God Opposes the Proud
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning! Please open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 10. Mark, chapter 10.
Have you ever felt like God was trying to communicate something specific to you? A theme, perhaps, that is repeated in several different areas of your life. When you finally connect the dots, you say, “Ahhhh, I finally got it, now!”
I’ve been seeing a recurring theme in various times of reading the Bible, different sermons I have preached or listened to in the last month or so and this theme is a big one: Pride. Pride, as Charles Spurgeon put it, may be set down as the sin of human nature.
Think back to the Garden in Genesis. Everything God made, he saw and said it was good. Pure and sinless, Adam and Eve got to bask in direct, one-on-one relationship with God. When Satan, that wicked serpent, slithered in and did two things:
he called God’s Word into question when he said, “Did God really say...” and
he deceived the woman by telling her that they could be like God if they ate of the fruit they were forbad to eat.
In telling Eve she could be like God, he effectively tickled her pride. He planted the seed that said, “You deserve to be like God.” Her desire to be like God was the definition of selfish ambition that always leads to destruction. And in this instance, the whole of humanity that would follow her would be condemned to having the influence of sin written in to our genetic make-up. Part of what defines us as who we are is the fact that we are, from birth to death, sinners.
All that came from an ambition to be like God. Look at the cost of that pride throughout the whole of human history!
Pride is the root of every temptation we are faced with. We believe we deserve more than what we have and think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Eve had no good reason to think that she deserved to be equal with God.
Today we are going to look at an example of pride run amuck while in the presence of the humblest of Kings. We are going to see some of the disciples pursuing honor and greatness, glory and recognition. We will also see the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Innocent and Holy One pursuing not honor for himself, but honor for The Father by accomplishing His will on the cross. He was not seeking glory for himself, but seeking to glorify God the Father by the ultimate act of obedience - death. Obviously not to benefit himself, but to benefit those He loves - you and me.
Read with me our passage today,
32 They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were astonished, but those who followed him were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them the things that would happen to him.
33 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Gentiles,
34 and they will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him, and he will rise after three days.”
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.”
For those of you who like to take notes, our passage today lays out in three sections:
Ultimate Humiliation (32-34)
Ultimate Pride (35-41)
Ultimate Greatness (42-45)
Ultimate Humiliation (32-34)
Ultimate Humiliation (32-34)
Throughout Jesus’ earthly life and ministry, He condemned the Jewish leaders for pushing the traditions of the elders and past generations as being equal with the Word and commands of God, when in reality, they were merely adding more of a burden on the people who they were supposed to be ministering to. We’ve seen how from as early as Mark 3 that the Jewish leaders were plotting to kill Jesus because they hated Him - and that’s not hate with a little “h” but they really had it out for Him! They enjoyed their position of prominence, honor and piety they exercised over the people. They enjoyed the outward perception of holiness that they had, but don’t be deceived for a moment: though they looked holy on the outside, they were spiritually dead as a doornail on the inside. Jesus said in
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity.
Their anger for Jesus grew and grew because He called them out on their hypocrisy. “Hypocrisy” comes from the Greek word, ὑποχρίνομαι, which literally means to pretend, or play a part as if in a play. The way Jesus used it to describe the Scribes Pharisees shows us that they were merely playing the part of pious men but the part they played had no basis in reality.
It’s like an action-movie star who gets mugged with absolutely no real or substantive experience to draw from that he can use to protect himself. Imagine what the real Arnold Schwartzenegger or the real Sylvester Stallone would do if they were held at gun point. They play the parts of action heroes but neither of them have really battled the enemy in foreign jungles, or faced off with alien predators in real life - those are roles they have played in movies but it in now way reflects who they are in real life. In the same way, the Pharisees and Scribes played a role that in no way reflected who they really were on the inside. They loved the attention they got from the people and the sense of importance they felt for being in their respectable positions. They believed these were things they deserved because of the facade they put on.
