Mark 10:35-45
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35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask you.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked them.
37 They answered him, “Allow us to sit at your right and at your left in your glory.”
38 Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39 “We are able,” they told him. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.
40 But to sit at my right or left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
41 When the ten disciples heard this, they began to be indignant with James and John.
42 Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them.
43 But it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant,
44 and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave to all.
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
In following Jesus, count the cost.
In following Jesus, count the cost.
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask you.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked them.
37 They answered him, “Allow us to sit at your right and at your left in your glory.”
38 Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
mk 10:
Christianity is more than a get out of jail free pass.
Christianity is more than a get out of jail free pass.
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask you.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked them.
37 They answered him, “Allow us to sit at your right and at your left in your glory.”
38 Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
mk 10:38
Illus: The way we talk about Jesus shows much of what we believe about him.
Lately in christian culture our songs have focused on the love of God, often painting him as a a desperate lover pursuing us.
Sermons in recent years have talked about how God is going to bless you, and communicate all the benefits of being a christian.
AS churches we employ a sneaky bait and switch program telling people all that God gives them but never communicating the whole picture.
Jesus was famous for running off crowds. Frankly Jesus would probably be fired from most baptist churches for what would be considered an ineffective outreach program.
Jesus taught the whole picture. He did not sugar coat the gospel, but communicated openly that the call to follow God was a call to die to yourself. It was the call to voluntary slavery. It was the call to complete surrender embracing a life of persecution and pain.
Generally when Jesus offered an invitation there was not a Billy Graham crowd that came forward, but instead there was a Billy Graham size crowd that walked away.
Why, because Jesus called people to count the cost.
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.
Following Jesus means embracing the cost as well as the gain.
Following Jesus means embracing the cost as well as the gain.
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask you.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked them.
37 They answered him, “Allow us to sit at your right and at your left in your glory.”
38 Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
Illus: As a pastor my wife and I have learned a little bit about house shopping. The idea of house shopping seems romantic as a realitor takes you from place to place and you dream of what your life would look like in the new dwelling.
You walk into one, and see the kitchen, and another the master bedroom.
But what we have learned is that the realtor's job is to get you into the biggest house possible to get the largest commission.
They may say, I know you haven’t found the perfect house yet, have you considered expanding your price range up so that we can look at a new tier of houses?
What Jennifer and I learned in the process of buying a house is to count the cost. Our starting place is not to begin with what the creditor would lone us, but instead to sit with our budget and ask what we would be willing to pay.
When you buy a house you don’t just get the home to live in, you also get the mortgage to pay, the taxes, the air conditioning costs, the repair work… you get the point.
Jesus does not call people to make emotional one time reactions, he calls them to a thoughtful lifetime step of faith.
25 Now great crowds were traveling with him. So he turned and said to them:
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.
27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
28 “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
29 Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him,
30 saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31 “Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33 In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.
In following Jesus, check your privilege at the door.
In following Jesus, check your privilege at the door.
39 “We are able,” they told him. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.
40 But to sit at my right or left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
We think far to highly of ourselves.
We think far to highly of ourselves.
39 “We are able,” they told him. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.
40 But to sit at my right or left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
Illus: Have you noticed how dissatisfied with are with the world around us?
We complain about everything.
If a meal is not right we complain, if the temperature is not right we complain. If it rains we complain, if it doesn’t rain we complain. If someone does something we disagree with, we complain… why?
We complain because we have made our own comfort and preferences idols we worship.
Biblical Christianity teaches that we should consider ourselves nothing, that we check our rights and privileges at the door.
The picture scripture gives of believers is that the longer you follow Christ, the less you should think of your self, the more you should serve, and the greater you should consider the needs of others and the sacrifice of Jesus.
(within the context of our story)
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Embracing Jesus means putting ourselves to death.
Embracing Jesus means putting ourselves to death.
39 “We are able,” they told him. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.
40 But to sit at my right or left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
Illus: I remember one time sitting in a hospital waiting room as one of my church members was having surgery.
A church member looked at me and said, “I understand that we are supposed to do these missions things, and reach our community, but pastor when is this church going to do something for me.” “I mean I’ve been in this church a long time and I believe I am due”
Take for a moment that I had been sitting there with this person for 4 hours during the surgery of her husband, I held my tongue.
She believed deep down that her time in the church was like paying into a social club, the longer you serve, the more you give, the more you are due.
That is anti biblical. The Bible teaches the exact opposite. It teaches that the longer you follow Christ, the less you demand, and the more you put yourself to death.
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient,
7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.
8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.
In following Jesus, be like Jesus.
In following Jesus, be like Jesus.
41 When the ten disciples heard this, they began to be indignant with James and John.
42 Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them.
43 But it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant,
44 and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave to all.
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Choose servanthood.
Choose servanthood.
Illus: How much of your time is church is about what you get? From bible studies to the sermon most time spent in the church is spent absorbing the work of others on our behalf.
As we grow older, more mature in Christ, we should move from people coming to Jesus demanding what we want from Jesus to asking how we might serve him.
In life, what is most of your time spent doing, is your time spent with others serving you, or with you serving others?
In your family, do you come to your family expecting others to serve you or in the service of them?
5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.
7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,
8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.
9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth—
11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.