And let me ask you to open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 10 this morning. Mark chapter 10, and this morning we will be looking at verses 32 to 45. This is the third, what's called passion prediction, the third prediction of Jesus about his suffering and his death and his resurrection. It's the third time the disciples blow it immediately after, and yet it's the umpteenth time that Jesus does not reject them but continues to shepherd them and to walk with them. Mark chapter 10, verses 32 to 45. Please follow along with me as I read. 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. And taking the 12 again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, 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. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he 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 said to them, you do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? And they said to him, 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 my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. And when the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, 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. 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. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, we are humbled by these words, and yet we are certainly not nearly as humbled by them as we should be. Lord, as we see you demonstrate true greatness in the determination that you showed to go to Jerusalem to die, as we see you redefine for James and John The understanding of greatness, as we see you seal that understanding of greatness with your very own life, we're met by the reality of our pride. If it wasn't James and John, it would have been me, Lord. It would have been any one of us who would have attempted to climb the ladder over the others in order to gain a spot of position near you. So as we come to this passage, Lord, we pray that in a way that only you can, you would convict our hearts of our indwelling sin and of our pride, and then you would redirect our gaze away from our own sin onto the ransom that you paid for our sin and to the freedom that we now have. that we would see that in that freedom, we have been set free, and that freedom is not meant so that we can live however we want, but that freedom is meant so that we can live for you the way that you made us to live, in love for you and love for others, in servanthood, in fact, in slavery to others. So Lord, by your spirit and by your word, We ask that you would shape our hearts to be like yours today. We believe what you say, Lord. The man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And so we say, speak, O Lord, for your servants are listening. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen. If you want to learn about greatness, there are a whole lot of books that you can read. There are a whole lot of people who would teach you important life lessons. But there's no one better than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. However, if you'd like to settle, I found, and you could too if you just Google, I found for you 15 steps on how to become great from WikiHow. Jesus or WikiHow. And it even, if you're interested, has pictures to go along with each one of those steps. Now, that's funny, and we laugh at that, and I kind of intended that. But I want you to listen seriously, listen to these 15 steps. And I want you, I've already skewed your perspective already, so you're already listening with a negative lens. Try to push that out. I want you to listen realistically to these 15 steps and ask yourself, is this good advice? Are these 15 steps actually helpful to me? Because I think you'll find they are. So, 15 steps. Step number one, do what you love. If you wanna be great, do what you love. That's the common idea today. That's what's forced down the throats of young people or forced down the throats of people who are sort of having a midlife crisis where they're refiguring or reinventing their career. They think maybe I've gone down the wrong path. What should I really do? And the counsel is, well, just do what you love. And if you do what you love, then you'll never have to work a day in your life, right? Do what you love. Number two, set realistic goals. It's helpful, right? Number three, stay focused. Self control is not bad. Discipline. Number four, build a support system. It's good understand that you're not alone, you need a community. Number five, release the reins, which is to say, not only to delegate so that you're not the one doing everything, but also to recognize when someone else is better than you and let them run ahead of you because they're better than you. Release the reins. Number six, accept change. That's kind of a no-brainer, right? If you don't change, then you're gonna die. I guess you're gonna die anyways, but you know what I mean. Number seven, be honest. That's good. Number eight, quit relying on raw talent. In other words, you actually have to be teachable. You need to learn. You've got to ask questions. You've got to absorb information. Don't rely just on your raw talent. Number nine, decide on your goal. Figure out what you want to do. Have an objective and aim at it. That's good. Number 10, look for examples. Good, right? Number 11, perform your task. If we could just get people to do that, we'd be in a lot better position, wouldn't