IN CHRIST ALONE!: FROM OUR BRETHREN... A CHRISTIAN DENOMINATION THAT IS IN UNION WITH US IN OPPOSING THE FALLACIES OF THE RH/RP BILL: “Excellent Choice"

“Excellent Choice"

October 14, 2012

The 20th Sunday of Ordinary Tine

A.K.A.

Kingdomtide

and

Time of the Church

Amos 5: 6 - 7; 10 – 15/Psalm 90: 1 - 8; 12/Hebrews 3: 1 – 6/Mark 10: 17 – 31

His Excellency

The Most Reverend Bishop Ricardo "Dick" Alcaraz D.D.

Bishop of Visayas

National Church in the Philippines
and

the Territorial Church of Asia

International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church

Today as we gather on the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, we are reminded that Ordinary Time calls us to serve Him, to follow Him, to worship Him and to be loyal to Him not just on the Lord’s Day or inside the Lord’s house. He calls us to worship, follow, and serve Him every day of our lives. This is the reason why we come before the Lord our God. We need to be replenished by Him. We need to hear from Him once again.

We are in the information age and we have so much information available to us. A lot of information is vying for our attention – a lot of information coming to us and telling us to choose. Amongst the many choices that we have, we need to be reminded again and again the right choice is that what God offers unto us.

The theme that we have is: Excellent Choice. Somebody said, “We make our choices and later on, our choices make us.” If we make our choice on what the Lord has spoken to us, then we will be able to see what the Word of God says, that the Word will become flesh in us. We are not just reading about this. We are not just hearing about this. This is something that begins to be portrayed in and through our lives.

This brings me to what the message is for us this day. It is not the only message; it doesn’t mean that the other messages that we can get in today’s readings are inferior. It simply means that this is what the Lord wants to emphasize to us this day: choose what the Lord offers instead of what the world offers.

We have things that are vying for our attention. I was reading through on a particular article that says, “A nation will only be considered progressive, modern when it begins to accept the gay marriage agenda. We will be considered advanced when we accept the abortion agenda.” Sometimes some people who are educated and occupy high positions voice out this opinion. Not only do they voice out their opinion and recommending their opinion, but they bring out the thought that if we, in the Church, come against that, then we are hindering the growth of our society. That we are coming from a superstitious, shallow, mindset.

There is an attack on our person, on our integrity. This is when the lines are being drawn. This is where choices are need to be made. The Holy Scriptures are quite clear that when it comes to choosing what the world tells is right and what God says is right, we are to choose what God says is right even if the world censors us because of this particular choice.

St. John said that friendship with the world means to be in enmity with God. If there is anyone whom we do not want to have as an enemy, it is God. God doesn’t want to be our enemy. He is our Friend, our God, and our Savior. We need to make our choices for Him. We have already confessed our Lordship concerning Christ. We have declared that Jesus Christ is Lord. When we talk about Jesus Christ is Lord that means that He is the highest Master. There is no other. That means our choices have been basically made for us. If He is our Lord, then we don’t have to think about certain things when it comes to the Word of the Lord, to the principles of the Lord.

When something goes against with what God has spoken to us, against the standard that He has given to us, then we don’t make a choice against that. We don’t even have to think about it. We don’t even have to say, “Let me pray about it.” If Jesus Christ is our Lord, then our choices have been established for us.

In our gospel today in Mark 10:17-31, there are three thoughts that I would want to share with you. From verses 17-22, the first thought is: nothing should take the place of our relationship with the Lord. Second thought in verses 23-27: trust in and choose the Lord who makes all things possible.The third thought in verses 28-31: God rewards us for whatever we give up for Him.”

The first thought: nothing should take the place of our relationship with God. God is not our magic charm. He is there and we don’t really think about Him. We wear something on our bodies, something tattooed in our bodies like a particular Scripture and that takes the place of our relationship with God. He is not our magic charm. He is not an anting-anting. God is a person who in His infinite mercy and grace decided to have a relationship with us and opened the way that we may have a relationship with Him. He is a God who has chosen to dwell with us.

In Psalm 90, the first verse says, “We dwelt with Him throughout all generations.” Now, we find in the New Testament that God makes His dwelling place in us. We have a relationship with Him. Our relationship with Him is dynamic. It is interactive. He is not just someone that we think about when we have fallen. He is not just someone that we think about when we need something. We give Him the esteem that we give our friends. He might not be on Facebook, but we like Him anyway.

In verse 17, “As He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him and ask Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do that I might inherit eternal life?’” According to Matthew 19:20, he is young; according to Luke 18:18, he is a ruler, so we call him the rich, young ruler. The gospel says that he came running towards the Lord. This is not normally the behavior of those who are rich. The attitude basically is when he wants something, he sends an emissary. But this man runs toward the Lord, kneels down, and asks a question. His attitude is totally different from the Pharisees. The Pharisees asks a question, not because they want to learn, but because they want to trap the Lord Jesus Christ. This man is sincere as he runs and kneels down before the Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I might inherit eternal life?”

Normally when you are rich, you have most of the material things that others can only dream about. Apparently, he has heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that He preaches and teaches about the kingdom of God, about our Father who loves us. When we come in contact with people who have a grasp on the kingdom of God, and you can feel the presence of God in them, it causes a hunger and a thirst in us. I am sure his coming in contact with the Lord or hearing about what he had to say caused a hunger and he began to seek something that even his riches, his material wealth could not give him. He goes to the Lord and asks him, “Lord, what might I do that I might inherit eternal life?”

St. Augustine says, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” We begin to find out that there is something more. The song says, “Give us eyes to see beyond what we can see.” Normally, we are just used to what we see before us, but God shows that there is more to life than just that. Something was stirred up in the rich, young ruler. Even though there was a desire for those things, this man was used to a way of doing things. Probably, even though he wanted the right thing, he was going about it his way. He asked the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Maybe, he also inherited his riches from his father. If there is anything about inheritance lost, I am sure this rich young ruler knows about inheritances. Maybe he was thinking, “This is how I am going to get eternal life. What do I need to do that I might inherit this? What action do I have to engage in that I might be able to earn or make it possible for me to earn eternal life? When we talk about eternal life, what do we have in mind? What does eternal life mean for us?

I remember when I was in my brother’s funeral, and when you talk about death, the subject of eternal life, heaven and hell, they all come along. I noticed that for some people, eternal life basically means living forever, not dying. I told them, “If that is your definition of eternal life, you don’t need to be a Christian to get that.” When we experience death in the earth, only the body dies. Our spirit lives on. If we have our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we will live on, but we will live on with God. Someone who choose to reject the salvation of Christ, when he dies, his spirit will continue to live on but in a different location.

I would talk to them and when we talk about hell, some of them would think that there is no more hell and flames. For them, hell is what you experience here on earth. I told them, “Jesus didn’t talk too much about that, but He did mention that.” We had one gospel where Jesus said, “It is better for you take out an eye than to enter to life with both eyes and be thrown into the eternal flames where the fire doesn’t die and the worms don’t die. It is better for you to cut your hand than to have both than to be thrown into hell where the worm and the fire don’t die for they are eternal.” He repeats Himself, “Better cut your faith rather than be thrown into hell where the worm doesn’t die, where the fire don’t go out.” It is written this way in the Holy Scriptures.

If I would go back to high school and I would write it that way, my composition teacher would give me a “C”. In the margin of my notes, she would say, “This is redundant. This is not economical. This is not the most effective way of writing your own ideas.” She would say to me, “If you would like to improve this and improve your grade, you need to rewrite this.” I know how I should rewrite that verses to improve my grade. I would write, “It is better for you to pluck out your eye, cut your hand, cut your feet than to have all of them and enter into the flames of hell where the worms don’t die and the flames don’t burn away.” I will get a grade if I do that because I did not need to repeat myself.

Jesus Christ is not after grammar here. He is repeating something because He wants to emphasize. In the gospel of Mark, this is about the only time he mentions hell. Most of the time, in the book of Mark, he talks about the kingdom of God, the Father, and the love of our God. This is the only timein the gospel of Mark that He mentions hell.

