Advanced Level, Block 9—Jesus’ Closest Followers
Week 87
The Rich Young Man—Called to Follow Jesus but Occupied with Other Things
Point to Emphasize: Will you be occupied with other things when Jesus calls you to follow Him?
Reference Reading: Mark 10:17-27
Memory Verse: Let your way of life be without the love of money, being satisfied with the things which are at hand… (Hebrews 13:5a)
Sample Story
Today I want to talk about the story of a rich young man who came to Jesus. He came to Jesus with a question. When we have a question, where do we go? Of course, we want to go to someone who is known to have the best answers, like a parent or maybe a teacher. And this young man had heard that Jesus was a teacher who had answers.
As Jesus was walking along the road in Judea, this young man ran up to Him and knelt before Jesus. This showed that he had high respect for Jesus. Then he asked, “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). That was quite a question, wasn’t it? He wasn’t asking for healing like the many who had come to ask Jesus before, but he came to ask how he could receive eternal life. This was the first time anyone had come to Jesus with such a question. This was a difficult question!
And Jesus answered him by first reminding him of the commandments given by Moses. He knew that this young man was aware of the commandments. He said, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness (lie), do not defraud (cheat), honor your father and mother” (v. 19).
The young man replied that he had been obedient to the law since his youth. I’m sure he felt pretty good about his answer. He seemed to have an attitude that said, “I’ve got this.” He thought he was qualified. He thought he was good, and that this would surely earn him eternal life.
But then Jesus said something more. He told him that he was still missing something. There was something that separated him from God’s eternal life. He could not go forward and follow Jesus. Jesus knew that there was something that the young man was occupied with that he needed to leave behind in order to have this eternal life. Jesus told the young man that he needed to sell what he had and give it to the poor. Then he would have a heavenly treasure, not just an earthly treasure. And Jesus also told the young man to follow Him. This was the way to have eternal life.
What do you think this young man did? [Let the children try to answer.] What was he occupied with? Right – his money. Jesus had asked him to do something he couldn’t do – to give up his riches. He couldn’t admit that he was unable to give up what he loved. So, he turned and walked away. How sad that was!
Now, let’s think about this for a minute. What was this young man occupied with? To be occupied is to have your mind filled with thoughts about something. Every heart is occupied with something. If it is not money, it is the thought of what we can do with money. What do you think this rich young man’s mind was filled with? Since he was rich, I’m sure he was filled with thoughts about his money. It was even more important to him than eternal life.
We are really not much different from this young man. What is your mind occupied with? Do you ever think about what it would be like to be very rich? Many of us don’t have riches but we trust in riches. If not that, don’t you at least think about how much you want the latest phone, or the latest game, or the most stylish clothes? When I was in the fifth grade, I started to love art. My mind was always occupied with how I could save enough money to buy art supplies. Or how rich and famous I would be when my paintings started selling. I also met with a group of children every Lord’s Day and during that time the adults talked to us about giving to the Lord out of our allowance. But I continued to save all my money for my art supplies instead. I thought very little about the Lord or what I could offer to Him. This shows that I was occupied with the wrong things. I should have talked to my parents about this. I should have told them that I just couldn’t give my allowance to the Lord because I wanted to spend it on my art supplies. Talking to my parents would have helped my heart. [Can be told in the third person if you don’t have a better example.]
Jesus really loved this young man and wanted him to follow Him. If this young man would just talk to the Lord about his love of his possessions, the outcome would have been different. But instead of having this conversation with Jesus, he turned and walked away. Jesus really loves each one of us and some day when we come to Him personally, He will call us to follow Him. So today we need to be ones who are learning to talk to Him and our parents about the controversies within, and the things that occupy our heart.
This is what the young man needed to do. The Lord loved him and would have been able to help him if he had admitted to Him the love of his possessions. What should he have done? What would you have done? [Lead the children into a discussion about this.]