Sermon: Not so with you
Bible Passage: Mark 10:35-45
Mark 10:35-45 is part of the larger passage Mark 8:22-10:45
1. This large section contains three predictions of Jesus’ death and resurrection, each of which carries Jesus’ teaching on discipleship/leadership
a. 8:31 prediction
b. 8:34-38 discipleship/leadership
i. Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me
ii. “Whoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel’s shall save it”
iii. It’s almost like Jesus saying, “you better decide how you follow me. Do not follow me for a wrong reason”
c. Mark 9:30b-31 prediction
d. 9:34-35 discipleship/leadership (“If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all”)
e. Mark 10:32b-34 prediction
f. 10:43b-45 discipleship/leadership (“whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all”)
2. Emphasis of this section:
a. Greatness does not lie in positions of “power and recognition” that may be used for one’s own personal benefit
b. But greatness lies in seeking to serve others
In all three passages, disciples were not in sync with Jesus’ plan
1. 8:32 Peter rebuked Jesus for Jesus’ prediction of death and suffering—unless they had the right picture of who Jesus is, they cannot bear witness to Jesus
2. 9:34 They had argued with one another about who was the greatest
3. 10:37 Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory and 10:41 “they became angry with James and John”
4. Peter, James, and John were the inner circle disciples of Jesus (e.g., Mark 9:2, 14:33)
a. For His own reasons Jesus kept them in His inner circle
b. They tried to leverage their relationship with Jesus for their own benefit
i. 10:28 Peter began to speak to him, “Look, we have left everything to follow you!”
ii. 10:35 Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory
5. James and John were family members of Mary (Salome was Mary’s sister John 19:25; so, James and John were Jesus’ cousins)
6. They tried to leverage their family relationship for their advantage
7. They probably wanted to enhance their career by leveraging their relationship with Jesus
a. 10:41 when the other ten heard this, they became angry with James and John (first Christian politics!)
8. When Jesus was focusing on fulfilling the Father’s interest, the disciples were focusing on themselves
a. For Jesus, serving the Father’s interest is the primary focus
b. Father’s interest is “service and sacrifice” for others (“many” of 10:45)
9. But, the disciples were self-centered, near-sighted, entitled, and unable to understand what Jesus wanted in leadership
Verse 42 Jesus called them [the disciples] and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them
1. Lord over κατακυριεύω
2. Authority over κατεξουσιάζω
Verse 43a: “Not so with you”
Jesus does not recommend to Christians a Gentile model of leadership; what Jesus teaches is countercultural
1. 10:43b “whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant”
a. The Greek word for “servant” is “diakonos”
b. It [diakonos] refers to a person who works for or advances another person’s agenda
c. i.e., here in this context, they are commissioned by Jesus and acting on Jesus’ behalf
d. The leaders are not “servants” of the people, but they are servants of Jesus
e. The beneficiaries of their service are the “many” of verse 45
f. Two aspects of Christians leaders: (1) they advance Jesus’ interest and (2) they serve others (“many” of verse 45)
2. 10:44 whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all
a. Absence of personal agenda
b. Priority to the Master’s agenda
3. Jesus exemplifies “God’s service—ministry” and “service to others”
Observations
1. Christian leadership is modelled after Jesus’ leadership
2. Every Christian leader is a “God’s servant”—a diakonos of God for the service of His people
3. Christian leadership is countercultural, completely opposite of Gentile-leadership
4. Greatness or leadership is measured from how much a person acts on behalf of the community rather than positioning oneself over it [the community]
5. Christian leadership is exercised through service and sacrifice, in Jesus’ way; it is not modelled after the godless social science
6. The ultimate test of following Jesus lies in doing what Jesus did., i.e., “to give His life as a ransom for many”
7. Christ followers must not desire positions of authority to lord over others, but they must desire positions of authority to serve others because serving others exemplifies Christ’s model for greatness—it is biblical servanthood
8. The eldership is to be Jesus’ ministers to minister to His people
Take Away:
Imitate Jesus’ leadership