What’s In It For Me

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

Everybody Has an Agenda

It's a good question. I worked at the hospital. I used to tell Jason all the time, everybody does something for a reason. Everybody has an agenda for every single thing that they do. We have an agenda for every single decision that we make. Whether we know it or not, there is an agenda there. You can't deny it. Every time you approach someone, there's an agenda. Every time you plan something, there's an agenda. Maybe it's a good agenda, maybe it's not so good agenda, but there's a reason why you do everything. And we find circumstances in our life where we are constantly selfish. And I guess it's normal because we're human, but we always ask the question with most things in our life, what's in it for me?

What am I going to get out of this? Because you guys know that especially when you do something for someone else, there's typically a sacrifice involved. Sometimes it's a small sacrifice, sometimes it's a big sacrifice. But whenever there's a sacrifice involved, whenever you have to give something, you always want something reciprocated back to you in some way, shape, or form. Whether it's a thank you, or whether it's another gift back to you, or whether you spend time with someone and they spend time with you later. What's in it for me? And I wondered, do we ever ask this question about our walk with Yeshua?

Come on now. Come on now. What's in it for me?

Reciprocal Honor in Covenant

It's amazing because in patron-client relationships, we talk about the reciprocal actions, about how a patron, someone who has a lot, would give something to someone who did not have a lot, someone in need, especially in the first century. And the idea is that if you are in need of something and you have someone that can give it to you and they offer it to you, it's right there and you can take it. But if you take a benefit from someone or something, if you take the gift, you now owe some form of reciprocal honor back to the person that gave it to you. It's kind of like when you give someone a birthday present and they take it and they don't say thank you, or they don't come to your birthday next year and they don't bring you anything, right? There's always a reciprocal action that goes along with it.

And it really got me thinking because God has a gift for us. Because he loved us, he gave his only begotten. Everyone knows that verse, right? John . He gave his only begotten son, right? And whosoever believes in him, life everlasting, right? Will not perish. So God has a gift that he is offering us because he loves us and he wants us to be reconciled with him in a covenant manner.

The Free Gift and Kingdom Expectations

And the gift is free. It's an invitation to his kingdom. And so if we accept this invitation to his kingdom, the doors fly open, the trumpets sound, people are there waiting on us, shaking your hand, welcome to the kingdom. Thank you, thank you. You're in, you're one of us now. And you walk into the kingdom, but then there is an expectation. There is a sacrifice that must take place, right? Not to get into the kingdom, but once you enter into the kingdom of God, there are expectations, right? You're supposed to leave who you were at the door. And when you walk through the gates, you're going to become a new creation modeled after a citizen of God's kingdom.

You keeping up with me? It's pretty basic, right? When we enter into God's kingdom, we leave behind the things of our past. We leave behind the person that we used to be. We leave behind the things that plagued us as far as sin and damage. We leave those things behind. And when we walk into the kingdom, we begin to take up the cross and we carry that. It's a little bit of sacrifice that takes place on your part of being a citizen. You reflect what the citizenship stands for, what the kingdom stands for.

Is It Worth the Cost? And so I started thinking, is it worth it? What's in it for me? When I enter into the kingdom of God, what is in it for me that I have to change my life a little bit? That I have to say no to sin, right? That I have to watch my tongue. That I got to quit looking at stuff I shouldn't look at. That I got to quit stealing stuff I shouldn't steal. That I got to quit thinking things I should not think. Yeah, I got to put that booze bottle back. Sacrifice. Is it worth it to enter into the kingdom of God? What's in it for us?

And then you take it a step further because there are those of us who saw that free gift from God. It is his son. And we want to take hold of it. And we take hold of it. And we say, look, I am a believer. I am in the kingdom now. And we tell our friends that and we come to services every single week and we relate to everyone in the services, right? The fellowship, the church, whatever. We do that so we can feel accomplished in our decision to be a citizen of the kingdom.

