Jesus Came: To Serve the Helpless

Mark 10:35–45 “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.””

This is one of my most favorite stories in the Bible

I find it both fascinating and convicting

These are the men who have spent nearly 3 years living with Jesus, watching Him, being taught by Him, and learning from Him

They know Him better than just about anyone.

And they are the men who are going to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the power of God is going to come upon them and they are going to go out and begin to preach the Gospel

And here they are having an argument about who is the best among them, or who is the greatest

I’m the best! No, I’m the best

But, this isn’t a new argument.

In just the previous chapter, they were on their way to Capernaum, they were having the same argument

And after they arrived at the place where they were staying, Jesus asked them, “Hey, what were you talking about on the way?”

Of course He knew full well what they were arguing about

But it says that the disciples kept quiet because they had been arguing about who was the greatest.

And Jesus simply tells them, if you want to be great, you need to be last. And you need to be the servant of all

And now, here in chapter 10, not too long afterward, they are having basically the same argument

And I find this convicting because I have to wonder, how much of my life is wrapped up in worrying about MY greatness

And worry about what people think of ME

And I think that far too much of my life is wrapped up in

But Jesus uses this opportunity in chapter 10 to do some more teaching for His disciples about this

He says to them, “You don’t understand greatness. You don’t understand that I’m calling you to a different way of thinking and living”

Your thinking is like that of the pagan Gentiles. They vie for positions of power and think that is what greatness is all about

But that’s not how it is to be among you

And he emphasizes what He had told them earlier:

If you want to be great, you must learn to be a servant

And He holds Himself up as the example

The Son of Man came

To suffer

this story in Mark takes place as Jesus and his disicples are heading toward Jerusalem for what would be the final Passover feast that He would celebrate with His disciples

And after that, He would be betrayed and suffer terribly and die

And in chapter 8 of Mark, we see a remarkable shift in Jesus’ focus

In the first part of the book, Jesus is doing what we think of Jesus doing. Teaching and healing, and debating with the religious leaders

But in chapter 8, something happens and it seems that His focus shifts just a bit

And in Mark 8:31 we read this: “31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

9:12

9:30-32

10:33

And Jesus sets His face toward Jerusalem where He knows that His suffering will take place

This is why He came, and He understands full well that this is His purpose for coming

To be a ransom: “Give His life”

this is one of different places in the Bible where we are given the picture of a transaction that needed to take place

Our lives were held in bondage by sin, by Satan.

And there needed to be a transaction to take place

There needed to be an exchange that had to happen for us to be freed

when you buy something at the store, you make an exchange.

but it can’t be any old thing that you exchange.

You can’t go out to buy a new TV and say, “Hey, I’ll give you my dog in exchange for that TV”

of course not! It has to be something very specific. Legal tender money or credit

I’ll give you legal tender currency in exchange for this item that I want to buy

And in the same way, there was something very specific that had to happen.

It couldn’t be my good works

I couldn’t just be born into the right church or family or culture in order to be free

A life had to be given

A life had to be given in exchange for your life and mine

Only God could forgive sins and only God was perfect

And it had to be a perfect life. And there was only one Man who could fit that requirement

He gave His life to buy back our lives. and now we are His!

You are His child. You are His treasured possession

Song: “I am not my own, I belong to Him”.

The One who made the heavens, made my heart and soul Before I drew a breath, I was loved and known I am His creation, the Maker's masterpiece And all that He designs will be done in me

My body is a temple of the living God I'll worship in this house that His blood has bought As I bear His image, oh, may I not profane The holiness I hold in this earthly frame

And if He has redeemed me, I am not my own The measure of my worth is His love alone He declares my standing, and He declares my state So I will know myself by the name He gave

I am not my own and now my heart is free O Maker, come and make what You will of me There is nothing broken that You cannot repair So Lord, I leave my life in Your loving care

Chorus: I belong to the Lord, oh, I am not my own. I belong to the Lord, I am not my own. I will honor Him for this I know, I am belong to the Lord, Oh I am not my own

These words are simple yet profound and life-changing

To be our substitute: “for many”

What Jesus did was for us. Or in the place of us

meaning that it was actually all of us who deserved death

It was I who deserved death because of my own rebellion, pride, sinfulness, the times when i have turned my back on Him and rejected His law

It was I who deserved punishment.