I taught this once in a church and they said, “That is so scary. That is not edifying at all.” We can’t pretend that those things don’t exist. I don’t like talking about hell or thinking about it, but it is there. Someone said to me, “You should not threaten people with hell.” I say to that person, “I cannot threaten anyone with hell. How can I threaten you with hell if I have no authority to throw you there? I have no authority to send anyone to hell, so I cannot threaten anyone to do that.”

The reason we talk about this is because sometimes we got these ideas. We just want to make up the things that are pleasant for us. We want to live our lives as if heaven and hell don’t matter anymore because there is the love of God. It seems that statement is a catch-all to everyone. “I know I am not living my life the way I should because anyway, God loves me.” “I know I am not doing what I am supposed to do. It is okay because God loves me.”

God loves us, this is true, but that is not the issue. The issue is whether we love God. If we love the Lord our God, you will obey Him. The love of God is not a license for us to do whatever we can, to do whatever is wrong and escape the consequences anyway. The love is God is there to encourage us, to motivate us, to pull us, and to draw near to Him especially when we are straining away from Him. The goodness of God is what draws us back to repentance.

There are eternal things and some people think that eternal life is just living forever. If that is the only definition of eternal life, then you don’t even have to be a Christian to do that. Christian or not, when your body dies, your spirit will live forever. If you die in the Lord, you will live with the Lord forever. If you die outside of the Lord, you will exist. I wouldn’t call “living where damn spirits would go,” but you will exist forever.

Jesus Christ addressed eternal life. What is eternal life? Jesus Christ says to us in high priestly prayer in John 17, “Eternal life is to know You, O Father, and to know Your Son whom You have sent.” Some people have misgivings of what it is. Eternal life is not just living forever; it is not just existing forever. Eternal life is living with God forever. Don’t wait until you die before you begin that. You do that right now. You make choices to live for and to live with God right now. We do things God’s way, not doing things our way.

The rich, young ruler had an idea. “This is what I have done in order to get this and I have gotten these riches because I inherited it and I have done my due diligence. I invested it, done everything that is right. Now, I am increasing what I have. It is a matter of what I have done.” Yes, he wants to receive eternal life, but apparently, he was thinking that the way to get this is the same way that he has gotten his riches.

Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God.”Here, God is not denying that He is good. Jesus is not denying that He is God. But the Jews at that time only used the concept of goodness to apply to God. They were very reluctant to apply the word “good” to any human being, to any man because they feared that if they apply the word “good” to a man, they would commit blasphemy.

Was Jesus Christ afraid of applying this to a man? Was He denying that He was the Son of God? Was He denying that He, being God, is good? He is not denying all of these. He began to understand that this rich, young ruler is asking what he that he could might become good enough to get this eternal life. Jesus wanted him to think that it is not a matter of one’s goodness, but it is a matter of God’s goodness. Jesus was trying to focus his mind not on how good he could get. He was trying to focus this man’s mind on the goodness of God. It is not what you have done; it is what He has done for you.

There is nothing that we can do to earn the blessing of God Almighty. This has been given to us by grace. Jesus is trying to show that it is not matter of what we can do. We can do the very best things that we want, but unless God’s grace and mercy is given, the best you can do will not be good enough. He is trying to make him think that it is not enough what you can do to get it, but it is in the goodness of God who has given it to us.

Verse 19, “You know the commandment, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” I wonder why Jesus did not start in the beginning – talking about the Lord’s Day and having other idols. We recognize many of these except for the one that says, “Do not defraud.” The tenth commandment is, “Thou shall not covet.” Maybe Jesus understood that being a rich, young ruler, he really doesn’t cover other stuff because he has it. Then Jesus goes to the fourth commandment, “Honor your father and mother.” The rich young ruler says, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”

We have here someone who is God-fearing, law-abiding. He was outstanding. He tried to keep these things perfectly. You would think that Jesus would argue with him, but Jesus doesn’t argue with him. He doesn’t deny that what he said was wrong, but Jesus looked at him and felt a love for him. Jesus did not love him because he did those things or he forgot to do those things. God’s love for us is unconditional. There is nothing that we can do to make God love us any more or any less. He loves us completely and absolutely.