The Old Man Left Behind

But if we walked in through the gates of the kingdom and we have not left that old man behind, if we refuse to leave our identity as a person without God and our lifestyle as a person without God behind, we have not taken the gift. It's not eligible to us anymore. Was that hard? I know that's not something we talk about in Hebrew roots a whole lot, but maybe we should because Yeshua brings it up. Yeshua brings it up in Matthew chapter 7. Was it 21, 22? When people who took the gift of his salvation, at least they thought they took it, they brought it in, and they wore it like a jersey all around, and they went to fellowship every single week, and they told everyone, yeah, I believe in Yeshua. I believe in Jesus. They did this, but they did not put away the life that they had before. The sin that they had before. They refused because it was too great of a cost to them.

Depart from Me, I Never Knew You

And Yeshua looks at them and they come running up, right? You can read it in chapter 7. They come running, Yeshua, Yeshua, Lord, Lord, curious, curious, master, master. He looks down, he's like, get away from me. I never knew you. And what's funny is the teaching we've done about I never knew you in ancient legal covenant terms, right? We know that to know someone in a biblical context, it's a covenant term. You recognize someone that you're in covenant with. We all think knowing someone is like Adam and Eve because they, I always think it has to do with sex or something. Indirectly, it has to do with they saw each other in covenant. Sexuality was a part of that, right? When you know someone, right? So when Yeshua looks at these believers, quote unquote, and they came running up to him and he says, depart from me. I don't know you. He knows who they are, but he does not see them in covenant with him. Despite them thinking that they took this gift and this jersey, they put it on. Yeah, go, go, go. I'm a follower. Get away from me, you workers of iniquity.

The True Meaning of Iniquity

And of course, we all get bent out of shape because iniquity means lawlessness. And yeah, they didn't keep the Sabbath or something. They didn't keep all the Torah. So that's why he said that. No, guys, iniquity is not just about Sabbath, kosher, and feast days. There's a whole aspect of Torah that has to do with repentance and following in an effort to uphold the integrity of God's kingdom through our lifestyle. By taking the love of God and allowing it to be a light within us, also Torah. If we refuse to do that, it's a conscious choice. Paint the light bulb black because you want to keep the things that you were supposed to get rid of when you walked into the kingdom. Don't fool yourself, guys. You're not there. And so this brought me to the question, what's in it for me? Because it's really scary because Matthew 7, obviously there are people who claimed Yeshua as Messiah and King. But they didn't like it when they asked this question, "What's in it for me? What do I have to give up and is it worth it?"

The Rich Young Ruler

And so I want everyone to turn with me to Mark chapter 10. We're going to read a familiar story because I feel like we need to revisit it every once in a while so we can be on top of things, right? So if you turn with me to Mark chapter 10, you know the story. It's about the rich young ruler, right? And it starts in verse 17. Go ahead and get your pencils out because we're going to talk about all kinds of stuff. Make notes. It's amazing. I was thinking about that this morning. When we went to church, we always brought pencils and pens and notepads and junk. And now because we know everything, right?

There we go. Yeah. Laura, that's a good job. Starting in verse 17. So we got a young man who's excited to see Yeshua, right? I mean, he's running. It was a shameful thing for anyone over 25 to run, right? Because you were considered kind of older and you don't run places. That's the whole thing about the prodigal son. His dad ran to him, took on the shame of his son. People were focusing on him, not the shame of his son to embrace him. This young man ran to Yeshua, knelt before him, and asked a very good question, right? It's a question that we've asked. How do I get into heaven? How do I get eternal life, right?

How do I get entrance to the world to come? How do I partake of the resurrection? Now, I want you to notice something. Yeshua's fixing to deflect this man's compliment to him. What did the man call Yeshua? Good teacher, right? We're going to read the next verse and Yeshua is going to completely deflect it. And I find this amazing how humble our king is. He did the same thing with Nicodemus in John chapter 3. Remember Nicodemus came and was like, hey, we know God's with you. We know God's with you. You couldn't do all this stuff if God wasn't with you. And Yeshua like changes the subject completely and says, yeah, no one's going to get into heaven unless they're born again.

Just totally, you can almost see him kind of have an attitude about it. It's incredible because when we look at the lepers that we talked about last week, what did Yeshua say? Your faith. Your faith has saved you. Remember the woman with the issue of blood? Your faith has made you whole. Your faith has healed you. And it's amazing because Yeshua doesn't want to think. He wants to come and he wants to show people, yeah, God's with me for sure. But through me, God can be with you also. And you notice that he deflects people that try to compliment him and raise him up because that was what teachers did in the first century, right?

