Give It Up - Mark 10:23-31

 

Mark 10:23-31 NIV

²³ Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴ The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶ The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

²⁸ Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰ will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Give It Up

Genesis 18:14 NIV

 

¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

 

The LORD speaking to Abraham, in the words recorded above. Words that echo through time and space. Words that teach, and words that speak Truth. “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”

 

Think of these words of God and reflect on the passage of this reflection, the impossible notion of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. With God, even this is possible. “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”

 

The riches and power of this world, can put man in a dream. Riches and power and prestige can leave man with a false sense of well-being. Prestige leaves man with the false sense that man alone is important by man’s own efforts.

 

In this false dream of prestige and wealth, man’s center moves from personality to a false sense of personal power. Well, that’s all a dream.

 

Jesus teaches us that entry into the Kingdom of God is NOT a human achievement.

 

These words of Jesus can be hard to take. Jesus turns the prosperity of God favoring the self-righteous person, away from yourself, TO righteousness only in God and by God. Righteous and prosperity do not come from yourself. You just can’t pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and escape to a place of righteousness and power and riches on your own. You may think you’ve made it out of your own environment into something else because of what you have done, but you really have only been dreaming all along.

 

Why can’t man save himself by his own works? Man doesn’t want to “Give It Up”!

 

And here Jesus displays a serious sense of humor! Think of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. What a ridiculous thought. And Jesus entertains us with this thought. And, I don’t think He’s speaking about a loaded down camel on it’s knees, unable to pass through a gate called Needle. I take this to be a ridiculous, funny, idea when Jesus has a serious sense of humor about a serious message.

 

The message? Entrance into the Kingdom of God is impossible by man’s own efforts. Entrance into the Kingdom of God is only a gift FROM God.

 

Remember the Old Testament reading from earlier in this reflection…

 

Genesis 18:14 NIV

 

¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

 

 

 

 

And also, as Jeremiah prays to the LORD in vs 17 and the LORD’s answer in vs 27…

 

Jeremiah 32:17, 27 NIV

 

¹⁷ “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

²⁷ “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

And then in the New Testament, as the angel of God speaks to Mary about her pregnancy…

Luke 1:37 NIV

³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

So, the question arises…

Who can be saved?

Well… No One! Yet… Every One!

Huh? Now what?

Well, no one can be saved without God’s grace and love. Salvation is a gift from God. It’s only through this Gift that man can be saved. You see, God has His own perspective and His own way of giving and His own way of sharing His grace.

Through the works of man, salvation is impossible. Salvation is THE GIFT of God which nothing from myself can purchase, not my works, not my prestige, not my power, not even my own personal faith can purchase my salvation.

Listen carefully to these words from the letter to the Hebrews…

Hebrews 4:1-8 NIV

4 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. ² For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they (the Israelites/Hebrews) did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. ³ Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. ⁴ For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” ⁵ And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

⁶ Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, ⁷ God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.

Did you hear it like I did? Through MY work, salvation is impossible! Salvation is THE Gift of God which nothing from myself can purchase. It’s so subtle in these words of the Letter to the Hebrews. But it’s a BIG WOW!

So, when God rested on the first Sabbath, He rested from ALL His works. Does this mean that in Jesus’, “It is finished!” comes to us, God created this from the get-go?  I think so. It seems to me, that when God rested on the first Sabbath as mentioned in Genesis; God also rested in the plan of salvation through Him in Jesus. That’s a deeply profound thought! This thinking drives home the love of God through Christ Jesus and the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of all God’s Children throughout all time. God IS God and we are His creation that he loves completely and thoroughly enough to grant us the grace of salvation, before, we even knew we needed to be saved!

And because of this, how could we not, as Jesus’ disciples, give up everything here, for a new forever family.

Remember the “Give Up List?”

²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰ will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 

Vs 29 … Give up

Vs 30 … Receive in eternal life

Don’t be trapped into “Prosperity Gospel” thinking. The “Give up” list is not easy. The “Prosperity” comes not from your action of giving up. The “Prosperity” comes in the Gift of God. Notice how I capitalized Gift? That Gift is Jesus who has come and will come again. And notice also, what we receive. Sure, we receive a new family of disciples, but in this life, we also receive the “along with persecutions” part as well.

So, just because you do “Give It Up,” doesn’t mean that you deserve anything. Remember, it’s not your actions that save you. It is the gift of God. We “Give It Up,” due to, and in thanks for, that Sabbath rest that God prepared for us at creation, as His created, as a Gift from God. That’s some really deep love!

Our reward? Our response to God?

Our reward and response is that God makes us into something NEW. We receive a something Larger, and something Expanding to Infinity and Greater … WITH our new family, the Friends of Jesus. This IS the REAL stuff. This IS the Real Church. This IS the catholic Church, the universal Church, the ONLY Church.

And in THIS Church, we have fellowship here and now and forever with God and our NEW family, all planned out from the beginning of time.

Today’s wealth and power and prestige? It all comes from God to begin with, SO, “Give It Up.” Give it to your neighbor in the love of God. Instead… treasure God’s Word in your heart, the very center of your being… today… tomorrow… and forever.

Thanks be to God!

I leave you with this YouTube Music video --- “It’s a fun listen”

Dance

Planetshakers - Dance - (with lyrics) (2014)