He is Good | Letting Go to Follow Jesus | Mark 10:17-31 | Coleton Segars

If you're new here today, we have been in a series titled He Is Good, been looking at the life of Jesus going through the Gospel of Mark.

And so Mark's experience of expressing the fullness of who Jesus is.

And he starts off his gospel by saying, This is the beginning.

Y'all, this is the beginning of the good news of Jesus, and there's so much more.

And so over the last couple of weeks, we've been looking at just how to look at Jesus as someone who is good through Mark's eyes.

And so this week we're looking at an interaction he has with a man who is wealthy.

It's in Mark 10, verses 17 through 31.

Mark 10:17–31

And so I'm going to read that text and then we'll start.

Mark 10 started in verse 17.

It says, 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, and you shall not defraud and honor your father and mother.

Teacher, he declared, All these I have kept since I was a boy.

And Jesus looked at him and loved him.

One thing you lack, he said, go sell everything that you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

Then come and follow me.

At this the man's face fell, and 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.

And the disciples were amazed at his words.

But Jesus said it again, Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.

It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle and 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?

And Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but not with God.

All things are possible with God.

And then Peter spoke up.

Truly I tell you, Jesus replied, No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields, along with persecution.

Got to read the fine print.

And in the age to come, eternal life.

But many who are first will be last.

This is the word of the Lord.

There's this quote by John Maxwell.

I like reading business books, and I really like John Maxwell a lot.

A quote by him says, A wise person learns from their mistakes, but a wiser person learns from the mistakes of others.

Wise person learns from your own mistakes, a wiser person learns from the mistakes of others.

And so what I want to do simply today is I want to look at three lessons that you can learn from this man's life that hopefully will make you wiser than he is.

So three specific lessons that you can draw just from this interaction.

Things that we can learn from his life that I hope that you we actually need to learn these things, that I hope you will actually gain some knowledge and some wisdom by actually looking at this man's life.

And so the first thing that we learn from this man is that being outwardly religious, being outwardly religious cannot earn you eternal life.

Being outwardly religious cannot earn you eternal life.

Just doing religious stuff will not lead you to a full life, to an eternal kind of life, and it cannot earn you eternal life.

And you see that in this man.

He's doing everything right, doing everything right, and yet he knows he comes to Jesus, but he recognizes like there's something missing in me.

Like I'm not experiencing, I feel like I'm supposed to be experiencing something different.

I'm supposed to be experiencing something better, but I'm missing something.

And he's doing everything right.

He comes to Jesus, he bows the knee to Jesus out of honor, then he gives him this honorific name, good teacher, instead of just saying teacher.

It says that Jesus loves him, and so Jesus' love for you isn't enough to give you eternal life.

There's still something there.

Jesus loving you isn't a way to give you eternal life.

There's still something that's missing.

And so back in that day, what that meant to everybody was like, if you're rich, that means that God loves you and is blessing you a lot.

And so it was seen as the blessing of God.

And so if you're rich in this space, they saw you as Job, that God blessed Job with riches, King David, King Solomon.

Anybody who God was pleased with, they were rich.

And so it looks like that his life outwardly is just killing it, he's crushing it.

Outwardly, he looks spotless.

He's been following the law, and he says this.

He says, all those things that Jesus, Jesus quotes the law to him and says, You need to, you know, you know the commandments.

And he's like, All those things I've done since I was a child.

And Jesus doesn't say, like, hey, you're a liar.

Like, I know your life.

Like he doesn't call him out.

He doesn't say, no, you haven't.

You've misunderstood.

He doesn't say any of that.

And he had the opportunity to say that, like, hey, you actually don't fully understand the law.

But he doesn't.

Jesus recognizes this is a very moral man standing in front of him.

This is someone who outwardly is crushing the religious stuff that you're supposed to do at church and in the synagogue and all the rest of it.

And so Jesus doesn't tell him that he's not a moral person, but Jesus also doesn't look at his morally perfect life.

He doesn't look at him and go, but you're you're perfectly good.

Like if you've done all this stuff, then you do have eternal life.

He doesn't do that.

He's still, in verse 21, he says, Yes, you are still lacking something.

You still don't have it.

You've done all this amazing stuff, all this outwardly religious stuff, but you still don't have it.

You still lack something.

And what Jesus points to ultimately is himself.

And he points to himself, like, what you lack is me.

And so in the verse 21, it says, So give up your wealth.

Give up the thing that's standing in the way between me and you, and between you following me, give that thing up, and then come and follow me.

