Our passage this evening comes from the book of Mark, Mark chapter 10. Just a bit of correction from the title of the sermon is A Kingdom of Servants. In the bulletin it reads A Kingdom of Priests. It's A Kingdom of Servants. Mark 10, verse 35 through 45. When James and John, the son of Zebedee, came to him, Teacher, they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. What do you want me to do for you, he asked. They replied, let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory. You don't know what you are asking, Jesus said. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? We can, they answered. Jesus said to them, You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with. But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared. When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as ransom for many. Therein ends the reading of God's Word. Have you ever experienced confusion to any degree while studying Christianity? It's not unusual for Christians when studying the deep truths of Christianity to experience some degree of confusion. But such confusion is not necessary. Oftentimes, confusion occurs because we are not willing to submit to what God's Word teaches. While the disciples in the text before us here, they too are confused. They're confused over whether the kingdom of Christ was one of self-interest or one of sacrificial service. And this is interesting because by this time we would imagine that the disciples would already have known this. You see, Mark places the text before us in a very interesting and peculiar place. It's part of this larger structure that is contained or sandwiched between two narratives of blind men. and maybe you know this, but Mark oftentimes uses sandwiches like this to develop the text on the inside as well as the outside. And so what Mark's pointing out to by sandwiching this text here between two blind narratives is he's pointing out that the disciples are still blind. So the text before us, Christ takes this opportunity to again teach his disciples on the nature of his kingdom. The passage develops a theme that service is the character or the nature of Christ's kingdom. And it does so by focusing on three things. The character of self-interest, selfless sacrifice, and finally, a selfless servant. Let's begin by developing the first point here, self-interest. Now, this characteristic of self-interest is exemplified or illustrated in James and John. They desire to possess authority and power over others. We can see this in their first question to Jesus. They ask a previous question before asking what they really want. They come to Christ and they say, Lord, we want you to do something for us. And this method might be familiar to some of us, young adults, children, in asking our parents for something when we first come and ask them first, will you do something for me? And so we're hoping to secure in the first question the answer to the second question. And this reveals the nature of their request, the nature of James and John's request. They are scheming and deceiving in order to obtain what they want. And this is how self-interest works. You see, self-interest is devious and deceiving. In order to obtain what it desires, it must work this way. And so we see James and John here, in this passage, trying to make the most of this opportunity. James and John are two of the inner three or two with the exception of Peter who make up the inner circle of Christ's disciples. They were more intimate with Christ than the other nine would have been. And if we look back at chapter 8, verse 29, and we see the prominent role that Peter takes in confessing Christ or confessing Jesus as the Christ. James and John would have seen that. And they would have seen how Christ responded to Peter's confession. And so here they're now trying to take their opportunity to establish a prominent position for themselves. But they're doing it not by confessing Christ, as Lord, confessing Jesus as Messiah, they're doing it by asserting their own interest. It's not difficult to understand what they're asking for. They want to be on the right and left. In the Jewish mind, the right and left were symbols of royal position. And so they're seeking this royal position. And this reveals the intent of their request. The intent of their request. Note that they are recognizing Christ at the center. So they have something good going for them. They're correct in one thing, that Christ would be in the primary position from which they would derive their glory. But in recognizing Christ and his position, they're attempting to use him for themselves. And that is the intent of their request. They desire to use Christ. And in so doing, they're attempting to raise themselves above their other disciples and above everyone else, for that matter. And this is displayed in the fact that they knew Christ and they knew who he was. See, as I said, they were part of the inner circle. They were familiar with the power of Christ. They had seen his miracles. They had heard his teachings. They had even seen the transfiguration. And now, Jesus, the Messiah, was going into Jerusalem. And this triggered in James and John's mind, glory. The kingdom of Christ is coming in glory. The Messiah is entering Jerusalem. But this reveals the blindness of their request. Jesus does not go into Jerusalem for glory as they understood it to be. Jesus does assert himself and his kingdom by going into Jerusalem, but he does it entirely different from what James and John imagined. You see, these men conveniently and selectively heard and accepted Christ's teachings. Jesus, at this time, by this verse here, and between this verse and chapter 8, a total of three verses, two and a half, three chapters, had taught his disciples four times, four times as to what would occur when he went into Jerusalem. We could read the last one on verse 33 of chapter 10 right before our verse is here. Jesus says, We are going up into Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles who will mock Him and spit on Him, flog Him and kill Him. In response to that, James and John ask for glory. And so they're blind. They're blind to Christ's task. They're blind to Christ's kingdom. They're blind to the gospel. And they're blinded by their self-interest. Now, lest we lay all the blame at the feet of James and John, We should take note that the other disciples were operating in a similar way. They display this same misunderstood way. Verse 41 says, When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Initially, we would think, indignation? Rightly so. Who wouldn't be indignant over that? But if we look a little closer and see the context of this passage and go over to chapter 8, we could see that there is something else going on here. These disciples were not upset that James and John had made this request. They were upset that James and John were first to make this request. You see, back in chapter 8, the disciples were arguing over something. They were arguing over who was the greatest. in the kingdom. And so this is just a continuation of that. Their indignation here is motivated by their own interests as well. This is not an isolated incident, but it continues from that discussion. Now, it's easy to see the self-interest that is going on in these disciples in the passage before us, but I wonder if we too are any different. Do we, like them, place our own interests above that of others? Do we allow our own interests to distort our intentions? Do we allow our interests to blind us to the work of God? The answer is, we do. Husbands, do you put yourself before your wives? Wives, do you put yourselves before your husbands? Children, do you place yourself before others? We don't have to think hard and long about even within the church of God where people have asserted their own interest over that of others and of God and have split churches. You see, it's easy to see this interest in these disciples. But we, too, have to be reminded that Christ's kingdom is not a kingdom of self-interest. It's a kingdom of selfless service. And this moves us on to our second point, selfless service. Jesus first points out the nature of his kingdom in response to James and John. In response to their question, he asks them a question. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? James and John answer, yes, we can. But when they were speaking of cup and baptism, they were speaking of glory. But Christ was speaking of his future suffering. You see, the cup and baptism had come to symbolize in the Old Testament suffering Psalm 75 8 states in the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed spices he pours it out in all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dreads while Jeremiah 25 15 states this is what the Lord the God of Israel says take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad. Because of the sword, I will send among them. And finally, Christ says in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Concerning baptism, who wouldn't know of the Genesis flood where God poured out His wrath upon all of humanity. Or passages like Psalms 42.7, which states, Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls. All your waves and breakers have swept over me. And Jonah says, You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirl about me. All your waves and breakers swept over me. Then Jesus says concerning baptism, In Luke 12, 50, So when Jesus is speaking of cup and baptism, he's speaking of his future suffering as service for many. Jesus mentions a second time the nature of his kingdom when responding to the other disciples. 42 through 44 states, Jesus called them together and said, You know that those who were regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their high officials exercised authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. You see, what Christ is pointing out here is that his kingdom is not defined by those who have power, prestige, authority. The citizens of his kingdom are defined by their service. See, in response to the bickering and arguing of these disciples, Jesus says, be a slave. And we should take note the similarity between the two responses, Jesus' response to James and John and then Jesus' response to these other disciples. To James and John, he points to suffering. To these disciples, He points to slavery. Jesus is developing a theme here. And it's completely counterintuitive to what these disciples imagined. Now, we can only wonder what ran through the minds of these disciples when Christ said this. Slavery? Suffering? Jesus, you're the Messiah! You see, they weren't familiar with anything like this. The religious leaders of their day, they had nothing to do with slavery or suffering. So this would have been completely opposite of what the disciples would have imagined. And furthermore, it's opposite of what the world and how the world operates. And this is why Jesus points the world out in opposition to his own kingdom. See, we don't have to think long and hard over the number of scandalous events that go on in our daily media. Many don't even want to watch TV anymore because of this. We just think of the business scandals where one man is stepping on the throat of another attempting to grab as much success as he can or within the political arena where one party lies, cheats, and steals in order to undermine another party. You see, this is the way of the world. But this is not the way of Christ's kingdom. Jesus' kingdom has nothing to do with one's own interest, own desire for power and prestige. The followers of Christ, they place their interest in others. They place others above themselves. Now this point is captured when Jesus says, to be great is to be a servant of all. To be great is to be a slave of all. But what does this mean? What does this mean to you and I who claim the name of Christ yet do not put others before ourselves? Does this mean that we can have nothing to do with Christ and His kingdom? That we are excluded entirely No, it doesn't. Because in self-reflecting upon our own failures, as we heard this morning, we should then turn and look to Christ. And that's what Christ does in this passage before us. In response to the disciples, bickering, fighting, Christ doesn't reject them. Christ points to Himself as a sacrificial servant. And this moves us on to our third point. The last two verses, I'm sorry, the last verse, verse 45 states, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as ransom for many. Now, there are two ways that we can understand this last verse. The first part says, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. We can understand here first that Christ is raising himself up as a moral model for us. Christ, our Lord, served. Therefore, we should serve. And this is correct, and it deserves our attention. But the second way of understanding this, I think, gives us a little more insight as well as further answers our question of what this call to service has to do with those of us who fail to serve. And the second way of understanding this is that Christ did not come to be served, but to serve. Christ did not come to be served, but to serve. Christ, our Lord, is God. And He is in no need of servants. You see, He did not come to this world to find followers who would serve Him as a king ought to be served. He did not come to this world to find those who could live up to His call to be servants. He did not come to this world to be served by anyone. And quite frankly, no one is worthy to serve him. How presumptuous it would be on our part to assume that we could first serve Christ before him serving us. And there lies the gospel, people of God. Christ has served us. And out of His service to us, we can now serve each other. We desire to serve each other. See, if we see this passage here as Christ laying down just another law, a law of His kingdom, you want to enter? Serve. Be a servant. Be a slave. we will fail as we already have but when we see this passage through the lens of the gospel we rejoice for Christ has served us and we serve out of that service the disciples they miss this entirely James and John they answer yes yes, we can take the cup yes, we can take the baptism but see, they were thinking of doing that on their own to achieve their own glory the other disciples, they argued over their own merit over their own qualifications as to who was the greatest in the kingdom these disciples were working off of law They were operating with law in mind and they entirely missed the gospel. The gospel exclaims, it is done. It is finished. As Christ said and says, He came to serve and not to be served. We have considered tonight Christ's kingdom, the nature of it, whether it is one of self-interest or selfless service, we've come to see that His kingdom has nothing to do with self-interest. It is about selfless sacrifice. That is the way of His kingdom. See, we do not serve because we are attempting to secure some kind of position with Christ. We do not serve in order to enter into Christ's kingdom. We serve because we have already entered into that kingdom. We have already been served and have now entered into that kingdom. So people of God, serve. Serve each other. Serve your great God. Because He has first served you. Amen. Let us pray. Our most holy and wonderful God. Magnificent and awesome in all your ways. Lord, you have given to us your Son. And He has sacrificed even His life as service for us. Father, may we never forget that. May you use that truth from your word to form and shape us, to move us to serve you and our neighbors as ourselves. We thank you for his service, that we may even now come before you. We pray this in his name. Amen. Thank you.