The ABCs of the Christian Life

THE ABCs OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

An Exposition of Mark 10:32-52

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: June 13, 2021

Series: Mark: Knowing and Following God’s Son

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

I invite you to turn in your Bible to Mark 10, and in a few moments I'll read verses 32-52. I love this passage. It is so beautiful.

But I want to begin this message with an application of the text. I haven't read the passage yet, of course, but I want to put this application out there at the beginning so that it is on your mind. There are obviously dozens and dozens of applications of a passage like this, and they are all important. And I just want to call your attention to one application at the beginning of the message.

The last 14 months has been trying and difficult in many ways, and yet I have to confess that the Lord has done wonderful things through it. The Lord has done wonderful things. I see this in my own life, and in my own family, and in other people's lives, and in the church as a whole. There has been a lot of renewal, a lot of deepening of fellowship, a lot more regular loving connections among us as the body of Christ. And we need to remember the Lord’s purpose in renewing our fellowship and renewing our ministry. As more opportunities open up before us, we must remember that we have a calling upon us. The calling is to declare the praises of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to make new disciples. We want to be salty salt – the salt of the earth. We want to be bright, shining lights – lifting up the gospel and calling people to come and join us in following our Lord Jesus Christ.

And yet there is something – there are actually several things, but in terms of this particular passage this morning there is something specific – that can derail our participation in Jesus’ mission. We can't derail Jesus' mission – praise God! His mission will succeed. His purposes will be accomplished. But we can derail our participation in it. The thing that is on my mind, the thing that can derail our participation, is selfish ambition. Someone gets to thinking, ‘It’s all about me. It's all about my ideas. It's all about my plan. It's all about my glory.’

The apostle John called attention to a man named Diotrephes. John wrote: “I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.” (3 John 9) Diotrephes was a leader in the church, but he loved to be first. He broke fellowship with God's people and he kicked people out of the church (3 John 9-10). Selfish ambition derails megachurches and small churches. Big ministries and little ministries get derailed because someone has started putting himself or herself first.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

And so, with that in mind, I want to read Mark 10:32-52. This is the Word of God:

³² And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³ saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴ And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

³⁵ And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶ And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”³⁷ And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” ³⁸ Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” ⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. ⁴² And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

⁴⁶ And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷ And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹ And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”⁵⁰ And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.⁵¹ And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” ⁵² And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. (Mark 10:32-52)

This is the Word of God, and it is for our good. Let's pray.

Father, as we are addressed by you through this passage, I pray that you would give us ears to hear and a heart to understand, and give us grace to be transformed by the instruction and the example of our Lord, in whose name we pray, amen.

WALKING THROUGH THE PASSAGE

I want to walk through this passage in four parts, and then after that call your attention to three very important applications for us.

Jesus Tells His Disciples that He is Headed to His Death (v. 32-34)

So to begin with, in verses 32-34, Jesus tells his disciples that he is headed to his death. They – Jesus and the twelve apostles and a larger group of people following him – are “on the road” (v. 32). And verse 32 says that they are “going up to Jerusalem” (v. 32). They are on their way to Jerusalem and, as you notice in verse 46, they will first pass through Jericho. Jericho is several hundred feet below sea level, and Jerusalem – not too far away – is a couple thousand feet above sea level. Thus they were “going up to Jerusalem” (v. 32, italics added). Those who are following Jesus are amazed and overwhelmed and afraid. We are not told exactly why they are amazed and afraid. But perhaps the things that Jesus has been teaching them have been unsettling them. And also, there is this mysterious thing that Jesus has been talking about in terms of his upcoming death in Jerusalem, which they really haven’t been able to understand. But for some reason or reasons they are overwhelmed.

And then Jesus takes the twelve apostles – as he has been doing at various points earlier in the Gospel of Mark. He takes the twelve apostles aside in order to tell them the same thing for the third time, right? What he tells them in Mark 10:33-34 he had previously told them in Mark 8:31 and in Mark 9:31.

Here in verses 33-34 Jesus tells them that he is going to be delivered over to the Jewish religious leaders. He is going to be delivered over – on a human level – by the betrayer Judas. But on a much deeper level, he is going to be delivered over by God the Father as the plan of redemption is brought to fruition. The Jewish religious leaders will stand in judgment over their Messiah, and they will decide that he is worthy of death. But since they don't have the authority to kill him, they will hand him over to the Gentiles – to the Romans, to Pontius Pilate. And under the watch of Pontius Pilate, Jesus will be mocked, spit on, flogged and killed. Behold your king, dead in Jerusalem. But that is not the end. After three days he will rise from the dead. Through this suffering and through this death, Jesus is bringing forth a great victory. The triumph of resurrection awaits!

