What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life? (Will You Leave Everything and Follow Jesus?)

Mark 10:23-27

The rich young ruler had come to the right person: Jesus. He had asked the right question: How do I inherit eternal life? He had received the right answer: Honor God and follow Jesus in complete trust like a little child. Sadly he did not respond correctly, and he walked away from the only true source of eternal life. “When Jesus called this young man to give up his money, the man started to grieve, because money was for him what the Father was for Jesus. It was the center of his identity. To lose his money would have been to lose himself” (Keller, King’s Cross, 132).

Jesus told His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” Jesus was not condemning wealth and commending poverty. This is not a call for asceticism. The point is, wealth breeds confidence in one’s self, and it has an addictive quality. Scripture addresses its dangerous attraction (see Matt 6:19-21, 24; Luke 12:13-21; 16:19-30; 1 Tim 6:17). It becomes life’s priority and the things of God go by the wayside.

The disciples could not believe their ears! So Jesus said it again: “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God!” Jesus prefaced His statement with a term of tenderness: “Children.” The camel was one of the largest animals found in that part of the world. The thought of trying to squeeze it, humps and all, through the eye of a needle would strike His disciples as funny, and also impossible. “I guess salvation is harder than we thought,” they said. And it takes only one thing like wealth to keep you out of God’s kingdom. They did not see that coming. Jesus turns the value system of the world on its head.

The Twelve were “even more astonished.” They asked, “Then who can be saved?” Judaism was guilty of its own “prosperity theology.” Wealth and riches were seen as an evidence of God’s favor (see Job 1:10; 42:10; Ps 128:1-2; Isa 3:10). Jesus corrected their bad theology. Actually, wealth can build a barrier to the one thing necessary to enter the kingdom: helpless, childlike trust in Jesus (v. 15).

His answer to their question is one of the great theological affirmations in the Bible: “With men it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God.” Salvation is something man cannot accomplish. Left to himself, he will never make it into God’s kingdom and inherit eternal life. Salvation is, has always been, and will always be a divine accomplishment through the perfect atonement and sacrificial death of God’s Son. Done, not do!

With men, entering God’s kingdom and receiving eternal life is impossible, and no one will be saved. With God all things are possible, and anyone can be saved! If you desire for Christ to be your Savior, you have to replace what you have been looking to as a savior. We all have something. What’s yours? That is an excellent “life question” to consider.

Mark 10:28-31

We could suspect that the disciples would have lots of questions. They needed to think things over. Peter expresses a perplexed but heartfelt plea.

Peter, the ever-ready spokesman for the disciples, picks up on the words of Jesus and says, “Look, we have left everything and followed You.” Jesus affirms that whatever you might lose or give up in this present age (or life) for Jesus and the gospel, you will not fail to receive a hundred times as much “now at this time” and in the age to come “eternal life.” The things Jesus notes we may have to give up are precious things: home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands. It costs to follow Jesus. However, the blessings far outweigh the losses. In God’s kingdom the benefits and blessings are simply too great to imagine.

One surprising “blessing” is “persecutions.” Its inclusion strikes a sobering note of realism for the person who would follow Jesus. To be a member of Christ’s kingdom means to share in all that is His. This includes suffering on His behalf, a momentary light affliction when seen against the promise of eternal life (2 Cor 4:17).

John Piper specifically applies these verses to missionaries—and all of us are called to be missionaries:

So, leave a little and get a lot.

Verse 31 is another hinge verse connecting and contrasting the rich young ruler (10:17-31) with the Servant of the Lord, Jesus (10:32-45; cf. 9:35). Again the value system of this present evil age is turned on its head.

“But many who are first will be last, and the last first” is one of those sayings Jesus probably repeated on numerous occasions (cf. Matt 19:30; 20:16). In Christ’s kingdom there is a grand reversal of every earthly standard of position, rank, and importance. God does not evaluate things in the same way fallen humanity does. As citizens of His kingdom, His children should think more like Him than like the world.

Tim Keller says, “The heart of the gospel is all about giving up power, pouring out resources and serving ... the Center of Christianity is always migrating away from power and wealth” (Keller, King’s Cross, 124).

Jesus said to the rich young ruler, “I want you to imagine life without money. All you have is Me. Am I really enough?” Do you truly believe the person who has Jesus plus nothing actually has everything? That is the question Jesus puts before this man. It is the same question He puts before us. How will you respond?!