A Ransom for Many

ME: Son of Man

Raise your hand if you know that the sun is hot.

Wow, impressive, everyone knows that the sun is hot.

So, I assume you all know this from science class,

Where you were taught that the sun is a ball of gas that is over 93 million miles away.

Emitting heat that is nearly 10,000 degrees,

All the way to our planet providing heat that can easily exceed 100 degrees depending on what part of the planet you find yourself.

So, on one hand, you know the sun is hot for these reasons.

Then again, you know the sun is hot because you have felt the heat from the sun.

You have been out on the tractor on a warm sunny day.

You have laid on the beach soaking up the heat from the sun.

You have been in the woods with the heat from the sun peaking through the leaves.

You can close your eyes and picture those days where you have enjoyed the feeling of the warmth of the sun on your face.

So, because you have enjoyed the warmth of the sun,

You know the sun is hot.

This is the same idea regarding another Son,

The Son of Man, Whom we see in our passage this morning.

Mark 10:45 tells us that the Son of Man gave His life as a Ransom for Many.

Therefore, because of this Bible verse, you know that Jesus is Savior.

But just like you are more likely to know that the sun is hot because you have enjoyed the heat from the sun,

Jesus wants you to know that He is your Savior because you enjoy Him as your Savior.

This morning we are going to do a detailed look at this verse,

So, we can know 5 facets of Jesus.

These 5 facets show us that Jesus is...

Son of Man

Servant

Sacrifice

Substitute

Savior

Don’t just know that Jesus is Savior, know Jesus as your Savior and serve others.

Jesus teaches that becoming a servant is true greatness.

And He is the greatest of all.

It is strange because as people we tend to naturally respect strength.

For example the ancient ruler, Alexander,

Was given the moniker, Alexander the Great,

Because of his strength as a military leader.

But Christianity is centered on a Servant who was executed on a cross.

Have you ever considered how strange that is?

A faith with a torture device at the center of it.

We can wrap our minds around these strong conquerors,

But what is so significant about a Servant who died on a cross?

Peter Boyer argues that the significance of this servant is misguided;

“With the advance of science and the growing acceptance of Darwin’s theory of evolution, key theologians and churchmen concluded by the early twentieth century that the old faith had been essentially disproved. They began to imagine a more reasonable Christianity—one less insistent on miracles, resurrections, and a transcendent God who directed human history from a heavenly remove.”

A “more reasonable Christianity” would be a new understanding of the central truths of Christianity,

Specifically, Christ’s death on the cross.

An advocate of this new Christianity is John Shelby Spong, the former Episcopal bishop of Newark, NJ.

He wrote an article titled “Twelve Theses.”

In this article, Spong denies the divinity of Christ, the virgin birth, and the bodily resurrection.

He describes these doctrines as “a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God.”

Mind you, this man calls himself a Christian,

Elsewhere, he claims to believe in the full trustworthiness of the Bible.

This is a new Christianity indeed.

In fact, we can go ahead and acknowledge, that it is not Christianity.

But I am not trying to pick on John Shelby Spong,

He is just one example that the core truths of Christianity are not being attacked only by other religions or unbelievers,

But also by those who claim to believe this Book from where we get these truths.

Looking at the overview of our It Is Well series,

We turn from the OT, where we were in Isaiah 52-53 last week,

Into the NT, specifically the fundamental truth of Jesus’ teaching about His death in Mark 10:45 this morning.

And Lord willing, next week, we will move ahead a few chapters to Mark 15:33-34.

Instead of looking at Mark 10:45 in isolation,

Let us understand the context that leads up to Jesus’ Words here.

Jesus had been teaching on discipleship since the early parts of Mark’s gospel.

Near the end of ch. 8, Jesus began thoroughly explaining discipleship as humble service,

And explained that the Son of Man is the pattern for humble service.

The OT prophecy regarding the Son of Man teaches that He will be the judge during the apocalypse,

Beginning in Mark 10:32,

Jesus reveals to the disciples that He will also die.

This anticipates what happens next in our passage this morning.

