Watch or Read
So, I’ve called this chat “Jesus’ worst sales pitch.”
Let me read a bit:
The Rich & the Kingdom of God
17 As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”
18–19 Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”
20 He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”
21 Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”
So, I’ve called this chat “Jesus’ worst sales pitch.”
Because I don’t know about you, but to give away everything and follow Jesus isn’t gonna fly for most people here in Wanaka. And if you live here surrounded by this beauty, with access to opportunity, free health care and education, benefits and minimum wage, you are probably more wealthy than this guy was.
So “Jesus’ worst sales pitch,” particularly for us.
His question… What must I do to have eternal life?
You see, when most people hear or read in the Bible the phrase eternal life, they think: clouds, harps, never-ending boring choruses, maybe even your grandma’s casserole on repeat for a million years. Honestly to me, maybe to you—that doesn’t sound so exciting.
But for many, a disembodied, timeless eternity is what they imagine.
But that’s an incomplete picture of what is going on here. Actually, in the ancient Jewish culture, Jews who wrote the Bible, these stories, were what we call creational monotheists.
A creational monotheist sees the universe as intentionally created and sustained by one God—not by chance, and not by multiple competing deities.
When they were writing about “this age to come” or “eternity” or the “kingdom of heaven” it wasn’t actually outside of time and space the way many modern believers think.
A great book to understand this is How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels written by N.T. Wright, a leading New Testament scholar.
For the Jews, N.T. Wright says: God’s plan wasn’t to rescue people out of the world, but to rescue the world itself… all people included!
So the kingdom of heaven, which is much of Jesus’ teaching, isn’t just about the next age but also this one.
About heaven coming to earth now.
So we have many stories that Jesus told like Matthew 13:44, and on… not on the screen… The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
The point is, when we talk about eternity or the kingdom of heaven in Jewish terms, it’s as much about finding treasure and beauty in this world as it is in the age to come.
But sadly, like Matt said last week, many Christians see and read an incomplete story, making Jesus’ teachings all about a ticket to an afterlife. Because you know what they say: to a man with a hammer, all problems appear as nails.
To someone reading the Bible who is excited about post-mortem bliss, all they read is how it tells us to “go to heaven.” But more of His teaching is about how to live now. Today… this week.
Imagine if you got a letter from Jason Momoa or someone you like… Taylor Swift… any Swifties? Inviting himself or herself to stay at your home. But instead, you read it wrong and assumed that he, or she, was inviting you to their house.
God wants to be in your world.
So when Jesus talks about eternity, he meant something way better and larger.
When you read “eternal life” or “God’s kingdom,” it isn’t just where you go when you die.
It’s God’s kind of life—and it starts now. It’s about living fully alive today.
So in Mark 10, this guy runs up to Jesus—a rich man, successful, probably driving the first-century equivalent of a Tesla donkey, this donkey has Apple Play and can do 360km on one charge--
He jumps off the Tesla donkey, so quiet… and asks Jesus:
“Yo, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He’s not just saying,
“How do I get to heaven?” He’s saying, “How do I live well now? How do I live a life that matters in this age and in the age to come?”
And that’s the question all of us wrestle with: How do I live well, today?
Last week, some of you made commitments. They were great commitments.
You said, “I want to live a big life and help people.”
And that’s awesome.
That’s a big deal.
I remember when I was around 22 and a very famous international speaker, Phil Pringle, picked me out of a crowd and prophesied over me. God gave him a feeling of my future. He said, “I was going to be a speaker and help thousands of people, and build churches.” That was so exciting to me. He asked me to make a commitment, if I was all in, and I said, “Yip, I’m all in.”
Then my pastor, who heard this, a few weeks later asked me to be a full-time young adults pastor. I had a huge mortgage and at the time I was an artist—and not a poor one. I was selling my paintings in Queenstown from anywhere between $4,000–$10,000 a piece. That was 25 years ago, that’s a lot of money back then, and my mortgage and my new house needed that money. “Hey Josh, come and be a pastor to the young adults.” And I said to my pastor, “I’m all in!”
Ohhh… but, just checking, what do I get paid? Ohhh minimum wage, long hours and extra time unpaid…
Let me be honest, making a commitment, it’s awesome—but that’s the easy step.
The hard part is living it, when it costs you something.
Because commitments are cheap… until they start costing you.
So Jesus looks at this Wanaka rich guy, with his Tesla donkey or his electric e-bike, or brand new Burton snowboard… by the way… nothing wrong with being rich, track with me… and scripture says, “with love in his eyes” Jesus gives him the worst sales pitch ever.
