Service Means Sacrifice

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Transcript:

We’re going to be in Mark chapter 10 this morning, Mark chapter 10. For many of us, it’s a little bit difficult not to be skeptical of people’s motives, if not outright cynical. I don’t know if we’ve just been duped too many times, but I listen to politicians and they tell us, you know, we’re doing this for you and we want to do this for you. And I think, sure you are.

You just want to get elected or get donations or whatever it is. Sometimes I’m afraid people feel that way toward churches as well and pastors and say, I’m sure you care about me. You really just want my nickels in your plate.

I’m even that way with businesses. Somebody comes up to me and Sam’s offering free samples and I think, what are you doing? What do you want?

I’m to the point where you know people come to my door I don’t trust anybody outside of whoever I know because I think we’ve gotten to the point where many of us feel like everybody’s got an ulterior motive and we’ve talked about putting a sign on our door like they have in some of the places in Canada I’ve visited but say no solicitors or Jehovah’s Witnesses I’m thinking about getting more to the point and saying unless I know you or you had tacos don’t ring my doorbell Because I’m afraid it just feels like everybody’s got ulterior motives. And how do you get beyond that? How do you demonstrate?

How does somebody demonstrate trustworthiness to you? How does somebody demonstrate that they’re not coming to you with an ulterior motive? It’s a difficult thing and something that we’ve got to figure out as believers.

When we try to tell the world, as I’ve been talking through the month of October about serving others and serving the community, As we go to them and try to tell them we love you and try to show them we love you, how do we get past that barrier of them thinking, sure you do, you just want something from me. And I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this. This week I listened to an interview where they were talking about the Brexit vote.

Most of you probably heard at least passing mention on the news of the Brexit vote, where the British voted to exit the European Union. That’s why they call it Brexit. There were a group of people who were elected to the European Parliament, and I’ll explain where I’m going with this.

They were elected to the European Parliament on a platform of, we need to get out of the European Union. And they campaigned hard. They’ve been campaigning for years before it even came up to the Brexit vote, some of these people who wanted out of the EU.

And with a lot of politicians, you question their sincerity, you question whether there is there an ulterior motive here, or what is the ulterior motive. These people, when you get right down to it, they were campaigning for years, elect us so we can go up there and lose our job. Think about that.

They were saying we could go and get elected to the European Parliament and we could make hundreds of thousands of dollars, well, euros, I guess, probably hundreds of thousands of dollars also a year, but instead we want to go up there and do our job so well that we no longer have a job. We want to sacrifice ourselves for our country. Now, whether you agree with Brexit or not, it’s hard to question the sincerity of somebody who says, let me do something that is completely against my own self-interest. Right?

We send people to Congress year after year, and many of them end up millionaires by the time they leave Congress. I’m not sure how that works. Imagine if Oklahoma was wanting to pull out of the union, and we sent people to Congress who said, send us up there so that we can pull us out and we won’t have a job anymore.

Whether you agree with them or not, and I’m not suggesting Oklahoma pull out the union, I’m just saying it’s hard to question the sincerity, whether you agree with them or not, it’s hard to question the sincerity of somebody who works against their own self-interest. Somebody who says, I could make a lot more money, I could have a lot more power, I could have more this or that if I did this, but I’m going to do the opposite because I believe it’s the right thing to do. It’s called sacrifice. It’s called sacrifice, and it’s something we’ve lost in our society.

where we used to take ourselves and our interests, and we used to put them behind the interest of somebody else. That I’m going to be more concerned about what’s good for you, and what’s right for you, than I am with my own interests. And I don’t care if it costs me money, I don’t care if it costs me a position, I don’t care if it costs me influence, I don’t care what it costs me, I’m going to do the right thing, and I’m going to serve you.

That’s something that our society used to value, and we called it sacrifice. Well, even 2,000 years ago, this argument was going on. People were concerned with my power, my influence.

Can I be the greatest in the kingdom? You see where I’m going with this? And Jesus said, no, no, no. It’s all about serving.

And not just serving with your mouth. It’s about sacrificing. It’s about real service.

Getting down to what real service is, it’s about sacrifice. It’s about I give up a piece of something that’s good for me to benefit you. And in our context, it’s about giving up something that’s good for me to point you to Jesus Christ. And so we look in Mark chapter 10 today, and we see where he talked about this idea of sacrifice, this idea of giving up something that’s in our own interest. And this is something that we’ve got to rediscover.

As we go out into the community and as we serve, we’ve got to rediscover the idea of sacrifice. because it’s one of the few bullets we have left in the gun to show the world that we are serious. They may question our sanity.

They may question a lot of things, but it would be hard to question our sincerity about loving them and wanting to serve them when they see what it costs us something. So we start in verse 35. Jesus has just been teaching about his death and his resurrection.

