Mark chapter 10 and Mona is going to come and read for us.
Good morning church. Okay so we're reading Mark 10 and we're going from verse 35.
Then James and John the sons of Zebedee came to him. Teacher, they said, we want you to do for us
whatever we ask. What do you want me to do for you? He asked. They replied, let one of us sit at your
right and the other at your left in your glory. You don't know what you are asking, Jesus said.
Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? We can, they
answered. Jesus said to them, you will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am
baptized with. But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those
for whom they have been prepared. When the 10 heard about this, they became
indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, you know that those who are
regarded as rulers of the Gentiles, Lord, is over them and their high officials exercise authority
over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant
and whoever wants to be first must be slave for all. For even the son of man did not come to be
served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Then they came to Jericho as Jesus and his
disciples together with a large crowd were leaving the city. A blind man, Barthelomus, which means son of
Timaeus was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to
shout, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted
all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus stopped and said, call him. So they called to the
blind man, cheer up on your feet, he's calling you. Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet
and came to Jesus. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind mind said, Rabbi,
I want to see. Go, said Jesus. Your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight
and followed Jesus along the road. Amen. Well, good morning. It's great to be back. Thanks for
having me back. It's a great joy to be able to come and open up God's words with you this morning. So
shall we pray? Let's pray and let's ask that God would speak this morning. Father, thank you for these
precious words, this extraordinary gospel of Mark and all it shows us about Jesus. And we ask this
morning that you'd help us to have hearts that are set on Jesus, that our minds would understand,
that our eyes would see him more clearly, and that we might be transformed by his beautiful power.
Father, and we ask it in his name. Amen. I think that was a longer reading than perhaps we normally
used to. I think often we just look at one little part of the Bible or one little part of the gospel.
But what I want to do this morning is take these two accounts, which Mark has put next to each other,
and try and think, why do they go together? Why do these two things happen next to each other?
And what I want to show you is what an extraordinary teacher Jesus is. I think even if you're not really
sure what you believe about Jesus, even if you're here and you're not a Christian, I still think it isn't
hard to see that he is an extraordinary teacher who has turned our world upside down. And the brilliant
thing about Jesus is that he's so simple in what he teaches, and yet so profound. He doesn't need
kind of high-faluting philosophy. He doesn't need clever and complex doctrine. He uses the simplest of
words to completely expose our hearts. In fact, Jesus uses one question, one question, which I think
completely shows up what's happening inside each of us. The question came up twice in the reading that
we've just had. I don't know if you noticed it. Here is the question. What do you want me to do for you?
Jesus asks that question twice. And as he asks it, he shows up what is really going on in the human
heart. So we're going to think about this one question, and we're going to think about the two
answers that Jesus gets, and we're going to try and understand what that shows us about our own hearts
and about the magnificence of Jesus. But let's think about the question, first of all, what do you want
me to do for you? That's the question Jesus asks. He asks it to James and John, his disciples. Then he
asks it to this blind man, Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do for you? I think that's a strange
question. And the reason I think it's a strange question and might puzzle us is because it's a
servant's question. That's what a servant asks. What do you want me to do for you?
The person who asks that question is not the person in power, but the person who is being,
who has to serve, whose job it is to do something. And so we might expect Jesus to come along and say,
this is what I want you to do for me. But instead he comes and says, what do you want me to do for you?
That's surprising. It's surprising because I think we often imagine that being a Christian is about me
serving Jesus. He's the great King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And my job is to serve him. Well,
what you need to understand is before you can ever serve Jesus, he first needs to serve you.
that's where it starts. And that's what he says in the middle of this passage. So just look with me,
verse 45. It's one of the key verses in the whole of Mark's gospel. Here it is. Jesus says,
even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
We have to understand that Jesus came to serve.
It's strange because he uses this phrase son of man.
When he talks about son of man, he's referring to himself, but it's a loaded term.
It's like a code name, son of man. When I was younger, I was in a gang,
well, they're not a, I mean, there's only two of us. Um,
it was me and my friend, Steven Gower. We weren't really a gang, but we thought we were,
we were, we thought we were pretty cool. And we had, we had code names because we thought that
it's quite embarrassing admitting it out. But anyway, we had code names. And the idea was that
the code name told you something about what we thought we were. My code name in our gang
was falcon fighter. I don't think it accurately described me, but I think it described what I
aspired to be. Well, this name son of man is like a code name. It tells you something about Jesus.
But in order to understand what son of man means, you need to go back, go back to where this term
has been used earlier in the Bible. In particular, back to a prophet called Daniel.
An extraordinary story of Daniel in the Old Testament. Daniel, a man who lived at a very
hard time when God's people were taken in exile, that he was living in Babylon, he was living far
from home. He'd been there for 70 years, spent all his life away as a exile.
And while Daniel was there in exile, he had a vision,
an extraordinary vision. He saw the ancient of days, God himself on a throne. And it was like a
courtroom and the books were opened up, a scene of magnificent power. Can you picture it?
The ancient of days. His hair was white like wool. He was blazing with glory.
And Daniel is there looking at this great vision. And then into this throne room comes someone else.
One who looks like a son of man. That is one who has a human appearance. One walking in as a human
being walks into this courtroom. A son of man.
And in Daniel's vision, what happens is that as the son of man comes into the courtroom,
the son of man is given all glory and sovereign power and all the nations of the world worship him.
Wow.
You don't need to know much about the Bible to know that there is only one that you worship. Only one.
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not worship any other god, God says.
Which means that this son of man who all the nations are going to worship,
this son of man approaching the ancient of days must be God.
Because you only worship God.
So here's this scene that's unfolding.
You've got to imagine Daniel, right?
Imagine Daniel. He's there in exile and he sees this thing unfolding.
Do you not imagine his heart beating faster?
It's like, who is that?
Who is this figure who can walk into the presence of the ancient of days and receive worship?
Who could that possibly be?
Daniel's like on tiptoe trying to see who is it?
Who is it?
And Daniel never fully gets the answer in his lifetime.
Because it would be another nearly 500 years.
But for a man walking by the sea of Galilee says,
the son of man is me.
Jesus, when he takes the phrase son of man,
is using that name,
which means he is the man who is God to be worshipped.
So do you not feel, right?
Come on, we've got to get into this, right?
Do you not feel the crunch when it says,
the son of man,
that son of man of all glory, wisdom, and sovereign power,
that son of man did not come to be served,
but to serve and to give his life.
Right?
There is the crunch.
You've got to feel, right?
That's the,
that is the great paradox at the very heart of what we believe as Christians,
that the great son of man gave his life on a cross.
That the Messiah was crucified.
And so when Jesus asks the question,
what do you want me to do for you?
It's an extraordinary question,
because it tells you that this son of man came to serve.
And look at the extent to which he came to serve.
Even to give his life as a ransom for men.
Humanity is in a desperate, desperate plight.
In a place of deep, deep darkness and slavery.
And Jesus came in order to pay the price,
to bring us out of darkness and slavery to sin,
in order that we might be rescued,
that we might be taken from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light,
from the kingdom of shame to the kingdom of freedom,
from the kingdom of slavery,
to the kingdom of being children of God.
He gave his life as a ransom.
And so Jesus is rightly called the servant king.
He comes to serve.
So this question, what do you want me to do for you?
It shows you something.
It takes you to the very heart of the identity of Jesus.
He is the servant who comes to serve.
Even lost sinners like us.
So there's the question.
But what is our response?
When Jesus says to us,
what do you want me to do for you?
How do you respond?
Because what you think you want Jesus to do for you
will show you what's going on in your heart.
So let's see what happened.
Let's look at these two occasions
when Jesus asked the servant's question.
And just as a spoiler,
one group get it very wrong.
The other one gets it very right.
So let's look at it.
Let's go back to the start of our reading.
And we read about James and John,
the sons of Zebedee.
They come to Jesus.