Starting in vs. 35,

We’ve got two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John, who are brothers.

They do not realize the implications of Jesus’ suffering and death.

Acting on their own, apart from the other disciples,

They selfishly come up to Jesus and before asking what they want,

Because they knew they were being selfish,

They say,

“Hey Jesus, we want you to be our magic genie and do whatever we ask.”

They got a glimpse of Jesus’ glory during His transfiguration back in ch. 9,

And they wanted some of that for themselves.

Matthew 20 indicates that they must’ve told their mom about it,

Because she suggested that they make the request.

So, they ask Jesus to let them sit in the glory seat on each side of Him.

Instead of just saying no,

Which would be appropriate enough,

With tension rising, Jesus says,

“You have no idea what you are asking for!”

“Do you think you are able to drink the cup that I drink?”

Jesus is not talking about literally drinking something that is hard to drink.

He is referencing the OT symbol of suffering and wrath.

For example Ps. 75:8; Jer. 25:15 use this symbol.

Psalm 75:8 ESV

For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

Jeremiah 25:15 ESV

Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

Jesus is asking His two selfish, hard-hearted, glory seeking disciples,

“Do you think you are able to suffer the entirety of God’s wrath that I will be suffering?”

This is such an outrageous thought that the question could be assumed as a rhetorical question.

It would be as if you were a student in a class,

And the teacher were to ask you if you would like to teach the class.

Obviously, the teacher is not inviting you to come up and teach.

It is the teacher’s way of humbling you.

That is what Jesus is doing by asking His disciples this question.

He is humbling them.

However, vs. 39 shows how thick-headed these disciples are.

Unaware of what they are even asking Jesus,

They respond by saying, “Oh yea! We can drink that cup for sure!”

They are the kids in the class who actually get up when the teacher asks,

“Would you like to teach the class?”

And start walking to the front of the room.

So, the teacher lets the students try and teach.

But because they are not the teacher,

Their opportunity to be the teacher does not end in their glory.

Such is the way Jesus responds to these disciples.

“Yea, you will drink the cup.”

“You will suffer.”

Which history shows that James was martyred and John was exiled.

But Jesus says that the Father prepared the glory place for someone specific.

And it is not these disciples.

Meaning, God decides who receives glory, not us.

While this conversation is going on,

The rest of the disciples are all there,

Hearing this back and forth between the two brothers and Jesus.

And they are livid!

They are ticked at these two brothers!

Not because they realize how wrong it was for James and John to selfishly make this request,

But because they wanted the glory place for themselves!

They wanted power, they wanted prestige, they wanted authority!

And they are angry that they didn’t think to ask Jesus for the glory first!

All twelve of Jesus’ closest followers wanted to be first.

They had already forgotten the lesson Jesus taught them one chapter earlier in Mark 9:35 when He said;

Mark 9:35 ESV

And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

The actions of the disciples in Mark 10 set up Jesus perfectly to teach what He was going to do and what it means for us to follow Him.

Because Jesus recognizes a problem with His disciples.

That they are competing for authority over one another.

So, Jesus tells His disciples that even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

This gives us a window into Jesus.

This brief saying presents a variety of aspects of both the person and the work of Jesus.

He modeled and taught that His followers are to be servant-leaders.

As our example of a servant-leader,

Jesus led by giving Himself.

That is the foremost role of a leader.

He who is first, is the first to serve.

This is the standard for being a disciple of Jesus.

Whatever role you have,

It is ultimately secondary to being a servant.

No person is above serving.

And if you want to lead, then serve.

This is the lesson Jesus teaches all His disciples.

Those who do not follow Jesus lord their authority over others.

This cannot be the case for Jesus’ disciples.

We must be servants.

Each of us who are a part of the body here at FBC must be committed to serving.

Jesus' teaching that we are focusing on this morning in vs. 45 gets at the heart of our need to be servants.

That is why Jesus begins by saying, “For Even the Son of Man.”

Jesus is saying, He Who is the most glorious,

The embodiment of glory,

Does not lord His authority over others,

But instead is a Servant.

It is His example that breaks the hard hearts of all His disciples.

