Who Do You Say That I Am? "The Servant of All"

So glad I get to work with Josh, Laura. So many wonderful people. I'm Russ. I do get the pleasure here in my role of helping us do the thing that followers of Jesus do, study him and practice his ways. And so if you're new here, that may be a good thing for you to know about us.

It's kind of part of who we are. We just kind of take Jesus seriously and we're going to take time to study him like we are right now. And we're going to ask, how can we put this into practice? How can we actually do the life that he's called us to? And so also, if you're new here, maybe you walked in for the first time today.

Just hear me say this. So glad you're with us. Pretty prone to really liking this group of people and so. And pretty glad you get to rub shoulders with them. And when you're ready to take a step, if that's today or next week or when that is, all you gotta do is walk out to the info desk out there in the center of the building.

There are folks there who would love to help you take a next step and get you connected. And so, so glad you're with us. We've been walking through the Book of Mark together as we study Jesus. And what we've seen from Jesus is really two things. I had to keep things simple.

He has been showing and telling the good news of the kingdom, right? He showed up. And the summary of his teaching is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God has come near or at hand, so close you can touch it. In other words, the world God wants for us, the way God wants things to be, has come close to us in Jesus himself. And he teaches this message and he says, get in on it.

Repent. Reorient your life around me, around the King. Reorient your life around this kingdom. But he also shows us the kingdom. So as we've walked through the Book of Mark, we've seen him healing people, we've seen him kicking out demonic forces.

We've seen him bringing freedom and wholeness wherever he is. This is what he's up to. And it's what he's up to today, still renewing, restoring, reconciling the end result, all things Scripture says, such good news. And what we've seen just in these last chapter or two, is that they now know who he is. He is the king, the Messiah, the Christ of God, the one that God has sent to set things right.

And he has told them in no uncertain terms these are the people. We call them the disciples. Specifically the 12 that he's training to be like him and do what he does. He's telling them, hey, I'm setting my face towards Jerusalem. We're headed there.

And when we get there, I'm going to suffer. I'm going to be rejected by the spiritual elite. I'm going to be executed, is crucified, and. And I'm going to come back to life again. And yet today, again, we're going to see where they struggled to grasp that.

And I don't know if, like, I read this story and I look at those guys and I think, man, what a bunch of boneheads, right? They just don't get it. But then when I consider the world they lived in, the specific time and place they were in, I begin to both empathize for them going, I could see how this could be hard for them. And I find way too much of me in those boneheads, right? So as we think about what the world was like then, I want to talk about a story from my life.

There's this picture of this cute little puppy here. That was our dog Nigel. And we got him. He was a rescue, and we got him for our daughter. And it started Rocky.

He was a great dog, man. Such a great dog. But it started Rocky. He would nip at our daughter. And my wife, Jennifer Howard, the best Howard by far, if you know her, you know, it's true.

She had learned from some trainers, you got to show the dog that you're in charge. And so. So she was prepared to just when he started up like that, to kind of hold him down firmly but gently enough and that once he would relax with her, then she kind of owned that dog. I knew nothing of this until I walked into my kitchen one day, and my daughter's standing there looking with eyes this big, watching her mom holding this snarling, growling corgi down. And I watched my dog just relax and go.

And he was loyal to Jen over all other humans the rest of his life.

I said this last service, and then I asked questions about how our marriage has gone over the last 30 years. And I don't want to think too hard about this, because she's really good, but I tell you that story, because what she did was to use her strength to get that dog to submit to her. And that's very similar to what's happening to the Jewish people in Jesus day. This guy was. Was in charge.

Jesus was born under his reign. This is Caesar Augustus. Caesar Augustus. He was. He was born among the Roman elite and was Julius Caesar's nephew that Caesar had named him as his heir.

There was some power struggle after. After Caesar died. Julius Caesar died. He won. And now he was in charge of the global military superpower of its day.

And here's Jesus and these disciples. They're living in this tiny little nation whose primary benefit to the king, to the empire, was that it was a trade route between Egypt and Syria. And here's Caesar Augustus. He's in charge, ruling over all these territories. And he initiated something that became known as Pax Romana.

