Please open your Bibles to Mark chapter 10. We continue our study of the second gospel. Today we'll be in verses 32 to 45 of Mark chapter 10. Listen now to God's holy, inerrant, and life-giving word, beginning at verse 32. Mark writes. 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're going up to Jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priest 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 shall 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 at my left is not mine to grant. but it is left for those, 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. May God be praised through the reading and hearing of his holy word. Amen. Father in heaven, what a precious thing it is that we now sit at Jesus' feet and What teaching he gives, Father, would you take it to our hearts? Would you give us ears to hear? Would you enable us to look to him and to embrace his call of life? We pray in Jesus' name, amen. In his book titled The Road, American novelist Cormac McCarthy narrates the traumatic journey of a father and his son moving south to escape the effects of a cataclysm that has made their home unlivable. And moving south to where they hope they will discover a chance for life, the duo speaks only in terse phrases. And yet along the way, the father demonstrates his love through sacrificial actions that end up saving the boy. Well, Mark's gospel narrates a very different kind of journey on the road taken by Jesus and his disciples from Galilee up to Jerusalem. And here the dialogue is very uplifting. At Jesus, we've been seeing how he uses these precious weeks to mold the faith and the character of these men who are going to be his future apostles. But instead of moving away from a crisis to save himself, we discover that Jesus is actually headed towards what he correctly anticipates will be his own horrific suffering and unjust crucifixion. I think the chief connection between Jesus and Cormac MacArthur's father figure is a self-sacrificing love that will achieve salvation for his beloved people. Well, this passage in Mark 10 is going to conclude Jesus' ministry from Galilee to Jerusalem so far as his teaching is concerned. We have one more wonderful miracle account, and then two sermons from now, we enter Jerusalem. We have the triumphal entry and the climactic minister a week that concludes with Jesus' death and resurrection. And in this vital passage, the subject that Jesus wants to address is that of true servanthood. And not only should the disciples follow his example, but Jesus' concluding comment shows that they will find their own redemption and his loving self-sacrifice. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, verse 45. Well, Mark starts the account with a portrait of the lonely Christ. Verse 32, and they were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And Jesus is going forward and most of the time he spends alone. Now Alexander McLaren calls him also the heroic Christ because of the resolute manner in which he's advancing to the cross. McLaren says with the rigid bar of an iron purpose that nothing can bend. And it is Christ's determined will that sets him apart from the disciples. They were hanging back while he was pressing forward. And here in verses 32 to 34, Jesus makes his third and most detailed announcement of what awaited them at the journey's end. 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 deliver him 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." Well, the content of what Jesus says explains Mark's description of his followers as they were lagging behind. Verse 32, they were amazed and those who followed were afraid. Now, scholars debate whether Jesus is talking about two distinct groups, the disciples, and then the broader crowd. I think that's probably right, although Mark does not spell it out. But what's most important is the attitude. They're amazed, and at the same time, they're afraid. Now, we understand the fear. Jesus has been talking about a very dangerous situation, and they're well aware of it. In fact, they've been passing largely through the lands of Herod and Antipas, who had recently put to death John the Baptist. They had things to be afraid of. And yet there was Jesus before them, and he's leading with a clear purpose and a determined will, and he is holding them together in this marveling awe they have of him. R.C. Sproul puts it this way. He says, most of us, if we knew we were going to our own deaths, we would be dragging our feet, but not Jesus. He had prepared to obey the father to the utmost end and the disciples could not get over it. They were amazed by his resolution. They were terrified about what might happen in Jerusalem. Well, it's in this context that Jesus now calls the 12 to tell them what was to happen, verse 32. And he tells them again, he said it before, that he will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, who after all had been plotting his death since back in chapter three. And they would then condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles, who themselves would put Jesus to death in the most painful and contemptuous manner they could imagine, after which he would rise on the third day. Now this is the third and the most specific of Jesus' announcements in advance of what's going to happen in the events of the cross. And it includes two events that are not found in the earlier ones, that we're told that he's delivered over to