Beloved, We Are Not Competing

Introduction

In the world we live in, it is very hard to keep us entertained.

Technology advances each week, a new show tops the “Top Ten List” on Netflix each week, new apps come and go.

Even memes aren’t around for very long… we don’t have a good attention span anymore.

However, even in out attention-deficit society, one thing will always be entertaining: competition.

We love competition!

The most popular shows are competition reality shows…

Game shows…

and most importantly… sports.

NFL, MLB, etc…

But nothing like college football… nothing riles us up like Georgia game.

Case in point: Yesterday, around 6 pm, when Georgia was going into the fourth quarter, and we were LOSING to the Florida Gators. (20-17)

I was on my feet, my hands were wringing, I didn’t know what to do. Mr. “I can’t pay attention for longer than thirty seconds” had his eyes glued to the tv, fully invested, calling plays, blessing out the players…

Needless to say, nothing grasps our attention more than old-fashioned competition.

And today, this is what we will read about: When competition creeps into the body of Christ…

READ Mark 10:35-45

I. Competitiveness

The economy of this world functions like this: competition.

It has always been so: Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Jospeh and his brethren… competition abounds.

In fact, the best systems of economic policy that our human mind can conjure is capitalism, which is based in competition.

This is the best we can do, why? Because humans are innately unfair, and trying to come up with a system that does not take into account the fact that no matter what, we are going to compete with one another will fail.

However, when it comes to the Kingdom of God, and His governance, competition is forbidden. Why? Because competition is born out of pride.

When we, as children of God, are competing with each other… we are exemplifying prideful behavior.

We are the body of Christ, and the body must be unified… there ought to be no competition amongst us.

There should be no competition amongst Christians, period. We are not in competition with the Church up the road!

Emphatically… I do not care what the church up the road is doing, I’m not trying to get there church members to come here. I’m not “fishing out of the same barrel” as them. I do not care how much of the market share of people they have vs. us.

Why? BC we are not in competition with them, we are on the same mission. If that is true among the churches, then how much the more should there be no competition amongst us as a local body of believers?

We have no business trying to compete with one another. Nor, should we think in terms of competing with one another.

It should ever enter our minds to try to elevate ourselves above each other… why? This text shows us what competition and competitiveness creates…

a. Prideful Pursuit - Self-Promotion

Mark 10:35-37

James and John are in the innermost circle of Christ (cf. the mount of transfiguration Matt. 17:1, Jairus’s daughter Lk. 8:51, and Garden of Gethsemane Mk. 14:33 )

This personal closeness to Christ had apparently tempted these men to believe that they were somehow elevated above the rest of the disciples.

They approach The Lord in v. 35, and they do not ask Him anything… rather, they tell Him something.

Before we even make it to their request, we are seeing glimmers of their prideful arrogance… they are going to tell Jesus what they want from Him.

AND look at what they tell Him, “we want you to do whatever WE ask of you.” Pause: just in this short statement we can see where their priorities lie.

Rather than desiring The Lord’s will for them, they are desiring THEIR OWN will for themselves.

cf. this with Psalm 37:4 “4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

People focus us the latter part, while ignoring the first part.

When we delight ourselves in The Lord, His desires become our desires…. therefore, He gives us the desires of our heart once we those desires have been changed.

Rather, they, like children, come to The Lord secretly, subtly and try to manipulate their way into some position of higher authority than the rest of the apostles.

Their desire is to be elevated above the rest, as shown in v. 37.

From this, we see their heart’s intent.

Pause: Can I say, our desires and what we seek after are reflections of our heart, and the intentions of our heart.

I will sometimes shock us, when we look at what our desires truly are, to see how evil and deceptive our heart really is. This should be no surprise, Jer. 17:9 tells us the heart is wicked and deceitful and that there’s no way to truly know just how wicked and deceitful it is.

James and John want to be above the rest. Why? Bc they think they deserve it. They are saying, “Look at how far we’ve come. Look at all we’ve done. Jesus owes us one.”

Here, we see how competitiveness reveals some ugly desires of self-promotion.

b. Prideful Poison - Arrogance

Mark 10:38-40

In His infinite wisdom, Christ answers them without sharp rebuke.

Rather, He poses a question, a question that will reveal their arrogance.

He asks them are you able to be baptized with My baptism and drink the cup I must drink from…?

Without a second guess, they answer an immediate, “yes.”

They have no idea what they are even saying yes to, but their pride is so elevated that they are just thinking “whatever He is talking about, we can do.”

This is the arrogance of humanity on full display. It reminds me so much of Peter in the Upper Room, claiming that he would not deny Christ - then immediately denying Him.

What is the baptism and the cup to which Jesus refers? Well, He is talking about His suffering and His death. “Drinking the cup” in the OT referred to experiencing something.

In this case, suffering and death. Now, here’s the thing…these men WOULD experience those things.