Teacher, they said,
we want you to do for us whatever we ask.
Wowzers.
I mean, what a question.
What a thing to say.
Wow.
Jesus, remember,
is the eternal son of man
who is going to be worshipped by all the nations.
And these two little disciples come and say,
we want you to do for us whatever we ask.
Do you not think Jesus would have every right
to turn around and say,
how dare you?
Who do you think you are?
But he doesn't.
He's gracious.
He's kind.
He wants to teach them.
He wants to show them what's in their hearts.
And so he asks them the servant's question.
What do you want me to do for you?
They're very clear.
They've got this worked out.
They've already thought this through.
They reply,
let one of us sit at your right
and the other at your left in your glory.
Here is essentially their answer.
We want to be first.
We want the highest place.
Now, let's give them their G.
They have understood that Jesus
is about to receive a lot of glory.
They have understood that there's something
of a kingdom going on.
They've seen his miracles.
Perhaps they've worked out that he is the Messiah.
He is the king of Israel,
whose God has promised forever and ever.
And they're like,
we want in on that, Jesus.
We want to be in the highest place.
But their hearts are desperately,
desperately wrong.
And you can feel the kind of,
the pain in Jesus' answer.
He says,
in verse 38,
you don't know what you're asking.
You don't know what you're asking.
Can you drink the cup I drink
or be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with?
Now, I love this.
Right, so Jesus comes out with this.
Can you be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with?
And James and John,
perhaps they take a brief moment,
they look at each other and they go,
yeah, we can do that.
They haven't got the first idea
what Jesus is talking about.
They don't know what he's referring to.
Presumably, they think,
when Jesus talks about the cup he's going to drink,
they think, well, that must be a cup of glory.
Yeah, we could drink that, Jesus.
We'll drink a cup of glory.
Baptism, yeah, we'll be baptized.
We'll be submerged and immersed
in your glory and your power.
Yes, Jesus, we can do that.
No problem.
They have not understood the kingdom of Jesus.
They've not understood who he is
and what he's come to do.
Because the cup Jesus is talking about
is the cup of suffering
that he will drink at the cross.
It's the cup of God's wrath
that he will drink.
It's the cup of agonizing pain.
That he will drink
as he dies to save the world.
And the baptism he talks about
is the baptism of going under the judgment of God.
It's the suffering of this world,
being immersed in death,
going to death itself.
They think it's about glory.
It's all about suffering.
And so Jesus said to them,
you will drink the cup I drink
and be baptized with the baptism
I'm baptized with.
He says, actually,
you are going to suffer.
And obviously,
they're not going to drink
the cup of God's wrath.
That's what Jesus will do.
But they are going to follow him.
Just like he said,
take up my cross.
They are going to die.
They are going to suffer.
But verse 40,
to sit at my right or left
is not for me to grant.
These places belong to those
for whom they've prepared.
He says,
James and John,
your hearts are all wrong.
You think it's about
grabbing for glory.
Actually,
it is about embracing
suffering
and service.
The 10 hear about this.
They become indignant.
They're pretty annoyed
with James and John.
I don't think it's kind of,
oh, James and John,
how could you be so selfish?
I think it is,
James and John,
how dare you try
and get ahead of us?
And so Jesus calls them together.
Stop squabbling, children.
Come here.
Let me teach you.
You know that those
who are regarded
as rulers of the Gentiles
lord it over them
and their high officials
exercise authority over them.
You know, right,
how the world works.
People pushing forward,
grabbing for glory.
You know how it works.
And then Jesus says these words,
not so with you.
It must not be that way.
Instead,
whoever wants to become great
among you
must be your servant
and whoever wants to be first
must be slave of all.
This is remarkable.
This one question
cracks open
what is going on
in the proud human heart.
Because I think
James and John
are very like me
and perhaps
they're very like you.
I want to be first.
I want to be noticed.
I want to be seen.
I want to be appreciated.
I want applause.
There's something
that loves to be first.
It's a bit like,
you know when you go
to a supermarket
and it's busy
and you're queuing.