But it was Jesus who said, “I will be his substitute. I will take his punishment”

Story of Edmund, the White Witch and Aslan,

Edmund was a traitor. he had given himself to serving the White Witch, and she claimed his life

And it was her right to do so. And she planned to kill him

but what she didn’t realize or take into account was that someone could stand in for Edmund and take his punishment

There was a punishment that needed to take place, but it didn’t have to be Edmund himself

And Aslan the Lion speaks to the White Witch and says, “I’ll take the place of that boy, Edmund”

And the WW of course jumps at that idea because now, she thinks, finally Aslan the Lion, her mortal enemy will be in her hands and he will die

But of course, she doesn’t know that Aslan has the power over death and that this transaction will ulitmately be her defeat

Aslan does give himself, and he does die on the stone table, but in the morning, the stone table breaks in half, Aslan comes back to life, more powerful and glorious than ever, and the power of the WW is broken

And Aslan leads his followers into battle where He kills the WW

It’s a child’s story, but even as an adult, I think it helps me understand and grasp this incredible truth.

Jesus is MY substitute!

In my sinfulness, I do deserve judgement and punishment

But Jesus, in His love and mercy, said, “It’s true, a punishment does have to be given. But, you know, it doesn’t have to be him. I can stand in. I can take his punishment

To serve us:

What do you think about being served by Jesus?

I think there are many people today who do think of Jesus as a servant, but not the kind of servant that the Bible presents to us

People tend to think of Jesus as their own ATM

someone to bail them out of trouble

Someone to make them successful

Someone to just be standing by in case they need something

So many preachers today present us a picture of a God who is just standing by to “give us our breakthrough” and make us rich or successful or prosperous if we will just do the right things and have enough faith

“If you do XYZ, then, they say, God is “obligated to do XYZ in return”

And it’s possible that when people think of Jesus being a servant, this is what comes to mind.

But this kind of teaching is false!

That’s not the kind of servant that Jesus is

The reason that Jesus said, “I came to serve” is because of this:

outside of Jesus, we are helpless and can do nothing of worth for ourselves

We have nothing in ourselves

We have a few new babies in church

And even though it’s been a few years now, I remember well what it is like to welcome a new baby into the home

When a baby is born into the world, that baby is a complete human. Yet, that baby is completely helpless.

it can do nothing for itself

he can’t feed himself

he can’t get dressed

he can’t bathe himself

he can’t walk or crawl or talk

And so what happens? The entire life of the mother and father changes for this baby

The mother and father become the servants of this baby

They strive to make sure this baby is getting enough to eat

they change their routine so the baby gets enough sleep

when the baby cries, they try to figure out what is wrong

they change his diapers, they clothe him, they carry him to where he needs to go

they become servants to this baby, not because this baby is doing something in return for them

But because they love this baby with all of their hearts, and this baby is helpless

And this is a picture of the kind of servant that Jesus is for us

He doesn’t “need” us as we think about need

He does desire us. He did come to seek and to save us.

But He doesn’t need us as we think about needing

But we certainly need Him, don’t we!

And this can be kind of hard for us to accept and remember

we are self-sufficient creatures

We like to live our own lives and

Jesus said in John 15:5 “5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Apart from me, you are helpless!

Outside of Him, we can’t bear fruit. We can’t live in the way that he intends for us to live! Our lives won’t produce what He intends for them to produce!

Oh sure, we can get up in the morning and do something that looks like life, but it’s not going to be what Jesus intends for it to be

We don’t have what it takes

So, Jesus came to serve us by giving us everything we need to be faithful to Him

He gives us His righteousness to be acceptable to God

He gives us His Holy Spirit to transform us, and cleanse us, and give us power

We submit to His authority

it is our human tendency to be self-sufficient

we need to figure out life on our own

We need to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps