Mark chapter 10, our text tonight is verses 32 to 45, which Gavin read for us earlier. As you're turning back there, I just want to bring greetings from your friends you probably don't know about at Independent Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, the land of barbecue and blues. And if you ever make it out my way, please holler at us. We would love to take you out to the finest ribs in the United States rendezvous. or the best pulled pork, which is found at Central Barbecue, or the best brisket, which is found at Cozy Corner, you get the idea. So please do come see us out west, right there on the Mississippi River where the Delta and the hills meet. Before we consider the word of God together tonight, we confess we need his help. So let's pray together. Almighty God, we do come this night And we pray that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. Spirit of the living God, we ask that you would rend the heavens and come down. Dwell in the midst of your people. Open our eyes that we might see glorious riches in this portion of your gospel. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. So in another life that I have had, I've been a church history professor, and so I'm going to give you a quiz tonight. And the quiz is simply this, one question, what was the Reformation all about? What was the Reformation all about? After all, this is Reformation Day. We're a Presbyterian congregation. Surely we can answer this question. What was the Reformation all about? Well, some of you can remember back to last year, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and you're saying, well, duh, Sean. I know exactly what the Reformation was about. The Reformation was about doctrine and all those Latin words that every Presbyterian needs to know. Sola scriptura, scripture alone, and sola gratia, grace alone, sola fide, by faith alone, solus Christus, Christ alone, sola deo gloria, to the glory of God alone. Everybody knows that the Reformation was about doctrine. Well, yes, but that's not all the Reformation was about. And that's where the other half of you come into play, because you've read a little bit more, and you say, well, yes, yes, yes, the Reformation was about doctrine, but the Reformation was also about worship. As the reformers, Luther and especially Calvin, and then the second generation, Beza and others, looked at the worship of Rome, they saw it as idolatrous and superstitious, And so the Reformers were determined to have worship regulated according to God's Word and desire the purity of worship. And so that's really what the Reformation was all about. Well, yes, the Reformation was certainly about that too, but that's not all it was about. You see, when we think about Reformation, when we think about what it means to be Reformed, we certainly care about doctrine. We need to think rightly. And certainly thinking rightly will help us worship rightly. But Luther and Calvin and the second generation of Reformers also recognize that you can think rightly and you can worship in the right forms and still live like a devil the rest of the week. When Calvin actually went to sum up what the Christian life was all about, which I take to be at the very heart of what he was up to in his Reform, you know what he said? It's actually the title of book three, chapter six in the Institutes, The Sum of the Christian Life, Self-Denial, The Denial of Ourselves, and then chapter seven of book three, The Bearing of the Cross. Now, Jesus has actually been trying to reform his disciples' understanding of what following him means. Ever since chapter 8, verse 27, which was really where the book was driving from the very first verse of the very first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, when Mark tells us that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, from that point all the way to chapter 8, verse 27, the entire Gospel of Mark has been driving to the question that Jesus asks his disciples, who do you say that I am? And Peter responds on behalf of the group, you are the Christ, you are the Messiah. Yes, that was the right answer. But from that point on, from chapter 8 verse 27 to 30, that scene, from that point on, starting in chapter 8 verse 31 through the end of chapter 10, Jesus begins trying to reform his disciples' understanding of two things. First, what it means for him to be the Messiah, and second, what it means for them to be the Messiah's disciples. And so over and again, three times, he's going to tell his disciples what it means for him to be the Messiah, that the Messiah must suffer. He would be betrayed. He would be mocked, spit upon, flogged. He would be crucified. And the third day he would rise again. This is the third time what we've heard. in this reading, the third time that Jesus has told the disciples that their understanding of what it means for him to be the Messiah needed to be reformed. And it's going to be the third time that he's going to tell them that their understanding of what it means for them to be disciples also needed to be reformed. What I want to suggest to you tonight The reason why this text was appropriate for tonight's on the 501st anniversary of the Reformation. is that if you think being Reformed and Presbyterian and embracing the truths of the Reformation only is about the reform of doctrine or the reform of worship, then you need to hear what Jesus has to say. Not just to what he said to his disciples, but what he's saying to you. Because tonight, Jesus is present with us, whether you know it or not, whether you have eyes to see it or not, Jesus is present with us tonight, and he wants to ask you a question. What do you want me to do for you? That's the question he's gonna ask his disciples. And when we hear Jesus ask that question, we're going to see what it is we really think being a disciple of Jesus is all about. Jesus wants to reform your understanding of discipleship. The way Jesus goes about doing that tonight is the same way that he goes about doing it for his disciples. He reminds them, he reminds us of his mission. Verse 32, as you have your Bibles open, you see it. Verse 32, look at it. 