:39:00] who on earth can be saved? And Jesus's response to this question leaves me with eternal hope and peace. He says, humanly speaking, it's impossible, but not with God. Everything is possible with God, and that is where the good news of the gospel breaks in. You know, humanly speaking, relying on myself, it is impossible for me to get to God. But God sent his only son Jesus to live a perfect and sinless life. The life that we should have lived, and he died. The death that we should have died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice to cover all of our mistakes. And in fact, Jesus actually became sin for us so that we could be righteous before God. Uh, in two [00:40:00] Corinthians chapter five, it says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So in this way, it is possible for anyone, rich or poor, or somewhere in between. To be saved through Jesus, we must surrender our whole lives to him, setting aside all other gods, and choosing to live for the audience of one, the true living God. And we are then adopted into God's family, and we trust him as our perfect father. You know, those who have money or success or other worldly things as their God will try and trust in those things. But with God as our father, we can live in full trust and reliance on him. Now, this isn't always easy, but [00:41:00] God gives us the supernatural strength to lay down all other gods that may be present in our lives. Now, I know this word from Jesus presents us with a big challenge and to today I just wanted, wanted to take a moment to pray for us all whether you are already following Jesus or whether you want to make that decision to invite him into every part of your life today. I want to pray that we would have God as first place in our lives and that we would know true and eternal life through what Jesus did for us on the cross and in his rising again to new life. So God, I thank you so much for the gift of salvation. God, I thank you that anyone and everyone can come to you and receive eternal life. Lord, that nothing is stopping us from coming to you, coming to your love and your acceptance in your [00:42:00] life. And Lord, I pray for all of us as we are watching this, a family of believers. Father, I pray you would give us the supernatural strength to set aside anything else, any other God, any other idol, and to prize you Jesus, as king over everything else. God, I thank you for your love, for your unending grace in teaching us how to do this. And God, I pray that we would keep pressing into you, into your strength and into your grace as we learn to live for the audience of one, the one true king. Oh man. So in a moment we are gonna have a time of worship and reflection. Um, some questions are gonna pop up on the screen. Um, yeah, just to give us some space to think about this message. Um, and I just really encourage you to ask God what he's saying to [00:43:00] you individually. 'cause I think in this word, there's so much that we could think about and that God can speak to us about through. But actually I think it's so important to be asking God, what, you know, what areas in my life, what specific idols or areas in my life do you want to highlight to me? What do you want to say specifically to me and my heart? So I just encourage you to be asking God, um, those questions as we have a time of worship, as we worship our amazing God. Matt: Wow. Thank you Abby. Uh, I see that Sharon's actually put this here. Uh, thanks for sharing these thoughts on the passage. There is a lot to think about. There is definitely a lot to think about in that passage. So thank you Abby, for doing that and taking the time to do that. We really appreciate it. You know what, it is awesome that, uh, Abby is, is not only willing to share, but that God has given [00:44:00] her the anointing and blessing and the, uh, the, just the desire, um, to share with the thing that God's put on her heart. It's amazing, isn't it? And so I'm super stoked that Abby can do that. Um, in two weeks time, uh, we've got Josh actually, uh, he's also gonna be sharing from God's Worth. So we love to hear. What people from all ages have got to say about God's word and just learn from each other and just get into what the scripture and the passage is saying. And uh, I loved the phrase the audience of one. He is the audience of one. He is the only audience that we should really think about and sort of pay attention to, which is just fantastic. So Abby, awesome. I'm looking forward to hearing the between Sunday sessions, uh, you know, can a Christian be rich? Great question. Um, and so we will be uploading those to YouTube at some point during the week, so do make sure you subscribe to them. Now at the end of her talk, Abby mentioned the fact that we are gonna have a time [00:45:00] of worship, which we are gonna do now, um, which is something we do as Christians. And if, uh, worship is not your thing, if it's kind of new to you, if you're not kind of sure what it is, well basically, uh, I'm gonna play a song, uh, and the words to the song will come up on the screen and you can either sing along or you can just read the words and let the song minister