And you have to make
that awful decision
as you approach
the busy checkouts.
Which one
is going to be
my checkout of choice?
And you're trying to judge, right?
You're trying to assess.
It's not just about
the longest queue
because it might be
they've only got a few items.
You might have a very,
one person
but a very big
trolley load of stuff.
So you're trying to assess
which one's going to go first,
which is going to go first.
You're trying to look
at the checkout system.
How fast are they going to be?
They look efficient.
And you start
and you choose your queue
and you stand in your queue
and then what you do
is you line up
with someone next to you.
So as long as I beat them,
then I'm happy.
I've chosen a good queue.
Anyone else do this
or it's just me?
And you're moving forwards
and suddenly this queue
is going faster than you
and it's awful.
You find yourself
getting very stressed
and then someone spills
all their little coins
all over the thing.
It's like, come on!
And then someone
opens a till over here
and the people behind you
whip round
and get in before you
and it's like so frustrating
and you find your blood pressure rising
and you find your stress levels increasing.
There is a way
in that situation
to make all of your stress go away.
All you need to do
is turn to the person behind you
and say,
would you like to go in front of me?
And the moment you do that,
you don't care anymore
because you've chosen
to serve.
Rather than this obsession
with making sure
that I get what I want
and I'm noticed
and I get,
I don't miss out
and I don't lose out.
Instead, you choose to serve.
If queuing in a supermarket
doesn't work for you,
perhaps driving in a traffic jam,
apply it to wherever you
have your little stresses.
And if that doesn't apply to you,
then
think about all the ways
in our hearts
that we just try to make sure
that we get
what we think
we deserve.
As long as I'm seen
and we will use
whatever we can
in order to make sure
that I get what I want.
it might be in the workplace,
it might be in my family,
that I make sure
that I'm sorted out
and I'm looked after.
Happens in churches.
Where as long as
my preferences are met
and my choices
and my opinions
are accepted,
then I'm happy.
but I feel like
I'm being pushed to the back.
If I feel like
other people are going ahead of me,
then we can become
very stressed.
It happens in terms
of our gifting.
Sometimes, you know,
you have a particular gift.
Perhaps you're all brilliant
and I'm picking,
I don't know this church,
I'm picking things
at random, right?
Perhaps you're very gifted
as a flower arranger
or as a
I used to be in an orchestra.
I used to play clarinet
in an orchestra
and I was first clarinet.
Like, I was the most,
I was the best
in the orchestra.
It was very exciting
and I would sit
and I'd play my clarinet
and feel very smug
and proud
and then one day,
a girl walked
into the orchestra hall
and she was carrying
a box that looked
suspiciously like
a clarinet.
And she was third clarinet
but she was clearly
much better than me.
And it didn't take long
for the conductor
to eventually say,
John T, would you mind
switch it?
Would you mind switching?
Would you mind
if Carola was
first clarinet?
I can still remember
the seething rage
that she'd come in
and taken my place.
I kind of wanted
bad things to happen
like her fingers
to drop off
or something
so that she could
no longer play clarinet.
Isn't it sad
we can be like that
in church?
Rather than rejoice
in someone else,
we feel threatened.
We feel angry
because it threatens
our sense of identity
and we're like,
no, this is my role,
this is what I do.
Rather than saying,
no, we come to serve.
And Jesus,
as he asks this question,
what do you want
me to do for you?
Perhaps the deepest,
honest answer
of our hearts is,
Jesus, I want glory.
I want you to make me great.
I want you to fix
all my problems.
I want you to sort
my life out.
I want you to make sure
that I get what I want.
Do you know,
when Jesus,
if you are someone
who finds yourself
wanting to push
to the front of the queue,
what Jesus comes to you,
he says,
gently,
he says to you,
you need to learn
to go to the back.
Go to the back
of the queue.
Go to the back
of the queue
and learn to serve.
And here's the weird thing,
right?
The weird thing is
that the back of the queue
is where freedom is found.