In our passage today, we start off by seeing Jesus, His disciples and the others who were following Him continue on toward Jerusalem. Knowing that His earthly life would soon be over, Jesus kept walking towards Jerusalem. And beloved, thats a thought we should engrain in our minds - that Jesus knew what He was walking into and yet He went anyways. That speaks a lot about who He is, doesn’t it? If you ever find yourself wondering if God actually loves you, remember that He was not surprised when He was betrayed to the religious leaders! He was not surprised by the secret trial-by-night! He was not surprised when Pilate reluctantly gave the order to have Him put to death! He kept walking toward Jerusalem knowing these things would happen and He went anyways. It shows the tremendous love for God and His people Jesus had, He was willing to walk into a trap that would ultimately serve to save those who believe and follow after Him! How about these:
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,
5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
Jesus knew what was coming and he went anyway. If you ever question God’s love for you, remind yourself that Christ went to the cross regardless of the personal pain and anguish He would experience - we wanted to be obedient to the Father.
Read with me starting in verse 32:
32 They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were astonished, but those who followed him were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them the things that would happen to him.
33 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Gentiles,
34 and they will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him, and he will rise after three days.”
In this third prediction of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, we see Jesus being followed by possibly two different groups of people: “the disciples,” and “those who followed Jesus.” As they are making their way into Jerusalem, the sense of marvel, awe and wonder of Jerusalem and the Temple must have been completely amazing. The Temple itself took more than 80 years to build (and was still in progress at this point as it wasn’t completed until AD 64) and was an architectural marvel. In preparation for Passover, people would have come from all over to celebrate in Jerusalem.
Passover was originally a sign of a promise from God that if they obeyed, they would survive one of God’s most impactful plagues in the book of Exodus. You see, God was going to come and smite the first born of every house - but not so with the Jews. The Jews had to spread the blood of sacrifices on their door posts that signaled their allegiance to God. When death visited Egypt that night to take the lives of the first-born, God would see their faithfulness to believe Him and His promise for deliverance, to take Him at His Word and He would pass over their homes, leaving their first-born sons alive. Passover was a reminder of God’s faithfulness to do what He promised to do. What it had become by Jesus’ day, however, was an honor and tribute to men like Moses and the traditions of the earlier generations instead of something to remind them of their faithful God and the amazing relationship they could enjoy with Him as His chosen people.
These celebrations would be on the hearts and minds of the people following Jesus. The temple must have been quite a sight! The scriptures say the disciples were astonished - and I imagine that would have been something hard to do considered what many of them had seen and experienced with Jesus over the course of the last few weeks:
There’s the transfiguration where the disciples saw Jesus radiate His glory.
They had seen Him perform all sorts of signs and miracles,
they had even performed some themselves, all while Jesus was answering the critical questions of the Jewish leaders.
The disciple’s experience portfolio for the last three short years was far greater than anything we could ever hope to attain in an entire lifetime. They knew the truth about Jesus’ identity and were waiting in eager anticipation to see Him restore the Kingdom to Israel. They believed that’s what they were there to do - to see the Christ of God overthrow their Roman oppressors as was a common thought in Jewish eschatology (eschatology being the study of the end times). In Matthew, the disciples would ask Him when He would restore the Kingdom, when it was all going to happen and it lead Jesus to preaching a sermon to them about his second coming in Matthew 24. That sermon is referred to as the Olivette Discourse and it is where we get a lot of our understanding of Jesus’ second coming. What Jesus is doing in our passage today is setting the record straight for His disciples what was really going to happen. And what was really going to happen?
Justice would be mocked by the religious leaders with a secret trial-by-night, the sinless son of God would be beaten and killed by the Roman oppressors they thought He would overthrow and death will have claimed the One they finally had come to believe was the Holy Son of God.
34 and they will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him, and he will rise after three days.”
Notice that though, what Jesus says at the very end of this verse: and He will rise after three days. What Jesus is telling the disciples, something that they have been refusing to hear or believe, is that:
not only was He going to be betrayed,
not only was He going to be mocked and beaten,
not only was He going to die,
but the savior who was about to die for the sins of the World would conquer death once and for all.
What they would come to understand is that:
not only would Jesus’ trial be a mockery of Human justice, but that His death would be the ultimate satisfaction of God’s Justice for the penalty of sins, this is called propitiation. In the ESV,
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
This big theological word has a simple meaning. The CSB renders this word as “atoning sacrifice,” but it is easiest to think of it as the satisfaction God’s justice demanded for sin.
Not only would he be beaten and killed by the gentiles, but by the wounds He would receive, we who believe in Him though faith would be healed,
5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.
not only would this sinless man they loved so dearly die a sinner’s death, but that while the Pharisees and Scribes mocked human justice with a secret trial-by-night, the Justice of God would ultimately be satisfied through it.
