WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.139 Good morning. So we start this morning in 1st Peter chapter 2. We read, 00:00:06.339 --> 00:00:13.740 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, 00:00:14.620 --> 00:00:20.460 that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into this 00:00:20.460 --> 00:00:28.600 marvelous light. Once you are not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:36.960 received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as soldiers and exiles 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:43.679 to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:49.820 conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they 00:00:49.820 --> 00:00:56.740 may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. And in Mark chapter 10, 00:00:56.740 --> 00:01:05.340 we read, And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, Teacher, we 00:01:05.340 --> 00:01:11.299 want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he said to them, What do you want me to 00:01:11.299 --> 00:01:18.500 do for you? And they said to him, Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your 00:01:18.500 --> 00:01:25.740 left, in your glory. Jesus said to them, You do not know what you are asking. Are you able 00:01:25.739 --> 00:01:32.379 to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? And 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:38.979 they said to him, We are able. And Jesus said to them, The cup that I drink, you will drink. 00:01:39.479 --> 00:01:45.840 And with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:51.299 or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. 00:01:51.299 --> 00:01:56.679 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:04.739 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers 00:02:04.739 --> 00:02:11.460 of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But 00:02:11.460 --> 00:02:18.919 it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servants. Whoever 00:02:18.919 --> 00:02:25.619 would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, 00:02:25.859 --> 00:02:30.979 but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. This is the Word of God. 00:02:32.099 --> 00:02:39.339 Great. Thank you, Jaya. Well, once again, good morning. Great to be with you this morning. 00:02:39.340 --> 00:02:47.259 When I was a student in South Africa many years ago, many, many, many years ago, there was, 00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:52.680 in the church kind of circles I was a part of, there was a Christian band, a worship band, 00:02:53.259 --> 00:02:59.439 that produced a few albums. In those days, CDs, if you're, you know, 20 or so, you don't 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:03.599 know what a CD is. A CD is this thing that we used to put into a machine to play music. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:08.159 Anyway, there's this band that produced a few albums. And so that's a company for the name 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:14.280 for their band. And the name they came up with was Peculiar People. Peculiar People, 00:03:14.379 --> 00:03:20.599 which I always thought was a peculiar name for a Christian worship band. But there's something 00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:26.919 intriguing about that description for what it means to be a Christian. Christians, they 00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:34.859 were saying, are peculiar people, distinctive people, non-typical kind of people. Maybe you're 00:03:34.860 --> 00:03:39.120 new to Christianity or new to church and you think, amen to that, right? The Christians 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:45.580 I know are strange. But the phrase actually comes from an old translation of the scripture 00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:52.200 that Jaya read to us this morning. In 1 Peter chapter 2, Jaya read to us, Peter writes and 00:03:52.200 --> 00:03:59.340 says, you, Christians, are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people that 00:03:59.340 --> 00:04:05.439 are set apart for God's possession. But in the old King James Version, it says, you are a holy, 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:12.879 a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, a distinctive people. 00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:19.560 The book of 1 Peter is written very similar to the book of James, written to a bunch of Christians 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:24.300 who are going through a hard time. They've had to flee their homes. And so they're living in another 00:04:24.300 --> 00:04:29.780 area of the Roman world in exile as pilgrims and sojourners because of the persecution. 00:04:30.660 --> 00:04:34.120 And Peter writes them and says, that's a good description of the Christian life. 00:04:34.819 --> 00:04:41.259 A Christian is somebody who sees himself as a pilgrim, a sojourner in this world, knowing 00:04:41.259 --> 00:04:45.860 that this world isn't their home, but their true home is in heaven. A Christian is someone 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:51.120 who recognizes they are passing through and exile in this world as they make their way towards 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:56.459 their true home in heaven. And so just like James, Peter tells us that Christian, being 00:04:56.459 --> 00:05:02.120 a Christian is not somebody who simply believes intellectually some Christian things or someone 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:07.480 who does Christian activities, like