the Gentiles, to the Jewish authorities, to the scribes and Pharisees, that we knew, but we're now told that he would be delivered by the Jewish authorities over to the Gentiles, verse 33. Now that happened, of course. when we'll see the Jewish trial, they convict Jesus, and they deliver him over to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. And this shows, tragically, the Jews' rejection of the long-awaited and promised Messiah. And so Jesus is treated like the scapegoat in the annual Day of Atonement ritual. He's expelled from the camp of God's people, and he goes bearing the sins of those who believe. Leviticus 16 talks of that. And to us, it seems like, well, that's just something that happened. But this was a horrific thought. to the disciples that the Messiah, they knew he was the Messiah. And the thought that he'd be excommunicated from the covenant people was a horrible thought, and yet it's the very thing the scriptures foretold of Jesus. Psalm 69, verse eight, he says, I have been a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons. And so Jesus adds a detail of him being cast out officially from God's covenant people. Now secondly, he adds the information that they will mock him and spit on him and flog him before they kill him, verse 34. And yet all of these things are also foretold in the Old Testament. Psalm 22, 7 says, all who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. And then the terrible scourging, the whipping of him by the Roman soldiers is foretold in Isaiah 50 verse six. I gave my back to those who strike, my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. Now there's a lot of very different Old Testament texts that have details, but undoubtedly for Mark, and I think for Jesus too, the blueprint is Isaiah 53. The song of the suffering servant fits all of these in together and provides for us the chief grid for understanding his suffering and death. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and by his stripes are we healed. Now Mark's point as he records Jesus' third and most detailed foretelling of the events of the cross is to point out his sovereign and detailed knowledge of what was going to happen. I mean, what kind of person is able to tell you, particularly in something like this, in such detail, what's going to happen in the future, and it happens? Well, the answer is a prophet can do that. And Jesus is the greatest of the prophets, without doubt, although he's more than a prophet. A prophet would get his information by some means by which God would speak to him. But these things Jesus had known since before the creation of the world. That's what Peter says in 1 Peter 1, 18 to 20. He's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus knew it was going to be written in the scriptures before it was written in the scriptures. And so not only are these things certain that take place, but Mark wants to emphasize that these are not unforeseen circumstances. This is not some tragedy that, oh, wouldn't it be better if it could be avoided? No, this is the mission. that God the Father had given the Son. This is the task that God the Son had accepted on behalf of the people whom God had given him. It's his labor of love. He came to do this, and so we see Jesus striding towards Jerusalem with a ready will. I love the comment by J.C. Rowell. He says, let us ever bless God that the gospels set before us such a Savior. so faithful to the terms of the eternal covenant, so ready to suffer, so willing to be reckoned sin that he might be made a curse in our place. Well, we're told here the disciples were afraid and amazed, but two of the disciples at least were not dismayed by what Jesus said. I think perhaps because they heard the last part about him being raised from the dead. And so Mark relates in verse 35, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Jesus replies, what do you want me to do for you? They answered us, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in glory, verse 37. Now, it seems that the brothers had been holding their own conference about what Jesus said was lying up the road. And in fact, Matthew's version tells us that it was their mother who actually took them up there. They had an ambitious mother and there was obviously some scheming. It's not exactly the conclusion you'd think you'd draw when Jesus is talking about his sacrificial death. And you're thinking, this is an opportunity for me to cash in. But so it was. And they come before her to make this request of Jesus. Matthew 20, verse 20 talks about their mother. Now their request to sit at the right hand and the other on the left hand indicates that they believed that Jesus was the Messiah. And they further believed that he was going up, this is what the Old Testament said the Messiah would do, Isaiah 9 for instance, that he will enter into his kingdom. He will take possession of this. And we've often talked about how this was the dominant motif. Messiah meant the person who wears the crown. William Lane explains the brothers regard Jesus as the end times Lord who goes up to Jerusalem to restore the glory of the fallen throne of David. And so anticipating this exaltation, they hope to take prominent places in the coming administration of Jesus' glory, indeed the chief place. One on his right, one on the left. It's like in our country when there's a national election and a new administration comes into town. Immediately there's