Mark 10:17-22 * January 27, 2008 * World Mission Festival * Pastor Mark Rohrback

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?"

18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 19 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.' 20 "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."

21 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." 22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. 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 a rich man 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."

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Savior of the world,

“The rich young man went away sad.” I must admit that I chose this text because of this phrase. Whenever I hear it, I am reminded of a man that I knew while I lived in Russia as a missionary. My neighbors name was Ivan. He was 60-something years old, retired and living on a measly government pension. For most of his life, his job had been as a demolitions expert--blowing up things with explosives such as old bridges and ice that was blocking the flow of a river. I got to know him because he would stand outside the entrance to our apartment building after supper, smoking a cigarette. He Had his opinions about everything but was also warm and friendly, especially to me, his foreigner neighbor, the first American he had ever had the chance to talk to. I started talking with Ivan about a year after 9/11. When we were introduced, the first thing he did was take my hand and express his sorrow at what had happened. When I told him that I was a missionary and that I had come to tell people about Jesus and God’s Word, he looked at me curiously, at told me that it was a good thing.

After some time, my l wife and I got permission to present a weekly Bible Information Class in the basement of our apartment building. We invited all our neighbors, to the first class. That first class, I think we had about 10-15 people, including Ivan and his wife. I presented a basic law/gospel presentation in English and my wife translated. In the time it took to translate what I had just, I was able to look out at the people gathered and see their reactions to what was being said. Some were listening intently. Some politely. Others were rolling there eyes a little it seemed to me. Ivan and was just blankly staring at the floor, rolling an unlit cigarette in his hand. He didn’t say much after the presentation but I do remember that he looked at us and said something to the effect of “I can’t understand what you said. I also can’t understand how you believe it.” And Ivan went away sad. We continued to talk after that. But there always seemed to be a look of sadness in his eye, as if he was thinking, you and I who used to talk together, now live on different planets.

Ivan went away sad, I think because he thought his life was set up, more or less the way he wanted, he believed the things he grew up believing, and to do anything else would be to leave his comfort zone, the life he was used to. Not only did he not believe in God, what God had said to him that night in His Word seemed immensely impractical to Ivan. The rich young man heard Jesus’ words and went away sad for much the same reason--because he was quite comfortable and confident in the life he was leading and what Jesus had asked him to do would upset the whole thing.

And look at Jesus’ disciples reaction: they were amazed at his words. When Jesus spoke to the rich man, whenever speaks to anyone in His Word, it amazes people. It makes people amazed and sad, because it tells them that every thing they hold dear and were brought up with as important, every thing they cling to for comfort and security is going to fade away. That’s what God’s law does. But then the gospel also amazes people and makes them glad. Glad because there is a real God, who really looks at us and loves us, despite the fact we feel we don’t need Him, and He is ready, willing, and able to give us life, forgiveness for our sins and real, eternal life. As Jesus says, He came that we may have life and have it to the full!

It was with this amazing message that makes people sad and glad that I was sent to be a missionary in Russia. For 70 years, Christianity was forbidden and people were taught that they didn’t need God; they were the masters of their own fates. However, by the time we first sent missionaries to Russia in 1993, the atheistic Soviet Union had crumbled to the ground. People flooded into our mission centers to hear God’s Word, many for the first time in their lives. There were many baptisms of babies and adults. It was wonderful for those there to see the Holy Spirit working in bring so many people to faith Christ. I was called to the mission in 2001. By that time, only eight years later, the people weren’t busting down the door to get in. People, it seemed, had got their taste of what had been forbidden, and many had moved on to something else. Yes, many of the original members remained, but no one new was coming. Most people in Russia aren’t interested in spiritual things. They are too busy running after material things they couldn’t get while under the Soviet Union.

You can't blame them. For years and years, they heard about the stuff you could get in the West, toasters, washing machines, cars. Now they are available. Now, you can get credit. Now people who had no money, whose average monthly income was $100, are not only poor and penniless but also in debt. But they have things. And the now the goal is to get as many new things as they can in order to be happy and have a good life. That’s Russia now. Good people focused on the wrong things. Yet, is it any different here? People here are focused on getting things. Newest this, newest that. By the time you've bought it it's obsolete. Look at your life--what is it based on? What is the goal? Am I going t have my favorite tv shows, a cell phone, computer, video games in heaven?

