Temptations of Power

You may be seated.

Good morning.

My name's Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.

A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us.

We're glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced that there's no one so good,

they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it,

which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in His Word.

We're continuing our series in the Gospel of Mark.

You'll remember that the Gospels tell the story of Jesus and His life and His death and His resurrection.

And in the first half of the Gospel, we were asking this question of who is Jesus,

and that reached its climax in many ways in the middle of chapter 8

when Peter finally recognizes that Jesus is the Christ.

He is the one that they've been looking for for thousands of years.

And now as we continue in the Gospel, they're following Jesus quite literally on His way to the cross,

and so we're asking a different question, which is what does it look like to follow after Jesus?

In the last few weeks as we've looked at Jesus' teaching,

we've seen the way that the kingdom operates is very different than the way of the world.

There is an upside-down quality to the cross,

and yet the disciples are still functioning by worldly principles.

And so we looked, first of all, at the worldly view of marriage and sex, which Jesus corrects.

Then the worldly view of children, which Jesus turns upside down.

Last week, the worldly view of money.

Jesus isn't done yet, though, and so this week we're going to see Him address the topic of power, success, glory, and fame.

And we'll see the approach of the Christian is very different from that of the world.

And so I invite you to turn with me now to Mark chapter 10, starting at verse 32.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

You can turn in your Bible.

You can turn in your worship guide.

You can turn on your phone.

Remember that no matter where you turn, this is God's Word.

And Proverbs 30, verse 5, tells us every word of God proves true.

Proverbs 30:5

He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

And so that's why we read now, starting at verse 32.

And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them.

And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.

And taking the twelve again, He began to tell them what was to happen to Him, saying,

See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes.

And they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him over to the Gentiles.

And they will mock Him, and spit on Him, and flog Him, and kill Him.

And after three days He will rise.

Verse 35.

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Him and said to Him,

Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.

And He said to them, What do you want me to do for you?

And they said to Him, Grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory.

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.

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.

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.

Verse 41.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's Word.

Our Father in Heaven, we praise You again that we're here together this morning,

and that You speak to us, to our hearts by Your Word.

We confess that we have hungry hearts that love and run after many things.

We ask that You'd be at work by Your Spirit, that we would love one thing, that we would love You.

We ask this morning now, as we look at Your Word, that You would cast a spotlight on Jesus,

that we would see His glory and His beauty and His holiness and His love,

and that You would grow our love and affection for Him,

our reverence and our awe for Him,

that we would follow Him and love Him and obey Him.

We ask all these things in His mighty name. Amen.

If this passage feels familiar at all, if it feels like a deja vu from previous sections in the Gospel of Mark,

that's because, in fact, it is.

Mark is famous for having three different passion predictions,

three different places where Jesus tries to teach His disciples about what is to come later in His ministry,

and this is the final of the three.

The disappointing thing is that it was a repetition not just in His prediction,

but in the failed response, the inappropriate response of His disciples.

Remember in chapter 8, Jesus first told them about His future,

and it was Peter who rebuked Him,

and Jesus had to tell him,

Get behind me, Satan,

because Peter did not understand the true nature of Jesus' purpose and mission.

But then it happens again in the next chapter.

In chapter 9, Jesus tells them again that the Son of Man is going to suffer and die,

and remember at that point, they are afraid to ask any more,

so they instead choose the very smart strategy of immediately arguing amongst themselves about who is the greatest.

It's at that point, you remember that Jesus tells them,

Mark chapter 9, verse 35,

Mark 9:35

If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

And so here, as we come to chapter 10,

we would expect the disciples would have learned something.

They would have made some improvement from chapter 9.

They would have understood that glory is not what they should be chasing after.

Instead, here we see that they have learned something.

It's just the wrong thing.

There's a similar response here.

They long for greatness, but James and John have finally gotten their act together.

They have a better plan and strategy than they had before.

Last time, all of them were arguing about who would be the greatest.

They decide this time they're going to take matters into their own hands.

The rest of the disciples are chumps.

They don't understand what actually needs to happen,

which is to make the grab for power that will set them above everyone else.

They don't need to argue with anyone.