jockeying for positions. I want to be in the cabinet. What office can I get? This is the kind of thing they're trying to do. And maybe it's because Jesus had treated them specially not long beforehand. That Jesus went up on the Mount of Transfiguration. He was revealed in glory. He took only three disciples with him, Peter, and then the two sons of Zebedee, James and John. And so this wrongly persuaded them that there must be something really special about them. That Jesus thought, you know, there's real potential in those two young sons of Zebedee. And goaded on by an ambitious mother, they thought the time was ripe. to put in their claim. John Stott puts it this way, they anticipated there would be an unholy scramble for the most honorable seats in the kingdom. They judged it prudent to make an advance reservation. I don't think that's unfair at all. Well, ever since Peter confessed Jesus was the Christ back in chapter eight, Jesus has been fending off attempts by his disciples to establish a pecking order among them. And he'd been countering with reminders that what it's about with him and his kingdom is not self-glory but self-renunciation, his most famous saying. If anyone would follow me, let him take up his cross and follow me. Let him deny himself. This is the virtue of his kingdom. And yet, isn't it true that this desire for prominence, this desire for honor, this lust after position and power is very deeply ingrained in the human nature? Oh, it is. And so it raises its ugly little head again, by the way, just as it continues to be seen in church conflicts. so many of which are based in petty pride and precedence. I've told the story before of a large church that was very effective in ministry and they had a massive conflict. It ended up splitting the church and one of the sides hired a consultant to put the pieces together and say, what happened? We were doing so well. What was it that caused this breakup of the church? And they were able to show it all began when one elder was given a smaller slice of ham on the Wednesday night dinner than an other elder was. And you say that's absurd. Well, then you don't have much experience. This happens all the time. It happens in the world. But, oh, it happens in the church. It happens to people like you and me. How deeply ingrained is this desire for prominence and status and preeminence? Well, if the messianic banquet was about to be served, James and John wanted the best possible seats. And so they correctly believed Jesus to be David's royal heir. And I mentioned to them the Messiah meant wearing the crown. But they had managed to miss Jesus' message that before the cross is worn, before the crown is worn, the cross must be born. This is the rule of Christ and his kingdom. The cross is before the crown. We bear the cross, he bears the cross, and then only then does he wear the crown. Now Jesus is very patient with James and John and he answers them in verse 38, you do not know what you're asking. And he challenges their error in apparently they're thinking that they're like his partners. And so he asked them, are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with a baptism with which I am baptized? Now, in the Bible, the cup is a symbol of God's provision for you, his appointed provision for you, sometimes in blessing, sometimes in judgment. And in Jesus' case, it's a cup of wrath. That will be poured out upon his soul on the cross as he makes atonement for the forgiveness of his guilty people. We'll get to the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus is there and it, this is what he's on his mind. He says, father, let this cup be taken from me. It's so dreadful that even Jesus can scarcely bear it. All things are possible to you. Is there a way that I can not drink this cup? And then he realizes, no, this is the way. And he says, not my will, but thy will be done. So here's the question, James and John, you think you can drink that cup? And then it's baptism. What does it mean by baptism? Well, it's baptism in the sense of a dramatic and a traumatic event that changes you forever, that overwhelms you and initiates you. Soldiers use baptism in this way when they talk about a warrior's first instance of combat, and they call it a baptism by fire. This is the very sense in which Jesus is using it. Now, of course, Jesus was ritually baptized by John the Baptist, and he did so as the Savior who was beginning his sin-bearing messianic task. Did John and James think they could do that? They think they can drink the cup of wrath? They think that they can experience the baptism with which Jesus is called to be baptized, namely, his suffering and death on the cross? Well, the hubris of the two brothers can only be seen in their answer. By the way, when Jesus asked those questions, they're rhetorical questions, the answer to which is no. And such is their folly that they answer, oh sure, yeah, sure, we are able. Look, they probably understood. We get it. We're going to some crisis and you're so courageous. You're amazing. But you know, we're two of the three and we think we can do it with you. But that's not what happens, is it? When they get there, they quickly learn, as soon as Jesus is arrested, they're in over their heads. And they begin to fall apart. They are not up to the task. Jesus is rudely arrested. He's dragged off by soldiers. He's brought to the high priest's court. And in that very courtyard, the very