October 13, 2024. Today we have guest preacher Rev. Derek Bastian from Webster-Rock Hill Ministries, who examines our gospel reading from Mark 10 about what we must do to inherit eternal life, and asks us to consider: if you've done everything you've been asked to do, is there anything left that you could do for God? Reading: Mark 10:17-31 *** Transcript *** Good morning again, church. It is certainly a privilege and an honor to stand in the pulpit and present God's word to you. But if I could first sound like an executive director, and just thank you for the work that you're doing at Webster-Rock Hill Ministries. I truly believe that we are an extension of you, the arms and legs of your work in this community. Presently we're getting ready for the Adopt-A-Family season for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And that's always a wonderful thing, to see the many families, and namely the children, that we can adopt and we can help. And we've done that work in conjunction with you. Since I've last been here we've added several new things, such as the third Saturday food giveaway, where we're providing fresh fruits and vegetables. We actually go down to Produce Row, I think somewhere near downtown, and we buy the fresh fruits and products and distribute them every third Saturday of the month. The reason why we purchased them is, when we give away fresh fruits and vegetables it has to be fresh fruits and vegetables. We actually go and purchase it to make sure that people are getting quality fresh fruits and vegetables. And now we're seeing about 100 families, third Saturdays when we give out those fresh fruits and vegetables. And so that's all because of your support and your help. On a given week we average now about 10 to 12 families a day coming for various different items, and we're proud that we are able to support them, and through your gifts of giving that is sustainable. Thank you so much. There's always room for more. There's always room for more. There's always an event going on in the country, around the world, that requires us to respond. And it sounds like right now your church is in the midst of responding to the victims of the hurricane in North Carolina and Florida. And so as you know, over the last couple of years, almost every spring going into the summer there's been some event — a rain storm or tornado in this area or something — and you've helped us to respond to those families. So thank you. Now if I can sound like a preacher. To Pastor Meagan, thank you for this opportunity. And to all the leadership and membership of this great, great church: thank you. Thank you, thank you. I will not dare take the liberties of preaching as long as your pastor does, because I'm a guest. And hopefully I'll be invited back if I keep it short, right? And so I will just get to the text. I don't have to read the text over again, because I read it earlier for the scripture reading. But if I would just use for a subject today, it would be: you're forgetting something. I'm not going to go through the whole reading of the text, but from verse 17 to around about verse 22 we see where a man came to Jesus and says, really put a position in front of Jesus, saying that he did everything that he could possibly do, that the scripture asks to be done, since he was a child. Do you know anybody like that? I've not met anybody like that yet. He's done everything. And he went and said to Jesus, "Since I've done everything there is to do, what else do I need to do to inherit eternal life?"  You know, Jesus was delicate with the man. And a couple of observations out of the text that I gleaned was, first: when the man came to Jesus and said, "Good teacher." Whenever somebody comes to you and they start off with a compliment, often it's a setup. "Good teacher." Jesus seen right through it, and said to the man, "Why do you call me good? Only God alone is good." What the man was trying to do was validate Jesus' ministry. And I say to that observation, Jesus' ministry doesn't need any validation. When we look at Jesus' ministry — the feeding of the poor, and the miracles, and the healing, talking to whomever would listen — Jesus' ministry did not need any validation. Not to mention the walking on the water, turning water into wine. Jesus didn't need any validation. And here it was, this man here trying to validate Jesus' ministry. What that tells me is that sometimes when people give you a compliment, it is to say that your ministry would not be, until you got this accolade from me. Jesus, sensing that through this man, just continued the conversation because the lesson was to be taught. You see, what I like about Jesus is Jesus sees right through us. He sees when it's a setup. He sees that this man was reaching. He came in disguise as somebody seeking help and answers, but really he was trying to set Jesus up. And Jesus had something for him. You know something else I noticed in the text about this man? This man had spiritual hubris. Why do I say that? Well, because