Faithful in Service

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

I’m going to begin this morning by asking you a question:

Do you want to be great?

My guess is that for most of you, you secretly want to say yes, but you’re afraid that if you do that, it will sound selfish, and since we’re in the midst of a sermon series titled “Selfless”, the obvious answer must be “no”.

Tension

But what if I were to tell you that Jesus wants us to be great. It’s just that His definition of greatness is much different than that of the world.

We live in a world where greatness is measured by things like power, prestige, position and possessions. It is determined based on what kind of degree you have or by all the initials after your name. So if you were to take a poll and ask people who the greatest people are in America, they are likely to name athletes, actors, singers, the CEO’s of large companies or those on the list of the wealthiest people in the country.

We’ve even coined a term to describe these people - G.O.A.T. [show photo of a goat]. No, not that kind of goat - the acronym “G.O.A.T.” which stands for the “greatest of all time”. [G.O.A.T. picture] If you’re not familiar with that term, it’s actually a fairly recently coined term that wasn’t added to the dictionary until 2018.

But in God’s kingdom, the greatest are determined in a completely different way and today, we’ll let Jesus show us how greatness is determined in His world.

Truth

As is almost often the case, context is important for our understanding of today’s passage, which is found in Mark chapter 10. Chapters 8-10 of Mark’s gospel form a cohesive unit. Jesus is traveling from place to place with His disciples on His way to Jerusalem, where He will be crucified. He uses the encounters that take place along the way as opportunities to teach His disciples. There are three main themes that are embodied in that teaching:

The kingdom of God

His upcoming death and resurrection

The idea of the first becoming last and the last becoming first. This is the theme that is particularly relevant to the passage we will look at today. It’s important to note that Jesus had frequently spoken of this idea prior to the event that we’ll study today, so this shouldn’t be anything new for His disciples. I’ve always figured that if Jesus needed to teach His disciples the same thing over and over before they got it, then it’s probably wise for me to do the same thing when I teach. So don’t be offended if you think I’m beating a point to death, because even though you may get it the first time, not everyone else will.

With that in mind, follow along as I read today’s passage:

Mark 10:35–45 ESV

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.”

The main idea here is very clear:

In God’s kingdom, the way to greatness is servanthood and slavery

Matthew’s account of this event reveals that it wasn’t just James and John that approached Jesus. Their mother also came along with them and made the same request. Apparently she was what we would call a “helicopter mom” today. My first reaction to that is to say to her two sons, “Man up guys!” “Do you really need your mom to ask Jesus for what you want?”

But we need to understand who their mother was. If you put together the four gospel accounts you will discover that their mom is Salome, the sister of Mary, Jesus’ mother. So she is Jesus’ aunt. She is in essence asking for a family favor. But she doesn’t ask anything for herself. Perhaps she is seeking to live vicariously through the achievement of her children, somewhat like the parents today who spend countless hours and financial resources in hopes that their kid will become the next Olympic star, professional athlete, or a famous actor or singer. Or maybe the parent with this bumper sticker. [Proud parent of an honor roll student]. Personally kind of like this one. [Proud parent of a child whose self esteem doesn’t depend on minor scholastic achievements being displayed on a car bumper].

Salome and her two sons are very bold. They come to Jesus and ask if He will grant them whatever they ask. That seems pretty brash to us, but in reality that’s how a lot of people treat Jesus - like some genie who is there to grant their wishes.

I’m reminded of the elderly man who was cleaning out his attic and found an old lamp. When he rubbed it with a cloth to clean it off, a genie appeared, and as genies always do, offered to grant him three wishes. Of course, the first wish the man made was to be wealthy. “Granted”, said the genie, “I just deposited 5 million dollars in your bank account”. The man thought for a while and then asked for his second wish - to be young again. Poof, he was immediately 25 years old. He though again for a few more minutes before deciding on his third wish. ‘I want to be irresistible to women”. The genie turned him into a box of chocolates.

