Springs Article 2023-02 (2)

Mark 10:17-22
Mark 10:23-31
Matthew 6:19-24

What are the conditions given by Jesus for inheriting eternal life in Mark 10:17-22?

  • Keep God’s commandments
  • Give up materialism (seeing material things as greater value than spiritual things)
  • Lay up your treasures in Heaven
  • Live as a true disciple of Jesus

Is the keeping of God’s commandments important to inheriting eternal life?

  • In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus told them to depart from Him because they were workers of iniquity (practising lawlessness), Revelation 21:7-8

What is unique about the eye of a needle, as referenced in Mark 10:25?

  • It is a narrow passageway!
  • The passageway that leads to life is ‘strait and narrow’, Matthew 7:13-14

What are the skills needed for threading the eye of a needle?

  • Attention (Focus, Singularity), Matthew 6:22-23
  • Diligence (Determination), Hebrews 11:6
  • Perseverance (Endurance), Matthew 24:13

What will hinder a person from getting through a narrow passageway?

  • Weight
  • Baggage
  • Unwillingness to suffer restriction and discomfort

What is the meaning of the statement: “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 in Mark 10:25?

  • It is a hyperbole which demonstrates an impossibility!
  • It is impossible for a rich man (a person who trusts in his riches: money/assets/achievements/status) to enter Heaven

What is wrong with being rich? What is wrong with the prosperity gospel?

  • The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, 1 Timothy 6:6-10
  • Mammon is an idol, Matthew 6:24
  • Materialism is idolatry, 1 John 2:15-17
  • Covetousness is idolatry, Luke 12:15, Colossians 3:5
  • The prosperity gospel accommodates materialism and covetousness

Why a reference to a camel in this hyperbole? Why not an elephant or a dinosaur?

  • A camel was the largest domestic animal in land of Israel
  • It is a hyperbolic reference to its size, just like ‘plank in the eye’ and ‘swallowing a camel’, Mathew 7:3-5, 23:24

How can a camel go through the eye of a needle?

  • It is impossible without supernatural intervention!
  • The disciples were astonished at the impossibility of the hyperbole
  • The camel needs to be shrunk to the size of a small ant!
  • This is only possible by a person submitting totally to God and allowing God to work in them by His ‘Word and Spirit’ to achieve brokenness, humility, yieldedness and obedience

What does a camel represent in this hyperbole?

  • A person who trusts in their riches
  • A person of big status – full of the pride of life – pride in their achievements and possessions
  • Someone who trusts in their assets/status more than in God
  • Someone who is more interested in spending their time to make money and acquire riches rather than using it to serve God and do His will
  • Someone who cannot release their money/assets to serve God’s purposes
  • Someone who can do anything to acquire and/or retain money
  • Someone who measures the value of their life by the acquisition of material things (worldly status)
  • Someone who is dominated by fashion, jewellery and bodily adornment
  • Someone who is dominated by the love of flashy things and special effects

How can a rich man enter Heaven?

  • The camel needs to be shrunk to the size of a small ant!
  • The rich person needs to totally surrender all their riches (money/assets/achievements/status) to the Lord
  • The Lord becomes the effective owner and they become merely the caretaker
  • They must be willing to release any or all of it to the Lord at anytime when he makes a demand of it
  • They must allow Jesus to become Lord over all their riches (all that you are and all that you have)

To find out more, listen to the audio sermon