R1641 The Heart of a Servant

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message on the heart of a servant. Today, we'll be opening up God's word to Mark Chapter 10 with Dr. Don Wilton. And while we do so, we'd love to invite you to join us on our website. It's TEWonline.org. Multiple resources are right there at TEWonline.org. And now Dr. Don Wilton.

I want to this morning, I want to shift gears a little bit. And I want to talk about those who serve them. So that's you. Because the Bible's got a lot to say about that. What did Jesus have to say about this? And chapter 10. Matthew, Mark. It's the second of the Gospels. We're going to be in chapter 10 of the Gospel of Mark. And beginning in verse 35.

So just a little background here. The disciples are with Jesus. And they ask him a question. Now if you read the same story in Matthew. In Matthew, the account that we read there is that the mother of these two boys asked Jesus the question. Mark, who was there, records it as the two boys asked these questions. Doesn't matter.

The mother, the sons, the daughters, they were all followers of Jesus. Okay? So here's the question. Get this. This is going to knock your socks off.

And I'm going to stop just once or twice. Because I don't want to read it and then miss the point. So verse 35.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus. And they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. All right.

Everybody watch me. That is cheeky. That is the cheekiest thing I've ever read in the Bible. It's like a daughter going up to a mother or a father and say, Mom, Dad, this is what I want you to do for me from now on.

It's cheeky. By the way, if I could, and I'm not going to do it, if I could ask all the young moms to come down here. And you look into the face of our young mothers and our not so young mothers, but I want to zero in on young mothers. And you just think about what they do for their children. They never have to call Uber. They actually are Uber. They wake up, they prepare food, they change clothes, diapers, they bathe, they get to bed, they read stories, they hold close, they cry with, they stroke. They, you name it, they do it. Go up to a mother right now and ask any mother you like, as tired as she is, exhausted, give out, say to her, why don't you just stop serving your children? May I be so forward as to say, I think I can guarantee you the answer of every one of them. And then I will guarantee you, every one of those mothers will say, you know, the joy I get is something I can't even begin to describe.

But it didn't start out too well here with these. These two men, the sons of Thunder, the sons of Zebedee, and Matthew reports, mom was with them, came to Jesus, and they were downright cheeky, man. I mean, they walked up to Jesus and they said, excuse me, Jesus, we're followers of you, we've watched you, we know who you are, we believe that you're God, and we just want you to know right now that we've got something that we need for you to do for us. Well, let's see how he answered. Jesus was almost sarcastic, I think, the way he answered, he said, so what is it that you want me to do for you? He asked and they replied, let one of us sit at your right hand, and the other one sit at your left hand, when we're all in heaven together. Jesus said, you don't know what you're talking about. You don't know what you're asking. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with? Now you want to read cheeky. Yeah, we can, you're right.

We can do that. Watch what Jesus said. He said, oh, really?

He said, I know something you don't know. In fact, verse 39, you will drink the cup I drink. By the way, what was the cup? It was the cup of his suffering. It was the cup of his crucifixion. It was the cup of his pain.

It was the cup of his death. It wasn't nice. What did Jesus know that they didn't know? They were going to lose their lives, just like Jesus, because they served him. They didn't know that.

He just nailed them right there. He just proved to them that actually is God. I wish, I don't really, but I wish I could have been there when James and John came to an abrupt end of their lives. I would have liked to have walked up to them right there and said, yeah, remember what Jesus said when you asked that cheeky question? And you, you wanted Jesus, you wanted Jesus to do something for you? But you know, Jesus was about to teach them something fantastic. He said, you will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with, but to sit at my right hand or at my left hand, that's not up to me to grant you. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared. So the other 10, the other disciples there became somewhat miffed because nobody likes somebody else to get the front row.

Nobody really, I mean really at heart, wants the other person to get all the kudos. So Jesus called them together and this is what he said to them. He said, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their high officials exercise authority over them, but not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be the servant of all.

Excuse me a minute here. I'd like to read the last verse. For even as the Son of Man, that's Jesus, this is God, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

To pay a ransom, the word for there means to pay a ransom in place of. Every person who puts their faith and trust in Jesus. OK, let's try and let's just try and understand this. And I apologize to the Lord Jesus that I've got to stand up to tell you this.

I really want to preach just flat on my face. Let's break this down a little bit. Here's what we're going to do. OK, first of all, the question that they asked. Question that they asked showed two things.

I mean, this is fantastic. It showed, first of all, their effort to interpret. Jesus, we want you to do this for us. That is these people, this mother, these boys, these men, showing the inclination of every human heart, not to do just what Jesus tells us to do, but rather to tell Jesus what we want him to do.

