BELIEVERS FOLLOW JESUS’ EXAMPLE OF HUMILITY
Mark 10:35-45 - October 9, 2005 – Pentecost 21
Dear Fellow-Redeemed & Saints in the Lord:
At one time or another most people have had a role model. Each of us has looked up to different people as examples we might we want to be like or follow. Over time the shining attraction of each earthly example has become tarnished. Today’s society has seen the fall of many who were once held up as role models. There are glamorous movie stars with no moral character. There are star athletes who resort to drugs to enhance their natural abilities. Even world leaders stumble and fall because of the dis-tractions in this life.
As believers we are encouraged when we look to the Scriptures and see excellent examples of Christian character for our role models. Consider Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joseph of the Old Testament and Joseph of the New Testament, Peter, Matthew, Paul – to list only a few. Today our gracious God re-minds of our perfect example to follow. It is our best role model – Jesus. The example of Jesus in our text is an example of humility. Consider the believers in the letter of Peter. These believers were re-minded to follow Jesus example. During this time in history the Christians were greatly persecuted. These believers had their property taken; their businesses destroyed and were removed from their homes. Yet, Peter wrote to them, "If you suffer for doing good, if you suffer for being a Christian, there is nothing wrong with that." In fact, Peter continues: "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps" (1 Peter 2:21). Peter encourages them to remember the suffering of Christ. The believer cannot expect anymore than his Master. A true follower of Jesus may also suffer. You and I learn today:
BELIEVERS FOLLOW JESUS’ EXAMPLE OF HUMILITY
I. Not with selfish lives
II. But with serving living
I. NOT WITH SELFISH LIVES
Who is it that comes before Jesus? We are told: "Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. ’Teacher,’ they said, ’we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’" There was nothing wrong with a request from Jesus’ disciples. The Lord Jesus often told them to come and ask for whatever they wanted, and He would do it. So it was, James and John come before Jesus. The other disciples are also there. All of them are together in a private setting. James and John asked Jesus, "Do what we want." So Jesus re-plied: "’What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked." Jesus is willing to hear them. Jesus is more than willing to grant them their requests.
But James and John come with a request that they probably didn’t think a lot about. They come with a request that shows quite a bit of selfishness. They are quite self-centered with their request. "They replied, ’Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.’" James and John wanted their future places of honor prepared for them. They knew eternal life was certain, but they wanted more than that. They didn’t just want to be a saint in heaven. They wanted to be on Jesus’ right and his left. They wanted to be in positions of honor and glory. But Jesus wants them to think about their request. "’You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said." They didn’t realize that from that moment when they were speaking with Jesus that until Jesus went into heaven, there would be a lot of things yet to happen.
Jesus did not suffer and die yet. He still had to face that. The disciples didn’t go out to preach yet. They had to face that. They weren’t persecuted yet. They had to face that. Jesus told them they didn’t really know what they were asking. Jesus said, "You want to be on my right and left in heaven, but there still is a lot of this life to live and to lead and to follow in His footsteps." So Jesus asked them, "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" Of course their reply: "’We can’, they answered." We fully understand what Jesus was really talking about. Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prays so earnestly that the sweat falls like drops of blood from him. Jesus asked, "Take this cup of suffering from me." This is the cup of suffering Jesus is talking about to James and John. Are they willing to drink that cup? In the Gospel of Luke (12:50) he calls death, "a baptism". Je-sus really wanted them to think. If they were going to follow his example, they would drink the cup of suffering and endure the baptism of death. James and John, "’We can’, they answered."
Jesus agreed. "Jesus said to them, ’You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.’" They would suffer. They would face death because of Jesus. Then Jesus says, "but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been pre-pared." To be in a position of honor and glory, Jesus is not going to give them that. But Jesus could give them assurance that they would drink from the cup of suffering. They would face the baptism of death. The book of Acts (12:2,3) tells about James being put to death by Herod, because it made the crowd happy. John spent the end of his life living in exile on the island of Patmos separated from the believers. Both drank the cup of suffering, and they were baptized into Jesus death even though they thought they wanted glory in their selfish living.