If you want eternal life, great, you can have it.

Come be with me, and you'll experience eternal life.

All of your good deeds, this is what he's saying, all of your good deeds, all of your good works, all of your moral behavior just won't get you what you want.

It's strong, but it cannot earn you the life that you're actually longing for.

Because eternal life, and this is important for us, eternal life is not some kind of reward that you receive for being good.

Eternal life is not a reward you get for being a good person.

Eternal life is a type of life that you experience with a person.

It's very different.

Eternal life is not the reward you get for being good, it's the type of life you experience with someone.

And Jesus is like, that's the type of life you experience with me.

And so being good can't earn that for you.

It's only a type of life that you'll experience with me.

Jesus actually says this in John's gospel about eternal life.

He says, Father, he's praying and he says, Father, you granted me authority over all people, that I might give eternal life to all those you have given me.

And now then he explains what eternal life is.

And here's what eternal life is: eternal life is that they know you, the only true God, and that they know Jesus Christ, your Son, whom you have sent.

That is what eternal life is.

And so what Jesus is saying to this man is like, you've come to me and asked, what else, what do I need to do in order to receive eternal life?

Like, if you want eternal life, come and be with me.

It's free, it's available.

Like all you got to do is come and spend life spend time with me.

Eternal life is the type of life you experience with me.

And the one thing you lack is me.

You have everything else, but you lack me.

And so if you want to experience life, you can have it, but you have to come be with me.

But your good behavior and your good morals and your religious duties and all those things, it cannot earn you or purchase you eternal life in the same way that you can't earn or purchase Jesus in a relationship with him.

He's not a slave to buy or to earn with good works.

He's a relationship that he's inviting you into to go, just come be with me.

It's free.

You can experience the life that I actually have for you.

Eternal life is life with me.

And so come do life with me and get rid of anything that stands in the way of you doing life with me.

And that's what Jesus is calling this man into.

And he doesn't say like your good works are useless.

He doesn't tell him to stop doing those things.

He's just saying to him, that's just not enough.

It's not gonna, it's never gonna be enough.

There's not good enough stuff you can do to buy eternal life because that is life with me, it's relationship with me, and you can't buy me.

I'm sorry I'm not for sale.

You can't buy a person.

I mean, not anymore, or at least here.

You can't do that.

And so that's what Jesus is saying.

Eternal life is a life that you will only find.

If you want it, you will only find it with me, with Jesus.

And so for me, this is important for the church, and especially for our church, or just any church in the South specifically, because I it is super easy to become the type of person that just shows up to church, does a bunch of religious stuff, and thinks that like that's how they'll please God, that's how they'll get eternal life.

And so they show up to church, they do their religious duty, they give a little bit of money, they um serve the poor a little bit, they say the prayers, they sing the songs, they say the liturgy, and they're here and they're consistent.

And being a Christian can turn into just religious duty over and over and over again.

And then the people will think, like on some cosmic level, because I'm doing pretty good, I've been to church more than I haven't been at church, I've prayed more than I haven't prayed, I've read my Bible, therefore, God on some cosmic level is gonna be good to me because of the good things that I've done.

But what happens in that is that it's very possible to be doing a bunch of religious stuff and have no desire for Jesus at all.

Like I will do the stuff, I'll give the money, I'll sing the songs, but in my heart, I'm not loving Jesus more.

I don't want Jesus more.

I'm doing the stuff, but I don't really, affection isn't growing in my heart.

That's not something that's taking root in me.

I don't actually want Jesus.

I just want to do the duty to receive from God whatever whatever minimum standard I need to do.

I just want to do that so we're good and I can go about my life.

And it's possible to do that and still never actually desire him and want Jesus.

And Jesus talks about this type of person, and he says that like this will happen in the church.

People will do that.

They will just do their religious duty and think that we're all set.

I did my religious duty, so certainly God will give me this eternal life.

And he says this in Matthew's gospel.

He says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

And then he says, Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, and just pause there, those who will cry out to him, Lord, Lord, are not the pagans.

It's not the non-Christians, it's not the non-believers, it's not the people that have never darkened the door of a church.

They're not gonna call Jesus Lord.

It's the church people who've just been doing their religious duty.

They're saying to Jesus, Lord, Lord, did I not prophesy in your name?

Did I not drive out demons in your name?

Didn't I perform miracles?

I perform miracles in your name.

Didn't I do amazing things?

And he'll say, Yeah, you did some cool stuff.

But depart from me.

I don't know you.

You don't have eternal life because we don't know one another.