Not only would he die, but that His grave could not hold Him, that He would rise and thereby proclaim that everything He ever said about Himself was true.
This is a significant part of what Christ came to do.
The Heidelberg Catechism is a confession of faith originally published in 1563, then ratified by Reformed delegates from several European countries at the Synod of Dort in 1618. It is written in a Question and Answer format and it really is fantastic reading for those wanting to dig deeper into their faith. There are a few questions (12-15) that handle this specific topic, and I have printed them off and I have them in the back if you feel comfortable taking them, or if you would prefer, you can go to our Faithlife page (www.dishmanbaptist.org) and find it in the documents page. I highly recommend reading them and the entire confession - it is absolutely fantastic and will bless you.
As we see Jesus example, it creates a solid foundation for what we see in the rest of our passage. Christ, the Son of God, exhibited the Ultimate Humiliation, going from Glory to Flesh, from Honor to a criminal’s death.
Ultimate Pride (35-41)
Ultimate Pride (35-41)
Next, we see the Ultimate Pride, and I would venture to say one of the most awkward conversations in the whole Bible. Remember as we read this that the disciples mentioned here were part of Jesus’ inner circle. They were with Him on the mountain when Jesus was Transfigured. They, themselves, performed miracles and followed the Son of God. They expected Jesus to overthrow the Roman government and establish His Kingdom. As Jesus’ disciples, those in His inner-circle, they reveal here that they expected to have much made about them. And this was not the first instance of this kind of talk recorded - remember a few weeks ago when we covered Mark 9?
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?”
34 But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest.
It boggles my mind that so recently, Jesus had covered something similar, but they didn’t get it.
Read with me again from our passage today in
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.
Any of you with children or a spouse will know the feeling of suspicion when one of these darling ones running up to you and say, “I need something, so just say yes and we’ll go take care it - I don’t need your blessing, just your permission.” It’s similar to trying to nicely answer the question, “Will you do me a favor?” How do you answer that without being rude or backing yourself into a corner?!
“Will you do me a favor?” they ask.
“What is it?” you ask in reply.
“That’s not important ,” they say, “I just need you to say yes and then - then, I’ll tell you what it is!”
So, like a loving father, Jesus asks what they want from Him but doesn’t commit to giving anything to them until they tell Him what they are looking to get from Him. That’s probably one of the nicest parts about being all-knowing, knowing when someone is about to make a complete a total fool of themselves!
So here come these two disciples, uttering one of the most audacious and stupifying requests in the whole Bible.
“We know You’re about to clean house with these Romans and establish your own government, and even beyond that, you are heir to all of Heaven, and we want in on it!!”
And! Not only did these two disciples play the part of the fool, but in Matthew’s account, their mother, who Mark will later name as Mary Salome, will come with them!
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached him with her sons. She knelt down to ask him for something.
21 “What do you want?” he asked her. “Promise,” she said to him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom.”
The thing that might really shed some light on this is the theory that Salome was Jesus own aunt. So not only were they coming with this bold, knuckle-headed request, but they were bringing along Jesus’ auntie in hopes to persuade, maybe even to manipulate Jesus into giving them what they want.
Notice Jesus’ response:
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?”
They truly don’t know what they’re asking.
John MacArthur points out an interesting way that God works: that glory relates to suffering. The greater the glory a person receives, the more they have suffered. Notice Jesus’ example:
He will go on from here to be betrayed, beaten and killed by the Jewish leaders and Romans, but doesn’t even hold a candle next to experiencing the full-wrath of God, His Father, upon his shoulders on the cross as He paid the penalty for our sins. And He would be lifted up to the ultimate glory at the right hand of the Father!
That explains why Jesus asks if they are able to drink from the same cup (which refers to suffering) or be baptized with the same baptism (symbolizing death), and notice their hubris… As if they expected Jesus to grant their request and immediately bestow on them this special honor, this special glory, they say the dumbest things they possibly could have:
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.”
Notice that Jesus affirms they would suffer and die for their faith. For James, it wouldn’t be too long of a wait to be reunited with Jesus. In Acts 12:2, James is put to death by King Herod. After the book of Revelation was written, John would end up dying of old age - not for a lack of trying on the Roman’s part. According to tradition, John was boiled in oil by the order of Roman Emperor Domitian, but like the three thrown into Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, John emerged unscathed, giving credibility to his testimony of the Gospel of Christ as was the common purpose of signs like that before the New Testament was completed.
