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December 9, 2018
Jason Meyer | Mark 10:35-45
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.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 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?” 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, 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.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 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. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”—Mark 10:35–45
Advent Sermon #2, 2018
Introduction
25 x ’25: The First 25 Months
Last week, we entered into our season of Advent as we joyfully celebrate the first coming of Christ and eagerly await his second coming. Our focus on the two comings of Christ also empowered our prayers for our first of 25 unengaged people groups to be engaged: the Tak people of SE Asia. You can see in the card in your bulletins that we also have five global partners considering unengaged people groups and 30 units in the Nurture Program who are considering ministering to unengaged people groups. It feels like a mighty movement of gospel momentum here as we joyfully begin to target people groups for gospel work who have never been targeted. This week we turn our attention to pray for the Mpi people of Thailand. It thrills our hearts to think about the Second Coming, and we lament that this people group has not yet heard of Christ’s first coming.
Before we pray for them, it would be good to take stock of where we are as a church. As we look at the end of this year and the start of 2019, we are in a place where we have not been before. We have so many people who we are preparing to send (a good problem), but we are faced with making hard decisions about perhaps having to delay sending some of them as we look at the need for generous giving. As you look at the card that is in your bulletin and the work that God has been doing at Bethlehem over these 25 months, let us lean into the Lord and by faith finish strong.
I’ve been deeply encouraged by some of the emails I received recently from Bethlehem members. Many people have written to me and said that they wondered if they could really keep their 25 x ’25 commitments. But lo and behold, just as the Lord has stirred the hearts of people to target the untargeted and plant churches among the unchurched, so he has provided the funds necessary to give. And some of the money came from places that were surprising or unexpected. It is a joy to see the Lord move in such personal, tangible ways. What a joy to hear back from some of you as you’ve shared your testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness. He has provided in both big and small ways with the result that people have renewed excitement to give in a joyful and worshipful way. So let’s lean into the Lord to finish this 25-month initiative in a way that exalts the grace of our faithful heavenly Father who supplies us with all we need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Our text today has a similar focus on serving and the giving of ourselves. Serving others requires that we give of ourselves: our time, talents, and treasures. We all know that we should not live in a self-serving way, but the question is, “How do we get there? How do you become less self-serving and serve more in the strength that God supplies?” This text for today answers that question in some stunning and surprising ways.
Outline:
The main point could be stated in two ways. One could say it upfront or, let it build inductively and state it at the end. I am going to have my cake and eat it too by telling you up front and at the end. Here is how I would state the main point of the passage and the sermon: We serve because Christ first served us.
1)The Dysfunction of the Disciples (vv. 35–41)
A. The Question of James and John (vv. 35–37)
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” (v. 35).
I want you to feel the drama of this moment. In the watershed moment of Mark 8, Peter got Jesus’ identity right: While others thought he was a prophet or John the Baptist, Peter rightly testified that Jesus is the Messiah. He had faith—he rightly believed! But then Jesus told him that he was the type of Messiah who would die and rise. Peter rebuked him and told him he was wrong. Peter told the Messiah that he didn’t understand what a Messiah should be! He had unbelief and spiritual blindness—the disciples needed help to believe and to see.
So Jesus has been talking about his death and resurrection for three chapters. And for three chapters the disciples have been blind to what he was saying. And for three chapters they have been afraid to ask him to help them see it.
But now, two of the disciples, James and John, finally work up the courage to ask Jesus a question. Could this be their moment when they ask for help with their unbelief? Could this be the moment when they cry out like the father of the demon-possessed boy—“We believe, but help us with our unbelief!”
B. The Conversation With Jesus (vv. 36–40)
And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 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?” 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, 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.”
Don’t you want to put your head in your hands at this point and sigh? Do you see what they are asking? They are not humbly asking to see—they are arrogantly asking to be seen. They just heard Jesus say that he was going to get mocked and spit upon and flogged and killed. But they don’t seem to get it. They want to sit on the places of honor and power at his right and left hand in his glory. They think he is a King who is about to conquer Jerusalem—perhaps like the warrior kings of Israel of old. They want to the positions of power—something like the Secretary of State and Prime Minister. These disciples are like cronies who want cabinet positions in the new regime.
In fact, this was a true family affair because the mom of these two brothers was involved as well. Listen to the extra details that Matthew adds.
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”—Matthew 20:20–21
What an ambitious family! It has all the intrigue of a Jane Austin novel with power plays for family honor. This is truly a dysfunctional situation—family drama for sure. How will Jesus respond?
Jesus does not respond with an immediate “no.” He instead talks about a different kind of “know,” namely, he tells them that they don’t “know” what they are asking. Do you feel the irony? Jesus is going to the cross. And if you have read ahead you might know that there will be someone on his right and left—but they will be crucified criminals.
