The King who came to serve

Growing up in school in Singapore (where I’m from) encouraged a lot of competitiveness in nearly everything you did, from studies and sports to making friends. Everyone wanted to be the best at something, which can be quite hard in a class of 40. Your speciality can end up quite niche – mine was the game Connect 4, and still is. When I saw others who were good at the game, I felt I had to prove I was better. In a way we all still have that innate desire to want to be great, to want to be better, the best at something. As followers of Jesus that might be wanting to be the ‘most active church member’, or ‘most helpful/caring person’. There are a whole host of reasons for that (some good), but if we think deep enough, at times it’s because we love to be showered with praise, recognition, and glory. And that pursuit for glory can very well seep into the church and how we follow Jesus. In today’s passage, Jesus cuts to the heart of that desire by asking his disciples (Mark 10.36) What do you want me to do for you? That’s the question we are posed with today as we follow and serve Jesus. When you are asked to take up a leadership role in CU, to lead a small group, help with tea and coffee, or even informally the next time you meet with other Christians, ‘what do you want Jesus to do for you?’ That’s a tough question that tugs deep into our hearts, so let’s ask God for help now in prayer before looking at his Word.

Lord, open our eyes to see Jesus clearly that we may follow Him as he has showed us in his Word. We ask that your Holy Spirit reveal in our hearts how we have lived for our own glory instead of yours. Amen.

If you’ve been joining us over the past few months, we’ve been looking at Mark’s gospel unfold and seen how hard it is to follow Jesus. We’re now in Mark chapter 10.32-45 where we see the King who came to serve, which would be good to have your Bibles open to. For the third time, Jesus tells his disciples that the Son of Man will be killed and rise again. Each time Jesus foretells his death, follows a reaction by the disciples that show they haven’t quite got the picture yet because they are not setting their minds on the things of God, but on the things of man as Jesus says the first time in Mark 8.33.

1. Jesus leads the way to his death and humiliation. (Mark 10.32-34)

Look down at Mark 10.32 where see firstly, Jesus leads the way to his death and humiliation:

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 heading to Jerusalem to face his death that he knows is coming, and leads the way, walking ahead of his disciples. This is a King who goes first (before his followers) to experience the worst suffering imaginable. At this point his disciples have mixed emotions. Their amazed, as they must’ve thought ‘who is this who goes with such courage to face death and suffering?’ But they’re also afraid of the consequences they might face as his disciples. What will happen to us if we follow him and support all that he says? And yet, they still follow Jesus to Jerusalem. (Mark 10.33-34):

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 gives more information in this third foretelling of his death. Not just that He will be killed but condemned as if he were a sinner. Delivered over to the hands of the Gentiles: his own people (Jews) giving him up. We’re also told this happens in Jerusalem (the world stage at that time) for all to witness what kind of King would be killed. And not just death, but shame and humiliation as he was mocked, spat on, whipped. If the world’s definition of greatness and glory was a place, Jesus was walking in the complete opposite direction of worldly glory, towards Jerusalem where he would meet death and humiliation.

It sounds blatantly obvious, and yet the disciples needed to be reminded repeatedly that Jesus came to suffer and die. Likewise, we too hear it all the time but need to have a clear understanding that the Jesus we follow came to suffer and die. So, following Jesus means that we will face suffering and possibly persecution for believing in him – not the exact way Jesus has on the cross, but in our own ways that Jesus calls us to pick up our cross. Being mocked at school for standing firm for an unpopular opinion on same-sex marriage. Leaving your job because of unlawful practices. Are we afraid of what that might mean for us as his followers? Or if you wouldn’t yet call yourself a follower of Jesus, it is a big decision to follow someone that walks towards suffering but what a difference it makes to know the King who calls us to pick up our cross has done it first himself and knows all the pain, anguish, and humiliation. The disciples were afraid and still had an incomplete understanding, but they followed Jesus as he led the way to his death and humiliation.

2. Follow Jesus by giving up your glory. (Mark 10.35-41)

How do the disciples respond this time? From Mark 10.35 the message is: follow Jesus by giving up your glory. Look at Mark 10.35-36:

Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he [Jesus] said to them, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.

Jesus has just said for the third time that they’re on the way to his death and humiliation and the immediate reaction of his disciples is to ask him to fulfil their desires. That’s the high position of first and second man, the top seat in his kingdom. Their desire to be the best was all they could think of as they still didn’t know how to make sense of the resurrection. Jesus’ response says it all in Mark 10.38:

You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?

Jesus uses Old Testament language here to illustrate God’s wrath when speaking of the cup and baptism. To which his disciples confidently think they are able to share. Jesus says they will drink the cup and be baptised in the sense that they will share in suffering when taking up their cross, as all disciples do and as they both would later. However, they do not share the same position as Jesus who God exalts to the highest. The other disciples misunderstand what Jesus means and think James and John will get a seat in Jesus’ glory which explains why the ten were indignant at them. Not because they saw the wrong in James and John, but because they were chasing glory for themselves too. They had the same attitude I had with Connect 4, thinking, James and John aren’t the greatest – I’m better than them and I should be there next to Jesus.

