The Source of Servanthood
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Starting a new Series through the book of Mark that will culminate on Easter. By the way. Easter egg hunt announcement and easter service announcement
For those that don’t know here are some quick facts about the book of Mark:
Written by John mark who is mentionned in Acts, the one that Paul and Barnabas separated over. They were the first two missionaries.
Believed to be a written record from Peters memory. Writtem aroumnd AD 50-60 AD to Roman/Gentile believers and portrays Christ as the suffering Servant.
there are many different ways we cvan think of Jesus. Savior, God, LOrd, King of Kings, and all of those are true, however it was through His service and obedience to the Father that He is known of those things.
Now, when we start talking about Jesus obeying the father it can begin to sound as though we are taking away from His deity, remember Jesus is fully God and fully man. to speeak of Him in either context is not incorrect as long as we remember the other side of Him as well.
even as God, He chose to serve.
And we see writing throughout the new Testament that calls us to do the same thing
Romans 1:1
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
Gal 1:10
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
What is the source of this servanthood though? Where does it come from? What keeps it from being ever present in my life and yours?
We are going to examine mark 1 today and see two people that exemplify servanthood and by understanding who they are and what the source of their servanthood is, my prayer for you today is that you will better understand how to serve people to the glory of God and the advancement of the gospel.
Look with me at Mark 1
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
Mark 1:1-5
Let’s talk about John for just a moment.
He is the son of High priest and cousin of Jesus. You might think he’d have a complex…but that’s not exactly what we see in him is it?
When people like John who have a position, a title, or a reason they believe they should be respected it can be assumed they would have a complex. Like the prince that talks down to the person serving him because of his position.
Yet that type of heart is missing in John.
It is the type of heart that William booth was afraid could exist in Samuel Brengle. Samuel Brengle had been succcessful in seminary and became a circuit riding preaching in the 1800’s, a pastor, and was a sought after speaker.
It was in 1878, when William Booth’s Salvation Army was beginning to make its mark, men and women from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of becoming a bishop, crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist. Samuel Brengle left a fine pastorate to join Booth’s Army. But at first General Booth accepted his services reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, “You’ve been your own boss too long.” And in order to instill humility in Brengle, he set him to work cleaning the boots of other trainees. Discouraged, Brengle said to himself, “Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?” And then, as in a vision, he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, unlettered fishermen. “Lord,” he whispered, “you washed their feet; I will black their shoes.”
You see,
Like John and Samuel, you can either choose to live based on your position in lifee or your position in Him.
Humility is a position you choose, pride is a position you fall into.
I. Humility is a choice to accept your position
I. Humility is a choice to accept your position
John accepted his position and God used Him greatly.
Have you chosen to accept your position in Christ? Do you allow yourself to be a servant of others and give your time, talent, and treasures for the kingdom or do you use your position in lifee for otheers to serve you.
Are you offering love, hope, and forgiveness to others based on the love hope and forgiveness Jesus has given to you or do you esteem yourself higher than others and believe you don’t need forgive if they don’t deserve it? You don’t need to love unless they deereve it?
Live from your position in your Lord not your life.
That will look slightly different for each of us.
Look how John lived this out
6 And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
Mark 1:6-8 “ And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. 8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”
John wore a camel hair tunic almost with a belt that tied around his waist. This was not typical for men to wear during that time. It is reflective of the same type of garments that were worn when the Israelites would be in a state of repentance to the Lord. They would wear sackcloth and put ashes on them.
It was clothing of humility. Wearing the clothes was a reflection of his heart not him trying to change his heart by changing his attire.
He understood what Mrk wrote in verse 3
He was the voicce that criedd in the wilderness, not the voice
He was the one that made the way straight, not the way
He was the one that baptized with water, not with Spirit.
He knew who he was was in Christ and lived from it.
That was seen in his attire and his preachinng. It was seen in how He lived.
Wee are ofteen tempted to not live from our identity in Christ becuase the message of Satan is teempting and easier to accept.
The messge of Satan is the same today as the one he gave to Eve in the garden
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:1-5 “1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Listen, here is the message summed up:
Did God really say that?- You Question His Word
Questioning the validity of Scritpure
You shall not surely die- You Question His Wisdom
You question the importance and the application
You shall be like gods- You Question his Worth
If you can be like God then He must not be that great of a God.