go to church. A Christian is someone who's been set apart, 00:05:08.459 --> 00:05:14.879 distinctive. That's that word, he says, you are a chosen people, a holy nation, something 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:25.540 consecrated, distinctive, a peculiar people. Now, the question is, well, in what way, in 00:05:25.540 --> 00:05:29.879 what areas of life, what does that actually look like in the day-to-day realities of life? 00:05:30.719 --> 00:05:35.500 Over the next three weeks, we want to talk about three areas of life that most Hong Kongers 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:42.379 think are essential for a meaningful and satisfying life. And we want to see how the Christian faith 00:05:42.379 --> 00:05:48.560 reshapes and reframes those things and what it means to be distinctive in the areas of money, 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:52.779 sex, and power. Okay, so that's where we're going over the next three weeks. How does our Christian 00:05:52.779 --> 00:05:59.319 faith reshape, reframe how we think of money, sex, and power? And today, we're going to start with 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:04.000 power, and then next week, we'll talk about money, and then the third week, we'll talk about sex and 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:11.939 sexuality. Okay, so that's where we're going. So let's dive in. When we talk about power, what do we 00:06:11.939 --> 00:06:17.959 mean? You can think about power in many different ways, but essentially, the way I want us to think 00:06:17.959 --> 00:06:26.100 about it is this. Think about the ability to significantly influence circumstances or people's 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:32.779 behavior. When you possess power, you have the ability, the capability to significantly influence 00:06:32.779 --> 00:06:38.860 either the change of course of events or people's behavior, sometimes even against their will. 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:45.220 When we think of power, we often think of formalized, institutionalized power, power that's been 00:06:45.220 --> 00:06:51.600 authorized by virtue of a position or a badge or a title. So think of, for instance, a traffic officer 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:57.160 or a police officer, right? They have great power to cause you to do all sorts of things that you don't 00:06:57.160 --> 00:07:02.000 want to do. So you're driving your car, and they have the ability to get you to pull over and stop 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:06.540 driving, even though you're late for your meeting. Or maybe you've pulled over and stopped somewhere, 00:07:06.540 --> 00:07:11.460 and you don't want to drive, and they have the ability to get you driving, right? And sometimes 00:07:11.460 --> 00:07:16.780 they don't even need to say a word. They just wave their hand or tap on your window, and they get you 00:07:16.780 --> 00:07:23.000 to do things that you don't want to do. They hold great power. And of course, we could think about 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:30.600 the way that this plays out in many of our lives. If you have a title or position in a company, maybe you're 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:36.280 a senior manager, a vice president, maybe the team leader in your school, you're the captain in the 00:07:36.280 --> 00:07:42.320 cockpit, you are some leader, you hold power and authority. You have the ability to influence 00:07:42.320 --> 00:07:47.960 people's behavior or circumstances. But one of the things I want us to see this morning is that 00:07:47.960 --> 00:07:56.460 the power dynamics in relationships are often present in informal ways, far more so than even 00:07:56.459 --> 00:08:03.879 informal ways. So even though there may be no title or position or authority, actually almost all of our 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:09.139 relationships, there are power dynamics at play by virtue of a whole lot of unwritten assumptions. 00:08:10.099 --> 00:08:16.620 So think about, for instance, in a city like Hong Kong, something like age. Age plays a very important 00:08:16.620 --> 00:08:22.139 way that power dynamics work. Maybe you're part of a company, you've got a leadership team, or you're on a 00:08:22.139 --> 00:08:28.459 board. You all have the same title, position, but somebody is 20 years older, and what the whole board 00:08:28.459 --> 00:08:34.879 defers to them, listens to them. They carry a sense of authority, a sense of influence more significant 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:40.819 than others. Or it could be virtue of something like, were you born in your family? Are you the oldest 00:08:40.819 --> 00:08:46.919 sibling? Are you the firstborn son? How does that play out in the dynamics of the family? Or maybe 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:51.980 something like your biology, your personality, what kind of personality you have? Are you able to influence 00:08:51.980 --> 00:08:57.779 people? Or maybe you're a big, strong, strapping person, you walk into a room, and everyone takes 00:08:57.779 --> 00:09:02.680 note of your presence? Or maybe you're a shy person, a small person, you kind of just slink into the room, 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:08.879 and you don't like being noticed. All these play out in the way that we relate to people. Or think about 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:16.899 something like socioeconomic positions, your wealth, or social media. These days, there's this weird 00:09:16.899 --> 