You did a bunch of religious stuff, but you never actually wanted me at all.

Like you wanted something from me, but you never wanted me.

And eternal life is me.

Eternal life is a person.

Eternal life is something you experience with that person.

And if you don't want Jesus, then you cannot have eternal life because eternal life is life you experience with Jesus, not by doing religious duty and doing religious things.

And then I have other people and other conversations, it's important for us because talk to people, and I have these people in my life too, that say things like, I have these incredibly moral friends.

Like just, they're just the best, they're better than Christians.

And like they're they're nicer, they're kinder, they give more money to the poor.

Like I have the most just incredible, morally good friends, and you're telling me that they can't have eternal life.

And what I say to those people is like, I'm not saying they can't have eternal life at all.

Eternal life is free.

It's the easiest thing you actually can have.

Eternal life is absolutely free, they can absolutely have it.

But if those people do not want Jesus, by definition, eternal life is life you receive with Jesus.

And so, in order to experience eternal life, if they don't want Jesus, then they also will not experience eternal life.

Not because they're not good enough.

Good enough can't buy you a thing.

This life is tied up in Jesus, it's bound up in Him.

Eternal life and Jesus are inseparable.

It'd be very similar if someone said, I'm really thirsty, super thirsty, um, but but I don't want to drink anything to quench my thirst.

What you would say to that person is like, that's dumb.

Um if you want your thirst quenched, drink something.

And they're like, nah, I'm not gonna drink anything.

I'll tell you what I am gonna do.

I'm gonna go serve the poor.

I'm gonna give a bunch of money to the church, I'm gonna memorize some scripture, I'm gonna read my Bible, I'm gonna like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do some stuff.

And it's like, that's awesome.

Those are really good things.

But if you refuse to drink, you will stay thirsty forever.

And so the same is true with this.

The two are inseparable.

If you want eternal life, but you do not want Jesus, then you will not experience eternal life because those two are bound together.

Eternal life is a way of living and a way of experience and something that we will experience forever, but it is life with him.

And so to deny him, reject him, I don't want him, it doesn't matter how good you are, because how good you are can't buy a relationship.

It can't buy those things.

But it is free.

And this is what he's inviting this man into.

He's like, hey, just get rid of all that stuff.

Come be with me, you'll experience everything you've been longing for.

And this is why Jesus tells him to come be with him.

Good moral behavior cannot buy you eternal life.

It is only found in life with Jesus.

And so the question is, what about what about you?

Is your faith?

Is your faith just duty?

Like I just, I'm just kind of crushing this, it's a Sunday thing, I just do this enough to kind of appease him, and I know what I'm supposed to do in this southern Bible belt culture.

And so, or do you actually have affection for Jesus?

I want Jesus.

Every spiritual duty or every spiritual discipline, everything that we're we're called to do, commanded to do, all of those things are meant to draw us closer to Jesus, not to be an end in themselves.

They don't just please him, they draw us near to him.

And so it's an act of following after him.

And so to practice a spiritual discipline is not to please God, it's actually in order to draw nearer to him, to grow in relationship with him.

And so for you, is your faith just duty?

Do you just do what God says, or do you actually want Jesus?

A desire to know him.

So that's the first.

Good moral behavior cannot buy you eternal life, cannot earn it.

The second, second lesson we need to learn from this man's life is that you will always sacrifice for what you worship.

You will always sacrifice for what you worship.

There is no other option.

Sacrifice is inevitable.

Whatever you choose to worship, you will sacrifice for it, and you cannot say no.

You must sacrifice for it.

And so this man had a hard time choosing Jesus because Jesus called him to sacrifice.

Sacrifice your money and then come and follow me.

This is what he says in verse 21.

Go sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and then come and follow me.

And this man says, No, I'm not going to do that.

I'm not going to sacrifice for you.

But what you need to notice is that he sacrifices anyways.

He does it anyways.

He still sacrifices.

Instead of sacrificing for Jesus, he sacrifices his joy and he sacrifices his happiness for the sake of his money.

And it says that he walks away sad.

And Jesus is like, You're sad right now.

Get rid of the stuff that's not making you happy and come experience joy.

And he's like, No, I can't do that.

And it's like, okay, then what you're going to sacrifice in the process is you're going to sacrifice your joy for the sake of your money.

And so you sacrifice either way for his God money, he was willing to sacrifice his joy and he goes away sad.

This is so important for us as I was writing this message and thinking about this and thinking about different part of being in a small church is like you kind of know what's going on in everybody's life.

