Life Without Christ Is Vanity
by Samson Hutagalung
17And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. 19Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 20And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 21Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. 22And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. (Mark 10:17-22).
Introduction
How important do you see your wealth and riches? Do you see them with high regard and value? Do you regard them as the most important in your life? Friends, I suppose we have the same answer to these questions that all wealth and riches of this world are nothing without Christ. There is a greatest and absolute need of every human being in this world, regardless your race, nation, intelligence, and wealth namely to know Christ as his personal Saviour. There are two things we need to know from the passage we have just read.
I. The Need to know God (vv. 17-20)
In this passage, we notice that a certain man came to Jesus. Who is this man? When we harmonize the three accounts in the Gospel about this man we observe few things about him. I would say he was a rare young man and he was above many people in this world.
(a) Firstly, he was a young man; a young man in the prime of his age (Matt 19:20). It was very good for a young man to have a desire to know the way to heaven. Usually a young man does not bother about spiritual things.
(b) Secondly, he was a rich man; a rich man in the fullness of his wealth (Mark 10:22).
(c) Thirdly, he was a ruler; a ruler in the prime of his authority (Luke 18:18). At least these three things make this man so unique in comparison to all of us and many people in this world. He was rich. This is most wanted by all people. They study and work very hard in order to be rich. He was a young man. Many people are rich and yet they are very old and are not able to enjoy their riches. He was a ruler, a leader; someone who had respect and honour from people around him. Do you not think this man above all of us and many people around us? What more did he need in this life? The world is seeking this kind of status. Everyone wants to be like him.
(d) Fourthly, by observation, we notice that he was very ambitious and zealous man. He ran and kneeled before the Lord Jesus Christ in order to get what he wanted. Remember friends, he was a leader, a rich man and a young man. And Jesus Himself was not walking alone, but followed by His disciples and the multitude, and yet this man was very confident and ambitious on what he had committed to know. He was not like Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night, perhaps because of the fear of the people. He had all confidence on him. He was deeply curious to receive an answer to his question and he had also great reverence for Jesus.
(e) Furthermore, he came to Jesus in order to know the way to eternal life. Up to this point we see this man was absolutely perfect. He had riches, and he was young man, leader, ambitious and had a desire to know the way to heaven. Many people when they are rich they never think about God. There are many Christians who work so hard in order to be rich and when the Lord blesses them with wealth, they indulge in their works and riches. Their priority is not the church and service to God but work and money. When they become rich, they obtain respect from the world and appointed to be leader and have a say in society, all the more, they forsake the church and the Lord.
This man was so great. He kneeled down before Christ, and the multitude because he realised that though he had all these wealth and status, deep down in his heart, he did not an assurance of salvation. Deep down in his heart it was uncertainty about the future. He did not know what would happen after this life. Since Jesus was so different in His teaching, someone who has authority in His preaching and teaching, perhaps by comparison with the rest of the rulers in his time, this man thought that Jesus was on the top level. Apparently his fellow rulers have given him the assurance for his devotion to the law and teachings of the Judaism. Then he wanted to make sure what this special Teacher said concerning him.
Thus, having kneeled before Jesus as a sign of his humility, perhaps he saw Jesus as an eminent prophet and teacher, but not knowing Him to be the Son of God, he said, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Based on this question, this man believed the certainty of the future state; that there will be life after this present life on earth.
Hearing his question, Jesus did not directly give an answer but rather asked him back, “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.” Jesus here does not deny that He is good and that He is God. However He asked this question in order to question this man whether or not he understood what he was saying. Jesus was simply saying here that “There is only one which is good namely God Himself. If you call me good, then you must have known me that I am God.” In other words, “If you call me good which is the title should be rendered to God, then you must have known and acknowledged me as God.” Of course this man did not acknowledge Jesus as God.
I believe when Jesus asked this question, this man was shaken in his theology. He was a ruler, a Pharisee who was supposed to know the Law, the prophecies concerning the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Messiah. But he did not. Then Jesus continued in verse 19, “Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.”
I believe the reason why Jesus asked these six commandments because these are the most common commandments broken by the Jews. The first four commandments, being related to God Himself, they would try their best to keep them but not the the last six commandments. However having heard Jesus’ statement, what was this man’s answer? Verse 20, “And he answered and said unto him, “Master, all these have I observed from my youth.”
According to the standard or interpretation of the law by the Pharisees which demand only the gross outward act, not the inward lust and motion of the heart, perhaps this man was right that he already observed them very well as the outward obedience to the Law and this made him think well of himself but not according to the standard of God. If this man could say that he had observed them from his youth, can you imagine what would be his answer if Jesus asked about the first four commandments? Most probably he would say, absolutely master, that is my life and soul. But nothing is better evidence of our unfeigned love to God than the sincere performance of our duty to our neighbours. Love to man is a fruit and testimony of our love to God; "for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" (1John 4:20).