Everybody thinks
that to be at the front
of the queue is freedom.
I just want to be at the front.
I want to be at the front.
The front of the queue
is not freedom.
The front of the queue
is slavery
because you are stressed
all the time
that one day
Carola is going to
walk into your life
and is going to
take your place.
The front of the queue
is the place
where you feel alone
because you've had to
push everyone
out of your way
to get to the front.
The front of the queue
is a slavery
that you have to keep
working to maintain
your position
and to not lose
who you are.
I want glory.
And you'll never
get to the front.
The great irony
that Jesus knows
and what he shows us
through his gospel
is that freedom
is found at the back
when you go to the back
and you serve others
and you say,
what do you want me
to do for you?
Jesus is the most
free human being
who's ever lived
because he was not
interested in getting
to the front.
He constantly went
to the back to serve.
He was so free.
This is freedom.
But it may be
that some of you
sitting here
are thinking,
huh,
I just feel rubbish.
I gave up
trying to be the front
of the queue
a long time ago.
I feel like I've got nothing.
I feel like I'm useless.
I feel like I'm
I've got nothing to offer.
Well,
here's why Mark
puts this story next.
Because look what happens next.
Just after we've had
this discussion
around greatness
and pushing to the front
and trying to get
to the front,
look what happens next.
They come to Derrick Jericho.
As Jesus and his disciples
together with a large crowd
were leaving the city,
a blind man,
Bartimaeus,
which means son of Timaeus,
was sitting by the roadside
begging.
It would be hard
to imagine someone
more at the back
of the queue
than Bartimaeus.
James and John,
we want to be at the front.
Here is Bartimaeus
who's at the back.
He's begging.
He's sitting by the roadside.
He's got nothing.
He's utterly,
utterly dependent
on others.
He's got nothing to offer.
He's just begging
from others.
Now he heard
that Jesus of Nazareth
was coming by.
Maybe he'd heard
some rumors about Jesus
and something within him
welled up
and he began to think,
what if,
what if this Jesus
might help me?
And so he begins
to cry out.
Can you picture him
like just crying out?
He doesn't know.
He's blind.
He can't see where Jesus is.
He's crying out.
Jesus,
son of David,
have mercy on me.
What did the crowd say?
I'd say,
shut up,
Bartimaeus.
You're the back
of the queue.
There are a lot
of people ahead of you.
There are a lot
of people who have
more demand
on Jesus
than you do.
Bartimaeus,
you need to be quiet.
But he just keeps
shouting,
I love it.
Jesus,
son of David,
have mercy on me.
He's crying
for mercy.
He's not asking
for glory.
He is a blind beggar
who is desperately
in need
of mercy.
And then come
my two favorite words
in the whole
of Mark's gospel.
My two favorite words.
Look at the first two words
of verse 49.
Jesus,
stop.
Remember,
Jesus is on his way
to die on a cross
to save the universe.
The eternal son of God,
the son of man,
who's worthy
of all worship
and all honor
and all glory.
He's going to a cross
to die,
then he'll rise again,
he'll return to glory.
What could possibly
be important enough
to make Jesus
stop on his great
eternal divine mission?
What could possibly
make him stop?
I mean,
it must be something
incredibly important.
It must be something
incredibly significant.
What is it?
It's a blind beggar
called Bartimaeus.
Do you not see?
Jesus stops
for blind
beggars.
That's our Jesus.
That's his heart.
That's how he loves.
He's not interested
in the powerful
and the rich
and the influencers
and the celebrity.
He stops
for blind beggars
who've got nothing
to offer him.
And he says,
call him.
So they call
to the blind man,
cheer up.
On your feet,
he's calling you.
Throwing his cloak aside,
he jumped to his feet
and he came to Jesus.
And then we get
our question.
What do you want me
to do for you?
I mean, it's strange, right?
Because Bartimaeus
is blind.
It's obvious
what Jesus
needs to do for him.
But Jesus treats him
with such dignity
and respect.
He doesn't go,
oh, you're blind,
fine, I'll heal you
and off he goes.
