WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.760 We're working through Mark's Gospel on Sunday mornings, 00:00:03.760 --> 00:00:07.500 and last week we looked at the same passage 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:12.240 and talked about how James and John asked for greatness. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:14.259 They asked that Jesus would make them great. 00:00:14.259 --> 00:00:18.000 And by that they meant that they wanted to be powerful men. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.580 They wanted when Jesus's kingdom finally came, 00:00:20.580 --> 00:00:24.560 they wanted to be the CFO and the CEO of the kingdom of God. 00:00:24.560 --> 00:00:27.560 And so they meant when they asked for greatness, 00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:31.879 they were asking for power based on achievement 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:33.600 for ultimately a great name. 00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:37.039 And this is a pivotal moment in scripture. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:38.600 It's why we've come back to it again this week 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:41.640 because you learn here in some ways, 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:43.560 this is a turning point in the Gospel, 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:46.640 where you find out that to be truly great 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:49.759 is a life spent knowing God. 00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:52.799 And we saw last week that greatness 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.079 is not fundamentally about achievement, 00:00:55.079 --> 00:00:56.759 it's about who you become. 00:00:56.759 --> 00:00:58.839 And Jesus says that if you wanna be great, 00:00:58.839 --> 00:01:03.399 verse 43, that you have to cry out for mercy 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:07.039 and you have to follow Jesus on the way, as he calls it. 00:01:07.039 --> 00:01:09.120 We saw that last week. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:11.519 And that means that when he talks, 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:14.560 when Jesus says there is a way, the way to greatness, 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:19.560 a path to greatness, it's turning every single conception 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:22.599 of greatness in every human culture 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:24.439 throughout history on its head. 00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:26.239 He's turning it all upside down 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:27.920 to the point where the apostle Paul 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:30.319 will later come in Corinthians in his letter 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:33.919 and say that God, Jesus has made me a fool. 00:01:33.919 --> 00:01:36.319 I am a fool for Christ, he says. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:40.199 Meaning that my choice to choose the way 00:01:40.199 --> 00:01:43.079 instead of the greatness I could have had in my previous life 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:46.039 looks to the world as foolishness, but it's really wisdom. 00:01:46.039 --> 00:01:48.159 It's really the path to greatness. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:51.640 And so it's been said many times by many people, 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:55.759 what Jesus came to bring is an upside down kingdom. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:57.800 Everything he does, he flips the world on its head. 00:01:57.800 --> 00:02:00.600 And so he says that if you wanna be first, 00:02:00.600 --> 00:02:02.680 you've gotta become last. 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:06.960 If you want to gain, you've gotta live a life of sacrifice. 00:02:06.960 --> 00:02:10.800 If you want to be great, you've gotta make yourself nothing. 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:16.439 And last week, we did not look at the primary word 00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:19.599 that he uses to describe the path to greatness. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:21.200 There's one word here. 00:02:21.200 --> 00:02:23.719 We looked at two out of three, but we didn't get to the third. 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:26.280 And the third is he says, if you wanna be great, 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:28.639 verse 43, you must become a servant. 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:32.039 So he says, last week, you need to cry for mercy. 00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:35.120 You need to follow him on the way, look for ransom. 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:38.919 But then he says, ultimately, you have to become a servant 00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:40.599 to live a great life. 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:42.840 And so that's what we've got to look at this morning. 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:46.120 This very clear statement from him in verse 43, 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:49.199 that to be great is to become a servant of all. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:51.280 He says, servanthood. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.240 So to do that, two things. 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:56.680 First, he tells us that we have to be aware. 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:59.180 We have to see how we have been served. 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:03.560 And then, and only then, can you grow into a person 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:05.439 who sees your calling to serve. 00:03:06.320 --> 00:03:10.000 Okay, so he says very clearly first that we've been served. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:13.200 And you can only serve, you can only become a servant 00:03:13.200 --> 00:03:16.800 in the kingdom of God unless you know yourself served already. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:18.879 Okay, so let's look at that. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:22.240 First, how we have been served. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:26.480 Now, there's always fear, fearfulness, I think, 00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:29.719 when a preacher revisits a text. 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:32.800 You say, didn't we look at this already? 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:36.480 And yes, but you know, it's been said many times 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:41.480 that the gospels in particular are shallow enough, 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:46.040 they're clear enough for a toddler 00:03:46.040 --> 00:03:48.680 to wade comfortably and safely. 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:50.719 But they are so deep, they get so deep 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:52.680 that an elephant can swim. 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:54.400 And that means that you can look at a passage 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:57.280 every single week for 52 weeks 00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:59.759 and you might be ready to move on, 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:01.439 but boy, you'll never get to the bottom. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:02.840 You'll never get all the way to the bottom. 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:04.400 There's always more. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.360 And so we didn't get to the bottom last week, 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:08.120 we didn't even see the primary thing, 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:10.960 which is Jesus is called a servanthood for us. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:15.280 And this is the principal verse, it's in verse 45. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:19.600 He says, even the Son of Man did not come 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:22.320 to be served, but to serve. 00:04:22.320 --> 00:04:24.560 So that's the big moment. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:26.760 That's one of the biggest moments in Mark's gospel. 00:04:26.760 --> 00:04:30.120 And in this moment, when Jesus says this, 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:35.120 he is putting together two very important ideas. 00:04:36.200 --> 00:04:40.560 So he says that he is the quote, Son of Man. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:44.320 And then he says, and the Son of Man came to serve. 00:04:44.320 --> 00:04:46.879 Now, all the readers around him, 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:51.040 the disciples standing there, they're Jewish 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:53.240 and they know the Old Testament. 00:04:53.240 --> 00:04:54.600 And so they would have been triggered, 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:57.920 they would have known exactly what he was trying to say. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:00.480 Jesus there is putting together two big ideas 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:02.639 that both come to us from the Old Testament. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:06.719 The first one is this little name, this phrase, Son of Man. 00:05:07.639 --> 00:05:09.120 And really the word Son of Man, 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:12.120 the phrase Son of Man just means human, human being. 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:15.040 And it comes to us from Daniel chapter seven. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.480 So everybody listening to him at the moment, 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:20.080 in this, at this moment in the first century knows, 00:05:20.080 --> 00:05:22.360 he's talking about Daniel seven. 00:05:22.360 --> 00:05:25.920 And here's what Daniel seven says, verses 13 to 15. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:26.840 Daniel has a vision. 00:05:26.840 --> 00:05:28.680 He says, in my vision I saw, 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:31.500 and there was before me one like a son of man. 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:34.640 And then he says, where is it? 00:05:34.640 --> 00:05:36.320 Here it is, one like a son of man, 00:05:36.320 --> 00:05:38.480 coming with the clouds from heaven. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:41.120 And the Son of Man approached the ancient of days, 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:42.720 that's God the Father. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:44.280 And he was led into his presence 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:46.599 and he was given authority and glory and power 00:05:46.599 --> 00:05:49.000 in all the nations of every age 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.199 and every language worshiped him. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:54.959 And his dominion became the everlasting kingdom. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:56.399 All right, so Daniel seven says, 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:00.039 the Son of Man title means a human being 00:06:00.039 --> 00:06:01.559 who will appear before God 00:06:01.559 --> 00:06:04.959 and God will grant to him the kingdoms of the world. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:06.719 God will say to this great man, 00:06:07.719 --> 00:06:09.719 the kingdom of God is yours 00:06:09.719 --> 00:06:12.079 and every person from every language 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:14.959 and every nation of history will worship you. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:17.279 Well, that's real greatness. 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:19.919 Is there anybody who's ever done that? 00:06:19.919 --> 00:06:21.560 James and John asked to be great, 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:24.839 but nobody's ever been like that, the Son of Man. 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:26.759 See, the Son of Man is not a title of weakness, 00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:28.000 but great power. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:32.639 But then he says, the Son of Man came to serve, 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:34.360 not to be served, but to serve. 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:37.399 And immediately there, the first century listener says, 00:06:37.399 --> 00:06:40.079 he's talking about Isaiah. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:43.000 And then in Isaiah, there's a whole series of songs 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:47.120 called the servant songs about the servant. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:48.680 That's the great moment in the Old Testament 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:50.240 about the servant. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:52.240 And he puts together this idea of the Son of Man 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:55.639 with Isaiah, particularly 53, 00:06:55.639 --> 00:06:57.360 which is the pinnacle of the servant songs. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:06:58.799 And what does it say? 00:06:58.799 --> 00:07:01.199 Isaiah 53 said, this servant would come 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:05.839 and have no beauty or majesty that we would look at him, 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:09.719 that he would be despised and rejected by mankind. 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:12.560 He would be a man of suffering, familiar with pain, 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:16.120 and that people would be so bothered by him in his suffering 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:17.960 that they would have to hide their faces 00:07:17.960 --> 00:07:20.120 in the horror of what he would go through. 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:23.080 And it goes on, it says that he will take our pain 00:07:23.080 --> 00:07:23.920 and our suffering. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:26.000 Surely he is being punished by God. 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:28.920 He is taking on our transgressions, 00:07:28.920 --> 00:07:30.760 being pierced and crushed for them. 00:07:30.760 --> 00:07:33.000 Now you see what's happening here in this verse, 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:36.600 back to the first century, Mark chapter 10, verse 45, 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:40.360 he's saying, the Son of Man who is the greatest human 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:43.560 that will ever exist, true power, 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:46.960 the kingdom bringer is being combined 00:07:46.960 --> 00:07:50.879 with the Isaiah 53 servant into one person, 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:51.920 the servant king. 00:07:53.080 --> 00:07:58.080 And it's suggesting that somehow this man 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:02.360 will bring the kingdom of God to this earth. 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:04.160 And every single nation and every single tribe 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:06.760 and language and people will bow down before him. 00:08:06.760 --> 00:08:07.920 And it will be a kingdom of peace. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:12.920 And at the same time, he will be pierced and crushed 00:08:13.520 --> 00:08:16.480 to the point where you can't even look at his face. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:19.840 You see, it's bringing together the idea of horror and glory. 