we? Like, just show up for work. That's all I'm asking. Perform your task. Number 12, look for feedback. Ask people for input so that you can grow. Number 13, practice often. Number 14, challenge yourself. And number 15, allow yourself to make mistakes. In other words, don't be crippled or crushed by the reality that sometimes you just blow it, and you've gotta learn from those mistakes. Now, I ask you then, you probably don't remember all of those, but as you listen to that list, what would you say, thumbs up or thumbs down? Let's see it, like we're in the Coliseum or something. Some of you are going, I'm not falling for that trap. You're doing this. In all honesty, those 15 steps to becoming great are good steps, appropriate wisdom. If you do those 15 things, you might not become great, but you'll at least keep a job. Right? Those are really good, important and helpful steps. And yet you know what they lack? Jesus. You see, when we think about life in general, and we think about how to be great in life or how to have a successful life, as Christians, we wanna think about that from a certain perspective, a biblical perspective, right? But I wanna remind you of how easy it is to think about something from a biblical perspective, and yet forget about Jesus. You can go to the Proverbs, and many have, and learn all sorts of wonderful, wise words. That's what they're there for. And yet, how many, how many countless Under the guise of Christianity, leadership books have been written that really don't point you to Jesus. It's important to do what you love if you're able, though sometimes you just got to suck it up, right? It's important to set realistic goals, to stay focused, to have a support system, to decide on your goals, look for examples, do your job, perform your task, practice often, challenge yourself. Those are really, really good, important things, and I think we should do them. But the reality is, if you take those 15 steps to greatness as the only basis for your life, you will walk the path straight to hell. So if you and I are going to be great, if we wanna take steps towards greatness, whether it be 15 or 25 or however many it be, then we have to understand, and of course you do, but I'm reminding you, we have to understand that we need to learn greatness most especially from Jesus himself. That's what the disciples, at least in these moments, failed to understand. Though clearly, as we look at the rest of their life and as we read the rest of the Bible, clearly they did get it. Because of the patience of Jesus, because of their own determination to follow him, and because of the patience of Jesus, they got it. And so as Jesus and his disciples continue to walk down the way together, to walk down the road together, it's another teaching moment. And in this teaching moment, I think that we see three actions that guarantee to make you great. WikiHow gives you 15, I'll just give you three. And mine aren't mine, they're Jesus's. So as we approach this passage, I wanna break it into that reality. Three actions guaranteed to make you great. And in all sincerity, I hope you do aspire to greatness. I really hope you do. Mediocrity is lame. Passivity is satanic. We need to aspire to greatness. but we need to make sure it's the right greatness that we aspire to. So let's look then at these three actions that are guaranteed to make you great. The first of them comes to us in verses 32 to 34, and it is this. If you wanna be great, you must build your life on the foundation which Jesus has laid. You must build your life on the foundation which Jesus has laid, and this is what's missing from so much advice on how to be great. I'll take a little Jesus on Sunday, and I'll take everything else that the business world or whatever other worlds, I'm trying not to name specific people, whatever other worlds, want to input into me for the betterment of my career or the advancement of my retirement or whatever it is, a little bit of Jesus on Sunday, world the rest of the time, and then I'll try to mix those two together. Well, the reality is it doesn't work. But if you lay the foundation of your life, if you build the foundation of your life on Jesus, the foundation that already has been laid, the work of Jesus in his death and resurrection, then the good news is that you can take those wise principles that the world may even give to you, and you can baptize them in the work of Jesus Christ, and you can say, I'll take that, thank you, and I'll use it for the glory of God. So, you must build your life on the foundation which Jesus has laid. Verses 32 to 34, verse 32 says, and they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. So Jesus has been teaching the disciples. They've learned a lesson on the importance of children and how they ought to be childlike themselves. He's engaged with a rich young ruler who walked away sad because he wasn't willing to give up what he treasured in order to take a better treasure, Jesus. And Jesus has been teaching the disciples, most of all, in verse 31, that many who are first will be last, and the last first. And now they are on the road, traveling from the north down south to Jerusalem, but Jerusalem is elevated in, is raised in elevation, and it's also the holy land, it's the holy city. No matter where you are in geography, if you're a faithful Jew, you always go up to Jerusalem. So they're