September 17, 2023 / A Deeper View of Serving

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead

pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth

for the life we're searching for. So glad you're with us this morning. If you have

your Bibles, please take them and turn to Mark chapter 10 today. Mark chapter 10, Jesus

Mark 10 · chapter mention Mark 10 · chapter mention

is in an incredible conversation with his disciples about the act of servant here. So

Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 41 today. I want to talk to you about a deeper view

Mark 10 · chapter mention

of serving. By the way, this Out of the Shadow series is going to take place this week and

next week and then the following week we'll be in a new series called the Holy Spirit.

So we'll be walking through John 14, 15, and 16, the three chapters of John where Jesus

spends so much time introducing the work of the Holy Spirit and what that means to our

lives and so we're coming to the conclusion of the Out of the Shadow and we're getting

ready to go into the series on the Holy Spirit. Please stand with me as we open up and read

God's word today. Mark chapter 10, verse 41. Now I'll give you some background behind this

Mark 10:41

text because the background is important to understand what Jesus is doing and saying

for these disciples. The background is that Jesus is talking about going to the cross

and he's letting his disciples know it's going to be a very quick but brutal kind of

encounter where he surrenders himself and he ends up dying on the cross and even says

he's going to rise again in three days. Well it's really interesting that the disciples

that are listening to this conversation have something in mind that's not quite in alignment

with that. James and John are talking about where they're going to be when Jesus comes

into his glory and so they make the request of Jesus, can we sit on your right and left

hand when you come into your glory? And I hope you can kind of catch the scenario, the

context of this. Jesus is having a very sober conversation and these disciples all of a

sudden are thinking about themselves. Where will we sit when you are in your glory and

that's where it picks up in verse 41 of Mark chapter 10. Hearing this, that is hearing what

Mark 10 · chapter mention

James and John said, the 10 began to feel indignant with James and John calling them

to himself. Jesus said to them, you know that those who are recognized as rulers of the

Gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is

not this way among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant

and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of man did

not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Let's pray.

Father, we want to thank you for your words today that comes from the Bible. Father, I

pray for this conversation Jesus is having with James and John to be clear to us, to

convict us, to lead, direct us. And Father, more than anything else that we can walk away

with this brilliant powerful example of what it means to serve one another that we see

in the life of Jesus Lord. Help us to walk away with that. We ask this in Jesus name

and everybody said amen. Please be seated if you would. You know not long ago the 9-11

commemoration shows took place and I happened to catch one of those. As you know 9-11 was

when the terrorist attacks on New York City and other areas of the United States happened

and the twin towers of the World Trade Center both came down during those attacks. This

particular show I was watching was talking about the first responders that made it to

the scene. Firemen and other emergency personnel that had to make the decision as they looked

at the twin towers already on fire and people already obviously perishing as to whether

they would go inside and go up all those floors up to 80, 90 floors in order to try to rescue

those that were above that floor line. And the immediate quick willing decision that

each one of them made to say yes I'll go in there and I'll do my best. I'll give my life

if necessary to find those that can be found and to bring them to safety. I thought it

was an incredible moment where this decision making had to take place on the spur of the

moment unprepared in every way but willing for people to say I'll go I'll give my life.

You may know that 343 first responders died in the twin towers when they came down. All

of them attempting to rescue people they did not know and had no other connection with

other than the fact that they were human beings in need. Now I look at that and I think what

an incredible picture of servanthood. What an amazing historical record of someone that

have given their lives to reach other people. And then I pause and I ask myself have we

lost the art of servanthood? Have we lost the joy or even the willingness to say I'll

do whatever I need to do to serve someone else? Maybe not that extreme of a need is

before you but have we lost the art of stopping long enough in our pursuit from getting point

to point A to point B and seeing the need around us and meeting that need? James and

John had missed that point in their conversation that we just read about a few moments ago.

And in Jesus' response to them we have this powerful picture of servanthood. How to go

deeper when it comes to serving others. What does it mean to have a life of servanthood?

