Clemster's Playground

Monday, May 02, 2005

Clemster, The Rich Young Ruler

Yesterday's sermon definitely struck a chord with me. Not really the sermon so much but the discussion we, the college and career group, had with our pastor in the evening. I go to a large church so I've never had much of a chance to sit down with Pastor Jeremy and just chat about stuff. So it was really nice have the "unplugged" version of Jeremy with us in a small group setting.

He was asked to join us and speak on whatever he wished. So he decided to flesh out the morning's message some more with us. He's not a big fan of the academic sermon - speaking on a problem or concept that he himself has never tackled. He doesn't expect the congregation to go where he himself has not tried to go himself. And that resonates with most people who hear Jeremy preach. His sermons are real because his messages are as tough for him to swallow as they are for us. The discussion was very engaging because for the most part he wasn't presenting any right or wrong answers if there were none. We were free to share our thoughts and opinions as he went along. Everyone enjoyed the time we had with him and we're excited to have him back sometime. Even if he comes back just so we can pick his brain like some people did last night about speaking in tongues or who the Devil is and what he can and can't do.

The passage Jeremy spoke on in the morning service and focused on with us last night was Mark 10:17-22

"As 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?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You 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.'" "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." Jesus 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." At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth."

This is obviously a passage that most pastors quote to help people relieve themselves of their money. But that's not what this passage about. I mean Jesus doesn't tell the young man to sell everything and give it to Him, but to the poor. So this wasn't a money grab by Christ. This passage is about your relationship with Jesus. Christ isn't speaking for or against wealth in this passage, He's telling the man, "You need to give up what you value more then Me. You need to give up the comfort and security your wealth gives you because you need to trust Me to provide those for you. You need to give up the identity all your stuff gives you and make your identity in Me."

And so the challenge of yesterday was trying to figure out what I define my life by. What is the barrier that is holding me back from deepening my relationship with God?

Do I define myself by the car I drive? Well I don't own a car.... BUT the topic of car marketing came up and how Jeremy laughs when he sees car owners that look just like the actors in the commercials for that car. That really struck a chord with me since I've been so set on my first car being a Jetta. I'M the guy in the Jetta commercial who's driving his boss to the airport and gets caught blaring music in the car. It would be even more true if there was an iPod in that commercial. Oh... my iPod... another item that I have some attachment to. Slowly it dawns on me how materialistic I'm getting.

I'm taking pride in the nice, quality things that I own. Would I be lost if suddenly my nice computer was gone? Heck yeah. What about my iPod? I wouldn't go so far to say I'd be be lost, but I'd be upset. Same deal with my sweet computer speakers. I've been wanting people to see how much I matter because of the cool stuff I own. Fortunately things haven't gotten too out of hand, but I can see myself headed in that direction. I'm starting to make more impulsive buys, hoping that the next purchase will fill that void in me - the void where only God belongs.

So now what? Does this mean I'm supposed to sell all my stuff and give it to the poor if I want to inherit eternal life? It might, but not in the sense that I can earn my salvation. Christ, Himself says that it's better that someone cut off their own hand then for their whole body to burn for eternity in Hell (Matt 5:30). If I get to the point where I'd rather have my stuff than have God, then such a drastic measure is probably needed. And in some ways I'm kind of there. I'd rather spend time with my stuff than with God - my track record proves it. I mean how much time do I spend watching movies, playing online, or listening to music instead of spending time with God? Since most reading this blog are my online friends, you know I spend a LOT of time on my computer.

The rich young ruler became sad when he heard what Christ had said. Not angry, but sad because he understood exactly what Christ was asking him to do. And well I'm sad because I understand too. I just haven't walked away yet like the rich young ruler did.

Matthew.

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