00:08:20.840 --> 00:08:23.120 And it's talking about the cross. 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:24.480 You see, Jesus, when he says this, 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:26.480 when he brings together Son of Man and servant, 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:27.760 he's talking about his cross. 00:08:27.760 --> 00:08:29.560 And you might have been with us last week 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:33.240 to see that in the paragraph just before what we read, 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:36.080 he predicts the cross for the third time 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:38.759 and says that I'm going to be murdered. 00:08:38.759 --> 00:08:41.080 I've got my face set towards Jerusalem. 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:44.000 And here it is, he's saying right here 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:47.200 that the moment where the Son of Man, the kingdom, 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:49.960 and the horror of the suffering servant come together 00:08:49.960 --> 00:08:52.279 is at the moment of the cross. 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:56.960 That it is both glorious and horrible at the same time. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:01.240 The horror is that God would take on human flesh 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:03.960 and become the Isaiah 53 servant 00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:07.039 to the point where his own creatures would murder him. 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:11.039 And the glory is that in that moment, 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:15.000 this is the great act of service in all of history 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:16.519 that would bring about the kingdom 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:18.240 that only the Son of Man can bring. 00:09:19.159 --> 00:09:23.600 And so the cross is this great moment of paradox 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:26.039 and it's the moment in all of human history 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:29.000 of ultimate servanthood on display. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:30.440 He is the servant. 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:31.280 That's what he's saying. 00:09:31.280 --> 00:09:32.120 Now here's what we learn. 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:33.240 What do we learn? 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:34.080 Here's what we learn. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:35.080 Lesson one. 00:09:36.440 --> 00:09:39.640 Only, part of the point of this passage is to say that 00:09:39.640 --> 00:09:43.760 only the Son of Man, only this man, Jesus Christ, 00:09:44.640 --> 00:09:47.160 can ever serve anyone like that. 00:09:48.920 --> 00:09:51.240 In other words, there has only been one person 00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:53.760 in all of human history who can truly serve 00:09:53.760 --> 00:09:56.440 in the way that people actually need to be served. 00:09:57.520 --> 00:09:59.520 And that's this man, the Son of Man. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:00.399 He's the only one. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.960 And the reason that we know that's one of the points 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.360 of the passage is because James and John, 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:09.399 remember they ask in verse 36 to 38, 00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:10.759 will you make us great? 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:14.559 Will you make us the CFO and the CEO of the kingdom of God? 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:16.799 Your right hand and your left hand. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:19.279 And he says, okay, you wanna be great? 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:21.799 You think you're able? 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:24.159 He said, you're gonna have to drink the cup 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:25.840 that I'm about to drink. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:27.639 Are you able to do that? 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:28.879 And they said, we are able. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:30.960 And he said, oh man, you have no idea 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.080 what you just asked for. 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:35.320 Because he said, you want to be like me? 00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:38.039 You want to be glorified like I'm gonna be glorified? 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:39.759 You got to drink the cup. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:43.480 And the cup is another image from the Old Testament, 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:46.679 usually displayed in the Old Testament as the cup of wrath. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:50.439 And Jesus was saying that every single moment 00:10:50.439 --> 00:10:53.240 of injustice that every single human being 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:55.559 has committed throughout all of human history, 00:10:55.559 --> 00:10:57.840 all the nations, all the languages 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:02.840 has been dripping, dripping, dripping justice 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:04.320 into this holy cup. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:06.960 And he's saying, there is only, 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:09.920 don't you see James and John, there is only one person 00:11:09.920 --> 00:11:13.720 who can drink that cup and it mean anything. 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:16.240 There is only one person in all of human history 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.240 who could take on that, the wrath of God 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:21.080 that all of humanity deserves 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:24.879 and actually turn it around and serve humanity with it. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:28.559 He's saying, do you think that you could take the wrath of God 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:31.120 and it mean anything but your destruction? 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:32.320 That's what he says to them. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:34.159 And he says, you have no idea what you've just asked for. 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:37.480 You see, the first lesson is that we've got to be awake 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:39.279 and see the uniqueness of Jesus, 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:43.320 that he is the only human being in all of history 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:46.720 that could take upon himself God's wrath 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:49.639 and turn it into service for other people. 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:53.720 Now, the second lesson you see here, 00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:56.360 is this then, that means today, 00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:58.920 existentially in your heart, in your soul, 00:12:00.920 --> 00:12:04.920 that means we're being invited to see that we have been served. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:09.160 Be awake and aware this morning 00:12:09.160 --> 00:12:12.000 that you have been served by God 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:14.680 in a way that you can never imagine. 00:12:14.680 --> 00:12:17.480 Look, here's the claim, this is astounding. 00:12:17.480 --> 00:12:22.480 God himself came into this world to become your servant. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:24.840 That's what he's saying. 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:29.039 Listen carefully, he came not to be served. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:34.039 God came in human flesh not to be served, but to serve you. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:37.800 God came into the world to become your servant. 00:12:37.800 --> 00:12:41.600 He says, I came to even become a slave to you. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:45.879 Now, if we really believe that 00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:49.519 and if we really saw all the dimensions, 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:54.240 the many faceted ways in which God serves us every day, 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:55.639 it would change our lives. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:00.360 Let me just mention a few ways that today, 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:03.799 most of us, we've struggled this morning, 00:13:03.799 --> 00:13:04.799 we haven't been aware of it, 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:08.360 but today, Jesus Christ is currently serving you. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:11.399 Let me just mention a few of them very briefly. 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:16.399 One is this, he came not to be served, but to serve. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:19.919 And that means, number one, you can't serve Jesus Christ. 00:13:21.319 --> 00:13:22.159 Did you hear what he said? 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:25.720 He said, he came not to be served by you, but to serve. 00:13:25.720 --> 00:13:28.840 You can't serve him, not at all. 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:31.079 And that's true in so many dimensions, 00:13:31.079 --> 00:13:32.240 but let me just say one of them. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:35.360 One of them is that you say, I am a Christian, 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:36.600 I'm a servant of the Lord. 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.159 But do you know that every act of service you do 00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:41.360 adds nothing to him? 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:42.759 It doesn't give him anything. 00:13:42.759 --> 00:13:44.879 It doesn't add to his glory. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:47.560 It doesn't attack a nice good deed 00:13:47.560 --> 00:13:49.480 onto his fullness of being, not at all. 00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:53.159 Jesus Christ truly in his absolute being 00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:54.800 came not to be served. 00:13:54.800 --> 00:13:56.639 You can't, you can't give him, 00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:00.399 that's why the Psalms say, magnify the glory of the Lord. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:02.039 Don't add to it. 00:14:02.039 --> 00:14:03.320 You can make much of it, 00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:06.519 you can serve him by praising him and make a lot of him, 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:09.080 but you can't add anything to him. 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:11.759 He truly did, in his absolute plenitude of being, 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:13.480 try and God, Father, Son, and Spirit, 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:16.680 came into this world not to be served 00:14:16.680 --> 00:14:18.240 because he can't be. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:20.920 He's absolute in his being and fullness. 00:14:20.920 --> 00:14:25.920 But another way we've got to see Jesus serves us every day. 00:14:25.960 --> 00:14:28.639 Do you know that today, Jesus Christ, 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:30.639 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:32.879 is the one who is giving us 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:35.160 the sunshine through the windows. 00:14:35.160 --> 00:14:38.560 He is the one who is giving us the rain and the crops 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:40.119 and the food on our table 00:14:40.119 --> 00:14:43.039 in the recent switch to the autumn weather. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:46.239 He's the one that's providing that for us every single day. 00:14:46.239 --> 00:14:49.719 Everything in this world could be worse, everything. 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:52.799 And it's not as bad as it can be 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:56.879 only because Jesus continues to serve every one of us, 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:59.319 every human being by giving good gifts. 00:14:59.319 --> 00:15:02.639 He serves us in that way every single day. 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:07.479 But third, most important and last, verse 45. 00:15:07.480 --> 00:15:10.600 Jesus Christ says, I came not to be served but to serve. 00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:11.560 And here's the pinnacle way. 00:15:11.560 --> 00:15:14.240 He said, I came to serve by giving you 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:16.960 the once for all ransom, 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:19.800 the once for all ransom that you need. 00:15:19.800 --> 00:15:21.399 Right, Jesus says this, 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:26.560 the cross is my ultimate service to you. 00:15:27.420 --> 00:15:30.399 He's putting the cross at the center of his work. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:32.440 And he's saying that the meaning of the cross 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:34.340 is ultimately about ransom. 00:15:34.340 --> 00:15:37.420 That means this morning, 00:15:39.060 --> 00:15:41.460 whatever's going on in your life, 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:44.780 your greatest need today is not to get out 00:15:44.780 --> 00:15:46.060 of your bad circumstances. 00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:49.780 You know, when he says that his cross is ultimately 00:15:49.780 --> 00:15:52.780 about service, the ultimate act of service, 00:15:52.780 --> 00:15:56.060 and about ransom, your greatest need today 00:15:56.060 --> 00:15:59.139 is not deliverance from your difficult circumstances. 00:15:59.139 --> 00:16:01.700 Your greatest need today is to see 00:16:01.700 --> 00:16:06.700 that you need to be ransomed from your sin by King Jesus. 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:09.460 He came for that. 00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:13.100 And in the first century, in the first century ransom, 00:16:13.100 --> 00:16:16.980 we said this last week, is to be purchased 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:19.900 out of slavery or prison. 00:16:19.900 --> 00:16:21.320 So that's what it meant in the first century, 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:22.940 that if you're going to be ransomed, 00:16:22.940 --> 00:16:27.200 someone was going to come and buy the debts, 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:29.220 pay the debts that you owed, 00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:32.340 to get you out of prison or out of slavery. 00:16:32.340 --> 00:16:34.940 And in some extreme instances, even then, 00:16:34.940 --> 00:16:39.940 a father, a son, a sibling, a friend could come 00:16:40.259 --> 00:16:43.519 and give themself to the prison, 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:47.580 give themself to the indentured servitude 00:16:47.580 --> 00:16:49.980 so that you might go free. 00:16:49.980 --> 00:16:51.580 That's the heartbeat of ransom. 