We were blessed to be reminded by Taylor this past Sunday of God’s generous grace towards us. We will never be “good enough” and that is truly great news, because of God’s grace.
If you weren’t able to listen yet, you can find the recording here.
We’ve included discussion questions after the Sunday Recap to help you engage with the sermon.
Introduction
Mark 10:13-31
Main Question: How good is good enough?
1. The Children (13-16)
“In this story children are not blessed for their virtues but for what they lack: they come only as they are — small, powerless, without sophistication, as the overlooked and dispossessed of society. To receive the kingdom of God as a child is to receive it as one who has no credits, no clout, no claims. A little child has absolutely nothing to bring, and whatever a child receives, he or she receives by grace on the basis of sheer neediness rather than by any merit inherent in him- or herself. Little children are paradigmatic disciples, for only empty hands can be filled.” - James Edwards
2. The Rich Man (17-22)
“The disciples are to learn from this encounter that God requires something more than reverence for Jesus as a good teacher and earnest attempts to obey God’s commands. The man has attained conventional respectability with a genteel approach to obedience. But Jesus’ demand exposes the man’s reluctance to give himself and all his earthly securities, works, and possessions. He falls short of the one thing the reign of God requires. To enter the kingdom of God one must submit to God’s rule so that God reigns over every aspect of life.” - David Garland
3. The Disciples (23-31)
“Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.” - Job 1:10
“For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” - Psalm 73:3
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” - Matthew 6:21
“Jesus does not teach or uphold poverty as an ideal, but he does, as here, regard the awareness of need that results from poverty as a blessing. The greatest enemies to faith and obedience are self-satisfaction and pride, and nothing removes those [barriers] more effectively than poverty.” - James Edwards
“Pride, arrogance, insensitivity, indifference, self-satisfaction, worldliness, and other ungodly mind-sets feed on affluence. Most tragic, wealth can steel one against the objective requirement for entering the kingdom of God: helpless dependence.” - R. Kent Hughes
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” - 2 Corinthians 8:9
Discussion Questions
1. Tell us about an interaction you have had with someone who does not know the Lord in the past several weeks. How did it go? What did you learn?
2. Read Mark 10:13-31.
3. Who are the three characters? What is Jesus seeking to teach each of them?
4. How is the way Jesus treats children different than the first century culture?
5. What does the way Jesus receives the children teach us about the way we are to receive the kingdom? How are we to become like a child?
6. How is the way Jesus treats the rich man different than the first century (and our) culture?
7. Taylor said we tend to make one of two mistakes when it comes to goodness: 1) I've done so much bad, could God ever love me? 2) I've done so much good, but is it enough?
(a) Which mistake do you tend to make?
(b) How does the truth of this passage transform our understanding of how good is good enough?
8. Verses 29-31 unpacks one of the most wonderful promises in the book of Mark. But who is the promise for?