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. They've been on the road, Jesus and his disciples, ever since they had been in Caesarea Philippi. They've been making their way to Jerusalem. By chapter 10, verse 17, as you read, you will find they've come to the Transjordan region. This scene is somewhere between the Transjordan region and Jericho. And we know that because the scene with Bartimaeus that begins in verse 46 occurs right outside of the old city of Jericho. And so Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and he's going up, literally. Because once he reaches Jericho, the 18-mile journey from Jericho to Jerusalem will gain 3,500 feet of elevation. He's going up. but there's a determination about Jesus that's uncanny. The text tells you he's walking ahead of them. The NIV has, he is leading the way, not lagging behind. No, the master is in the front. He's leading the way to Jerusalem and his followers are amazed and afraid. They're amazed at his determination. They're afraid at what his determination might mean for them. What is Jesus going to say or do? Is he going to get himself killed? Well, yes, Jesus has come to this moment and he's going to this place in order to die because that was his mission. He takes his disciples aside, as you see in verse 33, see it? And he says, 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 will 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. Again, this is the third time he's told them that. He told them this same thing, chapter eight, verse 31. He told them this same thing, chapter nine, verses 30 and 31. But this time, here in chapter 10, he tells in more detail. Each of the words that Jesus uses here in verses 33 and 34 will show up again. The Son of Man will be delivered over. He will be delivered over by God and by human beings. Delivered over is the same Greek word that will be translated betrayed. He'll be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him. They'll condemn him to death. They'll deliver him over to the Gentiles. They will mock, they will spit, they will flog. They will kill him. In three days he will rise. Each of those words will show up again in the Greek text of Mark chapter 15. That's why he's going to Jerusalem. That's the mission. And it was not a mistake. Well, the disciples thought it had to be a mistake. Why do I say that? Well, because each time Jesus told them that this was the Messiah's mission, they responded in ways that suggested a profound misunderstanding, a profound disconnect. I mean, remember what happened the first time? Chapter 8, verse 31, Jesus says, I will suffer. I will be killed. The third day I'll rise. What happened next in verse 32? Do you remember? Peter rebuked him. Chapter 9, verses 30 and 31, Jesus tells his disciples, this is what's going to happen to me. I'm going to suffer. I'm going to be betrayed. I'm going to be killed. The third day I'm going to rise. You remember what happens next? The disciples spend the rest of the trip arguing over who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Both of those previous scenes represented a profound misunderstanding And the misunderstanding actually represented a chasm between the life that the disciples imagined for themselves and the life they were actually receiving from Jesus. Let me say that again. The misunderstanding of the disciples in each of these three scenes, in chapter 8, chapter 9, and chapter 10, represented a chasm between the life they imagined for themselves and the life they were actually receiving from Jesus. Think back to chapter eight when Peter rebukes Jesus. What was Peter thinking when he rebuked his Savior, when he rebuked his Messiah that he's just confessed? Well, he's thinking that Jesus is this glorious Messiah who's going to come and restore Israel finally to its kingdom, drive out the Romans, establish David's throne once again. And of course, the 12 would come to positions of power and prominence and authority. That's what Peter was thinking. That's why he rebuked Jesus. Jesus said, you have your mind set on the things of man, not on the things of God. But what was the life that Jesus had actually given him? What was the life he had received from Jesus? If any man comes after me, chapter 8 verse 34, if any man comes after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Jesus bid them to follow and he bid them to come and die. That was the life that they had received. The second scene in Mark chapter 9, after Jesus tells his disciples what's going to happen to him, they spend the rest of the trip arguing over who was the greatest. What were they thinking? What was the life they had imagined for themselves? The same story that Peter had. Jesus was going to be great, the kingdom of God was going to come, and there was going to be 12 who were prominent, but three in particular, or maybe even two who would be great, or maybe just one, a peer among brothers. And yes, the 12 would have glory together, but there would be one who would be Jesus's right-hand man, the one who would accomplish all that Jesus had for them. But what did Jesus say? You remember? He takes a child. Someone who has no power, no reputation, no ability to help them. And he puts that child in the midst of them and says, if anyone must be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. And then he talks about tearing down the barriers that create inner circles and outer circles, speaks of humility, the humility that's required to serve. In both instances, in chapter 8 and in chapter 9, there's a profound misunderstanding, a chasm between the life the disciples imagined and the life that Jesus had given them, the life they had received from Jesus. And that same misunderstanding is happening here. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, the cousins of Jesus, they sidle up to Jesus and they say something ridiculous. You see it in verse 35? We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Well, duh. What are these guys expecting Jesus to say? Sure, my pleasure, whatever you want, guys. No. Wisely, Jesus doesn't say that. Instead, he asks a question in return, a question that was meant to probe their heart, a question that actually comes to us and probes our heart. What do you want me to do for you? What do you want me to do for you? What's their answer? Verse 37, grant us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory. Now, here's a perfect example. of the kind of understanding, the kind of misunderstanding between what Jesus has told them, the life they were receiving from him, and the life they had imagined for themselves. Because what has Jesus just spoken of? He's just spoken of the cross, but what are they imagining? They're imagining crowns. Jesus has just spoken of affliction. What are they thinking of? James and John, they're thinking of advancement. Jesus has just spoken to them of his painful death. What are they imagining? James and John are imagining power and life. Jesus's mission, it didn't match up to the life they had imagined for themselves. But I wonder, how do you answer that question? I mean, Jesus is asking you that question tonight through my voice. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus, I want my best life now. Jesus, I want to have a peaceful life, no waves, want everything to work. Jesus, I finally want to have a spouse. I want my children to be protected. I want to see my grandchildren. No, no, no, no. I want to see my great-grandchildren. I want to be great. I want people to know me. What do you want me to do for you? That's the question that Jesus uses to peel back the layers of false and inauthentic and churchianity that we all slip into. I slip into it, you slip into it. And Jesus asks you that question tonight to pierce that heart, to ask you, what do you really want? What's the life you've imagined for yourself? Disciples were honest. Grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. And yet Jesus doesn't promise them that. No, he actually reminds them once again about the life they've received. Jesus says, you do not know what you are asking. And they don't. They want the right hand and the left hand placed at Jesus' side. You know the next time that language is used in Mark's gospel? Mark chapter 15 verse 27, with him they crucified two robbers. One at his right hand, the other at his left. It's ironic, but it's actually also the point. To be at Jesus's right hand and to be at Jesus's left hand actually is to know the trouble that no one but Jesus has seen. It's actually to live into a life that is difficult and hard, that involves suffering and pain. That's what this Christian life is. And that's what Jesus tells them. Verse 38, he asked them the question, you don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They say, we are able. And Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant. It's for those for whom it has been prepared. What did Jesus tell them? Yes, that's exactly right. The cup of suffering? The baptism of sorrow? You will know it. And James does. According to church tradition, he is beheaded in AD 44 for the cause of the gospel. John, the only of the apostles who actually dies a natural death, will actually die in exile, we believe, on the Isle of Patmos, from which he writes the revelation. But that's not just a lot of the apostles. The very first missionaries, when they went out to preach, what was their message? Acts 14, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. And from the first century to the 21st century, that is the message. That's the life we receive, but we don't get it, do we? We either unwittingly or willfully misunderstand what discipleship's all about. what Jesus's mandate for our lives really is. We think our mandate's power and prestige and privilege and prominence. And we think that we can just, we can have our everything, whatever that everything is, whatever the life we've imagined for ourselves is, and we can just add Jesus to it. And friends, we are so, so caught up with Christian celebrity. Whether they're outside our tribe, like Carl Lance, or Chad Veach, or the Hillsong guys, or whether they're inside our tribe, like Tim Keller, or Ligon Duncan, we are so caught up with being with the prominent, and the powerful, and trying to network ourselves, and taking selfies with people, and all the rest. We prize our connections, and we prize our networking, and we prize our advancement, we prize our market share, we prize our resources, and we prize our reach, but that's not the life to which Jesus has called us. It's not. The