In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines Jesus’ teaching regarding how to become great in His kingdom. Pastor Babij explains that humble service and suffering are the real way to greatness. Following Jesus’ teaching in Mark 10, Pastor Babij specifically identifies four truths about greatness that followers of Christ must consider:
- The connection between true greatness and the true gospel of salvation
- The legitimacy of looking for greatness in Jesus and His Kingdom
- The difference between the world’s path to greatness and Christ’s
- Christ’s own example of greatness
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amen so this morning as we look at this passage and as I pick it up again in Mark chap 10 uh just recently in our passage really Jesus was saying things about becoming a disciple a disciple is someone who believes in Christ The Gospel and then follows Christ and learns from Christ one thing a disciple really uh understands as they continue to live is that they don’t know as much as they ought to and they need to learn more and more about what it means to be a disciple and then Jesus said in verse 21 that as he was speaking to the Rich Young Ruler looking at him Jesus felt love for him and said to him one thing you lack go sell all you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me now do you literally have to give up everything do we literally have to give up everything we own to become Christians no but we do have to be willing to forsake all meaning we cling to nothing that takes precedence over Christ in effect Jesus is saying are you going to do what I want you to do will you run your life or will I run on your life unless I can have the highest Authority in your life there’s no salvation for anyone Jesus is here is talking about priorities if allegiance to you if allegiance to and love for Jesus is not the highest priority in our lives above family above relationships above self above possessions Jesus says you cannot be my disciple so most people honor themselves as the supreme authority in their lives their own pleasure and their own good is far more important to them than the glory of God so Jesus really is clearly warning people that clinging to such a lifestyle of self centeredness and everything is about you will automatically exclude that person from the kingdom of God that’s pretty hard language and yet true Faith involves not only trusting in jesus’ death but also surrendering to Jesus as Lord and submitting to his authority over our lives that’s really what a disciple is see Christ must be the highest priority in your life a higher priority than pleasing yourself a higher priority than family a higher priority than relationships than possessions if not you cannot be his father followers and then the bottom line is this if you can’t do those things then you cannot serve God now once a person becomes a disciple of Christ he or she will be a learner and one of the chief lessons a disciple will learn while they maturing in truth is the essence of what discipleship is and I’m going to give it to you right in the beginning the essence of discipleship and where the Lord is bringing us before we can do anything else is service living as a servant so today as a disciple of Christ matures there are four helpful things to consider and contemplate while learning and developing servanthood which are found in our text and we’re going to look at that so take your Bibles and follow along with me and the first one is this and I’m going to say it like this that a maturing disciple considers the magnitude of what the cross really means while living as a servant now we can all believe the basics of the Gospel Jesus died he died in the place for me I believe that he was buried he rose again and I believe those things that’s the basics of the Gospel we want to go deeply into the gospel what what does that all mean what what took place for that to happen so that means this that a maturing disciple as he begins to Grapple with understanding the gospel it will also provoke a level of misunderstanding now if you look in verse 32 it says this and Jesus and they were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them now here is what true a a true disciple does he follows Jesus as Jesus leads on a true disciple continues to trust Jesus as we sang this morning continues to trust his word to trust his character and they do that even when they don’t fully understand what must be done for the Redemption of men’s Souls or what needed to be done for the Redemption of men’s Souls so in other words for the rest of our life we’re learning about the gospel we’re learning about what it took for us to be saved it was no simple thing so here Jesus is leading his disciples and followers down the home stretch remember the disciples have been with Jesus now for around two years they’ve learned many many many things and now they’re on the home stretched so Jesus and his disciples have traversed the land of Israel north south east west preaching the gospel of the Kingdom many people have believed some have rejected some are still riding the fence on the matter but now Jesus is heading towards Jerusalem and that’s what it says here they were going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them it’s like Jesus is now fixed on the goal he’s fixed on what’s going to happen in Jerusalem and he’s walking ahead of them and they’re following along as his disciples now even though Jerusalem is south and we would say I’m going down south here it refers to going up and that’s for several reasons one is is that uh Jerusalem is about 300 or 3,500 ft High in elevation than Jericho which they’re heading to now and matter of fact if you ever been to Israel you’ll find that when you’re when you get there and you’re going up to Jerusalem and you’re in a car in a bus and you’re going up and you’re going up and you’re going up and you’re going up and you don’t realize wow that Jerusalem is really high in elevation and that’s for of course for a purpose of course the second reason would be that the Jews elevated Jerusalem