To Be Like Christ
Mark 10:42-45
These words of Jesus are spoken in response to a request made by James & John.
I. The Ambitious Request.
V.35-37 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you ? They said unto him, "Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory."
What is it that we desire most of the Lord ? If we could pray but one prayer, make but one request to the Lord...what would it be ? If Jesus were to say to us......what would ye that I should do for you ? What would be our answer ?
Illust. David Wilson/Nursing Home
Would our request be like that of James and John ?
Why did Jesus address his reply to all the disciples, and not just to James, and John ?
John R. W. Stott says in his book The Cross of Christ that our world “(and even the church) is full of Jameses and Johns, go-getters and status-seekers, hungry for honor and prestige, measuring life by achievements, and everlastingly dreaming of success . . .”
Their request is a request for......
a. a position of authority.
James, and John wanted a piece of the rock ! Jesus we’ll let you sit in the middle. We don’t want to be the boss.....but we’d sure like to be co-bosses !
b. a power to assert.
James and John wanted to usurp authority over others. They wanted to be in control. This didn’t sit well with the other disciples.
c. a prestige to be acknowledged.
We
Do we long for greatness ? Do we like being the boss ?
Are we climbing over people to reach the top of the laddar ?
Do we long to be on the top of our game or field ?
Are we looking to rule, and make others drool ?
II. The Amazing Response.
a. greatness is not achieved through levels of sucess.
Jesus says......It’s not about moving on up !
Jesus uses the reference V42 of the different levels of leadership, and success from the world perspective.
Illust. In Florence Italy right now there is a lot of jockeying for position, and politics going on .......Listen to this report that came across the news this week.
SECURITY specialists are sweeping the Vatican for bugs and installing jamming devices to stop any errant cardinals using their mobile phones in the lead-up to next week’s secret papal vote.
Wary of secret service agents, nosey journalists and even greedy gamblers spying on the conclave’s deliberations, the Vatican has hired espionage experts to inspect the Sistine Chapel for hidden microphones and spy cameras.
The security squad will rip open cushions, scrutinise carpets, inspect ventilation shafts and check that pipes, electrical wiring and lights are where they are supposed to be, La Repubblica newspaper reported yesterday.
It said the security experts were worried about laser microphones that can eavesdrop on conversations 400m away by recording vibrations on the windows of the Sistine Chapel.
The 115 cardinals who gather in the chapel on Monday to elect a new leader for the world’s 1.1billion Catholics will be asked to surrender their mobile phones, tape recorders and electronic organisers at the door.
The cardinals will be frisked by guards supervised by the papal chamberlain, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo of Spain.
La Stampa newspaper reported that the Vatican would use US technology to jam GSM, dual and tri-band mobile phones with an electromagnetic "wall" covering the cardinals’ hotel-style residence of St Martha’s -- built between 1992 and 1996 with the succession process in mind -- the Sistine Chapel and the 1km road linking them.
And as a cone of silence drops over the Vatican, voting cardinals will be denied access to newspapers, radio and television, while steps will be taken to stop them having chance encounters with cleaning staff.
The late Pope John Paul II, worried that media analysis of papal candidates would threaten cardinals’ "independent judgment" in the lead-up to their vote, imposed the ban by changing the church constitution in 1996. It bars the use of any technology that can be used to record or transmit voices, images or writing.
Apart from the cardinals, the constitution permits within the conclave precinct only enough priests to take confession in any language, two doctors, cleaners and catering staff, and two trusted technicians to sweep for electronic bugs.
What’s wrong with this picture ?
In the kingdom of God, we are to all be on the same level !
b. greatness is not achieved through lording over subjects.
Greatness in the kingdom of God is not determined by being dominators, or dictators.
c. greatness is achieved through learning to serve.
ILLUSTRATION:
Mary Jo West wanted more than anything in the world to be the best at what she did. When she landed her first news anchor job at KOOL-TV in Phoenix, she was 24 years old and the city’s first female anchor. At a young age she had everything she ever wanted. But then her life began falling apart. Working long hours she often went days without seeing her husband. He accused her of putting work above their relationship, which eventually led to the break-up of their marriage. After six years, Mary Jo was offered a job with CBS News in New York. Network news was her dream come true. Now she was more driven than ever. She routinely worked 12-hour days. The program was a success, but she felt empty. Other than work, she says, she didn’t have a life. Early one morning she went to church to pray. She had grown up with a strong faith, she says, but it had been a long time since she’d talked or listened to God. That morning she prayed, "God, what am I doing so far from home? I want to walk Your path, but I don’t know how." Within a year Mary Jo was back in Phoenix working at a rival television station. Things did not work out. The ratings went from bad to worse. Before too long Mary Jo was out of work. She found it difficult to find another job. She sat alone in her big house -- lost. All her feelings of self-worth had come from her job; now she felt worthless. In her lifelong quest to finish first, she had ended up dead last. Mary Jo began working as a volunteer at a local mission. She spent the next year as a volunteer, handing out diapers and bus tokens, dishing out hot meals and helping people find work or a bed for the night. It was during that year when she reached out to other people that she felt God’s love as never before. She discovered God’s love in the eyes of a man who cried as he thanked her for finding him a pair of size 13 boots so that he could finally get a job. That year transformed Mary Jo West’s life. She learned to rely on God and to keep her life in balance. "I don’t have the glamour or the salary of my earlier jobs," she says, "but I do have something better: love, happiness, and peace of mind. That’s God’s idea of being first."
III. The Awesome Reminder. V45
"For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
We see the Lord’s servanthood in.........
a. his entrance
If anyone had the right, the authority to sit down, and demand that others wait upon him or serve him, certainly he did. Afterall, he is the Lord of all the universe, and yet he did not come to be served, but he came to serve !
b. his example.
His whole life was spent in service to others. Preaching the word, helping those who were sick, feeding those who were hungry ! And how could we ever forget his washing the feet of the disciples ?
One cold winter’s day a 10-year-old boy was standing barefoot in front of a shoe store, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and asked him what he was doing.
"I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," the boy replied.
The lady took him by the hand and went into the store, and asked the clerk to get a half dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the boy to the back part of the store, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel.
By this time the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy’s feet, she then purchased him a pair of shoes, and tying up the remaining pairs of socks, gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?"
As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears in his eyes, answered the question with these words: "Are you God’s wife?"
c. his exit.
Thought: He was dying to serve ! He died to meet our spiritual needs ! He died doing the will of God !
ILLUSTRATION:
Pauline Hord is a remarkable woman well into her eighties. Pauline is always willing to pray for other people and their needs. Pauline’s passion is literacy and prison ministry. There are thousands of people in her home state of Tennessee who can’t read and write well enough to function in an adequate way in society. Pauline gives of her time to work with teachers in public schools, training them in a new literacy method. She gives three days a week, four or five hours a day, to teach this new method of literacy in model programs.
Once a week Pauline also drives over a hundred miles one way to Parchman State Prison in Mississippi to teach prisoners how to read and write. Pauline does more for these prisoners than teach them how to read and write. She shares her faith with them. She speaks of her love and her faith and witnesses to the power of the Gospel. A few years ago President George Bush started a program called "Points of Light." President Bush wanted citizens to exercise positive and creative influence and service in the areas where they lived. In cities and communities across America, people have been recognized for being "points of light." It is no surprise that Pauline Hord was chosen as a point of light. An article was written about her in the local newspaper describing her work. A few months later, President Bush came to Memphis. He wanted to honor the seven most outstanding "points of light" in that area. Pauline Hord was invited along with six other "points of light" to have lunch with President Bush. But the President made a mistake. The luncheon was scheduled on a Wednesday. That’s the day Pauline spends at Parchman Prison in Mississippi, teaching prisoners to read and write and witnessing to them of the love of Christ. She would not give that up to have lunch with the President. (4)
If we would be like Jesus, then we must be servants. And the motivation for our service is to be his example. We must remember the great love wherein he loved us. So much so, that he gave himself a ransom !