“Go, sell everything you have, give to the poor, and come follow me.”
Suddenly the commitment is going to cost.
He is going to have to sacrifice. And the guy walks away sad—because what he held onto, was holding onto him.
Like this sad rich guy, many people think sacrifice is loss. I’m so thankful early on I learned that sacrifice is actually investment. It’s trading something smaller for something greater.
And we all do it every day.
My daughter Bella at the moment is working crazy hours to save up money to travel to Europe to follow her boyfriend around the World Cup circuit.
She has had to sacrifice, or invest, days up the mountain and fun with her friends for something better.
When I was younger I had dreams of being a famous artist. That’s what I thought my life would be about. And not a poor one, an enormously successful artist.
I’d pray prayers like, “God, I pray that I’d sell paintings for $50,000 each, because you know I’ll give 10% of that profit to your church.”
That is something we were taught that is in the Bible that we still do, and I know many people give 10% right off the top… and that’s good,
But not when you’re trying to manipulate God with it.
I was telling God what his plan for my life was. An artist.
But then I felt God pulling me toward pastoring. So, I sacrificed the dream of art. Looking back now I can see instead of a smaller, limited story, I got a much bigger one—full of meaning and fulfillment. It was a great investment.
Sacrifice isn’t subtraction. It’s multiplication.
Even outside of faith, we know this:
Athletes will sacrifice comfort to win world champs.
Parents sacrifice money, sleep and careers to raise kids.
Entrepreneurs sacrifice security to chase a project.
Every time you decide to sacrifice watching Netflix and instead go to beers with the boys, or support your mate’s band, you’re sacrificing something small for something greater… relationships, love, connection, community.
The question isn’t if you’ll sacrifice. Because we all do… it’s this… what will you sacrifice for? Or who will you sacrifice for? Because people sacrifice often for all the wrong stuff.
I sacrificed to buy Technics 1200 turntables and D&B records when I was 20-something and my DJ career lasted about 3 weeks until I got bored. Dumb sacrifice.
When I was 6, at show and tell, I sacrificed my lunchtimes for detention, for a week. For a few laughs from schoolmates, I thought it’d be funny to let a girl’s bird out of the cage—until it flew out the classroom window.
Dumb sacrifice. Laughs for detention.
This rich guy didn’t understand that sacrifice was an investment. So he jumped back into his Tesla donkey and drove away.
But Jesus explains to the disciples and to us today…
23 Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all,’ people like you and I, to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on:
Worst sales pitch ever!
“You can’t imagine how difficult it is. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.”
That’s like saying it’s easier for Nana Gay to score higher at the big air than Zephyr Lovelock.
Worst sales pitch ever!
“Then who has any chance at all?” the disciples said back to Jesus.
27 Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”
Boom! There it is… track with me.
29–31 Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land… Far out… that needs explanation. Sacrifice children and mothers? How do you sacrifice land?
Some of you heard my mum’s story this week. My dad actually has a similar one. They were both brought up in a cult called the Exclusive Brethren…
Both my mum and dad, years apart, left this weird so-called Christian cult and were never allowed to see their families again. And the hurt for him was so big he hated the idea of church and Christianity. He would say he believed in God but that’s where it stopped.
So when I decided to become a pastor, I really did risk losing my dad, sacrificing that relationship.
Later, when I decided God was telling me to propose to Jaz at 21 years of age, I risked sacrificing the respect of my entire family.
When I sold my first home for a $200K profit much of the finance was in a family trust. And when I told my dad I would always give 10% of all my profits to the church—which was $20k for this house—I totally risked not just sacrificing my dad but my entire family trust.
So that’s the context… let’s read the kicker… “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age… and in the age to come eternal life.”
My dad had a plan for my life. And it didn’t look like pastoring. Following God for me meant sacrificing what my dad wanted… and it cost me our relationship for a while. But you know what? Later in life, I actually got more of a dad back. Because I trusted God enough to let go, He multiplied it back. Dad started coming to church occasionally. I would catch him telling his friends about how proud of me he was, and all the great work our church was doing in the community. And when we were at his deathbed and he was humming old hymns and he breathed his last breath, we all felt his spirit leave his body and this enormous peace filled the room as if God was saying, “He is with me now, I’ve got him Josh.”
Sacrifice is an investment.
Sailing with my kids around the world for six years was the best time ever. I never wanted to stop sailing. But God shoulder-tapped us: “Hey Josh, how about you go back to NZ and help out some churches, sacrifice a bit… how about you give up your boat and follow me… and we’ll pull together this church called Lighthouse… do it unpaid and I’ll look after the rest.”