James and John are Full of Misguided Ambition (v. 35-41)

Now you would think that if the apostles really understood what Jesus was saying, they would be profoundly humbled and sobered by what Jesus is teaching them. But of course, they are blind. And so, James and John turn their attention to another matter entirely. This brings us to verses 35-41, which I summarize this way: James and John are full of misguided ambition, and the other disciples aren't happy about it.

So, James and John come up to Jesus in verse 35 and say, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Jesus invites us to make bold requests in his name, but bold requests in his name are not the ones that arise out of self-serving ambition. Jesus replies in verse 36, “What do you want me to do for you?” And then they tell him: “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” (v. 37)

James and John are thinking about worldly status, worldly power, worldly prestige and rank. If you have seen – and I'm sure many of you have – if you've seen a president of the United States delivering a State of the Union Address, then you will recall that as you're looking up to him, you will notice that on his right there is the Vice President of the United States, and on his left is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. There's a pecking order, so to speak, within our federal government. Those are three pretty high officials. Or more to the point of this particular request, if you can imagine Jesus sitting in glory in his messianic kingdom, and there is this grand banquet hall and the apostles have a special place, what James and John want is to have the two places of highest honor. “[One] at your right hand” – that would be the place of highest honor, second only to the King. “[And] one at your left” – that would be the place of next highest honor. And that is where James and John want to be.

And Jesus says in verse 38, “You do not know what you are asking.” How many times do we not know what we are asking when we are asking? In terms of the specific misguidedness of James and John, we need to remember what we have been learning. We learn in Mark 8:31-38 and in other passages that suffering and sacrifice and servanthood is the pathway to glory. It is the pathway to glory for Jesus and for all of his followers. James and John don't understand this. If they really did understand it, their question would be radically different. Their request would be, ‘Jesus, since suffering and sacrifice is the pathway to glory, and since we want to be right there with you in your glory, then would you grant us to be crucified with you, one at your right and the other at your left.’ You see, that kind of a question would show understanding. But as it is, James and John have no idea what they are asking. They are forgetting about the fact that suffering and sacrifice is the pathway to glory. And this is what Jesus calls their attention to; this is why Jesus immediately turns their attention to suffering.

Jesus continues in verse 38, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” These are metaphors. The cup is the cup of suffering. Baptism means immersion – and Jesus is going to be immersed into and overwhelmed by the floodwaters of suffering and death. And Jesus is basically saying to James and John, Are you able to share in my suffering? Are you able to share in my anguish? Are you able to share in my trials? And they answerhim, “We are able.” (v. 39)

No doubt their answer is characterized by a shallow understanding, and a bit of overconfidence in themselves. But nevertheless Jesus says to them in verse 39, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized”. They probably don't understand what this means yet. But it points forward: John, you will be imprisoned (Acts 4:1-4, 5:17-18) and you will be exiled to the island of Patmos for my name's sake (Revelation 1:9). James, you will be killed “with the sword” (Acts 12:2).

Then Jesus continues in verse 42: “but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” Jesus is basically saying, The Father has planned it all. Now is not the time to know what and how he has planned it. Entrust the matter to him and get on with following me.

After this we come to verse 41: “And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.” Now we have been reading along here in Chapters 8, 9 and 10 – and we know that it is not as if the other ten disciples are indignant because they are jealous for the glory of Jesus. The other ten have as much selfish ambition as James and John do. You can imagine what it would be like to be part of a team of twelve, and everybody wants to be first. And then these two rascals over here dare to assert themselves and make it pretty obvious that they think they are better than everyone else. Yeah, those two are not very popular with the other ten. The other then might have thought, Who do James and John think they are? So Jesus has to corral his disciples and teach them yet again what true discipleship is all about.

Jesus Teaches His Disciples a Better Way (v. 42-45)

