Serve

If you’re kind of making your way around or you came without a Bible and you don’t have an app that says Bible on it, just grab the Bible in the chair. It won’t look weird that you’re doing it. Just reach for one in a chair near you. Pull it out and get to the second gospel in the New Testament. Named after Mark who Bible trivia quiz.

Do you know his other name? Okay. Good. You’re paying attention. John Mark.

That’s right. Okay. So here we go. Mark chapter 10. And as you’re turning there, I want us to look at a scene where Jesus had this sidebar conversation with two brothers, James and John.

Okay. They are two guys that are in fact number three and number four follow of Jesus. Peter and Andrew were the first two and then James and John. They happened to be brothers. And these two brothers left three years earlier.

They left their father, Zebedee’s fishing business and decided to follow Jesus. So Mark 10, we pick up here, where it’s describing Jesus in a final, final trek south of Galilee. He’s coming from Galilee. He’s heading south to south and west to Jerusalem. And on his way, he kind of drifts east slightly and he’s on the slight, just over the banks of the Jordan River.

So he’s on the east side of the Jordan looking west. And if you keep looking west a little bit further, he’s looking at Jerusalem. So the trip that I just described, where he came from Galilee to Jerusalem, about 87 miles. Okay. So that’s the setting here.

And he’s on his way to Jerusalem for the last time, which means there’s a heaviness tone in what we’re about to hear. A bold, say it straight, kind of tone. And because he’s going to go to Jerusalem and it’s there that he’s going to sacrifice himself, his life, for sinners. That’s a huge calling that he carried out. So while hitting south, he’s stopping briefly to talk to the crowds of curious people that everywhere he went gathered around him with rapt attention, listening to his words.

Hearing everything he said, taking it in, whispering occasionally to each other, but mostly just sucking it up like a dry sponge. They had not heard this kind of teaching. And so we come to this place where Jesus for the third time reveals that he’s about to suffer. Die and rise again. Here’s how Mark reports at look at verse 32.

They were on their way up to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way and the disciples were astonished while those who followed were afraid. Again, he took the 12 aside and told them what was going to happen to him. We’re going up to Jerusalem, he said, and the son of man probably went like this. The son of man will be delivered over to the chief priest and the teachers of the law. They will come condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him.

Three days later, he will rise. So that’s, let’s just stop for a second there. Why fear? Because I that grabbed my attention in verse 32. Why were some afraid?

And I think it points to what he had just finished talking about before we started. To verse 29, you’ll see Jesus’ words again. He says, truly, I tell you, no one who has left home or brother or sister or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel, that kind of lists everything by the way that matters to me. Right? It’s just a list of things.

No one who leaves all these things that matter for the sake of the gospel. Look, verse 30, we’ll fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age, homes, brothers, sisters, all those things that matter. I mean, I like homes and all that’s listed there, my family. And, but he says, along with persecution and in this age to come, eternal life, but many who are first will be last and the last first. If you’re following him and you’re not quite convinced, you’re a bit of a tire kicker still and a bit of with arm folded to this point.

You’re like, yeah, I like that. I’m going to follow you. And, and I might have to give up some things. But boy, you just said you’re going to reward me a hundred times over. That’s just amazing.

That’s really wonderful. What’d you just say? Persecution? Why? It would make me back up and it did them too.

That’s why they’re looking a little bit from a distance. They followed and and we’re afraid. So Jesus talks on. And I want you to pick up at verse 37 because right here, having just finished this prediction that we just read, going to Jerusalem, verse 34, I’ll be mocked, spit on, flogged, killed, all of that. James and John come with a burning question.

Actually, it turns out it’s a favorite ask. And if you were to take the time, we don’t have it this morning, go over to Matthew chapter 20. You would find it’s not just James and John, but Matthew actually reports it’s James and John with their mother. So it’s like mom with a son and a son walking over to Jesus at this moment and asking this question. So I had my mom do such things like that, but usually it was to get my job back or something like that.

So that was cool. But so they come together. And they say, so teacher, I’m reading from verse 35 now, we want you to do something to us, do something for us, whatever we ask. So can you hear the hush tone in my voice? Because I don’t think they did it out in front.

