True cost to be a disciple
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning
I would like to say that no McCullough men or boys died while the women were away this weekend. I cut my finger twice, but no one died!
When an escaped prisoner was caught camping in the woods, it was a clear case of criminal in tent!
This is my favorite sports time of year. I really enjoy watching March Madness. I think it is the best playoff system in sports. I don’t have a team in the tournament, I really like pulling for the underdog, the little guy. It is a lot of fun to watch.
Today we are going to be in Mark 10:35-45.
Last week we saw Jesus leading the way to Jerusalem. He was out front and it amazed the people that were following Him. He and they knew what was waiting, yet He was still out front leading. Jesus also taught His disciples again for the 3rd time about His upcoming death. He went into more detail this time, telling them that He was going to be handed over to the Gentiles and He was going to be crucified.
Today we are going to look at the ignorance and arrogance of man! Then we are going to look at Jesus teaching again about what it takes to be great and to follow Him. There is a cost and we will see it today.
Please stand as we read God’s Word
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.”
Pray
This first verse is hard to read. Who do these people think they are? What is wrong with them? They think that Jesus is a genie to grant their selfish wishes. They are telling Him that they want Him to do whatever they ask. If they truly understood who they were talking to, they would have never even thought of asking or saying this. They are talking to God in the flesh! They are telling the one who is going to suffer and die that He should do what they want! These guys have been walking and following Jesus for almost 3 years now. On top of that! Jesus had just taught them about what He must go through and how He was going to die in just a few days. 3 times Jesus has told them that He was and must die. 3 times He has told them and 3 times they acted out of selfish desires. The first time Peter rebukes Him! Then after the 2nd time the disciples began to argue about who was the greatest. Now, after the 3rd time, James and John asked to be placed at the highest seat of prominence and honor on either side of Jesus’ throne. That is some nerve, or some serious knuckle headedness. How could they be so selfish and unsympathetic? How could they even think about that when their Messiah, the one whom they had left everything and followed, just told them He is about to die, and die a very painful and brutal death. They can do this because they are human! That is what we all want if we are honest and our flesh was still in control of our lives. That is the root of sin, we want to be in power, we want to be God. We have to guard our hearts or we will end up acting the same way. We have to stay diligent and in the Word. It doesn’t take much to let our flesh creep back in. These guys had listen to every sermon and lesson that Jesus taught, they even got private tutoring. Jesus often took the 12 aside and taught them things that He didn’t teach the crowds. These guys new better. It is a lot like the Church in America today. People sit and listen to Biblical preaching for years and it never changes who they are. They say that they are Christians, but they still act the way they have always acted. You could sit and listen to whoever you think is the greatest preacher of all time for years and unless you let those messages into your heart and you meditate on how they should affect your life, there will be no change. Christians should see a change in how they act once they are saved and begin to follow Jesus. These guys had to wait to get the Holy Spirit, we get Him as soon as we are saved. He begins to work on us instantly. If these guys who followed Jesus for 3 years can act like this, we have to be on guard! We have to make sure that we keep our flesh weak by feeding our spirit God’s Word!
Then Jesus asks them if they can drink the cup He is going to drink and be baptized in the baptism that He is baptized. He is talking about he suffering and death that He is about to go through. They say that they are able, but they do not truly understand what Jesus is saying. Little did they realize that they would drink from that cup and be baptized with that baptism. James was the first Apostle to be martyred and John would experience great persecution. He survived being boiled alive. Even though they didn’t fully understand what Jesus was talking about they actually gave a truthful answer. It would be difficult to know that you are going to die that kind of death and still walk into it willingly! Jesus did and so can we, I pray none of us have to go through anything even remotely close to that. If we do, we can because He did and He is with us. Following Jesus has a cost. Jesus just said that to follow Him, means to drink from the cup He drinks and be baptized in the baptism He is baptized in. We may not have to go through these things to the extreme that Jesus did, but we will go through them. Whatever God has for us to walk thru, just know that He has been through it and he is going through it with us again.