You follow the man that God is with because he's raised up and Yeshua's over here. Listen, believe in me and God can be with you as well. What's that prayer in John 10 where Yeshua's talking about the father in hour one? You guys know what I'm talking about, right? Well, seven chapters later in John 17, Yeshua's praying. And what's he praying for? He's saying, Father, Make them one with you as you are with me. Through Yeshua, God can be with us just like he was with Yeshua. It's incredible. Just deflects this whole thing.

Why Do You Call Me Good? So what's Yeshua saying in verse 18? And Yeshua said to him, why do you call me good? No one's good except God alone. Can you imagine coming to the master? Oh, my master, how good teacher you are. No one's good but God alone. All right, mediocre teacher, how are you? Why don't we respond to that? Yeshua at this point is indirectly also forcing the man to question his assumption of what good is. Think about that. The man comes and he thinks he knows what good is. He thinks he knows the contrast between good and evil. And he comes up to Yeshua and he's saying, good teacher, obviously you're good.

And Yeshua just throws a wrench in everything. God's the only one that's good. You sure you know what good is? Yeah. Prophets talk about people coming to a point in their lives where they view good things as evil things and evil things as good things. Are you sure you know what good is? Just dismantling this man. Any type of self-righteousness this man had. Verse 19, Yeshua answers his question about the eternal life part. He says, "'Do you know the commandments?' Asked the man. "'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, don't bear false witness, don't defraud, honor your mother and your father.'" He lists out the second part of the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue, essentially.

And you guys know the message, know the understanding of this. We have the first couple commandments, the first half of the Ten Commandments. I'll speak about loving God. Don't worship other guys. Don't make any idols. Keep the Shabbat. Don't take my name in vain, boy. We have these instructions on how to love God, and the latter part of the Ten Commandments is all about don't commit adultery, stop messing around, don't murder someone, right? Bearing false witness, that's not a good thing, coveting. How to love our neighbor. And I find it interesting that Yeshua sits here and asks the man only the questions.

You know the commandments about loving your neighbor. It's incredible because if we don't love God... Deuteronomy 6:4, if we don't love God, then there's no possible way that we're gonna be able to love our neighbor. If we do not love our neighbor, as Leviticus states, there's no possible way that we can love God as his expectations demand. That's a big one. That's a huge one. Shearer just doesn't skip a beat. Hey, you know the commandments, right? The latter part of the Decalogue, what's the man say? What does the man say? And he said to him, verse 20, and he answered and said to him, teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.

Everything you just said I've kept from my youth. And Yeshua, looking at him, loved him. Now, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the three gospels that recount this story. Mark is the only one that slides that phrase in there. After the man says, teacher, all these things I've done since my youth, it says, Yeshua loved him. I love that. Right? I love that. Because Yeshua felt some type of compassion towards this man. Yeshua felt some type of connection based on what this man just said that Mark wants to write, and Yeshua loved him. I find that amazing because if you turn with me, hold your place, and turn with me over to John, I want my understanding of this.

Right? So Yeshua asked him, listen, you keep in Torah, right? Essentially. In Hebrew, it's like, keep Torah. Yeah, he kept it. But specifically, he was loving other people, right? Which is the heart of the Torah. The justice and righteousness of our king. You give the grace and mercies and love of God through you to others, right?

He Who Loves Me

So if you turn with me over to John 15, starting in verse, John 14, starting in verse 15. Everybody got it? So you're gonna get your pencils out, Sharpie, whatever you use. If you love me, this is Yeshua talking, keep my commandments. In other words, Yeshua is saying, listen, I've come in the name of the Father, I've come to represent his kingdom, right? And I'm coming and sharing the commandments of God with you, okay? If you love me, another legal covenant term, abiding in covenant, if you love me, if you're faithful, then you will keep my commandments. Verse 16, and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper, and Verse 1.