Honestly, for sacrificing sailing—and for those of you that know me, I really love sailing!—I have gained so much more.
I’ve seen my kids and their friends and all of you guys loving God and reaching out to Wanaka in a way I think is super exciting.
It’s a sacrifice… it’s much more than a commitment… it’s an investment… but it’s a 100-fold investment.
Let me tell you what God just sorted for us… Now it doesn’t always happen like this, but I think it’s a cool illustration that God really does want to give you your heart’s desires.
Just this week, through another series of miracles, I’ve been able to put an offer on my dream boat. That I couldn’t afford. It’s stupid cheap… it’s a 42-foot catamaran cheaper than my last monohull. Something I couldn’t afford, much bigger and better than I dreamed. And it’s sitting in Tahiti, which is my idea of heaven on earth.
That’s 100-fold investment.
Now I can still pastor here in Wanaka and fly up there for a few weeks sailing whenever…
I didn’t know how the sacrifice of giving up sailing for church would pan out, it took 5 years…
Really, I couldn’t see it working… it’d be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
But what is impossible with man is possible with God.
God doesn’t shortchange you. Whatever you sacrifice for Him, He multiplies back.
Sacrifice isn’t God robbing you. It’s God positioning you to receive something way better.
So, for those of you who don’t call yourself a Christian—here’s the takeaway: you already know that the good stuff in life always costs something. Love costs. Integrity costs. Building something meaningful costs. The question is: what’s worth giving up your life for?
For those of you who follow Jesus—remember those commitments from last week? The dream was the easy step. Now comes the hard one: letting it cost you.
Remember the team here is ready to help. Shoulder-tap us and we’ll point you in the right direction for training and exploring your gifts and dreams. Don’t do life alone. Let’s do this together!
Just before we finish… a few questions to ponder…
What could you be holding onto too tightly?
Where in your life might a sacrifice actually be an investment?
Who or what is worth giving something up for?
The rich man walked away sad because he couldn’t let go. But Jesus promises: whatever you give up, you’ll receive back a hundred times over.
So maybe today the challenge is this: Don’t settle for a life of holding tight.
Step into a life of sacrifice—because that’s where eternity starts.
Let me read a bit:
The Rich & the Kingdom of God
17 As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”
18–19 Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”
20 He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”
21 Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”
So, I’ve called this chat “Jesus’ worst sales pitch.”
Because I don’t know about you, but to give away everything and follow Jesus isn’t gonna fly for most people here in Wanaka. And if you live here surrounded by this beauty, with access to opportunity, free health care and education, benefits and minimum wage, you are probably more wealthy than this guy was.
So “Jesus’ worst sales pitch,” particularly for us.
His question… What must I do to have eternal life?
You see, when most people hear or read in the Bible the phrase eternal life, they think: clouds, harps, never-ending boring choruses, maybe even your grandma’s casserole on repeat for a million years. Honestly to me, maybe to you—that doesn’t sound so exciting.
But for many, a disembodied, timeless eternity is what they imagine.
But that’s an incomplete picture of what is going on here. Actually, in the ancient Jewish culture, Jews who wrote the Bible, these stories, were what we call creational monotheists.
A creational monotheist sees the universe as intentionally created and sustained by one God—not by chance, and not by multiple competing deities.
When they were writing about “this age to come” or “eternity” or the “kingdom of heaven” it wasn’t actually outside of time and space the way many modern believers think.
A great book to understand this is How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels written by N.T. Wright, a leading New Testament scholar.
For the Jews, N.T. Wright says: God’s plan wasn’t to rescue people out of the world, but to rescue the world itself… all people included!
So the kingdom of heaven, which is much of Jesus’ teaching, isn’t just about the next age but also this one.
About heaven coming to earth now.
So we have many stories that Jesus told like Matthew 13:44, and on… not on the screen… The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
The point is, when we talk about eternity or the kingdom of heaven in Jewish terms, it’s as much about finding treasure and beauty in this world as it is in the age to come.
But sadly, like Matt said last week, many Christians see and read an incomplete story, making Jesus’ teachings all about a ticket to an afterlife. Because you know what they say: to a man with a hammer, all problems appear as nails.
To someone reading the Bible who is excited about post-mortem bliss, all they read is how it tells us to “go to heaven.” But more of His teaching is about how to live now. Today… this week.