First, the twelve,

And continuing to each of us today.

His example starts with the truth that Jesus is our fellow man.

Jesus teaches this in Mark 10:45 by referring to Himself as the Son of Man.

He was most certainly using this phrase to distinguish Himself as a human.

And as a human, He was able to suffer.

The book, On the Incarnation of the Word, the hypothetical question was asked, “Why not have the Son of God incarnated as a donkey?”

The answer is simple,

Because God gave us a mediator who understands us.

Our mediator is not just an animal to be slaughtered.

He was a sacrifice who gave Himself and was able to explain why He gave Himself.

The Son of Man is a title of Jesus that denotes His true humanity.

He has a real body and a rational soul. He is the perfect human.

If you are not a Christian, this teaching about Jesus as the Son of Man may be a bit of a surprise.

Because we Christians we’re all about praising and exalting Christ.

But we really do believe that Jesus was a human.

As Hebrews 4:15 says;

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

As the Son of Man, Jesus sympathizes with all our weaknesses because He has experienced them personally.

Is not God so kind to give us sympathy,

To teach us what it means to feel with others,

To make us in His image so we can weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

God calls us out of ourselves especially with friends and families,

So, that our hearts will get intertwined with others.

God is this way,

And He made us in His image to be this way too.

Let us never stop marvelling at God’s love for us in this.

The Son of God, took on flesh, leaving the privileges and honor of heaven,

To come down to us.

WE: Servant

And He came down not to be served, but to serve.

So, Jesus is fully man and fully God.

And unlike you and me, Jesus was able to choose to come down to our world.

Because He always existed,

And when He was born, He became God incarnate.

It is different from our birth.

Our existence began when we were born.

We are created beings,

But Christ always was.

Think about all that He set aside to come down to us.

Dan. 7:13-14 says the Son of Man will inherit dominion and glory and a kingdom.

He will restore humanity to God.

It is a vision of suffering and exaltation.

Likewise, Jesus says, this Son of Man has come as a Servant.

This fulfills the prophecy of the Suffering Servant we looked at last week in Is. 52:13-53:12.

Jesus used the prophecy from Daniel 7 frequently when teaching on the Son of Man.

He uses this phrase so that the disciples would understand Him as a fellow human.

In Matt. 8:20, He says the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.

And whoever is ashamed of the Son of Man will also be ashamed by the Son of Man when He comes in glory.

In Luke 5:24, when healing a paralytic,

Jesus says the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins,

Then tells the paralytic to rise, pick up your bed, and go home.

In John 9:35-37, Jesus identifies Himself as the Son of Man.

Ironically, Jesus also identifies Himself as the Son of Man in Mark 14:62.

And when He does, He says it will be the Son of Man seated in the glory seat that the disciples so badly wanted for themselves.

Lastly, in Rev. 14:14 John sees the Son of Man returning to earth on a cloud.

This exalted Son of Man, chose to be born into this world.

This was the purpose of all three persons of God from before the foundation of the world.

Jesus knew this is why He was sent into the world.

That is why Jesus told the disciples in Mark 1:38 that He must go to nearby villages to preach,

Because that is why He came.

Or once again in Mark 2:17, He said He came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

He came with a purpose.

Once again, He explains that purpose in our passage this morning.

He came not to be served, but to serve.

And remember, the disciples were in the midst of arguing for honor and glory and authority.

While this is going on, Jesus tells them that He,

The Son of Man,

God in human flesh,

Did not come to be served.

This is not what we would expect of God.

If anyone had the right to be served,

Surely, it was the Son of Man,

And Jesus said, He came for the exact opposite reason.

He came to be our servant.

Jesus has purposeful humility.

What an incredible thought!

Jesus, our God, the Son of Man, the Messiah,

Serves us.

The word translated to serve here is the Greek word from which we get deacon.

It means “to wait on tables,”

A phrase to communicate humble work.

Again, it is the exact opposite of what the disciples were arguing over.

They were arguing to have others wait on them.

Not Jesus.

He came to be the servant.