They can skip all of that and take matters into their own hands

and ensure that they are actually the greatest,

because they're going to sit next to Jesus.

When I was growing up, I'm the youngest of three sons,

and so my brothers and I came up with this brilliant concept,

which we called the magic number.

The magic number was the number three, because there was three of us.

And so this especially applied to desserts that were left in the house.

If there were three pieces of cake left,

we would tell our parents,

look, it's the magic number.

The conclusion is obvious.

What must you do?

You must make sure each of your three sons gets a piece of cake.

And of course, I think our parents realized with some amusement

that it was probably better for our metabolism than for theirs.

And so this proved to often be a winning strategy.

We just needed to point out there's only three things left.

You have three sons.

Do I need to help you figure this out even more?

Here we have the same thing going on.

There's a magic number.

There's James and John.

There's two of them.

They also are brothers.

And guess how many sides Jesus has?

Jesus has two, a left side and a right side.

So we don't have to compete against each other as brothers.

Instead, we know there's the exact number that we need.

We'll leave it up to Jesus to decide who's going to be on the right side

so we do not have to compete.

Either way, we're both going to get great seats.

And yet the irony is thick here because we see verse 32,

Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem.

He is literally walking towards the cross.

He is literally telling them about his suffering.

And what is it that James and John have on their mind?

We have stock options with Jesus.

We were smart enough to get in on the ground floor.

We knew Jesus before it was cool.

We know as he's heading towards Jerusalem,

this is going to be his big moment.

This is when he's going to do everything we know that the Christ is supposed to accomplish.

He's going to become powerful and glorious.

He's going to overthrow the Romans.

And so before it's too late,

we need to ensure that we cash in everything we have.

Jesus is about to get really big.

And we'll get big too.

There's only two slots and there are 12 disciples.

We need to make sure we're the ones who ask first.

We made the smart move.

We got in on the ground level.

It has certainly earned us something.

Finally, where dreams will come true.

And at the same time, Jesus has been trying to tell them he is revealing more and more

how bad it is going to get the level of suffering they will experience.

They are obsessed with glory, but Jesus has just told them,

verse 33, it's going to get really bad.

He's going to face death.

And it's not just that he's going to face death,

but there are some Jews who are going to go so against the norms of God's people

that they're going to hand over another Jew to the Gentiles of all people.

And not only are they going to hand him over the Gentiles,

those Gentiles, verse 34, are going to mock him, spit on him, whip him, and kill him.

And if it couldn't get any worse for the disciples,

remember how last week's passage ended, verse 31,

the first will be last and the last first.

In other words, it would be challenging for the disciples to look any more ridiculous

and tone deaf than they look here.

Brothers and sisters, we are also tempted by power and glory

and forget how tone deaf and ridiculous we look.

We want, when we speak to people, for their ears to perk up,

for things to happen, for people to act and change and listen.

We need or want others to know how strong and smart and fast

and wealthy and beautiful we are.

We want and need others to recognize the cars we drive,

the toys that we have, the restaurants we can visit,

the experiences we can afford.

We want a more prestigious job,

not because it's an opportunity for us to do more good for God in this world,

so that we can prove something to ourselves and others.

I'm finally worthy.

I finally proved I have a right to exist in this world.

This desire for greatness,

it drives the desire and the need for affirmation on social media,

for likes and comments.

We want our kids to behave not because it's for their good,

but so that other people would see that we're the parents

who have it all together.

And they would praise us and admire us and look up to us.

And yet, our children can't be fooled,

and they know the truth and resent it.

We have the desperate insecurity that's revealed by name-dropping.

We know someone who matters,

and therefore, we must matter too.

Because greatness is about others recognizing us,

serving us, deferring to us.

And yet, it's all so transparent, so easy to spot.

We think we can hide from other people

the things we wear on our sleeves.

And so Jesus speaks into that mess here in verses 42 through 45

when he tells them there's actually a different paradigm to operate by.

You are looking to be like the Gentile rulers,

verse 42,

who receive all these great things,

but in fact, the opposite is what you should be aiming for.

Verse 43,

whoever would be great among you must be your servant.

You must change your entire way of thinking about yourself,

your identity,

an entirely new definition of greatness.