You getting that? It was, this shows their effort to interpret God, to interpret the Bible, to interpret what Jesus says, the way we want it, not the way he wants it. So here they come and they send, I'm going to go with Matthew here. They send Mom. By the way, I just want to clear this out the way because I love moms.

My mom's in heaven, but I love moms. I'll guarantee you these boys after this, they went up and said, Mom, from now on, that's the last deacons meeting you ever come with me because you went, I mean, we got egg on our face. I mean, Mom, you don't go and ask Jesus a question like that. Now, Mark sees it a little differently. He just puts it squarely on them, which I think most probably happens.

Easy to blame Mom, right? But what does it show? It shows an unbelievable level of cheek, shows their effort to interpret. But I'll tell you another thing their question showed was their desire for status. Hey, their desire for status. They walk with Jesus. They know that Jesus loves them and that he's king, that he's God.

They get all of that, and they want status. So they're going to go and settle this thing out. Can I just interpret, Lord? We don't want to wait until we die, and then we find out, let's just settle this right now. We want you to settle this, and especially with the other 10. Listen, the whole church is watching. Could you just let everybody know, I'm going to be on the right, my brother's going to be on the left, done. Let them know how important we are, why we're still alive. Is that not just like us? And if I may say, I'm not trying to give us an out here.

All of us seek status. I remember years ago, I'm dating myself now, we used to love watching Michael Jordan play. Some of you might have heard of Michael Jordan. And I remember going to Charlotte or somewhere to watch him play, and I had my boys with me.

And they were, I don't know, 14, 15 years of age, something like that. I mean, the effort we went to, to get down to where he was going to be, we were trying to get pictures taken those days. We didn't even have cell phone. I don't think we did.

And I'm not sure we ever heard of selfies, but I mean, I've seen pictures today that we've got. I mean, every time he made a play, it was take a picture to get Michael Jordan because we thought he was great. Incredible ball player, man. In my opinion, there was no basketball player who could quite do it like Michael Jordan. He was just incredible. But the best part, which was the actual worst part, I mean, guys, we spent the whole game jostling to get down. There's a little tunnel thing that leads off the court, and we knew that he would come by, and as he leaves, he stops, and he signs. He signs autographs.

Do you know what he did? My boys were there. They were ready. They had caps on. They had everything. They were hanging over the edge.

They gave up getting popcorn. They were ready. They waited.

They were there. He came. He signed. He signed.

He signed, and he walked right around them and went back into the thing. And I still look at the boys' faces like, I'm telling you, I could have gone out there and amputated Michael Jordan's left toenail. I'd just take all that back.

I would never have done it to his toenail, I promise you. We all want to be around greatness, guys. I've met some great people.

Kevin Costner. I happen to have had breakfast with some famous people over the years, and some of it just by accident. Man, you just want to be and see. And what I love today is, man, you can meet them and you can post it, and everybody says, wow. Wow, wow, wow. Hey. Hey. Well, what were these guys thinking?

Here's Jesus. They wanted status, so let's take the journey here. They asked the question. They got an explanation. The explanation they received was twofold. Number one, Jesus said, you're not Jesus. Number two, he said, and you're not God either.

That was his twofold explanation. Number one, you're not Jesus. You can never take my place because you can never get as low as I'm going to go for the cause of the people for whom I'm going to get so low to go. Are you listening?

Are you listening? You can never be Jesus. Nobody can take his place. And you can never be God because only God can make the decisions about who is greatest. Only God does that.

He alone is Lord. So what command were they given? They asked the question. He gave them an explanation. Then he gave them a command.

This is what he said. He said, first of all, you need to have the right heart. He said, look at the people who are in charge of the Gentiles, how they lord their position over everybody.

That's what he says there in verse two. He says, look at all the high officials around you. Look at all the strutting that goes on. Large and in charge.

You know somebody like that? Said it's the propensity of the human heart, isn't it? To have some kind of authority and be able to stand up there and, you know, I'm just going to tell you this is the way it is. My way or the highway. Someone said to me one time, the loudest voices come from the cheapest seats. I mean, this is a human propensity.

Let's just be open and honest. You've got to have the right heart. But then he says, secondly, this command that I'm giving to you, you have to have the right motive. Look at verse 43.

Really look at this. He says, not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become, you've got to have the right motive. Serving others in the name of Jesus has got to come from the heart. You've got to want to do that. I don't always want to, right?

