“He came to serve.”  The Pathway to Power.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Mark 10:45

            During the American Revolution a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a  small defensive barrier. Their leader was shouting instructions, but making no attempt to help them. Asked why by the rider, he retorted with great dignity, "Sir, I am a corporal!" The stranger   apologized, dismounted, and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers. The job done, he turned to the corporal and said, "Mr. Corporal, next time you have a job like this and not enough men to do   it, go to your commander-in-chief, and I will come and help you again." It was none other than   George Washington.    

Today in the Word, March 6, 1991.

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. Having stopped to deal with the rich young ruler, he now resumes his journey toward Jerusalem and all that awaits him there. If you will note the text, you will see that Jesus is out in front leading the way…in a sense alone…with the disciples following behind him at some distance. The disciples are amazed or astonished that he is actually going toward such a hostile environment. They are loyal hearted, but unable to understand him. None of them is in close fellowship with him at this moment. They are amazed at the recent tones of his teaching and his resolution to go to Jerusalem.

While they are astonished, the crowd following behind them is made up of people who are afraid, in the sense of awe or reverence. They are in the presence of Jesus and that is the way it was when they were with him.

 Jesus gathered the twelve about him away from the crowd, and told them in more detail about that to which he was going. He spoke to them of the betrayal to the chief priests  and teachers of the law. He told them of the final outcome of it all…that he would be condemned to death and handed over to the Gentiles.

He would be mocked, flogged and killed; but three days later he would rise from the dead.

At some point immediately afterward, James and John came to him with a request of a favor. We would like for you to do something for us. Jesus asked what it could be. Their answer was “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” (10:37) 

We often see James and John criticized for their request. And on the outside it looks pretty selfish on their part to ask for the best seats in the Kingdom of God. But notice this:  Jesus does not get angry at them or rebuke them. He simply asks them if they can follow him in going through what he will go through in the days to come. Can you? Jesus asks. He then answers his own question. “Of course, you will.”

But….sitting on my right or my left in the Kingdom belongs to those for whom they have been prepared. So Jesus tells them “it is not my place to grant your request.”

The positive thing about what James and John are asking for should be clear to us. They were looking beyond the dire circumstances and the terrible things that were going to happen to Jesus to the glory to come. There was a light at the end of the tunnel and they saw it. The Kingdom was coming. They were going to be part of it. Hence, the desire to be with Jesus in it.

The ten other disciples are the ones who receive the rebuke from Jesus. In the Kingdom there is never to be any lording it over others. That is the way of the world that knows little of God or Jesus. To the world power over others is to be desired. It is Not so in the Kingdom of God. The real power is to be found in serving others.

This brings us to our text for today:  “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”   

Think about it:  The Son of Man, Messiah, the Anointed One, the King on whom mastery, government of the Kingdom of God would rest came not to be served, but to serve.

The world does not understand that the real pathway to power is found in serving others. And many in the Church haven’t understood it either. It is a profound declaration with serious implications for all of us.

The Son of Man came…

The title Son of Man was our Lord’s favorite description of himself. If you look through the Gospel records you will find that only on one occasion did someone use the title to speak of him as the Son of Man. He had spoken of himself as the Son of Man so often that his enemies asked, “Who is this Son of Man?”  It is a Messianic title and when it was used it was clearly understood in that manner. He often said that he was the Son of Man, not a Son of Man. He clearly used it often and understood that he was claiming to be the Messiah they were waiting for.

Jesus, is Lord and Master of the Universe and yet kin to all who are to be ruled. He is the Son of Man…a man of sorrows, tempted in every manner as are we, knowing our desires, our weariness and our tears and sorrow.

One last thought regarding the statement that the Son of Man came is in order:  He existed before he came into our world.

He came.

He came for a purpose and the purpose existed before he came.

He came to serve.

He came to give his life as a ransom for many. He came as the Self-emptied one. He had no ambition for himself. He was not careful regarding his own well-being. He did not seek his own pleasure. He came to serve. He was and is God centered.

When he said he came to serve…he did not refer to serving men. He came to serve God. He came with one ambition. It was the ambition for the Glory of God and the good pleasure of God and the accomplishment of the will of God.

“To give his life a ransom for many,” is to seek the glory of God in the well-being of men. God’s glory is realized in the ransom of men, in redemption, healing and restoration of fellowship with God. This is the pathway of His service: the via delorosa of the way of the cross.