night, earlier that night, Peter said, you know, if even these other sluggos betray you, Not me, I'll be faithful. That night he betrays Jesus three times. My friends, let us not overestimate what we are able to do. The words, oh, I am able should only be said with great trepidation by us. Usually we are not able. Peter denied him three times that very night. Well, to the disciple's disappointment, Jesus points out that decisions about prominence in his kingdom actually don't belong to him. Those are decisions made by the father. He says, to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it's for those to whom it has been prepared. One thing we're reminded that I think of what John the Baptist says in John chapter three, every man's ministry is what God has appointed to him. You have the ministry God has given to you. And Jesus says, look, God has appointed these things. And it's the task of the father, not of the son. He says, even I, that's not a matter that God, the father has given me. But one of the things that we need to remember is I have the life. I have the ministry. I have the calling. I have my situation to serve and glorify God that God gave to me. And that is enough. That's what he's getting at. Moreover, he insisted they would not assist him in the atonement. They would not participate as partners in the atoning work to which he alone had been appointed. And yet, at the same time, once Jesus had died, once he had risen from the dead, and frankly, after the Holy Spirit had been poured out at Pentecost, then they would enter into his baptism. They would share his sufferings. I put it this way. Jesus accomplished his saving work alone, once for all. The accomplishment of the redemption was done by him alone, but the application of that redemption. is something that we enter into, the apostles, and then the church enters into as the gospel goes to the world. And that's what Jesus means in verse 39. He says, the cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. And the book of Acts tells a story. Because what a difference it makes to be converted, to be born again. What a difference it makes to be post-Pentecost rather than pre-Pentecost and the Holy Spirit comes upon them with power and suddenly they are arrested like Jesus was arrested and they don't shrink back. In Acts 5, Peter and John are scourged, not exactly the same, but pretty much the same. Jesus was lashed and they rejoice at the privilege of doing so. The Holy Spirit had come into their lives and they were able to bear the sufferings with Jesus, not the sufferings of Jesus. They were once for all and unique, but sufferings with Jesus. By the way, church tradition tells us that all of the 12 apostles died a martyr's death, a violent death for Jesus' sake, except for the Apostle John. And he might have wished he could have gone out that way. His sufferings were extremely great. Well, here's what we're being told, that what Jesus did once for all, accomplishing our salvation, is something that we experience as it's applied to us. How important is Philippians 129? For it has been granted to you, not only to believe in Jesus, but also to suffer for his sake. You ever been reading along in Philippians? It's this really cheerful, uplifting gospel letter, and you go, whoa, whoa, what's that? It's a gift. It's not something we barely admit, oh, sorry to tell you. No, this is your privilege as a Christian. My friends, this is an idea we need to recover in our time, that it is our privilege to suffer scorn and abuse and mocking and to be canceled for Jesus' sake. We're not being obnoxious intentionally. Sometimes we are, but we shouldn't be. That's not what we're called to. were to be gracious and godly and truthful and sweet and loving and be crucified for it. And the Christian says, this is my privilege. It's been granted to me that I would have union with Christ and His suffering. But R.C. Sproul said for the first believers, it's true for me, it's true for you. He says, there is no theologiae gloria without first a theologiae crucis. There is no glory without the cross. Before the crown is worn, the cross must be borne. ultimately true of Jesus, but derivatively true of us all. And this is where the connection is between this special use of the word baptism here, and then the baptism that we have experienced, the rite of baptism, by which Christians enter into the church. What does baptism symbolize? It symbolizes union with Christ. It's a public identification with him. A once for all transition publicly. I now publicly am a Christian. I have union with Christ in his death and his resurrection. And that means to be a Christian, we have professed our readiness to share his disgrace before the world. knowing that there is in the world to come a glory beyond all reckoning. Jesus was baptized for us on the cross. Now we are baptized into him, in his death, into his sufferings, to bear the news of eternal life in his resurrection. Well, inevitably, James and John's embassy to Jesus became known to the other disciples, and Mark tells us they began to be indignant at them. That's a very telling remark, I think. It shows that the sons of Zebedee were not the only disciples who were aspiring to places of honor and privilege in the kingdom to come. And it's clear, by the way, from what Jesus says, that their frustration is not because they're bothering Jesus or because they're misunderstanding the gospel. No, they're