And I'm like, I hope that just listen.

I hope this really hits, Lord, please.

Um people have a hard time choosing Jesus because he calls them to sacrifice.

But the truth is, you will sacrifice for whatever you worship.

You sacrifice either way.

Everyone worships something, and it whatever you everyone worships something, and whatever you worship, you will be forced to sacrifice for that thing.

Um the late novelist uh David Foster Wallace, uh, he was a non-Christian, but he gave this commencement address right before he committed suicide at Kenyon College in 2005, and he talks about this idea that everybody worships and he ties in what we worship with like what we lose and sacrifice in the process that I think is really interesting.

It's a long quote, but bear with me.

He says, in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism.

There is no such thing as not worshiping.

Everybody worships.

The only choice we get is what to worship.

And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual type thing to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.

If you worship money and things, if that's where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough.

Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly.

And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you.

Worship power, and you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep that fear at bay.

Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, and you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out, and so on.

And he says this the insidious thing about these forms of worship is that they are unconscious.

We don't even know we're doing it.

They are our default setting.

We are naturally worshipers.

It's the kind of worship that you just gradually slip into without ever being fully aware that that's what you're actually doing.

And I think it's brilliant what he's actually dealing with, just saying, like, we all worship.

And every worship, anything that you worship comes at a cost.

And so if you're gonna worship something and we all worship, everything that you worship will cost you.

Jesus calls this man to sacrifice and he says no.

His money calls him to sacrifice his joy, and he says, Yes, and I'll just walk away sad.

We always, you will always sacrifice for what you worship.

And so for us, if you worship getting a bunch of money, which don't do that, but if you do, you will sacrifice your time, you'll sacrifice your family, you'll sacrifice your mental health.

You might even sacrifice your morals and compromise.

Like I need that money.

I need that money in order to live, to be full.

I need it.

And so I'll do things I never thought I'd be doing.

I do things I never thought I would do in order to get that money.

If you worship it, that's what you'll sacrifice.

If you worship stuff, you'll sacrifice your financial stability to get that stuff.

You'll you'll sacrifice your retirement and financial future and your kids' college and whatever else.

You'll feel like I just need that stuff now.

You'll sacrifice that.

You'll sacrifice your own peace, you'll sacrifice your contentment, and you'll stay discontent.

You'll sacrifice your contentment and stay discontent because you worship stuff and you need ever more stuff to actually be full.

And so you'll continue chasing that thing, and as soon as you get that thing, I worship stuff, and there's just more stuff.

And so I need more stuff.

And so you'll sacrifice your contentment and stay discontent because you worship stuff.

If you worship being right, just I just need to be right.

If you worship winning arguments, I'm gonna win this argument, I'm gonna win every argument, every single conversation I have, anytime I'm wrong, I'm gonna let them know I'm wrong.

If you worship that, you will sacrifice your family, you will sacrifice your relationships, you will sacrifice things that could have been reconciled, but they can't be reconciled because what you worship is not reconciliation.

You don't worship Jesus.

You're worshiping being right, you worship your pride.

I will be seen as right.

And it's like, great.

Then you'll sacrifice your relationships on the on the altar of your being right.

And what you'll be, what you'll be is right, but you'll also be alone.

If you worship food, you'll sacrifice your health.

Lord help me with that.

If you worship what other people think about you, then you'll sacrifice your own peace.

If you worship what other people think about you, you'll sacrifice yourself and you'll just become whatever other people, whatever you think is successful in the eyes of other people.

And so you'll never actually figure out who you actually are, because you sacrificed yourself to become what they want you to be.

And so you'll just look around and go, how can I be the most successful person in the room?

What do they need me to be?

What do they need me to be?

What do they need to be?

And it's like, well, who are you?

It's like, I am whoever they need me to be.

Well, then you've sacrificed who you could have actually been.

You sacrificed your personality just trying to please other people.

If we worship other things, we will always, always lose more than we get because you've sacrificed for the things that you worship.

And if you worship other things, you're going to lose more than you get.

If you worship Jesus, you will sacrifice.

That's just part of it.

But the difference is if you worship Jesus, you'll always receive more than what you actually had to let go of.

You'll always receive more than what you sacrifice.

That's the difference in worshiping Jesus.

He says this in verse 29 through 30.

He says, Truly, Peter says, like, hey, we've Peter's he always takes the time to say, like, we're awesome, right?

Am I awesome?

I feel like I'm awesome.

Jesus, could you just say that I'm awesome?

That's that's Peter.

