Text: Mark 10:35-45, Title: The Life of a Leading Disciple, Date/Place: NRBC, 4/13/08, PM
A. Opening illustration: A Sunday School teacher told her class of 2nd graders the story found in Luke 16 of the Rich man and Lazarus. How that when they were here upon the earth the rich man had everything that money could buy and poor Lazarus had to beg for mere crumbs. But when they died, the rich man due to his selfishness went to a place of horrible torment while Lazarus went to a place of paradise. In conclusion, the teacher asked her students the question: "Now, which man would you rather be, Lazarus or the rich man?" One little boy’s hand shot up immediately and he said, "Well, while I’m alive I want to live like the rich man, but when I die I want to be like Lazarus."
B. Background to passage: Jesus is still continuing on his way to Jerusalem steadfastly. He is still teaching about discipleship and kingdom values as they go. He has just informed them for the third time about his impending death in Jerusalem. And it goes in one ear, and out the other. So here come the Sons of Thunder. In the parallel passage it also includes their mother. Preach a little on family control issues.
C. Main thought: In the text, Jesus uses the opportunity of the disciples’ failure to grasp upcoming events as a teachable moment about what the life of a disciple who leads should look like.
A. Not built on selfish ambition or jealousy (v. 37, 41)
1. Notice that they asked for a blank check response up from, like they knew this request was a little shady. Remember they did get one thing right—Jesus will sit in glory. But everything else they got wrong. They were completely in line with the world, jockeying for position, for they can tell that the inauguration of the kingdom is coming in Jerusalem, even if they don’t realize what kind of kingdom is coming. They are looking out for number one. They want the best, deserve the best, and will do what it takes to get it, even bribe God at the expense of their own brethren. Then the other disciples were upset, probably not because these two were being unChristlike, but more likely that they had beaten them to the punch. These two disciples did what the rest really wanted to do.
2. Php 2:3-4, 2 Cor 12:20, Gal 5:19-21,
3. Illustration: Married people can’t be happy and consistently selfish; A friend told me about a man who had come to him with a prayer request. He had purchased a lottery ticket that would pay him $100,000 if it turned out to be the "lucky" one. He asked my friend, who was a pastor, to pray that his number would be picked so he could give one-tenth of his winnings to the Lord. The minister hesitated, the said, "All right, but first let me ask you this: Are you willing to give God the same percentage of your present weekly income?" The fellow looked surprised and dismayed. "B-b-but I need that to live on," he stammered. This man’s heart was not right with God. His seemingly spiritual request was merely a cover-up for selfishness. A fascinating study on the principle of the Golden Rule was conducted by Bernard Rimland, director of the Institute for Child Behavior Research. Rimland found that "The happiest people are those who help others." Each person involved in the study was asked to list ten people he knew best and to label them as happy or not happy. Then they were to go through the list again and label each one as selfish or unselfish, using the following definition of selfishness: a stable tendency to devote one’s time and resources to one’s own interests and welfare--an unwillingness to inconvenience one’s self for others." In categorizing the results, Rimland found that all of the people labeled happy were also labeled unselfish. He wrote that those "whose activities are devoted to bringing themselves happiness...are far less likely to be happy than those whose efforts are devoted to making others happy"
4. The core sin in just about every other sin is selfishness. Doing what I want my way for my glory comes very natural to us. It invades or marriages, our prayer lives, our finances, and destroys everything and everyone around us. But as believers we should be serious and persistent about killing this mindset in our lives. This kinda of behavior or attitude turns Christianity on its head. But it is prevalent in the church. How many deacon elections have you see become popularity contests? How many people get upset when they don’t get the best seat or the best part or the first part, or the right class, or the best hotel, or whatever. Evaluate our prayer requests based on whether or not we are covering for selfishness. We do not deserve the best, in fact, we should thank God we don’t get what we deserve. We should seriously consider the reality of our own depravity and their implications toward any grace gift or position that we are given.
B. Is built on God’s sovereignty and sufficiency (v. 40, 45)
1. Jesus explains to James and John that his “cup” and his “baptism” were a unique thing for him, and that they didn’t understand the kind of kingdom he was kicking off. And he taught them that greatness in the kingdom comes through suffering and sorrow. And he said that theirs would come, but not yet. And he told them that who got to sit on the right and on the left (which by the way were 1 and 2 respectively) had already been ordained and it wasn’t for him to decide who got that. Jesus is a man under authority. However, in his last statement Jesus implies his absolute self-sufficiency. He came not be served, but to serve others. He has need of nothing.
2. Acts 17:26,
3. Illustration: “Our God does not need our service, nor is He glorified by recruits who want to help Him out. Our God is so full and so self-sufficient and so overflowing in power and life and joy, that he glorifies Himself by serving us.”