You need to reorient your values and aspirations and ambition.

And it's important to note here

that Jesus is not giving some sort of leadership hack.

Because what he says here is a sort of thing

you might hear from all sorts of leadership gurus,

whether they're Christians or not.

But the worldly advice would go like this,

a humble servant,

that's the way you get into the record of great leaders.

That's the way people will remember you and give you glory.

And Jesus is saying here,

no, this is something different.

Getting into the book of great leaders and people is irrelevant.

There's a completely different mental model paradigm

for what is important in life.

The world will tell you,

become great by being humble.

That's the trick.

And Jesus says,

becoming great in the eyes of the world isn't the goal.

It's not the aim.

Instead, it's to take on a different position.

Verse 43,

servant.

Verse 44,

slave.

And so we see the same principle that we talked about

when Jesus gave similar instruction in chapter 9,

that there is this principle of the gospel

that's opposed to the principle of the world.

The principle of the world is that we push others down

so that we can lift ourselves up.

And Jesus comes and flips that and says,

no,

the gospel,

we lift others up and push ourselves down.

There's a different way,

a different path for the Christian,

and it's the way of Jesus.

That we don't evaluate others

based on how they advance our goals

or meet our needs,

based on what they can do for us.

If we're concerned primarily about honor and status,

then we will evaluate other people

on how they relate to that.

In fact,

we stop the constant need,

the drive for the approval

and admiration of others,

and instead we start exalting others

and lifting them up,

even when,

especially when,

it doesn't advance our personal goals

or ambitions.

In fact, how we treat

those who have less power than us

reveals the most about our character,

whether we actually understand

and follow Jesus.

And it's more than simply acts of service.

It is giving up entirely the obsession

with personal glory and power and honor.

Remember two weeks ago

when the disciples tried to be great friends

to Jesus by blocking the children

who are coming to him.

The reason they did that

is because those children

had nothing they could offer

to advance Jesus' mission

and his purpose.

They had nothing to offer the world,

and so therefore,

they must have nothing to offer Jesus.

Jesus interrupts them then

and says,

that's the point.

I'm interested in those

who know they have nothing to offer.

That same idea,

that same principle

is reinforced here.

Christians follow Jesus

by offering things

by offering things

to those who have nothing to offer.

We show whether we understand

and follow Jesus

by how we treat those on the margins.

But the haunting question is for us,

why is it so hard?

Why is it that success and glory

and power and fame

are so alluring and attractive?

When I was in college,

I had a professor who had this sign

in her office that said this,

success is the best revenge.

And I asked her one time about it,

and she indicated,

in broad terms with no details,

that there had been a time

where there were those

who had hurt her and opposed her,

and she had realized

this was the way

she was going to make it all right.

Success is the best revenge

seems like a great motivational line

until you think about it

and you realize

how incredibly sad

and bankrupt

that line is.

Because if success

is the best form of revenge,

it means that you are still

controlled and dominated

by the perceptions

and beliefs

of that person

who hurt you.

And it helps us understand

why success

is so attractive.

all of us have

hurts

and wounds

that we're trying to patch

and heal

and success

seems like

an incredibly attractive option

to do that.

Do you know

the hurt

of your own heart?

Do you know

the hunger

of your own heart?

Maybe the bullying

that you experienced

as a kid

still travels with you

and you believe

that if you accomplish enough,

you can make

those words

untrue.

You can prove

that you're somebody

that you have worth.

maybe you've come

to the sobering

realization

that your spouse

finds his work

much more fascinating

than you.

But if your kids

can just achieve enough,

then somehow

it will be all

okay.

maybe it's

your father's

yelling

or perhaps

more confusing

his distance

and his silence.

It's not a coincidence

that so many

ambitious

and powerful men

have absent

fathers.

your body

can go

without food

for a few days

but the heart

is always

hungry.

The heart

never fasts.

The heart

always feeds

on something.

And so

success

and glory

and power

without addressing

the deep

issues

and longings

of our heart

never ends

well.

there are

many things

that we want

to happen

at our church

things that we

want to grow

and increase

and those things

will only be

dangerous to us

if we don't

address our

hearts

first.

