“GETTING RID OF THE ‘I CAN’T’ CHANT”

MARK 10:17-31

17  As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

18  Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

19  You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'"

20  He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth."

21  Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

22  When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

23  Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"

24  And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

25  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

26  They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?"

27  Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible."

28  Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you."

29  Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news,

30  who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age--houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life.

31  But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."

I can’t.  Everyone says that from time to time. When was the last time you said it? I remember saying it a couple of years ago when I was ice climbing in Alaska. I was standing at the top of a cliff at the time. My knees were shaking because the Outward Bound instructor had just informed me that he was going to slowly lower me over the edge of that cliff. I looked at him like he was crazy and said very firmly, “I can’t do that.”

Do you say those words a lot or are you a person with a lot of confidence? If you’re a person with a lot of confidence then you’re probably a lot like the woman who went on an African safari with her daughter and son-in-law.  One morning the daughter and son-in-law woke up and discovered that she was missing. They looked for her everywhere. Finally they came to a clearing in the jungle where they found her standing face-to-face with a ferocious lion.  Terrified the wife screamed at her husband to do something, but the husband just shook his head. “No way,” he said. “That lion got himself into this mess. Let him get himself out of it.”

I don’t care how confident you are, every now and then everyone does the “I can’t” chant. The rich young man did it when Jesus told him to go and sell all of his belongings.  Then after he gave the money to the poor come Jesus told him to come and follow him.

There are lots of reasons people do the “I can’t” chant.  Sometimes it’s fear.  You’re afraid of heights or you’re afraid of falling flat on your face and looking like a fool or you’re afraid of being rejected.  So, you won’t fly in an airplane. You won’t speak in front of an audience. You won’t ask a girl at school to go out with you.  

Sometimes you do the “I can’t” chant because of fear. Sometimes you do the “I can’t” chant because you hit a little bit of a stubborn streak. You say “I can’t” because you don’t want to change. You don’t want to live your life differently. Former Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist used to tell a story about what it’s like for people who live in Arizona.  Rehnquist grew up in Wisconsin but started out practicing law in Arizona.  It seems that when Arizona was first being settled the Bishop of Los Angeles sent a missionary out to Phoenix.  His job was to start a church there.  After two years the missionary returned to Los Angeles and told the bishop that his efforts had failed.  The bishop was surprised.  “Why did you fail?” he asked. “Aren’t there any people there?”  The missionary lowered his head.  “Yes,” he replied.  “There are people in Phoenix.  It’s just that it’s so beautiful during the winter that the people who live there have no need for heaven and it’s so hot in the summer that they have no fear of hell.”

The rich young man did the “I can’t” chant because he didn’t want to change.  He didn’t want to live his life differently. It all started when the rich young man went to Jesus and asked him what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Well, Jesus started off by reminding him that you’re not supposed to lie or steal or commit adultery and that you’re supposed to honor your father and your mother.  Each time Jesus named one of those commandments the rich young man nodded his head and said to himself, “Check, check and double check.”  Then he turned to Jesus and said very proudly, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”

Then Jesus moved on and really challenged the rich young man.  Mark tells us that Jesus looked on the rich young man with love and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor…then come, follow me.”  The rich young man was shocked when he heard that and “went away grieving, for he had many possessions.”  Deep down in his heart the rich young man was saying to himself “I can’t. I can’t do that.”

Now it would be very easy here to beat up on the rich young man. It would be very easy to point a finger at him and criticize him for being possessed by his possessions. It would also be very easy to beat up on our society that puts such a huge emphasis on material things.

All of that is true, but instead of doing that I want to take a look this morning at the “I can’t” chant that led the rich young man to walk away that day with a heavy heart. First of all, I don’t believe for a second that the rich young man couldn’t do it. Not only could he do it, but I’m convinced that he really wanted to do it. You can see the rich young man did two things that make it clear that he wanted to please Jesus. Do you remember what he did when he saw Jesus?  Mark tells us that when the rich young man saw Jesus he knelt before him and he called him “Good teacher…” Now the rich young man didn’t do that to butter Jesus up and get on his good side.  He did that because he respected Jesus.  He knew that Jesus was a great man. So, he wanted to please him and do the right thing.

