To Serve Is To Die

As we continue our way through the gospel of Mark, we find ourselves at another account of the passion of Jesus, Jesus telling of his death. Chapters 8-10 of Mark are what we could call the “Discipleship discourse”. Jesus giving instructions to his followers about how they should live their lives. In each chapter, Jesus gives them a foretelling of his death. And in each chapter, we see the disciples react in a pretty selfish and self-centered way.

Mark 10:32–45 ESV

32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.” 35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Prayer

There are 2 similar words that are found in scripture to describe the life of the believer and both of them are found in our text today. Servant and slave. In terms of the world that we live in, these words denote less than. A servant or a slave is not viewed as full person because they are beneath others. They are there to do the will of their master. But in terms of the kingdom of God, these terms denote the baseline of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

There was a man in 5th century England whose name was Patrick. He was not born a slave but was actually born into a well to do family. His father was a deacon in the church even, but Patrick’s faith was not a deep one. In his teen years, a different life came to be for him when he was kidnapped by slave traders. He was taken to Ireland, where he spent his days and nights serving as a shepherd. Ireland was a very desolate place and this assignment as a slave was not a noble one.

But it was in this place where his faith grew. He began to pray and it was here that he was consoled by the Holy Spirit and came to have confidence that he was indeed a child of God. His faith grew and he began to understand that he was loved and protected and forgiven by his heavenly Father. He also began to understand the call of God on his life.

He eventually was able to return home to England. His family was very pleased to have him home. But even though he had the love of his family and the desire from them for him to stay home, he knew that God wanted him to go back to Ireland. Yes, the place where he was once a slave and he was able to break free from was where he would be headed back to.

Now, understand that Ireland at the time was not a civilized place. They were very primitive. They had tribalistic wars going on, they had no trade routes or roads. There was not governmental infrastructure. But Patrick would go there anyways. He would go into a village, preach the gospel, see people come to faith, start a Christian church and ordain elders, then go to the next village and repeat the process. Saint Patrick left a comfortable life to go back to the place where he was a slave to no longer be a slave to the people, but to be a slave to God.

Main Idea: The most important seat in the Kingdom of God is the seat of service to others

The book of James teaches us to not elevate someone who comes into our congregation and to put someone of less value in a place that is not important. This is because, as believers, we all have the same seat. And that is the seat of service and slavery. In a world where being a slave to anything is considered not good, let us be slaves to Christ. Not because we are less than or worthless, but because he is the one that is worth everything.

Probing Question: Do you consider yourself a slave to Christ?

My prayer is that you have this question on your mind as we go through the text this morning. Our text lends itself to several things to consider as we read it. I am going to give you 4 things to consider in our text this morning as we look at being slaves to Christ and servants of others.

Consider The Example of Service

One of our primary functions as followers of Jesus in the world that we live in, is our service to others. It is an outworking of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus tells his followers here in verses today how he has come to serve.

Mark 10:32 ESV

32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him,

He is on his way to the cross. This is going to be the context of the remainder of the book of Mark is Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem and ultimately to the cross and the resurrection. Here, Jesus is leading the way. This detail is important because of the reaction of the disciples. They were not comforted by Jesus leading the way. In fact, we see a totally different reaction. They were afraid. Although they were following him, they were afraid because they did not know what was going to come.

So Jesus takes the twelve and explains to them what is about to happen. This is the 3rd time that he explains it to them.

Mark 10:33–34 ESV

33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

He tells them the events that will take place. They are going to Jerusalem so that he will die. This, more than Jesus leading the way, would scare them to no ends. We like to put ourselves into their shoes, even though we are not them. But what we should see in them, even though their thoughts might not be the most pure here in a little bit, is that they continued to follow him.

There was a level of trust and belief in Jesus that made them keep their commitment to Jesus. At the time, they did not fully understand it, and I would argue that they did not fully believe it either. In each case of Jesus telling them about what would happen to him, they came back in a manner of selfishness.

We have the ability to look forward in the lives of the disciples and see that, eventually, their commitment would be tested and almost all of them would have the fate of death waiting ahead of them because of their commitment to Jesus. Not only did we see it in their commitment all the way to death, but we saw it in their commitment to serve. These men served the church. They were not only evangelists but they were disciple makers. They started churches, they called out false teachers, they corrected bad theology. They helped establish offices in the church and missions. These men gave their lives to the service of the body of Christ.