So Jesus asks them if they are able to endure what he is about to suffer, to drink the cup he must drink and enter the waters of baptism (death) that he is about to wade into. They say, “yes.” But they are saying “yes” to something they don’t even understand. These disciples are a sad and tragic mix of ignorance and arrogance.
Jesus does not get angry at them. He simply tells them that they will taste and experience what is about to happen to him, but it is still more than they can comprehend. He also says that he is not calling the shots. It is the Father’s plan that is unfolding page by page and moment by moment. (Matthew 20:23 makes this explicit: “prepared by my Father.”) The Father is working out his plan and the places next to Jesus are already prepared.
C. The Conflict Among the Disciples (v. 41)
And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.
Have you ever wondered what the other 10 disciples thought about this request from these two brothers? How will they respond to this dysfunctional drama? By adding more dysfunctional responses! They are “indignant” at James and John. Why are they so angry? Is it because they could never imagine making such a request: Asking to be seen as the greatest?
Do you remember how similar this whole situation is to Mark 9? Jesus announces that he is going to die and rise and they didn’t understand what he meant (9:31–32). They should have asked him about it, but the text says they were afraid to ask (9:32). Instead of asking about it, they were arguing about something else: who would be the greatest. When Jesus asked them what they were discussing, they did not want to tell him—they wanted to keep this private debate under the table (9:33–34).
But now something new has happened. Two of them have brought it out into the open. In other words, they all want the same thing, but only James and John have enough gumption to beat the others to the punch. This is a dysfunctional competition. There is rivalry among the disciples because of the desire to be great and to be seen as great, to be elevated above the others. There can only be two at the right and left (the positions or places of power, like Secretary of State and Prime Minister). The other 10 will miss out. There are a limited number of spots, so you have to step on others in order to climb the ladder to those positions.
How will Jesus respond? He calls them into the counseling room and gives this dysfunctional bunch some sorely needed counsel.
A. The Call to Serve (vv. 42–44)
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. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
This is an expansion of what Jesus has been saying to the disciples all along. Why are they so blind? Why can’t they comprehend what Jesus is saying? It is their spiritual condition. They are wearing the world’s blinders. They think in worldly ways. This was the original rebuke already in Mark 8:33 for Peter.
But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
They are all infected with worldly thinking. Their whole argument about who will be the greatest is rife with worldly thinking about greatness. Worldly rulers and great ones have something in common: They are elevated above others, and they rule over them. You have great and mighty rulers, and you have their lowly servants (usually forced servitude). Jesus highlights a positional reality of high and low. Rulers “lord over” others—the great exercise authority “over” others (Mark 10:42).
Hear a note of irony when Jesus says, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.” That is how the disciples think. How can I rise above all these other chums and gain power and position over them?
Jesus does not tell them, “Stop wanting to be great!” He does not rebuke the quest for greatness; he redefines the quest by redefining greatness. True greatness is not elevating oneself over others as lord but getting beneath others as servant. First place is not the highest place of privilege, but it’s the lowest place of servant. It is not about how high can you climb as you step on and over as many people as possible, but how long can you go as you seek to serve as many people as possible.
The real question here is why anyone would truly seek servanthood. Servanthood is not seen as great; it is not what people aspire to as something desirable and beautiful and attractive. People aspire to rule and status and privilege and prestige.
How could Jesus actually convince the disciples of the greatness of servanthood—the beauty and glory of it? In so many words, he says, “Your problem is that you are looking at the world to see greatness. The solution is to look at me.”
B. The Reason to Serve (v. 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.”
Once again we have the title: “The Son of Man.” I think Jesus keeps using this as an echo of Daniel 7:13—the “one like a son of man” who is elevated over all other rulers because he goes to the Ancient of Days and receives a kingdom. He rules over everyone—all nations. The King over all kings. The Ruler over all rulers.
Yet, here is the “gotcha” moment: The highest and most elevated came not to make servants, but to become a servant. He did not come to get, but to give. Most rulers get rich from the resources of those that they rule over. They get and get—and build the palace and acquire royal clothes and food from the resources of their subjects. This King comes not to get but to give. He gives and gives until he has given all—his very life—as a ransom for many.
This text just exudes Isaiah 53. Where does Jesus get the language of serve? Isaiah 53, the Suffering Servant. Where does Jesus get the language of “many?”
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.—Isaiah 53:11
What happens to the many? They are “ransomed.” The word “ransom” in the culture of Jesus’ day was a financial metaphor. Ransom was a reference to the payment price needed to get prisoners of war or slaves released from prison or slavery. In biblical language (both Greek and Hebrew), this word comes from the sacrificial system: The guilty need a substitute to take away the guilt that will make atonement or cover sin or remove wrath. That is why it is called “substitutionary sacrifice.” The substitutionary language is present with the preposition “for” (anti) meaning “in the place of” We sing about this in our songs about the cross: “In my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood, hallelujah, what a Savior.”