going up to Jerusalem, and I would remind you, why are they going up to Jerusalem? Well, as Isaiah 50 verse seven told you, the servant, I don't know if you realize, but the servant in that is Jesus. The servant has set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem. Why? To die and to rise again. That's why. And it's important that we understand that reality because of a couple of things. First of all, notice where Jesus was walking in position with the disciples. Mark tells us he was ahead of them. Isn't it interesting that Mark tells us where Jesus was positioned in the line of disciples? It's no accident. Mark wants the disciples that he was writing to in persecuted Rome in his day, and he wants the disciples listening here today to know that Jesus always goes ahead of you. Most especially when suffering is concerned. Because that's exactly what Psalm 23 says the good shepherd does. And so Jesus is walking ahead of them. Luke, not in his account of this story, but in another account, in Luke chapter nine verse 51 says, when the days drew near for him, Jesus, to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And to remind you of what Isaiah 50 told us, Isaiah 50 verses five to seven say, the Lord God has opened my ear. That's Jesus talking about what the Father has done for him. The Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious. I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike me and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hide not my face from disgrace and spitting. but the Lord God helps me. Therefore, I have not been disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be put to shame. Jesus is determined to walk ahead of the disciples because he's antsy to get to Jerusalem because he wants to do his father's will. He wants to die for his people, he wants to rise for his people, and he wants to do it because he knows that his father will not let him be put to shame. Even though he will be the object of shame and he will absorb all the shame that the world could muster in that moment, and he will absorb all the sins that his people could ever commit, he was determined to go. Why? Dear friend, because he loves you. Because he loves you. That's why. He loved those boneheads, and he loves us boneheads. You might think to yourself, but I don't understand how Jesus could love me like that. You should have seen what I was doing last night. You should read a transcript from the way I spoke this week. I don't understand why Jesus would love me like that. It's pretty amazing, isn't it? I think we sing a song about that sometimes, Amazing Grace. See, we can read verses like that and we can just really easily slide right over and think to ourselves, let me get to the good stuff. Let me get to the stuff that I'm supposed to do. We're talking about greatness here. Jesus, tell me how to be a great Christian. Do you know what the first step to being a great Christian is? Be in awe of the Christ. That's the first step. In fact, that's really the only step. Because if you're stuck on Jesus, if you're caught up and enamored with Jesus, if all you can think about is Jesus, if all you can look to is Jesus, then good works are gonna flow from that heart that is shaped by constantly looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith. But brothers and sisters, we need to understand that even inside of you as a Christian, you have a bent towards self-righteousness. You hear it all the time, don't you? Well, I know the gospel, but I'm looking for some tips to be a better Bible reader. If I could just nail down my prayer life, and the danger is those things are good to be and do. But you know how you be a good Bible reader? Or you know how you nail down your prayer life? You look to Jesus. Because if you're trying to live your Christian life purely on self-discipline, self-control, those things are good, right? Self-control's a fruit of the Spirit. Paul tells Timothy to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. That's good. But that's all dependent upon you, isn't it? And haven't you learned by now that you're weak? Haven't you learned by now that there's nothing good that's in you? And haven't you learned by now that Jesus is strong? And that there's nothing bad in him? And that not only on top of that, on top of all of those things, he's generous. He gives, and he gives, and he gives, and he gives. And how do we know? Well, because he's determined to go to Jerusalem to die. So marvel at the determination of Jesus, which is exactly what the disciples were doing. And notice what the very next sentence says. It tells the response of the people around him. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Now, most likely, the they refers to the 12 who are following Jesus, and the those who followed were afraid could refer to the 12, but I think it refers to the other people outside of the 12. There's a larger group of disciples than just the 12. And even by this time, there were probably people who were just following Jesus because they wanted to be around him. They wanted to hear him. They were in awe of his teaching, right? So you've got the 12 who are amazed, and then you've got a bunch of other people who were fearful. What Mark is doing here is trying to help you feel the tension of the atmosphere. Jesus has told them multiple times already that he is the son of man and that he is the Christ. Daniel chapter seven, we've looked at it before, teaches us who the son of man is. He's the one whom the ancient of days gives all power and authority and dominion to. He's the one who everyone bows down and worships. He's the king of kings. And so they seem to understand, the disciples in their amazement and the crowd in their fear, they seem to understand that the Messiah, the Son of Man, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Conqueror, has come back for his people and he's about to do business with Rome in Jerusalem. Where will he set up his kingdom? Jerusalem, where else? They know that. And so it seems like what's happening here is that the people are wondering how this is gonna work. The disciples are amazed because they're in the inner circle. And I think that this best explains James and John's completely inappropriate request to sit at his right and his left hand. Why? Because he's going to Jerusalem, and in their minds, when the Messiah goes to Jerusalem, it's over for Rome and everyone else who tries to come against Israel. And so why not put your claim in now? Stake your claim now. Hey, Jesus, when we get to Jerusalem, and you crack heads, could I just sit on your right and your left? But everybody else is going, oh my goodness, our nation is about to be at war with the mightiest empire in the world, Rome. And they know what happens when you mess with Rome. A whole bunch of things, including crucifixion. left completely stripped naked to die on a cross outside of the city to be eaten by birds and animals. Maybe they'll take your body down at some point, but most likely they'll just leave it there until it falls off because there's nothing left but bones. Why do they do that? To teach you a lesson, you don't mess with Rome. And now in their minds, Jesus is going to mess with Rome. And so the people are afraid. They're not sure what this is going to mean for their families, for their homes, for their incomes, for their nation. I think this helps us to understand then why Jesus takes the 12 again and begins to say to them in verse 33, 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. This is the most detailed description so far that Jesus has given of his suffering and death. He walks them through piece by piece of everything that is going to happen to him. And in the end he makes sure to include that his death would not be the final say, but in fact he would rise three days later. So he makes this prediction once again of his death. And yet, as we see right there in verse 35, James and John, and down in verse 41, the other disciples seem to be completely oblivious to what he was saying. I can't wait to ask them, like, guys, what were you thinking? I mean, how did, how did you, what were you thinking? I mean, I can't even begin to understand how they didn't get this. they must have just been thinking, son of man, king of kings, lord of lords, dominion kingdom, death, that doesn't fit with the biblical prophecy of the son of man, so Jesus must be, maybe he ate a bad piece of fish or something, and he's having like a moment. And so they just throw that out and say, I don't know what he's talking about, but I'll get a spot next to him. I would love to know what he's talking, or I would love to know what they are thinking, but apparently they weren't really thinking very much. Jesus gives to us, before he defines for us true greatness, Jesus gives for us an example in his own life and death and resurrection of what true greatness looks like. of what a determination to do the will of God no matter what, of what it looks like to, as 1 Peter 2 says, entrust yourself to him who judges justly. So he leads the charge to his own death. So what does that have to do with us? Why do I say that if you're gonna be great, you need to build your life on the foundation which Jesus has already laid? This is what the apostles kept coming back to over and over when they taught the churches how to live as a church. Philippians chapter two verses three to eight, Paul says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves. Why, Paul, why should we have this mind among ourselves? Which is yours also in Christ Jesus. Who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. So you see, when you build your life on the foundation that Jesus has already laid, it maps out for you what true greatness looks like and it creates in you humility. which is completely contrasted with what the world says is true greatness. And that's why we can't miss the foundation. That's why you can't just take wise and good principles and apply them to your life and have no Jesus in it. Because otherwise you'll take those good and wise principles and they'll be aimed directly at yourself. I'm doing this so that I can have more money. I'm doing this so that I can get the promotion I need. I'm doing this so that people will finally respect me. Whatever your reasons are. Rather than I'm doing this because it's what my savior would have me to do. And so as we look at the example of Jesus, as we look at the foundation laid by Jesus, it must make in us humble people. If humility does not mark your life, you can be sure you're not a Christian. That's a hard pill to swallow, isn't it? This was one of the most difficult weeks of my life because of this passage. Every time I came to it, I just thought, Lord, I am not humble. This is