00:09:22.779 category of people called influencers, right? And companies pay them huge amounts of money because 00:09:22.779 --> 00:09:27.559 they've got a large social media following, and they can shape and influence the consumer behavior 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:33.659 of people. Or think about something as simple as how long you've been at your firm. Maybe you're very 00:09:33.659 --> 00:09:39.240 junior, you don't have any title, any position, but you've been there two years, and someone joins, 00:09:39.319 --> 00:09:43.639 they've been there two months. Just by virtue of how long you've been there, they might look up to you. 00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:49.779 You have an element of sway or influence. So before we look at our passage, what I want us to see is 00:09:49.779 --> 00:09:56.360 that almost all of us, irrespective of your job, your position, your title, almost all of us will have 00:09:56.360 --> 00:10:02.500 ways and dynamics in our relationships where we hold influence and sway over people, their behavior, 00:10:02.980 --> 00:10:10.460 over outcomes or circumstances. And many of these invisible power dynamics are, at first they seem 00:10:10.460 --> 00:10:16.900 power neutral, but actually they are very powerful and at work. And sometimes even the informal 00:10:16.900 --> 00:10:21.620 relationships can be more powerful than the formal ones. So think of maybe you've got a boss, nobody 00:10:21.620 --> 00:10:27.560 respects them, but there's actually somebody in the team that everybody respects. The boss might have 00:10:27.560 --> 00:10:33.200 the position, but actually this is the real leader in the team. Does that make sense? Okay, so here's the 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:39.360 question I want us to consider. If almost all of us have some kind of influence, what do we do with 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:46.900 that? What do we do with that? How does that play out in our lives? And more importantly, how does your 00:10:46.900 --> 00:10:53.180 Christian faith, if you are a Christian this morning, shape that or influence that? How you steward that? 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:58.160 Today we're looking at Mark chapter 10, and if you've got your bulletin, open it up. I want us to 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:04.240 keep it open. And what we're going to see in this passage is power at its worst and power at its best. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:11.379 We're going to see power's ability to corrupt and power's ability to heal or restore. We're going to 00:11:11.379 --> 00:11:18.779 see power's ability to turn people ugly and power's ability to make ugly things beautiful again. Okay? 00:11:19.539 --> 00:11:25.480 Now here's the big idea. Jesus Christ shows us that the only way for power 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:32.639 influence to be a blessing and not a curse, to be something beautiful and not ugly, 00:11:33.139 --> 00:11:40.800 is to see it as a stewardship that's entrusted to us by God for the service of others and not yourself. 00:11:42.060 --> 00:11:47.080 Jesus Christ tells us that the way that power can be a beautiful thing rather than ugly thing, 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:53.220 to heal and restore rather than curse, is to see it as a stewardship that's been entrusted to you by God 00:11:53.220 --> 00:11:59.740 for the service of others, not yourself. What do I mean by stewardship? Well, the word steward means a 00:11:59.740 --> 00:12:06.279 custodian, a guardian. In the ancient world, an owner of estates would entrust his estate to a steward. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:10.440 He would go away in business maybe for a couple of months or years, come back and say, 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:17.139 what have you done with my estate? A steward has real responsibility, real power and authority to make 00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:23.200 decisions, hire and fire people, but he acts knowing that this estate doesn't belong to me. 00:12:23.220 --> 00:12:29.379 I'm doing this on behalf of the owner. Jesus shows us that God has sovereignly given to each one of us 00:12:29.379 --> 00:12:35.840 the ability to influence people and circumstances, whether formally or informally, but this is never 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:41.759 to be seen as something that belongs to me. It's a gift that's given in the service of others, not myself. 00:12:42.620 --> 00:12:48.500 Okay, so let's dive in. Let's look at power gone wrong. Now, the context of Mark, Mark is, 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:55.120 the first half of Mark, the question everybody's asking is, who is this man? Jesus does remarkable 00:12:55.120 --> 00:13:00.659 things and everybody's asking, who is this man? Around chapter eight to nine, Jesus starts to reveal 00:13:00.659 --> 00:13:06.960 that he's the Messiah King, the Christ. And the question Mark wants us to ask is, what kind of 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:11.659 king is he? Now, the disciples have worked out that somewhere along the line, they've worked out, okay, 00:13:11.659 --> 00:13:16.120 he's the Messiah, he's the king, but they haven't quite worked out what kind of king he is yet. 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:22.360 Look what happens here. Verse 35, James and John, two of the disciples, sons of Zebedee, 00:13:22.500 --> 00:13:28.080 come to Jesus and they say to him, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. 