to on a spiritual level because God’s Temple was there but in our text we see that the misunderstanding comes where there’s a mixture of amazement and fear among the disciples as Jesus is heading to Jerusalem and notice what it says there in verse 32 it says and they were amazed and those who followed were fearful so these mixed emotions may include the sense that jesus’ mission is coming to an end an anticipation that the kingdom of God was coming soon so the disciples thought also fear permeated the air because Jesus has been telling his disciples that going to Jerusalem would mean suffering rejection and ultimately death so understanding the magnitude of the Cross is not an easy thing I’m not saying understanding the simple gospel is not an easy things it is initially but understanding the magnitude of the Cross and what happened on the cross is not easy it’s hard in fact and it’s so hard it has to be be repeated and repeated you should never get you should never uh get to the place where you don’t want to hear the gospel you always want to hear the gospel it is the most thrilling message that God’s given us in fact what he said Jesus already communicated the the what’s going to happen at Jerusalem two times already and if you go back uh in your Bibles to Mark 8:31 just quickly look back there one chapter a couple chapters and look what it says here’s a straightforward announcement with very uh without very much detail verse 31 of Mark chapter 8 it says then he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again that was the first time he said that to his disciples and then over to chapter nine a second time he says this he mentions this time the Betrayal at the hands of evil men he says in Mark 9:31 for he was teaching his disciples and telling them the son of man is to be delivered into the into the hands of men and they will kill him and when he has been killed he will rise three days later now of course in saying those things the disciples did not necessarily WRA their minds around that so turn back to chapter 10 and you’ll find that again here’s the third time that Jesus foretells what will happen to him in Jerusalem and if you look at look at at the end of verse number 32 of chapter 10 it says and again he took the 12 aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him all right and then in verse 33 and 34 he begins to explain that now before I I read that uh this time this third thir time much more grim and horrible detail is given as to the great cost of redemption that Drew near to Jesus in Jerusalem so if you look at your Bibles look at verse 33 and this is actually he says like seven things about it saying behold that word behold means pay attention this is the third time I’m telling you this we are going to Jerusalem that’s an emphatic statement listen guys this is it Jerusalem will be a time of suffering misunderstanding and yet victory at the same time look what he says in verse 33 it says and the son of man notice will be delivered and that that of course is the Betrayal of Judas to the chief priests and the scribes that’s the Sanhedrin that’s the ruling body of Jerusalem and then it says and he they will condemn him to death and will deliver him to the Gentiles now the Gentiles were the Roman authorities pilate and those under his command and verse 34 and they will mock him and spit upon him and Scourge him now he adds adds uh the several things things here but one of the things he adds is he scourg him or he beats him with a whip now scourging it’s interesting that that’s added here was often used by itself and once administered to the person that person was set free in fact when we get to pilate what does pilate do pilate actually his intention was to administer to Jesus a flogging and then to set him free that was his intention because he didn’t want have anything to do with it but of course the crowd uh overpowered him and so pilate washes his hands and delivers Jesus over to the crowd to be killed and then that’s what it says in our text and kill him and it says and three days later later he will rise again so there’s a third time time that Jesus tells his disciples what’s going to happen as they head to Jerusalem by a tremendous stroke of the godhead the godhead UND does all of it in just a matter of a few days and brings Jesus back to life in Resurrection of Glory all the predictions are fulfilled to to the letter so see the disciples are grappling with this they they are grappling in their understanding of what is the magnitude of the Cross of course I’m not going to go into some of that now because the rest of the Gospel of Mark is about the passion week it’s about all those things but right now Jesus is still teaching his disciples they need to learn something they haven’t gotten yet maybe they thought they got it but they haven’t gotten it yet and here’s a second thing to consider when maturing as a disciple is a maturing disciple cons considers the confrontation of living as a servant now what I what do I mean by that well being a servant does not come naturally to any one of us if I said to you you’re going to be a servant and many times servant is used in scripture as a slave you’re going to be my slave you’re not going to take that kindly I mean that’s you’re going to fight over those are fighting words right and yet the word of God is saying that’s exactly what God wants us to be all right so in other words our pride and our egotistical way of thinking blinds us to the truth of what God really is making us as Believers where he’s taking us he’s taking them to Jerusalem it’s not going to be a fun time for for them so now right on the heels of jesus’ pronouncement of his passion of his death two of his of jesus’ inner cord disciples approach him with a large and an ambitious request all right now you think that after Jesus said this for the third time that his disciples would be on board right well look at what they ask him look at verse number 35 5 to verse 37 it says in James and John the two sons of Zebedee came up to him saying to him teacher we want you to do for us whatever