Instead, he treats him
with such respect.
He says,
what do you want me
to do for you?
What is the cry
of your heart?
And this blind man
simply says,
Rabbi,
I want to see.
It's a cry
of desperate need.
It's a cry
for mercy.
And Jesus says,
go,
your faith
has healed you.
And immediately
the man follows
Jesus along the road.
You see,
if the people
who want to be
at the front of the queue,
Jesus says,
you need to learn
to go to the back.
What does people say,
what does Jesus say
to the people
at the back of the queue?
He says to them,
come to the front.
Come to the front
and let me show you mercy.
Come to the front
and let me heal you.
Come to the front
and let me restore you.
And so if you're sitting here
in church this morning
and you can identify
with blind Bartimaeus,
you feel like you're someone
who has nothing to offer.
You feel like you've made
a complete disaster
of your life.
You're not impressive.
No one notices you.
No one seems
to be bothered about you.
No one really cares.
You have things
in your life
that you feel ashamed of
in the past.
Things that you know
you've done.
Things that you think
disqualify you.
Things that keep you away.
Is that you?
Because if you find yourself
sitting at the back
of the queue,
I want you to know
this morning
that Jesus stops
for people like you.
And he comes to you
in your desperate need
and in your weakness
and in your frailty
and in your sin.
And he says,
what do you want me
to do for you?
And if you can cry to him,
Lord,
please show me mercy.
I want to see you.
With the biggest smile
and the widest arms,
Jesus will say,
yes.
Yes.
Come.
Come to the front
and receive mercy
from Jesus.
Come.
That
is the beautiful
gospel of Jesus.
Jesus.
And so here is Jesus.
And this morning,
he says,
what do you want me
to do for you?
If the honest cry
of your heart
is,
Jesus,
I want to be first,
he says,
go to the back
of the queue.
But if this morning,
the honest cry
of your heart
is,
Jesus,
I've got nothing,
he says,
come to me.
Come to the front.
Do you know what I've
experienced as I've
lived the Christian
life?
What I find
is there are times
when I'm proud
and he says,
go to the back
and he humbles me
and I'm humbled
and then I feel
rubbish and I feel
broken.
He said,
and I cry to him
for mercy.
He says,
yeah,
come to the front.
And then I begin
to get proud.
He says,
go to the back
again.
And the Christian
life is a sort
of experience
of learning to live
in this
reality.
Fighting pride
by going to the
back and serving
and then receiving
mercy as you come
to Jesus at the
front and then
it's that.
So here is Jesus.
I think he's
spectacular.
I think he's
magnificent.
I think he's
worthy of worship
this morning.
Because he says,
what do you want
me to do for you?
Let's just take a
moment as we
finish.
Just take a
moment of quiet.
Let's just think.
As Jesus asks that
question,
what do you want
me to do for you?
Do you feel him
saying,
you need to be
humbled,
you need to go to
the back and serve
others rather than
being about yourself?
Or perhaps you hear
him saying,
let me show you
mercy,
let me restore you,
let me forgive you,
let me heal you this
morning.
Take a moment just
to pray.
Lord Jesus,
we worship you.
We worship you as
the son of man in
magnificent glory who
came to serve.
We went not just to
the back of the queue,
but to the very
lowest of places at
the cross.
And we ask today that
we would hear your
voice.
We ask today that you
would help us to
learn to serve.
That we would not
seek our own honor
and glory or comfort,
but that we learn to
serve one another.
I really pray that
this church family
would be a church
full of people who
want to serve each
other.
Lord,
I pray that this
merger with Redeemer
Queens Park,
Lord,
that's going to take a
lot of serving one
another.
And we pray for that
heart.
We pray for that
attitude of Jesus.
And Lord,
for those of us who
just feel broken,
for those of us who
just feel worthless
and like we have
nothing to offer,
pray this morning we
would hear the great
beautiful invitation of
Jesus to come
and receive mercy.
Lord,
we pray to you.
Amen.