00:16:51.580 --> 00:16:55.259 And Jesus Christ says that he came to ransom you, 00:16:55.259 --> 00:16:58.180 that he would give himself into the prison of your sin, 00:16:58.179 --> 00:17:00.079 that he would give himself to the debt, 00:17:00.079 --> 00:17:02.659 the drip, drip, drip, into the holy cup of wrath 00:17:02.659 --> 00:17:05.339 that you owe in cosmic injustice. 00:17:05.339 --> 00:17:08.339 For the sake of justice, he would give himself 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:10.500 so that you could come out, you could be ransomed. 00:17:10.500 --> 00:17:12.740 Now, he said, that's your greatest need in life. 00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:14.659 That's what you need more than anything. 00:17:14.659 --> 00:17:16.059 And that's what he came to give. 00:17:16.059 --> 00:17:20.019 Now, Jeremy Treat, it's printed in the bulletin. 00:17:20.019 --> 00:17:24.700 He talks about what kind of ransom we need, 00:17:24.700 --> 00:17:26.819 what Jesus came to deliver us from. 00:17:26.819 --> 00:17:27.700 And this is what he says. 00:17:27.700 --> 00:17:30.340 He says, what are your greatest problems in life? 00:17:31.420 --> 00:17:34.940 Jeremy Treat says, Christ's death in your place 00:17:34.940 --> 00:17:39.180 deals with your sin in a way that forgives your trespasses. 00:17:40.420 --> 00:17:44.580 It defeats the devil, it demonstrates God's love, 00:17:44.580 --> 00:17:46.740 and it unites heaven and earth. 00:17:46.740 --> 00:17:49.259 So he says, when Jesus Christ went to the cross, 00:17:49.259 --> 00:17:50.380 he does these things for you. 00:17:50.380 --> 00:17:54.460 He really accomplishes for you the forgiveness of your sins. 00:17:54.460 --> 00:17:58.660 You no longer are in debt to God. 00:17:58.660 --> 00:18:00.980 You no longer stand under the wrath of the Lord. 00:18:02.220 --> 00:18:04.340 And he says, he really does also at the cross, 00:18:04.340 --> 00:18:07.500 defeat personal conscious evil. 00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:09.100 He crushes absolute evil. 00:18:09.100 --> 00:18:11.140 And he says, he really does at the cross, 00:18:11.140 --> 00:18:16.140 say to you, God the Father loves you and wants you. 00:18:16.220 --> 00:18:17.819 And he really does at the cross, 00:18:17.819 --> 00:18:20.500 come and bring all things together 00:18:20.500 --> 00:18:23.380 that sin has divided and cut through. 00:18:23.380 --> 00:18:26.620 He really does, the cross is multi-dimensional 00:18:26.620 --> 00:18:28.700 in all the ways that Jesus comes to ransom, 00:18:28.700 --> 00:18:30.180 to save, to bring you out. 00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:35.180 Now today, if you are hearing his voice, 00:18:35.260 --> 00:18:36.260 if you're hearing his voice, 00:18:36.260 --> 00:18:38.860 and if you are seeing your need, 00:18:38.860 --> 00:18:40.900 let me just say, do not harden your heart 00:18:40.900 --> 00:18:42.620 against what you need. 00:18:42.620 --> 00:18:45.220 Don't allow your heart to be hardened 00:18:45.220 --> 00:18:47.300 against the cross of Jesus Christ. 00:18:47.300 --> 00:18:50.980 One theologian this week, I was reading, 00:18:50.980 --> 00:18:52.420 he said it, something like this. 00:18:52.420 --> 00:18:55.779 He said, if Jesus got together 00:18:55.779 --> 00:18:58.539 with his consultants in the first century, 00:18:58.539 --> 00:19:02.259 and he said, 20 centuries from now, 00:19:03.340 --> 00:19:06.140 I want to be the most famous man in all of world history. 00:19:07.779 --> 00:19:10.300 They would have been sure to say to him, 00:19:10.300 --> 00:19:13.380 well, you need to make sure you write a book. 00:19:13.380 --> 00:19:15.100 It needs to be best selling. 00:19:15.100 --> 00:19:17.980 And you need to make sure that you gather an army, 00:19:17.980 --> 00:19:21.320 and you work towards political office, 00:19:21.319 --> 00:19:26.099 and above all else, do not die at the age of 33 00:19:26.099 --> 00:19:29.179 in the most shameful possible public way 00:19:29.179 --> 00:19:31.980 as a criminal on a cross. 00:19:31.980 --> 00:19:34.859 He said, this is the path to greatness, Jesus. 00:19:34.859 --> 00:19:36.259 Write a book, gather an army, 00:19:36.259 --> 00:19:37.619 seek political office, 00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:40.599 and do not die at the hands of the Romans. 00:19:41.700 --> 00:19:44.960 And you see, Jesus is the greatest man 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:46.859 in all of human history. 00:19:46.859 --> 00:19:47.700 He is the Son of man, 00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:49.139 the only one that could bring the kingdom, 00:19:49.139 --> 00:19:51.059 and the way he did it was by the cross. 00:19:51.059 --> 00:19:53.779 And that means that what he was trying to preach and say 00:19:53.779 --> 00:19:55.940 is that the way up is down. 00:19:57.139 --> 00:19:58.139 The way up is down, 00:19:58.139 --> 00:20:01.500 and the way into real greatness today 00:20:01.500 --> 00:20:05.500 is to actually deny yourself and give up. 00:20:06.619 --> 00:20:08.259 Not go forward in your greatness, 00:20:08.259 --> 00:20:09.899 not go forward in your achievement, 00:20:09.899 --> 00:20:11.859 not try to fight by way of religion 00:20:11.859 --> 00:20:13.059 to get what he offers you. 00:20:13.059 --> 00:20:14.940 And instead, you see, that's the way of the cross. 00:20:14.940 --> 00:20:15.980 It's to go down. 00:20:15.980 --> 00:20:18.539 It's to say, it's to be passive. 00:20:19.419 --> 00:20:20.960 It's to say, I've got to give up. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:22.500 I can't keep working for this. 00:20:22.500 --> 00:20:23.700 I can't keep fighting for this. 00:20:23.700 --> 00:20:25.259 I've got to let go. 00:20:25.259 --> 00:20:27.539 I've got to realize my need and just let go 00:20:27.539 --> 00:20:30.579 and say the cross really is this for me, 00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:34.279 forgiveness, the defeat of my personal evil, 00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:35.420 the defeat of death itself. 00:20:35.420 --> 00:20:36.620 It really is that for me. 00:20:36.620 --> 00:20:38.420 You see, Jesus comes to say, 00:20:38.420 --> 00:20:41.500 step one, if you want to become a servant, 00:20:41.500 --> 00:20:43.299 you've got to see yourself served. 00:20:43.299 --> 00:20:45.779 You've got to allow yourself to be served. 00:20:45.779 --> 00:20:49.039 That he really did come in the middle of history to serve. 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:54.039 Secondly then, and finally, how do you know, 00:20:54.399 --> 00:20:57.480 how do you know then if that power, 00:20:57.480 --> 00:20:59.399 the ransom of Jesus who came to serve you 00:20:59.399 --> 00:21:02.799 is getting through, is getting deep down into your heart. 00:21:04.599 --> 00:21:07.200 Here's how you know that this is happening to you. 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:10.920 When you know how you've been served, 00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:14.200 you begin to grow and service to others. 00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:17.319 Jesus really puts it that simply in the passage. 00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:18.799 And he says that this is the way, 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:20.960 so he says you can see it in verse 43, 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:25.039 if you want to be great, you must become a servant. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:28.799 And whoever wants to be first must be slave overall, 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:29.960 among all. 00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:34.960 Now, there's a special word for this in church history. 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:38.680 The Christians throughout every century 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:41.519 over time developed a particular word for this. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:44.759 And the word is the cruciform life. 00:21:45.639 --> 00:21:47.039 So Jesus is talking to us here 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:50.759 about how the cross is everything we need. 00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:53.519 And then he says, but also if you've experienced the cross 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:57.200 as power in your life, power to save, 00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:58.960 then there is a call upon you 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:01.279 to take up the cruciform life. 00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:03.639 So in other words, if you've experienced 00:22:03.639 --> 00:22:04.799 the salvation of the cross, 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:08.240 then the cross also does become your example. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:10.119 It becomes the path of life. 00:22:10.119 --> 00:22:12.399 And so early Christians and later Christians 00:22:12.399 --> 00:22:14.359 have called this cruciformity, 00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:19.039 or a life that takes on the form of the crux, the cross. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:20.799 And so that's the meaning of the way. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:21.919 It's a cruciform life. 00:22:21.919 --> 00:22:25.039 Now, I just want to close by giving you three things 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:27.079 that Jesus, I think, gives us here 00:22:27.079 --> 00:22:29.399 of pursuing the cruciform life. 00:22:29.399 --> 00:22:34.399 If you know that Jesus is for you in the cross, 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:38.079 then now he calls you to a cruciform life, 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.079 a life of service, of servanthood. 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:40.919 Here's how you do it. 00:22:40.919 --> 00:22:43.679 The first step is that he's teaching us here 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:46.759 that the cruciform life begins with the heart. 00:22:46.759 --> 00:22:49.799 And that means that when the cross, 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:51.759 when you experience the power of the cross in your life, 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:53.160 the first thing it does to you 00:22:53.160 --> 00:22:56.480 is it sets you free from posturing. 00:22:58.200 --> 00:23:01.120 That's clearly the meaning of the passage of reading. 00:23:01.120 --> 00:23:01.960 Why? 00:23:01.960 --> 00:23:03.799 Because James and John come and they say, 00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:05.519 we want to be better than the 10, 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:07.799 we want to be the CFO and the CEO, 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:09.279 we want to be great. 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:10.880 And he says, look at the cross, 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:12.960 the Son of Man came to serve, 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:14.480 not to be served, and so with you, 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:18.200 if you want to be great, you've got to become last. 00:23:18.200 --> 00:23:20.200 And that means that when you see the beauty 00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:22.799 and the horror of the cross and you experience it, 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:27.480 it tells you that you can now feel free 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:29.400 to give up the need to posture. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:33.559 And the need to posture is really just 00:23:33.559 --> 00:23:35.539 what Ecclesiastes calls vanity. 00:23:36.600 --> 00:23:38.240 He says that the cross sets you free 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:41.480 from the pursuit of greatness by way of self-centeredness, 00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:42.680 which is vanity. 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:46.680 The cross sets you free to put it crudely 00:23:46.680 --> 00:23:49.080 from caring about what people think about you. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:52.279 Because at the cross, Jesus Christ 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:54.720 preaches to you the word of God the Father, 00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:57.360 which is I love you and I have you, 00:23:57.360 --> 00:23:59.920 and now you're free, you're free from posturing. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:02.320 You can just be humble and humility 00:24:02.320 --> 00:24:05.039 is just to think less of self. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:07.000 He says, the only way you're ever gonna become 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:10.240 a servant in this life is when you look at the cross 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:13.400 and you know the cross has set you free from posturing. 00:24:13.400 --> 00:24:15.799 And so there's a beautiful moment, a helpful moment. 00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:17.880 You love it when the Bible does this. 00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:20.480 Philippians chapter two, verse three, 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:23.680 Paul takes this moment in Mark 10 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:27.059 and he preaches about it and he gives me all the application. 00:24:27.059 --> 00:24:28.740 I don't have to come up with any of it. 00:24:28.740 --> 00:24:29.720 I don't have to say a single thing, 00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:30.960 I can just read what Paul said. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:32.599 And he gives you the application. 00:24:32.599 --> 00:24:35.120 He says in Philippians two, verse three, 00:24:35.120 --> 00:24:37.519 St. Columbus, St. C's, people of St. C's, 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:42.519 do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, 00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:48.039 rather in humility, count others above yourselves. 00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:51.839 And he says, in your relationships to one another, 00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:56.639 have the same mindset as Jesus Christ had for you. 00:24:56.639 --> 00:24:58.200 Well, that's back to Mark 10, 45, 00:24:58.200 --> 00:25:02.119 where Jesus says, I came to be a servant 00:25:02.119 --> 00:25:05.720 and if you wanna become great, follow me, become a servant. 00:25:05.720 --> 00:25:09.240 And Paul says, have the same mindset as Jesus Christ, 00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:11.600 who being in the very nature of God 00:25:11.600 --> 00:25:15.059 did not consider equality something to hold onto with God, 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:17.440 but he made himself nothing. 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:18.720 And there's the application. 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:22.480 He says, the first step in servanthood is humility, 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.279 humility, humility, humility. 00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:27.680 Now, John Calvin, we haven't had a Calvin quote 00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:30.039 in three weeks, it's time. 00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:34.160 Calvin says this, he talks about reading 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:37.440 earlier Christian writers about this issue, 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:40.240 the issue of humility towards servanthood, 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:42.279 of giving up posturing, of giving up 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:45.640 what people think about you, of giving up vanity, 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:48.279 of going low, the lifetime struggle 00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:50.320 that every single one of us has. 00:25:50.320 --> 00:25:52.019 And this is what Calvin says, he says, 00:25:52.019 --> 00:25:53.759 I've always been exceedingly delighted 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:56.440 to read the words of John Chrysostom. 