so convicting to me. But if you're concerned about your lack of humility, that's a good sign. Because chances are, in fact I would say more strongly than chances are, if a concern for your lack of humility is actually an evidence of humility. It might not be the level of humility that you want, but if you're experiencing conviction of sin, is that not a reflection of humility? I want to normally I save these for the end, but each of these points, I want to give you two questions to reflect on. You'll have to either jot them down quick or take a picture or send me an email and I'll send them to you later. Or, you know, if now's your nap time and you want to get it later, that's cool. So I wanna give you some questions to reflect on, and I gotta keep moving, so they'll pop up there. First question I want you to reflect on is this. Is the work of Jesus the foundation of your life? Simple question, but it makes all the difference in the world. Is the work of Jesus the foundation of your life? Does it shape and influence and affect everything you do and say and think? Did you come here this morning with the work of Jesus in mind? And did you come here thinking not just about what you were hoping to get out of the service, though that's okay to think that, but did you come here thinking, I'm gonna lay my life down for these people today? I'm gonna not let any need go unmet as long as I see it. No piece of trash gets unpicked up. I know that's not a word, but go with me. Is the work of Jesus the foundation of your life? Secondly, does the work of Jesus cause you to consider others as more important than yourself? Like Philippians 2 says it should. Does the work of Jesus cause you to consider others as more important than yourself? And why would we consider others more important than ourself? Because Jesus did. And that's all the reason the Christian needs. So those are your two questions. Like I said, if you haven't gotten them down, email me and I'll get them to you. But I wanna lay out for us then, having looked at the first action, I wanna lay out the second action, guaranteed to make you great. Verses 35 to 41 will contrast the disciples' worldly ambitions with Jesus's gospel-shaped godly ambitions. The second action is this, you must reject the worldly greatness you are tempted toward. You must reject the worldly greatness you are tempted toward. I'll just let the cat out of the bag. I'm aiming for us to see ourselves in James and John. If you can't see yourself, then in all seriousness, may God have mercy on your soul. So first of all, we have this completely ill-timed, inappropriate request from James and John. Verse 35, and James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Which is the classic little kid question, right? When you want something and you know mom and dad are probably gonna say no, what do you do? Well, you think that you take the really wise tactic that no one has ever figured out before until you have graced this earth with your presence. I'm not gonna tell them. I'm gonna get them to guarantee to give it to me and then I'll tell them and then I've got them stuck. But Jesus is too smart for that, of course. He doesn't play their game. He says in verse 36, he said to them, what do you want me to do for you? Now, stop there. And admire Jesus once again. What has he just told them? He's just told them not only that he's going to die, but he's gonna be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, they'll condemn him to death, they'll ship him back to Pilate and his cronies, and they'll mock him and spit on him and flog him and they'll kill him. And now James and John come and say, Jesus, we want you to do anything we want. Is that not the most inappropriate timing imaginable? It's like trying to tell an inappropriate joke at a funeral or something. You know, I don't know. You know, I, I think I'm just old fashioned. I was also in the army. So honor, things like that ceremony, those things mean a lot to me. They give me goosebumps in all seriousness. There's sometimes there's sometimes when I get upset with people who don't take situations like that seriously. Which is, I think probably maybe a 10% righteous anger and probably 90% unrighteous anger. But this is one of those times, come on guys. The guy just told you he's gonna be brutally killed and now you're asking him if he'll do anything you want. But Jesus responds to them, not with the way that I would respond, with something like, are you kidding me? But Jesus responds to them, what do you want me to do for you? Why does Jesus respond that way? Because he lives what he's teaching. Because he is the ultimate servant. And so even though their timing is inappropriate, Jesus isn't out to vindicate himself or to teach them a lesson about timing. Jesus simply responds, what do you want me to do for you? You see, even though these disciples blew it, and even though we blow it all the time, Jesus doesn't reject his people. You can't out sin the grace of God. You know that, but you need to be reminded of it. Because you have a tempter that wants you to forget it. And he wants you to think that you can. But Jesus just shows this servant-hearted nature. In verse 37, he asked, what do you want? In verse 37, they said to him, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. See, they're thinking kingdom. We're going to Jerusalem, he's the son of