Deep down you want to please him and do the right thing too. Deep down you want to follow him and to be like him otherwise you wouldn’t be here right now.

Sooner or later though, you’re going to find yourself in the same shoes that the rich young man found himself in that day. You’re going to want to be like Jesus but you’re going to feel yourself being torn.  You’re going to feel yourself being torn between doing the right thing and doing the I can’t chant.

Maybe you’re facing one of those decisions right now.  If so, you know how agonizingly painful it can be.  You may even feel like the little boy did when his mother asked him a question on their way to church one morning.  The mother was very religious and she knew that the little boy was very precocious. So, she asked him, “Would you like to have Jesus in your heart?”  The little boy immediately rolled his big blue eyes and said very innocently, “No mommy.  I don’t think I want the responsibility.”

Sooner or later your going to feel yourself being torn between being doing the right thing and being like Jesus and doing the I can’t chant. That moment could come when you have to decide if you’re going to forgive someone who hurt you even though the person doesn’t think he or she did anything wrong.

It could come when you have to decide if you’re going to go to church on Sunday morning or let your kids play basketball.

It could come when you see something wrong at work, but you know that if you say something it could cost you a big promotion.

It could be when you’re facing a lot of peer pressure at school and all your friends want you to do drugs or drink with them.

When that moment comes don’t look at the rich young man and how he failed. Instead look at the Jesus who wants you to succeed.  Don’t forget that Mark tells us that Jesus looked on the rich young man with love that day. Now that wasn’t pity that Jesus was feeling for the rich young man. It was a love that really cared about the rich young man. It was a love that wanted him to succeed. It was a love that wanted to help him succeed.

Well, maybe you can’t do it all by yourself, but you can do it with God’s help.  That’s why Jesus answered the disciples the way he did when they talked about the rich young man later that day.  The disciples were feeling a little discouraged and asked, “then who can be saved?”  At that point Jesus reassured them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”

It isn’t always easy to follow Jesus, but with God’s help you can do it.  Just ask Jack Eckard.  Jack Eckard made a huge decision after he met Charles Colson.  Now Jack Eckard was the founder of nationwide chain of Eckard Drugstores and Charles Colson is the advisor to President Nixon who went to jail for the role that he played in the Watergate scandal. While he was in prison Charles Colson became a Christian and eventually went on to become a pastor and a preacher.  The two men met after Eckard saw Colson on television talking about the need to reform our criminal justice system. Colson’s point was that you can’t successfully rehabilitate criminals unless you make them take responsibility for their actions and require them to make restitution to their victims. Well, Eckard called Colson up and invited him to come to Florida. Together they traveled around the state encouraging state officials and lawmakers to reform the criminal justice system down there.  While they traveled from one place to another in Eckard’s jet Colson talked to him about his faith.  Eckard admitted that he wasn’t a very religious man, but Colson’s faith started to rub off on him.  Colson eventually gave Eckard some books to read and the two went their separate ways.  A year later Eckard called Colson up and began to tell him how his life had changed. After listening to him for a while Colson told Eckard, “You know what this means don’t you? You’re born again!”  Eckard immediately disagreed.  “I haven’t felt anything,” he insisted. It was clear to both men though that his heart had changed.  Later that day Eckard walked into one of his drugstores and noticed the copies of Playboy and Penthouse in the magazine racks.  So, he called up the president of his company and told him to take the magazines out of all 1,700 of his stores around the country.  The president of the company was shocked.  “You can’t mean that,” he said. “We make three million dollars a year on those magazines.” Eckard didn’t back down and the magazines came out of all his drugstores.  When Charles Colson heard about it he called Eckard up and asked him a question.  “Did you do that because of your commitment to Christ?”  Without any hesitation at all Eckard said very emphatically, “Why else would I give away three million dollars? The Lord wouldn’t let me off the hook.”

Now I doubt very much that you or I will ever have to make a decision to give up three million dollars.  The next time you want to say, “I can’t,” though remember the Jesus who will be there to look on you with love and promised you that with God all things are possible.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

October 15, 2006