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In Mark chapter 10, Jesus challenges us to examine whether our security is found in what we possess or in the one who offers eternal riches. Join Reverend Daniel for his message entitled Discipleship and Possessions.

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Good morning, brothers and sisters. The Gospel reading is taken from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verses 17 to 31. Mark chapter 10, verse 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? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 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. And he said to him, Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, laughed him and said to him, You let one thing go sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. Disheartened by the saying, he went away, sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, Then who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. Peter began to say to him, See, we have left everything and followed you. Jesus said, Truly I said to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sister or mother or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel. Who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time? Houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

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Today we are continuing our sermon series on the Gospel of Mark. We'll be looking together at Mark chapter 10, verse 17 to 31, and we'll be exploring together what it means for us to follow Jesus in discipleship by giving up our sense of security in the world and casting our security on Jesus alone. So as Jesus was setting out on his journey to Jerusalem, a man came up to him. We see his earnestness to become a disciple of Jesus. He was so excited to want to know this Jesus and to follow him. And this is seen in his running up to Jesus in haste. And not only so, he ran up to Jesus and he kneeled down before him, expressing his humility as he asked Jesus a very important question. He said, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? In Judaism, only God is usually called good. Rabbis, the teachers of the day, they welcome many titles. You can call them by any names, but would only rarely was a rabbi addressed as a good teacher. This is for fear of blasphemy against God, who alone is good. So similarly, the response of Jesus directs the man to God in Mark 10, 18. Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good. No one is good except God alone. Jesus goes on to say in Mark 10.19, 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. The express emphasis on both God's goodness, no one is good except God alone, and the mention of the commandments by Jesus in Mark 10, verse 19 perhaps suggests that despite the man's zeal and eagerness to follow Jesus, something is lacking in his relationship with God. If no one is good except God alone, then perhaps the man who comes to Jesus in earnestness still lacks something before God, even if he has kept all the commandments. So the man replied Jesus in Mark 10, 20, and he said to him, Teacher, all this I have kept from my youth. Again, it's often assumed by the Jews that if one followed the law, the Torah perfectly, one will be assured of eternal life. If I am a lawkeeper, if I keep the moral law of God perfectly, then naturally I'll be assured of eternal life. However, Jesus is saying something here to the contrary. He's saying that the commandments of God that was mentioned must lead to radical discipleship in following and relating to Jesus. Otherwise, just following the commandments and keeping all the commandments, it still falls short of God's requirement. And Jesus looked at the man and loved him and said to him, You let one thing, go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. The word for look at, looking at him, the word look at is a striking word in the Greek. It represents an intensification of the normal word for look. It means to look intently, to examine or to scrutinize. So when Jesus looked at the man, it wasn't just a casual look, it was a look, an intense look, a look to examine and scrutinize the man. So Jesus looked at him and loved him. Again, the word love comes from the Greek word agapan, which means the highest form of love in the New Testament, from which we get the word agape, meaning it's a love that comes from God, that characterizes who God is. God is love, it's an unconditional and self-giving kind of love. So Jesus looked at him intently, scrutinizing him, examining him, and Jesus loved him with an unconditional, self-giving love. Perhaps there must be something special and rare and admirable in this man, his eagerness to come to Jesus, his keeping of the law and all the commandments. For no one else in the gospel of Mark does Jesus say these words. Is it recorded that Jesus loved him? Mark 10, 22 tells us when the man heard these words from Jesus, he was disheartened by the saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. We see here a great contrast to his early eagerness and zeal to follow Jesus. Mark describes his reaction with a particularly descriptive word for disheartened in the Greek, stunasion, which means to be shocked, to be appalled, or overcast as the sky. In other words, he was downcast, he was shocked at the response of Jesus. He was appalled that after observing all the commandments, there is still something that he lacked. There's still something that he held on to. So the turning point for this man was the