This brings us to verses 42-45, where Jesus teaches his disciples a better way. Verse 42 says, “And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.” You know how leadership and rulership and power so often works in the world, in government, in politics, in big business. Those who are considered rulers and lords and great ones – they are in it for themselves. They are pushing ahead with their agenda. They are running over anyone who gets in their way. It is a dog-eat-dog kind of world. They are looking to enrich themselves and boost themselves at other peoples’ expense. In fact, in Ezekiel 34, the Lord blasted the shepherds – the rulers – of Israel, because they did not care for the flock of God's people. All they sought to do was to enrich themselves – to eat well and be comfortable and be exalted – at the expense of the sheep. They did nothing to care for the weak and weary sheep. And Jesus says to us, in essence, If you can see and understand the way that rulership and greatness so often works in the world, then understand that this is a picture of what you all are not to be like. “But it shall not be so among you.” (v. 43) It is not to be this way among the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus says, starting in the middle of verse 43, “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.” (v. 43-44) Do you want to be great in God’s sight? Do you want to be prominent in God’s sight? Do you want to be significant in God's sight? Do you want to be great and prominent and significant in reality – not as the world defines it, but according to the way that God sees things? If so, then you must be a servant. You must be a slave. You must not go into relationships and conversations and meetings and difficulties where your agenda is to get your way, where your agenda is to manipulate things the way that you want them to go, where your agenda is to be the one who saves the day and gets the credit. Instead you are to go into all those various relationships and responsibilities with a lowly and humble attitude, and with a desire to serve and help and bless and lift others up.

And then we come to one of the most beautiful verses in the entire Bible. Jesus isn't just telling us what to do. He isn't just telling us how to live. He does it. He lives it. He embodies his own instruction! Jesus says in verse 45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus didn't come into the world looking for people to serve him. Instead, he came looking for people that he could serve. People that he could lift up. People that he could help. He is building a kingdom – not at the expense of others, but at his own expense. He bears the cost. Jesus says that he demonstrated his service by “[giving] his life as a ransom for many.”

Think about this concept of ransom. Imagine you have slaves, prisoners of war, criminals – they have no life to speak of, they have no future, they have no freedom. They are captives. They are in bondage. They need someone to come and pay a ransom – to pay a price for their redemption, for their deliverance out of their captivity. And Jesus pays this price by laying down his own life and spilling his own blood as a ransom for the captives. We will come back to verse 45 during the application.

A Blind Beggar is a Picture of Humble Discipleship (v. 46-52)

Now let's go on to the final section. I summarize verses 46-52 this way: A blind beggar is a picture of humble discipleship. They are in the area of Jericho. Jesus and the twelve and a great crowd are walking along on their way to Jerusalem. And there is this “blind beggar… by the roadside” (v. 46). He hears that Jesus of Nazareth is walking by, and he knows and understands that Jesus of Nazareth is no ordinary man. He is the Son of David. He is the King who has come to rescue his people. And so he cries out for mercy: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 47)

And then what happens? Do you remember what the disciples did in Mark 10:13? They rebuked the folks who were bringing the little kids to Jesus. They basically said, The Messiah doesn't have time for those kids. Now in verse 48 many other people do something similar. They rebuke the blind beggar. “And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.” (v. 48) This blind beggar was nothing more than an annoyance to them. But the man was persistent and “he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 48)

And don't you love verse 49? Everyone else would have just walked by and ignored this guy. But not Jesus: “And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”” (v. 49) That is grace. Jesus is the kind of Savior who notices someone that everyone else ignores, that everyone else writes off, that everyone else doesn't have time for. Jesus notices. Jesus pays attention. Jesus says, “Call him.” And with great energy, having been encouraged to come, the blind beggar does indeed come to Jesus. And Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” (v. 51)

Does this question sound familiar? In verse 36, Jesus said to James and John, “What do you want me to do for you?” Well, James and John had a self-serving request. They were full of themselves. By contrast, the blind beggar was not full of himself. He just wanted mercy. To those of you who are listening to this sermon: What do you want Jesus to do for you? Is what you want Jesus to do for you born out of being full of yourself? Or is what you want Jesus to do for you born out of empty hands, such that you are crying out to the King for mercy?

The blind man says at the end of verse 51, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” Then the passage concludes: “And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.” (v. 52)

This is beautiful. Now there are a couple levels of meaning here. On a purely physical level, the fact of the matter is that this blind beggar got healed. He was physically blind one moment, then Jesus healed him and now he could see. And now he could put one step in front of another and follow Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. That is what happened on a physical level.

But I think Mark – and the Holy Spirit who inspired Mark’s writing – intends for us to see it on a deeper level. Remember, I have said a number of times that this section that we've been looking at from Mark 8:22 to Mark 10:52 begins and ends with the healing of someone who is blind (Mark 8:22-26, Mark 10:46-52). And what is the problem with the disciples all throughout these chapters? They don't understand. They only see partially. We need Jesus to restore our spiritual sight. And here's the thing: the whole point of seeing clearly, the whole point of understanding rightly, is so that you will follow Jesus on the path of discipleship. Now the blind man could see and he “followed [Jesus] on the way”.