Just think about a moment. James and John were two of the twelve disciples. They lived with Je-sus. They walked with Jesus. They saw what Jesus had. Jesus had nothing. He didn’t have a place to call his own. He didn’t have a hometown anymore, because the people didn’t like what Jesus did and taught. The city of Capernaum became the center of Jesus’ ministry. When Jesus went to Jerusalem, he went there to face His death. Certainly, that was not a life of glory or honor. In spite of all this Jesus’ disciples still asked a very selfish request, didn’t they?
Now--we and the rest of believers are living thousands of years away from the time of Jesus. Are we any less selfish? Are we any less self-centered? Each of us is probably more selfish than ever. We don’t walk with Jesus day by day as these disciples did. The people around us influence us more. The TV set influences us more and the magazines and newspapers we read where it says we have to watch out for ourselves. If we don’t, who else is going to care? That is the world’s philosophy and goes against Christ’s philosophy and our philosophy. Yet, often we still fall very quickly and feel secure in the philosophy of this world. Yes, I am going to watch out for myself and take care of myself. We know how it is. Paul gives this warning in Romans: "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you" (Romans 12:3). Paul says instead of thinking how important I am in this world and how people ought to treat me with respect or how I ought to be on Jesus’ right or left, we ought to think that if it weren’t for the grace of God we would be lost and condemned sinners. God has given us a measure of faith to understand that someday we will be in glory. Someday we will be heaven, and it makes no difference if we are on Jesus’ right or left.
For the present we still live in this world and we have to. We are here as part of God’s great plan that the gospel would be spread to the ends of the earth. Again, the Lord warns us not to fall into the trap of worldly living and thinking. Luke 12: "He (Jesus) said to them, ’You are the ones who justify your-selves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight’" (Luke 12:15). Imagine that! Mankind’s values and, at times, our own values are detestable in God’s sight. We are studying that in Leviticus. It says: "Bring the fat and the offering and burn it on the altar. This will be a sweet smelling aroma to the Lord." Yet, you and I know that burning flesh and fat does not smell very good. But now this same detestable smell in our nostrils is a pleasing aroma to the Lord. This is what the Lord wants. Our Lord is talking about matters of the heart, isn’t he?
So how do we change from self-centered people and follow the example of Christ in serving liv-ing. Jesus says we have to look beyond this life. That is not always easy. We have to look beyond our possessions. We have to look beyond our earthliness into heaven itself. Therefore Jesus says to us as be-lievers: "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:20,21). This world is very appealing, and it seems to have much to offer. We like those blessings the Lord gives us that we can see, feel and touch and grab hold of to enjoy the moment. But the Lord says to look into heaven itself and the treasures that are there.
Today’s text encourages that believers follow the example of Jesus’ humility, not in our selfish liv-ing and our worldliness, but with serving living.
II. BUT WITH SERVING LIVING
We have this example of a bad request. We call it a bad request, but it was a good thing that Jesus could take the disciples and teach them. "When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John." The original says they were upset; they were angry. The other ten disciples were angry at James and John who came to Jesus and wanted the best places. The other ten were upset for a number of reasons. First of all, they asked first and Jesus could very easily give it to them. The other ten may have been upset because they didn’t think of it first. They too had that sinful human nature. They were also angry that James and John would come to Jesus and ask such a thing. They were angry that they probably figured that Jesus might give in to their request. Remember James and John? They were good men, sons of Zebedee. Jesus said to them, "Come follow me." What did they do? They left their nets and their father’s boats and followed Jesus. They were very, very wealthy people in the eyes of the world. When Jesus said to follow him, they did and left it all. So they knew this serving living.
Jesus gathers the disciples together and says: "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them." We have to remem-ber at the time of Jesus Jerusalem and the Roman government ruled the children of Israel. There were commanders for the soldiers, governors and there was Rome. They knew that the soldiers had so much authority; the governors had more authority; and Rome had the ultimate authority. Jesus says, "You know how the Gentiles (Romans) act, those unbelievers. They use that power, and say we are the ones in con-trol." It starts with the centurion (the leader of the army), goes up to the governor, goes up to Caesar him-self. The disciples knew about this chain of command. Jesus says, "Not so with you." As Jesus looked at these disciples, he says, "Not so with you." You are different.