And none of it

matters if we

don't get

first things

right.

The matter

of the heart

Jesus knows

greatness and

success are

like wealth

they're very

dangerous.

They can

and will

shipwreck us

outside of

God's

grace.

In fact

some people

would say

that success

is more

dangerous

than failure.

That success

reveals our

character

as much

if not

more than

the obstacles

we face.

Now

everything

that I've

said to

you

pretty much

up to

this point

outside of

mentioning

Jesus and

his teaching

any secular

prophet

any sage

could have

mentioned

these things

to you.

And so

what do we

do?

What does

Jesus have

to do

with the

hunger of

our hearts

if this

is something

that's

recognized

by wisdom

teachers of

all types?

Well first

I'll point out

what's been

pointed out

by others

the same

thing I

mentioned

when we

talked about

children.

If this

seems

cliche

if it

seems

normal

in every

day

we have

to remember

that's

because

we live

in a

world

that's

been

shaped

by

Jesus

teaching.

Okay

when the

disciples

heard

Jesus

say

these

things

it

was

not

something

that

they'd

heard

over

and over

before

it was

radical.

they didn't

turn to

Jesus

and say

oh yeah

we heard

that same

thing

the other

day

on this

great

leadership

podcast

you should

listen

to it

you would

really like

that guy.

No

the disciples

were shocked

they were

shocked

that Jesus

view of

power

was

completely

opposite

that

of the

world

and so

we

recognize

as we

see

this

idea

of

servant

leadership

of making

ourselves

slaves

and

servants

if it

seems

commonplace

that's

because

of

Jesus

words

in this

passage

what

might

seem

normal

for us

was

radical

then

because

we

live

in a

world

shaped

by

this

teaching

the

other

thing

that we

recognize

is this

we

might

have

a

secular

prophet

or sage

who

recognizes

that

the heart

has to

feed

on

something

Jesus

is just

the only

one

who

gives

us

the

food

for

the

heart

that's

enough

he's

the only

one

who's

able

to

fill

what

is

otherwise

a

bottomless

hole

because

the only

thing

that can

replace

the love

of men

is the

love

of God

if you

look with

me on

the back

of your

worship

guide

you'll

see this

first quote

by a

man

named

Ryan

Holiday

and part

of the

reason

I

include

this

is

because

he's

an

agnostic

he

doesn't

believe

in

Jesus

in

fact

he

runs

a

very

progressive

bookstore

in

Texas

and by

progressive

I don't

just mean

a specific

political

position

I mean

that Ryan

promotes

and honors

things that

we would

call

truly

wicked

and yet

in the

midst

of all

this

he

understands

at least

something

about the

nature

of the

human

heart

he says

everyone

has a

hungry

heart

but how

we

choose

to feed

that

heart

matters

it's

what

determines

the

kind

of

person

we

end

up

being

what

kind

of

trouble

we'll

get

into

and

whether

we'll

ever

be

full

whether

we'll

ever

really

be

still

what

you

may

know

what

you

know

is

he's

deeply

fascinated

by

C.S.