Where does the sacrificial and substitutionary language come from?
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. ...
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt ....”—Isaiah 53:5–6, 10
The most elevated (the Daniel 7 King) came as the lowest (the despised Isaiah 53 Servant). The highest person took the lowest place to serve, rescue, and ransom hell-bound humanity. Humanity had a debt they could not pay, and when it came due, there would literally be hell to pay. But Jesus took our place, paid our debt, satisfied the wrath of God that was against us.
One of the things we are emphasizing this Advent is the way that the whole biblical story fits together. The Christmas story is a scene within the overall story that fits with the rest of the story. Here is how this particular text or scene ties into the larger biblical story.
The passage is a picture of us. We don’t mock the disciples. They don’t exist to mock; they exist as a mirror. We are often self-serving like the disciples instead of self-sacrificing like Jesus. We too often fall into the same pattern of thinking and living as the world we live in.
Because we are self-serving, we often end up using people to get what we want. We should be using things and loving people, but often we use people to get the things we love.
We live in a world of rivalry and competition. The people that win these competitions are regarded as great because they beat out all the other competitors: You need to be smarter than others, more attractive than others, stronger than others, or even perhaps more fortunate than others. The way to win is a competition in which you have to step on other teams and eliminate them to be the last one standing. People become stepping stones or rungs on a ladder on the way to the top.
Why is the world this way? One theory prominent today is naturalism or the evolutionary theory. Survival of the Fittest. We are told that this is just the way the world works. It is a dog-eat-dog world. Only the strong survive. They say, “Look at nature.” The Strong Eat the Weak. Nature Is Red in Tooth and Claw. This is necessary to evolution and adaptation. The strong who survive get to pass on their DNA and reproduce.
But why does it not feel right? Why are we sad when we see our dog tear apart a baby bird? Why do we instinctively know that it is wrong for people to abuse and enslave and take advantage of others?
Christianity says the only way you can explain the competition and rivalry is the Fall. God created the world. There was harmony. The animals did not eat each other, and Adam and Eve did not abuse each other or kill each other. But after the Fall you see Adam and Eve blame-shifting, and humanity begins to murder, lie, and exploit.
Jesus came to reverse the curse. How could we ever get back to the way it was? The Bible itself promises a return to Paradise conditions. The Ancient Promise and the Hope of Restoration:
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.—Isaiah 11:6–11
When will this happen? When the Isaiah 11 King comes. The King in the line of Jesse, Great David’s Greater Son will bring this new creation. But how will he do that? The new creation comes about in a different way than the first creation. We need not only creation, but creation through redemption. Here is what I mean.
The first creation came by the power of God’s word. In creation, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. He said, “Let there be vegetation” (v. 12) and there was. Let there be a light to rule the day and one to rule the night (and there was the sun and moon). Let the waters swarm with life (and they did), let the skies be filled with birds (and they were).
But after sin and the Fall and death entered the world, injustice and unrighteousness spread everywhere. And God could not simply say, “Let there be no more guilt.” “Let there be forgiveness.” Why? God is just. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. He can say, “Let there judgment,” and there is a flood that wipes out the world. But forgiveness would be injustice if it were only a declaration and not an accomplishment (because justice needs to be served). A judge cannot declare someone innocent who is guilty just because he is sorry. Justice has to be served. The debt has to be paid. Jesus took our place. He bore the wrath. He took the blame.
That is why creation and redemption look so different. We read the power of creation and it looks stunning and beautiful and attractive. But when God re-creates the world through the cross, it looks ugly and bloody—the crushing of what is beautiful. Why? There is a hidden beauty when justice and mercy meet together violently with a substitutionary sacrifice. It is beautiful only when we see the beauty of sacrificial love—a willing Sacrifice who lays down his life for the many. He took our sin, paid our debt, died our death. All that people saw on that day was the ugliness of death and condemnation. That is why the Isaiah 53 person was despised—he was was regarded and weak and ugly. That is why the disciples seem to have selective hearing. They cannot hear Jesus’ words about his coming violent death. They are repulsed by this talk.
They did not see that Jesus took our condemnation so that the declaration can be true and right: There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (REF)
I want to speak very clearly about the connection between verses 42–44 and verse 45. How do those verses relate? You notice that verse 45 is a ground clause: “For.” It provides the underlying rationale. Serve because I came to serve, or serve because you have been served. Here is how I would state the main point of the passage and the sermon: We serve because he first served us.
But that could be taken in many different ways. Does this new life of service come because we try to be grateful enough that we have been served? Serve because Christ provided a new example and we try really hard to follow it?
This new life comes not because we are selfish people who work harder at being selfless. We are not bad people who become better; we are dead people who come to life. We are darkness that becomes light. The first coming brings a new creation home to people; the Second Coming brings a new creation to the whole cosmos. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. (1 Corinthians 5:17). Someone may ask at this point: I believe that is a true statement, but does that idea show up in the text?
