1. Encounters Along the Way
Christ’s Encounter with a Rich, Young Man
Mark 10:

2. Flues, Fires and our Response to Correction

3. We are most likely aware of times where the correcting words of another have been interpreted as a nagging annoyance.
Sometimes, we allow our pride to get in the way of hearing what God’s Spirit is communicating to us; we allow ourselves to be deafened to the correction and guidance of the Holy Spirit because we believe that we’ve got it “all under control”.
My hope is we’ll be able to learn both how we are to understand the nature of our faith and how we ought to receive the correction provided to us by the Holy Spirit.

4. “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?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” 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.”

5. “At this the man’s face fell
“At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 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.” The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

6. My sense is that the Spirit is urging us to consider the use and reception of discipline and correction in our time together today.
Our text indicates to us two important realities about this man:
he is wealthy
he is pious
The man had his life together … he was wealthy and most likely known for having a pure reputation – he was probably known as a good man.
This man would have been a prime candidate for entry into the Kingdom of God.

7. The rich young man came to Jesus for an answer, for a solution his unrest.
As an observant and obedient Jew, he came to Jesus for confirmation of his salvation, yet he received correction and a back-handed rebuke.
Christ’s comment about the camel and the eye of a needle points us to a sobering reality – apart from the intervention of God, salvation is impossible.
God can and does effectually enable people to leave their riches and follow Christ.
The riches Jesus attacks in this passage are symptomatic of the fact that the rich young man is approaching salvation as though it were something he could earn, rather than something he had to accept.
The one thing he lacks is Jesus. But to take hold of Jesus, the rich young man had to release his hold on that which he felt guaranteed him access to the Kingdom of God.

8. The repeated and consistent entry of human pride and self-sufficiency into our following of Jesus causes us so much difficulty.
It is not only Christ’s grip on us that pulls us into His Kingdom, but it is His grip on us that keeps us in His Kingdom.
Left to our own devises, we find that by our self-sufficiency, we fail to consistently surrender to Jesus. It is this attitude that Jesus sought to confront.
Jesus’ corrective comments, though somewhat harsh in their appearance, are delivered out of love for the young man.
Encountering Jesus means that we will be lovingly disciplined and we will be corrected.

9. “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:5-11)

10. Jesus sought to lovingly correct the approach of the rich young man, to direct him away from relying upon his own sufficiency for salvation.
Notice that our passage from Hebrews makes some important statements in regards to God’s discipline:
we experience discipline because God loves us.
though unpleasant and painful, God’s discipline of us always serves an incredible purpose – it seeks to produce righteousness and peace in our lives.
The sad reality of the circumstance is that though peace was literally a few feet from the rich young man, because of his pride and possessions, he could not accept the correction and grasp a hold of it.

11. Do you view yourself as good and worthy of inclusion in the Kingdom of God? When you think of your place in God’s Kingdom, do you feel you’ve earned it by your good behaviour, service or right attitudes?
Or do you know – I mean, really understand – that your place in God’s Kingdom is secure because Jesus has made the impossible, possible?
Being clear on this is crucial, because whereas an acknowledgement of God’s making the impossible possible leads to the development of a humble and submissive faith, an expectation of entitlement due to good behaviour leads to a faith that is prideful and arrogant.

12. How we understand the nature of our faith will inform how we accept the correction or rebuke of God.
Part of following Jesus means that we will experience the Holy Spirit’s rebuke, correction, and guidance.
Though painful, we’ve got to each ask ourselves if there is room in our faith for the correction or rebuke of God?
If we find ourselves manifesting a faith like the rich young man, the pride and arrogance that will develop will effectively cause us to reject God’s correction, leaving us downcast, bitter and without peace.
If on the other hand we understand that the impossible has been made possible in our lives, then the humility and submission to God present in our faith will permit us to see the correction as love and enable us to respond appropriately.

13. In the end, we’ve got to determine which kind of a follower of Christ we want to be: one, who because of pride and arrogance, finds him or herself in a snowbank with stinging hands and a house full of smoke or one, who responds to God’s direction and can gather around the fireplace with family, enjoying the warmth of a cheery blaze.
Might we be a people who enjoy the incredibly possible impossibility of a place in God’s Kingdom and might we point others to this reality.