What Is It That We Can Do To Enter The Kingdom?

What Is It That We Can Do To Enter The Kingdom?

Good Morning Friends,

A lot of ministers have analyzed the story of the rich young ruler, so I doubt there is much more to uncover in the story except in its application for our own original and individual lives. But let’s do a review in our minds as to its application for what is clear is that God is not impressed by our stock portfolio and never will be. But what is also clear is that people will not give up what they have and think they need for what they do not have and have yet to be convinced that they need. Something miraculous is needed and Jesus says exactly this in the story’s commentary. Indeed, it is impossible with humans but interestingly, with God we have an assurance that is certain. Still we ask, What Is It That We Can Do To Enter The Kingdom?

Scripture: Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

Mark 10:28-31 (NRSV)

Message: Jesus makes an amazing offer to the Rich Young Ruler…it is a chance to walk with him in the story that changed everything. The value of that experience would have been priceless and well worth the price of selling everything to experience it. But Jesus knew the heart of the Rich Young Ruler as he knows each of ours and realizes how divided we can be but loves us anyway. Jesus knows how impossible it is for us to change on our own. And that is why Jesus says in the story that nothing is impossible for God. He gives us hope. It is this assurance that Peter is seeking in today’s scripture. So too with us as with Peter is about not denying the Holy Spirit when it comes to the conversion of our soul, body, mind and pocketbook. You see, it is not only about putting God first but, in some cases, also our willingness to be last. Surely, if a wealthy person does not put riches as a priority ahead of God and their walk and is submissive to God, certainly that person shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but they may not be first in line. The thing is that God knows the heart and the truth. Maybe for some Jesus is really asking us to go from a very wealthy, respectable member of the community to what amounts to a beggar, without all the wealth and stature. The thing is that wealth not deployed is surely only potential energy. Ultimately, we do have to give up everything…all those possessions and the things we work so hard to accumulate. The thing is that we are not to walk away from life disconsolate and dejected but embrace a radical following of the Holy Spirit in our thinking. You may recall Saint Francis of Assisi did exactly that. Born the first son of a wealthy and privileged textile merchant and landowner, he was destined to inherit the business, the wealth, all the power. As a youth, he was a rowdy drunkard and wanted to become a knight, a man of war. Through several sobering experiences, including a year’s imprisonment after being captured in a war against neighboring Perugia, Francis began to change. Finally, in 1203, in a dramatic confrontation with his father in the town square of Assisi, Francis took off all his fine clothing, gave them to his father, and walked away to serve the poor and win people to a new vision of the church. So, today, we should look to what the Holy Spirit is calling us to do as well. Maybe we too have accumulated things in our lives that we need to keep for they comfort us and our families and yet there are probably things we should sell and give to the poor. This is a matter between you and the Holy Spirit in the grace of Jesus and the love of the Father. The choice is about Jesus. Who knows? Maybe there is something dramatic in your life yet to be revealed by the Spirit. If you follow God’s lead, the way, the door, and the light, the reality of the Kingdom I imagine it will become clearer for you.

And So, wealth nor poverty is in and of itself assures our entry into the Kingdom. Neither convey an indication of a Christian walking in the ways of God. So be careful about being a self-made person for you may well end up worshipping yourself. Know that it is a Godly person who worships their Creator. Friends, getting into the Kingdom is all about our willingness to be moved by the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus and each day come into the presence of God embracing the purpose of the life we have been given.

Pray therefore that we have the right attitude. Pray the prayer of Saint Francis that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console. Pray we seek to understand rather than be understood, to love rather than be loved. Pray we realize that it is in giving we receive, and it is in forgiving that we are forgiven and in dying that we are born to eternal life. Pray therefor that we believe in Jesus and follow him with the assurance of our place in Heaven. Pray we believe in the grace of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection for our own salvation. Pray we do the impossible because we do it with God who makes all things possible. Pray God you help us to deny ourselves and strengthen the Spirit in us when our flesh is weak. Pray we realize that you God know our hearts and can help us become less selfish and more selfless. Pray we have Holy Spirit help in following Jesus.

Blessings,

John Lawson