And so in verse 29, he's like, We've given up a bunch of stuff to follow you.

And Jesus just and then starts on a thing.

And he says, Truly, I tell you, no one who's left home or brothers, sisters, mothers, father, children, or fields for me in the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much here and now in the present age.

You'll never fail to receive more in this present age.

And along with persecutions, again, you've got to keep that in mind.

And in the age to come, you'll experience eternal life.

No one who's ever sacrificed for me will fail to receive in this present age a hundred times more.

You will always receive more than you sacrifice.

If you sacrifice for Jesus in the gospel, you will always receive more than you actually lose.

And I'm not preaching prosperity gospel mainly because Jesus actually says this.

But I'm not preaching like if you give God$10, he's gonna give you tenfold, he's gonna give you$100.

I'm not saying that, mainly because that's not a sacrifice.

If I'm giving God$10 in order to receive$100, that's called a transaction.

I'm not sacrificing, I'm trying to get something for myself.

I'm trying to like double my bank account.

Um and so I like that's if you're but he's saying if you sacrifice truly for Jesus and the gospel, you will never fail to receive a hundred times more in this life.

You'll never fail to receive those things.

You will always, if you sacrifice for Jesus and the gospel, not to get something for yourself, because that's not sacrifice, but if you sacrifice for him, you will always receive more than you actually sacrifice.

You'll always receive more than you lose.

And you will also be persecuted.

If you follow Jesus that way, people will find it weird.

Your family will think it's weird, your friends will think it's weird.

Why do you give your money to the church?

Why did you go to Mexico to serve the poor?

Why would you do that?

It's so stupid.

You know what you should be doing is, and like, if you follow Jesus those ways, you will be persecuted for doing that.

And so it's not prosperity gospel, but it is also true that what he's saying is like if you will sacrifice for me and the gospel, you'll never fail to receive a hundred times more what you're actually longing for.

You'll never walk away going, you know, I gave a lot to Jesus, he didn't do a ton for me.

He's like, you'll never do that.

I will make good on my promise.

But we need to learn from this man's life.

And he couldn't learn it.

Sacrifice is inevitable.

He's like, I can't sacrifice for you, Jesus.

He's like, you're gonna sacrifice either way.

You're gonna lose something either way, and I'm calling you to lose something less in order to gain something greater.

Please let go of this thing that's making you sad and come and experience life with me that will make you fulfilled and joyous and filled with peace.

He's like, I can't do that.

I don't want to sacrifice.

It's like, but you're doing that thing, and we do it too.

If Jesus calls us to something, it will be a space where we have to sacrifice, but it's a worthy sacrifice.

It's something that He's willing to make sure that we receive more than we sacrifice versus everything else that calls us to sacrifice more than we'll actually get back in return.

And so for us, what are you worshiping based on what you're sacrificing?

What do you worship that's causing you to sacrifice?

Is it giving you more in return, or is it stealing life from you?

What are you worshiping at the at the expense of something that actually matters?

That Jesus is saying, I'm calling you to sacrifice too, but I'm telling you, my way is a lot better than your way.

You will always sacrifice, but with Jesus you will always receive more than you sacrifice.

The third lesson that we need to learn from this man's life is that the reason that we stay trapped is oftentimes because we choose to stay trapped.

The reason we stay trapped in a life that we don't want, with problems we don't want, situations we don't want, often, I'm not saying it's always true, but the reason we stay trapped is oftentimes because we choose to ourselves.

Again, you see this in this man's life.

Something's off.

He feels it, he knows it.

I'm lacking something.

I've been doing all the right stuff, but I'm lacking something.

He can't figure it out, so he does a wise thing and he goes to the rabbi, he goes to Jesus.

What am I missing?

And then Jesus tells him, You're trapped.

Let me help you out.

Here's the way out.

Your way isn't working, you feel it, it's not working for you.

I'm confirming this is not the way to experience what you're looking for.

I'm here to help you.

Here's the way out.

And the man just outright rejects it.

Jesus is like, Come follow me, make me your God.

And he's like, No, I'm not gonna do any of that.

And so he stays in his sadness, he stays in his unfulfilled state.

Not because Jesus wasn't helpful or unwilling to help, he stays in his unfulfilled state because he chose to stay there.

He didn't pray and go, God, I'm just looking for some help here.

And then Jesus said, Sorry, I'm not gonna answer.

Like, that's a dumb question.

I'm not answering that question.

He doesn't do that.

He prays to God, would you please help me out of my current unfulfillment?