to you. Or you could just close your eyes and just hear what it has to say as you sort of pontificate, which is such a good word, isn't it? Uh, as you ponder and think about what Abby said, what she shared, what God might be saying to you, um, are there some idols in your life that you need to think about? Is it money, is it the other things that Abby mentioned? Like, um, your image, your appearance, your work, whatever. It could be a whole bunch of things, couldn't it? And so. Uh, the song that I'm gonna put up this week, uh, is the same one that we had last week. So, uh, if you weren't with us in last Week's [00:46:00] stream, um, this is a song called Worthy of it All, and it's set in, uh, it's kind of written as though we're in heaven as though we're in, uh, what the Bible calls the throne room of God, right? That we kind of were stood before God. And, and the, in the song it sort of talks about the elders who cast their crowns before the Lamb of God and they start to sing and they start to worship, which to me, I get what that says. But I guess if you've, if you've not really been involved in church before, if you've not really, uh, sort of done the worship thing before, it can just sound a to gibberish. What do you mean? The elders are casting down crowns before the Lamb of God? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Um, and so, uh, let me explain to you what this song is about. And so the, there, there are people in heaven, the elders, the people that have been there for a while, and they're casting down their crowns before the Lamb of God. Well, the crown is a sign of your identity. If you imagine having a crown on [00:47:00] your head, it would be a sign of royalty. It'd be a sign of your accomplishments, your achievements. Um, and that's how scripture uses it. It's kind of like, um, it, it signifies who you are and everything that you've done and everything that you've achieved. So if you think about the passage that Abby was sharing from this rich, young ruler is, you know, he was a ruler. He could have had a crown, he had an inordinate amount of wealth. And what he struggled to do in that passage is what the, is what this song is talking about is taking that crown off and, uh, casting it before the Lamb of God. In other words. The Lamb of God is just a, is is a phrase we use in church to talk about Jesus. The Bible calls him the Lamb of God for reasons which, uh, I won't go into now, but just trust me, this is what, uh, what it basically what we're saying. In other words, what we're doing is we're saying, listen, Jesus, we're taking off our crown and we are putting it before you because everything we've achieved, everything that we've done, everything that we are pales into, [00:48:00] insignificance in front of who you are and we are giving it to you as a worship, as our offering to say if my life is worth anything. To you. You can have it, you can use it, you can take it, and it goes on in the song to sing Day and night, let Incense arise. And basically what this means is, you know, day and night, we want our lives to be pleasing to you. God, we want our lives to be worth. Uh, the sacrifice that we believe Jesus paid by dying for is we want that. We, we just wanna live lives pleasing to God. So this, this song is all about what the rich, young rulers should have done in terms of just. Giving everything that we have, everything that we've achieved, whether it's big, whether it's small, whether we're proud of it, or whether we hate it. But just putting everything about who we are at the feet of Christ and going, Jesus, you're worthy of everything that I've got. And if my life is worth anything, use me. Have at it. Do what you need to do and let my life be pleasing [00:49:00] to you. It's a great song. So I'm gonna play that. Now. As I said, if you're not used to the worship thing, don't panic. Don't feel like you have to sing along if you're, you know, if you're on a train or whatever, don't, don't be weird. Um, but, you know, uh, just let the song minister you. Close your eyes and I'll be back in a few minutes time. Here we go. Music: [00:50:00] Throne and see. The.[00:51:00] Sarah: You.[00:52:00] The[00:53:00] Music: day and.[00:54:00] Sarah: Deserve the.[00:55:00] Matt: Okay. So, uh, thank you John and Anna Grace for doing that song again. Beautiful, beautiful song. Uh, he is indeed worthy of it all, isn't he? And sort of thinking that through and what that means and just going, you know, God, are there any aspects of my life which I have not surrendered to you yet? Um, really fascinating question and always worth pondering, that's for sure. You know, someone emailed me this week. Um, I do get a lot of emails during the week and, um, you are more than welcome to email me, by the way. Uh, or contact us through the WhatsApp. Just there, there, uh, just emailed me and said, listen, I'm trying to live, uh, I'm trying to live a life which is pleasing to God. And um, lemme just put that comment on. Oops. There we go. There we go. I totally agree, Serena. Uh, I'm trying to live a life that is pleasing to God and I'm struggling to do it. How do I do that? And, um, it's a really [00:56:00] fascinating