As He told the disciples while washing their feet in John 13,

He set an example that we should do as He has done.

Praise God that Christianity has a reputation for promoting service.

Yet, those who hate God will still take issue with this.

As the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously said,

Christianity is a slave religion.

He despised the servant focus of Christianity.

In 1888, he wrote a book titled The Antichrist,

In which he wrote,

“I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity…I call it the once immortal blemish on the human race.”

That is not what Jesus taught.

Those who are honored are those who serve.

Christianity lifts up service in a way that is reviled to those, like Nietzsche, worship power, position, and prestige.

As Christians, Jesus calls us to serve others rather than just ourselves.

He tells us to sacrifice our own interests for others.

Our goal must be to develop a servant’s heart.

However, the reality is we will face opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Naturally, our heart is directed toward promoting selfish concerns,

Or toward the pursuit of significance.

This means, even when we engage in servant-like work,

Our selfishness comes to the surface.

This leads to two fundamental concerns that must be addressed when seeking to develop a servant heart.

First, we cannot serve others from our own neurotic need for approval or significance.

If I am being honest, I struggle with this mightily.

This is that desire to be a people-pleaser.

I am sure many of you can relate.

When instead of thinking about what may be right or wrong, or biblical or unbiblical.

We are thinking about what others might think of us,

Or how they may respond,

Or if they will be happy, pleased, or satisfied by what we do.

The other pitfall of this type of service is the need for significance.

If we are not careful, we will fool ourselves into serving out of our own neurotic needs.

We will serve to feel significant, or to have control, or for praise.

We can serve to feel important instead of serving out of loving God and others.

The other extreme is the second fundamental concern;

Identifying and working toward serving real needs,

Instead of the neurotic wants of others.

Let me give an example.

As your pastor, do you believe my responsibility is to minister to you?

Or do you understand my responsibility is to equip you to minister to others?

Because Ephesians 4:11-12 teaches that my responsibility is to equip you to minister to others.

But sadly, our culture has shifted the expected role of the pastor to the one who serves the neurotic wants of the members.

This comes out when you feel like the church has not contacted you because you have not heard from the pastor.

But if you have been contacted by a member of the body,

The church has contacted you.

Praise God, the body is doing the work of the ministry.

To you members who do this, thank you!

Thank you for being the church!

I thank God for you!

For those of you who have not been contacted,

Consider if you have served others by reaching out.

Larry Crabb is a biblical counselor and he recognizes the issue with this second fundamental concern;

“Many of us place top priority not on becoming Christ-like in the middle of our problems but on finding happiness. I want to be happy but the paradoxical truth is that I will never be happy if I am concerned primarily with becoming happy. My overriding goal must be in every circumstance to respond biblically, to put the Lord first, to seek to behave as he would want me to.”

Dr. Crabb describes an inward focused cycle of discontent.

And trying to serve people who have this inward focused cycle of discontent,

Will drag the servant into that same cycle of discontentment,

And likely embitter the person toward serving.

Whenever serving is done for selfish reasons, it will not hold up under pressure and criticism.

If our significance is not found in Christ,

We will be obsessed with finding that significance elsewhere.

For many, this will be through serving.

Sadly, serving in this way will lead to anger and bitterness,

Resulting not in a servant heart, but a poisoned heart toward serving.

With this in mind, let us briefly look at four hindrances to developing a servant heart.

First, The desire for status or to feel important is an incredible barrier to servanthood.

Remember this, the desire for recognition stems from a failure to rest our significance in Christ.

When we fail to rest in Christ,

It is a constant battle to feel important.

Second, human strategies to meet felt needs poses another barrier to servanthood.

These are the things we do to protect our image or reputation.

To try and control how we want people to feel about us.

We must trust the Lord with the truth,

And reject the desire to serve our own needs.

Instead, serve others.

Third, poor concept of self-worth and a faulty source for developing self worth is another barrier.

This kind of ties in to what we have already talked about,

When we seek self-worth form the opinions of others,

That is a faulty source and it will continuously to give us a poor concept of self-worth,

Because it is less value than God places on our lives.