Hey Jesus, so that everybody could hear. I think they pull them off to the side. Hey teacher, listen, we want you to do for us, whatever we ask. They want me to do for you, yes. They is of course, James and John and mom.

Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory. Now, here’s what they’re saying. Jesus, you’re a big deal. You’re the biggest deal. Your star is the highest in the sky.

Your stock is off the charts. You’re a big dealer. You’re a big deal. And we want to be a big deal with you. Cool?

Right? In America, it’d be like the president and two guys decide to come and one’s the vice president, the other speaker of the house, I guess second and third in charge, right? And they come to him and say, hey, we want to be right here. This is all sort of, I’m going to call it what it is. It is to me because, and I’ll say this because Jesus has just finished sharing the most difficult news of all.

I’m going to give my life and they say, I’ll tell you what, since all that stuff’s got to go on in your kingdom, make sure is there a possible place for me and my bro? I call that blind ambition. Almost like they didn’t, they certainly didn’t feel the weight of what Jesus was saying. And they ignored it by asking their own questions. So Jesus, instead of rebuking them, he takes advantage of this awkward moment and clarifies how God defines greatness.

Look at verse 38 where we left off. Jesus said to them, you will drink the cup. I drink and be baptized with the baptism I’m baptized with, which is suffering and death. But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.

Evidently, the conversation wasn’t quiet enough for the others to miss out on. Then they, the 10, the other 10 heard about this, became indignant. They were hacked. I have my own theory. I think it’s that James and John beat him to it.

That’s my own. It wasn’t the nerve, don’t you know guys? He’s going to die? That’s awful. How would you bring up something like that?

It’s like going to your parents just before they die and say, hey, there’s a big payoff coming for me, right? There’s not that. That’s not going on here. They’re just ticked because they didn’t ask it. They’re like, man, they beat us to it.

They jumped the gun. You know, we missed our chance. So they become indignant with James and John. Jesus calls all of them together and says, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles, Lord it over them. And they’re high officials exercise authority over them, not so with you.

Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. Whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Jesus is doing a brilliant job of separating the rules of engagement in our world with how it looks in his kingdom. Would you look back at verse 42 and you’ll see the world’s definition of greatness because that’s what this is about. The world’s definition of greatness is it’s a word that repeats twice.

It repeats in verse 42. Look at this. Jesus called them together and said, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentile, here’s it’s a preposition. Lord it over. Them.

And they’re high officials exercise authority over them. Jesus is saying, that’s the way the world rolls. It’s power and control on the boss on the top dog. I tell you what to do. And if you do it, you stay employed.

If you don’t, you’re done. That’s how the world works, Jesus is saying. And and the bigger dog yard, the more you have in command underneath you, the more impressive you are. That’s how it works. And the world doesn’t need to make an apology for that.

That’s how it goes. But Jesus is saying in contrast, his great definition of greatness is in complete contrast with the world. Instead of over, look at verse 43, among he says, instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And instead of superior, like I dominate, he says, you want to be great. What’s verse 44 say, whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

You see the contrast here? Command and control says the world. That’s how it runs. Jesus says, no, you’re a servant among. That’s how it goes in my kingdom.

And then Jesus says, that’s in verse 45, models the message. He served and gave his life a ransom. That’s paying a price to free slaves. And you know what Jesus was hinting at. It was more than just the physical slave from the slave trade of that day.

It’s about the sin and dominion that sin has over people, making us slaves to sin. And Jesus says, I’m paying the ransom to set you free. You are not your own. You have been bought with a price, his life. Therefore, now that you’re free, glorify God in your bodies.

Many years ago, when Debbie and I with just one child at the time arrived here at Grace Point, I met a man who taught me a lot. He was a huge man measured by his height and his impact in my life. And I was impressed in a lot of different ways. He was in those days, we had so many projects that we needed people to do and help with around here, painting buildings and just all kinds of important projects, putting in the ministry center next to I could go on and on. But in all of that, this man came early before the rest and stayed later than the rest.

He was there the whole time. He was last to leave. I should tell you this too, he was retired, which in my mind, meant he would probably run out of gas before the rest of us. I mean, retired people, they get tired easy. That was my thinking.

