John Gunter: Glad to be with you this morning. Sickness has come to the Gunter House. So I've got a couple of people around the audience that if I start speaking out of my head, they're gonna give a signal. We're gonna go to the invitation song and be done for the day. And, I needed a cold medicine at 10 o'clock, and I left it at home.
So there you go. We, again, have enjoyed our, our study through the gospel of Mark. Last week, as as we spoke together, we kind of challenged some things, both in Mark and in Matthew, where, Jesus looks at the Pharisees, the church leaders of the day, and said, well, woe to you because of how you act. He he says that, they bet they they tie up heavy burdens which are hard to bear while they themselves won't lift a finger. Isn't that amazing?
That people who claim to be close to God will tie up burdens that are hard to bear on other people. And we still see that today, don't we? People who claim different things, who argue different things, and they don't actually do much themselves, but they are real gripey about the rest of it. What I love about Scripture is that it calls that stuff out, that we shouldn't be coming together and just being thankful, and in a way that we overlook all of those things, that we should be able to come and look in the mirror, and I think that's what we're going to see today in the two stories that we are going to read, starting in Mark 10, starting in verse 35. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, talking about Jesus, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.
Now, I think I covered this recently, but how many of you have ever had somebody come up to you and say, hey, promise me you'll do this, before they tell you what they want you to do? Yeah. This is a this is a very loaded statement. This is something that wise people say, uh-uh. Tell me first, and I will make an informed decision.
Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Well, that could be anything. Yeah. And he said to them, what do you want me to do for you?' And they said to him, 'Grant us to sit, 1 at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.' So we see very quickly that James and John, what they desire is the positions of leadership or positions of honor around Jesus. Now, Jesus is about to teach them something really quickly, because as we have read very recently, those who exalt themselves will be, what, Humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
And that is what we will see today. 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?' And they said to him, we are able, which is interesting. They, they kinda brought the attitude with them, didn't they? We can do whatever.
We can make it. We can do it. 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. And Jesus almost says this in a way that, you know, you're you're kind of saying this theoretically.
Oh, yeah. We can do this. And Jesus says, no. You will. You will get these things.
You don't understand what they mean yet, but you will get these things. 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. And so he's saying, this is out of my hands. I think He is also saying, You still don't understand what even that means, but it is out of my hands. But when the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.
Amen. Yes. We would see the same thing today if that was, hey, brother A over here, brother B over here is saying, hey, we'd like to be in the positions of honor above all of you, deplorables. That's what we used politically for a long time. Right?
Deplorables. Yeah. Things like that. And so the rest of us would go, Hey, hold up just a minute. I'm not deplorable.
You are. Right? And we'd all fight with each other. But they were indignant. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, You know that those are those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
But it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. And so, what he is saying is James and John, what you are asking is to be like the Gentiles, to be put in a position. You are kind of lifting yourself up and saying, I'm important to be in this position. I should be there. And he said, well, you're acting like the Gentiles because the Gentiles, when they have positions of authority, what they use it for is to lord it over people.
We covered this probably on a weekly basis when we went through our leadership, series, because in churches, we still do the same thing, whether, you're in a church where the preacher or the pastor is the head guy, or you are in a church like ours, where we consider elders to be over everything, that comes with baggage of what we think that looks like. Now, what we think it looks like and what it should look like may be 2 different things, because no matter what position you're in, it's never about who's in charge lording it over people. Guess what? I'm up here and you're down here. That's what Jesus is saying.
Gentiles do that, but it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your, what, servant. Yeah. Is that a common theme throughout Scripture? Yes, it is. Right?
And so, he said, And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. And so, to lead as a Christian is to be a servant or to be a slave. You may or may not know this. If you decide to serve as an elder or a deacon, but the way we're set up, especially as an elder, that decision is not just to be over people. That decision includes putting yourself squarely in the crosshairs, right?
Squarely in the crosshairs of everybody who's got a complaint. That is not a position of, hey, I'm up here. That is a position of, I am going to put myself down here and take it and serve and be kind of a slave or be at the bottom rung because I believe it's important enough to do this. Because I want to see the church do well. Right?
And and you probably have been in churches where you've had people all over the map on this. You've had people who were true servants. You've had people who, sometimes I've heard it called we've got pope elders at sometimes. Like, a guy that just won't leave, who tries to make a decision about everything, and he's he's a 150, you know, but he is still making those decisions, and nobody can talk him out of it, and somebody who just doesn't have this heart. But Jesus is very clear, you are not desiring to put yourself in this position of authority to lord it over people and say, No, you listen to me.
