Serving Unto Death (Mark 10:32-52 September 20, 2015)

Transcription

1 Serving Unto Death (Mark 10:32-52 September 20, 2015) A number of times in Scripture men and women stood before a King and the King asked them what is it you want me to do for you? Some examples are: Salome before King Herod. Nehemiah before King Artaxerxes. Esther before King Ahasuerus. It is a dangerous thing to ask a King for anything. Some of them may have lost their life even coming before the King. But they were asked the question and the answers they gave fell into two categories. They either asked for something of personal benefit or they asked for something to benefit the kingdom of God. Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist. Nehemiah asked to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Esther asked for the Jews to be spared. What would you ask for if God Himself the King of Kings sent an angel to this world who stood face to face before you and said the Great King has a question for you what do you want Him to do for you? Wow the Creator God Himself has asked what it is you want? How would you answer? Would you ask for something to benefit you or for something to benefit the kingdom? Would you ask for a husband, a child, financial help, healing, worldly greatness? Or would you ask to serve in any way that would see His kingdom come? This morning we are going to meet some men who actually stood before Jesus God in human flesh who then asked them what do you want me to do for you?

2 Jesus used this opportunity to teach His disciples and us this incredible lesson: In the upside down kingdom the greatest blessing possible comes from serving and salvation. What is the upside down kingdom? We have been looking at it in the Gospel of Mark. It is a kingdom where none of the rules and conventions of this world apply. What we are going to see is that if you want blessing in this kingdom it comes from serving even unto death and from being saved from just being in the kingdom. We have already seen in Mark the disciples arguing about which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom. Jesus rebuked them and told them in His kingdom those the world sees as the great the powerful, the rich, the connected, the shakers they are in fact the least. And in contrast those the world sees as the least the childlike, the insignificant, the weak, the poor, the helpless, the lowest these are the very ones who are truly great. In the kingdom of heaven every notion of greatness is inverted. Why? Why are the least the greatest? Because: In the upside down kingdom the least are shown to be the most like the Servant King. Jesus is the highest of all yet He made Himself the lowest of all in order to save His people.

3 The great ones are those who choose to become low like Jesus to serve to serve even those who oppose them even at the cost of their life. This teaching comes in a section of Mark where Jesus is teaching on the necessity of the cross in salvation. We have seen Him declare that: True disciples are those who join the Saviour in the path of: Suffering (8:34-9:29) Sacrificing (9:30-10:31) Now we come to a section where he looks at: Serving (10:32-52) What we are going to see is that Jesus is not just talking about taking lowly jobs cleaning, visiting the poor this service includes that but goes way beyond that. Jesus served His people by laying down His very life for them and He calls us to do the same. Here is how this fleshes out. In this section: Jesus declares the true power of serving in salvation He begins by reiterating the importance of serving even unto death in the plan of God. Turn with me to Mark 10:32: And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Jesus is drawing near to Jerusalem and the reality of the situation is beginning to dawn on the disciples.

4 They were amazed that Jesus would resolutely be heading towards death. And their association with Jesus put them at risk so there was a growing fear. Verses 33-34: And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise. Jesus will suffer and die. He is going to serve His people by giving up His life for them. It will happen. It was locked in before the foundation of the world. Yet once again, the disciples seem incapable of grasping the implications of this and: Jesus has to rebuke any who reject the centrality of serving even unto death. Jesus has just said His service must lead Him to the cross. But instead of supporting Jesus instead of being there for Him their thoughts turn to themselves. Who will be top dog in the kingdom? Jesus then reinforces the need for a crucified lifestyle. Jesus shows them that serving even unto death is the path a true disciple should choose. Finally: Jesus reveals the difficulty of accepting this teaching. This section ends with the miracle of the healing of blind Bartimaeus. Healing Bartimaeus is a symbol of the healing we all need in order to grasp the truth of what Jesus is doing. Finally, Bartimaeus sees the Saviour and chooses to follow Him on the road to Jerusalem. That is how this section flows. But I want to get to the heart of this message by looking at these two encounters James and John and then Bartimaeus. These encounters are linked. In both encounters Jesus asks what do you want Me to do for you? James and John are disciples saved men. Their encounter causes us to ask:

5 What should the saved ask Jesus for? Then Jesus meets Bartimaeus a blind unsaved beggar. This encounter causes us to ask: What should the unsaved ask Jesus for? We begin with this first encounter and first question: What should the saved ask Jesus for? Verse 35: And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him. They are drawing ever nearer to Jerusalem and the cross. So James and John Jesus cousins two of the three men who are His closest confidants draw Him aside. If Jesus is going to die they want it made very clear what the pecking order in the kingdom will be. Not only that, they want Jesus to anoint them as the greatest in the kingdom and they knew He wouldn t be happy with their request. But, they wanted it so much they played their two big cards their Aces to try and get Jesus to give them what they wanted. First, they played the: 1. The Trust Card

6 James and John said to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. They called Him Teacher showing respect. Then they said please promise to do whatever we ask before we tell you what it is. I want to suggest that if anyone tries that on you know that you aren t going to like the request when you finally hear it so don t rush to say yes. James and John are hoping the years of trust and friendship and ministry will mean Jesus will just just give them what they ask. In this they are acting childish. This is something kids do all the time. Does their manipulation sound familiar? If your child knows that you will probably say no they bat their baby blues and say just trust me Daddy just promise you will do whatever I ask. Jesus has told us that childlike helplessness is good. But childish manipulation is bad. Yet James and John tried it anyway. But they also had a second card to play. 2. The Family Card Matthew tells us that they actually brought their mum Jesus aunt Salome Mary s sister with them. And Matthew tells us that it was Aunt Salome who did the actual asking. Wow they must have wanted this badly. To use their mother in this way. To stack the deck so much that they thought Jesus would just cave in and grant their request. Man up don t bring your mum. These are godly men but ambition is a dangerous drug.

7 All of the disciples had argued about which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom. This was an attempt to lock those positions up for themselves. I am sure they found a way to justify their actions to themselves. Before we judge them too harshly I suspect most of us have done something similar. I have prayed too many prayers that are selfish God help me financially, physically, relationally. But then I have justified to myself why God should answer my prayer I have been good this week I helped a friend out I gave extra. God owes me one. We need to check our motives carefully especially if we find ourselves trying to manipulate God. Verse 36, Jesus then asked them: What do you want me to do for you? Jesus wasn t having any of this blank cheque nonsense. They finally spat it out and their request was simply staggering. Verse 37: And they said to him, Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory. What these two disciples asked for was the places of highest honour in Jesus kingdom. Here is another way of looking at their audacious request. Of everyone ever born Abraham, Moses, David, John the Baptist not to mention the other 10 disciples Peter, Andrew, Matthew, the rest and everyone yet to be born in the history of the church we want You to recognise us as the greatest saints of all eternity. That is simply breathtaking audacity. That is way outside of any postcode related to humility. David himself said that just being in glory is so incredible he would be content with being a doorkeeper in the house of God just as long as he was there (Psalm 84:10). Not these guys. We want everyone to know for all eternity that we are numbers 1 and 2. You might ask what is wrong with this? Isn t aspiring to kingdom greatness good? Notice that despite their audacious request, Jesus didn t rebuke their arrogance. Asking for kingdom greatness is actually OK if you do it with the right motive and you understand what you are actually asking for.

