I recently began a new sermon series called Commit at my church on what biblically committed church membership looks like. This post is based off of the eighth sermon in that series, which was not recorded.
This blog post is about the importance of serving within the church. You may not know it, but the verbal form of diakonos (the Greek word sometimes translated deacon) means to serve or to minister. However, serving in the church is not limited to deacons. We could go back to Acts 2:42-47 and see how the early Christians served one another. The call to serve one another is found all over the New Testament.
I would argue that anyone that claims to be a Christian must be a servant because Christ our Lord is the ultimate example of humility and service. We saw that in our Scripture reading from Philippians 2:1-11 and we’ll see it today in our Scripture text. If you would, turn in your Bibles to Mark 10.
As you’re turning to Mark 10, I want to give you some context. In Mark 10, Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem where Jesus will be crucified within 1-2 weeks of when the events of our text took place.
Mark 8-10 is the largest text in the New Testament on discipleship. In Mark 8:34-36, Jesus spoke these challenging words:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
In each chapter of Mark 8-10:
- Jesus predicted his death and resurrection (8:31-32, 9:30-31, 10:32-34).
- The disciples responded in a foolish way (8:32-33, 9:32-34, 10:35-41).
- Jesus gave a lesson on discipleship and service (8:34-38, 9:35-37, 10:42-45).
In our text today, we’ll see just how much we are like Jesus’ first disciples when it comes to service.
Sermon Text: Mark 10:32-45
BIG IDEA: As followers of Jesus, we should humbly serve one another.
We know that we need to serve, but it seems to be hard at times. This text helps us see why serving faithfully is difficult for so many of us.
Serving faithfully will cost us (32-34)
Jesus knew what was going to happen (32-34) and he still went to Jerusalem. He loved and served us even when he knew he would suffer and that it would cost him his life. Even while His disciples were fearful (32), Jesus was focused on the mission that had been given to him by the Father.
Jesus’ mission was to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). He came to bear witness to the Father and to die for the sins of the world. While it is unlikely that many of us will physically die in service to Christ, the reality is that God has given our church a mission – to make disciples of Jesus Christ by sharing the gospel, baptizing, and teaching people to obey Jesus in all of life for the rest of life (Matt 28:18-20).
Are you serving Jesus in this way? Are you, like Jesus, focused on the mission that God has given to us as a church? How are you serving the Great Commission? How are you serving the church?
Serving faithfully will cost you. It will cost you to:
- serve in the nursery
- teach a Sunday school class
- show up for church clean up days
- babysit for a young couple with children so they can have a date night
- serve on the music team
- clean up a widow’s yard
- take a meal to a homebound or sick church member
- pick up a homebound member and bring them to church
- host another family in the church in your home
- disciple that young believer by helping him/her to read the Bible, pray, and share the gospel
Jesus served us faithfully despite an unimaginable cost to himself. Like Jesus, we should faithfully serve the church despite the cost. Jesus bought the church with his own blood (Acts 20:28). Are we willing to give our blood, sweat, and tears to serve him by serving his church?
So, serving faithfully will cost us. Second, it will challenge us.
Second, serving faithfully will challenge us (35-44)
Serving faithfully goes against our human nature (35-37)
The way of the world: self-exaltation.
- 35 – “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
- 37 – “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory”
James and John are showing their human natures. Like these two men, we love ourselves and want others to love and honor us as well. Many of us think way too highly of ourselves. Isn’t it true that we tend to see the specks in others’ eyes while overlooking the log in our own eyes?
James and John also seem to have already forgotten Jesus’ teaching on what true greatness looks like. In the previous chapter of Mark, we read the words below.
Mark 9:35
And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
On the way to his death here in chapter 10, Jesus is talking about all that he is about to give. But the self-absorbed disciples are consumed with all they can get. When we see James and John, it’s like looking in the mirror. We see our own selfishness, and Mark hopes that we see how foolish we look. Once again, this is one of the reasons that serving is so challenging for us – it goes against our human nature.
Friends, the way of the world is to exalt yourself. The way of Christ is to serve others.
The way of the world is to exalt yourself. The way of Christ is to serve others.
Serving faithfully will challenge us because it goes against our human nature and because it comes at a cost. I’ve already discussed this in vv. 32-35, but let’s now look at vv. 38-40.