we ask you and he said to them what do you want me to do for you and they said to him grant that we sit in your glory one on your right and one on your left now when you read that you think are they kidding haven’t they heard anything now if you if you go to the gospel of Matthew I don’t want you to turn there but actually in Matthew records that it was actually their mother salomi who was the spokesman and this is what she said then the mother mother of the son of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons bowing down and making a request to him and and he said to her what do you wish and she said to him command that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit on one on your right and one on your left they were all in it together all right she happened to be the spokesman but I think Mark is being much more clear on what exactly happened that these guys were initiating it now before we come down too hard on these disciples let’s consider some observations surrounding their request the first one is the mood of their request now you don’t necessarily get this unless we’re looking at the the Greek because in fact the Greek language points us to the mood in which this request was given by stacking up what is called sub subjunctive verbs now the subjunctive mood affirms objective possibility now in other words the action the the disciples are believing this action this request is possible depending on what we know about Jesus and what we observed of him but it depends on certain objective factors number one whether he’ll give us the request uh so we we we can surmise that this large and ambitious request actually sprung from Faith a faith which connected this Galilean Carpenter with the glory of a king now just think for a second to sit on the right and the left side of a king would be the chief ministers the chief Ministers of the king the the ones who actually administer the kingdom both places would be the highest places of Honor in the Kingdom now if you look at Mark 10:37 it says and they said to him grant that we sit in your glory that word actually is an imperative it’s like the word that their mother used command she’s commanding Jesus it’s a strong word do this for me do this for us so in other words Jesus is addressed here like a great king one who establishes his kingdom uh can grant anything he would like when he ascends to his Royal throne in other words James and John never doubted the ultimate Triumph of Christ they were just blinded to the way on how you get there now there’s a possible reason for the request remember the disciples just had a lesson about rewards and about the age to come and the blessing of eternal life and I believe they’re still thinking about that that’s in their heads they’re not thinking about death and and the cross and suffering they’re thinking about the glory so in other words a request for a place of honor showed a continuing feeling among the disciples that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to restore the glory of the Fallen en throne and the kingdom of David so then the request was reasonable but incredibly selfish it lacked consideration for the other disciples it lacked humility and it lacked the servant’s heart see they wanted status and positions of power they were just blinded to jesus’ passion and Resurrection they did not see that without a cross there could be no Crown where a cross there could be no Kingdom so how does Jesus answer them well being a servant is learned really on the road to self-denial and cross bearing sacrifice ice Jesus responds to the quest their request with a question which he always seemed to do somebody asked a question Jesus say I got a question for you but his question is a lot better and he look at his question in verse number 38 now Jesus Remember is still dealing with them very patiently and kindly and he says in verse 38 but Jesus said to them do you not know you do not know what you are asking for are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized see the cup refers to the bitter contents of suffering and to drink means to accept and endured the bitter suffering willingly and voluntarily see the cup was also used as a metaphor for the just Judgment of God against evil and remember the weight of the cup is expressed in Jesus prayer to the father in The Garden of gethen remember what Jesus prayed and he said and he said to the father ABA father all things are possible for thee remove this cup from me yet not what I will but what thou Wilt see that’s the weight in the magnitude of the cup and then of course baptism here is not water baptism but the overwhelming Fury of God’s Wrath in judgment so he is really asking us and asking his disciples because we are his disciples too are you able to accept anything laid upon you by God and be immersed in suffering are you willing to live in a way where you are living in self-denial can you face being submerged in hatred and pain and ridicule and even death because of me are you willing to do that are you going to be ashamed of me or not see Jesus is affirming that the way of Salvation is bound I suffering in death and if our Lord suffered we will suffer not never to the magnitude he suffered but we will we will in some way sense that being a disciple of Jesus Christ will bring some recourse in our life again look at again at James and John’s response to Jesus and they said to him in verse number 39 we are able wow do they really get it they are ignorant yet they possess eagerness to meet any requirement that Jesus May set so that Jesus will grant their request see when the time of jesus’ passion actually came the disciples would end up running from Jesus and fleeing from him and leaving him to suffer alone so what’s Jesus answered to them in verse 39 it says and Jesus said to them the cup that I drink you shall drink and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized see drinking the cup is set as a requirement for a attaining the highest in the kingdom of God Jesus’s suffering and death were atoning and expiratory but un unlike the disciples they