{"id":84,"date":"2005-03-06T12:16:00","date_gmt":"2005-03-06T12:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.markporthouse.net\/?p=84"},"modified":"2005-05-02T16:54:02","modified_gmt":"2005-05-02T15:54:02","slug":"is-church-the-rich-young-ruler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/?p=84","title":{"rendered":"Is church the rich young ruler?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been doing quite a bit of follow up work on Off the Beaten Track, and as ever when I start doing talks and workshops my thinking develops. I am thankful for community as it helps me think and grow. However I have had a thought that just won’t go away and the more I chat about it the more angles I see. <\/span>
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When I was reading the parable of the rich young ruler the other day I was struck by how Jesus’ word in verse 29 and 30 resonated with John 10v10 “life in all it’s fullness.”<\/span>
This was my start point for the question Is church the rich young ruler? I could argue the similarities throughout the passage. One issue for me is that like the rich young ruler the church has sought to keep the commands all it’s life, but still we know something is missing, and if we are not demonstrating life in all it’s fullness by keeping these, what is it that is hindering us? What do we need to take off?<\/span>
Will we get through the eye of the needle as we are?<\/span>
Do we need to the challenge to go away disappointed for a while so we can recognise where we have gone wrong?<\/span>
Does our wealth and new initiatives that come and go hide our disappointment to well?<\/span>
The Rich Ruler<\/em><\/span>
18A certain ruler asked him, \u00c2\u201cGood teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?\u00c2\u201d
19\u00c2\u201cWhy do you call me good?\u00c2\u201d Jesus answered. \u00c2\u201cNo one is good\u00c2\u2013except God alone. 20You know the commandments: \u00c2\u2018Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.\u00c2\u2019<\/em><\/span>\u00c2\u201d
21\u00c2\u201cAll these I have kept since I was a boy,\u00c2\u201d he said.
22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, \u00c2\u201cYou still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.\u00c2\u201d
23When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24Jesus looked at him and said, \u00c2\u201cHow hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25Indeed, 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.\u00c2\u201d
26Those who heard this asked, \u00c2\u201cWho then can be saved?\u00c2\u201d
27Jesus replied, \u00c2\u201cWhat is impossible with men is possible with God.\u00c2\u201d
28Peter said to him, \u00c2\u201cWe have left all we had to follow you!\u00c2\u201d
29\u00c2\u201cI tell you the truth,\u00c2\u201d Jesus said to them, \u00c2\u201cno one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.\u00c2\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been doing quite a bit of follow up work on Off the Beaten Track, and as ever when I start doing talks and workshops my thinking develops. I am thankful for community as it helps me think and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-mission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}