8 So Jesus wanted them to know what they were asking verse 38: You do not know what you are asking. To ask for kingdom greatness is to ask to suffer as a slave so that God and God alone gets the glory and His kingdom is advanced. James and John are thinking we have given up so much. We have left our families, our occupations to follow Jesus. We are His cousins, part of the inner circle we deserve this. We deserve this recognition. Jesus wants them to know what they are actually asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? Here is what Jesus is saying. The places of greatest honour are for those who have suffered greatly for the advancement of the kingdom. Jesus is about to bear the sins of the world to suffer in a way we can barely comprehend to serve unto death. In the Old Testament a common way of speaking of bearing the wrath of God is to drink the cup of His wrath (Isa 51:17; Psalm 75:8). In the same way Jesus will be baptised or immersed into suffering as He bears the wrath of God in the place of sinners. Here is the point Jesus the only innocent man is about to suffer greatly to bear our sins and be afflicted in such a way that men will turn their faces from Him. He will be crushed and smitten as He bears our iniquities. In the upside down kingdom, the greatest saints will be those who have served the kingdom the most, by suffering the most for the kingdom just like Jesus. Martyrs, imprisoned saints, persecuted believers these will occupy the places of glory in the upside down kingdom. And Jesus asks is this what you really want are you up to this? Incredibly verse 39 they confidently asserted: We are able. If that is what it takes bring it on. This is so like Peter I will never deny you. A little over a week later they had the opportunity to drink the cup of suffering.

9 When Judas and the leaders of the Jews arrived to arrest Jesus all the disciples including these two sons of Zebedee fled and left Him to suffer alone. They turned from suffering for the kingdom. But Jesus had a plan for these men. The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. The time will come when they will suffer for the kingdom. I am fairly sure that if they had any inkling of the suffering that lay ahead they would never have spoken so rashly. These men wanted kingdom glory and they will get it but it will come at a great cost. They will join the fellowship of Jesus suffering. James became the first martyr of the church. John suffered many years of imprisonment and exile. They became templates of serving the church through tremendous personal suffering. I suspect that when James faced his executioner and saw the sword that would end his life he thought of Jesus words. I suspect that in the years of cold hungry imprisonment and exile knowing his fellow Apostles had died John would have thought often of Jesus words. I and suspect they wished they and not been so eager to declare their willingness to suffer. It is not an easy thing to serve even unto death but Jesus strengthens us in our hour of need. At this point in their lives James and John didn t really know what they were seeking. In the same way we have to be careful what ask for. Praying a prayer like: Lord use me in your kingdom. Father, glorify Yourself through my life. They are good prayers but we often think of leading people to Jesus, growing a big church, raising a godly family Jesus thinks in terms of suffering greatly.

10 If you ask for greatness or kingdom glory be careful God may just grant your request as He did for James and John. Verse 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. We know that James and John will have incredible places of honour in the kingdom. Listen to Luke 22:28 30 where Jesus said to the disciples: You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. They will sit at Jesus own table in the kingdom and they will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes. But as to whether James and John will have the preeminent places of glory, that privilege is for God the Father alone to award. It may well be one of the Apostles. It may well be a martyr or servant we have never heard of. But rest assured it will be for those who suffered much for the kingdom. Verse 41: And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. Why do you think they were indignant? I am pretty sure that they weren t indignant because this was such a crass statement to make when Jesus is heading to his death. I think they were ticked that the brothers tried to lock up the top spots in the kingdom spots their earlier argument about who was the greatest showed they wanted for themselves. The story is told that one day Abraham Lincoln was walking down the street with his two small sons who were both crying loudly. A neighbour passing by inquired, What s the matter, Abe? Why all the fuss? Lincoln responded, The trouble with these lads is what s wrong with the world; one has a nut and the other wants it! The ten wanted the nut for themselves. But Jesus sets the whole lot of them straight. Verse 42:

11 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. In the world the rulers the great ones the hoi megaloi lord it over their subjects. They use their power for personal gain not to benefit those under them. History is littered with brutal dictators who fought, bribed, deceived their way to the top and once there used every means possible to stay there and showed little concern for their people. During the reign of Louis XVI of France a famine hit the land and the common people were starving and calling out for bread. On hearing of this his Queen, Marie Antoinette: Was supposed to have replied: Let them eat cake. It is hard to know if she actually said it but that type of comment from a King or Queen would not shock. It is how the world s great ones think. They are in it for themselves not for the people. Verse 43: But it shall not be so among you. In the upside down kingdom the great ones are never in it for themselves. Instead verses 43-44: But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. The greatest King of all the King of Kings and Lord of Lords did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself taking the form of a servant and humbled himself unto death even death on a cross. And because of this God exalted Him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess His glory. The implications of this verse for you and I are staggering.