It shows up in a remarkable way. When Jesus speaks to the disciples about kingdom realities, he uses a present tense verb, not a future tense verb. The ESV translation makes this very hard to see (v. 43). “But it shall not be so among you.” The verb is actually present tense and should read, “but it is not so among you.” The translators go with a future tense verb in the sense of a command: “it shall not be so among you.” But it is a contrast between the way things are in the world and the way that things are in the Kingdom. One commentator says it just right: “Thus, to fail in being a servant is not simply to fall short of an ideal condition but to stand outside an existing condition that corresponds to the kingdom of God” (James R. Edwards, Mark, p. 325).
Jesus’ followers are a new creation and so Kingdom life looks very different for those who are citizens of the Kingdom. It is like the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” He doesn’t say, “Be the light.” He says, “You are the light.”
In other words, the light comes to those who are dark and creates light. We don’t just hold a candle, we are a candle that Jesus lights as a new creation. Listen to 2 Corinthians 4:6.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The light of Christ is not overcome by the darkness; the darkness is conquered by the light. Consider Ephesians 5:8–9.
For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).
Conclusion: How Can We Truly Serve or Truly Give?
Only Christians can truly serve others or love others or give to others. Without Christ, all of our serving, loving, or giving comes from an ultimate place of need. Therefore, we don’t really serve people, we use them.
People are naturally self-serving in some way. To quote the movie White Christmas, everyone has an angle. There are usually strings attached. There is no such thing as a free lunch. What is the ulterior motive for serving? Most serving is self-serving in some way. Maybe someone serves you by taking your trash and cleaning your plate because you pay them. There are financial reasons. Maybe they take away your plate and wash it because you threaten them with something terrible. There are protective reasons. Maybe they take away your plate and wash it for relational reasons. They want you to like them or think of them as a certain type of generous person.
Without the coming of Christ, we are incapable of love in the purest sense because we all need love like we need air and water. It is a basic relational need. We can’t live without it. Therefore, all of our love at some ultimate level has a mercenary quality to it because we need others in order to receive love.
The only one that could truly love is someone that does not need us at all. That is why Christmas both reveals love and enables love. True love requires relationship. God doesn’t need us because God is a Trinity. He enjoys within himself a relationship of perfect love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That is why the Bible says that God is love.
The first creation did not come from a deficit but infinite perfection. God didn’t create the world because he was lonely and needed us for relationship and companionship. The new creation through redemption also did not come from a deficit as if Jesus died because he needed us or as a reward for us loving him enough. Redemption came out of the overflow of infinite, perfect love. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
Do you know what this does? Suddenly, our need to be loved is filled up. Our love needs are met in the gospel and so now we can actually love not because we need to for selfish reasons, but because we have been loved. We can love, not because we first loved him, but because he first loved us. We can serve, because he first served us. I want to get as nitty gritty practical as possible here. Tim Keller got a letter from a woman in his church that had learned this truth and she testified as to how it changed her life (from Tim Keller’s King’s Cross, p. 99):
A major [issue] in my life has been people-pleasing. I needed approval, to be liked, admired, accepted. But for the first time I was able to see how important it was that I identified with Christ—his love has enabled me to set up emotional boundaries with people that I never could before. This has enabled me to love my friends and family for who they are and not seek more from them, because I can find whatever is lacking in Christ. It’s been a huge relief to finally feel free enough to love people and know that in Christ I am safe and protected, and that protecting myself or standing up for myself is actually a good thing.
Therefore, my closing question is whether or not you have experienced the new birth and the power of the new creation. Conversion is such a powerful event that it produces effects that can be seen by all. It is a little like a car crash. I had a friend who came to school one day with one of those neck braces and crutches and a cast. We asked what had happened. He said he was in a car crash. We didn’t doubt what he said. There was plenty of evidence. But imagine if someone came to school and said, “Guess what happened to me yesterday. I was walking home from school and I got run over by a semi-truck while crossing the highway.” If we looked him and up and down and said, “But you are not even hurt. You don’t have any crutches or broken bones. There is not a scratch on you.” Imagine the friend responding, “Yeah, I know. The semi was going about 75 mph when it hit me. It hurt a little, but I am fine.” You would not believe them. You would say, “That is impossible.”
In the same way, it is impossible that the grace of Christ could climactically meet you like a freight train of mercy with a head of steam, and do nothing to you. Has the coming of Christ and the grace of Christ’s sacrifice and the power of the new creation wonderfully crashed into you—leaving your pride and self-serving ways crushed, and creating a sweetly-broken worshipper in its place?
Outline
Main Point: We serve because he first served us.
Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to grow in serving as our eyes are lovingly fixed on Jesus and how he first served us.