These two would drink of the same cup and share the same baptism, but would not and could not have the wrath of God thrust upon them for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. Only Jesus could do that.
And even so, that was an honor that was God’s alone to give. We don’t know how many seats will be on Jesus’ right or left hand or who will be given that great honor to sit there, but God knows and will bestow it on those whom He deems fit.
Notice how the other disciple’s reacted to James and John:
41 When the ten disciples heard this, they began to be indignant with James and John.
Some would say they were mad because of what they were asking, but it is possible that, given the mindset of the other two disciples that were part of Jesus’ inner-circle, that they were mad for another reason. They could have very well been angry for having asked Jesus first, or not including them in the request, or going to Jesus without the rest of them so they could all get in on the action. It is nothing to be dogmatic about, but I don’t think that these other disciples are as innocent as some commentators would say. We know that Peter also had a prideful attitude. When Jesus was making a later prediction of His death that same week in
31 Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
32 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
33 Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.”
34 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”
Jesus caught him in his error and told him with the craziest amount of detail how badly he would disown his Savior. The other disciples weren’t innocent of pride.
Pride in thew face of Jesus, pride in the very face of God, when you really look at it is a disgraceful attitude to have. After all, like I asked a few weeks ago, what do we have that hasn’t been given to us? Who are we that we should even be a thought to the Lord? Yet for His own good pleasure, He saw it fitting to make a way for us to be saved a reunited with Him in perfection. Is pride something you are wrestling with? Do you see your attitude reflect more of a worship of self than worshipping Christ?
Jesus showed the depth of His greatness by suffering the Ultimate Humiliation, James and John would show that even those closest to Jesus can still be guilty of Ultimate Pride. But how does one achieve Ultimate Greatness?
Ultimate Greatness (42-45)
Ultimate Greatness (42-45)
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.”
All that the disciples knew of gentile leaders, these who were supposedly so “great” was their drama - their scrupulous underhandedness, and their lack of love for God or the things of God. They saw how John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod Antipas for preaching against his sin with his brother’s wife. They remembered how Herod the Great had all the baby boys of Nazareth, two years old and younger, killed to maintain his power at the threat of a newborn king. I’m sure they were also aware of the wild and sinful parties the Herods were known for having or how they would often kill each other to ascend to power.
Jesus is reminding them that those who love power, love this sense of greatness, love the honor they get for being in their positions and will do anything, sin in any way imaginable to get there. Their standards for what greatness is are the same metrics used by the sinful world - It is greatness by the world’s standards and not God’s. Greatness in God’s standard is not a matter of title, it is not a matter of position, it is not a matter of other people’s opinion of you. Greatness by God’s standard is so much more.
He, like the great teacher He is, uses this as an opportunity to give them a solid learning experience. He teaches them that the cut-throat, glory and honor seeking madness of worldly greatness is not the goal of a true believer. The metrics are different in God’s economy. Greatness is a matter of character and not one of position. The character trait that Jesus is pointing to is humility: the opposite of pride. What does a servant do? They willingly humble themselves in order to honor another. Jesus showed us the ultimate example of humility in His death and suffering for our sins. Greatness is a word that I hope and pray we would all associate with Jesus, but if you have any questions about it, look at what Paul says in
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.
4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
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.
In the ESV, they translated verse 6 this way:
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
The God of the universe, who was present at creation and has been given everything under heaven and earth, did not consider equality with God, His true nature or φορμα in Greek from verse 6, something to be attained. He was truly a servant, taking on the punishment for sin so that we could be with Him and glorify the Father forever.
He is speaking of greatness in the Kingdom. While the disciples thought the Kingdom was immediately at hand, the purposes of God have brought us into this age where we wait for Him to come back for us. As disciples of Jesus, we need to follow Jesus’ example. If we are to seek greatness, we should seek after eternal greatness. Our time here on earth is fleeting, a moment, a vapor. We could use that time seeking after our own ideas of greatness and risk throwing our eternal souls into hell for our self-importance, or we can follow Jesus. Believe in Him and be saved! Let’s be transformed by the renewing of our minds into the conforming to the likeness of Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Christlikeness. That is the goal of every believer. Becoming like Christ means taking on His attitude - being a servant. The bar is set very high for all of us. And guess what. We have all failed. We are all sinners. I understand all too well Paul’s sentiment when he describes himself as the chief of sinners. We