Fourth, self-centered living and seeking happiness from the world causes us to fail to live as servants.

This results in a lack of commitment to servanthood.

It misplaces priorities,

Because we are too busy living for self that it leaves no time to serve others.

So, why is all this so important?

Well, because there are consequences when there is a lack of servanthood.

This is not necessarily an exhaustive list, but here is a list of seven consequences.

First, a self-seeking heart leads to jealousy, envy, disunity, and division.

This is most evident among the disciples in the context of our passage this morning.

The famous conductor Leonard Bernstein once said;

“[The hardest instrument to play is the] second fiddle…to find one who plays second violin with as much enthusiasm…now that’s a problem! And yet if no one plays second, we have no harmony.”

The second consequence is a failure to get involved in ministry.

This was seen by the disciples in John 13.

When we do not have a servant’s heart,

We sit back and expect others to serve us.

This is when you come to church expecting to be ministered to instead of expecting to be equipped to minister to others.

The third consequence is burnout for those who serve.

The few who do serve are trying to do the work of many,

And over time they get exhausted.

On the other end, if a person is serving for selfish motives,

That will result in burnout because of the pressure for acceptance.

The fourth consequence is we will fail as a body to accomplish what we are called to do.

A lack of servants results in a lack of evangelism and edification.

Serving is both proof of and a producer of spiritual maturity.

In Eph. 4, which I referenced earlier,

Paul goes on in vs. 14-16 to explain that the goal of equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry is to grow.

To grow into Christ and to grow in love.

The fifth consequence leads to spiritual competitiveness.

Bitterness, contention, division all go hand in hand.

Jesus’ ministry was not about leveraging accomplishments for importance or power.

Christian servanthood puts others first,

It seeks the well being of others over our own well being.

Even if that means playing second fiddle.

The sixth consequence is a lack of humility.

1 Pet. 5:5 ends by telling us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

And the absence of humility will quench the Holy Spirit.

The seventh consequence is an inability to lead others in Christ-like ways.

Because we are hypocritically serving for our own self-seeking reasons.

These consequences should force each of us to reflect on whether or not we have a heart of a servant.

If so, how are you demonstrating this heart in your life?

Regardless of your response,

Let us consider seven thoughts related to developing a servant’s heart.

The first is built on the foundation of Christ’s example in Philippians 2.

Though Jesus is fully God,

He humbled Himself by becoming a human in the form of a servant.

As we looked at last week,

Jesus is the suffering servant.

The path to successful leadership is paved with humble service for others.

Second, if we are following the Lord, we will seek to serve others.

If we are not serving others with pure motives,

Then we are not following the Lord.

Third, Jesus did the ultimate act of service as our Great High Priest.

He gave Himself as the sacrifice for our sins and He remains as our Advocate before God.

Jesus knew He was on earth as the servant who would die for our sin.

But focusing on the future reward and motivated by a heart of infinite love,

Jesus modeled His servant heart the night He was betrayed by washing the feet of His disciples.

But it also served as a symbol of His ability to cleanse us of our sins.

Ted Engstrom wrote;

“[Christ’s] kind of service set an example… Jesus teaches all leaders for all time that greatness is not found in rank or position but in service. He makes it clear that true leadership is grounded in love which must issue in service.”

Fourth, in order to develop a servant’s heart, we must face the reality of our own weakness and need.

In our own energy, we do not have the ability to give of ourselves sacrificially as a servant in the way Jesus has.

This makes us dependent upon the Holy Spirit to transform, renew, direct, and strengthen us to serve.

As J. Hampton Keathley writes;

“A Word-filled, Spirit-filled life is an absolute essential to the ability to give ourselves as servants.”

Fifth, living as a servant is composed of surrender and sacrifice according to Romans 12:1-2.

Self serving is opposed to sacrificial servant living.

And in Romans 12 we are called to surrender ourselves to God as living sacrifices.

This sacrifice forms the foundation upon which servant living is made possible.

This is God’s will for all believers.