4. The life of a disciple today must still be built on the fact of God’s absolute sovereignty. God’s will for our lives often comes through suffering. And knowing that God is allowing and ordaining suffering for our good and his glory will help us to endure by His grace. It will also help us to be content with His will, knowing that there are some things he chooses for us (that we may or may not enjoy), but that are good. Secondly, Jesus lets us know that he came not to be served, but to serve. So don’t serve God as though he needed anything. Serve him out of love and obedience, knowing that He can do anything that he wants without you help. Thirdly, consider the fact that God came to serve us. Think about the reality that Jesus came to serve man. He came to serve you. He still serves the church, His bride.
C. Is built on service and example (v. 42-45)
1. Now Jesus gives us one of the most paradoxical statements of the Christian life. He says that we don’t act like the world, and use our authority heavy-handedly, but as believers in Jesus, we follow Jesus example and become a servant of all men. The two words used are diakonos and doulos. So he covers all the bases.
2. Matt 11:11, 1 John 2:2, Php 2:3-4
3. Illustration: talk about Larry Jackson at Promise Keepers, he and his wife trying to outserve each other, we had a discussion about these things in SS the other week, and we decided that we are all pretty self-centered, and rarely spend any time thinking about how we might make the other class members’ lives easier through service to them, it was a theme that they kept using at the conference this week, the book Instruments in the Hand of the Redeemer,
4. Our lives, methods, means, attitudes should look radically different from that of the world. The world desperately needs to see godly submission rather than ruthless authoritarianism and selfishness within the church. And if our perspective is that we are laying up treasure in heaven, this will be easier to actualize in our lives. We are tools in the Master’s hands. So if you want to be great in the kingdom, outserve everybody! And Jesus lives out the primary example. Lay down your life as a sacrifice for many. Don’t be about your own things, your own agenda, but about how you may serve others. Think about your free time as others time; your money as others money; your ministry and everything that you do as an act of service to others.
D. Is based on the substitutionary atonement (v. 42-45)
1. He speaks of himself as a “ransom,” which was a word used to describe a payment for someone’s crimes. Its derivatives all speak of redemption, or buying back. But the word behind it was the word used for atonement or covering or expiation. Jesus teaches them not only an example, but the central tenet to the Christian faith—the substitutionary atonement. The phrase “for many” would have been a Jewish inclusive term for all.
2. Gal 3:13, 2 Cor 5:21, Rom 3:24-26, Tit 2:14, Eph 5:2, 1 Pet 2:24, Isa 53:5,
3. Illustration: this is one of the reasons that the cross is used as a symbol of Christianity, David Brainerd, the famous missionary to the American Indians, proclaimed this truth throughout his ministry. He said, "I never got away from Jesus and Him crucified in my preaching. I found that once these people were gripped by the great evangelical meaning of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, I did not have to give them many instructions about changing their behavior." As a sacrificial victim who put away our sins by undergoing the death penalty that was our due, Jesus died as our substitute. By removing God’s wrath against us for sin, his death was an act of propitiation (Rom. 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10 --”expiation,” signifying that which puts away sin, is only half the meaning). By saving us from slavery to ungodliness and divine retribution for sin, Jesus’ death was an act of redemption (Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). By mediating and making peace between us and God, it was an act of reconciliation (Rom. 5:10-11). It opened the door to our justification (pardon and acceptance) and our adoption (becoming God’s sons and heirs -- Rom. 5:1,9; Gal. 4:4-5)
4. The life of a disciple of Jesus is built on the death of Christ. It is not only something that we consider only when we come to know Christ, but every day. It is something that we keep coming back to, keep trusting in, keep resting in it, and keep meditating on it in the forefront of our minds. It is helpful in our seeing God’s commitment to His own glory, His holiness and wrath against sin, His love for fallen humanity. It is foundational to our view of ourselves, our view of God, and our view of life in general.
A. Closing illustration: So, what is a disciple? Is a disciple a pupil? Is a disciple a student? Is he or she someone who learns all about the Bible so they will know a lot? So they can rattle off the five points of Calvinism or give a deep discussion on the differences between premillennialism, post millennialism and Amillennialism? But despite their deep theological knowledge, they do not live a life pleasing to God? Now of course theology is important, but not for its own sake. Theology is important, and knowledge of the Bible is important, so that we know how to follow Christ. It is important so we can know how to live in a way that pleases Him. Some years ago I used to work as a flight instructor. Now, can you imagine what we might do with someone who wants to learn to fly aeroplanes. We take him, and give him six months of full time theoretical training. We teach him everything there is to know about flying. We teach him the lift equation. We teach him what happens when one does certain things with the controls. We teach him all about flight planning. Then we give him a written test and he gets 100%. He has passed, so we give the keys to a plane and tell him to go and fly the plane by himself. What do you think will happen? I’m pretty sure there will be a hole in the end of the runway. What went wrong? Our student knew all about the theory of flight but had never put it into practice. You see, theory must be accompanied by practice. Practice without the right theoretical base is disastrous, but theory without practice is useless. Relate the words that Piper said at the conference this week about moving from theology to sold-out, white hot, love for Jesus out loud, in life, with radical flavor,
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