That's what Jesus is going to answer for us today as we look at Mark chapter 10. I want

Mark 10 · chapter mention

to bring out three things about this text that are really important. First of all the

warning that Jesus gives, what I call the great deception that sometimes happens when

we think we're serving Jesus. And that great deception is revealed in what the request

was that James and John had. Go back to verse 37 if you would and look at what happened

in this request. James and John come to Jesus after Jesus gives them this background. He's

about to go to the cross. He's about to die. He's about to sacrifice his life. And they

said to him, grant that we may sit one on your right and one on your left hand in your

glory. Now if you've got the chance to go back to the book of Matthew and see the parallel

passage the mother of James and John is making that same request. So here are the 12 disciples

along with a lot of others there and the mom of James and John are making this on. They're

all urging this question to come to Jesus. And the request is can you make my boys to

be able to sit on the right hand and the left hand of you Lord when you come into your kingdom.

And the disciples themselves, these two, James and John were saying I want to be in that

place of recognition when you come into your kingdom. You know there's a few places in

the Bible where a request is made of Jesus and the line is when you come into your kingdom

and one of those is when Jesus died on the cross, the two thieves on either side, remember

the one ignored Jesus or mocked Jesus. The other though said Lord remember me when you

come into your kingdom. A humble request, a request that says all I want to do, all

I want to do is know that I can be with you in eternity. But James and John are not in

that set of mind. In fact James and John are in that mindset that says listen I've got

ambition for what happens on the other side of whatever you go through Jesus. I want to

find a place of honor, not a place of humility, but I'm going for greatness in the kingdom

of God. There's no other way to translate, no other way to interpret what James and John

response is except let's see what Jesus can do for us on the other side of whatever he's

going to go through and that's the opposite of servanthood. And I think that's why this

conversation is recorded for us. So that we can see what happens on one side when human

nature takes over and then we can see what happens on the other side when we really have

our minds on the great servant Jesus Christ. So I want to look forward just a moment at

this great deception that's happening in this conversation. By the way whenever blind ambition

happens, whenever personal ambition is rising up into our heart, whenever we want honor

instead of willingness to serve we see blindness and we see division and we see all kinds of

arrogance taking place. I want to point that out to you for just a few moments. First of

all ambition for honor is blind. Now I want you to go back with me to verses 32, 33, 34.

Just look at that for a second. It says this, it says they were on the road going up to

Jerusalem and Jesus was walking on ahead of them and they were amazed and those who followed

him were fearful. And again he took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going

to happen to him. So this is a conversation with Jesus and the disciples saying behold

we're going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests

and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles

and they will mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him and three days later

he will rise again. This is a painful kind of conversation, a shocking conversation for

disciples who weren't fully aware that Jesus was going to go through this time of suffering

and an eventual brutal sacrifice on the cross. They weren't in touch with all that but he

was telling them here's what's ahead of me, here's what I'm going to go through on your

behalf, here's all that I'm going to experience in the days ahead. Now if you can catch the

contrast here after hearing all that they are saying what's our role, what's in it

for me. Can you go ahead and promote us before you get there because we want to sit on the

right hand and the left hand. I can almost see James and John saying I've served you

for three years, we've been following you for three years, we've left everything for

three years, what are you going to do from us? Blind to what Jesus was saying eyes only

on themselves. We're seeing a picture of the opposite of servanthood. Ambition for honor

is also divisive, it's easy for us to see in verse 41, hearing this for ten began to

feel indignant. I can't think of anything that would destroy team dynamics more than

that kind of request when you've got twelve disciples and two of them are saying we want

the places of honor, we want the title, we want to be able to sit on the right hand and

the left hand, we want to be your favorite. And the Bible actually says the rest of the

ten were grieved and they were growing more resentful by the moment, present tense says

they were just growing increasingly indignant. I think you can learn a lot about team dynamics

here, you can learn a lot about organizational morale for that. Here's Jesus, the perfect

leader but the moment we began to have our eyes on ourselves, all that harmony and all

that unity begins to fall apart. It's divisive, it's also arrogant. Notice what Jesus says