We are secure in God’s love. According to the Holy Scriptures, we have been accepted in the beloved. We are not doing things to get the approval of God. We have them already because of our faith in Christ Jesus. We are not doing these things to become more righteous. The Word of God says that we have received the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We are not doing this in order to get the approval and the grace of God. We have it already.

Jesus loved him and says an amazing thing, “One thing you lack.” When I think about my life, I know there is more than just one thing that I lack; but Jesus Christ goes to him and says, “One thing you lack.” He drops a bombshell and says, “Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross and follow Me.”

This is the only time that we find the Lord Jesus Christ saying something like this. When He called Peter, John and James, He did not ask them to give up their boats. He had some rich ladies supporting His ministry, but He didn’t ask them to give up their riches. In 1Timothy 6:17, St. Paul was giving instructions on how to handle the people in his church who were rich. “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good and that they may be rich in good works, ready to give and willing to share.”

St. Paul was telling Timothy that there are some people in his church that has more than the usual. This is what you are to command them, “Tell them, ‘Not to be haughty.’” Tell them, “Not to act superior simply because they have more than the others.” Tell them, “Not to trust in their riches.” Tell them to, “Trust in God because He is the God who gives us richly of all things to enjoy. Tell them, “Do good.” Tell them, “Be rich in good works, not only in material wealth but rich in good works.” Tell them, “Be ready to give and be ready to share.” He did not tell them to sell all that they have, give to the poor and come, follow the Lord.

Psalm 62:10 says, “When riches increase, do not put your trust in them.” God is not against those things being given to us. He is the One who gives them to us. The blessings of the Lord make one rich and He adds no sorrow to that. Jesus says to seek His kingdom and His righteousness, His ways, how He operates and His principles, and all these things will be added unto you like the things that you eat and wear.

God blesses us with those things. Apparently, it was only here that He says to this rich, young ruler, “Go your way and sell whatever you have, give to the poor, come, follow Me. You shall have treasure in heaven. Take up your cross and follow Me.” Verse 22 says, “He was sad at His word and went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.” The Lord was dealing with his heart, not with his wallet. For this rich, young ruler, this was his weakness. We have a sigh or a breath of relief we don’t have what he have, so we think we are not called to do that.

Yes, maybe, that is not our waterloo, our weakness. But is there something in our lives that stand in between our relationship with God and ourselves? It could be your reputation, your career, your car, or a favorite habit. The principle here is there should be nothing that could stand between us and the Lord, our God. Our relationship with God must be more important than anything else.

Verse 23 – 25, “And Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God.!’ The disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, ‘Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’” When we talk about riches this way, it can be applied to that; but we can see it in another way. We can say, “It is hard for you who trust in something else to be able to enter into the fullness, the blessing, the provision of the kingdom of God.” It cannot be gotten any other way. It has to be trust and faith in the King of the Kingdom. That King is Jesus.

Verse 26, “And they were greatly astonished saying among themselves, ‘Who then can be saved? If this man, who is God-fearing, who is decent, who is law-abiding, cant’ seem to get in, how about us? Jesus looked at them and said, “With men, it is impossible, but not with God; for with God, all things are possible.” We can apply this on almost anything else. But in the context of this statement, what Jesus Christ is saying, “Your salvation does not depend on how good you are; your salvation depends on the God who makes it possible for you.” If we start trusting in the Lord our God for our salvation, it just makes sense that we continue trusting in God for everything else.

In Galatians, St. Paul asked the people, “Why is it that you started in the spirit and now you are ending up trusting in the flesh?” How many of you have experienced that you were utterly powerless? When you come to the point when there is no help for you, you just trust in the Lord. There is no other alternative. There is no choice but to trust in the Lord. The Lord carries through for you. He delivers and over-delivers. You are taken away from that desperate situation and you are place in a situation where you have more than enough. Now, you have money that you can put in the bank. Now, you have money that you can invest. Now, you have money that you can do things. Before long, you find that you have less time seeking God but looking for the best means possible where you can multiply double your income and your earnings.