Jesus declared that the pathway of service for him was to go to the place where all that was opposed to God and so destructive to man was for the moment centralized. It was Jerusalem.

here were three great world powers that existed at the time of Jesus:

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            The first was the power of military despotism and government centered in Rome.

            Second, there was the power of decadent intellectualism and commercial prosperity centered in  Greece.

            Third, there was the power of a degenerate religion centered in Jerusalem.

Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem; where all that was opposed to God was at that moment centralized. And because of this fact, it was the place where everything that was destructive to mankind was centralized as well.

He must go there to the place where all the world forces were waiting for him with the one definite intention of silencing His voice and destroying Him.

He went to Jerusalem knowing all of this. He went with the intention of gathering the whole onslaught of evil forces upon himself. He went deliberately as Man to bend to its destruction. These forces were in opposition to the way and will of God. As such, they were all the forces bent on the destruction of mankind. For him there is no escape. He must be beaten. He must be crushed. He must be killed.

But when he went to the cross, he actually went to His crowning. He went not only to his death, but to his resurrection. It was not just death and destruction, but new life in righteousness and judgment upon all sin and freedom for mankind.

James and John knew this was where he was going because he had told them so. They knew all this, but they also knew Him and they knew that he was coming into his glory and they wanted to be associated with Him in the power of that glory.

And he told them that positions of honor did not matter at all. Following me in the pathway of service is what matters.

One of our problems was clearly identified in Sunday Express, London

            “Most people wish to serve God -- but in an advisory capacity only.”

And then they came to Jericho.

And blind Bartimaeus was there sitting by the road begging. When he heard that Jesus was there he started crying out, “Jesus. Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Luke tells us that those who led the way (presumably the disciples) rebuked him and told him to be quiet.

Jesus was obviously occupied with supreme things and he couldn’t be interrupted. We don’t really understand what he is trying to teach us, but they are really big things and this is no time to interrupt him. So Blind Bartimaeus “Be quiet.” Reminds us of the disciples trying to keep the little children from interrupting what Jesus was doing.

Jesus would have nothing to do with that and he said, “Call him.”  And he healed him, restoring his sight.

To have refused the man’s request would have been to deny his own teaching about serving.

If we would be great in the Kingdom of God…we must be servants…considering the needs of others. And our opportunity is the first blind beggar we meet. It is the first person who needs that cup of cool water. It is that first person whose need challenges us to respond as Jesus would.

That is the pathway to power….serving others. As we serve others we become like Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit will accomplish what we cannot do alone.

            During World War II, England needed to increase its production of coal. Winston Churchill called    together labor leaders to enlist their support. At the end of his presentation he asked them to   picture in their minds a parade which he knew would be held in Piccadilly Circus after the war.

            First, he said, would come the sailors who had kept the vital sea lanes open. Then would come the   soldiers who had come home from Dunkirk and then gone on to defeat Rommel in Africa. Then  would come the pilots who had driven the Luftwaffe from the sky.

            Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in miner's caps.    Someone would cry from the crowd, 'And where were you during the critical days of our struggle?' And from ten thousand throats would come the answer, 'We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal.'"

            Not all the jobs in a church are prominent and glamorous. But it is often the people with their      "faces to the coal" who help the church accomplish its mission.       Don McCullough, Waking    from the American Dream.

If there is such a parade in Heaven, there will be none but ordinary servants of the King.

Whatever is done for God, without respect of its comparative character as related to other acts, is service, and only that is service. Service is, comprehensively speaking, doing the will of God. He is the object. All is for Him, for His sake, as unto the Lord, not as unto man. Hence, even the humblest act of humblest disciple acquires a certain divine quality by its being done with reference to Him.

The supreme test of service is this: 'For whom am I doing this?' Much that we call service to Christ is not such at all....If we are doing this for Christ, we shall not care for human reward or even recognition. Our work must again be tested by three propositions: Is it work from God, as given us to do from Him; for God, as finding in Him its secret of power; and with God, as only a part of His work in which we engage as co-workers with Him." A.T. Pierson wrote, The Truth.

Jesus came…to give his life a ransom for many.

With James and John, our lives will be the same as theirs…as we follow the pathway of serving others…a life lived out for others whom Jesus loves. A life of sacrifice…and opportunity looking for someone in need.

--Dennis Gleason

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason - May 14, 2006