38 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?” 39 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, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
Serving faithfully comes at a cost (38-40)
James and John know Jesus is headed for glory (37), but they don’t have a clue how that glory would come. They expected Jesus to overthrow the Romans and establish a political kingdom but Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world. His path to glory was paved with suffering. Look again at v. 38 – Jesus tells his disciples, “You don’t know what you’re asking…”
- “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?”
- “Are you able to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?
Jesus compares His coming suffering and death to drinking a cup and experiencing a baptism. What does He mean by this? Drinking a cup with someone speaks of sharing in that person’s fate. The cup that Jesus is referring to here is that of God’s wrath.
When Jesus speaks of His coming baptism, He means that His coming suffering and death were all consuming. Just as baptism is by immersion, Jesus was immersed in the destiny that God had planned for Him. Jesus’ suffering and death were all consuming and He was immersed in His mission.
Luke 12:50
I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!
In verse 39, James and John told Jesus, “We are able.” Their quick response, however, makes it clear that they did not understand what Jesus meant. Jesus knew that indeed one day each of them would suffer for the sake of Jesus.
- James was the first apostle to be martyred (Acts 12:1-2).
- John was exiled to the island of Patmos (Rev 1).
James and John had failed to see that the pathway to glory is paved with suffering. Before we receive the crown of life, we must be willing to drink the cup of suffering and be immersed in living for Christ.
Phil 1:29
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,
“The early church was married to poverty, prisons, and persecutions. Today, ‘the church’ is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity.”
Leonard Ravehnill
Serving faithfully challenges us because it is contrary to the ways of the world (41-43)
In v. 41, the other disciples were indignant at James and John. In v. 42, Jesus says that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and that they exercise authority over them. People in the world want more power, more position, more fame, and more influence. In the world, the more important you are, the more people you have that serve you.
But Jesus says in v. 43, “It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.”
Once again, Jesus has changed the scorecard. The world says that power and authority are to be desired, but Jesus says if you want to be great, you must be a servant.
Serving faithfully challenges us because we must become like slaves (44)
Jesus says it’s not even enough to be like a servant, but you must become like a slave. In biblical times, slaves had very little rights and were taken for granted by those that they served.
Who are you more like? Are you like James and John seeking to exalt yourself? Are you like Jesus, a servant that is willing to pour out your life for others and to be taken for granted like a slave?
Serving faithfully will cost us. Serving faithfully will challenge us. But serving faithfully is the way of Christ.
Serving faithfully is the way of Christ (45)
Mark 10:45 is the key verse of Mark’s Gospel. Mark 1:15 is Jesus’ message; Mark 10:45 is Jesus’ mission.
Jesus has told us He is going to Jerusalem and that He will die. Now He tells us why. He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Jesus combines the “Son of Man” title from Daniel 7:13-14 with the “ransom for many” language from Isaiah 53:10-12. The Son of Man (Dan 7:13-14) will be given dominion and glory and a kingdom. He came to earth and gave his life as a ransom for many (Isa 53:12).
That’s the amazing truth of the gospel, that Jesus, the Son of God, became the Son of Man to pay the penalty for sin. We needed a ransom for our sin because we had all gladly and willfully sold ourselves into the slavery to sin. Jesus purchased us from our masters of sin, death, and hell to set us free.
By paying the ransom for our sins, Jesus made it possible for the children of Adam to become the children of God (John 1:12). Jesus, the Son of God, and the Son of Man, gave His life as a ransom for many.
We must respond in repentance and faith. After we come to Christ, we live a life of humble service to Jesus and others.
1 John 3:16
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Conclusion
There are some of you that are members of our church but are not serving in any way. I want to challenge you today. Would you speak with me or someone else about how you can regularly serve in the church?
If Jesus was a member of our church, can you imagine that he would do nothing? Would Jesus simply attend the worship service and leave? We know the answer.
Many people today get married only when it’s convenient (when each person has something to offer), but they aren’t really committed to each other through thick and thin. We have a lot of Christians like that today. Some of you will serve in the church only when it’s convenient but you’re not committed to serving week-by-week in the body of Christ.
Donald Whitney writes, “The church needs soldiers who will enlist and fill the ranks, not people who will help only as last-minute reinforcements and if the battle won’t last too long.”[1]Spiritual Disciplines Within the Church, 113..
The way you serve the church reflects your love for Christ. Friends, Jesus is worthy of our service.
Will we believe the lie of the world that life is all about us or will we give ourselves away in service to Jesus, his Gospel, his church, and a lost and dying world?
“Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.” Will you serve the one who gave it all for you?
References
| ↑1 | Spiritual Disciplines Within the Church, 113. |
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