Romans 12 goes on to teach that a life that is transformed by the renewing of the mind,

Is demonstrated by giving ourselves to the exercise of our spiritual gifts.

Once again, Jesus is our perfect example of surrender and sacrifice.

He sacrificed His position and privileges.

He surrendered to the Father’s will.

He sacrificed and surrendered to serve our needs as our Redeemer and Advocate.

So, we must be willing to serve, surrender, and sacrifice for the needs of others.

To do this requires us to know God’s Word in order to identify true needs of people,

Then, we must work in step with the Holy Spirit to meet those needs.

This requires us to car about people,

To get to know them personally to meet those needs when given the opportunity.

Sixth, learn to rest in and find our significance in Christ.

Col. 2:10 teaches that in Him we are complete.

Eph. 1:3 teaches that in Him we are blessed with every spiritual blessing.

There is nothing more important than the fact that you are a child of God.

John expresses this in 1 John 3:1-3.

Therefore, our need is to seek our sense of well being from our identity in Christ,

Not in people,

And not in our position.

If, we do not seek our sense of well being from our identity in Christ,

Our service will be from a self-serving motive.

It will be from a desire for either acceptance or praise.

As people, we wrestle with this obsessive pursuit of significance.

This pursuit will produce thinking and actions that are counter to the values and actions of Christ-like servanthood.

This will lead to defensive and protective behavior from putting self over others.

Seventh, living with an eternal perspective,

And having eternal goals and values.

This was true with Jesus,

Therefore, it must be true for us too.

This means we understand that we are aliens in this world.

We are living to hear Jesus tell us one day,

“Well done, good and faithful servant.”

When we follow the example of Jesus,

We function as servants who seek to serve others in loving and selfless service.

Mark Dever comments on this;

“It’s as if we are seeing a reality that others don’t see and are responding to things that they don’t understand. And indeed we are. We are following this one who, though in very nature God, took on the form of a servant.”

GOD: Sacrifice (Ransom)

Jesus is fully man, fully God, came to serve,

And to give His life as a ransom.

Jesus is our sacrifice.

The kind of service Jesus was referring to was sacrificial service.

His service was fully giving Himself.

Giving His life, His soul, His very self.

Jesus is just outside of Jerusalem when He tells this to the disciples.

He knew He was going to Jerusalem to continue to obediently follow the Father’s will,

Leading to Him giving His life.

And each step He took brought Him closer and closer to the cross.

Friends, you must understand,

You will never justify yourself by your own faithfulness.

You will not be able to present any work to God that will make you right in His sight.

Anything you do will be drastically insufficient at saving yourself.

But Jesus, the Son of Man, is of infinite value,

So, He pays the price to release us from our slavery to sin.

He sacrificed Himself to be the ransom for many.

A ransom is the price paid to free the guilty from their sentence.

Exodus 21:30 shows the place a ransom has in the law.

Exodus 21:30 ESV

If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him.

The ransom that would be given would be a sacrifice that would equal out the guilty party’s debt.

The debt we owe as the guilty party is too great beyond our ability to pay.

That is why we need a perfect ransom to pay that debt.

The idea of ransom is not prominent in the NT.

Paul refers to Jesus give Himself as a ransom for all in 1 Tim. 2:6.

But more commonly used is the idea of propitiation.

The propitiation is the payment,

In this case, the payment is described as a ransom.

To put it simply,

Jesus’ death pays for your life.

This idea of ransom is not as common in our culture today as it was during the NT time.

But it conveys a more common idea in our culture,

And that is the idea of redemption.

Jesus bought back your freedom from captivity.

He paid the price for your release.

This is a deeply rooted theme throughout the Bible.

We saw it with the Passover Lamb in Exodus 12.

We saw it with the sacrifices for the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16.

And we saw it with the Suffering Servant in Isaiah.

Jesus understood that His death was the ransom for His people.

Instead of continuing in your slavery to sin,

Jesus gives Himself in exchange for your freedom.

Through Christ, we are redeemed prisoners.

Jesus teaches in John 8:34 that you are a slave to sin.