in response to them in verse 42, you know that those who are recognized as rulers over

the Gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them but it's

not to be among you. In other words Jesus is saying I know what you're doing. You're

looking at the leadership model of the world, you're looking at how the Gentiles do things

and you're thinking that the way I do things in the kingdom and the way the world does

things in its organizations are going to be the same. And you're wanting that position

of authority, you're saying I want to leave this pack but I'm telling you God's got a

bigger vision than you have for His kingdom and it doesn't involve you being on the right

hand or on the left hand. I want to warn you today that no matter who you are, no matter

what group you're a part of, blind ambition can destroy relationships and morale in families,

in friendships, in marriages, in organizations, in the church. Anytime human ambition rises

up it cancels out anything God might be doing at that moment. James has an even more blunt

way of saying it in the book of James, James chapter 3 verse 16. I've always been astounded

James 3:16

by the brutality of some of James' words and you see them here. He says where jealousy

and selfish ambition exists there is disorder and every evil thing. James doesn't say there's

a little bit of evil going on when all this is happening. No, he says there's every evil

thing. You open the door to all kinds of horrific kind of things whenever blind ambition is

happening. So we all know what's happening. The disciples are looking at the model of

the world and thinking that's what it's going to be like. We're going to be able to have

honor and authority instead of being servants. So in the background of that great delusion

Jesus gives an incredibly great call and that's really what this heart of this text is all

about, the great call to serve Jesus. Look in verses 43 and verse 44. And instead of

a desire for honor Jesus elevates and teaches the desire for serving. The desire for ambition

means that we want to be seen as great in the eyes of others or great in our own eyes.

We want to have that kind of esteem to have that kind of position but greatness in the

kingdom of God is not like that at all. Jesus is steering the disciples towards greatness

in the eyes of God. Do you know where I get that term greatness in the eyes of God? I

get that term from the life of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was one of those men that

stood out in such a huge way as being a pure servant. He was a man filled with the Holy

Spirit from early, early on. He was a man that had one job and that job was to point

to Jesus Christ, to point out that this was the Messiah, the Lamb of God. The Bible tells

us that John's main statement that he made over and over is, I must decrease and he must

increase. In Matthew chapter 11 and verse 11 Jesus comments on John the Baptist as he's

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

about to die. Jesus' comment about this man, John the Baptist, is this one. It is, I say

to you, among those born of women there is not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.

And yet one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. The disciples knew

what that meant. They knew that John the Baptist was great in the eyes of God. They knew that

Jesus wanted them to be the same way. Jesus gives them this divine call that lets them

be what he really calls all of us to be. I want you to see it in two lines in verse 43

and 34. First of all, he said, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant.

Now that word servant is a word that we want to pay attention to for just a few moments.

It means that one who serves. It's really our word for deacon. You see the word deacon

translated in the New Testament. It is that word diakonos. And basically it means one

who renders an act of service. Someone is serving someone else. And so Jesus is pointing

to the disciples and saying, now it's not the position of leadership I want you to be

concerned about, but I want you to be concerned about the opportunity to serve other people

in my name. I want you to elevate that above the elevation of your own ambition and your

own desires and your own wish to be recognized. What I want you to do is lower yourself and

I want you to learn to do acts of service towards other people in my name. Do you remember

that great story Jesus told about the good Samaritan? You know, it was a story that he

told after the conversation about the greatest commandment. The lawyers come to him and say,

Lord, what's the greatest commandment in the law? He says, the greatest commandment is

to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, mark

adds and all your strength. And the second is likened to it that you love your neighbor

as yourself. In one of the gospels, the question comes back, so who is my neighbor? And Jesus

tells the story of the good Samaritan. Now the story of the good Samaritan is all about

meeting the need of a person that is a stranger to you. You don't know them, they're not in

your life. Two people walked by and left him on the roadside after he had been beaten and

been left almost for dead. And the third one, the Samaritan comes along and helps him. He

picks him up. He does his best to fix him up. It takes him and takes care of him and

says there's going to be money ahead of you if you keep taking care of him. I'm coming

back through. So he takes care of his immediate need, his future need. All these are acts

of service, all these in answer to who is my neighbor and how do I love my neighbor?