You don't always want to. I've got to ask God to give me the right motive. But then he says, you've got to have the right position. You've got to have the right position. You've got to have the right heart.

You've got to have the right motive. You've got to have the right position. And what is that position? To be servant of all. Which means the adopted attitude as far as Jesus is concerned is that everybody else is above you.

You've got to have the right position. So this is where he brings in himself the example that they witnessed. And that last verse there, guys, is powerful.

I want you to take this away with you today. Jesus, even the Son of Man, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. What was he saying here? Two things Jesus was telling them related to his own example. First of all, he was reminding them that he relinquished his seat. This is Jesus.

He gave up his seat. So here's the Bible, all right? The Bible tells us that Jesus, and I'm sitting now, Jesus was seated at the right hand of the Father. Now, where is Jesus now?

He is seated at the right hand of the Father. Heaven is up there, and heaven has a throne in it, and God is seated on his throne, and in his right hand is Jesus. This is very spiritual here, because God the Father, the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three in one. They are the same person with separate function.

They'd all work together. So this is Jesus. So when Jesus left heaven, what did he do, people?

He relinquished his seat. He gave up his seat, and he came down to heaven. So here's Jesus. This is the throne in heaven. Jesus is God, and when it came time for Jesus to do what he did in order that all of us would be reconciled to God, because Jesus knew that all of mankind had no way of getting with God again, never be reconciled to God, because sin had come between us.

God so loved the world that he gave his Son Jesus. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on the Encouraging Word. Don't go away.

He'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's message. But if you haven't been to our website, www.tewonline.org, you're missing some wonderful resources right now. The one on hope is such a powerful resource. Again, you can find the details on how you can get your copy at www.tewonline.org, and while you're there, sign up for the daily devotion from Dr. Wilton.

Again, it's at www.tewonline.org. Now back to the heart of a servant, today's message from Dr. Don Wilton. And Jesus, in full obedience to God the Father, here he is at the throne of God in heaven, came down from heaven, gave up his seat, came all the way down, all the way down and was born in Bethlehem, amongst all those animals, amongst people. He loved us so much. This is God who's seated on an incredible throne, who's high and lifted up. He's magnificent.

He rules everything. He gave up his seat. So what is Jesus telling us? If you want to do what I'm telling you to do, you need to give up your seat. I can't define your seat. We all have different seats, positions.

He said the greatest servant is the servant of all. I just want to tell you something, folks. Some of you may be visiting today, because I have people ask me this a lot. What is it about this church? You know, we're a church.

We're unusual today. We're a church that reaches all people. We're not just about young people or just about old people, all people. We're not just about black people or white people. We're about all people. We're not interested in where the people are, rich people or poor people.

We're about all people. That's not just a statement. Just look around here. I have people asking me in many places around America, how can you have thousands of people in a church and for there to never be an argument? You might not know this.

Sounds like bragging. I'm going to tell you how this happens. Do you know that in nearly 30 years in this church, I can hardly remember any time at which there was a major doodang in this church, people fighting with each other, storming out. I'm not going to play with you anymore. I'm going to tell you, if you don't do this, then I'm going to do that. I want this and I don't want that. No, not in God's house.

What's the key? Do you know nobody in this church is important? Do you think that we don't all have opinions?

Are you kidding me? How many of you like your hamburger up that way? Well, I like mine up that way. How many of you like to wear a tie in church?

Well, don't wear a tie. How many of you would want to come to church without shoes? Preach without shoes. How many of you don't know how to catch a shoe?

And I'm on the grid here now. So does it matter if I preach with shoes or without shoes? What's more spiritual? Anyone like to tell me? You may be saying, I'm just illustrating a point here, guys, because what Jesus says works.

It does work and it'll work for you. You've heard Dr. Wilton preach now as he steps into the studio, hear him share from his heart. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just prayed along with the pastor to give your life to Christ or rededicate your life, Dr. Wilton wants you to have some wonderful resources as we rejoice in you in your new beginning. Call us at 866-899-WORD to receive your free copies. It's 866-899-9673, resources for you. If you've rededicated your life to Christ or given your heart to Jesus, we want to meet you right now.

866-899-9673. Did you know that you can listen to weekly words of encouragement written by Dr. Don Wilton on YouTube? Follow us each week as Dr. Wilton brings you words of encouragement for the week ahead. Just type in YouTube's search bar weekly words of encouragement, Don Wilton devotional. We hope that this will be a blessing to you. The encouraging word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Until next time, when Dr. Wilton's message will be the heart of a father, let's stay connected on our website, www.tewonline.org That's T-E-W online dot O-R-G