00:13:28.700 --> 00:13:35.360 Okay, an amazing start. Anybody starts off a conversation like that is not very self-aware. 00:13:37.019 --> 00:13:42.940 And yet, if we're honest, how many of us probably don't say to their mouths, but go into conversations, 00:13:42.940 --> 00:13:47.780 interrelationships with something like that at the back of our mind. What can I get out of this 00:13:47.780 --> 00:13:54.960 relationship, right? Jesus is so amazing. Look at his grace. He says, what would you like me to do for 00:13:54.960 --> 00:14:00.580 you? Imagine a junior employee goes to the president of the company and says, ma'am, I want you to do for 00:14:00.580 --> 00:14:08.460 me whatever I ask. And she says, sure, how can I help you? Jesus is so gracious, right? Verse 37, 00:14:08.460 --> 00:14:14.080 they said to him, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one on your left in your kingdom, 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:20.060 in your glory. So they figured out Jesus is the Messiah King and they're seeing an opportunity for 00:14:20.060 --> 00:14:27.240 themselves. Power turned ugly. Notice a couple of things here. Firstly, notice how power has a way 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:34.139 of seducing us, seducing us. Who are James and John? They're these two disciples. What were they? 00:14:34.139 --> 00:14:41.279 They were fishermen. Not the world's worst job, okay? Not like begging on the street, but also not 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:47.559 super powerful and wealthy. Middle of the road, self-employed people doing fine. I don't think 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:53.100 James and John often had political ambitions growing up. And yet somehow they make the connection, 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:57.860 Jesus is going to be the King. And they start seeing dollar signs in their minds, okay? They start 00:14:57.860 --> 00:15:02.819 thinking, if Jesus is going to be on the throne, someone's going to sit next to him. Why shouldn't it be us? 00:15:02.820 --> 00:15:08.980 And so they start to, it starts to change their hearts. We often hear the phrase, power corrupts, 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:14.580 absolute power corrupts absolutely. Power has a way of seducing us and changing our hearts, right? 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:20.940 Notice secondly, how power has a way of deceiving us, getting us to not think straight. Look at what 00:15:20.940 --> 00:15:25.520 Jesus says to them. He says, they say, grant us to sit one at your right hand, one at your left hand, 00:15:25.540 --> 00:15:31.420 in your glory. And Jesus says, you don't know what you're asking. In other words, you don't know what 00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:37.319 you're talking about. Power has a way of making us overestimate ourselves and have an exaggerated 00:15:37.319 --> 00:15:41.679 view of ourselves so that we start to become foolish, actually. I don't know if you've ever 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:46.919 met somebody who's an expert in their field, world-class expert in their field. But then 00:15:46.919 --> 00:15:52.399 they start to talk as if they're an expert in every field, right? It's actually something 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:57.679 that sociologists call the Dunning-Kruger effect. It's a variation of that, where someone who's an 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:01.759 expert in their field, sometimes they underestimate how good they are in their field, but they 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:06.299 overestimate themselves. They have an inflated view of how good they are in other fields, of which they 00:16:06.299 --> 00:16:11.779 actually know nothing about. Power has a way of making us think that we actually know more about 00:16:11.779 --> 00:16:16.539 something than we really do. You get to a position, you become promoted, you vice-president, and suddenly 00:16:16.539 --> 00:16:21.620 you think, oh, it's my brilliance, it's my genius, it's my profound understanding of the world that's got me 00:16:21.620 --> 00:16:28.480 here. But maybe it's other circumstances. And so look at our passage here. Jesus asks James and John, 00:16:28.620 --> 00:16:33.639 are you able to drink the cup that I'm able to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism 00:16:33.639 --> 00:16:38.759 with which I'm going to be baptized? Jesus is talking about his death and his crucifixion here. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:45.299 He's suffering. He says, are you able to suffer with me? And they say, sure thing, no problem. 00:16:45.299 --> 00:16:53.479 Now, just on a side note here, I want us to note, Jesus tells us here that suffering is a normal part 00:16:53.479 --> 00:16:59.159 of the Christian life and the Christian journey. If you're going to follow Jesus as King, part of that 00:16:59.159 --> 00:17:05.259 journey is going to be suffering and hardship. You're going to embrace Christ as your Lord, you embrace 00:17:05.259 --> 00:17:10.519 suffering and hardship. And there's a couple of different variations of that. On one hand, there's 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:16.279 suffering that comes to us from people outside of us. Okay? There's evil that comes towards us. 