Mark 10:32-45 UPSIDEDOWN August 18, 2019am · Mark 10:32-45 UPSIDEDOWN August 18, 2019am READ Mark...

Mark 10:32-45 UPSIDEDOWN August 18, 2019am

READ Mark 10:32-45 KIDS Lorem Ipsum?

Humility is the one thing that once you realize you have it—you don’t

have it. That’s going to sink in during lunch for some of you. But really, this morning, I’d like for us to take e a good, hard look at our lack of humility in

each of our lives because the easy thing to do this morning would be to just say, “Yeah…I’m pretty humble” and go on about our lives unchanged.

We all do that more often than we care to admit: we think, “O this doesn’t really apply to me…next topic…next sermon.” But nothing could be further

from the truth. Several weeks ago, I was getting my hair cut and the usual

conversation started up. “What do you for living?” I have found that if you don’t want to talk to someone anymore, all you have to do is say, “I’m a

pastor,” and that usually does the trick. Just kidding by the way, but it is true that from that point on, there is a distinct change in the conversation.

We continued on talking about church-related things for a while when I asked her what her pastor preached on last week. She didn’t miss

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a beat. There wasn’t any himming or hawing; she knew. “Prayer: our pastor talked about how Christians don’t pray enough.” So I asked what she got

out of the sermon. “Not much…because I pray all the time, everywhere. God, help this lottery ticket be a winner. Lord, help this light to turn green.”

I kind of felt like she has missed a big point of prayer…but I give you that account not to pick on her but because I think she did what we often

do when we hear a sermon. We immediately begin to start looking in our life for the instances when we do pray a bunch or (for our purposes this

morning) when we did practice humility, but if we are honest with ourselves and the Lord, we ought to just confess, repent and beg for Christ’s help

going forward. The whole idea of humility seems counterintuitive and even

counterproductive. Last first and first shall be last stuff just seems absolutely absurd to our mortal minds, and it is. That’s why the disciples

had such a difficult time swallowing so much of Jesus’s teaching, because He was talking about a kingdom wholly different from our own. One that

flipped the Roman world of His day upside down from then on. We pick up with Jesus and His 12 disciples traveling up to

Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover where He will be betrayed and crucified. He knows this. He warns His disciples about what is going to

happen. Judas Iscariot does not take Jesus by surprise. Jesus does not inadvertently walk into a trap. No, this is the very reason why He came. He

did not die as some helpless martyr but as a willing Savior 32 Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus

was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they



followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him:

I think the cause of their being amazed and afraid has to do with what He was about to tell them: the seven things that would happen to Him

in Jerusalem. 33 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will

be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles;

34 and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”

Again, what happened at Jesus’s crucifixion was not an accident or out of His control. It had been planned out for millennia and prophesied of

for hundreds of years before Him. Scripture speaks of Christ as “the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world.” This betrayal, condemnation,

mocking, scourging, spitting on and killing of the King of Glory was not an afterthought.

Sometimes we read the Bible and think that Jesus’s crucifixion was reactive: Adam and Eve sinned so God had to react and send His Son to

be the Savior of the world. That’s not the case. The cross was God’s Plan A. He created us knowing that we would sin and fall short of His glory; so

that is why it pleased Him to “bruise” Jesus to buy us back. I don’t understand all of that, and it is a lot to grapple with, but it is

exactly what Scripture teaches about Christ’s crucifixion. Jesus would be betrayed, condemned to death, mocked, spit upon, scourged, until

ultimately, we would kill Him. That is what Jesus reveals to His disciples in



Mark 10, and I can imagine that it inspired fear and amazement among them.

What do you feel like should have been the proper response to such news, that Jesus was going to be brutally beaten and killed? Worship?

Maybe they should have broken out into song about how gracious and loving He was to do such a thing for them. Wonder? Maybe questions

about His resurrection. Sorrow? Maybe a begging Jesus not to go, or at least an empty “I will die for You, Jesus.”

None of that came. Instead, as I read it, some of the most cold, calculated and selfish words that have ever been recorded in God’s Word

follow. And they come from two of Jesus’s best friends. 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him,

saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” “Cool story about your having to be betrayed, beaten and crucified,

Jesus. Do us one more thing…whatever we ask…” Can you imagine pouring your heart out to friends about all of the

difficulties that you have had to face, knowing you are about to die, and they just respond with “Hey do me a favor…”

They don’t even pay Him the courtesy of letting Him know what they want from Him upfront. Your kids ever do anything like that to you?

“Hey mom…dad…will you do me a favor?” “That depends…”

“No just say you’ll do me a favor before I tell you…” 36 And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”



This is the height of immaturity and the natural overflow of prideful hearts. In Matthew’s account of this very story, he writes that James and

John’s mother (Jesus’s aunt) actually came with them too. I can only imagine as a little more “pressure” to do what was reserved for God the

Father to do. What is it they asked of Jesus? 37 They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right

hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” These are places of honor. A ruler in this day would have had his

most trusted advisors and confidants seated next to him in just about every official capacity whether it be the in a “throne room” or just dining.