So Jesus tells that story that helps us understand what an act of service looks like. And at

the end of that he says you go and do likewise. I love that little line at the end of the

good Samaritan, go and do likewise. This is not just a fancy story. This is not just some

neat little novel that I'm making up. This is not just some example I'm telling you about.

This is how you're supposed to live. You're supposed to live looking at people and seeing

what needs they may have and how you might be able to meet that need in the name of Jesus

Christ. So in essence Jesus is saying at this point to his disciples in Mark chapter 10,

Mark 10 · chapter mention

however you're going to stand out, stand out as one who is willing to serve other people.

Lead the way in serving and meeting needs and render service all along the way. There's

so many ways that we can do that day in and day out. So many ways on a day by day basis

we not looking just at ourselves but looking at the need others have. It means being aware

of those around me who need someone to help them, someone to encourage them, someone to

point them to resources. It means my main ambition can't be just to get from point A

to point B on my journey through that particular day or on my journey through life. It means

being aware of everyone around me. After all the good Samaritan was on his way and was

on a journey and had to stop and look at the man that was beaten and left at the roadside

and Jesus says you do that same thing whatever you do, do the same thing. So Jesus' great

call begins with being willing to be a servant to those around you. So you should render

service, render service. But digging deeper Jesus makes another statement and that statement

takes us even deeper into the life of servanthood even more than rendering an act of servant,

be a servant, be a servant. Look at verse 44, whoever wishes to be first among you shall

be slave of all. Now a slave is someone who is bound to serve. Now the word has a bad

connotation in every era. So Jesus is actually using a word with a bad connotation in that

era as well as this era and he is giving a radical picture of what it means to serve

the Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying be a slave to all servants who are bound to serve their

master and Jesus gives us very much a permanent picture of servanthood in our life. It's

not just a matter of looking around every once in a while, you are bound to serve. You

know early in the morning I often get outside my house and I look up into the skies and

today was a beautiful day. Sixty-six degrees this morning, yes you heard me right, sixty-six

degrees this morning. Somebody say amen. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad for the weather

change every once in a while? Sixty-six degrees. I mean it's almost Christmas so it's about

time right? But not only was it nice and cool but man the skies were clear, crystal clear.

A few clouds floating by but man I could see the stars. I could see the stars and along

about six fifteen or so sitting on my front porch I could watch that sun come up and I

could see all of glory for a moment worshiping the Lord. Did it ever occur to you that the

sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds and everything God has created exists to serve our creator?

You want a good picture of servanthood? Look at everything God created and put in the heavens.

I mean how fateful does the sun come up? How fateful are the clouds move across the sky,

the stars out to point our way. They do everything they were designed to do because their creator

has asked them to do it. And as I've said before human beings are the only ones that

really argue with God about their purpose in life. But we're called to be servants of

the Most High God. To be as faithful in serving as the sun is in coming up every day as the

stars are in making their trek across the sky. We're called to be a servant for the

purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is saying to the disciples live your life this

way. See yourself as a servant. They were really quickly trying to see themselves as

leaders but he says no no I want you to see yourself as a servant. Now next week we'll

get into leadership because we'll talk about what it means to take a deeper dive into leading

but I'm going to tell you today what I'm going to say next week. That means you still

need to come back and find out what it means but here's what I'm going to say next week.