Lewis

many

of his

writings

are

informed

by that

great

Christian

thinker

and so

he

is

trying

to do

what

many

others

are

which

is

to

have

the

kingdom

without

the

king

to

have

the

fruits

of

Christianity

without

its

root

he

has

a

piece

of

the

truth

but

not

the

whole

thing

he

knows

the

problem

he

just

doesn't

know

the

full

solution

and so

we

can

say

yes

there

are

many

secular

sages

and

prophets

and

preachers

who

remind

us

of the

need

to

fill

the

hunger

of

our

hearts

and

it's

Jesus

alone

who's

able

to

give

us

what

we

need

to

turn

away

from

the

allure

and

temptation

of

power

and

glory

and

honor

and

success

it

is

Jesus

who

allows

us

to

replace

the

love

of

men

with

the

love

of

God

I've

been

telling

you

for

weeks

now

that

the

heart

must

have

something

to

feed

on

if

we

take

away

one

thing

we

have

to

replace

it

with

another

and

there

is

only

one

replacement

that

is

great

enough

that

is

powerful

enough

that

is

glorious

enough

to

take

away

this

temptation

it

is

the

food

and

the

love

and

the

knowledge

that

we

are

secure

in

Christ

a

woman

named

Rebecca

McLaughlin

says

this

if

God

himself

has

died

for

you

what

more

do

you

have

to

prove

if

the

creator

of

the

universe

loved

you

enough

to

give

his

life

as

a

ransom

for

yours

how

precious

does

that

make

you

Jesus

sacrifice

for us

can breed

humility

if we

will only

let

it

we

won't

need

to be

recognized

by

others

if we

know

we

are

seen

and

known

and

deeply

loved

by

the

king

of

all

the

universe

himself

we

can

unclench

our

grip

on

status

if

we

know

we're

held

in

Jesus

hands

we

can

kneel

down

if

we

are

sure

he

will

one

day

lift

us

up

Jesus

love

is

the

only

thing

secure

enough

great

enough

to

release

to

release

to

release

on

to

point

out

that

crucifixion

is

for

slaves

but

Jesus

receives

it

as

a

king

ransoms

are

paid

for

kings

not

by

kings

and

yet

Jesus

comes

as

the

only

king

to

pay

a

ransom

for

slaves

and

so

the

love

of

the

world

is

replaced

by

the

love

of

Jesus

that's

what

he's

telling

us

here

in

verse

45

for

even

the

son

of

man

came

not

to

be

served

but

to

serve

and

to

give

his

life

as

a

ransom

for

many

when

you're

secure

and

safe

in

the

love

of

God

glory

and

power

and

honor

will

not

be

tempting

to

you

that's

the

only

thing

powerful

enough

in

2013

the

football

team

at

Olivet

Middle

School

in

Olivet

Michigan

came

up

with

a

plan

and

the

students

did

this

behind

the

backs

of

their

coaches

and

behind

the

backs

of

their

parents

no

one

knew

it

was

going

to

happen

until

it

did

they

ran

a

play

to

intentionally

not

score

they

decided

they

would

get

as

close

to

the

goal

line

as

possible

but

they

would

stop

there

they

would

not

cross

it

why

because

they

wanted

their

teammate

Keith

to

have

the

first

touchdown

of

his

entire

life

Keith

was

a

student

with special

needs

who

struggled

with social

and learning

disabilities

and so

they stopped

right there

at the

goal line

and at the

next play

all of the

players

surrounded

Keith

and made

sure that

as they

rushed

he was in

the middle

with them

holding

the ball

they

decided

they

they

decided

instead

of

pushing

others

down

to

lift

themselves

up

they

would

push

themselves

down

to

lift

someone

else

up

they

went

from

looking

for

their

own

glory

their

own

opportunities

to score

to become

servants

and

slaves

for

Keith

their

wide

receiver

justice

Miller

admitted

that

it

wasn't

his

idea

because

all

he

would

think

about

is

himself

and

his

friends

but

after

what

they

did

for

Keith

it

has

changed

the

way

he

looks

at

the

world

he

just

needed

someone

else

to

suggest

it

brothers

and

sisters

we

can

only

lift

others

up

if

and

when

we

believe

our

spot

our

place

is

secure

and

it

is

in

Jesus

Christ

we

can

only

lift

others

up

and

look

out

for

them

when

we

know

that

no

matter

what

we

have

a

place

on

the

team

and

we

do

because

Jesus

died

for

us

whoever

would

be

first

among

you

must

be

slave

of

all

for

even

the

son

of

man

came

not

to

be

served

but

to

serve

and

to

give

his

life

as

a

ransom

for

many

let's

pray

our

father

in

heaven

we

praise

you

this

morning

that

we

are

safe

and

secure

in

your

love

that

nothing

can

threaten

that

that

you

have

showed

us

our

value

and

our

worth

in

Jesus

and

his

sacrifice

his

death

for

us

we

ask

that

you

would

make

us

secure

and

safe

in

that

that

we

would

know

it

and

so

that

we

would

be

able

to

take

risks

to

offer

it

and

give

it

away

to

others

we

ask

these

things

in

the

mighty

name

of

Jesus

Christ

and