Getting To Heaven

Are You a Follower of Jesus or Just a Fan? (Mark 10:17-27) The Rich Young Ruler Jesus looked at him and loved him (Mark 10:21) Despite his pride and misguided motivations Jesus loved him. Perhaps this is something we all need to hear? However we come to Him – whatever is going on in our individual lives that is not healthy - no matter how ugly – Jesus loves still loves us. Even if right now you have no concept of God’s love for you – it doesn’t change the fact that he does love you. Jesus “loved” him enough to confront him with his condition. Jesus demonstrated to this “good person”, that he had in fact broken the commandment given by God in Exodus 20, ‘You shall have no other gods before Me’ (see also Matt. 6:24). This young man had outer piety without true, inner devotion. He kept the letter of the Law, but the Law hadn’t reached his heart. With some outwardly moral people, the motive of their virtue is to earn the respect of society, a pragmatic, self-aggrandizing incentive rather than a true spiritual motivation. Like a mirror, the Word of God has the power to show us what we really are (James 1:23-25). The Laver at the Tabernacle, Exodus 30:18-21, is illustrative of this. It was made from the looking glasses of the women, Exodus 38:8. Every time the priests entered the Tabernacle, they were required to wash their hands and their feet. In doing so, they would look into the Laver and see their reflection. The Laver therefore served as a mirror to remind them that they were sinners and that they were unclean before God and in need.) What was the one thing he lacked? (Mark 10:21) Will having material possessions keep you out of heaven? Jesus told him to sell “everything”! (Mark 10:21, see also Luke 14:33) In verse 28 Peter pipes up and says to him, "Lord we have left everything to follow you!" Don’t miss that – because its crucial. Peter thinks out loud ‘We have already done what you asked of him.’ What if Jesus had set a different bar for the rich guy? Would Peter have still wanted to follow him? What Jesus was asking was normal practice for a disciple. Mother Theresa once said ‘you will never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have’. Many of us will never make that discovery. Our call is not a call to abject poverty, but a call to complete faith and trust in Him. The test of loyalty to Christ is different for different people.

Why was this necessary before he could follow Jesus? (Mark. 10:21) Good Works Our human nature prevents us from perfectly following God’s law. We can’t rewrite who we are? So we need a savior. (see Mark 10:27) 7 out of 10 Christians believe that good works, not God’s grace alone, helps to determine whether you will go to heaven. (see Eph. 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Rom. 6:23, Gal. 2:16) If good works are not necessary, why do them? Following Jesus means doing as he did, living a life of humble self-sacrifice (John 12:24-26, Matt. 16:24-28) Can you be a Christian without being a disciple? True discipleship means that our first obligation should be to serving God (Luke 9:6062) Is the modern American church too concerned with leading people to make professions of faith but not concerned enough with making disciples for Christ? Isn’t true faith is more than “fire insurance”? Our actions demonstrate our faith, or the lack thereof (Titus 1:16) The idea of “Easy Christianity” is a deception (2 Tim. 4:3-5) Such humble, self-sacrificing service, if done for the right reasons, will be rewarded (Mark 10:29-31)