What Must I Do?

Mark 10:17-27

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult 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 a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

“What must I do?” This is the question of the rich young man, and certainly it has been the question of countless others after him. The answer:both nothing and everything.

How does the rich man get to heaven? He must pass a camel through the eye of a needle. Jesus says that it is harder for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Why does he say this? Well, according to Jesus in order to be saved, we must do the very thing that we cannot do: we must die and raise from the dead.

If I must do what cannot be done, I can only conclude that this work must be done on my behalf. It must be done by someone else—on my account—in me and through me. To the Christian who asks “what must I do?” I exclaim, “It has already been done!” And this I must say to myself daily as I find myself attempting to earn the love of a God who has already bought me at a high and precious price.

Here is what must be understood: the problem with this question, “What must I do?” is not a Christian’s desire to do good works, it is the reason for the desire.

For many of us, the desire to do good works springs out of a feeling of dissatisfaction. Many Christians come to belief, only to find themselves months later muttering to themselves, “Now what?” We begin to forget the total satisfaction, the new life that came to us through the work of Jesus Christ. We forget that his grace is totally sufficient, and that it is the only thing that can satisfy. Rather than remind ourselves of the truth that when Christ said “it is finished,” that is exactly what he meant, we look for the “next step.” What can I say? What can I know? What can I do to bring myself satisfaction? These are the questions we ask ourselves, and the answer we always end up finding is a resounding “Nothing!” Good works were never meant to save. Good works were never meant to bring us satisfaction. If we are to truly serve God and others, we must first be satisfied.

When I serve someone because I need to feel satisfaction, I am doing no greater deed than the man who eats a sandwich because he is hungry. I cannot truly be a servant if my only reason for serving is my own gain. We are to serve selflessly and sacrificially. In short, the good works of a Christian are not in order to improve upon, or earn God’s love, or our satisfaction. The good works of a Christian are, instead, a response to the fact that we already have both.

The work of Jesus on the cross has given us satisfaction, and freed us to worship him in spirit and in truth! The only response possible for someone who is fully satisfied by a God that he loves is this:adoration of that God, and love for all that God loves.

That is the only proper response to his resounding gospel claim, “It is finished.”