Their request seems presumptive, but I do not think that there is anything necessarily wrong with what they are asking, especially because

it is filled with good theology. By their asking Jesus this question, they are confessing the truth that Jesus already promised: that He would rise again

from death. They want to rule with Him, while you definitely sense a strong bit of pride in that request, at least they are saying that they believe Jesus

would one day rule; so they want to serve Him. Their request has some deep flaws, for sure, but you can kind of

appreciate the naive “Can we rule with you?” Let’s look at Jesus’s response, and then we’ll break it down it little further.

38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism

that I am baptized with?” 39 They said to Him, “We are able.”



So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;

40 but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.”

What’s meant with all of this cup and baptism talk? It is not talking about actual baptism or communion. Instead, these were common idioms

in that day that conveyed the idea of fully experiencing something. So based upon the context of the prior passage, I think it is safe to assume

that Jesus is asking James and John if they are able to fully experience a kind of death that He would soon be subjected to.

They naively but also prophetically answer that they were able to experience it all.

The reason I say it that way is because James and John had no idea what Jesus was talking about; they just wanted to reign with Him. They

answer that they are able to drink the cup and baptized like Jesus, and Jesus agrees with them. That’s because Jesus knew who stood before

Him. He knew these disciples…these cousins of His…would hold a special place in the church: a high position in the church. But it was not

one that many would have been jumping up and down to fill. You see, James was the first apostle to be martyred for preaching

the truth of Jesus, and John would be the last. James was killed by Herod Agrippa with the sword, and John would die of natural causes, imprisoned

on the Island of Patmos after having suffered many things by many rulers. By Jesus telling them that those positions (seats of honor, right and

left of Him) were not His to give, He was confirming that even He



submitted to the will of His Father in Heaven. So the disciples had better learn from His example and not presume greatness upon themselves.

Well you can imagine that once Peter (the only member of the inner ring of Jesus to be excluded in this conversation) heard about James and

John’s little stunt of trying to get a leg up, a head start in the coming kingdom of Jesus he wasn’t very happy about it. Neither were the rest of

the disciples… 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased

with James and John. “Who do y’all think you are?! What gives you the right?” So Jesus had to

step in… 42 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know

that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

I don’t need to go into any detail about the self-promoting, self-important culture that we find ourselves apart of so often. We know it. We

feel it. There’s a beautiful Psalm that David penned in the wilderness of Judah, we assume during the time that King Saul was searching for him. He wrote: Someone suggested it ought to be re-written for Christians today


1 O God, You are my God;Early will I seek You;My soul thirsts for You;My flesh longs for YouIn a dry and thirsty landWhere there is no water.2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,To see Your power and Your glory.

O Self, you are my god;Early in the morning will I scroll through your notifications;My soul thirsts to be affirmed and acknowledged;My flesh longs to be satisfied with everything it wants.So I want others to see me in the sanctuary, to see me in all my religion and false-humility


Pride is the most overlooked, most accepted, least disciplined sin within the Body of Christ today. But Jesus says in 43 Yet it shall not be so

among you. But because it is we do not fully understand the following three verses. To us, Jesus’s kingdom of selfless service is askew,

backwards and upside-down, but in reality, it is right side up. As we finish up this morning, I want us to look at three words in the

next few verses that teach us what true greatness is 43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to

become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Servant (Diakonos). If that word sounds familiar, it’s because it is the Greek word for deacon. I don’t know what your idea of a deacon in the

church is, but in the original intent of Scripture, they were literally table-waiters. When the church had grown so large that the apostles were

actually having to stop their study of Scripture in order to pass out food and visit the orphans, they appointed deacons to fill that role.

These men were servants of God by serving the people in the church. Their whole purpose was to do acts of service for the people of

God. Jesus says that whoever wants to be great shall first be a servant to

everyone. Slave (Doulos). The doulos was the lowest of the low in Roman

culture. He was less than a servant as he received no wages and had no



will of his own but was wholly devoted to doing the will of his master. Jesus says that the person who seeks to be first will end up being the slave to

everyone…bossed about…penniless…destitute…worthless. But then we come to the final word, and it is directly related to Jesus

Himself. Up to this point, Jesus has tried to persuade the disciples to serve humbly because of the repercussions: the servant and the slave will

be rewarded. But here, He uses His own life as an example of humble servitude:

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Ransom (Lutron). Jesus refers back to His earlier teaching about His soon coming death on the cross, and He affirms that the whole reason that

He has come was to be a ransom for many. Now, we know what a ransom is. It is a payment given so that something can be released. We

automatically go to a kidnapping in our modern mind, but inherent in the word lutron is that it was a ransom for slaves. And what was a slave? The

lowest of the low…barely human. Jesus is saying that He came to loose even the slaves free. That His whole purpose in life was to serve and slave

for others even if that meant that He had to die to purchase their freedom. What would happen if New Hope Free Will Baptist Church became a

church of servants and slaves? What would this community look like if we served the lowest and least not to snap a photo and put it on our

Instagram feed but because Christ served us with His very life?


Mark 10:32-45 UPSIDEDOWN August 18, 2019am · Mark 10:32-45 UPSIDEDOWN August 18, 2019am READ Mark...

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