That serving well is leading well and leading well is serving well. They're practically

synonymous. So here's Jesus saying to the disciples who later became very much the pillars

of the New Testament church I want you before I put you in a position to lead to learn to

follow and learn to serve well. No leader can lead well if he has not learned to follow

well until he's learned to serve well. So you should render servants but even more than

that you should be a servant. Serve me by serving others Jesus is saying. By the way

as you think about what it means to serve one another and as you think about what it

means to love one another these two are hand in hand. I love one another is to serve one

another. You literally cannot love someone without serving them. The word for agape the

word love in the New Testament is not a feeling word it's not an emotion word it's not a word

that means I get anything in return it's a word that says I'm going to do whatever I

need to do for their betterment. So to love one another is to serve one another. And when

you read the rest of the New Testament there's no doubt that this conversation in Mark chapter

Mark 10 · chapter mention

10 has impacted the disciples. This and many others that Jesus had in the way of conversations

about servanthood have impacted them. For example I look in the book of 1 Peter chapter

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

4 the epazopeter said as each one of you has received a special gift employ it in serving

one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whatever gift you have whatever

passion you have whatever opportunity you have you serve one another as someone who's

been given the grace to do that by God. Or Paul says it really well in Galatians chapter

Galatians 5:13

5 verse 13 talking about being free from sin he said you're called to freedom brethren

but don't turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another.

Paul gets it Peter gets it why don't we get it why didn't James and John get that

the opportunity we have is to serve one another. Now I see service going on all around me I

mean I don't know if you realize this but it takes hundreds of people to serve the Lord

every single week in a church like ours and they are serving all over the place many of

you in this room are serving in one way or another. It's powerful to see people step

up and say you know I'm here I want to serve someone I want to help meet the need of someone

I want to answer questions I want to lead people to the place where they can hear the

gospel of Jesus or get connected to somebody else in the church. I want to work with children

or preschool or student ministry I want to work with adults I want to do something for

the kingdom of God. I've been saved by Jesus I want to serve Jesus and I'd love to watch

that unfold. Literally we all have that opportunity. Others say you know I have a certain vocation

and I want that vocation or whatever I am able to do through that vocation to help further

the kingdom of God. We recently went through a rebuilding process of our buildings and

it was astounding for me to see different people of different professions and backgrounds

in the building industry in the banking industry and the financial wisdom industry step up

and help us see something great happen here through the willingness to serve for that

particular project here the Generations Project in our church. I'm just astounded by that.

And the truth is that when people have connected with us and done that they walk away saying

man it blessed me to be a part of something like that. That's what it means to serve it

means to help advance the cause of those around you and advance the cause of the gospel in

your area of concentration in some way serving really makes a difference. That's why Jesus

wants us to serve. Besides that serving others is providing goodwill and is contagious. Have

you ever noticed when someone serves you with a smile and they encourage you and help you

in some way it's actually contagious. You want to frown off your face and you want to

help somebody else right. Just one word that describes that Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A. Anybody

in the room not know what a Chick-fil-A is. Most of you know what a Chick-fil-A is. Somehow

Chick-fil-A has managed to train their people to serve with gratitude. Serve with gratitude.

And they even have three words they use at the end of that. You know what those three

words are at the end of their service. You get your food you pay the money. They say

it's my pleasure. My pleasure right. And you hear that every single one of them. Did you

know that that in Chick-fil-A restaurants and I'm not trying to advocate where you're

going to eat today because they're closed today. You cannot be a franchisee unless you

work in the store. You can't be a remote owner. You can't just own a Chick-fil-A. You have

to put your blood sweat and tears into that. You have to put your hands to the side. In

other words you have to serve your clientele your customers. You wonder why it's so successful.

That may be why it's so successful. It uses a little bit of Jesus leadership model. And

that leadership model is we're in this for the long haul for you. It's so important for

us to learn to serve. That we need to be asking questions of ourselves. How can we treat people

today in a way that reflects Christ. In a way that's encouraging. In a way that makes

them want to know him more. How can we do that. Let's do it that way. Let's do it that

way. Last week I shared with you some statistics about those that have left the church over

the years and those that have left the faith after they've left the church. And for many

of them whether we believe that that survey is completely valid or not for many of them

how the church treats their friends was a big reason why they left. In other words what

they saw instead of kindness instead of friendliness instead of a smile there was a judgmentalism

about it. That's when they said I'm going to distance myself from the church and I'm

going to distance my friends from the church. The argument wasn't about whether something

was morally right or wrong or whether the Bible was true or not. It was the attitude

through which it was conveyed. Servanthood doesn't have to be mean. Servanthood doesn't

have to have a frown on his face. Servanthood doesn't have to say I told you so. Servanthood

doesn't have to play the part of the Holy Spirit in someone's lives and I absolutely

believe there's absolute truth in the Holy Spirit. I absolutely convicts that we are

to represent Jesus well by serving other people in that kind of a heart. Towards the end of