LET THE MESSAGE SINK IN: REFLECTION AND APPLICATION

So that is an overview of our passage. Now I want to really call attention to what I think are three very important applications that flow out of this passage. My applications are built around three words: see, receive, and serve. The following concepts are so foundational to spiritual health that they can be called the ABCs of the Christian life (the title of this sermon!).

The First Application: See

The first application is to see: you need to see Jesus building his kingdom and you need to see how he is building his kingdom.

I skipped over a word in verse 33 that I want to call your attention to now. Jesus began what he said with the word see: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over…” See. Behold. Look. Jesus wants his disciples to look and understand what is going on. But they are evidently not understanding what is going on! But Jesus heals the blind (v. 46-52)! And by His blindness-removing grace, we need to see that Jesus is building his kingdom and we need to see howhe is building it. So let’s go to verse 45.

Three times prior to verse 45, Jesus has told us that he is going to suffer and die (Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34). But now, for the first time in the Gospel of Mark, he tells his disciples why he is going to die. It’s not just that he is going to die, but his reason and purpose for doing so that matters so much. Verse 45 identifies the purpose of his death: he is “[giving] his life as a ransom for many.”

Now don't miss the obvious: Jesus is building his kingdom out of a bunch of people who need to be ransomed. God's kingdom is not for the cream of the crop. Instead, God’s kingdom is for the riffraff, the rabble, the slaves, the criminals, the prisoners of war. There is this beautiful passage in 1 Samuel – I'm going to read just two verses. Before I read it, let me say that this passage gives us a great picture of what happened in the life of David. And so much of what happened in the life of David was an anticipation – a foreshadowing – of what Jesus, the Son of David, the Messiah and King, would do. The passage says,

“David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.” (1 Samuel 22:1-2)

The physical reality of 1 Samuel 22:1-2 depicts the spiritual reality of Mark 10:45. Jesus came for those in distress, for the beaten down, for the bankrupt, for those who are in bondage to sin and death. And for Jesus to drink the cup of suffering and to be baptized/immersed/overwhelmed with suffering and death (Mark 10:38-39) was actually to drink the cup of God's judgment upon sin. The judgment that should have fallen on us – this is the cup that Jesus drank. He took responsibility for our liabilities, our sins, our transgressions – in order to satisfy the wrath of God and the justice of God, so that we could be redeemed from the power of sin and from the power of death and from the power of Satan.

So once again we see that the kingdom of God is not for the self-sufficient – like the rich man that we learned about last week (Mark 10:17-22). The rich man came to Jesus, but he was holding on to all his stuff. Therefore he walked away with no blessing from the Messiah, because his hands were too full of his stuff. But here in verses 46-52 this blind beggar comes with nothing to offer – and he receives mercy from the King! Jesus is building his kingdom out of a bunch of people who have nothing to offer!

And notice how Jesus is building his kingdom. Jesus is building his kingdom through His humble servanthood, through His sacrifice, through His suffering and death – in order to bring a sinful people into fellowship with the living God. You need to see this: God’s kingdom is built on the foundation of Jesus’ sacrifice. Let that sink in.

The Second Application: Receive

Now let’s move to the second application. The second application is to receive: receive from Jesus.

I think that what I am about to say in the next few minutes is one of the most important things I have ever said from this pulpit. Look at the first part of verse 45: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve...”

There are a lot of people in the world – including in the church – who have the assumption that their primary way of relating to Jesus ought to be doing things for him, that their primary way of relating to Jesus is that we are called to serve him. But Jesus did not come to be served. If you want a real and healthy relationship with Jesus, then your primary way of relating to Jesus must be that you are letting him serve you! And that should always be the way that you relate to Jesus – that he is serving you.

Now there is one particular way of Jesus serving us that Jesus highlights in verse 45: he “[gave] his life as a ransom for many.” But this is a window into the way in which we are always supposed to relate to him. We are sinful, and we need his righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). We are weak, and we need his strength (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). We are poor, and we need his riches (2 Corinthians 8:9). We are foolish, and we need his wisdom (Proverbs 3:5-8). We are hungry, and he is the bread of life (John 6:35). We are thirsty, and he is living water (John 7:37-39).

There is a legitimate sense in which we can speak of our serving the Lord (Matthew 25:14-30). What this means is that he is the master, and we are following him, we are serving his agenda, we are serving his interests, we are following his directions. That is a legitimate way of talking about serving the lord. But we need to understand that even in our serving we are fundamentally receivers. The New Testament says, “[Whoever] serves, [let him serve] as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). We cannot do anything of any value unless we are receiving from Jesus and receiving from the Father and receiving from the Spirit (John 15:1-11). We are always beneficiaries of the Lord, and we are never benefactors to the Lord.

