Here in Mark 10, we discover Jesus’ teaching on wealth and reward in the kingdom of God. But it is more. It is God’s call for seekers to know how to come to Him and for disciples to know how to trust Him.
I often get stock tips via e-mail guaranteed to increase my wealth. But what I am giving you is not tips but truth that will set the record straight on wealth and reward in the kingdom of God.
There are four truths we learn about faith and wealth and reward in the teaching on Jesus, the rich young ruler, and the worried disciples,
The Way to Have Eternal and Temporal Security Is to Divest (Mark 10:17-27)
Advertisement
A man runs up to Jesus. We call him the rich young ruler because when we put Matthew, Mark, and Luke together, we get the whole picture. In Matthew, he is young. In Luke he is a ruler. In all three accounts, he is rich. In this now famous encounter with Jesus, we can put together a picture of what a man must divest himself of in order to have eternal life.
Be divested of zeal without knowledge
There can be no mistake, this man had zeal. He ran to Jesus. He called Jesus Good Teacher. But did He really know who Jesus was? The Lord calmed him down with a strong dose of caution. “Only God is good.” Jesus was not denying the claim but was showing that this young man had zeal but lacked knowledge.
When I was ten, I wanted to drive my uncle John’s car. I had a great zeal when he came out to see us on a Sunday afternoon. But he would say, “Mike, if you had it, what would you do with it? You don’t know how to drive!”
The Bible speaks of those who have zeal without knowledge. Paul wrote of his countrymen in Romans: “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge” (Rom. 10:2, NIV).
Zeal, an enthusiasm that is not biblical, can actually stand in the way of our relationship with God. Being excited about religion is not the same as trusting in Christ as Savior.
When I was a young man, I read C.S. Lewis while I was on sales calls. When I began to see that I was a sinner, my response was that I wanted to prove my zeal for God by involvement in religion. I went to every church possible. I enrolled in religious classes, eventually becoming a lay preacher in the United Methodist Church after going to six Saturday morning sessions. I became zealous for religion but not for God.
To come to Christ, to know eternal life, we need to be hit right in the old cognitive smacker with this word in Mark. Do you really know what you are doing? Having a zeal, running to Jesus but not trusting in Christ alone for eternal life is a hindrance. You and I must divest ourselves of such zeal without knowledge.