Would you help me understand?

Give me some help.

Jesus then offers help.

And what he does with God's help is he rejects God's help.

And so he's like, I it's not that I didn't answer the prayer.

I answered the prayer.

You just rejected the answer to the prayer.

Jesus didn't say to this man, like, hey, you know, you're in a tough situation.

There's really no way out of that.

This is just gonna have to stay stuck in this.

Like, this is just a tough one for me.

He doesn't say that.

He's like, There's an actual way out.

You want out, I have a way out.

Here's the way out.

But he rejects it and he chooses to stay trapped in this struggle.

And he chooses to stay trapped because he's chosen it.

There is a way to be free.

And he says, No, I don't want to be free that way.

It's like, okay, then you're choosing to stay trapped.

Robert Persig, in his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is just the best title of any book I've ever read, he provides an incredible illustration about this idea of like someone who could be free but chooses to stay trapped.

And this is what he writes.

He says, There's this old South Indian monkey trap that trappers in India use to catch monkeys to sell.

It consists of a hollowed-out coconut tied to a tree or to a stake.

The coconut has some rice inside which can be grabbed through a small hole.

The hole is big enough so that the monkey's hand can go in, but it's too small for his fist with rice in it to come out.

And so the monkey reaches in and is suddenly trapped by nothing more than his own will.

And I have a video of what this looks like.

It doesn't have audio, but Colin, just click on that.

It's an old one.

All he's gotta do is open his hand and he can be free.

All he has to do is let go and he can be free.

He is trapped because he is choosing to stay trapped.

And he will be sold at the market and live as somebody else's pet or slave or be killed.

But he stays trapped because he will not let go.

That's the only reason.

He could be free, live monkey life in the jungle.

I don't know.

Go back and be with your family.

But he will not let go.

And he's only trapped because of his own will.

He is choosing to stay trapped, and that is exactly what's happening here to this man.

He is trapped in an unfulfilling life where he feels like something is missing, and Jesus is like, Yes, something is missing.

I have a way out.

All you have to do is open your hand.

Let go of the stuff that's standing in the way of your fulfillment.

Just let it go.

And he would not do it.

And he remains trapped.

Ultimately, he's trapped in a prison of his own making.

Jesus is like, there is a way out, and it's simple.

I'm not even asking you to buy it.

I'm not asking you to like give me your money.

I'm not just just would you just let it go and come and follow me?

And he stays trapped in a prison of his own making.

And in 19 years of pastoring, that monkey trap illustration is probably the best illustration for what I've seen in the lives of people in the church and outside the church.

It's the best illustration I can I can think of to describe what you see in people's lives.

Like people who could be free.

You could be free.

But you choose to stay trapped because you will not let go.

It's subtle, but what it sounds like is this.

How could I have a better marriage?

Go to counseling.

And they grab with their hand, that won't work for me.

That won't work for us.

And so their hand is inside a little, that won't work for me, a little trap.

It's like, just go to counseling.

And they're like, trying to get a better marriage.

I just cannot figure out how to get a better.

Just open the hand of the idea that it won't work for you, pull your hand out and go to counseling.

And they will not do it.

It's like, then you are trapped in a prison of your own making.

You will stay trapped.

How could I reconcile this relationship?

How could I have better friendships?

How could I fix this issue in my family?

Follow Jesus.

Forgive them.

He's told you how to get out.

Forgive them.

Just say you're sorry.

Just say you're sorry.

Just let it go.

Drop your pride.

Let it go.

Let go of your pride, and then you could be free of this place that you're stuck in.

Just do that.

No, they don't deserve that.

And it's like, okay.

Well, then you're gonna stay in that brutal relationship.

You're gonna stay in that difficult place.

You're gonna stay in that space where your family just continues to fall apart, continues to fall apart, continues to fall apart.

And the reason is you might bl this man probably blamed Jesus.

He just asked too much of me.

He's like, he told you how to get free.

He has told all of us how to be free.

Just let go of that thing.

Follow me.

And instead, they don't deserve it.

They need to say they're sorry first.

They need to do something for me.

And it's like, okay.

Then you will stay trapped.

And you will watch as things are just stolen from you and taken from you because you are holding on to something that you will not relinquish because Jesus has called you how to let go and free yourself.

But you're stuck in a prison of your own making.

People say, I don't feel fulfilled, I feel lost.

Give your life to Jesus.

Actually, don't just claim belief in him, but actually surrender your heart to him, surrender your life to him, follow him with everything you got.

