Pentecost 21 Mark 10:22-31

How do you know if you have been blessed by God? 

Consider your life, for a moment, stop and think about the gifts the Lord has given to you and ask yourself, has the Lord blessed you? 

When asked like this, I think most of us would say that the Lord has blessed us.  Typically we will stop to consider things like our families and those we love, and those who love us.  We will remember those material gifts, our house or home our car our job.  If we are particularly pious we will remember those who are less fortunate than we – the sick, the impoverished, those who live in the 3^rd world and then, when compare ourselves to these we are doubly blessed.  And so when asked if we are blessed by God, these are things that we count as blessings and so we would answer the question affirmatively. 

Has the Lord blessed you?  Has He blessed me?  Yes, we will say, the Lord is good.  We are definitely blessed by God.

But are we still confident of the Lord’s blessing?  When asked in a rhetorical sort of a way, when we have time to stop and think, and I suppose when we know what the answer to the question is supposed to be, we can usually come up with the right answer.  Are we blessed by God? We know God gives us all we have.  We know that we should remember what he has given – but does it ever happen that you just aren’t sure?  I mean, do you ever wonder if God has truly blessed you? Do you ever think maybe he isn’t blessing you?  That he has forgotten to bless you? Or that your blessings have run out for a while?  Do you ever wonder if God has blessed somebody else more?  With greater blessings than what he has given to you?

Sometimes I can’t log on to Facebook without getting a little jealous of the blessings God has given to other people.  I get to see the finishing times of all my friends who are running races that I haven’t been able to run lately, my friend who just got a new Ford Mustang – he like to post pictures of it.  Those of you who follow my on Facebook might have seen my post this past week - I got a major break on an insurance bill, and my car repair was significantly less than what was first expected.  Did you see that?  It was great.  All that kind of makes us a bit jealous doesn’t it?  My brother in law responded that his car also needed a repair and his went the other way – wound up being way more than he expected.  Are you tempted to measure your blessings from God this way?

I have a friend who put it this way.  The 9^th and 10^th Commandments warn us of the sin of coveting.  Coveting, she has a daughter.  Her name is complain.  And coveting also has a mother – her name?  Compare.  When we compare our blessings to those that others have received we begin to covet.  When we covet, when we think about those things we do not have, it is then that we complain.  Don’t want to complain? Then don’t covet.  Don’t want to covet? Then don’t compare.

The trouble is, that comparing, that is how we measure God’s favor; that is how we measure God’s blessing.  We are sure of God’s presence and action and opinion of us according to how easy our lives are or how comfortable or how well appointed or luxurious they are.  The more things go our way, we assume the greater the blessing.

Isn’t that error of the disciples?  Last week in our Gospel text there was a rich man.  He came to Jesus and said to him, “What must I do to be saved.”  You see, the man thought that if he kept all the commandments and got a perfect score the Lord would let him into heaven.”  The man was sure of his own righteousness and the goodness of his own heart, and his confidence was in his riches.  But then Jesus pulled that confidence out from under him.  The Lord told him, “Go sell everything you have, give the money to the poor and then come and follow me.”  The man went away disheartened.

In our text today, after having watched the man go, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “How difficult it is for the rich to enter in to the kingdom of heaven.”

The disciples heard this word of Jesus and they were shocked.  You see the disciples were a lot like us.  They spent their time measuring and comparing…  and then coveting and complaining.  And this rich man… well, he was rich.  It was obvious that he had found God’s favor…  Right?  Kind of like “He’s a pastor. No wonder he gets a break on his health insurance.”  Same thing, isn’t it?  And so Jesus instructs us.  Worldly wealth doesn’t make it easier for us, it doesn’t mean we have more blessing or even greater blessing.  Worldly wealth, having lots of stuff, having all your needs met with no lack for anything, rather than making our salvation more sure, it can be the opposite!

Now, don’t misunderstand.  It’s not that worldly wealth is sinful or that it is wrong to be rich.  It isn’t.  God made this world and it is a good world. And to have and enjoy things in this world is to have and enjoy things that God has made and that God has given.  The problem is not with the stuff.  The problem is with the people who own it.  The problem is with you. 

Let’s face it, you love your stuff.  You and your wardrobe, you and your machines – your tractors and trucks.  You and your gadgets and  gizmos, your toys and treasures.  You love those things.  You treasure those things.  Its like Jesus said, where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is.  We take our heart away from the Lord and we give it to our stuff.

The problem with being rich doesn’t have anything to do with being rich.  The problems with being rich has to do with the fact that we are sinners.  We place our confidence in God’s promises or God’s favor in being rich.  Either that or we place our lack of confidence in God’s favor in being poor.  We are confident when things go our way, we are nervous when things don’t go our way.