command or the question of selling all his possessions to follow Jesus. So the man who possesses everything, he was rich and had great possessions, was shocked and appalled at the requirement to be Jesus' disciple. Despite keeping all the commandments, he still lacks something. Only when the man sells all that he had, only when he gives up the security of his possessions, of possessing everything, then he could be a follower of Jesus. So the man went away sorrowful, leaving Jesus and the possibility of life behind. So the man who had everything, he had great possessions, he lost everything when he left Jesus and the call to discipleship behind. According to Luke Timothy Johnson, in his book, Sharing Possessions, what faith demands, because we are soul and body with an inner and outer life, our bodies, the outer part of our lives, reveal or make manifest our inner emotional states and attitudes, our inner life. So the body is who we are. All of us here, we have a body, but we are also a possessor of a body. We are a body, that is a matter of our being, but we are also a possessor of a body. We have a body. So who we are is related to our being, our body, and also what we have, what we possess to our having. So we possess a body. So Luke Timothy Johnson goes on to say that our possessions, what we have, can be seen as lying within this continuum of being and having. Who we are, what we have, is intricately linked together. It's an essential part of our human existence. Our possessions, the things we have and use, extend our bodies and ourselves into the world and into the lives of other people. What we wear, eat, dwell in, drive, and use all express not only what we have, but in some way who we are as a person. Thus, Luke Timothy Johnson contends that every claim of ownership involves an ambiguity. We say this is mine, but we imply as well, this is me. What I have belongs to me, it is me. The way we use, own and acquire and disperse of material things actually express deeply our inner attitudes and responses to ourselves, to the world around us, to other people, and most importantly, to God Himself. So the wealth and possessions that prevented this one man from following Jesus in Mark 10, 17 to 31 are also matters of concern for us today who follow Jesus. So Jesus turned and looked intently to address his disciples in Mark 10, 23 to 27. He said, How difficult it will be for those who have wealth, possessions, those who link their identity, their being with their having together, such that the more they have, the more they are. So how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples were exceedingly astonished. And then he said, they said to Jesus, then who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God. I believe Jesus is saying today to us that in discipleship, in following Jesus, there is no security but in Jesus and Jesus alone. Anything that causes the disciples and causes us to forget our poverty apart from Jesus, and anything that we rely on for security is a camel before the eye of a needle. The disciples' reaction parallels the rich man. They too are amazed. In fact, they are they were exceedingly astonished or amazed, and they asked the question, who then can be saved? So the word of Jesus, to give up all they have, their possessions, to follow Jesus, comes to the rich man and even to the disciples who had left everything to follow Jesus as not a word of comfort, but a word of offense. Why? Because it surpasses human possibility. To give up our possessions, which is so much a matter of who we are, what we have, and who we are, is often intertwined together. So it's so difficult that it only reveals our weakness and inadequacy. So the amazement of the man and Jesus' disciples reveal the utter futility of our own efforts to follow Jesus. However, the hope is this with God all things are possible. So in Mark 10, 28 to 31, Peter responds to Jesus, he said, We have left everything and followed you. Jesus said, Truly I say there's no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come. But many who are first will be last and the last first. In other words, Peter is asking Jesus, are their sacrifice in following Jesus counted for something good? Since they have left everything, they have left houses, uh, parents to follow Jesus. We see here the sacrifice of the disciples and the reward that Jesus promised them and then a reversal. Jesus responds to Peter that all their sacrifices for the sake of Christ will be rewarded a hundred times as much in this world and with eternal life in the world to come. Yet Mark 10, 31 ends with these words of reversal. Many who are first will be last and the last first. A commentator by the name of James Edwards writes, the kingdom of God purpose our cherished priorities and demands of disciples, new ones. In other words, if we want to follow Jesus today, we cannot use the standard of the world that is embodied by how much we have and possess as a means of negotiation. So the kingdom of God topples our cherished priorities of having more in life. And it demands of disciples new ones, new priorities, new demands. It takes from those who follow Jesus things that they will keep for themselves, and then give to them things they could not imagine. Those who take their stand on their riches, holding on to them whatever they meet, they be, will have nothing to stand on on the last day. On the contrary, those who give up everything, not only possessions, but even people and places, indeed their own lives, to follow Jesus will not simply be compensated for