12 Wordly Greatness Rulers First Servants Slaves Last The structure of the world in the time of Jesus looked like this: A few rulers at the top then servants and right at the bottom a heap of slaves. Servants had a status above slaves. Servants had to obey the rulers but they had a position in the family. Not slaves. The most menial of tasks, the hard, hot, dirty work was reserved for slaves. But when the kingdom of God comes everything changes. The entire order will be reversed. Notice what Jesus said: If you want to be shown as great become a servant. Find ways to serve. But: If you want to be first not just great but first become a slave to all. Become the lowest. Take the worst positions and tasks. And serve everyone even enemies. Now what I want you to get your heads around is this you want kingdom greatness not worldly greatness. The great ones of today Obama, Turnbull, Queen Elizabeth their greatness is so temporary. In terms of eternity their greatness is less than a heartbeat. But the kingdom of God is forever. When God the Father unveils the great ones of the kingdom it will be forever. Those who served and slaved in this life the mere heartbeat of time are then glorified for all eternity. Choose kingdom greatness. He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

13 However, I know this is really hard to wrap our heads around. Ask a bunch of ten year olds what do you want to be when you grow up? You will hear I want to be an astronaut, I want to be Prime Minister, I want to be a Bronco, I want to be a model, I want to be a movie star. No one says I want to be a servant let alone I want to be a slave. Even Christians we say I want to be an Elder or a missionary or a mum I don t hear I want to be a slave for Jesus. Our world embeds its notions of greatness and they are hard to shake. Part of having our minds renewed is flushing these notions and replacing them with Jesus teaching on true greatness. Seek to serve. Ask to be a slave. What does this mean practically? When we think of serving we think of serving one another. And there are verses that tell us to serve each other. Galatians 5:13: 1 Peter 4:10: Through love serve one another. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another. In John 13 Jesus wrapped Himself in the garb of a servant and washed the disciple s feet and said you must do as I have done to you. We must serve each other. We have to find ways to serve in the home. There are jobs in every house no one wants to do you do them. Dads we are particularly bad at this and we need to find a way to serve our families. In the church there are jobs that no one wants to do the cleaning the serving the visiting and the Pastors and Elders have to find a way to lead in these areas. But in the context the serving is more than just serving each other it is finding a way to advance the kingdom in ways that cost even unto your life. Look at verse 45:

14 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. If anyone has the right to be served it is Jesus the Creator the King. But Jesus did not come as a King He came as a servant. He did not come to serve but to be served. And He served His people by giving His life as a ransom for many. More than that remember that the Ones He served in this way were enemies. They nailed Him to the cross. And at one time we were enemies but He loved us while we were yet enemies. If we are to be like Jesus we are to serve even unto death and this includes friends and enemies. That is what makes you great. In the Old Testament a ransom needed to be paid to free a slave. The ransom paid their debt and set them free. Every one of us has a debt we cannot pay. We have sinned against God and our lives are under the wrath of God. And it gets worse. Listen to Psalm 49:7 8: Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice. Because we have all sinned because we all owe this debt not only can we not ransom our own lives but there is no one to ransom us to pay the debt we owe to a holy God. No one that is until Jesus. His life is holy. His life is an acceptable sacrifice. His life is an acceptable ransom. His death frees His people. If you have trusted Jesus then His death ransoms you pays your penalty frees you from the punishment you owe. This is the gospel in a nutshell. We know this but consider what this means in the context.