The rich young man went away sad. Sad, because what made him happy, what gave him security wasn't God but the blessings God had given Him. Jesus told him the one thing he needed to know most of all and it was the thing he most of all didn't want to hear. What Jesus said to him and says to us topples over our lives on to the ground in a big pile. We realize what He is saying means that what we have built for ourselves is no good. All that we have and rely on for comfort and security and happiness is built on a foundation of sand. And we don't want to have to start over again. After all, we've done pretty good. We could have sinned a lot more and been worse. We go to church regularly. Our reps aren't sterling but they got to count for something? Our sinful nature tells us that why change what is working for us. Might as well keep on going on the path we are on, for we like it, we are used to it. How could it be bad? This path is the accepted path. Lots of people are on it. How could it lead to hell. Why doesn't God just stay out of my business?

With love in his eyes, our Lord tells us that we are on the wrong path. He says, "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 a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Following our sinful nature and the world, the devil, we put things before God. It can be riches, it can be other things or people but we do it. Jesus looks us straight in the eyes and wants us to realize--it is impossible for us to enter the kingdom of heaven because we can’t obey the first commandment, let alone the other nine. That means the path we are on leads not to heaven, but to losing everything for all eternity in hell. And knowing all people the way He does, Jesus very frankly tells his disciples that it is impossible for any of us on our own to end up in heaven.

Jesus’ amazing words make us sad. They make us realize that what matters most in this world--our relationship with God, is also what often matters the least to us. Yet, Jesus’ words also make us glad, for amazingly, Jesus tells us "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." There is hope for each and everyone one of us because God can do the impossible and because He loves us, does do it. Impossibly: a virgin bears a son. Impossibly: 5,000 people are fed by a few loaves and fish. Impossibly: The Amazing Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us! Jesus Christ, who spoke to the rich man and speaks to us today came to lived the perfect life that it was impossible for us to live. And He also did what was impossible for anyone but Him to do: He took all of our sins, big and small, all the things that would keep us from eternal life with God and He put them on Himself. He took the punishment for them and died with them. He broke the hold that sin and death had on us and won for us forgiveness and life. He took away everything that was in the way between us and a real, full life with God forever.

And he gives me faith to take hold of all these impossible things by His amazing Word. I am not going to have tv shows, phones, computers in heaven. I am not going to have money and sports teams. Therefore, I am not going to have any of these things get in the way of what I will have: life forever with my God, my maker, the one who loves me more than anyone loves and showed it, who will give me all that I need, more than I could ever desire. I am not going to have anything get in the way of believing, trusting, in Him above all things. I am not going to have anything stop me from being a missionary no matter where I am, so that those I meet, those I already love, may know the Savior and have all things for this life and the next.

This world needs a lot of things. But there is only one thing that it needs the most. And that’s what you and I have, thanks to God: Jesus and His Amazing Word. His Amazing Word that makes people sad by showing them their sins and topples everything false that people have built their lives on. His Amazing Word that then makes people glad by revealing to them Jesus who accomplished the impossible task of bringing all people into a right and eternal relationship with God.

For this we need missionaries to announce the Amazing Word everywhere. And just as important, you and I need to be missionaries. Because the mission field isn’t only far away, in fact, it’s where we walk every day. It’s the people we meet and the ones we know and love. It’s especially the ones we know and love, our friends and family. You love your family and want to give them what's best. How about being a missionary to them. To tell them what's important. That they may know their Savior that they may be rich forever and ever. Do we want them to live meaningless lives based on things that won’t last? Or to have an unshakeable foundation, to know that however much or little you have, your life, happiness, security is on the Rock, never to be shaken. Yes, this is hard to do because you know that you might make them sad. Yet, what worries do we have knowing that we have God’s Amazing Word to announce to them and that all things are possible with God?

I always hoped that the rich young who went away sad didn’t go to far away. I hope heard what Jesus said to His disciples about all things being possible with God. And that Jesus’ words worked in his heart and that he eventually saw Jesus as the Savior. I’ve always prayed that for my friend in Russia, Ivan, too. I pray that the Spirit would use the Word that made him sad would in the end make Him glad when he saw Jesus as his Savior and the greatest treasure anyone in the world could have. Amen.