Maybe you remember that it is a big deal when a child gets to that big kid stage when their teeth get loose and they start to fall out. They wiggle one for a few days and then proudly walk into the room, lift up their top lip in a goofy smile and ask, “Do you notice anything missing?”. One of their front teeth is no longer in their mouth. And it is not hard to notice. It is front and center on their face. You know exactly what is missing.
There is a more frustrating experience with things that are missing. Like when you pack for a trip and you know you are forgetting sometime, you have that feeling. You make 4 or 5 final checks but you cannot figure out what it is, until you are 50 miles down the road. Frustrating! Or when you do the taste test on a special recipe and you know right away that you are missing something. But you can’t put your figure on what it is. More garlic? Frustrating! You know you have a vitamin deficiency but you don’t know which vitamin. I wish it was always as obvious as the missing front tooth.
There was a man who came to Jesus. He knew he was missing something, but he didn’t know what it was. Until Jesus identified it for him. He looked at him and said, “One thing you lack…” We are exposed before the one who sees it all. Jesus can point out our lack. Jesus can supply what we are missing.
This man’s story from Mark 10:17-22 that helps us to better understand the one thing we can’t afford to lack.
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
We are introduced to “a man”. We know that he is rich (v.22). Matthew tells us he was young (Matthew 19:22). Luke tells us he was a ruler (Luke 18:18). This is the man who had a lack. But there was a lot he didn’t lack. He was rich (he didn’t lack money). He was young (he didn’t lack youth). He was ruler (he didn’t lack power). All that he had wasn’t enough. The most frustrating part is that he didn’t know what he was missing. This story is not about what he had but what he lacked.
Notice how he approached Jesus, running and kneeling. People came to Jesus in a lot of other ways, under the cover of night, grabbing the edge of His garment, with questions to trap him… This man is eager and unashamed. He wanted to know what he lacked. He made evangelism so easy. His question sets Jesus up to share the gospel with an eager listener.
He asked the big question. It is the question every belief system attempts to answer because it’s the question every human heart is asking (Ecc. 3:11). We want to know what we must do to inherit eternal life.
Nearly every belief system has some understanding of an afterlife and some theory of how to inherit it. Some teach that we already have immortality and that we experience it through reincarnation. You can inherit a more favorable life after this one through the karma that repays your good works. That is one answer to the young man’s question. Others are seeking to achieve a state of nirvana through enlightenment and meditation. Others are seeking transcendence by looking within themselves. These are all attempts to answer the big question. Even those who don’t identify with a religious system look for answers to this question. Many are seeking to inherit a form of eternal life through a heaven on earth. The American dream is a poor substitute for an eternity with Jesus. But the accumulation of possessions, and a bit of plastic surgery, can make you feel immortal, for a while.
What must I do to inherit eternal life? Every heart is asking it, every worldview is attempting to answer it.
The Bible gives a unique answer. There is a universal basic recognition that humanity is stuck in a box. It is a box of sin and mortality. Beyond that box is the eternal life that we want to inherit. Other belief systems have theories of what we must do to get out of the box. But the Bible tells us that God came into the box. And the only way out of the box is through him. Christianity deals with the same problems as every other religion, but it offers far superior solutions. We have a savior.
So the question, “what must I do…?”, has the wrong focus. The focus should not be on the sinner but the savior.
But if you think it’s an easy question to answer try to place yourself somewhere on the following continuum. In response to the question, “what must I do to be saved?”, one side of the continuum says “nothing”, the other says “everything”. There are Christians on both sides. If you are not on either said, where are you between the two?
On the “everything” side is a 4th century British monk named Pelagius who believed in free will and that God would not command us to do the impossible. So, we can and must exercise our free will to do good works unto salvation. It is an extremely high view of man.
On the nothing side is the famous 4th century North African theologian named Augustine who believed that man is totally depraved and can do nothing to be saved. This is where a Calvinist would hang out. It is an extremely low view of man.
One side strips man of their free will and the other strips God of His glory.
What can man do to inherit eternal life? Penance, sacraments, good works? We know we cannot earn salvation so let’s not go to the “everything” side. But if we say it is all God to the extent that man doesn’t even choose God, then we are forced to conclude that it is all per-determined.
The man had one question, I have now raised several (and they won’t all be answered here). My intention is to show the magnitude of this big question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”. This is exciting! Right here, in the pages of Scripture we get to see how Jesus answered this question. This is how the all-knowing God answered the question on every human heart.