There may be someone here this morning – and the primary way in which you think about relating to God is you doing things for him. You need to understand that this approach is a dead end. That was the Pharisees’ problem. That was the older brother's problem in the parable of the prodigal son (see Luke 15:11-32, especially verses 25-32). The older brother actually represented the Pharisees (look at Luke 15:1-2). The older brother’s mindset toward his father was like this: Look at everything I've done, and you've never thrown a party for me. He didn't understand that the father loved him; he didn't understand that all that the father had belonged to him; he didn’t understand that the father gladly shared his abundance with his son. And the older son ought to have lived in the bounty of the father's generous supply. But he turned the whole thing into a game of earning.

Listen: you will never earn anything from Jesus. Nothing! And there is nothing of any value that you have, that you have not received from him as a gracious gift (for example, see 1 Corinthians 4:7). We need to see the kind of kingdom that Jesus is building, and we need to receive from him. We need to come as little children (Mark 10:13-16) and as blind beggars (Mark 10:46-52), and we need to receive and continue to receive all that he has for us.

Jesus is not building a kingdom on the back of slave labor. He is building a kingdom on his own back, on his own strength. He bears the cost. And he says to us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Friends, you must receive from Jesus.

The Third Application: Serve

The first application is to see what Jesus is doing. The second application is to receive from the infinite riches of Jesus. The third application is to serve: serve others.   

Listen carefully now: unless God rearranges your sinful heart, you will approach God and other people in exactly the wrong way. So many people approach God as if they have to do something for him. And it proves to be very unsatisfying. And then they go out and relate to people with the attitude that they have to get things from people. They have to get approval from people, they have to get affirmation from people, they have to get applause from people, they have to get support from people, they have to get stuff from people. But that approach is exactly the opposite of the way that God created us. God did not create you to do stuff for him and to get stuff from people. Instead, he created you to get stuff from him, so that you can freely do stuff for other people. That is biblical Christianity.

When you live according to God’s design, you go into your relationships, your conversations, your ministry team, your homegroup, your family, your workplace, or a congregational meeting – and you go into those relationships and responsibilities not needing anything from anyone, because Jesus is serving you.

Jesus is supplying grace and mercy and strength and love and acceptance and forgiveness. Jesus’ grace fills up your soul so much, that you become an instrument in his hand as you are poured out in service to others.

If you need people's applause or approval or support, it is very difficult to serve them well – because you are always angling and manipulating for what you feel like you need from them. And Jesus says, in effect, ‘No. Let me teach you a different way! I want you to go – by my appointment – I want you to go into those spheres of relationships and those spheres of influence and there, in those contexts, I want you to be my servant. I want you to look around and find out who you can bless, who you can serve, who you can help, who you can care for. who can you bless? Who can you serve? Who can you help? Who can you care for? And our mindset should be that we want to lift others up and help others in terms of the full range of their needs. We want them to know Jesus. We want to share the gospel with them. We also want to be a practical and relational support to those around us.

And so, Jesus is building a community of servants – a community of servants who are overwhelmed by the grace of Jesus, a community of servants who stand in awe of his sacrifice, a community of servants who marvel at his mercy. And when we begin embody loving service in our relationships with one another, this becomes a beautiful picture of the gospel for the world to see. As Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

Marching Orders for Serving Others

I'd like you to turn to Romans 12, and I'd like you to stand up if you are able to. I want to give you this charge from Romans 12. I'm going to begin reading, starting at verse 6, in just a moment. But I want you to think about it this way. In terms of Mark 10:45, Jesus is pouring grace and mercy into your life. And this is the reality that Paul reflects on at the beginning of Romans 12 when he highlights how “the mercies of God” (Romans 12:1) are the foundation to a life of loving service. If we have a real and healthy relationship with the Lord, then we are recipients and beneficiaries of his overflowing and life-changing mercies. Then he says to those who have become receivers of his grace: I want you to go forth and serve others. So let's pick it up in verse 6. What we read here is love made practical through concrete acts of service. God’s Word says:

⁶ Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷ if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

⁹ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”²⁰ To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:6-21)

Let's pray.

Father, I pray for everyone here, that we would live in the fullness of the grace of Jesus. And if anyone is here who is outside of that reality, we pray that you would touch their heart and give them no rest until they find rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that you would build us up as a community of humble servants who go forth in your name to do your will, to be a blessing to one another and to the world. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Mark (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.

William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark (The New International Commentary on the New Testament). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974.

Eckhard J. Schnabel, Mark (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries Vol. 2). Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2017.

James W. Voelz, Mark 8:27–16:20 (Concordia Commentary). St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2019.

Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.