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:23.400 This is called persecution, oppression. There's suffering that comes as a way of us sacrificially 00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:29.559 serving others. This is called love, right? We lay down our lives and so we embrace sacrificial 00:17:29.559 --> 00:17:35.180 suffering as we serve others. There's suffering that comes as you see the evil in your own heart 00:17:35.180 --> 00:17:41.279 and you repent and confess it. This is called repentance, right? So there's variations of 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:44.880 the kind of suffering in a Christian life. I think what Jesus is talking about here is 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:50.940 the second one. The kind of suffering that you take on, you embrace by way of serving others, 00:17:51.100 --> 00:17:56.340 sacrificial serving in love for others. And so Jesus says to these guys, are you able to 00:17:56.340 --> 00:18:02.140 suffer with me? And they say, yes, Jesus, we are. We're up for it. No problem. Well, it's 00:18:02.140 --> 00:18:08.500 fascinating. In just a couple of chapters later in chapter 14, two pages on, the other apostles 00:18:08.500 --> 00:18:12.880 say the same thing. Peter is having a meal with Jesus. He's lost up and he says, Jesus, 00:18:13.040 --> 00:18:19.060 I will die for you. I will suffer for you. I will do anything for you. I will never deny 00:18:19.060 --> 00:18:26.120 you. And Mark says, all the other disciples say the same thing. Well, just a couple of verses 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:32.039 later, Jesus is arrested. And what does Mark tell us? All the disciples left him and fled, 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:37.939 presumably including James and John. Just a couple of weeks earlier, God, we'll suffer 00:18:37.939 --> 00:18:43.919 for you. We'll, we'll, Dory, we can handle it. But now actually their exaggerated view of 00:18:43.919 --> 00:18:48.259 themselves shows them for who they really were. Here's, here's another way that suffering 00:18:48.259 --> 00:18:54.239 goes wrong. Suffering have, sorry, not suffering, power. Power has a multiplier effect. It's the 00:18:54.240 --> 00:19:00.339 ability to multiply itself. The abuse of power very seldom stops with the person involved. 00:19:01.380 --> 00:19:05.620 We see this so often, don't we? That those who are oppressed get, those who are oppressed 00:19:05.620 --> 00:19:11.240 get into positions of power. And what do they do? They oppress the next generation. We see 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:17.140 this maybe with an abusive father. Goes home, can't control his temper, his anger, is abusive 00:19:17.140 --> 00:19:22.180 towards his kids. What does he do? He raises children that don't know how to verbalize their 00:19:22.180 --> 00:19:28.000 pain or handle their pain and they become abusive themselves. Or maybe think of a newly 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:33.680 appointed boss or a team leader. Right? They say, finally, my hour has come. I've put up 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:39.279 with so much nonsense for all these years. Now it's their turn to pay their dues. Or even 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:44.880 in a more immediate sense, maybe a boss abuses a colleague. That colleague goes home, takes 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:49.500 it out on their family. The oldest sibling takes it out on the younger sibling. The younger sibling 00:19:49.500 --> 00:19:53.920 goes to school and takes it out to the smallest kid on the playground. And that kid takes it 00:19:53.920 --> 00:20:00.859 out on the dog at home. Right? But there's this cascading effect of abuse of power has a way 00:20:00.859 --> 00:20:09.140 of multiplying itself. It's not self-contained. Friends, sin always propagates more sin. The 00:20:09.140 --> 00:20:16.420 ugliness continues. And so the question is, is there another way? Is there another way? 00:20:17.900 --> 00:20:25.180 Now, obviously, one wrong way to respond would be to say, power is bad. Authority is bad. It just 00:20:25.180 --> 00:20:31.580 causes problems. Let's have no authority, no power. That's not a very good response. Firstly, it's 00:20:31.579 --> 00:20:38.240 unrealistic. It's just impossible. Secondly, it's always going to result in anarchy. Chaos. Okay? 00:20:39.259 --> 00:20:45.359 That's not a good solution. So is there another solution? Friends, in this passage, Jesus shows 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:50.639 us a better way. And Jesus shows us that the influence that we've been entrusted and given 00:20:50.639 --> 00:20:58.059 to us, whether through formal means or informally, can be used in a way that promotes wholeness and 00:20:58.059 --> 00:21:04.559 blessing and beauty and peace and joy in the world, rather than being a way that belittles people and 00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:09.980 makes them smaller. Actually, it's a way of empowering people and raising them up. Jesus shows 00:21:09.980 --> 00:21:14.519 us that the power dynamics present in all of our relationships can and should be used to serve 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:20.480 others rather than ourselves. And the reason for this is twofold. Because this understanding of how 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:27.299 power works is one, at the heart of God's design for the world, and two, God's rescue for humanity. 00:21:28.059 --> 00:21:32.179 God's design for the world, and God's rescue for humanity. So let's look at those two things. 00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:40.399 God's plan for the world. Look at verse 42 to 44 with me in your Bible or your bulletin. Verse 42. 