cutting in line. That's what's bothering the other disciples. And so Jesus gathers the 12 for what turns out to be, in Mark's gospel, the last instruction given to them before the entry into Jerusalem. There will be instruction there. But this whole period of instruction, these weeks on the journey to Jerusalem, culminates in the urgent matter set before us. Jesus says this, verses 42 to 45, Jesus called them to him and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lorded 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. Whoever would be first among you must be the slave of all. And so Jesus sets them straight that when it comes to his kingdom, there's going to be a stark contrast with the kingdoms of the world. And he says, look, this is how earthly kingdoms work. There's an authoritative mode. There's a lording over. And so there's rulers and there are people and there's power coming from above to exploit the people below. And in his time, of course, the most obvious example is the Roman Empire, which occupied Judea. And that's exactly what they did. You did what Caesar said or you paid and they could make you do it or they could make you suffer. And what does Caesar want out of you? He wanted taxes. He wanted to harvest you. They weren't there for the well-being of the Jewish people. They thought the Jewish people were there for the well-being and the glory of the Roman emperors. And you look to European society with the aristocratic cultures and you have all these nobility living lavish lives for centuries while people are starving around them. In fact, recently, I reread Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, a very great novel. And in it, he has a little episode because he's getting up to the French Revolution. And he begins the chapter by showing in great detail the daily routine of Monseigneur Le Marquis and why it took three servants to feed him his daily chocolate. And it's just this incredible, lavish thing so he can just have this optimal taste experience while literally there's a famine, half the populace is dying around them. And he doesn't even cross his mind. And you go, well, that's not like some exceptional situation, that's normal. In fact, in the French Revolution, the nobles got thrown out, the people took over, and what did they do? They did the same thing. This is the manner of the world. You go, I live in a democratic country, and the rules abide. You go, have you ever noticed that, by the way, this is not a controversial statement, that the ruling classes very often pursue policies that run contrary to the general good in order to serve and enrich themselves. This is the way it is among the pagans, among the world. James Edwards notes, the world practices leadership with a model of dominance, authority, the effective use of power. Moreover, earthly rulers often employ the kind of corruption and the in-group favoritism that James and John was hoping that Jesus would show to them. And Jesus says, listen, when it comes to the kingdom of the Messiah, my kingdom, there's an entirely different model. And it's not even to say, well, look, we'll have benevolent dictators and someone will be in charge, but he'll be nice. No, that's not, it's far more radical than that. He says, instead of authority and power pushing down from above, There will be loving and sacrificial ministry lifting from below. Verse 43, it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant. I want to point out there's nothing wrong with James and John wanting greatness in Jesus' kingdom. The problem is how they conceived of it in terms of personal privilege and power to sit on the right, to sit on the left. And we're told by Jesus that in his kingdom there is greatness, and it consists not of being master, but of being minister, of being servant. Sinclair Ferguson puts it eloquently, in the kingdom of God, true greatness is measured by our service, not by the number of our servants. It is seen not in how high up the ladder we have climbed, but how far down the ladder we have stooped for the sake of others. Now Christians sometimes talk very much the way that James and John were thinking. They'll say, that person's gonna be really close to the throne. I'm gonna be this far and somebody else, we're gonna be closer to the throne than one another. And I do wanna say the Bible speaks of riches in heaven. Jesus speaks here of greatness in his kingdom. The key is instead of conceiving of these ideas in ways that are typical of earthly realms, high position, wealth, prominence, fame, all of these public acclaims, Jesus says, no, it's not high office, it's not public notoriety. It's sacrificial ministry. I've often commented on the impact of reading again Matthew 24, 25, 35 to 40, Jesus is foretelling. There's a briefer account in Mark's version. But in Matthew's version, there's more detail. He talks about when the Son of Man sits on his throne, when Jesus returns is the final judgment. And there's going to be a separation between the sheep and the goats, the redeemed and the ungodly, and then Jesus is going to address himself. By the way, this is our future history. It's gonna be great, it's gonna be awesome. And he tells us in advance the kinds of things that he thinks are great. And every one of them has to do with selfless service. Let me just read again. I've read them before. For I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Matthew 25, 35 to 36. Everything