I’m a kid that had boundless energy when I arrived and still do. But anyway, (audience laughs) and I was wrong about him. He served and he stayed to the end. And he did that all the time. I don’t have a single memory of him going, “Hey, no, I’m gassed, I gotta go.”

I had to know what’s his story. One time I remember asking him, “Hey, what’s your secret sauce? “How do you do this?” And he looked at me and he answered me in the deepest base voice I’ve ever heard from a human and Tony’s got a deep one. But this was deeper still.

And he said, “Well, Steve, “how am I doing? “That really hurt.” (audience laughs) You know, you know, if you don’t show up, you’ll miss out on the blessing. And he’s immortalized with those words. Text Whiteman showed up.

And he showed up huge. And he showed up to serve. And here’s the deal. Today, I can tell you his secret sauce. He was such a servant because inspiration came from the greatest servant of all, Jesus Christ.

And that’s true of many of you. It really is. I love that about this church. Yeah. Would you stop at one last place with me and then we’ll share communion together.

First Peter chapter four, would you go? “It’s in the Bible when you get to first Peter.” I just want to inspire you the way text was inspired by Jesus. And I want in these last couple of minutes to fan the sort of the serve fire that burns in the hearts of many here at Grace Point. Just want to fan it.

It’s there and it’s strong in many. And I want to do so with this teaching. If you’re ready to write something down, some of you have been already, but would you write this down? Use what you have been given for the benefit of others and for the glory of God. Use what you have been given to benefit others and to bring glory to God.

Text did that then. And many of you are doing that now. First Peter four, look at verse seven. I discovered this teaching that I think of course has inspired by God, but presented by the apostle Peter. The end of all things is near.

He starts verse seven. “If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides so that in all things, God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever.” And the church said, amen.

That’s the deal here. So look at verse 10. I want you to see this because I don’t want you to misread this. He begins with each of you. Each of you.

He could have said some of you, super saints, super servants, or he could have said most of y’all, like they say in the South. But he said, each of you, that means all of you, you and I have been given something. That’s how he begins this. We’ve been given, each of you have been given whatever gift and it’s interesting. He doesn’t get specific here.

Because I think he’s talking about things that are bigger than just a specific gift or two. He does mention speaking and he does mention serving. But whatever it is, it’s this thing we’ve been given. Belong to Jesus, he gives you a gift. He gives you a skill.

He gives you a strength. He gives you some kind of profuse. Efficiency. And he does so, he says, to serve others. You see how verse 10 reads?

You’ve been given this gift every one of us. Now use it for the benefit of the people down the row from you or behind or in front of you. And those that aren’t even here today. So use it to serve others. What we’ve been given has been given by God.

So here’s the deal. If God’s the giver of that gift, or gift or ability or proficiency or whatever, then don’t look at other people’s gift and say, I wish I had that. You celebrate what you’ve been given and use it to benefit others and bring glory to God. Everybody doing that makes for a ridiculously healthy church. I mean, incredibly on it and moving forward, which is what’s happening around here.

It’s very exciting from my heart to see this. And when we’re stewards, and we steward well this gift, faithful stewards, he says, says in verse 10, there’s great gain. It brings benefit and it reflects well on God himself, who is the giver of each of these gifts. Eric Lidle, the name Ringabelle, some of you, chariots of fire, that’s right. And he was a gold medal, Scottish Olympic gold medal, winner, medal runner in the 1924 games.

I don’t know if you knew this, but he was a Jesus lover. The movie was great, but the reality to his life, he’s a Jesus lover, he’s also a missionary. He was a missionary, MK, they’re called missionary kid, and he was a missionary in his own way. And chariots of fire, the movie, you need to see it again if it’s been a while, probably has. But he famously said, I believe that God has made me for a purpose.

And he’s also made me fast. I love this. And when I run, I feel his pleasure. I don’t know if he smiled as he ran, but there’s this, I’m doing what I was designed to do. And I’m doing it for the glory of God.

Is that great? Proficient, are you kidding the gold medalist? And he says, you know what? When I run, I feel God smiling, his pleasure in me, beating this knot out of the rest. Okay, here’s the deal.