man, he's the Christ, his glory is gonna happen in like just a few weeks here. So if we don't get our ticket now, we're gonna be you know, toward the end of the table on this thing. So come on, John, come on, James, let's go get first and second place. Jesus, we wanna be in your glory, and we don't wanna just be in your glory, we want the best seats in the house. One on your right and one on your left. You know what's interesting about this? Do you remember in the Gospels, The only other time that people are said to be on the right of Jesus and on the left of Jesus, you remember who that is? The thieves on the cross. One of them would be, is now presently in the glory of Jesus because he humbled himself. What the disciples did not understand is that before Jesus's glory would be revealed in his conquering, his glory would be revealed in his suffering. And that's the very same thing that every disciple needs to understand. If you want the glory, you've got to embrace the suffering. Isn't that what we learned in 1 Peter? But verse 38 says, Jesus said to them, you do not know what you're asking. Understatement of the all existence. 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? Jesus is talking about his suffering, but not only his suffering, the cup all throughout the Old Testament, especially in this context, is the cup of God's wrath. Jesus is saying, I'm going to Jerusalem because I've got a cup to drink, and it's the wrath of my father against the sins of my people. And he's saying, I'm going to Jerusalem because I'm going to be baptized into, immersed into, plunged into suffering. So you guys need to understand what you're asking for here. But verse 39 says, they said to him, we're able. Overstatement of all existence. We can do it. We often remember Peter's terrible, mistaken, denying Jesus. Well, this is James and John's moment of overconfidence. Peter says, Lord, I'll never leave you. These guys might go away, these sissies might leave, but I'll never leave. This is James and John's moment of disgusting self-confidence. We can do it. We do CrossFit, Jesus. I don't know if you know what that is, but we've been working at the gym. No, wait, it's not called a gym. What do they call it? Any CrossFitters? Okay, well, you probably don't even know what I'm talking about. Jesus, we got this great workout plan. We plow the fields. Now I'm speaking our language now, right? We're strong, Jesus, we can do it. We're the sons of thunder. And again, Jesus doesn't rebuke them. He just corrects them. He says, the cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. And it would be not very long after James heard these words that he was killed in Acts 12 by Herod with the sword. and John would meditate on these words throughout the rest of his life during his exile on Patmos. Possibly he died there. Church history tells us he got off of the island and went back to Ephesus and died there, but whether he died on Patmos or off of the island of Patmos, he lived to be a very old man who had a lot of time to think about this and was completely reshaped by the love that Jesus showed him, even, I think, in this moment. Jesus says, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it's for those for whom it has been prepared. Jesus is speaking about the authority of the father. It's the ancient of days that gives him his dominion and his kingdom and his power. It's the father who sets who it is that's going to sit on his right and his left hand. He doesn't tell us who, but he's already told us back in verse 31 that many who are first will be last and the last will be first. So it seems to be in correlation with whoever's closest in proximity to Jesus is most likely going to be the ones who suffered most for Jesus. So you want a great spot in the kingdom? Suffer for Jesus. So he gets those guys set straight. But then the other guys, the other 10, caught wind of what was going on, and verse 41 says, and when the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. They were mad that they got beat to the punch. It wasn't self-righteous anger, or excuse me, it wasn't righteous anger. It was jealousy. It was covetousness. James and John are, I can't believe those guys. So we see from James and John at least selfish ambition, arrogant overconfidence, angry jealousy, and I would just have to ask you, which person here can say, I've never experienced that? You ever get passed up for a promotion? You ever get accused of something that you didn't do? I mean, we could list on and on and on all the different scenarios that bring up our sin. And so the reality is we need to understand that if we are going to be great, we must reject the worldly greatness that you are tempted toward. Trying to position yourself to look better than someone else, to be better than someone else, to sound better, to appear better than someone else is not the way of Jesus. And it's so hard because sometimes in order to get a promotion, you need to present yourself as the best, right? What person in their right mind is going to give you job interview advice to go in and say, hey, go and tell them you're the worst. You're lowly and despised. You're the least in the world. They'll hire you on the spot. Now there's of course a balance between genuine honesty and Christian humility. And I'm not trying to, I'm trying to leave you with a tension, because you've got to figure that out for yourself. We can talk about that if you want later. There's a balance between those things. But it can so easily for us sinners go the wrong way, can't it? So we need to understand that we are absolutely no better than James and John. In fact, we're just like them. And so we need to understand then that there is, as a Christian, there's a spiritual war going on, certainly outside of you, but there's a spiritual war going on inside of you. Colossians 3, five to eight says, put to death therefore what is earthly in you, implying of course, I hate to break it to you, but you've got earthly things in you. that have to be put to death. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. James and John, at least passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, at least. Paul continues, on account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these two, you once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. So you need to understand that you and I have this very same temptation working inside of us, working against us. There's an enemy whispering in your ear who wants you to try to make the best of yourself for yourself. And so you've got to fight. You've got to fight. If you don't fight, you will die. The Puritan John Owen said, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. If you don't know you're in a battle, wake up. And just think about your day yesterday. And imagine Jesus standing side by side with you in everything you did. Now you're convicted. But the good news is that we can fight as Christians. God's given us everything that we need in order to fight. So let me give you two questions to reflect on here. Number one, do you recognize your own temptation toward worldly greatness? Let's just start with the very beginning. Do you even understand that this is a temptation for you? Or are you oblivious to what's going on inside of your heart? Maybe it's not for a position of prominence But I'm guessing that at the very least, you want other people to consider you. And they should, of course, because you're made in the image of God, but to demand that or to sin because someone did not consider you, it's just like the disciples. That's why the other 10 got mad. James and John didn't consider them. They went ahead. So do you recognize your own temptation toward worldly greatness? Secondly, do you make war with your sin? Do you take the sword of the spirit and jab your heart with it as often as you possibly can? Do you put the sword of the spirit in the spirit's hand so that he can do a greater work than even you can do on your own? Do you approach the Bible with such humility that says, Lord, I'm a wicked sinner, I don't deserve to even read this, but you've given it to me, so help me take it in, Lord. Help me kill my sin, Lord, I wanna please you, Lord. Or is the Bible for you a practical way to accomplish whatever you want, even in the Christian life? Do you make war with your sin? That leads us then to the third and final action, I'll try to hurry up a little bit. The third action that guarantees greatness is that you must resolve to be a servant who follows Jesus. You must resolve to be a servant who follows Jesus. Jesus predicts his death. James and John try to get a seat in glory with Jesus. Now Jesus corrects them. And again, brackets his teaching about greatness with his very own death. Verses 42 to 44, true greatness is defined for us here. Jesus says to them, Jesus called them to him, called all of them now to him and said to them, you know, he begins with what they knew. Helpful, right? And then he leads them to what they don't know. You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. They knew that very, very well. They were subjects of the Roman Empire. They knew that if Rome says it, you do it, no questions, or you will die. They had it so much worse than we have it. They had no vote, no say, nothing. So he says, you know that how the world works. Leaders climb to the top of the ladder so that they can take advantage of you and so that they can tell you what to do. And they're going, yeah, we know that. That's how we live. But verse 43 is the contrast. But it shall not be so among you. This is not how we operate in the kingdom of God, Jesus says. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. You may have a footnote at the bottom of your Bible that tells you that's the Greek word diakonos, where we get the office of deacon, means servant or table waiter. But then Jesus drops it even one, probably more than one level. He drops it down even farther. And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. You want true greatness? Listen to Jesus. But here's the reality. That's not natural. It's not natural. Who does Jesus say to be a slave of? All, Christians and non-Christians. All, that would include the people that you really don't like. It's easy to be a slave to the people you really like, usually, or at least sometimes, maybe on their birthdays. but to be a slave of the people you can't stand? To be a slave of the unrighteous? We come up with excuses and we say, surely Jesus would not want us to be a slave of that president or whoever. Certainly there would be a right and a wrong way to interact. We don't go into sin, we don't follow into sin, but We can't use one Bible verse in order to erase another Bible verse. You have to realize that they harmonize