Count the cost. Being a believer is not a calling to sit in the pew on Sundays and go back to the life you have always lived on Monday. Being a believer is surrendering yourself to being a slave and a servant of the most high God. Consider Christ’s example of service and sacrifice.

Consider The Example of Self

Not only do we consider the good example of Jesus, but we should also look at the bad example of the disciples. So, Jesus tells them about the journey to his death. You might think that this sparks in them some sort of emotion of it not wanting to happen or wanting to stop it like we see Peter want to do back in chapter 8. But that is not what happens. We come to James and John who are having a conversation.

Mark 10:35–37 ESV

35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”

Have you ever heard the phrase “God helps those who help themselves”. A lot of people think that this is a verse in the bible but it is much more modern than that. It can be found in Poor Richards Almanac from the 1700’s. Actually, the bible teaches the opposite. That God helps the helpless. But here, we see James and John think that they need to look out for themselves. In the book of Matthews account of these events, we read that they actually had their mother go and ask Jesus for them.

It is not found in the gospel of Mark, but in Matthew before this question was asked, Jesus had promised that the 12 of them would have 12 thrones with him in his kingdom to be judges of the twelve tribes of Israel. But, for James and John that was not good enough. They wanted the prestige of being in the best seats in the kingdom.

Pride is a wedge that gets between us and the kingdom of God. We see the pride of these two men. That they thought so much of themselves that they deserved the best seats. When in reality, the only thing they deserve is punishment. They would eventually swallow that hard pill but in the moment, their pride rears its ugly head. The one thing that they truly deserve is what Jesus would endure on their behalf and they never would have to. Jesus is literally on his way to pay for the sins of the men who are asking him for the best seats in the house.

Mark 10:38–40 ESV

38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

Jesus responds to this by verbally painting a picture for them. He asks if they are able to drink the cup that he drinks and be baptized with his baptism. This is a picture of sharing. He is asking these two men if they are prepared to share in the same fate that he is going to have.

They say that yes, they are. And he responds that they will receive it. James would go on to be the first of the Apostles to be martyred. John would be exiled to the island of Patmos. They may not realize what they are asking for in the moment but they would eventually surrender themselves to service of the gospel, to the point where they understood that sitting beside Jesus was not the ultimate reward. But slavery was the ultimate reward.

When we read this, we must read about the example of James and John and understand that their ultimate calling was not of royalty but of slavery.

Consider The Example of Servanthood

As Southern Baptists, we have a rich history of people giving their life to the service of the ministry. There are a few of them that we continue to celebrate the legacy that they have left behind. We are nearing the time of year where we take up an offering for our domestic missions. This missions offering is named after Annie Armstrong.

You will hear more about Annie Armstrong in the coming weeks, but she was born in Maryland in 1850. She began to serve the needy in her hometown of Baltimore. She would go on to establish the Women’s Missionary Union and would advocate to churches for their support of missions. In one year alone, she wrote over 18,000 letters to communicate with churches and missionaries.

We have great examples of servanthood to look back on. Jesus takes the time to teach his disciples about being slaves and servants.

Mark 10:41 ESV

41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.

We see a division begin here. 2 of the 12 step in and try to get Jesus to give them the best seats. So the 10 hear about this and it says that they were indignant at them. This means that they were angry towards them. Things like this could really get out of hand if they aren’t dealt with. So Jesus steps in and deals with it.

Mark 10:42–44 ESV

42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

He explains that the ones in earthly power rule over their constituents. They pride in themselves having earthly authority. He uses the examples of the Gentiles having people lord over them. A lot of things may have changed in the last 2,000 years but the hearts of earthly rulers still seem to be corrupt.

But Jesus says that we are to be different. When we come to faith in Jesus, our lives are supposed to change. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” If you come often, you hear this verse often. Commit it to memory. We are to be different because of Jesus. If you profess to be a follower of Jesus and look back to before you made this profession, and you don’t see anything different about you, then you have not truly submitted yourself to Jesus as Lord and savior.

You may see him as savior but are missing the Lord part. As he is teaching his disciples here, he is emphasizing how we are to be different. He is saying here that even though you are inheriting the kingdom of God, and this is the most prestigious appointment that you can have, you are not to lord it over others like earthly rulers do. In fact, he tells them that the great among you will be the servants.

This is countercultural. It doesn’t matter if it is 2,000 years ago or today. It doesn’t matter if it is Jerusalem and Rome or Stanly County, North Carolina. Servants are not look at as “great” people. The call of Christ is a call to go against what the world says. In this case, if you want to be great, serve. He even says that if they want to be the first among themselves, then they must be slave of all.