00:21:41.179 --> 00:21:46.759 The other disciples are, verse 41, they are indignant in James and John. They're angry. Okay? The multiplier 00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:51.919 effect brings division, chaos. And Jesus calls them together. And he says to them, 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:57.700 You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great 00:21:57.700 --> 00:22:04.880 ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so amongst you. For whoever would be great 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:10.380 amongst you must be your servant. Whoever would be first amongst you must be slave of all. 00:22:11.640 --> 00:22:19.160 My previous pastor used to say, for best results, follow the maker's instructions. Okay? You get an Ikea bed, 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:24.519 and you want to assemble it, or you buy a new coffee machine? For best results, follow their 00:22:24.519 --> 00:22:31.160 designer's instructions. Friends, God has designed humanity and our relationships and society's ways 00:22:31.160 --> 00:22:38.300 to flourish according to a specific design. Where it's not where the strong eat the weak, the rich trample 00:22:38.300 --> 00:22:45.140 the poor, the powerful take advantage of the powerless. But rather, God's design is that those that have 00:22:45.140 --> 00:22:51.680 influence and power and authority used that in the service of the flourishing of those that have been 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:58.400 entrusted to their care. This is at the heart of the creation mandate. God gives Adam and Eve great 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:04.820 authority over creation. He says, use this to steward, to serve it, to bless it, to see it to flourish. 00:23:05.900 --> 00:23:11.140 When Jesus talks about the Gentiles here, he means those that are oblivious to God's way and God's will 00:23:11.140 --> 00:23:17.380 in the world. Everyone fighting to get to the top. And he says, this must not be so amongst you. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:22.700 It's like Jesus saying, that's not how my kingdom works. It's not how I want you to think. No more of 00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:30.020 that thinking. Jesus says, no, you are a distinctive people set apart. You to live and behave and act 00:23:30.020 --> 00:23:36.940 differently. No more thinking like that. This must not be so amongst you. Rather, whoever desires to be 00:23:36.940 --> 00:23:42.799 great amongst you must become the other's servant. Whoever wants to be master first amongst you become 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:49.840 the slave of all. Niels actually pointed out to me just this week how seldom the New Testament uses 00:23:49.840 --> 00:23:56.100 the word leader to describe church leadership. These days there are a million books about leadership and 00:23:56.100 --> 00:24:02.120 church leadership, but the Bible very seldom uses that word. What does the Bible talk about? It looks like 00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:11.479 shepherds, pastors, servants, slaves. The Bible says that the leadership in God's kingdom is like a 00:24:11.479 --> 00:24:16.939 shepherd, someone who rolls up their sleeves and does the dirty work of looking after, caring for, 00:24:17.439 --> 00:24:23.939 cultivating, going after people and God's people. Just think about what Paul writes in Corinthians. 00:24:24.179 --> 00:24:29.059 He writes this in Corinthians, the church are all jostling for power. They're seeing who's the most 00:24:29.059 --> 00:24:33.139 powerful and Paul writes and says, who is Apollos, this great leader that you're following? Who is 00:24:33.139 --> 00:24:38.099 Paul anyway? Aren't we just servants, people through whom God has used for you to believe? 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:44.220 Later on he writes, he says, what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Christ Jesus Lord and we, who are we? 00:24:44.500 --> 00:24:50.899 Are we merely your servants? We are your slaves. He had to serve you. This is the Christian understanding 00:24:50.899 --> 00:24:56.759 of power, of authority, of leadership. In a few minutes time, we're going to be praying for Simon 00:24:56.759 --> 00:25:03.420 and Sherman as Simon is commissioned to serve as an elder at Watermark once again. He served as an 00:25:03.420 --> 00:25:07.519 elder for many years and then stepped down when they moved overseas, come back. We're going to be 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:13.680 praying, commissioning Simon as an elder. Simon, I want to read a scripture to you in 1 Peter chapter 5. 00:25:14.579 --> 00:25:18.379 Peter writes this. Do you remember we preached on this when you were first ordained all those years ago? 00:25:19.140 --> 00:25:25.259 Peter writes, I exhort you, shepherd the flock of God that is amongst you, exercising oversight, 00:25:25.259 --> 00:25:32.000 not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for self-centered gain, but eagerly, 00:25:32.420 --> 00:25:36.940 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:43.660 Simon, when you are installed as an elder, it's not because you're being promoted or being honored for 00:25:43.660 --> 00:25:49.920 your great service. You're not being rewarded. You're actually being demoted to become a servant 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:56.680 and a slave of this congregation. Not domineering over it, but graciously serving 00:25:56.680 --> 00:26:03.740 this congregation and to use your influence as a servant. I didn't hear what you said there, but 00:26:03.740 --> 00:26:09.279 friends, this is how God's upside down kingdom works. This is the design of God, 00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:16.220 that we use our influence, our positions, authority to serve as servants and as stewards. 