question, isn't it? How do we do this thing that is. That is day and night pleasing to God, let incense arise. And I just wanna come back to something that Abby says, it's not a business transaction. You know, it's not like, it's not a, it's not a business deal. It's not like, if I do this, then I get this. It just, I dunno if you've ever heard of that guy, I can't remember his name now. There's a story that I read about, um, a teacher who basically walked into his class and said to the guys at the start of the year, listen, you've all got, a's you've all aced this class. Um, so you don't have to try and earn that. You've got an A, you can screw it up, but you've got an A so you don't, don't feel like you have to attain something. Let's just enjoy the class. Let's just give it our best shot. Let's just do what we can, uh, and not worry about the grades. And that's kind of what Christianity is all about. That's kind of how the faith thing works. It's like God says to us, you're already pleasing to me. You're already a grade A student. You're already top of the class. You are already, [00:57:00] uh, right before me. You have. You have nothing to worry about. And that's the starting position that we find ourselves in, which is just mesmerizing, isn't it? A absolutely fantastic. So everything that we kind of go from it, we don't have to earn it. We don't have to try and attain it, it just. Is, and it's a gift, and we can just walk in life knowing full well that, uh, that it's just great. And we, we want to do the best that we can. We want to live our best life. And that's a, that's a question I'm asking a lot at the moment. Are you living your best life? Is the answer to that question, yes or no? Uh, and my, my theory is I think you can only do that with an act of faith in Christ. Um, I'm happy to talk to you separately about why that. Well, we'll, we'll do a Sunday on it. Why? I think that's the case now, next week, uh, it's actually we're carrying on our conversation in Mark's gospel. We'll just let you know what's coming up. And next week's topic or next week's sermon is who encourages you to do [00:58:00] stuff that scares you? That is the title of next week's topic. I'm looking forward to this one. Um, I'm actually gonna do the teaching next week, and I'm looking forward to it because I've done all the notes. I know what's coming up. It's good stuff, let me tell you. And not just because I'm saying it and bragging on myself, but actually it just genuinely is. And I love how we can dig into scripture like Abby, it's day and just pull out all this amazing truth that just makes Jesus an extraordinary adventure. And, uh, just, I'm looking forward to it. So make sure you tune in Fane. I just wanna go off on this now. Uh, make sure you tune in next week 'cause we do look at that. Who encourages you to do stuff that scares you? Uh, that's the next passage in Mark's gospel, which we're gonna look at. And then, like I say, Josh, uh, my son who did the catchup videos, if you saw that earlier, he is gonna be sharing in two weeks time. So you definitely don't want to miss that. Um, you'll be pleased to know he's got more of his mum's gifting the mind, so you know, it's gonna be good. Uh, anyway. [00:59:00] Uh, what else is there to say? I think that is pretty much everything, and we are top of the hour, which is great. So, uh, I hope you've enjoyed today's service. Thanks again, Abby, for taking the time to share God's word with us. I, uh, I, I must have seen that talk several times as we did the video editing, which was great. As Abby and I went through it and it's just wonderful and I loved it and I love the fact that you are willing to do that, Abby, and put yourself out there. That is amazing. Thank you so much. Um, and make sure you stay tuned to everything to do with Frontline City. Um, what's Matt put here? You scared me with a threat of getting me to Cartwheel. For those of you missed the start of the service, uh, the start of the live stream, that comment might not make a whole great deal of sense. Uh, basically, uh, we had the Cartwheel challenge. You know, we had to video ourselves doing a cartwheel this week and send it in. I did it. So I get to nominate somebody, and I nominated Matt. Uh, to do a cartwheel, uh, for his comments about my hair just because I can. [01:00:00] Um, so make sure you stay tuned. You can go to the website, Frontline City. You can put your name and email address in there, and we will email you out the newsletters, the links to all the between Sunday videos as they come out, so you never miss anything. So do check that out at Frontline City, which is this one. Here, let me, there we go. That's hard work when it's all back to front. Um, but check out Frontline City. Give us your name and email address. We will send you stuff as it comes through. Head on over to the Facebook page. Hit like, uh, subscribe, hit the notification button, do the same on YouTube, and you'll make sure you get all the good stuff that we put out. God bless you. Have a great week. May, uh, you find yourself living your best life this week. Uh, it'll be, uh, it'll be great to see you next week. Uh, bye for now.