Now Jesus tells them why they are (to be) different, "Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant." Certainly when James and John heard those words, they probably knew they should not have asked to sit on Jesus right or left. The great ones would be servants. Jesus adds: "And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." They were not only servants but slaves who were bought and sold as a piece of property. Jesus says that this slave to all, that person, will be first.
Jesus tells them why: "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." This word ransom means to buy back, to set free. Of course the dis-ciples thought about that. They did not quite understand that yet, but would very quickly, wouldn’t they? They were going to see Jesus hanging on the cross and his blood spilled for them. They were going to hear Jesus say, "It is finished." Then they would begin to understand Jesus’ life as a ransom.
The blessing we enjoy today is the fact that we have grown up all of our lives knowing that Christ is our ransom. That is the reason our lives are changed. At times we don’t see our lives as changed, but they are. From the moment of our baptism, the Lord has given us changed lives. We are no longer ser-vants of Satan and slaves to sin. Instead, we are the children of the Heavenly Father. Instead, we are given an eternal inheritance. We are given a place of honor on Jesus’ right and left in heaven forever. Such faith puts everything in comparison for us here on this earth. It gives us our motivation for doing the things we do. Paul says, "And he (Christ) died for all, that those who live should no longer live for them-selves but for him who died for them and was raised again" (2 Corinthians 5:15). We don’t live to please ourselves all the time. Sometimes we are very selfish because we are very sinful. Not all the time have we fallen into the trap of looking out so much for ourselves that we would cheat our fellowman. We have not fallen into the trap of looking out so much for ourselves that we don’t care what happens to our fel-lowman. Instead, our lives are just the opposite.
Consider the disasters that we have seen come and go. It boggles the thinking of the worldly to see all of this charity, all of this kindness, all of this goodness, all of this generosity going to people no one knows. It is coming from the churches, the Christians, those who are believers. All of this is amazing to the people of this world, because they only look out for themselves and live selfish lives. You will not see such charity and kindness coming from those who are opposed to Christianity: the atheists, the ACLU, and other sources of those who are not Christians. Why? Because in our hearts Christ lives and in our lives we reveal Christ as the Savior of the world. Paul describes it in Titus: "Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good" (Titus 2:14). That describes the life of a believer. He is eager to do what is good. It is directly opposed to the people of this world who are anxious to do evil. They are anxious to live their own sinful, selfish lives and not care about anyone else but themselves.
We still look at Jesus as our example. We learn, yes, from time to time we are going to drink that cup of suffering. Jesus says through much tribulation we enter into the kingdom of God. We also realize that in our lifetimes the times of blessings far surpass any suffering, heartache and sorrow we face. God is good. He says to let that goodness spill out into the world that is filled with evil and hatred. Let the love of God overwhelm the anger and displeasure of this world. In Philippians: "Do nothing out of self-ish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:3,4). This is Jesus our Savior who looks to our interests and not his own.
As believers we learn from the example of Jesus’ humility. Jesus is our perfect role model, and he is the only example to follow. We follow Jesus, not with our selfish lives, but follow him with our lives of living and serving. Believers remember Jesus’ example on the cross when he willingly suffered death by freely giving up his life for the sake of sinners. How did Jesus prepare for event? The night before Jesus was betrayed, he gathered together his disciples for a final meal. Here Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. But first Jesus took off his outer garment and washed the disciples’ feet. Here is a man that is going to be put to death the next day. Here is a man who is going to die a terrible death even though he was innocent. Jesus is not out living it up, but he is in the upper room, a quiet place, with his friends. In-stead of being served Jesus serves them by washing the disciples’ feet. Jesus was serving them, because that is why he came to live – and die.
That is why we are here--to serve God’s creation with the message of salvation. Jesus says, "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you" (John 13:14,15). We learn from the example of Jesus’ humility. We learn how to live. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
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Pentecost 21(ILCW-A): ISAIAH 25:6-9; PHILIPPIANS 4:4-13; MATTHEW 22:1-14