Pax Romana just means Roman peace. It was like a genius little bit of. Of marketing propaganda. He persuaded his fellow Romans that they could have extraordinary prosperity, wealth and honor. Instead of.

The plan was instead of just continuing to defeat new nations and take on more territory, they would take all of their considerable military might and use it to hold down the nations and territories they already had to suppress them. So what did that mean for Jesus and his disciples and the people who lived in that day? That meant wherever they were, all these towns we've seen Jesus teaching in, there are military garrisons next door. And every couple of days they would ride. The soldiers would ride through town in full armor just to remind you to stay in line, revolt and pay your taxes 30 to 40%.

And when people did revolt, they came down hard. There was a revolt right about the time of Jesus birth, right there near Nazareth, his hometown. And the Romans came in, destroyed two villages, put 30,000 Jewish people into slavery, and marched 2,000 men to Jerusalem and crucified them. There were. This is how it worked, right?

This is what Pax Romana, Roman peace, meant for Jesus and the people he was one of. They were forced into submission. And this is how the world worked. Right might made right force, coercion, manipulation, all those things just get done what you want to get done. This is how things worked.

And then Jesus, like he has been doing, is teaching a destructive, confrontational way of living in the midst of this. So in Mark 10, we pick it up. Then James and John, this is two of his trainees, the sons of what a great name, Zebedee, came to him and said, teacher, they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. Try that next time with anybody. Just start there.

All I gotta do is say yes, and then I'll tell you what I want. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked, let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory so they understand. He has said hey, I'm the king. I'm the Messiah, the one God sent to set things right.

There's a kingdom, and I'm the king. And so these guys are expecting a military coup. In fact, there's a moment. For about 400 years, God's people were under the boot of some empire, whether it was Persia, Babylon, Greece, rome. For about 40 or 50 years.

There was a period where they had revolted against all odds. This is like your underdog story. And they gained their own freedom for about 40 or 50 years. And that's led by a guy named Judas Maccabees, which is Judas the Hammer. And I think that's a nickname you could try out with me if you want.

One person after first person, call me that out. And I think it's already happening. So what a great nickname. The Hammer. Right.

Why was he the Hammer? Because the only way for God's kingdom to come would be you would need a hammer. You would need a military coup. You would need the king to use force for his kingdom to come. And that gave you a whole lot of power.

And you know where the next two most powerful seats are? At the right of that king and at the left of that king. So what do they want? They are so tired of other people imposing their will on them. They want seats where they can impose their will on others.

Give us the right. Give us the left. Jesus says, you don't know what you're asking. Can you drink the cup I drink? Be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with.

And here's their response. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we can.

They don't know what they're saying here. Jesus does this cup, this baptism, it's a destiny. It's. It's a cup of suffering. In this case, what we know looking back, is this is a cup of crucifixion.

And they go, yeah, we can. And then Jesus acknowledges, you will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with. Hold this into mind as we read what happens next, that they actually do practice his way of life, ultimately. And James will be martyred as a follower of Jesus, and John will be exiled. They will drink the cup.

Jesus says, but to sit at my right or my left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom the. They've been prepared. When the other 10, remember, there are 12 heard about this, how do they feel? They become indignant with James and John.

Why are they indignant? They're jealous. James and John got there first. They're asking, they've already had this debate. They've.

They've been fighting over this, like, who is the great? Which one of us you think is going to be the greatest in the kingdom? I mean, sure, Jesus got his spot, but who gets to right and left? And how dare these guys try to take spots that probably belong to me. All of them want to be able to be in seats of power where they can impose their will on others.

Jesus called them together and said, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles, Caesar Augustus, what do they do? They lord it over them. They lord over people. And their high officials exercise authority, power over them. Pax romana.

This is the way of the world. Use your power to your own interest. And Jesus responds. He says, that's the way of the world. And then these four words, hear them.

Not so with you.

There's a different way instead. Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man, that's him, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

It's these teachings where we begin to understand why people refer to this kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, that Jesus is teaching and living and showing as an upside down kingdom. You want to be great, be a servant. You want to be first, be a slave. Those two words are different. Be a servant.