Imagine if you got a letter from Jason Momoa or someone you like… Taylor Swift… any Swifties? Inviting himself or herself to stay at your home. But instead, you read it wrong and assumed that he, or she, was inviting you to their house.
God wants to be in your world.
So when Jesus talks about eternity, he meant something way better and larger.
When you read “eternal life” or “God’s kingdom,” it isn’t just where you go when you die.
It’s God’s kind of life—and it starts now. It’s about living fully alive today.
So in Mark 10, this guy runs up to Jesus—a rich man, successful, probably driving the first-century equivalent of a Tesla donkey, this donkey has Apple Play and can do 360km on one charge--
He jumps off the Tesla donkey, so quiet… and asks Jesus:
“Yo, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He’s not just saying,
“How do I get to heaven?” He’s saying, “How do I live well now? How do I live a life that matters in this age and in the age to come?”
And that’s the question all of us wrestle with: How do I live well, today?
Last week, some of you made commitments. They were great commitments.
You said, “I want to live a big life and help people.”
And that’s awesome.
That’s a big deal.
I remember when I was around 22 and a very famous international speaker, Phil Pringle, picked me out of a crowd and prophesied over me. God gave him a feeling of my future. He said, “I was going to be a speaker and help thousands of people, and build churches.” That was so exciting to me. He asked me to make a commitment, if I was all in, and I said, “Yip, I’m all in.”
Then my pastor, who heard this, a few weeks later asked me to be a full-time young adults pastor. I had a huge mortgage and at the time I was an artist—and not a poor one. I was selling my paintings in Queenstown from anywhere between $4,000–$10,000 a piece. That was 25 years ago, that’s a lot of money back then, and my mortgage and my new house needed that money. “Hey Josh, come and be a pastor to the young adults.” And I said to my pastor, “I’m all in!”
Ohhh… but, just checking, what do I get paid? Ohhh minimum wage, long hours and extra time unpaid…
Let me be honest, making a commitment, it’s awesome—but that’s the easy step.
The hard part is living it, when it costs you something.
Because commitments are cheap… until they start costing you.
So Jesus looks at this Wanaka rich guy, with his Tesla donkey or his electric e-bike, or brand new Burton snowboard… by the way… nothing wrong with being rich, track with me… and scripture says, “with love in his eyes” Jesus gives him the worst sales pitch ever.
“Go, sell everything you have, give to the poor, and come follow me.”
Suddenly the commitment is going to cost.
He is going to have to sacrifice. And the guy walks away sad—because what he held onto, was holding onto him.
Like this sad rich guy, many people think sacrifice is loss. I’m so thankful early on I learned that sacrifice is actually investment. It’s trading something smaller for something greater.
And we all do it every day.
My daughter Bella at the moment is working crazy hours to save up money to travel to Europe to follow her boyfriend around the World Cup circuit.
She has had to sacrifice, or invest, days up the mountain and fun with her friends for something better.
When I was younger I had dreams of being a famous artist. That’s what I thought my life would be about. And not a poor one, an enormously successful artist.
I’d pray prayers like, “God, I pray that I’d sell paintings for $50,000 each, because you know I’ll give 10% of that profit to your church.”
That is something we were taught that is in the Bible that we still do, and I know many people give 10% right off the top… and that’s good,
But not when you’re trying to manipulate God with it.
I was telling God what his plan for my life was. An artist.
But then I felt God pulling me toward pastoring. So, I sacrificed the dream of art. Looking back now I can see instead of a smaller, limited story, I got a much bigger one—full of meaning and fulfillment. It was a great investment.
Sacrifice isn’t subtraction. It’s multiplication.
Even outside of faith, we know this:
Athletes will sacrifice comfort to win world champs.
Parents sacrifice money, sleep and careers to raise kids.
Entrepreneurs sacrifice security to chase a project.
Every time you decide to sacrifice watching Netflix and instead go to beers with the boys, or support your mate’s band, you’re sacrificing something small for something greater… relationships, love, connection, community.
The question isn’t if you’ll sacrifice. Because we all do… it’s this… what will you sacrifice for? Or who will you sacrifice for? Because people sacrifice often for all the wrong stuff.
I sacrificed to buy Technics 1200 turntables and D&B records when I was 20-something and my DJ career lasted about 3 weeks until I got bored. Dumb sacrifice.
When I was 6, at show and tell, I sacrificed my lunchtimes for detention, for a week. For a few laughs from schoolmates, I thought it’d be funny to let a girl’s bird out of the cage—until it flew out the classroom window.
Dumb sacrifice. Laughs for detention.
