The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing.

In Mark 10:23 Jesus and His Disciples watch this ‘prince’ of Judea walk away, head bowed low, downcast and dejected, back to his life of money and ease.  “Jesus looked around and said to His Disciples, ‘How hard it is for the rich,” for those who are defined by their property, their wealth, their means, their money, “to enter the Kingdom of God!”

It says in v. 24, “The Disciples were amazed at His words.”  I want you to notice their astonishment, because this isn’t the last time it comes up or the last time it’s expressed.  The reason is Jesus had just taken their entire understanding of morality, of formal adherence to law and order, and the accepted agreement that this always resulted in wealth, in blessing, in the favor of God showering a man, and turned it upside down.  Thus, if a man had all the outer accoutrements, he must by necessity be a righteous man with one foot in the Kingdom of God.  The rabbinic argument of 1^st century Judaism, universally accepted, was that wealth was a sure sign of rightness with God and thus blessing from His hand.  Jesus takes this entire notion and turns it right-side up, whereas before it had been upside down.

“But Jesus said again [reinforcing His original point], ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God [‘How utterly and incredibly difficult for those bound to the idol of Mammon.’].  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle [Greek word here is ‘a sewing needle;’ it’s a proverb for the impossible.] than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.’”  A couple of points along this line.

 I.  Possessions have the ability to rivet our souls to the present world.  As Samuel Johnson was being shown a beautiful castle and its gorgeous grounds in the English countryside he said, “These are the things that make it difficult to die.”

II.  When our motivation is materialism, we begin to think of everything in terms of its price {and sometimes everyone}.  “Well, if I can afford it, and I’m not hurting anybody else, then there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it.”  But you see, price and value are two different animals.  We live in a luxuriant culture that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing!

There’s a true story from the early 20th century of a shepherd from the highlands of Scotland whose children were raised as simple, unsophisticated, believers in a simple, unsophisticated Savior.  The father was given a position in the nearest town with a salary and a much higher standard of living.  When introduced to ‘city-life’ and the culture of the kosmos, the children began to change radically and almost immediately… and not for the better.  His wife wrote a fascinating letter to the local paper, the last paragraph of which read: “Which is preferable for a child’s upbringing— a lack of worldliness, but with better manners and sincere and simple thoughts, or worldliness and its present day habit of knowing the price of everything and the true value of nothing?”  Mmhhhmmm, which indeed?

III  Jesus was saying that great wealth is often a great worry.  It ends up becoming two things to the Children of Men: [i] a true test of character— for every hundred men who can withstand adversity only one can withstand prosperity; and [ii] a very real responsibility: to use it and not abuse it.  Money is always judged by two criteria: how you get it; and how you use it.  The more money one has, the greater the responsibility resting upon them.  The real question is are you going to use it as if you’re its undisputed possessor— as if God has no claim to His Creatures— or as a steward of the Savior, a servant of the Master?

After Jesus lays down His point a second time, Mark say’s the Disciples “were even more amazed [‘amazed beyond measure, exceedingly astonished’] 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,’” vv. 26-27.  In v. 27 we have Jesus stating the doctrine of grace in salvation in a nutshell: “If salvation depended on man’s effort or ingenuity, on man doing anything, it would be utterly impossible.  But salvation is the gift of God {offered in grace and received in faith} and all things are possible with Abba!”  The man who trusts in him self or his savings can never experience Eternal Life; the woman who trusts in the finished Work of Christ and the redeeming love of the Father can enter the fold freely and find all the pasture her heart desires.  This single thought is the foundation of the Christian Faith.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
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