At that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you. So I said all that to lead up to verse 21. You ready for this? He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and as a result, I will love him and manifest myself to him. You get this invitation to the kingdom, and you think you've walked in. You got the jersey on. Woo! But then there's an expectation of how to act as a citizen of the kingdom. And this is, of course, the reign of our king. We blanket and say it's Torah. But if we want to go deeper, it's the justice and righteousness of our king.

It's showing the love and gratitude that he gave to us. The love and the grace and the mercy. And we need to give it to others. This man, when asked by Yeshua, have you been loving people? Yeah, man, I've been keeping all these commandments since my youth. Bam! Yeshua looked at him. Loved him. Same word in John 14 and Mark. Yeshua loved him. Now the next step according to John 14 is Yeshua is gonna make himself known to him, right? Let's do this, right?

One Thing You Lack

Turn back over to Mark. Where are we at? 22. No, 21. Then Yeshua looking at him loved him and he said to him, 'One thing you lack.' Not a lot of stuff. You almost got it, bud. 'One thing you lack.' Alright? Not a big deal. Just one thing. Go your way, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. And then come and take up the cross and follow me. Other translations will say, come and follow me. So one thing you lack, you're going to want you to go. I know you're rich folk and... A lot of churches at this point, you need to sell everything, give it to the church, and then that's how you're going to follow Yeshua.

That's not exactly what he was saying. He was saying, listen, one thing you lack. I want you to sell all of your possessions, everything you own, and then I want you to come and I want you to follow me. Verse 22, but he was sad when he heard this, and he walked away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. This is the most disappointing story in all the New Testament. The most disappointing conclusion, right? Yeshua died and it was horrible, but he rose again. This man walked away from Yeshua, turned his back and walked away. One thing you lack.

How Hard Is It for Those Who Have Riches

Verse 23, "'And Yeshua looked up around and said to his disciples, "'How hard is it for those who have riches "'to enter the kingdom of God?' "'And the disciples were astonished at his words. "'But Yeshua answered again and said unto them, "'Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches "'to enter the kingdom of God?' For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, I know we get all been out of shape about that whole eye on the needle thing. Well, that just sounds ridiculous. Why would Yeshua a needle in a camel? You can't, I mean, that's just silly.

So there's a lot of theories out there about what the camel and the needle is. There's that one theory about like there's some small gate in Jerusalem that after hours or something, it was called the needle's eye and you couldn't pull a camel through it. But there's absolutely no sources that back that up. There's the other thing about some long mountain treacherous mountain valley or something that's called the eye of the needle that camels can't go down. Guys, in ancient Persia they had a saying, something was very difficult, they'd say, "Oh, it'd be easier to fit an elephant through the eye of a needle."

Maybe Yeshua was just talking about a camel and an actual needle. I don't know. The point's the same. It's very difficult for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven. Now, the disciples were amazed at these words, right? Yeshua understood that money, like alcohol, frees us from inhibitions, right? It amplifies who you really are. If you're greedy, it will fuel that greed. If you're charitable, it will fuel the charity. If you're a jerk, you're bigger, right? Yeshua understood this.

The Rich Young Ruler

The young man was a wealthy ruler, meaning he owned property. He obviously had an estate. He had servants. He probably had some slaves. He had a wife, likely more family—I'm not sure of the details. He had an inheritance already lined up for his children. Right? This man had everything. He had a lot. You see, Yeshua was not simply asking the man to sell all of his stuff, to give away all of his money. Right? Yeshua was asking the man to give away his identity that he had built up in this world. Everything that makes you, you—I want you to throw it away and come and follow me. Your identity. Everything about who you were before you began to follow me: sell everything, give it to the poor, and then come back and follow me.

Like it wasn't even a big deal. Kids don't get inheritance anymore, I know. They'll be mad. They'll get over it. It'll be fine. Come follow me. It's worth it. The Bible actually says money is going to solve all your problems. Look at Ecclesiastes . I took that out of context. So the writer of Ecclesiastes, Solomon's basically saying, he's talking about the evil princess of the world. And he talks about how they love to drink and wine solves everything. Wine makes you laugh. And then he says in verse 19, money is the answer for everything. Money does in fact solve a lot of life's issues, right? I mean, no matter what you're depressed about right now, right?