Jesus earthly ministry before he went to the cross he gathered his disciples again for

another one of these conversations. This conversation is recorded in Matthew chapter 25. He's actually

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

going into a future conversation that will be held in heaven. In Matthew chapter 25 Jesus

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

says this to his disciples before he goes to the cross. I'm just going to read some

verses to you. It won't be on the screen but Matthew 25 beginning in verse 31. When the

Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him then he will sit on his glorious

throne. That's a conversation the disciples are having as well. And all the nations will

be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another as the shepherd separates

the sheep from the goats and he will put the sheep on one side and the goats on the left.

Then the king will say to those on his right, to the sheep, come you who are blessed of

my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And

then here it is. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat and I was thirsty

and you gave me something to drink and I was a stranger and you invited me in. I was naked

and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Can

you imagine the disciples some of them having just argued about wanting to be on the right

hand and left hand but most of them not really thinking about servanthood yet still. Can

you imagine those disciples being perplexed by why Jesus was bringing this up? And so

one of them actually articulates through thoughts, Lord when did we do that to you? When did

we bring you something to eat? When did we bring you water? When did we bring you clothing?

When was all this? And Jesus responded, truly I say to you to the extent that you did it

to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me. In other

words, serving is not an end in itself. I am the end to which you are to serve. That

when you serve someone else, an act of service, when you consider yourself to be one who has

a life of servanthood, you're doing it to me. You're doing it for me. You're representing

me on this earth. And when we do this, we serve Jesus by representing Him to people.

Wow, we've got a big job. And that big job is not sitting on the right hand or the left

hand. The big job is being out there with people, are representing Jesus well with people.

And then Jesus gives us a great example. See this passage in Mark chapter 10 comes around

Mark 10 · chapter mention

to one of the greatest statements in the Bible that we quote all the time, but I want you

to see why Jesus said what He said here in verse 45. He said, for even the Son of Man

did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. I'm going

to paraphrase what I believe Jesus is saying to these disciples, but this is my paraphrase.

You've been watching me serve others for three years. You're convinced that I'm the Messiah

and the coming King. Over and over, you've seen me put others first. I've served the

lowest and the most lost. I've been getting my hands dirty to help others. I'm telling

you memorable stories about sacrifice and service. Now the day before I die, I'm going

to get on my hands and knees and I'm going to wash your feet and then I'm going to get

on the cross and I'm going to wash your heart. I'm the example of what a servant is. Serve

people like I've served you. That's what Jesus is saying. Even the Son of Man didn't come

to be served, but to serve. And then that last line, man, that last line is the exclamation

point that every act of service that's ever been rendered, it's the greatest act of service

that could ever possibly have been rendered to the most undeserving of us all. And it

says this, and to give his life a ransom for many. Now we know what the word ransom mean.

The idea behind ransom is a substitute. Jesus used this word for a very real purpose. And

that substitution demands that it be provided before we be released. Ransom is one of the

ways and one of the many pictures of salvation is explained in the New Testament. It means

to get the buying back of people who are in bondage otherwise. Or they may be in prison,

but the ransom is given, the price is paid and they're released. And we're familiar with

the idea of ransom because of kidnappings that we read about in the news or years ago,

hijackings, skyjackings that we've heard of in the past where ransom dollars were required.

Anybody remember the name J. Paul Getty? That phrase, that name, some of you remember that?