Jesus says, that's diaconos. That's the Greek word. It means. Well, it's the word deacon. For us today, it's someone who serves willingly.

But then he ramps it up and says, be slave of all. That term is somebody who's owned by another, and they're giving their total obedience to that person. And he says, be slave to who all? And then he ramps it up again because remember, he's training these men to be like him and to do what he does. And he goes, even I, I am the king.

I'm the Messiah. I didn't come to be serv. But to use my strength for others. To what extent? How far does that go, Jesus?

How far do you expect us to serve others? How far to the point of total sacrifice, Give his life as a ransom for many. Now, there's a couple of mistakes we make when we read passages like this. One is we can conclude, while power is bad, right? So we demonize power in and of itself, that any use of authority is authoritarian and therefore it's evil.

But Jesus isn't saying, be powerless he's talking about how to use our power. And we'll get back to that in a minute. But there's another mistake we make when we read this passage where we think, well, as long as the outcome is good, as long as the outcome is good for other people, then we can embrace any form of force or coercion or manipulation in order to accomplish a good thing that serves others. So we use or celebrate the way of the world, right? As long as it leads to what's right.

You've heard it said, the ends justify the means. And Jesus here really cares about the means. Living out a self giving, self sacrificial love. A cross shaped life.

Jesus says, there are two ways to live here. One is the way of the world, one is the way of Caesar, one is the way of Pax Romana, and the other is the way of the cross. To be a servant, to be slave to all. Remember back two chapters prior to this, when Jesus had said he was going to go suffer and be executed and die. And Peter calls him out for it, rebukes him for it, because Peter's mind is set on the way of the world.

Man, you can't. You can't be the king if you die. And Jesus looks at him, everybody says, get behind me, Satan. Some of you remember, the way of the world is the way of Satan.

And you may hear this and go, well, this is really good because. But like, people who actually have actual power need to hear this. I don't have any power. You sitting where you are right now, I don't care who you are, how old you are, you are a being with extraordinary power.

Back when I was in middle school, I remember something said about me by someone to somebody else, but said loud enough for me to hear it. They called me Rusty back then. So this is what they said. They said, well, Rusty's not so bad. He's just so boring, is what she said.

Yeah. Thank you for feeling for me a long time ago. Okay. I'm telling you something I heard somebody say during the Carter administration.

And if you're confused by that, you don't need to look it up. He was president in 19, Over 40 years ago. Is that power?

If you're sitting here right now and you got a mouth, you got power. If you've got time, you've got power. If you've got the ability to have thoughts and ideas and act them, play them out, you have power. If you have money, a dollar to your name, you have power. What I'm doing right now is Extraordinarily powerful.

There's hundreds of people in a room and I'm the only one with the microphone. Do you see it?

So Jesus isn't denying that we have power. He knows we're powerful beings. And he knows that in our broken, sinful nature that we will default to using that power for me, that we will use our strength, whatever we have to get what we want. Forget pax Romanus, pax rus, right?

And that we will choose, sometimes overtly, yeah, I'm going to like make this happen. But the ends justify the means or subtly use our strength to coerce or manipulate the people or things around me so that my kingdom comes and my will gets done. Not his, mine.

Have you found yourself here yet?

And this is so normal to us. I mean, this is just the way the world works still, right? Maybe it worked back then, but it still works this way now. And it's so common among us. There are ways that we think or talk about it that are just normal.

That we bully or we browbeat or we badger people. We can gaslight or guilt trip or ghost people. We can go online and troll, flame or catfish. You can throw a tantrum, you can give the silent treatment. You can make a power play.

And really we're just talking about success, right? What it is to win. Everybody wants to be the goat greatest of all time, right? We want to be what? Great.

We want to climb the ladder. We want to make a killing. It's the way of the world. It's the way of Caesar, using our strength to build ourselves up. And Jesus says, not so with you, not so with those of us who follow him.

This two way thing comes up in other ways in Scripture. You know, there's light and there's dark. There's flesh and there's spirit. There is godly wisdom and human wisdom or wisdom and folly. Jesus, brother, who later joined in with the followers of Jesus and became a church leader.