Most things that cause anxiety in our life, if you had enough money, right? Think about that. The writer of Ecclesiastes is saying these are the ways that evil princes think. You got a problem with your life and you can put a band-aid called money on it, so to speak. Yeshua looked at this man and said, "Listen, I want you to rip that band-aid off and throw it away and let that wound hurt and follow me. Follow me. I'll give you something else that's even greater than money to solve your problems. But you have to lose your identity of someone that is not in the kingdom. You have to lose your identity for what people know you as—whether it's someone who can't stop telling dirty jokes, whether it's someone who looks at pornography, whether it's a drunk person, whether it's someone who commits adultery, whether it's someone who screams or yells in anger all the time, whether it's someone who gossips.

Listen, you ain't got time for that in the kingdom. There's a new jersey I want to put on you. There's a new way of life I want to put on you. There's a new identity that you need to emulate here. You need to get rid of that other one. People know you as the rich man. We're going to change that to people knowing you as the follower of Yeshua, right?"

The Price of Following

Is it worth it? Is it worth the price to be able to say that you're emulating the Son of God? Is it worth the price to know that when people look at you, they will not see some past self that struggles with sin? They won't see the world. They're not going to see anxiety. They're not going to see depression. Is it worth it to know that when people see you, they're going to see Yeshua? So what Scripture stands out here? Galatians, of all books, right? Galatians 2, verse 20. Turn there and circle this. Paul speaks. He says, "I have been crucified with Christ. I have been crucified with Messiah. I died, in other words, with Messiah. It is no longer that I who live, but Messiah who lives in me."

This is what Yeshua is telling this man he's got to do. You have to take that identity that you've built up in the world, that the world sees you as, and we've got to change that. And you know what? When you become a follower of me, you don't know it yet, but when the world sees you, they're going to see me, and they're going to see the glory of God in that. One thing you lack: your identity. You've got to get rid of it. People know you as a rich man. Get rid of it. Sell your stuff. Follow me. Amazing. A lot of people, good-hearted pastors and preachers, tend to say you can't be rich, right? But look at Scripture.

Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Martha, Mary, Lazarus, Joanna, Susanna, and Lydia were all well-to-dos in Scripture. They were very wealthy. Paul actually exhorts the latter of those, the women, right? Because they were using their wealth for supporting the ecclesia. They were investing in and building up the fellowships that Paul was managing, right? You can't tell them, "Go sell your stuff." No, they were instructed to reciprocate the blessing that God gave them back into the kingdom, and that's exactly what they did. But this man only lacked one thing.

The Question of Salvation

So verse 26 says, "And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, 'Then who can be saved? If the rich can't be saved, who can be saved?'" You know why they ask that? The Talmud actually references this. The Jewish tradition states that giving to the poor is, of course, a scriptural mandate in Torah, right? And so if you have more money, you can give more money to the poor. So obviously, of all the people in the world who are going to get into heaven, it's got to be the rich, right? That was an actual mindset in the first century. Who can be saved if not the rich? And we look at it nowadays, in 2015, rich going to hell.

And it's true. It's amazing. Who can be saved? And Yeshua looked at them and said, "With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God." I can't get rid of everything I've built in this world—my identity—that one thing that's blocking me, according to Yeshua, from being associated as a follower of him. I don't know if I can go on if I do that. How am I supposed to follow him when I have to move on from everything in my past? See, it's not just riches. It's the things you hold—the weight you carry in your life, the unforgiveness you hold, the hurt you hold. This applies too. These are things that develop an identity for you that's not supposed to be in the kingdom.

Yeshua doesn't have past hurt. He doesn't dwell on dying. Just forgive. Someone says something behind your back twenty years from now. You got to get rid of that. It is possible with God to feel those wounds. It is possible with God to bandage those wounds. It is possible for God to redefine you as a citizen of His kingdom instead of you defining yourself as the king of your own. It's possible with God. Nothing is impossible.

The Rewards of Surrender

And so Peter began to say to him, "See, we have left everything and followed you." Poor Peter. But I've left everything and followed you. And Yeshua said, "Truly I say to you." So here's the answer to what's in it for me. You know, Yeshua, actually he's like, he's feeling bad for his disciples because they're freaking out. They're like, "Man. Not even the rich can get in. How are we going to get in? And we've left everything—wife, kids, house, car—we've left everything, jobs, everything to follow you." And Yeshua says, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time.

Houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions. And in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first." I love that because Yeshua was trying to, he was like, "Listen guys, you're going to get a hundred times more than this. This thing that you think is riches, I'm going to give you something that's a hundred times better. Oh, and I'm going to throw in some eternal life. And you know what? You're going to get persecutions." He's listing off the blessings that they're going to receive for following him, and he has the audacity to say persecutions.

What? It's incredible. Because great trials often accompany great blessings. That's what Yeshua was trying to teach us.

Brokenness and Glory

So James 1-2 speaks about this. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." Why? Because through brokenness, that's when God's mercy and grace show through. Right? Yeshua would feed the 5,000, got the bread, broke it. It's that simple. Father, break me for the sake of Your kingdom. Break me so that Your light can shine out. The first will be last and the last will be first. You see, when we make ourselves the king of our kingdom by maintaining the lifestyle and the identity that we feel we've worked for, we will be last, even though we think we are first. And when we humble ourselves as a child in God's kingdom, persecution comes. We all know that. We're going to smile because Yeshua already told us, listen guys, you're going to be first. You're going to be first. Just hang in there. I have to work in you and I want to make you the ambassador of the kingdom so that you can go with the authority and the power that the Father has given me to proclaim the righteousness and justice, the forgiveness of our King, the awesomeness of our King.

The Price of the Kingdom

You cannot do that if you're the king of your kingdom. You cannot do that with your own identity. You can only do that if you're willing to give up something yourself. Be crucified with Christ. That old self should be dead. Or at least you should still be killing it. Oh, I know. I'm perfect. I got saved. Now the work begins. Get the nails up. But if you're not willing to let that person die, that's when the audit—not proclaiming to people on the streets, the audit inside the walls of churches, synagogues, fellowships—has to begin with Matthew and 22 as a standard. Believing you're in the kingdom is not the same as being in the kingdom. Matthew, Mark, Luke, all record this incident. You can't read this passage without a little bit of sorrow in your heart. There's loneliness, a heartache in verse 22, where the man walks away from Yeshua, saddened.

The Sorrow of Walking Away

If you saw Yeshua and walked up to him, it'd be something you'd be talking about for a while, and I would bet you'd be happy about it. The man was disappointed because when he asked, "What's in it for me?" it wasn't enough. It was not that Yeshua punished him. It's not that he pushed him away. Yeshua didn't refuse him. He wasn't disqualified. And Yeshua didn't see some soiled page in his past that would make him ineligible to be a disciple of him. The young man, on the contrary, held his destiny in his own hands. Having the power to say yes or no, he turned his back on Messiah and refused to follow him. The story is one of the most disappointing in all the New Testament because we have so much history of hope. There hasn't been a single man that has come into personal contact with Yeshua during his earthly ministry who was richer in possibilities than this man. He had the opportunity to do a dramatic change. Dramatic change. He had an opportunity to allow God to break him in his identity of who he was in a very severe way and to use him to do great things. It wasn't worth it.

The Good Qualities He Had

So I want to talk about a few good qualities of this guy because I've heard sermons that just blast this guy—he's a wicked rich man, right? Just the most awful man you've ever seen in your life. Well, if we look back, he was eager in verse 17, running to Yeshua, running to Yeshua. He was humble. First thing he did when he got to Yeshua, a guy he heard about, he fell to his feet. Rich ruler falls to the feet of Yeshua. Very humble. He had courage. Some would suggest that he was running when no one else was. "Get out of my way. It's him." He just came out of the house, out walking on the street. "Let me at him." He was religious and had a little bit of spirituality. Verses 19 and 20. He knew the Torah. Went to synagogue. Loved people. He was wealthy. In our day, that would be a good quality. And obviously, you worked hard. Capitalistic nation—you work hard, you get good. You work hard, you're a hard worker. He had social rank. Luke tells us this. He had good sense. He went to the right place seeking the right thing at the right time.