the man said that from the beginning, "From all that I can remember from my humble beginnings, I have done everything there was to do. So Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life? I listened to my teachers. I did my ABCs. I paid my taxes. I did everything there was to do. What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Do you hear the spiritual arrogance in that? Do you hear that? The pride, the spiritual pride: "I've done everything." Can I offer this? I don't care what seminary, I don't care how many Bible studies, and how long you been in Sunday school. I don't care. Most of us have heard two thousand gazillion sermons by now, and still we're not saved enough. Still we're not holy enough. Still we don't know enough to stop sin. Every one of us are fighting sin every day. Every minute. And some of us, every second. And for this man to say, "I've done everything, there's no more for me to do." Jesus had a problem with that. You know how I define "church?" I defined church as: sinners in recovery. That's all church is. All of us come because we need to come. None of us come just to be coming. We come because we are all sinners in recovery. "Oh, if I don't come, I don't know how I'm going to deal with some folk on Monday." "If I don't come, I don't know how I'm going to stay strong my entire week." "If I don't come, I just don't know how to fight sin." But this man says, "I've done everything. I've done everything, and there's no more for me to do." I wish that was the case. But the Bible says Jesus looked at him. And when Jesus looked at him, the Bible says, Jesus looked at him and loved him. You know what that's telling me? That's telling me Jesus saw right through him. Jesus saw right through him, and loved him in spite of himself — in spite of his hubris, in spite of his arrogance, in spite of his pride, Jesus loved him. Everyone under the sound of my voice, Jesus loves you in spite of. Jesus loves you instead of. Jesus loves you just like he loved this man. He loves us in spite of ourselves. Isn't that good news today? Regardless of what I've done, regardless of my pride, regardless of my spiritual arrogance, regardless of my falls and slips and mishaps, Jesus still loves me. So, there's always something more to do. There's always something left undone towards my spiritual growth. That's why we keep coming. We keep coming because there's always something more I need. Something I need to hear. Something I didn't think of. I can tell you, I've looked through this Bible and read it back and forth a couple of times, and every time I read it there's something new jumping out at me about how I can be better. How I can be more. But, If you think you've done everything God has asked you to do, there's always one more thing. How about forgive? If you think you've done everything God has asked you to do, how about judge not? If you think you've done everything God has asked you to do, then keep resisting self-righteousness. If you've done everything God has asked you to do, here's a big one: omission. The man talked about everything he did. But he forgot about what he didn't do. And Jesus proved that when Jesus said to the man, "Okay, okay. You've done everything. You've done everything. Good to hear. I tell you what: since you've done everything, take everything you now have, sell it and give it to the poor. And then come follow me." That's a hard one. Jesus says well since you've done everything, I don't know what else you could do other than sell everything you have and come follow me. And I think it hit the man then. "Wait a minute, I guess I haven't done everything. Because this one is too hard for me to do. If it's too hard for me to do, that's when I know I need God to help me keep working on myself." When you've done everything there is to do, remember there's still something else that you could do for God. Jesus asked him to do this hard thing, because Jesus realized that it would be impossible for the man to do this. That's where that sin of omission comes in, when a man wasn't willing to give up what he had to follow God. "Sell everything you have. Give it to the poor and come follow me." Whoo, that's a tough one! Everything? You mean everything? Like all of it? Like every everything? Yes. And come follow me. Somebody in here today, Jesus isn't asking you to do that. But he is asking you to consider: if you've done everything that's been asked of you to do, is there anything left that you could do for God? What about your time? What about your gifts, your talents, your skills? What about writing? What about talking? What about sharing? There's something else that could be done for God. Listen, now it's past the time that your pastor would be up here, and so I will take my leave right now. But I will say this to you: to whom much is given, much is required. Amen? *** Keywords *** 2024, Christ Lutheran Church, Webster Groves, sermon, podcast, transcript, Rev. Derek Bastian, Mark 10:17-31, Webster-Rock Hill Ministries, WRHM