His name is James. We have a letter of his in scripture and he writes about wisdom from humans and holy wisdom. And he says this, who is wise and understanding among you, let them show it. How? By their good life.

By the way they live. By deeds done. In what humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy, and here's the phrase, selfish ambition, building up ourselves, selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it. Don't boast about all the winning you're doing by making it happen for selfish ambition or deny the truth.

Such quote unquote, wisdom does not come down from Heaven. But is three things. Earthly, unspiritual and the last word. Demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and evil practice.

Did you catch this? That when we're using our power and our strength in order to build ourselves up and to use that over another, it's not just the way of the world, it's the way of demons, it's the way of Satan.

That when you and I act out of our selfish ambition, we are in league with Satan. And Jesus looked at Peter and said, get behind me Satan. So when you look at someone and look down on them because of something they've done or because of who they are, where they come from, we're in league with Satan. The way of the world, the way of Satan. Get behind me Satan.

Jesus says. When you celebrate when other people are treated poorly or with contempt, get behind me Satan. He says. When you're happy, when bad things happen to people you disagree with, get behind me Satan. When you have to have the last word or just show them how dumb they really are, or shut them out because you know they should know what they did.

Get behind me, Satan. Jesus says. You got here they are. Choose them. Way of the world or the way of the cross or the way of holy wisdom.

James goes on. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace, loving, considerate, submissive, what that word means pliable. It just means quick and obedience to what God wants you to do.

Full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere peacemakers who sow in peace. What do they reap? A harvest of righteousness, Things being right the way they're meant to be. This is the life you were created for. This life to serve, to use your strength and your power to build others up, not yourself.

We were created by a God who is self sacrificial, self giving. We're created from him and for him. And that's how we are intended to live. And let me ask, what kind of person do you want to have in your life? Do you want somebody in your life who's motivated by their selfish ambition, boastful, bitter, deceitful, that you experience from them the ways that they are manipulating or forcing you to get their will done?

Or do you want somebody in your life who is peace loving and pure, wanting to cultivate wholeness and completeness, considerate, full of mercy, impartial and sincere?

What kind of person would you rather be? One who is self actualized, self absorbed, self obsessed, or one who is self giving, self sacrificial, Jesus said, whoever wants to be my disciple, deny your and take up your cross and follow me. This language of selfish ambition turns up in other places. In the passage that Josh introduced us to last week in Philippians. Do nothing.

Do nothing out of what? Selfish ambition or vain conceit? Rather in humility. Value others above yourself. You hear the servant not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interest of the others.

What happens when I serve you and you serve me? Look out for the interest of the others in your relationships with one another. Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. So live like Jesus lives who? And this is about Jesus being in very nature.

God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather he made himself nothing. This is the word kenosis. It means emptied out. Jesus emptied himself out by taking the very nature of a servant.

Being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross, and gave his life as a ransom for many. What does this tell us? It tells us the strongest being to ever walk the face of the earth. The strongest man access to all the power of God.

He chose to empty himself out for the good of all of us. And in doing so he's showing us the best possible way to be human. This isn't just a thing he did for you, it's an invitation into a way of life that is the best way of life. The way of love. Self giving, self sacrificial, self emptying love.

And there's this lingering question that goes, wow, this sounds really nice, but does it work? Like it seems really naive, right? Idealistic. Because let's face it, we live in a world that is functions on fear and greed and violence in the way of the cross. Man, I don't even know that'll work.

I would suggest that's the wrong question. The question isn't does it work. The question is what does it mean to follow Jesus in whatever concrete situation is in front of me right now?

What does it mean to follow Jesus when I'm putting my kids to bed?

What does it mean to follow Jesus when I'm online, on social media? What does it mean to follow him right now and that we can step into whatever that concrete situation is, Confident, secure in what he gave his life as a ransom for many in the self giving, self sacrificial, self emptying love of God. This is what he did for us. And if I'm depending on that, I Don't need to be powerful. I don't need people to see me as, like, powerful.