Pray and ask him to take control of your life.

Just do that.

And it's like, no, I can't do that.

Like my parents were Christians and I hated their faith.

And it's like, great, just don't have the faith of your parents and you'll be fine.

Just do that.

Like, no, I can't do that.

I was hurt.

I was hurt in the church.

It's like, Jesus was killed by religious leaders.

So you and him have a lot in common.

Like, just go be with him.

Like, go be with Jesus.

No, I won't do that.

It's like, okay.

You'll try everything but Jesus.

And in the midst of that, you're holding on to a monkey trap.

You're trapping yourself into a prison of your own making.

Tell people, cut sin out of your life.

Make it physically impossible for you to sin.

Chop off the hand, pluck out the eye, chop off the foot.

Whatever it takes, not literally, but whatever it takes to get sin out of your life.

Do those things.

Make sure you can remove it out of your life.

Where it's physically impossible for you to sin in those ways.

That's a way to be free.

I can't live without my phone.

I can't live without my computer.

I can't live without my money.

I can't live without those things.

And they just hold on to whatever that thing is.

I can't live, I can't live, I can't live.

I need that stuff.

It's like great.

Well, then you're gonna stay trapped in those things.

Stop overspending.

Stop buying stuff you don't need.

No, I really need that stuff.

Great.

Then you'll stay in debt, trapped in debt the rest of your life.

So many people, I could have gone on.

So many people hold on to something at the expense of their own freedom, at the expense of their own joy.

Joy is available.

Freedom is available.

Reconciliation is available.

Things coming back together is what Jesus does.

If he has repaired God's relationship with man, then any relationship is repairable.

Everything is possible with God.

That's what he says.

The issue is it's optional.

And he gives this man the option.

He's like, look, I'm not gonna force you to follow me, but I am telling you how to be free.

Leave that stuff and come follow me, but it's optional.

Joy is available, but it's optional.

Peace is available, but it's optional.

Reconciliation is available, forgiveness is available, but it's optional.

And he's never gonna force us to follow him.

But he has consistently offered us a way out to relinquish control, to let go of the thing, and to actually slip our hand out of something that's like, that was a trap, and I didn't want to be trapped.

But most people do not do that, hold on to it and go, I will find a way out myself.

And what happens is they will die a slave to whatever that thing is.

Many times, many times, why we're trapped and what we're trapped in and why we stay trapped is because we choose to stay there ourselves.

Many times, just like this man, we walk away sad from Jesus, going, Well, I guess this is the way life is gonna be for me.

I'll just always feel this way.

I'll just always have this relationship be bad.

I'll just always have this feeling in my heart, I'll just always have this struggle.

And he's like, I have told you how to get out.

And you choose to stay trapped.

And so for you, what are you holding on to at the expense of your freedom?

You play the little monkey video, you don't have to play it again, but what are you sitting there and everybody's going, bro, just open your hand and you can walk away?

Everybody else is looking at the thing, going, You idiot, would you just do you realize what's at stake here?

Like you're gonna be somebody's slave.

Like, go just open your hand.

And I think the same is true for us.

Do you realize what you're gonna lose if you don't open your hand?

Do you realize what's gonna break down in your life if you don't do this?

All you have to do is this, do that, and move forward.

A wise person learns from his mistakes, a wiser one learns from the mistakes of others.

This man walked away sad.

Do not walk away sad when unending joy is available to you.

When something that you're actually longing for is available to you.

Learn from the mistakes of somebody else.

So those are the three things we learn.

Good moral behavior.

Good moral behavior.

Being a good boy and a good girl will never earn you eternal life.

So instead of running the rat race of trying to be good and trying to please God, instead, give your life to him.

He offers you eternal life for free.

He does not tell you you better earn it.

He doesn't say that.

You need to purchase this, he doesn't say that.

He just invites us, like, hey, you know, you could just do life with me, and you'd experience everything that you're longing for.

Respond to that invitation.

You will sacrifice for whatever you worship.

You will sacrifice.

Sacrifice is inevitable.

You will sacrifice.

And so worship Jesus because you will always, if you worship Jesus, you will sacrifice, but you will always receive more than what you sacrifice.

And you, uh three, the reason we stay trapped is often because we choose it.

Do not stay trapped in a prison of your own making when Jesus offers you a way out.

He's offered you freedom.

Following Jesus' way is a way of freedom.

And so don't stay trapped when you don't have to.

Don't be the monkey hanging from the tree going, How do I get free?

It's like, if you'd open your stupid hand, you'd be fine.