would not never suffer to the length and to the extent he did they could not we could not so Jesus had to face the Wrath of the father for sin alone however these disciples would go through a great deal of suffering now James and John are talking here right what would happen to James and John under Herod a grippa he would be beheaded all right what would happen to John John wasn’t martyred in that sense but he was banished to a prisoners Island the island of Patmos and suffered much for his master and the kingdom of God and some historical documents say that John was actually boiled in oil we don’t and can’t really confirm that so we too must be willing to identify with Jesus in his disgrace in his humiliation or we will never participate in his exaltation and His glory see this is something that the disciples have not learned yet and by the way Jesus did not Grant the request because it was the father’s choice that had already been determined in eternity past where it says in verse 40 but to sit on my right or on my left that is not mine to give but it is for those for whom it has been prepared see that means for us the one who occupy who will occupy the very highest places in the kingdom of God Still Remains a question however it is prepared and stands ready to be occupied by those the heavenly father has chosen so that leads us to a third thing that a maturing disciple contemplates The Clash of living as a servant there’s going to be certain tension that comes while living as a servant all right a servant will experience even a clash of views Within interpersonal relationships for look what it says in verse number 41 it says now that remember that this was just the two disciples the 10 other disciples now hear the information about what took place and in verse number 41 notice what it says and hearing this the 10 began to feel indignant with James and John so would you and I now why would they be indignant maybe it’s because they didn’t think of it first right see so Jesus has any feelings off at the past and turns this into a teaching time because really the disciples didn’t need to be arguing at this particular point they needed they needed to be did not need to be discussing what uh whether that request was the right thing to do or not but they needed to listen to what Jesus was going to teach them so that is that’s exactly what takes place in verse 42 to verse 44 see a servant will experience The Clash of conflicting World Views concerning I call it the greatness principle everybody wants to be great everybody wants to be first everybody wants the advantage right everybody wants that so so Jesus all right teaches a lesson that every one of jesus’ disciples both past and present need to learn they need to learn this particular principle that Christ’s disciples cannot follow worldly principles in regard to what greatness is in the kingdom of God now if you notice how Jesus contrasts the greatness principle of Earthly kingdoms with the greatness principle of the kingdom of God and notice verse number 42 it says and calling them to himself and in other words that means face me calling them to himself Jesus said to them you know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles Lord over them and their great men exercise authority over them so he is saying Le listen Heathen rulers of all kinds come down on their subjects with their lordship in order to maintain their High position and maintain their upper hand their superiority they exercise Authority on those beneath them because that’s how they look at it they’re above them others are beneath them and this is how they achieve and keep their height of lordship and greatness in the world if you look at human history right we usually look at great people as conquerors right taking over kingdoms finding great battles you know presidents and prime ministers and kings that really ruled well In Their Kingdoms that’s who we look at as being great in the world see most people try to influence Society to get their way they Lord over others they seek power and control they think if I have power if I have wealth if I have connections then I can get my way I can get ahead I can keep myself on top while everyone else is down below me so this is what’s going on in the disciples mind they have a worldly view of greatness and Jesus says this is what needs to change the most because there’s no way you can live as a real disciple and have that mindset and so what does Jesus say in verse 43 glance at it it says but it is not so among you that’s the first thing he says to them see greatness in my kingdom is not attained in this way actually the very opposite is true Jesus is teaching his disciples what it really means to be great if you really want to make a difference and make an eternal mark on Humanity then you must be a servant see jesus’ perception of greatness in Mark 10 reveals the mind of God on the subject verse 43 it says this but it is not so among you but whoever whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your shall be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all two words he uses there one word for a slave or servant and one word for a slave one is di acinus one is doulos see for the disciples at this point greatness is who will have the best Ed in the kingdom of God the world’s perception of greatness is a person who controls and commands others but the Lord said real greatness consists of doing things for others greatness in the kingdom of God is measured by the service that we offer and not by power and authority so he is saying all that for this reason who’s our model who’s our model for gaining influence in the world our model has to be Christ himself right and that’s exactly where it goes and so this is what where the Lord is is leading his disciples so they mature and in so they can serve him correctly is this that a mature disciple contemplates Christ when living as a servant I must continually look at what Christ has done and what has he done in verse 45 the first part of it it says this for even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve so so here’s the bottom line a servant will realize that Christ CHR called us to serve others just as Christ has served us and you get a little Glimpse In this passage of scripture that Jesus came from somewhere else it says it says even the son of man did not come to be served meaning that the Lord had a previous existence before he came to the world I read somewhere I don’t know where the best way to measure the quality of a man’s character is how he responds to someone who can do nothing for him my friends if it was not for Jesus coming to this earth to serve we would be without hope because we’re Sinners we have nothing to offer God we cannot offer God goodness and morality that is not the thing that covers our sins yet the Lord responded to sinful Humanity who had nothing to offer him by offering himself to them as a servant if you wish to be great Jesus said be a servant if you wish to be first first of all be a slave because that’s exactly what I did when I came into this world so see greatness in the kingdom of God is the standard of the Cross because look at the last half of verse 45 not only did Jesus come to serve but it says also and to give he came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many just think of that for a minute that Jesus was infinitely great in himself omnipotent to Lord over all he had every right to do it he came to do the very opposite the purpose of jesus’ life was to serve and to give voluntarily and willingly his life and what was his life his life in scripture was a ransom it’s the word Lutron in the Greek it means the price paid to effect release of one who’s held in bondage see the ransom was offered to God the father against whom we have sinned and who alone has the power to inflict the penalty and to send people to hell so then Jesus saw us caught up in the slave market of sin he saw us under the reign of Satan and had pity on us he had mercy on us he had mercy on us who are hopeless in our situation there’s nothing we could have done to save save ourselves and how did he do that by paying the ransom price and the ransomi price was the price of his own blood and he did that in order to redeem us out of slavery and bring us into the family of God so Jesus sacrificial death on the cross purchased the release from bondage of those many Sinners who would believe in him and so that’s what the disciples needed to learn that there’s no way you can have glory in all the rewards of a kingdom from a king unless it goes through a cross see God can even led us into his our his kingdom unless our sin is dealt with and taken care of somebody has to pray pay the price for your sin those who reject Christ will pay that price and will never be able to pay it off in hell but those who believe in Christ Jesus was your substitute he died in your place he paid the ransom price in full and he did it by his his suffering and by his shed blood and he paid for you that’s why it says in Corinthians you are bought with the price the precious blood of Jesus Christ that what that’s what purchased you so see we have nothing to offer God there’s no way we can come before God and offer him oh Lord I’ve been good or Lord I’ve been moral or I didn’t kick any dogs or whatever people say those things are irrelevant to Salvation and that’s why the Lord has to clean our minds and our thoughts of all the lies and all the wrong thinking and bring us to the place right here listen the only way that you can come into the kingdom of God is if you come through Jesus Christ the lord and savior who died as a substitute in your place and paid the full price for your soul that’s the only way there’s no other way there’s not many ways to God there is just one way and that’s Jesus Christ no one came into this world to die and become a sacrifice like this except Jesus and Jesus being God became a man so he can do that so to the way to gain height in the kingdom of God is to be a humble slave for for Christ and for others and willingly to keep being a slave even if there is no earthly reward and no honor I heard a missionary one time say listen the soldiers came home from Battle and they had a whole band and all their families came and I’ve have been on the mission field for 20 years and I get off the ship and no one’s there to greet me sometimes that’s the way it is see but the bottom line is that only Jesus can really teach us true greatness and service alone is the indicator of real greatness in God’s eyes if you want if you want real influence among others then it will come by the attractiveness of your service and of your love for the Lord and for other people there’s no way around that the essence of True Discipleship is to follow Christ in service and in sacrifice so developing as a servant of Christ will be a struggle there’ll be misunderstandings but you continue to go you continue to move forward yet is it is essential it’s an essential goal in our maturity in christlikeness that we would learn to serve and why is that because we are most like Christ when we serve we are the hands and feet we are the mouthpieces of God in this world and the only ones who are going to accomplish anything for the kingdom of God and have an influence in this world are people who learn to serve and be slaves of Christ that’s where your influence is that’s where the strength of the Christian Life is and that is completely opposite of what the world teaches so in our passage this morning that is what the where the Lord brought his disciples and I pray this morning that’s where he would be bringing us that we would have plenty of servants in the church and people that are not serving for recognition or for titles or for accolations but people that are serving Christ from their heart willingly voluntarily and with joy and in doing that you will I guarantee you will influence other people you will advance the kingdom of God you will help grow the church you will help grow others in maturity when you live like that and that’s what we need we need people who are basically servants who follow Christ and God’s people said what all right amen okay