15 Just as Jesus gave His very life to save His people so the great ones in the kingdom choose to sacrifice by serving even unto death. Don t hear me wrong. None of us can sacrifice our lives and pay the ransom for another. But we can choose to follow Jesus by serving in this way. What does this look like for you and for me? In Australia martyrdom is pretty rare. If we serve God here chances are it won t cost us our lives. Some will be called to places where they may lose their lives. But unless we choose to sacrifice we can live lives that cost us nothing at all. Here is how I see this verse fleshing out. We need to find ways to be last. Ways that cost us in terms of position, pride, finances, time. Serve the homeless where no one knows you. Give out tracts where everyone knows you. Find the jobs no one wants and do them. If we seek worldly greatness money, position, pleasure then most likely we are not saved or at the very best we are disobedient servants who will find ourselves as the very least in the kingdom. If we choose to serve our families, our church, our neighbourhood, our workplace taking the robe of a servant doing the jobs no one wants to do and doing it willingly and cheerfully. Then you are great. Dads if I ask your kids is Dad a ruler or a servant in the house? What will they say. You don t have to ask my kids I know I am in the fail category. I have to do better. Who are the servants in Grace Bible Church? I suspect your mind leapt to the same names mine did. The ones that always put their hand up to help. They hang around helping out cleaning, cooking, serving, locking up. They are at every workday they fill every sub request. And they serve with a smile it is a privilege. I thought about naming names but they would hate that and you know who they are.

16 They are the great ones. But who are the extraordinary ones the first among the saints? They are the ones who sacrifice the most. The missionaries who take their family to horrible places for Jesus. The ones who give up comfortable careers, serve tirelessly and retire penniless. They are the ones who may have to go to prison for their faith. They are ones who choose to willingly sacrifice money, comfort, position, privilege, family and yes even their lives for the sake of Jesus. So: What should the saved ask Jesus for? Ask: To serve unto death. I say this with a warning. We do need to be careful what we ask for. But if you want to be great and there is a sense where we should desire this type of greatness ask God to give you the strength to sacrifice and serve Him even if it costs you your life. A heartbeat as a slave means eternity as a great one. Now I haven t even gone into motive. That is another sermon. We don t serve to earn reward. We don t say I want to serve in order to be great. That forfeits the reward. We serve because we love Jesus. So the secret is to love Jesus then you will want to be like Jesus the servant and then you will serve. This brings us to the next section.

17 What should the unsaved ask Jesus for? Look at verse 46: And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. Jesus is approaching Jerusalem and has arrived at the nearby town of Jericho. In that town there was a blind beggar Bartimaeus. This man is anything but great. The prevailing wisdom of the day was that blindness was somehow caused by sin we saw that in John 9. Blindness was supposed to be a curse from God which meant this man was one hair above prostitutes and tax collectors. He survived by begging the handout crumbs of others. Verse 47: And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! It seems word spread that Jesus was coming. Notice that Bartimaeus calls Him Son of David. He is the first one in Mark to address Jesus this way. Somehow Bartimaeus knows that Jesus is the Son of David the Messiah. The only one who can help him. So he begins to scream as loudly and as often as he can Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Have mercy I know I am a sinner I know I am nobody I deserve nothing. James and John thought they earned blessing Bartimaeus merely asks for undeserved mercy. Verse 48: And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me! This nobody is gatecrashing the show. So they tell him to be quiet. No one wants to hear from a blind man. But Jesus wants to hear from him. Verses 49-51:

18 And Jesus stopped and said, Call him. And they called the blind man, saying to him, Take heart. Get up; he is calling you. And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, What do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. On one level this sounds an entirely self-centred request. I am blind and I want to see. But there is a huge amount of faith here. He believes that this man despised by the authorities is the Son of David the Messiah the only One who can help Him the One who can heal Him. This is great faith. Verse 52: And Jesus said to him, Go your way; your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Remember that the healing of blind men is repeatedly used as a metaphor an example of opening blind eyes to the truth of who Jesus is. Depending on your translation verse 51 reads: Go your way; your faith has made you well. Or Go your way; your faith has saved you. The word sozo is the usual word for salvation. Bartimaeus faith not only led to his physical eyes being opened but to his spiritual eyes being opened he was saved. And he followed Jesus on the way. On the way where? To Jerusalem the cross. The disciples were fearful but Bartimaeus knew that was where he needs to be. Bartimaeus was willing to drink the cup of suffering and follow Jesus wherever it led. What should the unsaved ask Jesus for?

19 To see unto life. The very first thing this man saw was Jesus and it changed his life. He followed Jesus to the cross. That is a true disciple. Bartimaeus was as low as you can get. The crowd said he was cursed not worthy to draw near Jesus but the truth is this man this nobody became great in the kingdom. He chose to follow Jesus even if it was unto death. We don t know what happened to Bartimaeus. That is not the point. He saw he was saved he chose to serve. Salvation means serving. Jesus asked Bartimaeus what do you want me to do for you? Bartimaeus wanted to see. He wanted to see Jesus and when He saw He followed. The healing of blind Bartimaeus is the last miracle of healing Jesus does. It is no mistake that from here the only ones we know who are saved are: this cursed blind man, a despised tax collector Zaccheus, a condemned thief on the cross and a loathed Roman Centurion. In the eyes of Jews all of them were nothing despised nobodies. But they become examples of true kingdom greatness. They knew they were lost, nobodies, helpless and in Jesus they saw the one way of salvation. But the truth is that we are all blind Bartimaeus, despised Zaccheus, condemned thieves and outsider Centurions. We are all blind and lost beggars nobodies helpless cursed sinners who needed salvation. If you have not opened your eyes to see Jesus I pray today is the day you realise where true greatness is found.

20 But as we have seen even after salvation Jesus still asks all of us what do you want me to do for you? We can ask for some personal things health, family, a job. That is OK. But the great desire of the true disciple is to ask to serve to serve even unto death. But we ask understanding the cost. We ask for the lowest jobs, the hardest jobs, to be slaves of the King. To serve unto death. It is a lesson the disciples and you and I have to learn. In this we become like Jesus. In this we find true greatness. I played this video a few weeks back to start this section. Now we have finished this section I trust you will understand the full meaning.

21 Serving Unto Death (Mark 10:32-52 September 20, 2015) Main Point: In the upside down kingdom the greatest blessing possible comes from serving and salvation. Read: Mark 10:32-52 When you pray what are the type of things you ask God for? Why do many describe the kingdom of God as an upside down or inverted kingdom? In what ways does it differ from the structures in the kingdoms of the world? Why do you think James and John disregarded the teaching of Jesus about true greatness and asked for the prime positions in the kingdom? What does this teach us about spiritual blindness and the way we can disregard the clear teachings of the Lord? Are there times you try and manipulate God in your prayers and requests? How can we avoid this? In what ways are we called to drink the cup of wrath and be baptised with the baptism of sufferings? What does this look like in Australia? What should this look like in your life? What does it mean for you if you have little suffering or sacrifice in your life? What are the rewards in heaven for the great ones of the kingdom? How do you desire this with the right motives? Why should you take care about requesting to be great? Read v. 45. By meditating on Jesus how does this help us to seek true greatness? Who are the great servants in your home, workplace, church? How can you become a better servant? In what ways are we like Bartimaeus? In what ways should we become like Bartimaeus? In what ways did Bartimaeus count the cost to follow Jesus? For private application: Honestly, where would you rank yourself in terms of kingdom greatness ie sacrifice and suffering for Christ?

22 In light of this passage when you pray what are the type of things you should ask God for? What cautions do you need to exercise in these requests?