Servanthood. This is the seat that we must all strive for. Not of nobility, but of slavery. So what does this look like for us today.

It starts with our hearts. Our hearts must be true to Christ and must be humble to be slaves of Christ. If we get this wrong, then we have works and no faith as James teaches us in his epistle. But then we find ways to serve others. This may be finding ways to give out of our abundance. Maybe through special offerings to help others like relief for a hurricane or for missionaries that we support. But maybe you don’t have much abundance to do this with. Well it may be something like helping a neighbor with a project, or going and sharing a glass of tea on the porch with someone. But, it comes back to having a heart of service.

The goal with service is worship. God is due our worship. So we serve others as a means of worship to God. And, as I like to say, we serve so that we can share. Service opens up the door of opportunity to share the gospel with others. The greatest service to others we can have is sharing the gospel with them.

Consider The Example of the Son

There is no greater example inside or outside of scripture than Jesus Christ. He came to earth, fully God and fully man, the perfect God-man to go to the cross for the sins of man. He death satisfied God’s wrath and in the process of our sins being placed on him, his righteousness is then placed on us. So now, when we stand before God the Father, he now sees the righteousness of Christ instead of the sinfulness of man.

Not only did Jesus come to die, he also came to live and to be an example for us.

Mark 10:45 ESV

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus, the son of God, left glory to come to Earth. He left a seat of prominence to be born in a barn, be raised economically poor, be a wanderer, and go to hang on wooden cross to die. He didn’t even have a place to be buried and had to be buried in another mans tomb. But Jesus was the greatest of all. Paul goes on to describe this in his letter to the Philippian church.

Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In our passage, Jesus tells his followers that he would go to Jerusalem to die. Here in verse 45, he tells them why he is going to do this. He is doing it for a ransom. Now let’s think about this. He doesn’t say that his life is going to be taken to pay this ransom. He says he is going to give it.

John 10:11 ESV

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 10:18 ESV

18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

No one is taking Jesus’s life, he is giving it up. This isn’t some plan gone awry. This was always the reason Jesus came. God, in his sovereignty, put every little detail in place for Christ to go to Jerusalem to go to the cross to die. But it wasn’t just to die. Jesus even told his disciples this.

Mark 10:34 ESV

34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

He is going to rise. He defeats death. And this is reason enough for me to believe that Jesus is God. No other person has ever defeated death and rose from the grave 3 days after their execution. This is why we can have faith in Christ that all of the things that he said are true.

He said that he came to serve and not be served. It was God’s choice to send Jesus as a servant and not royalty. He was not going to be a political savior (which some people still want), but he was going to be someone to die to pay the penalty that we can’t pay.

And what greater example of service is there than to die for the ransom of others.

Conclusion

The life of the believer is a life of service, of slavery to Christ. Is this what your life looks like? I mentioned earlier that if you cannot look at your life after your profession of faith in Christ and see a difference before a profession of faith, then you might have a problem.

I want to give you an opportunity to fix that problem right now. Anyone whose life is not gradually looking more and more like Christ quite possibly does not have salvation in Christ. If that is you, you have heard your need for Christ (sinner in need of a savior because of inherited sin), you have heard what Jesus has done for sinners (cross), now what do you do with that?

Jesus tells us in Mark chapter 1 to repent and believe the gospel. To repent means to turn. You turn from sin but more importantly, you turn to Jesus as your lord and savior. There is no magical prayer you have to pray. Just faith. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. If you have come to faith today or recently, please let me know so that we can talk about next steps of baptism and church membership.

But what about people who are already believers? I am glad you asked. Because this message is just as much for discipleship as it is evangelism. It is all about servanthood. My challenge to you is to find 1 new way this week to serve someone else. Maybe it is buying someone a meal or going and mowing your neighbors yard or helping someone load groceries in their car. But don’t do it with the intention of checking a box that you have done it.

Do it with the intention of sharing the gospel of Jesus with them. This is so important to our faith. If you feel stagnant in your faith, start sharing the gospel with others. You cannot be a stagnant Christian while sharing the gospel. It will drive you to grow in your faith. You will naturally be in God’s word more and be in prayer more and you will find opportunities in your every day life to serve others.

Be so bold in your service that you are willing to drink of the same cup that Christ did. And that is serving to the point that you are willing to die for your faith.