One Thing You Lack

One thing he lacked. It's amazing because thinking about this and dwelling and meditating on this message, it is only one thing that keeps us away from Messiah. Just one thing. There was only one thing in the life of the rich young ruler suggested in verse 21. One thing you lack. She was excited to see him, loved him. I love this guy. He's gonna be great. He's gonna be great. Peter, move over. This guy, he might be the Pope. One thing you lack, man, just one thing. What is it? He lacked the willingness to put Messiah first above everything else in his life that he had built up and who he was. And this is what God requires of every single one of us.

It's not really an external message that you go out evangelizing. This is one that we have to put to the people who claim that they are in the kingdom, who claim that they've taken the gift, who on the outside, yeah, they're my brother in Messiah. On the inside? We don't know. Could be any of us. That's what Yeshua talks to in Matthew chapter 7. We wouldn't even know it until it happens. It would be embarrassing. What? It would be horrifying. One little thing, but it was too big to surrender.

One Big Thing

Many of us have one thing. We have to be careful that whatever that one thing is in our life— could be two things. We're really broken, lots of things. Typically it's only one big thing. We need to identify it and we need to audit ourselves to make sure that we have not made that our identity and we're not okay with keeping that and we're not willing to give that one thing up. No one will know but you and God, and that is all that matters. Mark states that what is a man that gains the whole world and loses his soul? What is it for a person that has this one thing in their life that they don't want to get rid of—a little thing—and they lose their soul?

See, God cannot fill a piece of real estate in your life that's already occupied. In other words, when we say, "God, come into my life, and Father, I want the Spirit of Yeshua to come into my heart, and I want Him to engulf my heart, and I want it to burn with His fire and His love towards the world—except for this part, this one little thing." God can't fill a piece of real estate that's already been chosen and filled with something else.

The Garden in Your Heart

You got this one little garden over here in your heart. You till up the rest of the yard with good soil. "God, you can take all that. I like this garden. I like to eat of its fruit." Little garden. It already has crops in it. And unless we're willing to pull all those crops out, go to a reddick's barter tiller, till it up—unless we're willing to do that, we can't say that we were 100% committed to God's kingdom, that we are 100% committed to his identity in us. We can't say that we were on that cross too with Yeshua, and we can't say that we're willing to carry the cross with us now. All we are is the selfish individual who existed before we made the decision to start following our Messiah, who would never pick up that cross, who would never suffer, who would never give something up for the sake of the kingdom because the reward is just obviously not big enough for me to give the things up in my life that I need to give up.

Come, Let Us Pray for You

Guys, whatever it is in your life—whether it's anxiety, whether it's stress, whatever situation in your life, unforgiveness, the most damaging thing that can possibly exist in the life of a believer —I want to invite you guys. I'm going to grab Jason after service, and we're going to stand right here. And we'd like to pray over you if you're okay with that, because that's what we're here for. We're not just a classroom. We don't just come and listen to Matt talk or yap about something. We're supposed to support each other in prayer. We're supposed to uplift and encourage one another. And if someone has an issue in their life that they know is keeping them from God, and they've just gone through an audit and they realize, "Crap, I like this thing too much. I need to give it up"—can't say that me praying for you is going to take it away, but it's going to encourage you and let you know that I support you in your decision to yearn for a closer relationship with Messiah.

Our Mission and Your Support

Because if we're not constantly having that yearn, guys, I would ask what our mission and what our focus is in the kingdom that we're supposedly a part of. I would ask you to consider financially supporting FIT, maybe sending a donation or an offering. It helps keep these messages online and available for those who might find themselves far from God. And you can do that through our Smart Giving Portal right here. Guys, our mission at Founded in Truth is simple. Our mission is to spread the Gospel of Yeshua through the historical, cultural, and biblical evidence of the God of Israel by taking the forgotten truths of God's Word to the nations. This is to be laid as the foundation of all truth. Founded in Truth yearns to facilitate a gathering of believers who seek one thing, and that is the ancient paths referred to in Jeremiah . Will you join us on this mission? I hope so. I pray that you will continue seeking truth so that the light of God will shine through you and for the sake of the kingdom of our Savior, Yeshua. Shalom.