their sacrifice, but given much more a hundred times over, and in the world to come with eternal life. So, brothers and sisters, today I'm standing with all of you under the word of God, right? I myself am subjected to the word. So someone wants a picture, uh, a very arresting image of a preacher. So we don't stand over the people and declare God's word as if we are uh above and we have made it. But as preachers, we stand together with the congregants under the authority of the word of God. And why this is so? Why is it so difficult to be a disciple of Jesus? Why must we give up everything, all our possessions? And I believe it's because our possessions, what we are and what we have, has a tendency for us to depend on that as the ultimate security other than Jesus. Our possessions often reveal our security. How much we have in the bank account, how much assets we have accumulated, forms a bedrock of security in the society we live in today. So in discipleship, I believe the word of God is saying to us that in discipleship, in following Jesus, it goes more than just keeping the commandments. It means we need to follow Jesus radically. So in discipleship, there is no security but in Jesus and in Jesus alone. Let me repeat again in discipleship, there is no security but in Jesus and Jesus alone. The lesson today is this in order to follow Jesus, we need to ever renounce every form of security apart from him. In order to follow Jesus, we need to renounce every form of security apart from him. This is because this is the way of life that Jesus is leading, and to be his disciples. We need to adopt the way of Jesus' lifestyle, his values, his priorities. But I suspect many of us, including myself, sometimes work for a different kingdom. The kingdom of self and possessions. So this is in great contrast to the way of life that Jesus encourages us. Just to quote a few scriptures, in Luke 9.58, Jesus said to his would-be disciples, he said, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. In other words, that is the first requirement. If you want to follow Jesus, lay aside all your securities, all your attachments, and follow me on the road on an exciting journey of discipleship. Even the Son of Man compared to foxes and birds, you know, he doesn't even have a place to lay his head. Right? Even foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests. Jesus said, Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. In John 12, 26, Jesus again addressed his disciples and reminded them: if anyone serves me, if any one of us today says we are a disciple of Jesus, we are serving him, then he must follow me. Wherever Jesus goes, we will lead, we will follow. He leads and we follow. So if anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, Jesus said, my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, my father will honor him. Wealth and possessions are highlighted here as it's so much related to who we are. As Luke Timothy Johnson had said, what we have or possess is often an extension of who we are on the inside. So what is the application of this word for us today? I like to frame it in the form of a question, which is this What does giving up our form of security look like in following Jesus today? Of course, we can't say that all of us today will sell our homes and be uh a wanderer because foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man have nowhere to lay his head, according to Luke 9, 58. Right? Of course, during the time of Jesus, that was the culture of the day. Uh people follow rabbis for a season of their life to learn from the rabbis. And it's common in those days for rabbis, teachers to say, tell people to come, follow, and they will leave. Right? Of course, we can't apply that directly to our time today. And I believe Jesus is not asking us to sell all our assets and um in some way follow Jesus on the on the road, literally. But then the question, what does giving up our form of security look like in following Jesus today? I believe it means trusting Jesus as our ultimate security. Trusting Jesus as our ultimate security rather than our accumulated bank accounts and investment portfolios. You see, we are either guided each day by an orientation towards Jesus, or we are guided each day by the orientation of ourselves. Again, in these arresting words from Matthew 6 24, he said, No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. So money or mammoth reveals the conditions of our heart, condition of our hearts before God. So it's either we serve God with our body as a projection of who we are, or we serve money or mammoth as with our body as a projection of who we are. We cannot serve two masters. In other words, we cannot say today that we would want to be a disciple of Jesus yet spend most of our waking moments just observing the stock market or watching our investment portfolios and looking at our bank accounts day and night. We cannot say we are disciple of Jesus, yet fundamentally orientate ourselves towards who we are and what we possess. Our orientation must be towards Jesus. We cannot serve two masters. The author of Hebrews wisely exhort us in Hebrews 13, verse 5. Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have. For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Either we pursue money or mammoth, or we cling to Jesus, who promises us that he will never leave us nor forsake us. So, how does all this translate to our everyday living? I like to suggest to us there are three things that we can do to apply this passage to our life. Firstly, begin each day praying to Jesus as your master. You know, a lot of times a sermon is preached and we can say all what we want, but the when the rubber hits the road, the test of all is all things is how we live our lives each day. If we live our lives oriented towards Jesus as our master, then prayer to him will be the first and most important thing we do each day. Not opening the phone and watching social feeds or watching the stock market or even looking at the the soccer, the World Cup results. Even though there was, I think there's a match today, right? This morning. England and Norway, yeah. Please don't watch the match now. I think the results should be out already. But anyway, yeah, so what do we look at the first thing we wake up? If we are oriented to Jesus and to be his disciple, then most naturally praying to him will be our first recourse instead of the concerns of the rest of the day. So begin each day praying to Jesus as your master. Orientate your life around doing his will and fulfilling his purpose. So it's no longer now what you want and what you want to pursue, or how much assets you can accumulate uh uh for retirement, even though that is important in its own sense, but I'm saying that if we seek first to be a disciple of Jesus, he will take care. He will help us take care and be good stewards of that. So the whole point is to orientate our life over around doing God's will and fulfilling his purpose. That is what a disciple does. It's no longer our lives, but following the Master, yielding our lives each day to his will and his purposes in our family, work, studies, and our ministry. So I like to begin each day. Um that I don't drive, um, I get to travel more. And in fact, I I take pleasure now in being driven every day. Right? When I take the train, take the bus, you know, I'm being driven. Right? So I always uh now I treasure those moments where I'm able to uh use those times, travel moments, to talk to God. And I try to begin each day uh just with simple uh so-called liturgical prayers that uh help me to orientate myself to God. Right? So sometimes I use a set prayers, you know, to orientate and to begin the day. For example, I would say uh glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and shall be forever, world without end. So that helps me focus on God. It's about God, glory to him. Right? And then I begin sometimes with a Jesus prayer. I said, uh, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner. Say that a few times meditatively, and then I go towards uh my favorite verse in this season, Matthew 11, 29, which is uh Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. So with that prayer from Matthew 11, 29, then I start a round of prayer, just bring before God concerns of the day, uh concerns of the church, family, ministry, and whatever. So that become uh the way I orientate my life to God, you know, and it's uh it's a journey, and but I believe that we need to start, take small steps in that way, right? When we begin to pray consistently to Jesus each day as our master. Trust me, things, your orientation will change, right? No longer will we begin the day just looking at social media or the stock market, but begin the day with Jesus. And trust me, it doesn't take very long to play such prayers. Doesn't take very long, right? Maybe 10 minutes, 15 minutes along the way, on the train. I'm not sure how you do that when you drive. I I can't, but maybe some of you can. Yeah. Because driving, you have to focus on the road, right? Then traffic, you know, and you know, jam and CTE and all. So you can't do that. But yeah, you got to find your own space, your own rhythm. But I think that is essential, right? Secondly, declare Jesus as Lord over your life and your possessions. That's very important because possessions often possess us more than we think, right? Uh you may say that, oh, I'm not tempted with money. What if you have $200,000 in your bank account today? Uh how will you handle it? Or a few million dollars suddenly transferred to your account. How will you handle it? You know, we we we we do not know the deceitfulness of wealth until we have it in our hands. So the best way is to pray each day, to declare Jesus as Lord over your life, your being, and your your having, your possessions. Right? And yeah, it could be just a simple acknowledgement, Lord, my life is yours, my possessions belong to you, I'm your disciple. I surrender those and everything to you. I surrender my possessions and my being to you. Right, and thirdly, I want to suggest that we can commit to being a good steward of the resources and possessions He has freely provided you. Right? That's where we talk about uh asset management and stocks and you know being a good steward of money and all that, but it must be in the right perspective and the right proportion. It's only when God is at the center of our lives, then right, with that as a framework, with him at the center, then we can talk about money and being a good steward as a as a logical consequence of uh what flows because God is our master, then he has entrusted to us time, talents, you know, resources. So, how can we be good stewards of the resources he has given us to serve his purpose and his will? So, my friends, today is a call of God for us to yield our full security to Jesus. I'd like to suggest to us that it begins very simply with orientating our life to him each day. And it begins with just acknowledging him as Lord over our being and our having our life and our possession.

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