Friends, we are pleasing God not according to the standard given by man or church organization. We must measure spiritual things based on Holy Scriptures as our final authority in life, practices and faith. This man was not saying the truth. His heart knew it and Jesus knew it and you know it through the Holy Scriptures. No one can do the commandments of God perfectly “if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is deed in vain” (Galatians 2:21).
Friends, life without knowing Christ will be meaningless. You know your hearts whether you know Christ and His commandments. You may not be as young as this man, you may not be a rich man as this man, you may not be a ruler as this man, you may not be so ambitious as this man, but if you know Christ truly, you are much better than this man because Christ is living in your heart. Christ gives you assurance, joy, hope and the desire to please Him. The fact that you are different from this man because you know Christ as your Lord and Savour then your life is meaningful.
The second point we need to know so that our lives might not be meaningless is the need to forsake all things for God’s sake.
II. The Need to forsake all things for God’s sake (vv. 21-22).
Jesus knew the heart of this man that he was not honest at all in response to Jesus’ statement when he said, “all these have I observed from my youth.” Nonetheless, Jesus continued as to give an answer to his question. Just imagine the reaction of this man when Jesus began to answer him, “one thing thou lackest.” However, that one thing which was lacking was the whole things he possessed. Jesus said, “go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”
There are six commands that Jesus said here, (1) go thy way, (2) sell whatsoever thou hast, (3) give to the poor, (4) having done these three things, Come, (5) take up the cross, and (6) follow me. These commands donot mean that every rich man must sell all his possessions, and distribute them to the poor, and having done so, being now very poor, come and follow Jesus. This does not mean that in order to be a disciple of Jesus one must disown his property, and be very poor.
Jesus knew the problem of this man. This man loved his wealth more than God. He loved his riches above all things. To show that this man really was disposed to keep the commands of God, Jesus commanded him to go and sell his property. See whether he still loves God more than he does his wealth. By doing that, he will show that his love of God is supreme; that his obedience is not merely external and formal, but sincere and real; the thing, now lacking, will be made up.
This is the true self-denial, in renouncing the sin of covetousness, and the inordinate love of worldly wealth. We ought to be willing to forsake all for God’s sake which is dear unto us in this world. He was not like Zaccheus after hearing the good news from Jesus, he stood and said unto Jesus; “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold” (Luke 19:8). He was far from it. He dared to forsake all respects and honour from the multitudes being a ruler of the people, and knelt before Christ but not forsaking his wealth. To him, wealth is everything. How true it is as Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). Paul also was rich in self-righteousness like this man before he knew Christ, but cheerfully sacrificed all, that he might follow Christ (Philippians 3:6-9).
Jesus absolutely knew the heart of this man. Jesus gave a different command to different people. The test of discipleship that Jesus gave was different to different people. There was a time where Jesus said to someone who desired to follow Him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). To another man, Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the
Jesus knew that this man was not willing to forsake all things for God’s sake. It was too hard for him to do it. He wanted an easy way. Perhaps, he was thinking that Jesus would ask him to give money that he might have eternal life. Or he might think that he could gain this eternal life by performing some one meritorious act. In so doing he thought that eternal life was a reward of doing good works, since other rulers in his contemporaries might have given a stamp on his performance. But whatever thought he might have in mind was already known to Jesus because He is God who knows everything under the sun. This ruler was called upon to make his choice whether he would love Christ or the world, whether he would serve God or mammon.
This man went away with grief. He was very sad. He came to Jesus with much ambition and spirit but he went away with sorrow and sadness. Friends, we should make clear that there is nothing wrong to be rich. The fault lies not in riches but the heart of the person that counts riches as supreme. This man loved his wealth more than anything else and he was not willing to forsake them.
Friends, do you have things that hinder you from loving Jesus? Do you have a habit that you cannot forsake and yet hinder you to the fullness of ministry in loving and serving Jesus?
Conclusion
This man had begun well by acknowledging his spiritual destitute and by realising that his life was meaningless. He came to Jesus, it was right. It was the best, but he was not willing to know God and willing to forsake all for God’s sake.
You have begun well by coming to worship God and serving Him in your own capacity. Perhaps you have begun well by coming to
The question I need to ask now is, will you end well by giving your hearts for Jesus and serving Him for the whole of your life? Or do you have deep in your hearts something that hinders you from committing your life unto the Lord? Amen.