 “Oh you of little faith.” Says Jesus.  ”Why do you doubt.  Why do you stress and strain and worry and fret.  Consider the lilies.  They never toil or spin.  Yet not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.  And consider the birds of the air.  The don’t plant or harvest or gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them.  If this is how your heavenly Father feeds the birds or dressed the weeds in the field, won’t he so much more take care of you?”  And we know the answer.  The answer is yes.  The Lord will take care of us.  He will provide for us.

“Give me neither poverty or riches.  Feed me with the food I need.  Or I might get full and deny you and say who is the Lord. Or I might get poor and steal and profane the name of my Lord.” (Proverbs 30:8-9)

The one big strike that the rich have against them is that they are full.  They have everything they need.  All their material needs are met.  Their bills are paid.  Their expenses are accounted for.  They are not afraid of taxes or tuition or sudden repairs.  Unexpected expenses aren’t a worry – just write a check and you’re done with it.  Wouldn’t that be nice, we say?  Wouldn’t that be a great problem to have? We think to ourselves.  Perhaps.  But there is blessing in our stress.  You see stress and worry, while they can lead us to sin, they can also be gifts that lead us to pray.  This bill, this expense, this car repair, this low yield, it is all too big for me to handle.  Lord, I need your help.  I need your intervention.  Lord, save me.  And while it is too big for you, it is not too big for the Lord.  He can help.  He can intervene.  He can save.  And he does.  He provides.  He who clothes the grass and feeds the birds will also feed you, he will also clothe you.  He will provide for you.  Sometimes when we are full, when all our material needs are accounted for so that we don’t worry, sometimes we assume we do not need the Lord.  Sometimes, in fact, we believe, like the disciples believed, that wealth and riches are a particular honor given by God to those who are especially righteous.

Remember their question?  Remember their surprise?  Jesus said, It is easier for a camel to fit through a pin hole then for a rich man to get into heaven.   “Blessed are the poor in Spirit,” Jesus says, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  So often poverty on earth is accompanied by humility.  Humility lends itself well to repentance.  But pride, self-satisfaction, self-righteousness, being self-fulfilled – those things work against our faith.  Those things can squelch and squeeze our faith.  We put less confidence in Jesus because we are so sure of our wealth. 

So are you rich?  Good.  That is God’s blessing to you.  God has given that blessing to you.  But it is not yours.  Don’t get too comfortable with it.  Don’t put too much of your confidence in it.  Use it.  Manage it.  Serve your Lord and your neighbor with it but don’t let it own you.  And be aware, your wealth will cause you to sin so  be prepared to repent.  But receive the Lord’s forgiveness.

Are you poor?  Good.  This too is God’s blessing to you.  When you worry or fret, when you have bills to pay that you aren’t able to account for, be confident that the Lord will provide for you.  Trust him.  Cast all your worry on him because he takes care of you.”  And the Lord who clothes the weeds and feeds the birds will put a shirt on your back and food on your plate.  But also be aware, your lack will also lead you to sin – to worry, to covet, perhaps even to steal.  So repent and receive the Lord’s forgiveness.

Because you are forgiven.  The Lord has told you, the rich are not able to enter into heaven.  The poor are not able to enter into heaven – even the middle class, who our politicians are so intent on saving these days – with all the help they are promised to receive from either candidate, it still won’t be enough.  On our own, or even with a little help from the president, we can’t make it into heaven any more than a camel can make it through the eye of a needle.  But God can.  God can do anything.  There is nothing that is too hard for him.  No bill that is too big for him to pay, no creditor he is not able to fend off. 

We have all seen those movies where someone has borrowed money from the wrong person and owes a debt that they cannot pay.  And Johnny or Vinnie or whoever sends his big goon to bang down the door and squeeze the money in whatever way he can get it out of you.  That is the devil’s work.  You owe a debt of sin.  Pay up or die. 

But the debt has been paid.  The bill has been settled.  There is no more debt to be satisfied.  Because Jesus has paid it.  Jesus has put down the full amount with his very life.  He sacrificed himself, he gave his blood to settle accounts with the Father so that the Devil has no work to do.  No accusations can stick, because all the debts have been paid.

We are so often tempted to misplace our confidence in the Lord’s promises.  But that confidence and that assurance is found squarely in Jesus.  It is found in the one who gave up every thing even and especially his life so that you could receive forgiveness and salvation.  Our confidence stands securely on the cross of Jesus Christ.

And that confidence was made yours at your baptism.  Your baptism is the place where God said to you, ‘you are my child.” And where you have received the guarantee, not just of a discount off a car repair, not just a gold watch or a diamond ring.  The Lord has given to you all the riches of heaven.  The kingdom of heaven is yours.  For sure.  Guaranteed.