Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

You may remember from the message on Mark 10:2-16 that their culture considered women and children second class citizens. In many respects they were treated more like property than people. That reading ended with Jesus blessing the children, thus making an example of the child like faith we must have to enter the kingdom of heaven. His blessing also showed that children are a blessing to their parents and not merely property to be used up and discarded.

The account in the reading today is paralleled in Matthew and Luke. I think it's significant to mention that in each gospel the blessing of the little children is followed immediately by the account of the wealthy ruler. The two readings speak to personal possessions from different points of view. Was it intentional that the gospels all tie these two events so closely together? I don't think anyone can answer that question. It could be that this is just the chronological sequence of the events.

Mark tells us a certain man fell on his knees in front of Jesus. Luke says that a certain ruler approaches Jesus and from Matthew we find that he is a young man. Latter we find that he is wealthy as well. It's thought that this man may have been a synagogue ruler or a member of an official council or court. If that is the case he is taking some personal risk in approaching Jesus in this manner. We are now about 3 months from the crucifixion also known as Jesus' Perean ministry. The Pharisees are looking for every opportunity to have Jesus arrested. I get the sense that the man was lying in wait for the right opportunity to bring his question to Jesus.

The man addresses Jesus as Good Teacher to which Jesus replies why do you call me good no one is good except God. Jesus was not denying his own goodness nor denies that He is God. Obviously, the man must have perceived something special about Jesus to approach Him in the first place. We can't be sure whether Jesus was implying to the man that He is God or attempting to make him realize that his only hope was in total reliance on God.

The man has a burning question for Jesus, what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds, with the commandments: do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. These are the commandments that direct us on how we should interact with others. The commandments about our relationship with God aren't explicitly mentioned.

This man shares that he has followed the commandments faithfully since he was a boy. At age 13, a Jewish boy assumed personal responsibility for obeying the commandments. For him keeping the commandments was a matter of conformity with the community, he was fulfilling the requirements of the law.

Jesus loved him. He could see the man's question was sincere and from the heart but was missing one very thing. Jesus must have been heart broken over this man missing the big picture. When Jesus tells him he is still lacking one thing and to sell his possessions the man is saddened and turns away. Since the man asked the question what he must do he must have felt something was lacking in his life. If we go back to the thought of goodness Jesus could very well have been sending the message that his trust was in the wrong thing, possessions.

The man put all of his trust in his own abilities and personal wealth. Fulfilling the commandments equated to earning his way into heaven. Yet in his heart he knew that was not true or he wouldn't have asked how to enter heaven. Perhaps the comfort of personal wealth strengthened the false confidence that entrance into heaven could be earned.

You may be wondering did Jesus say all people must give up their worldly treasure to follow Him. No He didn't say that or even imply it. So why does He tell this one man to do so? In a word idolatry is the issue. For this young man his god was his wealth. Wealth was more important than his relationship with the one true God. His faith was not child like at all it was hardened by the love of worldly treasure.

We often think of idolatry as worshiping an inanimate object like a statue. Idolatry takes many forms. It really is anything that interferes with our relationship with God. I think it even goes a little further than that because it's clear that Jesus was showing us in the previous lesson that marriage and family is supposed to be our next priority after the relationship with God. If we are involved with anything that interferes with those two relationships we are straying from God, we are abusing or neglecting His blessings, we are falling into idolatry.

Like so many things in this world moderation is the key. A very common scenario in our culture is the bread winner of the family so absorbed in their work that they ignore the family. Of course they can always rationalize their effort as trying to earn as much as possible to give their family the best. God promises to provide what we need, is it really necessary to try to out do God's promise.

What about the golf widow did God intend for that kind of relationship? We could substitute just about any activity into the relationship statement or any member of the family and the result is the same, neglect of the blessings provided by God.

Of course over indulging is also a form of idolatry. What about the parents that have their child involved in everything imaginable? The child's schedule rules all aspects of the families life, was that part of God's plan? I suspect not, we all know situations where that has caused failures and fractures in the family.

We can easily point to others and see these flaws but don't want to recognize them in our own lives.

Unfortunately this is not just a problem of people. It's a problem in institutions like the church as well. There are plenty of self-absorbed congregations that only look inward. That is idolatry as well. Churches love to have programs but they are useless if the focus is inward and not outward. I like to think of these churches as maintenance churches. Maintain the stats quo, don't rock the boat, and don't ask me to do something that may make me uncomfortable. Eventually, the maintenance church becomes a hospice church just biding time waiting for the inevitable.

The vision here is to constantly look outward. What is important is how many lives are touched. Even if this little congregation ceases to exist in the future we achieved the great commission Jesus gave us. We must constantly be on our guard against idolatry individually and as a congregation. Neglecting or abusing God's blessings is not an option in our individual lives or in the church.

In the name of our risen Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.