This is one of those passages in the Bible where we instinctively think, no one in the right mind would’ve said what James and John did. And that’s when we need to be thinking, how are we wrongly asking Jesus to let us sit next to him in his glory? This can happen both when we’ve just started following Jesus or if we have been for a long time. When we hear someone get praised upfront or in a conversation for being so kind or gifted and we think “well they’re not that kind. I can be more kind; I’ll show you what kind is!” There’s that same reaction the other ten disciples had towards James and John. Or in a more subtle way, we feel happy for them but think, wouldn’t it feel great if that was said about me? That’s when we’ve already begun to foolishly ask Jesus in our heads to let us sit next to him in his glory. It’s tricky too because it can be easy for us – for me to disguise this desire to be great. As I was preparing this sermon, I became more aware of how my mind would drift from proclaiming Jesus to thinking of what others would think of me through this sermon. And I can disguise the desire for others to think highly of me with the good intention of wanting to make Christ known. It’s frustrating because even when starting with good intentions, the moment hear a word praise, that desire for glory comes out again itching for more. And that’s when I’ve foolishly asked Jesus to let me sit next to him in his glory. These are heart issues that we’re good at hiding. I wonder what you might be asking Jesus to do for you today. Whether you’re about to take on a leadership role in CU, lead a small group, help with tea and coffee, or next time you meet with other Christians, how are you wrongly asking Jesus to let you sit next to Him in his glory? This affects all of us, because if you follow Jesus, the very nature of a disciple is to make Jesus known by serving others; informally or formally. And so, James and John say what we’re all thinking in our hearts but won’t say out loud. Jesus’ response to us is the same: You do not know what you are asking. Follow Jesus by giving up your glory.

3. Follow Jesus by giving up yourself. (Mark 10.42-45)

Lastly, Jesus teaches them how they should be living differently from the world as they follow Jesus by giving up yourself (Mark 10.42-45):

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, ‘You know that those who are considered rulers of Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus sets an example of true greatness. The rulers of the world delight in their power, status, and glory. They use it for their personal gain and oppress others with their power. But Jesus’ Kingdom and followers shall not follow or reflect how the world pursues greatness. Instead, he says true greatness is being a servant and slave of all. And Jesus himself is the ultimate model of how the most high and powerful lowered himself to serve and give his life as a ransom. By emptying himself on the cross he paid the full price/cost to completely satisfy God’s wrath that we deserve. That is true greatness that flips what the world says about greatness upside down. What does that say about church? Don’t lead church like the rest of the world. In a world where status, popularity, and power typically dictate leadership, Jesus says it shall not be so among you. So, we are to be looking out for humble leaders who seek not to serve themselves or build themselves up and abuse authority but who are lowering themselves to serve others just as Jesus has. There shouldn’t be a hierarchy that defines how we relate to each other (no one is too important to set up chairs or serve tea and coffee in the rain), no task is too small, no person too big.

What does this say about how we’re living in the world? The world says your title or position commands the respect others ought to show you while giving priority over others of ‘less significance’. Jesus says, it shall not be so among you. So, following Jesus means as CU chairperson, headteacher, consultant, doctor, we relate to the outcast student or colleague, the cleaner, and the intern all with the same dignity and respect that we would to anyone. Of course, our roles would naturally involve bigger responsibility than others, but they don’t change the servant heartedness of someone who follows Christ. What does this Kingdom greatness say about each of our lives? Want to be a great husband? Serve your wife unconditionally. Want to be great mother? Serve your children sacrificially even when they don’t listen. Want to be great daughter? Serve your parents by honouring them even when you disagree. Want to be a great friend? Serve your friends by giving up your time to serve their needs. Want to be a great home group member? Serve your homegroup members by getting to know their needs.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

All of this is hard to hear and even harder to follow. That’s been the theme of these few chapters in Mark, hasn’t it? Following Jesus to suffer, giving up our glory, giving up ourselves? We fail each day because our sinful hearts want what’s best for us. We struggle because everyone out there is living for their glory and for themselves with no restrictions. Two things I’ll like to leave us with. Firstly, we are not enslaved – we can’t be if we have been bought with a price which has set us free from God’s wrath. We are no longer enslaved by sin, but now able to have relationship with God. Secondly, as we fail each day and think there’s no way I can follow Jesus by myself (you’re absolutely right, you can’t) you will never be good enough on your own to follow Jesus. And that’s why Jesus came to serve us by giving his life as a ransom so that we can follow him. Not just as an example but Jesus’ ransom makes following him possible. So, the next time you get frustrated at your pride that seeks your glory, ask for God’s help to give up yourself as Jesus has. And be thankful that the wrath and punishment we deserve for foolishly and selfishly serving ourselves has been paid for at the cross in full. Let’s pray:

Lord, we thank you that Jesus came to serve and give his life up even when we don’t deserve your mercy. Reveal in our hearts the ways we have chased after our own glory and lived for ourselves. We pray that as we see more of our sin, we would see more of what you’ve done on the cross and grow in thankfulness and servant heartedness towards others. In your name we pray, Amen.