Next Jesus teaches that honor in the kingdom of God is not given based on selfish ambition, but instead is given out solely by divine sovereign will. God is the only one who can decide our place in His kingdom. There is nothing we can do earn that place. We can’t buy a seat of honor in the kingdom, we can’t work our way to that seat. God gives those to those whom He chooses and we can know that those whom He chooses are worthy of those honors. God is good and just. He doesn’t make mistakes. He is our good father. He knows us better than we know ourselves. We need to let Him give out the honors and not worry about who is getting them. If we are doing works to try and earn a spot of honor, then we are doing them for the wrong reason. Jesus said that there will be those who say have I not cast out demons in your name, have I not healed in your name. He will tell them to depart I never know you. The reason we do things is more important than what we do. Our good works have to be out of the gratitude from what Jesus did for us. There can be no other motive. Our good works do not earn us anything. It is just part of our obedience to our King. We have to be ok with that. If we try and use our good works for anything else, then we are in danger of hearing Jesus say depart from me, I never knew you. It is enough for me, that I get to serve Him. I can never repay what I already owe Him. I am happy to serve and do what He wants me to do, even if it makes me uncomfortable. My salvation is reason enough to be obedient and do good works.
So Jesus gets through talking to John and James and the other 10 heard all this and they are mad! Not in a good way. They are mad that they asked first! They had all acted this way earlier, John and James just went to Jesus first. They all wanted those seats of honor. They good news is that once they all get the Holy Spirit, we see significant changes in their lives and attitudes! We all get a little upset when someone at work gets the promotion or atta boy that we think we deserve. We all have a little of these men in us. We want the attention, the praise from our peers. It is a minute by minute struggle with our flesh to stay humble and not seek the attention. It is a struggle that some times we lose. But it is a struggle that we must never stop fighting. If we keep our eyes on Jesus and our minds in His Word, we will win way more of these battles than we lose. What we feed is what will be strong. We are either feeding our spirit or our flesh. We need to make sure we are feeding our spirit more than our flesh. It is when our flesh is strong that we lose a battle and act like this. I have seen it over and over in my life. When I stay in God’s word and stay focused on Jesus, that is when my spirit is strongest and my flesh is weakest. We have to stay vigilant. The devil is always trying to keep us from being in the Word. He is always trying to keep us distracted from Jesus. We have to do our part. We have to stay focused. It doesn’t take much to start to lose the battle.
Next Jesus teaches them that they are not to be like the Gentile rulers. These rulers loved their positions and the authority that comes with it. Jesus the King of Kings and Lord of Lords came and in all His power and authority, but He came and served. He didn’t come to earth to have man serve Him, He came and served man. He died, so we could live. He lead the way to Jerusalem and His death. That is our example of true leadership. He tells us that there is no room for leaders in the church who lord their position over others. Those in the church who are leaders should model the leadership that Jesus showed us. They should be servants. We are all equals in the church. We just have different roles that play. Just like the teaching of Paul in 1 Corinthians, where he used the body as an example. The body is made up of different parts that have different jobs to do. If they don’t do their jobs, the body will not function properly. This is true in the church also. We are all equally important, we just have different jobs to do. We can’t get caught up in titles or positions. We are all important. If no one is here to sit in the pews, then there is no reason to preach. Everyone of us is important. If the building doesn’t get cleaned, then everyone is distracted from the message. Everyone of us is important, I can’t say that enough! Everyone who misses one Sunday, they are missed and their absence is felt by everyone here. There is no unimportant Christian! There is no insignificant church member. We all matter and we are all important.
Jesus ends this talk with the disciples by once again defining what greatness truly means. Greatness in the kingdom is service and serving. No one will be remembered for being a great leader if they didn’t serve others. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be great. We just have to make sure we have the correct definition of greatness! We also have to know why we want to be great. Is it for selfish reasons, is it so people will treat us different. Are we wanting to be great for us, or so that we can expand the kingdom of God? Jesus said that whoever wants to be great among us will be our servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all! Greatness has nothing to do with us, it has everything to do with how we treat others. Greatness is others focused and our needs come last. Just like Jesus modeled for us. He came to die, so we can live. He left everything so we can have everything. He gave the ultimate sacrifice. First is last and last is first.
God’s pattern in Scripture is that a person must first be a servant before God will promote him or her to be a ruler. This was true of Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Timothy, and even our Lord Himself. Philippians 2:1-11
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 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.
Jesus came to serve and to show us how to serve. God doesn’t leave us guessing on what He wants us to do or how we are to act. He gave us His Son to show us everything we need to know and He gave us His Word to remind us. We serve a good God who loves us and wants us all to be great, but great by His definition!
Unless we know how to obey orders, we do not have the right to give orders. Before a person exercises authority, they must first know what it means to be under authority. If Jesus followed this pattern in accomplishing the great work of redemption, then surely there is no other pattern for us to follow.
Liberty, I have only been here a year, but I praise God that I have not seen anyone who tries to lord their authority over others. I love how we all love and encourage each other. We all have different jobs, and we do them. I love you and I am proud to be your pastor. Let’s continue working on bettering ourselves and expanding the kingdom for our King.
Let’s pray