That is why Jesus came to ransom you from the penalty for breaking God’s law,

From God’s wrath, from the eternal death that we all deserve.

Brothers and sisters, meditate on your redemption.

The love God has for you is like no other.

He has bought your reconciliation through Christ.

This is what giving His life as a ransom represents.

YOU: Substitute (for)

He is our substitute.

That is what the little word, ‘for,’ communicates.

Jesus is the ransom in your place,

As your substitute.

This is the first time that Jesus makes clear that He is dying for His disciples.

He is dying to redeem us.

He is not just dying on our behalf,

He is not just dying for our benefit,

He is dying in our place.

We deserve that death on the cross,

But Jesus died that death for you,

So, that now, you do not have to die.

Jesus being a ransom for many,

Means He is a sacrificial substitute.

He is a sacrifice in place of or instead of the many.

God prepared for Jesus to teach this with the passages that we have looked at the past three weeks.

But also, Genesis 22 gives the account of God providing a ram to be sacrificed instead of Abraham’s son, Isaac.

This idea of substitution is deeply entrenched all throughout the Bible.

Why is that?

Because we need a substitute for our guilty nature.

And praise God, He has determined to accept Christ as our substitute.

The early church father, Augustine, once shared about something a teacher told him;

“It is profitable to me to know that for my sake Christ bore my infirmities, submitted to the affections of my body, that for me and for all he was made sin and a curse, that for me and in me was he humbled and made subject, that for me he is the lamb, the vine, the rock, the servant.”

Either we understand and embrace Jesus as our substitute,

Or we will be tempted to slip into a religion of works to save self.

If you do not believe this about Jesus,

Then you do not believe Christianity.

Some may accuse this statement of being too centered on Jesus’ suffering for our salvation.

But that makes no sense.

As sinners, that suffering is meant for us.

And Jesus understood this.

So, He knew His suffering was in place of us sinners.

That is why Jesus told His disciples at the last supper that He broke His body and poured His blood for us.

Christ died for our sins,

So, if we do not put the cross at the center of Christianity,

Then what would we put?

WE: Savior (Many)

Jesus is the Savior for many.

The many refers to the entire community of God’s people.

If you have repented of your sins and trusted in Christ,

Then you are a part of this community.

And it says many because Jesus is dying for a whole bunch of people!

His death is not just for a few,

But for many!

It is the same word used in Isaiah 53.

Jesus dies for the ones He justifies.

And whoever He wants to justify, He will.

Jesus has a great number of souls in mind,

As Revelation showed us,

The number will be too great to count.

So, Jesus considered the cost of redemption,

And was pleased to be our Savior.

He was faithful to accomplish His work on the cross.

There is no way to fully measure the power of Christ’s death.

It is infinite in power.

And He knew who He was laying down His life for,

They are the ones He says the Father elected,

Whom the Spirit would give the gift of repentance and faith.

If you are not a believer,

I plead with you to confess that you have sinned,

To turn from them,

And to trust in Christ as your Savior.

He is your fully sufficient Savior.

Your sins have left you in a debt that you cannot pay.

And if you reflect deep down,

You know in your conscience that you have sinned.

And the answer is to trust that Jesus paid your debt,

By being a ransom for you.

Jesus was aware that His death was to be the Savior for His people.

Dane Ortlund writes;

“Atonement theology has always understood that the justice of God was vindicated and the wrath of God was satisfied in the work of the Son. Christ did not live, die, and rise from the dead as a moral example mainly or a triumph over Satan mainly or a demonstration of his love mainly. Supremely, the work of the Son, and especially his death and resurrection, satisfied the Father’s righteous wrath against the horror of human rebellion against him.”

The Father’s wrath had to be satisfied for we who are sinful to be brought into His favor.

And this is what His heart wants.

Both the Father and the Son were eager for atonement to take place.

The mistake we often make when thinking about the Father,

Is our tendency to draw conclusions about who He is,

Based off what needed to be done.

Together, the Father and the Son ordained a way of Salvation,

Reflecting a heart of love and mercy.