They still don’t understand because they’re still thinking in their minds that Jesus is going to come and be the Messiah in the sense that he’s going to be an earthly king. He’s going to kick the Romans out and he’s going to set himself up on the throne and be in charge. And so it says in verse 35, And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldst do for us whatsoever we shall desire.

They’re coming to him and saying, Would you grant us a request? Would you do us a favor? And I’ve learned the hard way over the years.

And when somebody says, Will you do me a favor? My answer is not yes, my answer is probably. Let me hear what the favor is first. But they’re coming to Jesus and saying, Would you write us a blank check here?

Will you do whatever we ask for you to do? Do something for us? And Jesus wisely says in verse 36, What would ye that I should do for you?

What do you want, he says. And they say in verse 37, They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy glory. When you come into your glory, When you’re seated on your throne, could one of us have the chair right next to you on the right side and the other had the chair right next to you on the left side?

Lord, would you do that for us? And I’m sure they thought it was a reasonable request. They’ve been devoted followers from the very beginning. They’ve been with him through all the hard times they think.

It’s only going to get harder. But they’ve been with him from the very beginning. So, Lord, when you’re king, when you’ve set yourself up as the ruler, can we sit with you?

Can we reign up there too? But Jesus said to them, verse 38, You know not what you ask. You don’t even know what you’re asking for.

Can you drink at the cup that I drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? He says, can you go through what I’m about to go through to come into my glory? Because there’s about to be somebody raised up on the right hand of the left hand of Jesus, but I don’t think it was anything that they were looking for.

Because it was going to be the thieves crucified on either side of him. So he says, can you handle what I’m about to go through? Do you really want to cast your lot in with me this way?

And they said unto him, we can. And Jesus said unto them, ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized. He says, okay, you’re going to undergo the same thing.

And history tells us that they did suffer for their faith. James was martyred very early on, and John outlived all the other apostles, but he spent his life in exile, being persecuted for his faith. So when Jesus talks about this cup that he’s about to drink of, and talks about the baptism that he’s about to undergo, he’s talking about the suffering that’s about to wash over him.

And says, all right, you want it, you’ve got it. He says, but to sit on my right hand and my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. And so he tells them, but this issue of sitting on my right hand or left hand, that’s up to the Father.

And he’s already got plans here. And when the ten heard it, which would be the other ten disciples, they began to be much displeased with James and John. I bet.

You’ve gone around the rest of us, behind our backs, to Jesus to ask if you could be the big guys in the kingdom. What about us? So we’ve really got an attitude issue among the disciples here.

They are all jockeying for first place here in the kingdom. They all want to be the big guy. They all want to sit on the throne.

They all want to be glorified. They all want to be in charge. They all want to be glorified with Jesus.

Jesus called them to him and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them. So he points them to the Gentiles, who they would not have liked. And he says, you know this is how it works with the Gentiles, right?

You know that the ones who are the leaders, well, they just kind of triple all over the little people. The ones who are the leaders, they exercise rule. They dominate the little people.

And they exercise authority. And they say, I’m the one in charge. You listen to me.

You serve me. And he points to that and he says, what you’re asking about, you realize that’s the way the Gentiles do things, right? And if we were wanting to do this in our society with somebody that we would say is an enemy, you know what you’re asking for?

That’s what Al Qaeda does, right? You know this is how ISIS behaves, right? It’s sort of like how people in politics are always saying, calling the other side a Nazi.

He’s saying, you’re wanting to do what the Gentiles do. You’re acting like Gentiles. You’re acting like people who don’t even know me, who don’t even know God.

He says in verse 43, but so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister. That means servant. He says, it’s not going to be the same.

It can’t be and will not be the same way among you, among my followers. It will not be the same way. He said, if you want to be great in the kingdom, you’ve got to learn to serve.

The one who’s greatest here is going to be the one who serves the others. Whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be the servant of all. He says, you want to be great in the kingdom, stop worrying about your crown and your throne and who you can boss around and get down on your knees and serve people.

That’s the answer that he gave them. And that ties in with what I talked about last Sunday morning with the washing of feet. Where he told them, this is an example to you.

That if I was willing to get down and wash people’s feet, and it wasn’t about the washing of feet, it was about the humility of it. Because Jesus was doing this nasty job that was reserved for the servants. The host would never have done this.

But Jesus said, if you call me your Lord, if you say I’m your master, and yet I’m willing to get down there and serve, then you should be willing to also. And now Jesus is reminding them of the same thing. But whoever wants to be great in the kingdom, forget worrying about the crown and the throne.

Quit worrying about how much money and how much influence and whether everybody’s looking at you and worrying about being glorified. Wrap your waist in a towel. fill a basin full of water and get down and wash their feet.

He said, if you want to be great in the kingdom, learn to serve. And he goes one step further. Again, he’s always tying this in with himself as the example.

