Journey with Jesus – Steps of Servanthood 10/14/07
Date: 10/14/07
Sermon Series: Journey with Jesus
Sermon Title: Steps of Servanthood
Text: Mark 10:42-45, (9:35)
“Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high positions exercise power over them. But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.””
Theme: Jesus makes it clear to James and John, and to us, that for the Christian a successful life is not measured by who you control but instead by how well you serve. This message is about how our walk should be about improving our serve.
Introduction: Set the scene of this passage.
Transition:
This passage is about Jesus taking His group of Church leaders aside and giving them instructions about the leadership model that He expects for the church.
He uses the Gentile leaders as an example of how not to act.
Christian leadership is not
1. Domineering
a. What the word means – Lording it over. This word is used only 6 times in entire Bible.
b. How 1 Peter 5 gives a similar message to Overseers
c. All these early disciples had to do was look around to get an idea of what the misuse of power looks like. They were living in a country that was completely subjugated to Rome.
d. The Gospels is ripe with language that gives us this picture of a country that was living under the boot of a foreign power.
i. They are paying taxes to this government. You probably recall when the Pharisees were plotting a trap for Jesus they asked Him about paying taxes to Caesar.(Matt. 22:17ff) This was a hot button issue of the time because the people were constantly ready to revolt at the idea of paying taxes to Rome, even the idea that there was an image on the coin was distasteful to them.
e. There would have been garrisons of soldiers stationed in different places around where they lived for all of their lives.
f. He made it clear that this example was completely opposite of what leadership looks like in His kingdom.
2. Demanding
a. Here and in the parallel passage in the other gospels is the only place that this word is found in all of the ancient Greek texts that we have.
b. The word is kataezousia and literally means exerting more authority then what you have the right to exert.
i. You probably recall when Jesus gave an example of service he said if someone forces you to go one mile then you go two.
ii. This image was taken from the daily life of the person living in Palestine. It was completely legal for a Roman soldier to use these people like pack animals they could force them to carry there tings but only for a mile then they had to find someone else. It is interesting to me that Jesus chose this example of how we are supposed to serve.
It is instead
3. Humble
a. The Church is a place where we know our place and we do not glory in positions of power and authority.
b. The Church is the only organization in the world, that I know of, where the leaders are called to be the servants.
c. Jesus consistently showed an example of leadership where He served rather than allowed Himself to be served. – He accepted worship from people, anointing his feet and triumphal entry, but He spent a significant part of His ministry healing and serving the most disadvantaged of people.
d. This was in the midst of a culture that would have hard time understanding a leader who served. They thought that people were getting what they deserved by their life circumstances. .
e. We are not talking about meek, timid people –
f. Have you ever heard of the “Dependent Order of Really Meek and Timid Souls”? When you make an acrostic of its first letters, you have “Doormats.” The Doormats have an official insignia–a yellow caution light. Their official motto is: “The meek shall inherit the earth, if that’s OK with everybody!” The society was founded by Upton Diskson who wrote a pamphlet called Cower Power.
Swindoll, The Quest For Character, Multnomah, p. 44.
We are talking about a people who have confidence in the right thing.
- Romans 15:17 – Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God.
- 2 Corinthian 10:17 – He who boasts is to boast in the Lord
And the right thing is not themselves or their own abilities.
4. Heroic
a. The marks of Jesus’ servant-hood are really the scars that are left on his hands and feet.
b. Self sacrifice is inevitably the mark of the Christian who has found his calling in Christian leadership.
c. As I studied this passage this week something kind of stuck out to me that I had never really considered before. The two disciples that are having this original conversation with Jesus are James and John. Just imagine for a moment if you will what Jesus, with His divine foreknowledge, must have been thinking. Here standing in front of Him are the first and last martyrs of this band of leaders He has put together.
d. And then as He called the larger group together His eyes would have contacted Matthew, who is supposed to have died in India, and Peter, who tradition tells us, was crucified upside down in Rome about thirty years from this moment on the road to Jerusalem. And as He saw each face I wonder if the scenes of their sacrificial deaths for the sake of the kingdom played across His mind.
- The End of the Spear
- The Film Clip of the sister’s love.