In the beginning, we had nothing and we had no choice but to trust God. Now, that we have these things, because God fulfilled His promises, why now focus your eyes on these things? Keep your eyes on the One who gave you these things. We need to put our faith and our trust in God who makes all things possible for us.

Verse 28, “Peter began to say to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You.’ Jesus answered, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or land, for My sake and the gospel’s sake, but that he shall receive a hundred fold now at this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.” He says that because you have given everything to God, you are not holding back anything. And because you are not holding back anything, God will reward you not only in the life to come, but in this life that we have here. We cannot out-give God. We need to be faithful to Him.

One time, we were believing God for some provisions because we were going to minister abroad. We were trusting God. We were bringing our tithes, give our offerings and give some extra seed. Someone comes along and says, “I would like to give you this amount.” She gives us five hundred dollars. She asks, “You tithe, don’t you?” We said, “Yes, we do tithe.” She says, “Okay, here is another fifty dollars. This should take care of your tithing for you.” This was the first time I have ever experienced something like that. That rather left me quite speechless. That person doesn’t know but I just didn’t give the fifty; I tithed from the sum of both of them. No one can’t give your tithe except you.

Tithe is not just mathematics. The rich young ruler thinks that he owned this money and asks what he needs to do so that God will bless him and get eternal life. It is not a matter of what you can do, but it is a matter of you surrendering yourself to God. It is you surrendering to Him and making Him your Lord. When He is Lord, you acknowledge He owns you.

The tithe is not something that we think that we should give or we should not give. Many of us look at the tithe only from a mathematical point of view. It is ten percent so the ninety percent belongs to me. “God, I have given you your ten percent. Now, don’t mess with my ninety-percent.” We are in a covenant principle where there is representation thing. Adam represented the whole mankind. When Adam sinned, all of man sinned because he represented us. The one man represented the all. Jesus Christ came as the second Adam. His perfect work of obedience did everything right. For those who trusted in Him, He represents everyone who trusts in Him. One represented the all. The ten percent represents everything. In giving that ten, we are saying, “You own it all. You own me.” The tithe talks about two things: ownership and source. “You are my Source. You own me.” This is why we can’t say to Him, “I have given You your ten, hands-off my ninety.” Understand that it all belongs to Him also.

This is making choices. The rich, young ruler was given the choice to do that one thing. For him, the Lord says to sell all that he had and give to the poor, and follow Him. That one thing, he could have made the excellent choice. “Lord, is that it? That is the one thing I lack?” The Lord said that whatever you give up for Him, a hundredfold it will be given to you. I have no doubt that had this man surrendered everything, somehow the Lord would have given it to him many, many times over.

Sometimes when we make a choice for God, we think we are losing something. We are not! When we make choices for the world, that is when we lose. But when we make a choice for God, God is the God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Our Collect tells us that He is the One who supplies our needs. He is the God of provision.

From the McArthur New Testament Commentary, it says that 16 of the 38 parables of Jesus deal with money. 1 out of 10 verses of the New Testament deals with that subject. The Scriptures offers about 500 verses on prayer, fewer than five hundred on faith; and over 2,000 verses on money. The believer’s attitude towards money and possessions is determined of it. Jesus Christ doesn’t script the issue. He talks about them. He mentions them. He tells us how it is. He tells us that we need to make the right choice for Him.

Some of the choices might be difficult during these times but it is well worth it because He is the God who stands for us. He is the God who supplies for us. He is the God who defends us. He is the God who will reward us for whatever we have given up for Him. We don’t lose anything when we stand for God and when we choose Him - the one thing we wish we had that opportunity. I think about my life and I said, “Lord, it is going to be more than one thing, and I am still working on that with your grace and your mercy.”

This man came to that point where there was only one thing missing. He missed his chance there. I am sure he got another chance later on. It is a reminder to us that God gives us the very best. Sometimes choosing what He wants for us might rather be difficult in the voice of public opinion today, but don’t give up. Don’t surrender to that. Always make the excellent choice. And when your choice is about God, for God, it will always be the excellent choice.

LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION

WITH