That name was prominent in 1975 when I was a kid. A teenage grandson of J. Paul Getty

was actually kidnapped and held for $3 million ransom. And the kidnapper said we're going

to take his life if you don't provide the ransom money. And they actually cut off his

ear and mailed it to a newspaper to help them know how serious they really were. Provide

the ransom or you'll never see the release of this young man. And I remember seeing the

headlines once that ransom money was paid and that boy was actually released and we

were all celebrating. It was one of those things that everybody kind of stopped and

watched as it unfolded back when I was a teenager. That idea of ransom is what Jesus is bringing

up and applying to us. And here's what he's saying. Mankind is in bondage. Mankind is

locked up in the sand, all of us held by the grips of sin and Satan. And I'm going to give

my life as a payment for, as a ransom for sin and Satan's bondage that he has us set.

And you're only going to be set free when I give my life for you. And the price of that

ransom? It was the entire life, the physical life of the sinless son of God. Man, what

a picture. What a picture of servitude. Jesus said I'm going to give everything I have so

that you might be set free. Like the ultimate first responder, Jesus went to the cross knowing

that his act on the cross will be of self-sacrifice and he would bear the sins of all mankind

on his shoulders for us. How can we forget that act of service? Every time I think about

my salvation, I think about how unworthy I was to accept the gift of eternal life or

to be forgiven for my sin. I think about how not only unworthy but undeserving and I couldn't

possibly pay it back. I realized how far I was from God. I mean, every one of us that

have come to faith in Jesus Christ understand that there's no way we could save ourselves.

No amount of religion, no amount of doing good, no amount of changing in our lives can

make us righteous enough for a holy God. But Jesus gave his whole life so that we might

be made right with God. So having had that happen to us as believers in Jesus Christ

should powerfully impress upon us our call to serve others in his name. He saved me so

I serve him. He saved you so you serve him. Just before Jesus went to the cross, now moments

before he goes to the cross, he's washed the disciples feet. They've had the Passover

meal and he greets them in that upper room for the Passover meal and he's talking to

them about servanthood one more time. I mean, he was always talking about servanthood. But

that's one last time he leaves this indelible impression upon them with this line. He said,

I am among you as one who serves. And then he went to the garden of Gethsemane and then

he went to the cross. Is there any doubt about what Jesus is calling us to do? To serve him

and to serve others as we serve him. In just a few moments I'm going to give an invitation

to you. One of those is to come to Christ to secure the freedom that he paid for, for

you to have. We have decision stations at the back of the room. The reason we have those

decision stations is because we would love to have a conversation with you about whether

you know for sure that you have eternal life or not. Now sometimes people attend church

and they say, you know, I don't really know if I've ever been at that moment in my life

where I have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior or I have some doubts about whether I've ever

been there. And maybe somebody came in today and said, you know, I just never really have

ever had anybody encourage me to put my faith and trust in Christ. But we're going to encourage

you to do that today. Jesus paid the ransom, the price for your sin so that you might be

set free. Accepting Jesus accepts the freedom that his ransom secures for you. It's a simple

act of asking him to be your Lord and Savior, forgiving you of your sins and giving you

the gift of eternal life. We'd like to have that conversation with you at our decision

station. That is the first decision and the first invitation I give you. The second one

is this, I encourage you to come to our guest reception center just outside the center exit

doors and across the hallway. I'd love to tell you more about Cross City Church and

about the things ahead for our church. Love to visit with you personally. The third invite

is I invite you to reach out to somebody else and bring them with you as you come to worship

and gather with God's family next week as we look at leadership and what servanthood

and leadership have to do with each other. Would you stand with me as we close this day

in prayer? Father, I want to thank you today that you are the ultimate service through

Jesus Christ the Son. You gave your son's life on the cross. Thank you Lord Jesus for

doing that for us. Thank you for paying the price, the ransom for our sin. Father, I pray

today that you would help us understand and grasp this meaning of servanthood, this life

you've called us to. Father, help us know what that means in our life, what kind of adjustments

we need to make, what kind of opportunities we need to look for. Lord, for every one of

us it's the same call but has different applications. You use us everywhere. Father, we have this

gratitude in our heart that you security turned a light for us. We have a home in heaven for

us after we die. Lord, we want to serve you while we're here. Help us to do that well.

Thank you so much for this congregation today. Help us to go out to serve you well. In Jesus

name we pray, amen.