Sermon Tone Analysis

I was going to find a story about a bad leader or boss to start this teaching, but then I realized, I didn’t need one.

I bet most of you have experienced a bad leader sometime in your life.

Maybe it was a pastor who couldn’t listen to different ideas, or a boss who made working for them an emotionally draining season, or a parent who didn’t equip you for life.

In fact, many of you are sitting under bad leadership in some area of your life, even today.

And if you are, I’m sorry.

If, when I said, bad leadership, you thought of me, then I’m extra sorry (and we should probably talk).

When it comes to leadership, the scriptures are so helpful to us.

They can help instruct us on how to endure difficult situations and how to positively affect change.

But in today’s passage, as we go through the book of Mark, Jesus challenges us in our own personal leadership.

Pastor and author Craig Groeschel has two sayings regarding leadership that are helpful for us today.

First, he says, “Leadership is influence.

Everyone has influence.”

Let that sink in for a second.

Everyone has influence on someone so everyone needs to learn how to lead well.

The second leadership saying he has is, “Everyone wins, when the leader gets better.”

So as we look at today’s passage, I invite you to examine your hearts and see if there is an aspect of growth as a leader, as an influencer, that God is calling you to today.

Pray.

Like Andrew reminded us last week, Mark, the author of the gospel, has written an action-packed story that is about movement.

Here, Jesus is leading his disciples to Jerusalem, where (spoiler alert) he will be falsely accused, unfairly tried, cruelly beaten, crucified, buried for three days and then resurrected.

James and John are brothers, who have a unique role as being two thirds of Jesus’ inner three, and having personally witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus.

Between that, Jesus’ warnings about his upcoming death and resurrection and the miracles they witnessed Jesus doing, they began to believe that Jesus was going inaugurate a literal kingdom on earth in the very near future.

In Matthew 19:28 Jesus tells his disciples “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

So James and John and thinking this is about to happen.

So they ask to sit at the right and left side of Jesus.

In Psalm 110:1 the psalmist writes “The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.””

The idea of the right and left side of the King is that they want to be in this place of honor, of authority, of pre-eminence, where they are above everyone else.

Now, Jesus’ response to their request is interesting.

First, he checks their hearts.

Jesus is about to suffer and die and he asks them, are they are able to do the same.

Most of us would, I think, respond like James and John do.

“Of course!” “Anything for you, Jesus” But when push comes to shove, how willing are we to suffer like Jesus did, when most of us struggle just to give some time to prayer, reflection and study?

When most of us who call ourselves Christians who are afraid to share the gospel with the people in our lives because it makes us feel uncomfortable?

I fear that most of us avoid suffering, instead of embracing it as a part of our spiritual maturity.

James and John talked a big game but when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, they, like the rest of the disciples, ran away in fear.

But thankfully that is not the end of their story.

After that incident, when Jesus is resurrected, they are filled with the Holy Spirit and would go on to be world changers for Jesus.

James would become the first of the disciples to be martyred.

And after planting the church in Ephesus, John would be boiled alive for his faith, and then exiled to a mostly deserted island called Patmos.

They would end up suffering and dying for their faith, just as Jesus predicted in our passage in Mark.

But the other interesting thing about Jesus’ response is that he tells them that the decision is not his.

It belongs to the father.

Jesus is fully God.

He is of the same substance and nature of God.

The apostle Paul says that Jesus is the exact representation of God.

So if Jesus is God, how is there stuff he doesn’t know (like when he is going to return or who will sit on his left and right)?

It’s because Jesus has purposely limited himself when we became human.

God is omnipresent, but Jesus limits himself to time and space.

God is omniscient, but Jesus limits his foreknowledge when he is on earth.

God does not need food, but Jesus limited himself with a body that ate and drank.

Jesus limited himself by becoming fully human.

So James and John have made their big ask, Jesus has shot them down and all the other disciples are now indignant.

What makes James and John think they they should be above everyone else?

Jesus gathers them all and he teaches them the true meaning of leadership.

He says, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them.

But among you it will be different.

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”” - Mark 10:42-45 NLT

Jesus’ main point is that kingdom-based leadership isn’t about authority or prestige; it’s about service.

And to drive that home, he uses himself as the example.

In verse 45, Jesus uses the title “Son of Man” to refer to himself.

This title goes back into the Old Testament.

It most commonly goes back into two books.

The prophet Ezekiel uses it as the name God calls him in his book.

God refers to Ezekiel as “Son of Man” and commands him to instruct Israel and to speak prophetically.

Ezekiel is empowered by God as a prophet and so that title implies divine authority.

The other place the term “Son of Man” is used is in Daniel

Where for Ezekiel, the term was a human endowed with divine authority as a prophet, in Daniel, the term is used of the messiah and it proclaims his eternal authority and divinity.

By taking the term for himself, Jesus is saying that he is the full embodiment of the Son of Man.

He is telling his disciples that he is fully God and fully human and that he has all authority in heaven and on earth for all eternity.

But while Jesus starts verse 45 by claiming the title of the “Son of Man,” he finishes it talking about giving his life as a ransom.

A ransom is a price paid in order to buy back something.

If I am kidnapped, my kidnappers will demand a ransom - an amount which my wife would give in order to get me back.

Now, my wife is a smart woman so she’s going to think about the demand and discern if it’s really worth it.

I say, if it’s more than $50, just leave me.

I’ll preach Jesus so much to them they will let me go by either conversion or just plain annoyance.

In our passage, when Jesus mentions a ransom for many, He again connects his disciples, and us, to the Old Testament.

Speaking prophetically about Jesus and his atoning death, the prophet Isaiah says,

Sin has kidnapped us and separated us from the God who loves us.

We needed Jesus, the eternal Son of God, both fully human and fully divine, to pay our ransom on our behalf because no one else could - no one else is perfectly holy and sinless.

No one else is eternal so that the sacrifice would be all-sufficient.

Only Jesus could reconcile humanity to God and empower us so that by faith, we could have intimacy with God our father and receive forgiveness for our sins.

And if nothing else, I hope that everyone here today will consider this verse (Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many”) and depending on where you are at, respond appropriately.

For those who are already followers of Jesus, your response is one of worship and adoration that God loves you so much that Jesus came to give his life as a ransom for you.

For those who haven’t yet chosen to follow Jesus, for those who are exploring Christianity, I plead with you, see in this verse the nature of God - that he loves you so much he sent his Son, Jesus, and allowed him to sacrifice himself on the cross because of his deep love for you.

I plead with you, to let go of everything that is keeping you from following him and turn to Jesus.

He loves you as you are and wants you to experience a life that is at peace with God.

This passage should cause us all to turn our hearts to Jesus.

But it also has some leadership principles to teach us.

So what is Jesus saying about leadership?

He is saying, look at me - I’m the Son of Man, fully of eternal and supreme authority - and I didn’t come here for people to serve me.

I came to serve people and to sacrifice my life for their sake, to help them be right with God.

When it comes to the idea of leadership, James and John were viewing it in light of the common monarchy that was prevalent in their time.

They looked at the kings and those closest to them and saw their power and prestige.

They see how people in the culture save the best seat, the seat of honor, which is next to the host, for the most important guests.

The used the world’s definition of leadership at the time as the blueprint for Jesus’ rule and they wanted to be as high up as they could.

But Jesus’ view of leadership in the kingdom of God is radically different than how the kings and queens of the day saw leadership.

They saw leadership as how you rule others from the top down.

Jesus flips the script on them and teaches them that greatness and leadership is about how you serve others from the bottom up.

So how can this play out?

Let me give you two servant leadership principles that will help you to lead like Jesus.