“Our Eternal Inheritance”
October 12th, 2009 Posted in SermonsThe Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
“Our Eternal Inheritance”
October 11, 2009
Sermon Text: Mark 10:17-22 [show]Mark 10:17-22
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'" And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth." And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (ESV)
Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Eternal life… that is what the man in our Gospel account wanted. And he is not alone. We all want it, do we not? To live forever… and not just “existing” forever, but living in peace and in paradise that knows no end.
In regard to eternal life, this man certainly heads in the right direction. He goes to Jesus… He who has the words of eternal life… He who gives us eternal life, securing the same for us on the cross.
And what is more, the man is right on when He refers to our Lord as “Good Teacher.” That, Jesus is… the best of teachers… the best of those who are good. Indeed, He is goodness incarnate.
So what is the problem here… with the man who comes to Jesus? Well, it is the question which he poses to our Lord, saying “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” As if having eternal life will be of his doing… the man’s doing.
People then, like people now… those in the world and of the world… have this inflated idea, false idea and conception of what they can do… of what they can affect and bring about. And our world and society has certainly fueled this by driving into people’s heads that “you can accomplish anything you set out to do.”
“Don’t let anyone put limits on your abilities… your capabilities,” they will say. And this sounds good to people. It rings well with them. It is music to their ears. As it is to all of the false preachers and teachers who give the people “what their itching ears want to hear.”
That YOU can do it. YOU have the power to do it… if only… if only you have faith… faith, yes in God (it’s nice that they put that in there) but more importantly, faith in yourself. You gotta believe in yourself.
The man in this account is asking what HE must do to inherit eternal life. Excuse me! The last time I checked, an “inheritance” is something you receive freely from someone else. It is given to you… a gift placed into your hands.
You are passive in this process (although yes, there are many who are aggressive, jockeying for position and prominence in a person’s last will and testament).
Eternal life was not something this man or any man… any of you… can get… can secure on your own. Interestingly enough… as we will see… it is not ours to gain, but certainly ours to lose!
So what does our Lord do with this wealthy individual? He continues with the line of thinking that eternal life can be gained by the keeping of the Law. He tells the man, “You know the commandments” and proceeds to list those which fall into the second table of the Law… commandments four through ten in which God declares how we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
He tells the man, “You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”
And this man comes right back and tells our Lord, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” Hmm. Very interesting.
Jesus could have easily called the man on this, but instead we are told that He looked at him. Jesus looks with eyes that are all seeing. And what is more, we are told that our Lord loved this man. No surprise there. Our Lord, the very Son of God, loves us all. He would indeed, have everyone to be saved. He would have everyone to inherit eternal life. In fact that is why He came to earth… to make salvation and eternal life a reality for us all.
Yes, Jesus could have called the man on His keeping of the second table of the Law, but instead he confronts this rich individual with the keeping of the first table of the Law which is summed up in the fact that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul. We are to love Him… love God… above all things. To put Him first… not figuratively, but factually… in reality… each day… every hour… every minute.
To put the Lord our God above ANYONE ELSE… above our spouse, our children, our family members and friends.
To put the Lord our God above ANYTHING ELSE… above work… above school… above sports… above money… yes, above any and all possessions.
And don’t even begin to try and rationalize that putting something above God is only temporary… that it is an emergency or otherwise special situation. You will find that your sinful self will move you from one temporary or special situation to another where your God at best takes second place again and again and again.
Regardless of what we are going through… the times and situations in which we find ourselves… at ever age and stage of our life… our living God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit is to come first. Period!
In our Gospel account, Christ puts this man to the ultimate test… that which will show the man’s true love… first love… by telling him “go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
You heard what the man does… what he chooses. “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
The man had great possessions, but in reality he had nothing! And that includes the one thing he wanted most – eternal life. It wasn’t his to get. It was Christ’s to give and He was indeed giving it… offering it to the man. It was this man’s to have in none other than this Good Teacher… this Jesus Christ.
But the man chose worldly possessions. He chose having a lot in the here and now… in this life. And in the process, he forfeited eternal life.
What about you? And don’t be too quick to say that God comes first in your life… that you love the Lord your God with all of your heart and mind and soul. Do you really? All of the time?
How many people do you know who… in their actions… have walked away from the Lord and they do not even realize it? Those who even claim to be religious… who claim to be spiritual… those who say they believe… but you wouldn’t know it by their actions because they are Christians, disciples of our Lord, in name only. They will say it, but you cannot see it.
Again, I ask you… does God come first in your life? Do you really love the Lord your God with all of your heart and mind and soul?
How hung up are you on worldly possessions? Do they consume you… if not about getting them, then about worrying you are going to lose them… that you are not going to have enough… that you are not going to be able to sustain a comfortable life here in time and not really thinking about the life beyond time?
My friends… why the fretting… why the worrying… why the concern… either about this life or the life to come? God has promised to see to all of your needs. Your NEEDS… not your wants… not your “gotta haves.”
And what is more, your eternal inheritance is sure. It is certain. It is secure. Like every other inheritance, our eternal inheritance is in writing. But here is the difference… THIS inheritance, our inheritance is in DIVINE writing… in the last will and testament of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As you know, a last will and testament goes into force only upon the death of the testator. And death DID occur. Your BROTHER… flesh of our flesh… He who is also the very Son of God… died for you and His will is now most certainly in force.
What is more, you are in it. You are in the will. Your names are listed in the Book of Life. You are among all of the faithful recipients of the inheritance that is yours NOW.
You and I have so much that the Lord has given us now to enjoy… forgiveness of our sins, the blessings of a rich life in Christ with fellow brothers and sisters in the faith, the strength we need to make it through each and every day… through all trials, tribulations and adversity.
And with this divine inheritance of ours, there is so much more to come… in the world to come. We are truly blessed. And none of it is our doing. It is all God’s doing in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior to whom we give all glory and honor, praise and adoration. Amen.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.
Amen.
“Our Eternal Inheritance”
10/11 /09 The Rev. Mark H. Hein
St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church, Lockport, IL