Right. I don't need to protect my position or status because all that gets caught up in him. I'm not concerned about what people think of me anymore. And I'm free to use whatever strength or power I have to build up whoever is in front of me, not just those I like. I'm the servant.

I'm the slave of all.

And in that, whatever that concrete situation is, I can use my words, my time, my skills, whatever I've got at hand to build them up. And does it work?

In the time of the early church, the emperors at that point had instituted a loyalty oath. And so they. They told people, you have to be able to say out loud your loyalty. And as simple as this, caesar is Lord. And maybe you've read the Book of Acts, what you find is that Jesus followers, these followers, they had a different mantra.

They didn't say, caesar is Lord, they said, Jesus is Lord. Who today is saying, Caesar is Lord? How many followers does Caesar Augustus have? Maybe his way of life, he's got a lot. But in his name.

Today, 2.6 billion people are claiming with us, Jesus is Lord. Doesn't work. You want real influence. And church history from this moment on is bursting with story after story after story of Jesus. People living powerfully quiet lives, serving, adopting discarded children, welcoming anybody and everybody, no matter their status or their ethnicity, to their tables and into their spiritual communities, giving up their lives to care for the poor and needy.

And in fact, when we walk through history and we see these moments that don't look like that, the ones that we're more ashamed of, things like crusades and institutions, we can point at it and we can recognize in those moments, the church, instead of choosing the way of the cross, we chose the way of the world. Divorcing the work of the cross in our lives from the way of the cross.

So all of this because we were here. And we're committed to two things. Studying Jesus and practicing his ways. So what does this look like? How do I put this into practice?

How do I become the kind of person who can just begin to start naturally, use whatever I have at hand to build others up. Letting go of my selfish ambition. Here's the challenge. What you do can actually look the same. I know way too many people like me who have stood on stages like this to preach and to teach and to build a church.

And ultimately, underneath it is this selfish ambition that we are trying to build up our own Platform in our own life. And so how do we take something powerful like this and make sure it isn't something that's about the way of the world, the way of Satan, and not the way of the cross? Begins by cultivating a spiritual self awareness, an attunement with God, ourselves, the people around us. So how do we practice this? It can begin right here.

It can begin by practicing Presence, cultivating this awareness in our life to begin to notice what's going on in us, what's going on around us, and beginning to pay attention to what the Holy Spirit is pointing out in our lives and where we can take our next simple step. So the invitation today for you, how to put this into practice. It can begin right here. There is a half sheet on these tables as you head out any of these doors near next to communion is a half sheet called Practicing Presence.

Our leaders here, we've committed to doing this together. And all we're doing is just putting a little intentional space into our lives to slow down and to pay attention and to do it simply. Hear me say this, because often we want to take like big, giant steps. Do the thing you can. I know that sounds too simple, but it's real.

Do the thing you can do today, and it's okay. There's no such thing as just this. There's no shame in this, that if I go, hey, I'm going to. I'm going to put some intentional moments into my day. It's fantastic.

Those are moments you wouldn't have already had. Or maybe it's an hour in your week, or maybe it's a whole day. If you're ready for that, whatever it is, this sheet will walk you through it. For me, my practice, we're doing this going into Easter. My practice is just this moment at the end of the day.

I am prone to zoning my way out to bed at night. So I'm just simply. I've got a reminder on my phone to pause and to pray, and I'm going to invite you to practice it with me. Right now, I'm slowing down to pray through two simple questions. So let's just practice a little presence together for a moment.

Begins by slowing down and taking a deep breath.

Then I asked, father, show me, when did I feel close to you yesterday?

Let your mind drift over your day. And what were the moments you felt close to him?

And now say, thank you.

And now when did I feel far from you yesterday?

And maybe there's an opportunity to say I'm sorry and reorient your life around him.

And there's a space to say, I need your help, please, please help.

And amen. We practice being present with him so we can step into our lives. Would you stand with me? I'm gonna say a short prayer over you.

Father. May we be a people who choose the way of the cross, who choose to use all that we have to serve and to love the way you love. Make us a people who are marked and by our self sacrificial, selfless love. Amen.