September 25, 2005 Sermon

Can the Rich Be Saved?
Mark 10:17-31

He was a six foot, five inch tall Huckleberry Finn with bright red hair, freckles and a mischievous grin on his skinny face. An accomplished magician, he performed as the warm-up act for Christian rock bands on the college tour circuit. I would invite him to go along when we took our youth group to the amusement park down the highway. While we waited in the snaking lines for the popular roller coasters he would make the time melt away by doing card tricks. People would gape from two and three ranks away, often forgetting to move ahead until he finished.

His faith in Jesus Christ was contagious. When he led a Junior High youth group meeting attendance doubled. Parents would stick around to listen to his devotional talks. He went to a Christian college and then a seminary. When last I heard, he was serving as a youth pastor in an independent church on the outskirts of Chicago .

She was a drill sergeant. The most ÒpowerfulÓ people in townÑincluding the mayor and the areaÕs representative in CongressÑwere often surprised to find themselves doing her bidding. Half the movers and shakers in the county belonged to her extended family. Late in life she married; her husband, a doctor, served as president of the board of trustees for a major state university.

She wore expensive clothing and a frown. She did not always trouble to consider the feelings of others. Yet she spent her time doing good. People knew this and (usually) forgave her hard-charging manner. Way back when she spearheaded the drive to create the countyÕs first animal shelter. When her church decided on any major new work, she made sure it happened, no matter whether she saw the need for it. Her faith in Jesus was absolute, though it embarrassed her to talk about it. She read her Bible and prayed several times a day. I saw her this summer. She was running a party we attended, even though it was not in her home.

What do these two people have in common?Ê They are among the richest people I have known. The young man is the sole heir to the fortune of one of the largest lumber companies on earth. The woman has inherited the wealth amassed by her familyÕs businesses, the largest dairy in the state and a chain of grocery stores bought out by a national brand. Her deceased husband, the doctor, owned square miles of rich farmland.

Do these two love Jesus?Ê Yes, they do. Does Jesus love them?Ê I believe it with all my heart. Are they saved?Ê I am as sure of their salvation as it is possible to be. Can the rich be saved?Ê YesÑbut Jesus himself warned how tough it is.

We are saved only by the grace of God. Hallelujah!Ê

The point of our passage from the Gospel of Mark appears at its start, when a rich young man approaches Jesus and asks, ÒWhat must I do to inherit eternal life?ÓÊ That is a question that should interest each of us. Jesus answers the question plainly. His answer has two parts: to inherit eternal life we must, first, obey the law of God; and second, give all we have to the poor, then come serve Jesus.

Just two impossibilities stand between eternal life and us: obeying God and giving up everything we own. But we have so much. A couple of people challenged me when in a previous sermon I claimed that the poorest of us is rich when compared to humanity. Clearly I do not know the personal financial details of every person who attends this church. Yet we can observe a few facts. Every home in this church has a telephone. Probably it has more than one, some with splashy features that require teenagers to activate them. According to the 2003 report of the International Telecommunication Union, Argentina, considered wealthy by South American standards, had over one-third of its households with no phone. Less than half of South Africans had one. Only sixteen percent of Chinese homes did, though that number has undoubtedly risen since 2003.

Percentages like these hold true when comparing even the poorest Americans to other nationalities in food intake, income and just about any other measure of wealth you can name. We are rich. Jesus said the rich have a hard time entering eternal life. But does that mean we cannot enter heaven?Ê No. Throughout his encounter with the rich young man Jesus held to his hard line on the rich while at the same time compassionately trying to explain how even they (we) could be saved.

As Jesus explained in mark 10:27: ÒWith mortals this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.ÓÊ GodÕs grace, GodÕs love that we have not earned, makes it possible for us to receive eternal life. None of us deserves eternal life. Yet everyone who believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior receives it. This is the Good News of the Gospel: in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. We are saved.

So whatÕs all this business about how hard it is for the rich to inherit eternal life?Ê Jesus seems to have had three reasons for saying this. He wanted to remind people of the importance of GodÕs Law. He wanted to call his followers to sacrificial service to the poor. And he wanted to put the spotlight on GodÕs work in salvation, not ours.

First, the Law. Last week I preached about not letting the rules get in the way of doing GodÕs work. But this does not mean that we should ignore GodÕs rules. Keeping the Law does not save us, but it does tell us how God wants us to behave. JesusÕ told the rich young man that to get eternal life he had to try to follow the Law. So should we.

Second, sacrificial service to the poor. Feeding the hungry and clothing the naked remain the call of God upon our lives. I am glad that both our Elementary and our Jr./Sr. High youth groups have scheduled service events this fall right here in our community. Our deacons feed the poor every Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they perform ministries of compassion throughout the year. We do these things not because we feel guilty for being rich. We do them not because they punch our tickets into heaven. No, we do them because Jesus tells us to do them.

Finally, the work of God in saving us. That rich young man I mentioned at the start of this sermon, the magician and youth pastor, often spoke of growing up with everything. Homes in Barbados and Vail, a brand-new car every year with the best sound equipment, parties with the daughters of other insanely rich people. His first try at college ended in haze of alcohol abuse and failing grades. He could not care about anything. He despised himself.

A neighbor, who had pitched for the Cardinals and Phillies and into the Hall of Fame, hired him to do magic at his sonÕs birthday party. From that contact the two struck up an odd friendship. The pitcher, not a practicing Christian, told the younger man that he was wasting what could be a truly impressive life. Maybe what he needed was God.

The younger man listened. He went in search of God. He found him. His life turned around. He led his mother to Christ. He led his neighbor to Christ. He has led, I would wager, hundreds of young people to Christ. It is hard for the rich to inherit eternal life. But it can be done. By the grace of God, it can be done. Has it happened for you?Ê Have you asked Christ into your heart?Ê Do you have faith that eternal life will be yours?Ê Keep trying for it. ItÕs not easy to get, but itÕs worth every pennyÕs worth of effort it costs. We are saved only by the grace of God. Hallelujah!