Don't be that person.

All right, I'm gonna close with this.

Many times, what Jesus calls us to feels like death, right?

But Jesus has overcome death, and so don't be worried about that.

Um, because if resurrection exists, the things that die come back to life.

And so don't worry about that.

But many times what he calls us to, it sounds crazy, it sounds like we're gonna lose more than we feel like we're going to gain.

And I think for this man, Jesus must have sounded crazy, and maybe even to the disciples, like, hey bro, that's nuts.

Give everything, everything he owns, the man's super wealthy.

Like, that's crazy.

But I believe that if this man had really understood who Jesus was, if he had really understood who Jesus was, I think he would have responded to Jesus very differently.

Because, if you notice in the text, what Jesus asked this man to do is exactly what Jesus has done.

And so this man is a rich man who's been asked to leave it all for the poor and to follow someone.

Jesus is the rich person.

He is a rich man who was rich with the wealth of heaven.

He had everything at his disposal, and he left the riches of heaven for the sake of the poor and needy in order to come after people like us in order to bring us home.

He has done the exact same thing that he's asked this man to do.

This is who he is.

And if this man would have understood like what you're what Jesus is asking of you is what he has actually has already done for you.

He has done this for you.

He was the richest one who's ever existed, the richest man has ever exist.

And he gave all of the riches up in order to actually give those things to you, to give it to the poor and needy, so that he could come after you, so he could bring you home, so that you could experience riches.

That's who he is.

And so if he would have understood what's available on the other side of giving up this small thing, what's available on the other side is like riches unincomparable, like I think he would have responded very differently.

And if he had done that and known that about Jesus and just taken some time to really understand who Jesus actually was, I think he would have responded very differently.

And he would have experienced something greater than his wealth could actually provide for him.

And I believe the same is true for you.

That's who he is, that's what he's done for you.

And if you will see him, if you will pause and actually seek to understand what he has gone through in order to pursue you, he has given up things for the poor and needy, and he became poor and needy, and then he died in order to give you life, in order to give you an inheritance of riches from heaven.

Like he has chosen to give you all those different things.

And the more that you can see him doing that for you specifically, not just like universally, Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, but the more that you can see that like I'm doing this for you, I will leave everything to come after you in order to bring you home.

That's what I'm trying to do.

The more that you can see that he's actively trying to do that, the more that you'll understand that he is, in fact, very, very good.

But then the easier it will be to go, okay, you're asking me to do something crazy, but I really trust you.

You have done the thing that you're asking me to do.

You're calling me to sacrifice, but you've already sacrificed for me.

And no one's sacrificed for me as much as you have.

And so if you're calling me to sacrifice, I'm only following you in the way that you've sacrificed for me.

And so my encouragement to you is to visualize him, see him doing that for you.

He has given up so much in order to be with you, and so he's not, his next command to you will not be something to hurt you, but ultimately to help you and to guide you into a space where you experience more life, not more death.

And so that's what he wants for you.

I believe if you will respond to him, not by trying to be good, not by trying to see like what will I, what will I lose if I do this, but if we will sacrifice for him, if we will actually follow him in relinquishing control of some of those things, you will experience something far greater than what you're actually experiencing here and now.

And I think that's true on and on and on again, not just once when we turn to Jesus, but forever as we turn to him.

Because he's constantly calling each of us to give up something.

Because we all walk into traps and we get ourselves into these spaces, and it's like, how do I get out?

And he answers that prayer consistently.

Here's how you get out.

You follow me, and I will lead you into freedom.

I don't know trapped.

I don't know being bound.

The grave couldn't hold me, so I don't actually know what bondage looks like.

All I know is freedom, and if you will follow me, I will lead you out into freedom.

And I believe if we do that, we'll experience something far greater than we were experiencing on our own.

Let me pray.

Oh Jesus.

Thank you that um you had this conversation with this man.

But I do pray for the people in the room that believe that um the only way to make you happy with them is for them to do good stuff.

The only way to experience eternal life is to try and be good.

God, I pray that you would save them from that.

That is a um a trap.

That's a space where they'll never find what they're looking for.

And I pray that our hearts in our hearts we would make Christ Lord, that we would just turn to you.

It is free and it's available.

And we can just turn to you and say, I'm gonna follow you instead.

And Lord, I pray that we would sacrifice for you so that we experience more than what we lose.

And I pray that you would please set us free.

It's optional.

God, I pray that you would help the people in this room, me as well.

Help us to actually follow you out into freedom instead of staying trapped.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.