00:26:16.220 --> 00:26:20.940 But the other reason is this. This is at the heart of not only God's design for the world, 00:26:21.059 --> 00:26:26.039 it's at the heart of God's rescue for humanity. It's at the heart of the gospel, right? 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:30.480 Look at verse 45 with me. Well, actually, let's read again verse 42. Jesus says, 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:34.039 you know those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles, lorded over them, 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:39.920 the great ones exercise authority, but it must not be so amongst you. Whoever would be great must be 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:46.259 your servant. Whoever would be first must be your slave. Verse 45, for, here's the reason, because 00:26:46.259 --> 00:26:52.500 even the son of man, that's Jesus' way of speaking about himself, even the son of man came not to be 00:26:52.500 --> 00:26:59.600 served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Friends, in a dog-eat-dog world, 00:27:00.140 --> 00:27:05.240 in a world in which everyone is hustling to get ahead of everybody else, to trample on whoever they can, 00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:09.500 where people use their power, they influence their positions to serve themselves, 00:27:10.259 --> 00:27:14.940 Jesus not only shows a better way, but he says Christianity tells a better story. 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:27.539 The story is this, even God himself didn't act like this, but he humbled himself to save and serve us. 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:35.059 Jesus says he gave his life as a ransom for many. The word ransom means to pay the price 00:27:35.059 --> 00:27:40.519 to set somebody that's in slavery free. So think about this, imagine the story, okay? 00:27:40.879 --> 00:27:47.659 You're walking along the street, just minding your business, and a car pulls up, three men jump out, 00:27:48.019 --> 00:27:53.359 balaclavas, and they throw you into the van, and they drive off, blindfold you, and they drive off, 00:27:53.399 --> 00:27:58.740 right? And you say, where are you taking me? And they say, not for you to know. They take you to 00:27:58.740 --> 00:28:04.460 some undisclosed location, and they say, we hear your family's very wealthy, we want a ransom 00:28:04.460 --> 00:28:10.039 of a hundred million dollars. Turns out your family's not very wealthy, they've got the wrong 00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:15.359 story, but they don't believe your family, who say, we don't have the money, I'm sorry. They don't like 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:22.900 negotiating. They say, a hundred million dollars, or we take your life. Some unknown benefactor comes and 00:28:22.900 --> 00:28:27.900 says, I've got a lot of money. I'll pay the hundred million dollars so that you can be free. 00:28:28.620 --> 00:28:36.040 They paid the ransom price. To be ransomed is somebody pays a price that you can be set free 00:28:36.040 --> 00:28:40.980 from what slaved you and trapped you. In the book of 1 Peter, Peter writes, and he says, 00:28:41.580 --> 00:28:47.519 God has ransomed us from our former way of life, not with perishable things like to silver or gold or 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:52.879 a hundred million dollars. That's not that important. But with his own blood, with his own life, 00:28:54.259 --> 00:29:01.119 Jesus gave his life to set us free. Friends, God, the most powerful being in the whole universe, 00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:05.940 the one who spoke galaxies and cosmos and nebulae and supernovas into being, 00:29:07.139 --> 00:29:13.039 this all-powerful God who sustains all the cosmos and the universe and the multiple universes, 00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:20.200 emptied himself of his power and his glory and his majesty, and he died on a cross, 00:29:20.779 --> 00:29:26.879 and he gave his life. And that life wasn't just as a good example. It actually was effective. It did 00:29:26.879 --> 00:29:33.940 something. It set us free from the self-centeredness of our hearts and our sin and our shame and our 00:29:33.940 --> 00:29:40.159 entrapment to death. Friends, our lives, all, every one of us, we're headed for a wasteland, 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:48.080 a desert wasteland of barrenness, and ultimately for hell. And Jesus came and he left glory and power 00:29:48.080 --> 00:29:55.759 and majesty. And he said, I'll use my power to serve you, to set you free. Even the Son of Man 00:29:55.759 --> 00:30:01.620 came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Christianity says that 00:30:01.620 --> 00:30:06.279 all human beings, no matter how sophisticated, how educated, how powerful and respected you are, 00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:12.180 in a profound way, we are all lost. Jesus Christ came and gave his life as a ransom. 