together perfectly. And so Jesus says, if you wanna be first, if you wanna be great, then you've gotta be a slave and a servant of everyone. And then he explains to them, not only does he define true greatness, but he displays it in his very own act. Verse 45, he says, for, there's your explanation, 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 there's a difference. Almost, excuse me, almost every organization today, even businesses, understand the importance of service. Humility is beginning to or has really come back into top priority even with businesses. You read a secular business book, modern business book, they're most likely gonna talk to you about the importance of humility and being a servant to those that you lead. The main reason and the main difference between that form and what Jesus is talking about and what we seek to do is once again, Jesus himself. Why does Jesus say you should be a slave of all? Because that's what he was in his ransom. Not a single one of these people deserved his death and yet he gave it. He humbled himself as Paul says, took on the form of a slave, Paul says. And that is the necessary grid that you must take if you're going to resolve to be a servant. Because it's not enough to just be a servant. You must be a servant who follows Jesus. Everybody enjoys, everybody who likes serving enjoys the good feeling you get after helping someone out. Right, the world calls that, well, more than the world, but the world calls that karma. You give some good, you get some good. But you can give all the good that you want, you can serve all day long, you can spend your entire life serving, and without Jesus, you're still gonna go to hell. But Jesus makes it crystal clear that he came not only to serve, yeah, not only to serve, but to give his life as a ransom for many. The word ransom is a word that refers to the price paid to free someone from slavery. And that's exactly what Jesus did. He frees us from the slavery of sin. that we were in bondage to, so that now, even though every single one of us wrestles with serving, I don't know anybody alive that could say, I serve people I don't like really, really easily and really, really well. But see the mistake that we make is to fix our eyes on the one that we're serving instead of, the human that we're serving, instead of the Lord Jesus Christ who first served me so that now I can serve him. Galatians 5, 13 to 15, Paul says, for you were called the freedom brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Why were you set free by God? So that you can do what you were created to do for God in the very first place. He says, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. And so the servanthood of Jesus Christ creates in us a desire to serve as we follow him, as we look to him, and that is the difference. So let me give you two questions then to reflect on that. Question one, do you put on every day the determination to serve others? Hopefully it's obvious to you why I ask, do you put it on every day? Because it's so easy to not put it on, right? It's so easy to not do it. It's so easy to see trash around the building or see grass that's out of control and think, ah, somebody else will do that. It's easy, right? That's why we have to resolve to serve. Second question, is Jesus your reason to serve? Is Jesus your reason to serve? It feels good to help people, doesn't it? Feels good to put a smile on someone's face. There's nothing wrong with that. It should feel good because that's what you were made to do by God. But if your purpose doesn't go deeper than the way it makes you feel, then your purpose is not rooted in the foundation of Jesus. Feel good about it, you should. You should feel good and you should say, praise God, Lord, thank you for feelings. and thank you that I get to feel good for helping someone, but then you should also say, Lord, thank you that you helped me in Jesus. It should be rooted in Jesus, and that's what really makes a good servant. So three steps that guarantee your greatness. First, you must build your life on the foundation which Jesus laid. Secondly, you must reject the worldly greatness you are tempted toward. And third, you must resolve to be a servant who follows Jesus. As You look around this congregation, I think you'll see a whole lot of servants. We had three of them at our house yesterday shoveling rocks and helping us get our house ready. There's gonna be more in there who always jump in so quickly to clean up after everyone enjoys their cookies and lets them fall on the ground a little bit. And I'm not trying to give anybody a hard time. What I'm simply trying to do is say, we get this, we're doing this, let's keep doing it as we look to Jesus. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for this example and we thank you that by your actions we have been set free. The ransom has been paid. We thank you. You're so good to us, Lord. We pray that you would always fill our minds and our hearts with a vision of your service to us, the ransom that has been paid, your death, burial, and resurrection, so that we would then be motivated rightly to be a slave of all. We need your help if we're going to do that, Lord. We recognize that, we humble ourselves before you and we throw ourselves at your mercy and we do that because we know you'll give it to us. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.