Same is true for you and me. He gave us a tool to use for the benefit of others. That’s the whole idea here. And when we do, we bring glory to God, that’s what verse 11 is telling us. We bring glory to God, and here’s the deal.

We get to feel his pleasure. Because we’re doing what we do well. And then he just gives a couple examples. If you speak, speak the words of God. I don’t get up here without saying, God, don’t let them hear a thing from me.

Let them hear it from you, from your heart. When you receive from us, Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, when you receive from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of man, but for what it really is, the word of God, get this, which also performs its work in you who believe. That’s what inspires me to keep moving that direction. I want you to hear God. And he gave me a mouth.

And you know, if I told you the trouble this mouth got me in over the years before I became a pastor, frankly, since, but you would just go, oh, man, I’m not sure I can be in this guy’s church anymore. It really was. My mom and dad in their years of reflection have said, oh, my goodness. He was going to be a politician. He was going to be a preacher.

He was thinking of being a policeman. And we were warned. He might actually be a prisoner, you know, I mean, this is not going good. So God gave me his word and it’s just alive in me. It’s alive.

And it’s what I want you to hear. There’s servers too. He mentions those last and we’ll be done. If you serve, he says, put your heart in it. Anyone who serves should do it with all the strength God provides.

It’s not, you know what? It’s not work for you. If you’re called to serve, that’s not work for you. You’re doing what you were designed to do. And when you serve, you feel God’s pleasure.

When I speak, I feel God’s pleasure. I can’t hardly shut it off. I just do. I feel his pleasure. I’m thinking, man, you know, this is so.

I mean, it’s like, you know, how many of you have a lab or have had a lab, a Labrador, you know, the right dog, you know, that’s a good dog. So you know what I’m talking about? I mean, you get a ball, you know? I mean, labs, when they see a ball or a cat, they chase ’cause that’s what they’re made for, right? Got quiet in here.

How many cat lovers are in here? I just gotta know my, gotta know my audience. Melissa’s moving to Arizona. You’re taking your cats. Just tease me forever, mercilessly.

You are so mean to cats in the pulpit. I can’t believe that. All right. Here’s the deal. Back on this road to Jerusalem with Jesus, James and John, had their minds on selfish ambition.

And when they pulled Jesus aside, they hit him hard with this selfish ambition. And Jesus said, do you remember those words? Yeah, you’ll do those things. And they did. Acts 12 tells us that James died doing those things.

And first, second, third, John and Revelation were written in the 90s by John who died exiled to an island doing these things. Can you think of a better way to serve than in the inspired by Jesus? Even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. We’re gonna share communion now. Would you bow your heads and let me invite you to visit with Jesus?

About the basic point of this message, would you just do this for a moment and say, I see that you gave each of us and that includes me, that gift. An ability, a capacity to do something that I’ve been designed to do. Been a while since I’ve done it, Lord. Maybe you’re in that column. Would you just repent of that?

‘Cause he gave it to you to benefit others and to bring glory to him. Maybe you’re here this morning going, pastor, you’ve been very kind in your words today ’cause that’s not how I would describe my current use of the gifts God’s given me. Would you just turn to Jesus right now and just say, Jesus, I want to, you don’t take gifts away, gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. It’s mine until you call me home. So would you just say, Jesus, I want to change it up here today.

I see what you did. You served and gave your life for many, including me. So I want to be that guy. I want to be that woman. I want to be a user of the gift you’ve given me.

And then I want to see you smile. I want to start using that gift again so that I use it in a way that I feel your pleasure and my use of that gift. As you are served communion this morning, the bread and the cup, would you just please take it into your hands and then take this thought into your heart as you’re just sort of spending a moment in thought. Take the thought that Jesus, you’re the supreme example of how to serve and give. I want to be that person following in your footsteps steps.

And as I do, I want to see your pleasure in me. If you’re a server and you’ve been following hard like Tex Whiteman did, so many that plumber I told you about, keep doing it. Keep doing it. It’s all for the benefit of your body, Lord Jesus, and for your glory. We want to serve you.

And as we do, we’re touching others for you. Draw us close in these moments as we reflect on what you meant when you did not come to be served, but to serve and give your life for us. And cause it to inspire us without end in your name we pray.

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 4,149 words.