This rich guy didn’t understand that sacrifice was an investment. So he jumped back into his Tesla donkey and drove away.
But Jesus explains to the disciples and to us today…
23 Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all,’ people like you and I, to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on:
Worst sales pitch ever!
“You can’t imagine how difficult it is. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.”
That’s like saying it’s easier for Nana Gay to score higher at the big air than Zephyr Lovelock.
Worst sales pitch ever!
“Then who has any chance at all?” the disciples said back to Jesus.
27 Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”
Boom! There it is… track with me.
29–31 Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land… Far out… that needs explanation. Sacrifice children and mothers? How do you sacrifice land?
Some of you heard my mum’s story this week. My dad actually has a similar one. They were both brought up in a cult called the Exclusive Brethren…
Both my mum and dad, years apart, left this weird so-called Christian cult and were never allowed to see their families again. And the hurt for him was so big he hated the idea of church and Christianity. He would say he believed in God but that’s where it stopped.
So when I decided to become a pastor, I really did risk losing my dad, sacrificing that relationship.
Later, when I decided God was telling me to propose to Jaz at 21 years of age, I risked sacrificing the respect of my entire family.
When I sold my first home for a $200K profit much of the finance was in a family trust. And when I told my dad I would always give 10% of all my profits to the church—which was $20k for this house—I totally risked not just sacrificing my dad but my entire family trust.
So that’s the context… let’s read the kicker… “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age… and in the age to come eternal life.”
My dad had a plan for my life. And it didn’t look like pastoring. Following God for me meant sacrificing what my dad wanted… and it cost me our relationship for a while. But you know what? Later in life, I actually got more of a dad back. Because I trusted God enough to let go, He multiplied it back. Dad started coming to church occasionally. I would catch him telling his friends about how proud of me he was, and all the great work our church was doing in the community. And when we were at his deathbed and he was humming old hymns and he breathed his last breath, we all felt his spirit leave his body and this enormous peace filled the room as if God was saying, “He is with me now, I’ve got him Josh.”
Sacrifice is an investment.
Sailing with my kids around the world for six years was the best time ever. I never wanted to stop sailing. But God shoulder-tapped us: “Hey Josh, how about you go back to NZ and help out some churches, sacrifice a bit… how about you give up your boat and follow me… and we’ll pull together this church called Lighthouse… do it unpaid and I’ll look after the rest.”
Honestly, for sacrificing sailing—and for those of you that know me, I really love sailing!—I have gained so much more.
I’ve seen my kids and their friends and all of you guys loving God and reaching out to Wanaka in a way I think is super exciting.
It’s a sacrifice… it’s much more than a commitment… it’s an investment… but it’s a 100-fold investment.
Let me tell you what God just sorted for us… Now it doesn’t always happen like this, but I think it’s a cool illustration that God really does want to give you your heart’s desires.
Just this week, through another series of miracles, I’ve been able to put an offer on my dream boat. That I couldn’t afford. It’s stupid cheap… it’s a 42-foot catamaran cheaper than my last monohull. Something I couldn’t afford, much bigger and better than I dreamed. And it’s sitting in Tahiti, which is my idea of heaven on earth.
That’s 100-fold investment.
Now I can still pastor here in Wanaka and fly up there for a few weeks sailing whenever…
I didn’t know how the sacrifice of giving up sailing for church would pan out, it took 5 years…
Really, I couldn’t see it working… it’d be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
But what is impossible with man is possible with God.
God doesn’t shortchange you. Whatever you sacrifice for Him, He multiplies back.
Sacrifice isn’t God robbing you. It’s God positioning you to receive something way better.
So, for those of you who don’t call yourself a Christian—here’s the takeaway: you already know that the good stuff in life always costs something. Love costs. Integrity costs. Building something meaningful costs. The question is: what’s worth giving up your life for?
For those of you who follow Jesus—remember those commitments from last week? The dream was the easy step. Now comes the hard one: letting it cost you.
Remember the team here is ready to help. Shoulder-tap us and we’ll point you in the right direction for training and exploring your gifts and dreams. Don’t do life alone. Let’s do this together!
Just before we finish… a few questions to ponder…
What could you be holding onto too tightly?
Where in your life might a sacrifice actually be an investment?
Who or what is worth giving something up for?
The rich man walked away sad because he couldn’t let go. But Jesus promises: whatever you give up, you’ll receive back a hundred times over.
So maybe today the challenge is this: Don’t settle for a life of holding tight.
Step into a life of sacrifice—because that’s where eternity starts.