00:25:57.320 --> 00:26:01.259 He says, the foundation of our faith is humility. 00:26:01.259 --> 00:26:04.579 And he said, and I love to read the words of Saint Augustine, 00:26:04.579 --> 00:26:06.900 who said this, as the great orator he was, 00:26:06.900 --> 00:26:10.619 when asked, what is the first precept in eloquence, 00:26:10.619 --> 00:26:11.940 in delivering a speech? 00:26:11.940 --> 00:26:14.180 And Augustine answered, delivery. 00:26:14.180 --> 00:26:15.460 What's the second? 00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:16.500 Delivery. 00:26:16.500 --> 00:26:17.539 What's the third? 00:26:17.539 --> 00:26:19.059 Delivery. 00:26:19.059 --> 00:26:21.779 And he said, so Calvin writes, if you ask me 00:26:21.779 --> 00:26:25.180 in regard to the precepts of the Christian faith, 00:26:25.180 --> 00:26:30.019 I will say to you, first, second, and third, humility. 00:26:30.019 --> 00:26:33.059 And by humility, I mean when one realizes, 00:26:33.059 --> 00:26:36.539 my happiness I owe entirely to God. 00:26:36.539 --> 00:26:39.500 And Calvin asked us, what have you to bring, 00:26:39.500 --> 00:26:40.579 but your own sin? 00:26:41.700 --> 00:26:42.980 First, second, and third humility. 00:26:42.980 --> 00:26:44.819 He says, how do we grow in humility? 00:26:45.980 --> 00:26:49.059 This is gonna be our refrain here at the end of the sermon. 00:26:49.059 --> 00:26:50.779 Here's the refrain, how do you grow? 00:26:50.779 --> 00:26:52.579 Step one, towards servanthood. 00:26:53.619 --> 00:26:57.599 Taking on humility, putting away vanity, 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:00.379 getting out of self-sunderness, thinking of others 00:27:00.379 --> 00:27:02.819 more than yourself, that's the path to servanthood. 00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:03.980 How do you do it? 00:27:03.980 --> 00:27:06.939 Set, you've got to grow in this. 00:27:06.939 --> 00:27:11.219 We all, we have to set before our minds and our hearts 00:27:11.219 --> 00:27:14.179 every single day the cross of Jesus Christ. 00:27:15.980 --> 00:27:19.619 The way to grow in servanthood and humility first 00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:21.379 is to glory every day. 00:27:21.379 --> 00:27:23.500 Do you have a moment every single day? 00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:27.459 A moment, every day, where you step across the threshold 00:27:27.460 --> 00:27:31.019 and contemplate the beauty and the horror 00:27:31.019 --> 00:27:32.460 of the cross of Jesus Christ. 00:27:33.380 --> 00:27:36.140 What it means for you, how it sets you free, 00:27:36.140 --> 00:27:38.259 it's ransom, it's servanthood. 00:27:38.259 --> 00:27:40.180 Do you have a moment every day where you contemplate it? 00:27:40.180 --> 00:27:42.500 That's the path, every single day. 00:27:42.500 --> 00:27:45.259 Now second, of three, and we'll be done 00:27:45.259 --> 00:27:46.140 of applications here. 00:27:46.140 --> 00:27:48.860 Second, the second way into servanthood, 00:27:48.860 --> 00:27:53.860 he tells us here, is that the cross also sets the pattern 00:27:54.380 --> 00:27:55.539 for the cruciform life. 00:27:55.539 --> 00:27:58.420 It sets the posture, humility, 00:27:58.420 --> 00:28:01.299 but then it also sets the pattern for the cruciform life. 00:28:01.299 --> 00:28:03.940 And this is real cruciformity. 00:28:03.940 --> 00:28:05.740 You can see it in verse 39. 00:28:05.740 --> 00:28:08.579 James and John say, we want to be great. 00:28:08.579 --> 00:28:11.659 Jesus says, can you drink the cup? 00:28:11.659 --> 00:28:13.339 You have no idea what you're asking. 00:28:13.339 --> 00:28:15.180 And then Jesus turns around and says to them, 00:28:15.180 --> 00:28:18.940 but after I drink the cup for you, 00:28:18.940 --> 00:28:20.899 you will also drink the cup. 00:28:21.819 --> 00:28:22.659 Did you hear him? 00:28:22.659 --> 00:28:23.980 He said, I'm going to drink the cup, 00:28:23.980 --> 00:28:26.620 you cannot drink the cup of God's wrath, 00:28:26.620 --> 00:28:28.980 but you also are going to drink a cup. 00:28:28.980 --> 00:28:31.220 And most commentators think that he was talking there 00:28:31.220 --> 00:28:35.579 about James's martyrdom and John's suffering and exile 00:28:35.579 --> 00:28:37.579 on the Isle of Patmos. 00:28:37.579 --> 00:28:40.259 Every single one of the apostles, besides John, 00:28:40.259 --> 00:28:43.059 were murdered for their faith. 00:28:43.059 --> 00:28:44.700 And here he signals that. 00:28:44.700 --> 00:28:47.140 He's saying, there is a cruciform life. 00:28:47.140 --> 00:28:49.599 We are all set towards Jerusalem. 00:28:50.819 --> 00:28:52.339 In other words, he's telling them 00:28:52.339 --> 00:28:54.220 that the path of the cruciform life 00:28:54.220 --> 00:28:56.939 is that when you believe in the power of the cross, 00:28:56.939 --> 00:28:59.859 there's a calling in your life to embrace the fact 00:28:59.859 --> 00:29:01.699 that there will be suffering 00:29:01.699 --> 00:29:02.899 that comes with the Christian life. 00:29:02.899 --> 00:29:07.899 That grace is free, is free, but it's not cheap. 00:29:08.419 --> 00:29:10.099 It's costly. 00:29:10.099 --> 00:29:12.419 And the cruciform life, that means, 00:29:12.419 --> 00:29:16.740 is one at least of this where in being called 00:29:16.740 --> 00:29:21.740 to a public faith, there's going to be some form of loss. 00:29:21.740 --> 00:29:23.019 Because of what you believe in. 00:29:25.019 --> 00:29:26.779 He's saying that you've got to expect 00:29:26.779 --> 00:29:30.900 in the cruciform life some measure of suffering 00:29:30.900 --> 00:29:33.180 as you become a fool for Christ 00:29:33.180 --> 00:29:35.460 in the midst of the wisdom of the world. 00:29:35.460 --> 00:29:39.220 And at least that means something like giving up 00:29:39.220 --> 00:29:42.420 your time and your money and your entertainments 00:29:42.420 --> 00:29:45.140 and pleasures you probably would have chased 00:29:45.140 --> 00:29:46.059 apart from Jesus Christ. 00:29:46.059 --> 00:29:47.859 At least that. 00:29:47.859 --> 00:29:49.779 And for James, it was so much more. 00:29:49.779 --> 00:29:54.779 How do you grow into being able to have the strength 00:29:54.619 --> 00:29:56.779 to live a cruciform life like that 00:29:56.779 --> 00:29:59.220 that's willing to count the cost, willing to suffer? 00:30:00.220 --> 00:30:03.019 Do you have a moment every day 00:30:03.019 --> 00:30:04.940 where you step across the threshold 00:30:04.940 --> 00:30:07.539 and contemplate in your mind and heart 00:30:07.539 --> 00:30:10.539 the glory and horror of the cross of Jesus Christ? 00:30:11.539 --> 00:30:15.139 That Jesus Christ went to the cross for you. 00:30:15.139 --> 00:30:18.180 That he drank the cup that you should have drank 00:30:18.180 --> 00:30:19.980 it would have destroyed you. 00:30:19.980 --> 00:30:22.180 But in his destruction, he came alive. 00:30:22.180 --> 00:30:24.580 Do you have a moment every day? 00:30:24.580 --> 00:30:27.620 You see, again, the power, the strength to become a servant 00:30:27.620 --> 00:30:30.180 in humility and in cruciformity 00:30:30.180 --> 00:30:32.299 is to look at the cross every single day. 00:30:32.299 --> 00:30:34.940 Now finally, we close. 00:30:34.940 --> 00:30:36.380 The last thing that we're told here 00:30:36.380 --> 00:30:39.700 is to become a servant like Jesus 00:30:39.700 --> 00:30:43.180 like we're called to in his example, the cross 00:30:43.180 --> 00:30:45.620 is that he says, well, become a servant. 00:30:45.619 --> 00:30:48.500 And the word that he uses for servant here 00:30:48.500 --> 00:30:51.939 in verses 43 and 44 and then in 45 as well 00:30:51.939 --> 00:30:54.299 is the word diaconos in Greek. 00:30:54.299 --> 00:30:56.739 You'll hear the English, it's deacon. 00:30:56.739 --> 00:31:00.259 So he says, if the cross has transformed you 00:31:00.259 --> 00:31:03.979 towards humility, if the cross has brought you 00:31:03.979 --> 00:31:07.019 into the awareness that this is costly, 00:31:07.019 --> 00:31:09.019 that I'm gonna suffer, I'm gonna lose something, 00:31:09.019 --> 00:31:12.419 then finally he says, now you're ready to become a deacon. 