If we can be like God then we must be pretty special…When we believe that, it makes it hard to accept our position in Christ and we try to live in a position equal o Christ.
We give ourselves the same authority in our lives that only He should have. The authority to dictate how we live and what we do. The authoirty to deteermine whether wee should forgive someone, love someone, or preach the gospel to someone.
You see when we refuse to accept the position that God hsa given us in Him and try to obtain one we dont’ deserve, we aree acting moree Satanic than what took place on the grammys
The position of all people is one that promotes Jesus
II. The position of all people is to promote Jesus
II. The position of all people is to promote Jesus
When we are not living in that position, we are living in opposition to it.
One man cannot serve two masters. We are either elevating Jesus or we are elevating Self.
The problem is we make our role more important than our goal.
The goal of promoting Jesus is more important than the role I play doing it.
I’m so thanknful for those that serve on our first impressions teeam. Those are not glorious positions, of cleaning bathrooms and classrooms downstiars. Vacuuming up the auditoirum and other things that get done.
They know their role on that team is vital to the goal of tthis ministry which is to promote the name of Jesus and preach the gospel to all.
Have you found your role? Aree you living in it? What about your role in your family, at work, with your friends?
Aree you walking humbly in the role you play in Christ?
John walked humbly in his role and promoted Jesus.
and then in veerse 9 Jesus steps on the scene
9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Mark 1:9-11 “9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Jesus seem to be completeely unknown at this point of his ministry.
The other synoptic gospels give us a more in depth look at how this event went down
14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
Matt 3:14-15 “14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.”
John told him, I need you to baptize me…but Jesu said not so.
He look at his creation becuase the Bible says all things were creeated by Him and for Him.
He looked at his creation and said no…not today. Todayy you baptize me to fulfill all righteousness.
Woah....
Number of great truths here so lets unpack a few
first notice that Jesus was baptizedd…The perfect, sinless Son of God was baptized and said it had to be done. What does that teeach us?
Baptism doesn’t wash away sin
The next truth,
He humbly submitted to baptism by his creation to demonstrate the right things to be done by follower of Himself according to God.
Becuase God is the measuring stick of righteousness He is the one that determines what fulfills it.
Jesus had to be baptized to set the example.
He did that His entire life.
Why?
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:15 “15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
He went through what we go through. HE faced temptation, he had to choose to obey God in his humanity while never losing His deity.
We have a personal God that desires a personal relationship with us.
God didn’t have to do what He did in sending Jesus and making a way for us. He could have went a completely differetn ddirection.
You see, Im afraid we often times think of God as this impersonal being that wants nothingn to do with u and makes decisions arbitraily.
I believe He makes His decisions with us in mind. Not always for what we want but for our good. When He made the deecision for Jesus to be the lamb slain prior ot the foundation of the world it was madee so that we could come to repentance and live with Him for eternity.
How? God Himself, Jesus, had to humble himself.
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Phil 2:8 “8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
He humbled himself to take the form of man, he humbled himself to the deaath of the cross, and he humbled himself to serve us
John and Jesus both humbled themselve in some way.
How do wee know they humbled themselves, other than cripture telling us?
III. Humble People Serve People
III. Humble People Serve People
How do you know if a person is humble? You can’t ask them, they will tlel you know…becuase they are humble
You’ll see it.
You’ll see it in how they live their lifee. You’ll see it in how they serve.
We don’t discover if a person is humble by asking. We dont’ ask if a person deal with pride to find out if they are prideful.
You can discover if a person is humble by seeing who they are serving.
John was Humble, he served, Jesus was humble, he served.
Let’s contrast those two with Peter for a moment
11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Gal 2:11-14 “11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. 14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?”
Peter wouldn’t eat with gentiles if certainn people weree around.
He cared about what others thought of him and wouldn’t sereve non jews when they were aroundn
This came from a position of pride not a position of humiolt
Humility is the precursor to biblical service
Pride is the precursor to biblical laziness
If pride is in your heart, the willingness to serve won’t be.
Which position do you choose?
Humility?
Do you promote Jesus with your words and your lifestyle?
Do you serve people?
It all starts with humility.
Let’s get real…who do yyou serve? Who should you be serving.
Time of Response
Time of Response