he mentions is an act of selfless service. Jesus says nothing about fame and Christian ministry, nothing about powerful positions, nothing about great wealth and those sorts of things. His entire list consists of the humble ministry that anyone in the church can perform if only they have the grace of God giving them the heart of Christ. And notice as well, as Jesus tells us, they're not even aware of having done anything worthy of praise. Verse 37 of Matthew 25, Lord, when did we see you hungry or feed you? When did we see you thirsty or give you a drink? And he says, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it for me. Let me say to you, no special gifts are required to alleviate suffering, to give comfort and encouragement, to provide materially and otherwise for those in need. Every Christian can be a great Christian As Jesus defines it, we just must commit ourselves to selfless ministry for the sake of others. And no doubt there's many other things Jesus could have put in that list. It matters greatly, and it's a sacrificial ministry to commit yourself to intercessory prayer. Oh, what a blessing there are for the prayer warriors of the church, and it's no easy thing. to do so, and Jesus no doubt looks upon that very highly. Yes, even things like the teaching of God's Word and the labor it involves, so long as it's not for personal glory, it's for the up-building of His people. That's what He notices. the humble servant heart that is reaching out and doing the means of the ministry. This is the right side up ethic of Christ's kingdom and his church in which greatness is reckoned by self-sacrificing ministry for the well-being of others, for the glory of God, and for the spread of the gospel. I want to say to you that Jesus does not condemn you if you say, I want to be a great Christian. He wants you to say, I want to be, why should I not be a great church member? Just as clearly though, he wants you to define it biblically in his teaching. It's not drawing attention to yourself. It's certainly not complaining and starting quarrels. No, it's by making little of yourself in order to minister to others. In fact, Jesus' word for servant in verse 43 is diakonos. And you say, oh, he's talking about the deacons. Well, that is the Greek word. It's used for deacons who lead the ministry of good deeds. But in this sense, every Christian is called to diaconal ministry, servant-hearted ministry. This, he says, is greatness. And he's right. Of course he's right. This is what makes people super valuable members of the church. People who encourage the weak and distress, people who sacrificially help others in need, people who notice the person who's not fitting in and they help them to feel at home and they try to connect them. And in so many different ways, what a difference it makes to the quality of any community when there are servant-hearted people humbling themselves in ministry to others. Jesus says that's greatness. Do you want to be a great Christian? Be a great Christian. And the way to do that, Jesus self, is to ask yourself, how can I take a humble place of serving people around me in Jesus name? What are the needs in the church? What am I able to do? And then to pray, we pray for this, for a heart of motivation that will have a sacrificial impulse like that of Jesus. In answering James and John's request, they wanted to be first among his disciples. Jesus goes on in the next verse and he uses a more radical term. Verse 44, he says, whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. Now here the word is doulos, it was diakonos, minister, someone who serves others. But doulos, and you say, I know doulos, that word means servant. It does, so long as you realize it's the kind of servant who is the property of the persons he or she is serving. And Jesus says, we have to get this in our minds. We no longer belong to ourselves. That's what Paul says. You've been bought with the price. Live for God. We don't belong to ourselves. Jesus has purchased us with the coin of his blood. And not only does he own us, does he possess us? He gave himself to us. And yes, we give ourselves to him, but the church, we belong to the church. We give ourselves one to another. All the fellow Christians have a right to our gifts, to our graces. If you have a spiritual gift, you're to be using it. If God has given you certain graces and he has, you're to be putting them to work. If you have time, you have energy. Yes, you have money. There's to be devoted. Of course, you got to pay the bills. Of course, you need some rest. And you're to be wholeheartedly devoting yourself as a slave to others. A slave lives not for himself, for herself, but for those who are the owners. You are not your own. You have been bought with a price. In contrast to the world then, we make it our aim not to accumulate numbers of servants for ourselves, but numbers of fellow believers to whom we are giving service. Well, the disciples' great mistake was to look to the ungodly rulers for their model of greatness. Where should they have looked? Well, they should have looked to Jesus. And so it's on this theme, the theme of his example that he concludes with this great verse, Mark 10, 45. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Now the point of comparison is obvious. If we're Christians, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man is a divine human Messiah who came down to earth to accomplish our salvation on God's behalf. And so he's infinitely above us in every way, in power and glory and position. And what did he do? He came not to be served. but to serve is what he did, not to acquire things for himself, but to humbly and sacrificially pour out his life for our sake. This is the model of the Christian life, to lay down our lives for our friends. It's something that Jesus didn't just do on the cross. He did it every step of the way. John's thought, I'll be brief here, but very helpfully, he identifies three distinct choices that Jesus made, and we have to make them too. The first is a choice between selfish ambition and sacrifice. And Jesus lived not for his own sake, for others. That's the choice he made. Secondly, Jesus chose between power and servants. And he eschewed, he set aside power and privilege. He laid down his life. He was a slave to God, serving his people. And Jesus chose between comfort and suffering. Again, not just at the end, but every step of the way. He endured scorn and hardship. He was fatigued. He lived not for this world and for the world to come. And here's the thing, we're to make the same choices. The same choices. And our worldly training, look, we've lived in an affluent, comfort-driven consumer society. And what were we trained to do? To choose selfish ambition, to choose power, to choose comfort. And there before stands a son of man, and he says, I want you to come to me. I want you to be saved by me, but then you will make my choice. You will consciously embrace sacrificial service. Yes, even when you know you're going to lose out as a response. Someone comes to me and says, you know, I've been doing the right thing, and where's it gotten me? I've lost out, and I say, you know what that means? It means you're living like a Christian. A conscious embrace of sacrificial suffering for God's glory and for the sake of His people. Well, very briefly, verse 45 is such a hugely informative verse. It's Jesus' last statement to the disciples in His last teaching to them before they arrive in Jerusalem, and it should be borne closely to the heart of every believer. He provides a clear and informative statement of the atoning work for which he's going to the cross. Here's the question, how did Jesus serve us? The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. What did he do? By giving his life as a ransom for many. Now we know what a ransom is today, someone gets kidnapped, you want that person back, you pay money to the person who holds them captive. Terrorist organizations, they do this and if you're foolish enough as a government, they'll just kidnap more people, but you pay a ransom and then you get the person back. By the way, this is why, this way of thinking is why so many in the early church believed and taught that Jesus died on the cross to pay in his blood a ransom to Satan. By the way, this shows up in C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. If you remember Aslan, the Christ-like figure, dies as a sacrifice to the white witch. And that's actually completely wrong. Jesus did not pay a ransom to the devil because he held us in captivity. Satan was a usurper all along. He didn't actually have the right. He paid his life, his blood as a ransom to the justice of God before whom we must be condemned. He bore the guilt of our sins before the justice of God so that we might be released from future punishment in hell and gain entry into God's eternal blessing. He paid the price of his blood to the justice of God. Now, when he speaks of his work on the cross as a ransom, Jesus defines his work in terms of what's called penal substitutionary atonement. He put himself as a substitute in our place to pay the penalty, penal substitutionary atonement, reconciling us to the Father by the price of his blood. Oh, what a gospel this is. He died as a substitute for many, he says. Who are the many? The people given to him by the Father before the creation of the world, those who believe in his name. He paid the penalty we owe for sins committed. He removed the curse of God's wrath from us by taking it to himself. Listen to J.C. Ryle, he says, when Jesus died, he died for us. When he suffered, he suffered in our stead. When he hung on the cross, he hung there as our substitute. When his blood flowed, it was the price of our souls. But what a glorious source of hope for every sinner saved through faith in Jesus Christ. But here's a particular point, what a model Jesus intends for us. Nothing less than our own cross-shaped life, our own cruciform choice following Jesus, renouncing the model of the world, the lordship model of the world. embracing the self-sacrificing model of the Son of God who said to us, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Father, we are stunned to silence at Jesus and how he knows us and he reads us and how he understands the life in sin and the world in sin, but what a redemption You have given through your Son, Lord. And so let us look to Jesus. Let us consider your Son, Jesus, Lord. Let us see the price he paid, knowing that we are forgiven by the coin of his blood. But Father, help us then to realize that he says not only believe in him, but follow him. Let us be those people bought by the blood of Christ, set free from the guilt of our sins, but Lord, liberated to the servant life that he showed us. Oh, to this we pray that you would give us grace. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.