life we've imagined for ourselves, the life that the world imagines for itself, it's not your life, and it's not That's what Jesus says. Verse 42, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you. The world prizes power and authority. It prizes lording over and leading movements. It prizes great ones and groomed ones. But what does Jesus say? It shall not be so among you. That's not your mandate. That's not how you should live. That's not what a disciple looks like. Well then, I ask the question, how then shall we live? Jesus tells us. We're called to lives of humble service. Verse 43, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. We've heard this before. I mean, we talk about servant leadership like it's a thing, even though few of us know really what it means. We talk about humility, but we still have this mistaking idea, as C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, that humility means beautiful women thinking they're ugly, or smart people thinking they're stupid, or clever people thinking they're worms. That's not what Jesus is talking about. He's talking about taking what you have, whatever it is, and recognizing that you have received it, that it's not yours to keep. It's to take what you have and to give it away. to just give it away. Whatever power, whatever prominence, whatever privilege, whatever platform, whatever time, whatever treasure, whatever talent, you didn't get that for yourselves. You didn't make that. God gave that to you to give it away, to serve somebody. I love this definition that comes from the author John Dixon. He says, humility is the noble choice to forego your status, to deploy your resources or use your influence for the good of others before yourself. Or more simply you could say, that the humble person is marked by a willingness to hold power in the service of others. So what that means is to take that which you have whatever has been given to you, and to say, this is not mine, this is yours. It's for you. I want you to succeed. I want you to be great. Even if I don't advance, if you move forward, then I will be pleased because I'm taking what I have and using it so that you might move forward. Think about how revolutionary what Jesus is saying here when he says, whoever would be great among you must be your servant, whoever would be first must be slave of all. Imagine how revolutionary it would be if you took what you had been given and you gave it away so that others would be great and others would succeed and others would advance. Think about how your marriage would be different. Over 15 or 16 years of ordained ministry, 11 years as a senior pastor, I have had all sorts of marriage situations come through my office, and the vast majority of them center on both partners seeking the kingdom of themselves. rather than serving one another, and so serving the kingdom of God. Imagine how different your marriage would be if you stopped seeking your own kingdom and you said, whatever I've been given, I'm gonna serve you with. So that the husband takes whatever he's been given in this relationship, whatever gifts he has, whatever strengths, whatever vision, possibility, and he says, this is not for me. You be Paul Simon, I'll be Art Garfunkel. you go high, I'll go low. You succeed, you advance. More times than not, in most marriages, the wife does that. I want to challenge you men to look tonight on your way home at your marriage and say, what is it that I've been given in this marriage and how can I use it to serve my wife so that she can be as successful as possible in fulfilling her role in this marriage? How different would your marriage be? How different would it be? I wonder how different this church would be, your staff would be, your session would be, if each one said, It's not about me, it's not about my ministry area, not about my agenda, not about my vision, not about my purpose, not about my plan, not about my particular silo, my particular turf. No, I'm gonna take whatever's been given to me and I want you to succeed. I want you to advance so that if your ministry is great and nobody even knows what I'm doing, that's okay if I help you get there because that's why I'm here, to be least of all and servant of all. Not to be great, not to have a platform. How different would your church be? How different would your staff be? How different would session meetings be? How different? How different would your workplace be if you as a worker, as a supervisor, a worker, If you went to work with the idea that I'm going to make those above me successful, those who are my peers successful, and those who are below me successful, and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to take whatever I've been given in my role, with my talents, and I'm going to see how I can make others great, how different would your workplace be? How different would it be? Of course, in the theme of what you've been dealing with this month, I can't, I can't stop there. How different would it be if those of you who are in the majority culture were to take your power and your privilege and your positions and say, look, this isn't about me. How do I serve those who are in the minority culture, those who are people of color in our midst, within the church, outside the church, so that they might advance and they might be successful, so that they might get a leg up? How do I go to serve the other? That's what Jesus is talking about. But guess what? That kind of thing, living this out in your marriage or in your church or in the workplace or with others who are different from you racially, culturally, it's really, really hard because it involves dying. It involves dying. Your imagined life, it has to die. your power, your prominence, your advancement, your perspective, your demands that your life go on your timetable and your way, they all have to die. Because to look to the interests of another, to put another before yourself, to live out of this mandate to serve humbly, it requires death. That's what Philippians 2 says, remember? Have this mind among yourselves, which is already yours in Christ Jesus. It's already yours. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ and you have the Spirit dwelling in you, this mind is already yours. What kind of mind? Jesus's mind. who didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, didn't think his glory was something to cling to, but he gave it away. He opened his hands, he emptied himself, took upon himself the form of a servant, became obedient to death, even the death of the cross, so that he might look to the interests of others, your interests. To live this way involves dying. That's what Jesus is saying. And yet, The very last verse gives us some measure of hope, because it speaks to us of a helping Savior. If we're going to live out this mandate, we need the help of our Savior, and he helps us both as an example and as a power. Look at what Jesus says in verse 45. He says, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. And so the first part tells us that Jesus is an example for, connects you. For even the Son of Man did this, even the Son of Man. Who is this Son of Man? That title takes you to Daniel chapter seven. You remember Daniel seven, 13 and 14, the Ancient of Days has his throne on the earth and one like the Son of Man comes and what does he receive? He receives power and authority over all the earth and all the peoples. That's who Jesus is. He's the Lord of Glory, the King of Creation, and the Lord of the Nations. And yet he didn't come demanding that others serve him, which was his due and his right. No, he came to serve. Even the Son of Man came to do this. He's the great example. of what it looks like to die to serve others. Because of course, he gives his life as a ransom in the place of many. I mean, that's the whole point of his mission. He isn't going to Jerusalem because he had a death wish, didn't go to Jerusalem because he wanted to be a martyr. No, he was on the way to Jerusalem to be delivered over by God and to be delivered over by humans so that sinners like you and me might be brought home to God. That's why he is going. He's going as a servant, as the servant, the servant that Isaiah had promised over and again in Isaiah 42 and in and 49 and 50 and 53, the great servant of the Lord, that's who he is. That's what he's come to do. He's the example and his example helps us. But just having Jesus as an example isn't help enough. No, he is a great power. He's a power outside of us because this death he dies is a ransom death. It pays a ransom price. As we heard this morning, we were dead in trespasses and sins in which we once walked. We were the walking dead. We were zombies. And we were destined to wrath. We were heading to hell. But God, who is rich in mercy, rich in grace, rich in steadfast love, he sends Jesus to do what? to die in our place, in the place of you, in the place of me, so that we might have our sins fully paid for, and the wrath of God fully satisfied, and righteousness gained for us, and a righteousness that's alien to us and outside of us was purchased for us, and an inheritance that shall never fade and never fail, kept in heaven for you. That's what Jesus did. And this power that actually transforms us is a power that's alien to us, that's outside of us, that God the Father by the Spirit applies to us. But it's also a power inside of us. Because Jesus, in purchasing this inheritance that shall never fade, He also purchased the very Spirit of God to dwell in us, as the guarantee of that inheritance and that Spirit of the living God is actually the Spirit of Christ, so that Paul will declare, this is the wonder of the gospel itself, Christ in you, the hope of glory. So that the very mind of Christ, the Spirit of the living God, the third person of the Godhead dwells in you. He's a power to help you serve, to help you give yourself away, and to die to your dreams of your imagined life. And yet, don't miss this. We don't simply die. Jesus said his mission was not simply to die. but each time after three days to rise again. So that just as it is for Jesus, so it is for every one of his disciples. Those who follow Jesus in the pathway of suffering and death to serve others will certainly follow Jesus in the pathway to resurrection. to new life with new bodies and a new heaven and a new earth with the people of God surrounding the throne saying salvation and glory and honor belong to our God and to the Lamb. That's also your destiny as a reforming disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Please pray with me. Father, we do bless you. We bless you this night that you've probed our hearts by the very Spirit of Jesus asking us the difficult question, what do you want me to do for you? Lord Jesus, I pray that by your Spirit you would draw out of our hearts what I want to be a Christian in my heart. Lord, grant for each one of those hearing the sound of my voice tonight that that would be the prayer they would utter. Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. Make me such a disciple that serves others. That's my prayer, and we pray it together in Jesus' name, amen.