However, they would not do it in their own strength, like they are asserting here. If up to their own strength, they will hide and run… just like they do when Christ is arrested and put to death.

Not until after the Resurrection do we see them having the courage to endure the sufferings of Christ. Why? Because He has strengthened them to do it, not themselves.

This is the lesson here: If we are not careful, we will view our spirituality and spiritual journey and mistake that as having anything to do with our own strength or ability.

Rather, what we see, even in the most courageous Christians is that it is nothing more than Christ at work within them.

Cf. Paul in 2 Cor. 12:9

If we do not continuously remind ourselves of that reality, it will be easy to fall into the same trap as James and John in falling for our own arrogance.

c. Prideful Product - Division

Mark 10:41-42

What is the ultimate product of competitiveness? Division.

This is something we will never escape… what’s the quickest way to divide a body? Tolerate competitiveness.

What happens as a result of James and John’s competitive request? v. 41 - the rest of the Apostles became so upset and mad and angry with them.

This is the natural response to this type of competitive behavior.

Jesus corrects their understanding in v. 42 - “This is how the Gentiles work, not you!”

What is Christ doing? He is pointing out the fact that the way in which they viewed themselves, and the way they understood the economy of God’s Kingdom to be was flawed…

They are replicating and imitating the way they’ve seen the Romans, and scribes, and Pharisees behave and think this is how we advance.

Christ is saying, “This is not how you will act in my Kingdom.”

Jesus is saying, “The Gentile rulers lord their status over their subjects… this is not how you will behave.”

So competitiveness has beget what? Prideful pursuit (self-promotion), prideful poison (arrogance), and finally leads to prideful product (division.)

Thankfully, Christ gives us an alternative to this madness…

II. Christlikeness

Mark 10:42-45 & Mark 10:32-34

If the path of competitiveness is paved with self-promotion, then the path of christlikeness is paved with self-denial…

This is what Christ does: He subverts, or flips around, the expectation that these disciples have about the way the world works.

This very much resembles the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ tells the crowd that the last shall be first and the first will be last.

This contradicts everything the disciples would have assumed about the way the Kingdom ought to work.

Here’s the thing: It is good to desire to be honored by God.

Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:9–10 “9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

& 2 Timothy 4:7 “7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness…”

John in 2 John 8 “8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.”

and even affirmed by Christ in Revelation 22:12 “12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.”

However, the path toward this “greatness” is not what we have come to expect by living in this fallen and sinful world… the path of greatness in God’s Kingdom is a path, not of self-promotion, but self-denial.

The greatest honor in the Kingdom belongs to those who are diakonoi, and even douloi… these are the servants and slaves of the world. The point of Christ’s instruction is that Christians are never to believe themselves to be anyone’s master or lord… rather they are to humble themselves and be servants of all.

Here is the point of what Christ says in v. 43 and 44… why does he repeat Himself?

This is what He’s saying, and this is the point of the text.. This is my own translation of these two verses from the Gk…

“Whomever would be enlarged (honored) among you must be your servant, and whoever among you desires to be most prominent will be a slave to all.”

There’s a good indication here from Christ that there are two options in this life, to be a slave now or be a slave later… to be honored among men now or honored later.

If you desire to be enlarged, then assume the role of a servant… however, if you desire to be made most prominent then you WILL BE made a slave to all.

That choice is up to us… so what if we choose the right answer? To be honored in the Kingdom of God rather than the Kingdom of Man. What does that look like?

The answer to “how then should we live?” is found in v. 45.

How did He do that? Go to v. 32-34.

In the Gospel, we not only find the glorious good news about what Christ did for us… we also see how we should live for Him!

We must humbly suffer through the trials of this earth (i.e mocking, spitting, flogging, and even killing.)

But, that is not the end! (“after three days, He will rise…”) Christ’s resurrection promises us that our service to Him is rewarded with eternal life AND honor to be bestowed upon us at His coming, in the Kingdom of God.

Paul said it was a joy for him to “know Him in the power of His resurrection AND in the fellowship of His sufferings.”

Why? Because enduring the sufferings with and for Christ ensures that we will receive a reward greater than we could ever imagine.

Therefore, all of this should propel us to throw away and crucify the sinful desire to compete with our brothers and sisters. We must realize that “beloved, we are not competing with one another.”

We must be united, as this is what christ’s wish is… and if you ask “how can I ensure I am not competing with my brothers/sisters.” The answer is that if we occupy ourselves with constantly and consistently serving one another, we won’t have any time to compete with each other.

Turn to Isa. 50 - This is the song of the suffering servant of Yahweh. Who is that? Christ.

In it, we see the attitude and disposition of the true servant of the Lord. Let us emulate these words as we close out the sermon…

Isaiah 50:4–11 ESV

4 The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 5 The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. 6 I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. 7 But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. 8 He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. 9 Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up. 10 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. 11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.