What James and John asked of Jesus was far more outrageous than those requests. They asked for Jesus to place them at His right and left hand when His kingdom was inaugurated. That would have made them the second and third most powerful people in that kingdom, behind only Jesus. But perhaps that request wasn’t quite as far fetched as it sounds to us. After all, not long before this, Jesus made this promise to His disciples:

Matthew 19:28 ESV

28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

But for James and John, it wasn’t just enough to be one of the twelve, they wanted to make sure they got the best thrones, the ones with the most influence and power. As part of Jesus’ inner circle that also included Peter, they probably felt entitled to that position. And they also seemed to think if they asked first, it would give them a leg up on the others.

James and John seem to have forgotten that they had done absolutely nothing to earn their way into Jesus’ inner circle. They weren’t well educated or wealthy or influential. They were in that position only because Jesus had chosen them and thus they weren’t really entitled to anything. That is not altogether different that the entitlement culture we live in today, where people believe that they are owed something even though they have done nothing to earn or deserve it. And they have no problem finding plenty of politicians who will promise to give them those things in return for keeping them in office.

I’m going to come back to Jesus’ response in a moment, but before I do that I want to skip ahead to verse 41 and see how the other ten apostles responded. They were indignant at James and John, but not for the right reason. They weren’t upset because the request they made was inappropriate or disrespectful of Jesus. Based on Jesus’ response, it seems most likely they were just mad they hadn’t thought to ask first. And the idea that James and John thought they were superior to the others didn’t set well with them either.

What is really interesting here is that Jesus doesn’t directly condemn either group. It is particularly important to note that He doesn’t tell them that their desire to be great is wrong. But He does make it clear that greatness in His kingdom is not measured by who sits in a place of prominence. As we said earlier...

In God’s kingdom, the way to greatness is servanthood and slavery

So let’s look at how Jesus responded to James and John and to the other 10 apostles and see what we can learn about...

Application

HOW TO DEVELOP THE HEART OF A SERVANT

Look to the example of Jesus

I’ll begin with the principle we see in the last verse of this passage. If there is anyone who deserved a place of honor and prominence, it was Jesus. Many of you are familiar with Philippians chapter 2. I have to wonder if Paul didn’t write that chapter based on what Jesus says here. I’m not going to read that right now because of time limitations, but I am going to encourage you to read it again this week. In fact, I’m going to make that part of your homework assignment.

Jesus carried out the greatest act of servanthood ever when He left the glory of heaven, came here to earth and put on the body of a man so that He could serve all of mankind, even those who He knew beforehand would reject Him. He died on the cross, not because He deserved it, but because He loves us so much. And because He did not desire the kind of things that would have made Him great in the eyes of the world, God exalted Him and one day every knee will bow and confess that He is Lord.

Check my motives

I expect that that those in this world are going to be motivated by things like wealth, fame, power and entitlement. But I am deeply saddened when I see the same thing happen with the body of Christ.

Let me be really clear that I am completely incapable of judging the motivations of another person. Only God can do that. But at the same time, I do see some things within the church that lead me to wonder if we haven’t allowed the world’s measure of greatness to usurp God’s measure. In much of the developed world, we now basically have a growing number of celebrity pastors and worship leaders

Back in 2007, several of us in this room went to a worship event that featured two worship leaders who graciously gave about an hour of their time before the event to talk about worship with worship leaders and pastors. This year, one of those same artists is part of another tour which is selling tickets to what they are calling an “experience package”. That package seems to be far closer to something that would happen at some awards show or a secular concert than it would at a worship event. In Phoenix, those tickets are more than $300 per person.

Like I hope I made clear, I’m in no position to judge the heart of that person. But it sure doesn’t look like something that someone with a servant heart would participate in. At the same time, we need to realize that we are all also prone to falling prey to wrong motives. I can even serve others in a way that looks good on the outside, but do it because I think it puts me in a favorable light to others or even because it makes me feel good.

I don’t think Jesus is nearly as upset with His disciples for what they asked for as He is with what motivated them to ask for that in the first place - their desire for recognition and power.

Be willing to make sacrifices

Even though He has clearly told them on numerous occasions that He is going to Jerusalem to die on a cross, the disciples still don’t get it. So when Jesus talks about drinking a cup and being baptized, they brashly claim that they are ready to do that too, if that’s what it takes. But they obviously have no idea what they are talking about.