As Paul writes in 2 Cor. 1:3;

2 Corinthians 1:3 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

Reflecting on this verse, the Puritan Thomas Goodwin wrote a wonderful meditation;

“As there are a variety of miseries which the creature is subject unto, so [the Father] has in himself a shop, a treasury of all sorts of mercies, divided into several promises in the Scripture…If your heart be hard, his mercies are tender. If your heart be dead, he has mercy to liven it. If you be sick, he has mercy to heal you. If you be sinful, he has mercies to sanctify and cleanse you. As large and various as are our wants, so large and various are his mercies. So we may come boldly to find grace and mercy to help us in time of need, a mercy for every need.”

Yes, Jesus is an example for us.

He is true greatness,

And if the greatest One did not come to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many,

How much more should we who are lesser do this too?

Jesus calls us to give our lives in humble service for the good of others.

He uses His death as an example for us,

That is incredible.

An extraordinary example for the ordinary act of humbly serving others.

The reason for this,

Is because Jesus needed to contrast this act against the self-centered attitude of His disciples.

So, what would this look like for you at work?

Imagine there were a videotape recording you.

What would it show?

Would it show you serving your spouse?

Giving yourself to others?

Centering people on God?

Or, would it capture you serving yourself above others?

C.J. Mahaney offers a great quote here;

“Ultimately our Christian service exists only to draw attention to this source—to our crucified and risen Lord who gave Himself as the ransom for us all.”

Think about your service this past week.

Was it done with this purpose in mind?

Was your humble service a pointer to Jesus?

Or was it pointing somewhere else?

This mindset makes our service so much more powerful than we treat it.

No, this service will not save you,

But yes, it points others toward Jesus Christ giving Himself as a ransom to save them.

We must humbly seek to serve.

We cannot seek to take hold of places of honor for ourselves.

Don’t be like the disciples here,

Asking Jesus for the best place in His Kingdom,

And getting mad at others who take the positions you think you deserve.

We want to be people who exemplify the same attitude that was in Christ Jesus who gave Himself for others.

This philosopher, Ayn Rand,

Describes faith as the negation of reason.

She says,

“A man who places others first, above his own creative work, is an emotional parasite; whereas, if he places his work first, there is no conflict between his work and his enjoyment of human relationships…Now you want me to speak about the cross. What is correct is that I do regard the cross as the symbol of sacrifice of the ideal to the nonideal. Isn’t that what it does mean? Christ in terms of Christ philosophy, is the human ideal. He personifies that which men should strive to emulate. Yet, according to the Christ mythology, he died on the cross not for his own sins but for the sins of the nonideal people. In other words, a man of perfect value was sacrificed for men who are vicious and who are expected or supposed to accept that sacrifice. If I were a Christian, nothing could make me more indignant than that: the notion of sacrificing the ideal to the nonideal, or virtue to vice. And it is in the name of that symbol that men are asked to sacrifice themselves for their inferiors.”

Ayn Rand, as many others in the world,

Is bothered that Christianity is not self-centered.

Mark 10:45 alone, shows that Christ is not a worldly power,

He didn’t come to kill and conquer,

He came to sacrifice Himself to serve others.

Can you say that is the goal you set for yourself?

That you seek to use yourself for the good of others?

Or are you using others for the good of yourself?

What is your plan to serve?

What is your plan to live a life that points to Jesus?

More importantly, How is Jesus serving you?

He came to be your Savior.

Salvation is impossible without Him.

Is He your Savior?

It is one thing to know that Jesus is the Savior.

But do you know Jesus as your Savior?

I want to close with words C.H. Spurgeon once preached;

“Dost thou believe? “I believe.” says one…Hold your tongue, sir! That matter not; the devil believer that, perhaps more intelligently than you do; he believes and trembles. That kind of believing saves no man…Dost thou trust—for that is the cream of the word ‘believe’—dost thou trust in Jesus? Dost thou lean thy whole weight on him?…This is the faith that saves—faith that falls back into the arms of Jesus, a faith that drops from its own hanging-place into those mighty arms.”

Don’t just know that Jesus is Savior, know Jesus as your Savior and serve others.