18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
The young man was somewhere on the “everything” side. He had a high view of human goodness. Jesus picked up on a word the man used, “good”. He comments, “Why do you call me good?”. In Matthew, the man uses this word again in his question, “what good thing…” (Matthew 19:19). Jesus was not denying His own divinity or goodness, rather, He was highlighting the error of exalting human goodness as if to say, “be careful who you are calling you good.”.
19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”
First, notice that there are some things missing in the list of commandments. I think it gives us a hint about the lack in the man’s heart. Jesus listed five of the last six commandments. He skipped the first four and replaced “do not covet” with “do not defraud”. So, what’s missing? The four commandments about loving God and the one about our attitude towards possessions! Jesus’ list lacked the commandments that were most lacking in the man’s heart.
Now for the troubling part… Why does Jesus go to the commandments with this question? Why not set him straight by saying, “you cannot do enough to inherit eternal life! You need me.”? Initially, my response was that He doesn’t say, “keep the commandments” but “you know the commandments.”. He was not endorsing commandment keeping as a means of salvation but simply reviewing the law. But then I read the story in Matthew and He actually says, “If you would enter life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). Isn’t that false? The true answer is in verse 23, “with man it is impossible but with God all things are possible”. Why did Jesus intentionally share the gospel wrong? It’s because Jesus is answering the man’s question. Jesus is saying, “If you are going to do it yourself, perfect commandment keeping is the requirement”.
The man would have been right to respond “it is impossible”(v.23) or “who then can be saved?” (v.27). But instead he responds, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” (v.21).
If he did hear the Sermon on the Mount he didn’t understand what Jesus meant by, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder’…But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:21-22). He actually believed that he had kept the commandments, even as a teenager!
Do you realize how Jesus feels about self-righteous, rich, greedy, deceived, legalists? He loves them.
21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
In identifying his one lack Jesus gave him five commands. The first one (“go”) is the only one he obeyed. The next two (“sell” and “give”) were all about that “do not covet” thing he lacked. The last two (“come” and “follow”) were all about that loving God thing he lacked.
All of the going, selling and giving was so that he might come and follow Jesus. Here Jesus reveals his lack.
The one thing we cannot afford to lack is love for Jesus!
“Only one thing he lacked, but that was a vital principle. He needed the love of God in the soul. This lack, unless supplied, would prove fatal to him; his whole nature would become corrupted. By indulgence, selfishness would strengthen. That he might receive the love of God, his supreme love of self must be surrendered.”
Desire of Ages 519
22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
If Jesus’ goal was to make him feel happy about himself, He failed. He hit a sensitive nerve. The man had great possessions. He ran to Jesus eager but walked away sad. His experience was far from the experience of those who joyfully accept the plundering of their property (Hebrew 10:34). He made a value judgment, believing that his possessions were more valuable than following Jesus. He was wrong.
Do you find the logic of verse 21 ironic (“You lack one thing: go, sell…and give”)? If you have a lack, how does it help to get rid of more? The irony in this young man’s experience is that the lack remained because of the abundance! It was an irony that astonished the disciples (vv. 24, 26). It is what we have that causes our greatest lack. We address our lack by giving when the things we have keep us from Jesus. It’s not giving that inherits eternal life, it was Jesus. But the giving would have freed him to come to Jesus.
Money opens doors but not this door. God doesn’t have a problem with wealth, we do! God can use it. But it can keep us from having what we can’t afford to lack. The young man didn’t just have stuff, stuff had him.
Again, it is a big deal when a kid is missing one of their front teeth. It’s a big deal when we lack love for Jesus. So just like the front teeth are obvious, in the center of our face. Let’s make our love for Jesus obvious, front and center in our lives. If He is the most central, visible part of our lives then we have an advantage when we go through seasons of lacking him. The advantage is that it will be obvious that He is missing. We won’t stay, unaware, in that place of lack for very long. Others might have the frustration of knowing something is off and not knowing what it is. But our self diagnostic test becomes real simple, we need Jesus. Is there something off in your life. Jesus is saying “come and follow me?”. And to center your life back on Him maybe you need to go and sell and give. Or maybe you need to confess or apologize or delete or unsubscribe or forgive or repent. Do those things, and come and follow Jesus.