Jesus uses the word “cup” here to refer to “a life experience”. He will use the same term in the Garden right before His crucifixion:

Mark 14:36 ESV

36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

And He uses the word “baptism”, which means “to be immersed” to communicate that He is about to be immersed in an experience that they can’t even imagine.

One day both James and John would experience their own “cup”. James would be the first apostle to give his life for his faith when he was beheaded at the order of King Agrippa, not long after this. John would be the only apostle to live a full life, but he ended his life in exile on the island of Patmos. But neither of those experiences can’t even begin to compare to what Jesus will experience when all the sins of the world are laid on Him.

This is an important reminder that being a servant is almost always costly in some way. At a minimum, it will cost me some of my time. It might cost some of my material resources. It might cost me my dignity or my reputation. It might be physically difficult or painful.

One of the best examples I ever saw when it came to making sacrifices in order to serve others was my dad. He had a degenerative nerve disease that required him to use a walker, but that didn’t stop him from attending any of the activities that our family was involved in or being actively involved in the booster club at the high school or serving with the Lions Club. His life still inspires me to try and be that kind of servant.

Be willing to yield my rights

Again we must begin with the example of Jesus, who yielded His right to receive constant worship in heaven. He willingly gave that up for a time to come and serve man by giving His life as a ransom.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that in verses 33-34, Jesus instructs the disciples to have that same kind of attitude. Instead of insisting on their rights as apostles, they are to instead be servants and slaves.

The word translated “servant” in verse 43 is the same Greek word from which we get the word “deacon”. It literally means someone who waits on tables or performs other menial tasks.

Slaves were even inferior to servants. They were owned and had absolutely no rights of their own

As we saw earlier, Jesus had told James and John and the other apostles that they would one day have the kind of authority they were seeking. But it wasn’t the right time for that yet. So in the meantime, they were to serve others in a way that often required them to yield the rights they had as His apostles.

There are times that being a good leader does require us to have authority over others. But one of the marks of a good servant leader is that he or she recognizes that for the good of the whole, it is sometimes appropriate for them to yield their rights to exercise that authority to others.

A great example of that occurred right here at TFC a few weeks ago. Several of you here participated in our work day and the picnic that took place the next day. And if you were observant, you’ll notice that our Elders didn’t just stand around telling everyone what to do. They worked as hard as anyone and they were among the last to leave the church both days. That is one reason I love serving with these men.

In God’s kingdom, the way to greatness is servanthood and slavery

Action

I’m going to close by asking all of us to make this very practical.

PUTTING THE MESSAGE INTO PRACTICE EACH DAY THIS WEEK:

I’m going to give you all a homework assignment this week. I’ll encourage you to do each of these things each day, but honestly, even if you do them for just a few days, I’m convinced it will make a difference in your life.

Read Philippians 2:1-11.

That’s pretty self-explanatory. You can do that in a minute or two.

Pray “Lord, make me a servant today”

I am confident that if you pray that prayer at the beginning of each day, that is a prayer God will delight to answer.

Look for opportunities to serve others

The fact that you have prayed and asked God to make you a servant, should make you more aware of the opportunities to serve others that will come into your life that day.

Take appropriate action

Here is where the rubber meets the road. It’s not enough to just see the opportunities. To be a real servant we need to act. Obviously some discernment is needed here as most of us probably don’t have the time or the resources to meet every need that we see. But, we can all do something. Remember what we said earlier. It is going to cost you something - time, resources, etc. - to serve others.

Pray for those you have served

Ask God to produce fruit in the lives of those people as a result of your service in their life. Ask Him to bless them and to draw them close to Him. Ask that your service to them might inspire them to serve someone else.

Inspiration

At the beginning of this message I asked you if you want to be great. We’ve seen this morning that there are two possible paths to greatness. In the kingdom of men, the path to greatness is self-promotion. In the kingdom of God the path to greatness is self-denial. Obviously those two paths are mutually exclusive, so each one of us have to choose which path we will take.

It is certainly a paradox, but for the disciple of Jesus, the way to the top is always through the bottom. Your greatness in the kingdom of God is directly correlated to whether you are willing to be a humble servant and slave.