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:18.279 And that's why Philippians says this. He says, friends, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, 00:30:18.819 --> 00:30:24.039 but humbly consider others more significant, more important than yourself. Let each of you look not 00:30:24.039 --> 00:30:28.920 only to his own interests, but to the interests of others. And have this mind amongst you, which is 00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:35.700 possible in Christ Jesus. Christ, who though he was in the form of God, though he was God, did not count 00:30:35.700 --> 00:30:41.420 equality with God, something to be grasped. In other words, he didn't say, it's mine, I'm entitled to it. 00:30:41.980 --> 00:30:48.960 Rather, what did he do? He emptied himself. He took the form of a servant. God Almighty took the form of a 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:56.700 servant and became a man, born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, what would he do? 00:30:56.700 --> 00:31:01.500 What did he say? Okay, fine. Now's my chance to get right to my enemies. I'm going to show you. 00:31:02.059 --> 00:31:10.080 No, being found in human form, he became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:31:10.680 --> 00:31:19.120 With all its shame, all its horror, God, the creator of the universe, hanging naked on a cross, 00:31:19.220 --> 00:31:23.340 that people could walk past and laugh and mock and scorn and ridicule, 00:31:23.339 --> 00:31:30.240 seeing him as a condemned criminal. This is what God did with his power. He hung on a cross. 00:31:31.259 --> 00:31:35.019 Therefore, friends, God has exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 00:31:35.139 --> 00:31:40.179 that one day every knee will bow before him and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. 00:31:40.980 --> 00:31:45.599 But friends, you see what Mark is saying here? Mark is telling us that Jesus' death on the cross is not 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:53.399 just a good example, it's good news. Jesus' death on the cross is not just admirable, it's our hope. 00:31:54.019 --> 00:31:59.959 It's our hope for salvation, but also it's the way that our hearts can change and we really can use 00:31:59.959 --> 00:32:06.019 what's been entrusted to us as a way of serving others. Friends, if you have Jesus Christ and God, 00:32:06.579 --> 00:32:12.719 what else do you need? What power do you need? What authority do you really need to exert over others 00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:18.940 when you've got the God of the universe on your side? Jesus shows us a better way. In Mark 10, 00:32:19.019 --> 00:32:23.799 we see the ugliness of power gone wrong and the beauty of power at its very best. And we hear the 00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:30.140 good news of our deliverance, how Jesus emptied himself of majesty to come and serve us that we 00:32:30.140 --> 00:32:37.319 could be set free. So friends, what about you? How have you used the influence that God has entrusted 00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:42.700 into your care? Maybe positions of authority in the company, maybe a position in the family, 00:32:43.559 --> 00:32:48.940 maybe informal positions, just your personality, your gifting, your socioeconomic position. How have 00:32:48.940 --> 00:32:54.160 you used that? Have you used it in the service of others? Or have you used it to enrich yourself, 00:32:54.299 --> 00:33:00.460 advance your career? And what about you this week? How are you going to use it? Are you going to be 00:33:00.460 --> 00:33:07.039 like everyone else in society and serve yourself? Or will you, like Christ, use what God has entrusted 00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:13.680 to you to bring flourishing and peace and beauty out of broken things? Friends, are you going to live 00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:20.539 distinctively, differently, maybe even peculiarly, taking the abilities that God has given you and 00:33:20.539 --> 00:33:26.420 seeing them as a stewardship entrusted to you for the service of others? By Christ's grace, we can do 00:33:26.420 --> 00:33:31.820 that. Christ calls us to it and he empowers us as well. Let's pray together. 00:33:31.819 --> 00:33:57.599 God, in some ways, such a simple message and yet so profound, God, where if we look into the 00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:06.240 deepest chambers of our hearts, God, we see that sin runs deep. Self-centeredness has its tentacles 00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:12.059 so deep. The roots of the weeds of self-centeredness, oh God, they run deep. 00:34:14.440 --> 00:34:19.940 God, this morning we confessed our sin and we took great assurance in your work on the cross. 00:34:19.940 --> 00:34:28.740 God, this morning we ask you not only to forgive us, but to change us, to set us free. God, to dismantle 00:34:28.740 --> 00:34:35.460 the idol of power and authority and prestige and honor in our lives. God, we long for that idol to 00:34:35.460 --> 00:34:41.980 crumble and to collapse and for you to become the most important, precious thing in our lives, 00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:47.800 that we can freely and gladly give our lives away in the service of others. 00:34:47.800 --> 00:34:56.740 God, I stand here this morning and I say, start with me, God. Start with me, God. Come and change my 00:34:56.740 --> 00:35:08.280 heart. Come and change us, God. Jesus, help us to be godly men and women, different, distinctive, 00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:14.240 even peculiar. May we stand out in our society because we are more like you, God. 00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:23.419 Lord, oh God, I pray, come and help us. By your grace and by your spirit, come and do a profound 00:35:23.419 --> 00:35:31.719 work in our lives. Pray this in your wonderful and your gracious name. Amen. 00:35:31.719 --> 00:35:31.859 Amen. 00:35:31.859 --> 00:35:31.919 Amen.