00:31:12.419 --> 00:31:14.339 And everybody's called to be a deacon. 00:31:14.339 --> 00:31:16.139 And everybody's called to be a deacon 00:31:16.139 --> 00:31:19.500 in the small lowercase letter sense of the word. 00:31:19.500 --> 00:31:20.740 A deacon is just a servant, 00:31:20.740 --> 00:31:23.539 is just a minister in the New Testament. 00:31:23.539 --> 00:31:26.859 And it's basically just this, 00:31:26.859 --> 00:31:30.699 1 John 419, we love, we serve 00:31:30.699 --> 00:31:33.179 because he has already come at the cross 00:31:33.179 --> 00:31:34.779 and loved us so much. 00:31:34.779 --> 00:31:36.980 And so he says, now go forth and be a deacon. 00:31:36.980 --> 00:31:40.059 He's gonna shortly after this wash their feet. 00:31:40.059 --> 00:31:43.299 He's gonna go low, he's gonna go all the way to the bottom, 00:31:43.299 --> 00:31:46.019 doing the most menial, dirtiest tasks for them. 00:31:46.019 --> 00:31:48.659 And he was deaconing, he was serving, he was ministering. 00:31:48.659 --> 00:31:49.619 And he says, that's it. 00:31:49.619 --> 00:31:52.539 He turns around to them and says, go and do this too. 00:31:52.539 --> 00:31:54.019 Go all the way to the bottom. 00:31:54.019 --> 00:31:57.579 True leadership, true greatness, true service 00:31:57.579 --> 00:32:00.940 is to go low, low, low for others to serve. 00:32:00.940 --> 00:32:02.779 And he gave us that example. 00:32:02.779 --> 00:32:04.460 He says, if you know the power of the cross, 00:32:04.460 --> 00:32:06.259 there's the example of the cross. 00:32:06.259 --> 00:32:08.899 Go low, serve, become a deacon. 00:32:08.900 --> 00:32:13.820 Now let's close, this is truly the last word. 00:32:13.820 --> 00:32:14.700 There is a warning here. 00:32:14.700 --> 00:32:18.420 I wanna bring back up a warning here, an awareness here. 00:32:18.420 --> 00:32:21.259 We talked about this when August, if you were around, 00:32:21.259 --> 00:32:23.460 when we were looking at the series on love. 00:32:23.460 --> 00:32:26.300 And one of the things we talked about was loving ministry. 00:32:26.300 --> 00:32:28.180 And it was the same exact idea as Enrollments 12. 00:32:28.180 --> 00:32:30.780 Love being a deacon for God, love serving. 00:32:33.660 --> 00:32:37.460 But the warning of the passage we're in today 00:32:37.460 --> 00:32:41.779 is be aware of vanity, be aware of posturing. 00:32:41.779 --> 00:32:43.980 Be aware that in this Christian life, 00:32:43.980 --> 00:32:45.819 you're fighting for humility, 00:32:45.819 --> 00:32:48.860 but the deep, deep desire to be truly great 00:32:48.860 --> 00:32:50.740 is always popping up in ways 00:32:50.740 --> 00:32:53.100 that will not make you truly great. 00:32:53.100 --> 00:32:54.779 You know, the James and John mentality 00:32:54.779 --> 00:32:56.740 is always bubbling back up to the surface. 00:32:56.740 --> 00:32:58.140 I wanna be great, I wanna great life, 00:32:58.140 --> 00:33:00.900 and I wanna get it and define it in the way I want to. 00:33:01.940 --> 00:33:06.420 And sometimes you hear Jesus say, 00:33:06.420 --> 00:33:08.700 well, become a deacon, become a servant, minister, 00:33:08.700 --> 00:33:11.460 go low, be a great server in the church, 00:33:11.460 --> 00:33:16.460 sign up today after worship for more serving positions. 00:33:16.460 --> 00:33:18.060 That's coming in the announcements. 00:33:20.259 --> 00:33:25.259 And we've got to remember that if we don't have the cross, 00:33:25.980 --> 00:33:28.860 what we deserve, what we need at the center of our sight, 00:33:28.860 --> 00:33:30.620 the eyes of our face, sit on the cross, 00:33:30.620 --> 00:33:34.060 then we can take religion, service, 00:33:34.059 --> 00:33:36.779 and turn it into the path of self-centered greatness. 00:33:38.299 --> 00:33:40.899 And Charles Spurgeon, you might remember this quote, 00:33:40.899 --> 00:33:41.940 and this is the last thing, he says, 00:33:41.940 --> 00:33:45.220 if your deepest motive, even in ministry, 00:33:45.220 --> 00:33:47.619 is to be active, to appear to be diligent, 00:33:47.619 --> 00:33:50.859 to win commendation for taking your share 00:33:50.859 --> 00:33:53.379 in the church's work, you have not served God, 00:33:53.379 --> 00:33:54.539 you've served yourself. 00:33:55.700 --> 00:33:56.700 And I could add one more too, 00:33:56.700 --> 00:34:00.500 at Thomas, T.S. Eliot, I should say, 00:34:00.500 --> 00:34:03.419 his poem, Murder in the Cathedral, 00:34:03.420 --> 00:34:05.140 about Thomas Beckett. 00:34:05.140 --> 00:34:07.820 Thomas Beckett, the archbishop of Canterbury 00:34:07.820 --> 00:34:12.420 that was martyred in the 12th century by the king. 00:34:12.420 --> 00:34:15.740 He went to die, he went to die in the name of Jesus, 00:34:15.740 --> 00:34:18.260 but in T.S. Eliot's rendition, 00:34:18.260 --> 00:34:21.099 he writes that Thomas Beckett's last 00:34:21.099 --> 00:34:25.740 and unforeseen temptation was the luster of martyrdom. 00:34:26.820 --> 00:34:28.900 And he said, as he faced martyrdom, 00:34:28.900 --> 00:34:31.539 he said, oh, I want to do the right thing, 00:34:31.539 --> 00:34:33.579 but I know it's for the wrong reason. 00:34:33.579 --> 00:34:35.820 You know, he said, am I going, 00:34:35.820 --> 00:34:36.900 am I even going this far? 00:34:36.900 --> 00:34:38.579 Because I want my name to be remembered, 00:34:38.579 --> 00:34:40.500 I want my name to be great. 00:34:40.500 --> 00:34:42.900 There will be statues of me all over London, 00:34:42.900 --> 00:34:45.980 he wanted it, that's what T.S. Eliot records. 00:34:45.980 --> 00:34:48.860 And you see, Spurgeon comes and says, 00:34:48.860 --> 00:34:50.820 when you serve, when you become a deacon, 00:34:50.820 --> 00:34:54.340 whose smile is it that really gladdens your heart? 00:34:55.579 --> 00:34:57.699 Whose frown would depress you? 00:34:57.699 --> 00:34:59.820 Whose honor do you seek in all the good 00:34:59.820 --> 00:35:00.900 that you are doing? 00:35:00.900 --> 00:35:03.780 Do you seek the smile of the Lord, 00:35:05.019 --> 00:35:07.579 the one who came for you at the cross? 00:35:07.579 --> 00:35:10.220 Now this is true for all of us. 00:35:10.220 --> 00:35:13.180 Every single good, deaconing thing we do 00:35:13.180 --> 00:35:15.380 is mixed in motive. 00:35:15.380 --> 00:35:18.660 Who will save us from this body, this heart of death? 00:35:18.660 --> 00:35:22.539 And the only answer is every single day 00:35:23.500 --> 00:35:25.300 to step across the threshold 00:35:25.300 --> 00:35:27.820 and behold the beauty of the cross. 00:35:28.780 --> 00:35:30.420 And to know that even in my mixed motives, 00:35:30.420 --> 00:35:33.220 even in the ways I serve, that I'm not really serving, 00:35:33.220 --> 00:35:36.780 Jesus Christ really did die for me. 00:35:36.780 --> 00:35:40.260 He really did save me from my bad motives. 00:35:40.260 --> 00:35:44.579 He really did, he saved me from my sin and my death. 00:35:44.579 --> 00:35:45.820 He drank the cup that I deserved. 00:35:45.820 --> 00:35:48.180 He was destroyed and yet he saves. 00:35:48.180 --> 00:35:50.659 I would have just been destroyed. 00:35:50.659 --> 00:35:52.139 How do you grow, how do you change? 00:35:52.139 --> 00:35:55.019 First Corinthians 2-2, Paul has the last word. 00:35:55.019 --> 00:35:58.099 He says, I decided to do nothing among you 00:35:58.099 --> 00:36:02.139 except Jesus and particularly him crucified. 00:36:03.259 --> 00:36:04.099 Let's pray together. 00:36:04.099 --> 00:36:07.940 Lord, we set before the eyes of our heart, 00:36:07.940 --> 00:36:11.940 the cross today and we ask Lord that you would teach us 00:36:13.460 --> 00:36:17.259 in all its horror, it's utter beauty 00:36:17.259 --> 00:36:22.059 that you in that moment where the sun was forsaken, 00:36:22.059 --> 00:36:25.059 you were so for us, you love us, 00:36:25.059 --> 00:36:30.059 you pronounce over us that the cup of wrath has been poured. 00:36:31.779 --> 00:36:35.259 It's gone, we're reconciled, be reconciled to God you say. 00:36:35.259 --> 00:36:37.420 So Lord, we seek reconciliation this morning 00:36:37.420 --> 00:36:40.299 and then from that we ask by the spirit 00:36:41.259 --> 00:36:43.619 that you would teach us to become servants. 00:36:43.619 --> 00:36:55.619 And we pray this in Christ's name, amen.