It is positions of, I am going to do this, because I am going to give up my time, I am going to give up my energy, I'm going to give up money, and all of these things to serve you, because I believe it to be that important. Now, that's not what James and John are trying to do, which is the point Jesus is trying to make. Quit being like the Gentiles. Start acting like people who follow Christ, you should be servant or slave of all. For even the Son of Man Well, if anybody had a reason not to do this, it was Jesus, right?
That is what the case He is making. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to what church? Serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. That's what Jesus said, if you want a good example of this, look at my life. Jesus did not come, and sit on a place of authority where he lived a a nice cushy life and just told everybody what to do.
He lived a very hard life, serving people in ways that would you sign up for the way he lived? Right? We live in in in very great circumstances. Jesus served in this way, and you think about as as we know that Jesus left the side of god to come here. Would we leave our nice houses to go and do what Jesus did?
But he says, I'm the example. Story number 2. 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. 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. And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me.' How would you like to be the person that told the blind man to shut up? That's what happened there. Okay? They they they're trying to get him to be quiet, and he's saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and said, call him.
And they called the blind man, saying to him, take heart, get up, he is calling you. And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, what do you want me to do for you? You notice the overlap in the previous story. James and John says, hey.
We want you to do whatever we're gonna about to ask you. Not gonna tell you what it is, but we want you to do it. The blind man, Jesus, comes to him and says, what do you want me to do for you? Jesus is offering that. And the blind man said to him, 'Rabbi, let me recover my sight.' 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. Now, what I want you to notice is in the first story, the people closest to Jesus had this messed up idea about authority and the positions of authority and what Jesus could provide for them. Their only goal was the goal of ambition to be in the right seats of power. Jesus said, You've got it all wrong. You're acting like the Gentiles.
In this story, a man who was sitting on the side of the road, blind begging, had to be told to shut up because he is yelling, what? Son of David. Kind of an acknowledgment about who Jesus was. And when Jesus said, What would you like for me to do to you? He didn't say, Put me in a position of power to be over all of these people.
He said, Give me my sight. And what he got was his sight, and Jesus told him, Go on your way. But where did he go? He started following Jesus. And so often, the way it looks is those closest to Jesus miss the forest for the tree.
And the blind man, who you think has no sight, has no vision, we might say, actually sees what he should see. And he sees that Jesus is the son of David, that he can handle whatever his request is, and he follows him. He doesn't run off. And you see, when he's asking for Jesus, he is requesting this out of a faith knowing he can do whatever it is he has. And so, this should be a challenge for us.
That we in the church often take things for granted. We feel like we already have all the answers. We know everything. We read a scripture. Well, I know all the things for this.
I've heard 50 something sermons. I've been in the church for 50 years, and, I've heard I don't know how many sermons. I I can't tell you how many times I've had conversations like that. And it's almost like we turn our brains off because we've heard things a certain way. Right?
Actually, there are some parables that I love, like the parable of the sower, that I would preach to you all the time, but I feel like, okay, they've heard it a bunch. But it's so good. Right? But if all we're doing is we're coming and we're on cruise control and we don't ever examine what's going on in our life, we can be like James and John. We can physically, like they were, physically be close to Jesus and be completely missing His teachings.
So we could come and we can say, hey, I've been in church for 50, 60 years, and I've heard so many sermons, and what has that gotten? Have you actually heard? Has it produced in you a changed heart? And so, we can be physically close and maybe closer than others to doing the right thing in the way we think, but we can be missing, as they did, the forest for the trees. And some outsider, somebody who we think, Oh, they don't get it, can see it better than us.
You ever met someone in public that they were so kind and so nice, and you thought, man, I need to step up my game. Done that before. Like, oh, maybe I was a little off today. I need to I need to step up my game. I'm I'm not showing Jesus like they are.
They're good. But they don't go to church with me. Right? So how do they see? Right?
There's some things that that we we go through there, but that is that is the the lesson for today that we should be people who constantly examine. Are we following Jesus, or are we just sticking to cruise control? Are we sticking to this is the way I think it always has been, and so it should be this way, or am I following Jesus? And so I'm just gonna ask you this morning, church, are you walking with Christ? Are you walking with Christ, or are you following your heart?
Are you following your ambition? Or are you walking with God? And so if you have any needs this morning, we're gonna offer an invitation Psalm.