When he’s talking about service, when he’s talking about serving others, he points them to his own example. And for good reason, Jesus is the best example we have of what it means to serve. And here again, he ties it back into himself and says in verse 45, for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.

He said, I did not come to be served. Here you call me Lord. Here you call me Master.

Here you call me Teacher. He said, I didn’t even come to be served. He said, I came to serve.

And don’t miss this last little clause in here, he says, and to give his life a ransom for many. What Jesus is talking about here is serving to the point of the ultimate sacrifice. See, it’s one thing for us to serve people when it doesn’t cost us anything.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. If we can serve people and do it in easy ways, great. That frees up our time to serve more.

But what will really change lives, what will really change the lives of people in our community, what will really draw people to the Lord Jesus Christ, is when we begin to serve in such a way where people see that it costs us something, that we’re sacrificing. And I’m not doing this because there’s any benefit in it to me. And I’m not doing this because I want something from you.

Because this is against my own self-interest. As I was thinking about this this morning, again, what this meant. The story, the most recent story that came to mind was when, and I’m sorry I should have warned you that I was going to talk about this, but I didn’t think about it until just a few minutes ago. But when Charla was going through the miscarriage, and it was about 3 o’clock in the morning, She called me.

She had gone to see her mother. She was in the city. So she called me, and we agreed to meet in Ada.

I had to call my mother at 3 o’clock in the morning and wake her up and tell her, there’s something wrong. I’ve got to meet Charla and Ada at the hospital. Can you come and stay with the kids? If you call me at 3 o’clock in the morning, maybe in the afternoon too, but if you call me at 3 o’clock in the morning, good luck getting me even to remember my name.

But my mother jumped up. I don’t know if she jumped. But she got out of bed.

And she got in her car and she drove to Seminole. And she stayed with them for as long as we needed them to. And I realize that probably a lot of y’all are thinking, well, yeah, she’s a mother.

That’s what mothers do. Exactly. That’s called sacrifice.

There was nothing in that for her. There was no benefit to her. She gave up sleep.

She gave up days of her time to come and help us out because we needed it. It cost her something. And I appreciate it.

I appreciate that she was willing to do that. See, the idea of sacrifice is not all that foreign. If you have children, you understand what it means to sacrifice.

You understand, I may never even get a thank you for what I’m doing. But it’s good for you. So I’ll sacrifice my own interest. It’s one thing for us to do that for our children.

It’s one thing for us to do that for people we love and care about. Jesus was giving his life a ransom for many. He was giving His life for these disciples, and you’d say, well, yeah, they were people Jesus loved.

They were, but one of them’s about to betray Him. One of them’s about to deny Him. One of them’s about to doubt His word and His resurrection.

The rest of them are about to go into hiding. These were not, at this point, faithful to the end kind of guys. And not only that, but He was doing it for you and for me.

The Bible says, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. while we were still sinning, while we were still sticking our tongue out at God and spitting in His face and telling Him, I don’t care what you say, I’m going to live the way I want to, when mankind was still doing that and still is doing that today, in that moment, in that context, Christ died for us. See, He gave His life.

He shed His blood. He went through that pain and that anguish and that humiliation. He did that when we least deserved it.

and he did it because we didn’t deserve it. He served, as he said, he didn’t come to be served, but to serve. And he served to such an extent that it cost him something.

And I’m not for a moment suggesting that we need to go and die for the people of Seminole. Wouldn’t do anything, first of all. I could claim to die for the sins of the people of Seminole, and they would still be in the same predicament that they’re in now.

My death wouldn’t do a thing for them. And we fortunately live in a place and a time where serving others and serving Christ doesn’t cost us our lives. But it hasn’t always been that way.

It’s not that way everywhere, and it may not always be that way. But we still have interests, and we still have costs. And we still have the opportunity to give up a little bit of ourselves in order to show people that we love them.

To get out of our comfort zones. To sacrifice our time and our money. To sacrifice our emotions, it is exhausting getting involved in people’s lives.

Do you realize that? It is exhausting to care about people, especially when they have trouble. Especially when there’s drama.

It’s exhausting. And it will cost you part of yourself. And yet we are called on to love people sacrificially.

We don’t have the luxury of saying, I don’t want to spend my money on that. You’re not worth my time. You’re too much trouble for me to get involved.

We don’t have that luxury. we’re called on to sacrifice and to serve. When we start loving people in a way that there’s nothing in it for them.

That church is serving us. That church is helping us. That church is loving us.

There is nothing in it for them. It’s hard to question that kind of sincerity. It’s hard to question the sincerity of that kind of service when people see sacrifice.

So Jesus said if you’re concerned about the kingdom if you want to be great in the kingdom if you want to serve me well learn to serve other people. And if we’re going to follow his example, we need to learn to serve people in a way that costs us something, not just when it’s easy, but even when, and maybe better said, especially when there’s a sacrifice involved, especially when it costs us something.