The Humble Ransom - Mark 10:32-45

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. All right. Good morning.

Glad that you're here. This is your first time.

Welcome. My name is Logan, and I get the great

opportunity to shepherd this local congregation.

As we are diving into the book of Mark. If you

do not have a Bible, we've got some in the back

there. That is our gift to you if you do not

have one. We've been working through the book

of Mark. We're almost through chapter 10. There's

only 16 chapters in Mark. So I'm really excited

as we are barreling towards the end of it. We

will start the book of Revelation after that.

So it should be interesting. If you do not have

a Bible or don't want a good one from the back,

we will have the words up here. And also, make

sure you grab the bulletin if you'd like to keep

notes to write things down. Oh, also, can we

just thank the Lord for AC and the AC working,

Mike? Thank you very much for calling somebody

to fix the leak. because I was really nervous

about this Sunday. I already sat up here and

I was like, man, nobody's going to come to church.

We don't got AC. So thank you, Lord, for AC.

All right. The title of my sermon today is The

Humble Ransom. Living, serving and dying. And

if you are taking notes, this is my big idea

that you can write down. It's gonna be right

up here for you. Jesus fulfilled his purpose

by humbly giving his life for others. As his

followers, our purpose is not to seek recognition,

but to die to ourselves and serve others so they

can see him. What is something, let me ask you

guys this. What is something that we continually

keep seeing happening that Jesus is bringing?

to the disciples and they're just not getting

it. What is it that we keep seeing repeating?

Yes, exactly. He's going to the cross, right?

And we saw a couple of weeks ago that he's going

to the cross and Peter actually rebukes Jesus

for it, right? No, that's not how this is gonna

work. Jesus, obviously you don't know the prophecies

of the Messiah, right? Like he's very indignant

about it. And so yet again, we're going to see

This same thing we're going to unpack this morning,

along with some more fun, interesting things.

But throughout our time in the book of Mark,

we've seen Jesus repeatedly tell his disciples

that he is going to die. And every time he does,

they either don't understand him or like Peter,

they become indignant and try to correct him

because it doesn't fit their understanding of

what the Messiah is supposed to be. And in our

passage today, we're gonna see that Jesus once

again predicts his death, but he does so this

time with a lot of details that we're gonna see.

And so, and this will actually be the third time

in three chapters. So, writing this down, if

you guys have heard me say it before, but I wanna

remind you, when you see repeating things in

scripture, that is big flashing lights that this

is what the author is trying to drive home to

you for you to understand. And so, if you'll

recall, The entirety of the book of Mark is Mark

showing that Jesus is the Messiah, the one true

King. That's his theme. And then now we're seeing

Jesus repeatedly repeat that he is the Messiah,

but it's not gonna look the way you thought it

was going to look. And so, a question I have

to ask is this though. If we look, and I'm gonna

read it all in just a second. But if we look

at verse 45, okay, so we're in chapter 10 I want

you to go to the very last verse that we're gonna

see that we're gonna unpack verse 45 This is

Jesus talking and he says for even the Son of

Man came not to be served but to serve and To

give his life. What is that? What does it say

as a ransom for many? So let me ask you this

Does it sound like to you, if Jesus continues

to repeat himself of what this is gonna look

like, does it sound like a man who is caught

by surprise with his death? Not at all, right?

Does it sound like Jesus is being forced or coerced

into dying? No. So again, verse 45 gives us that

answer that he came not to be served, but to

serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

And that one verse tells us everything we need

to know about why Jesus came. He knew exactly

what his purpose was and nothing was going to

keep him from fulfilling it. What does that word,

when you see the word came, what does that tell

us? It's doing a lot of heavy lifting, but what

should it tell us about Jesus himself? Exactly.

Gene's over here just killing it for everybody.

If you didn't hear him, it tells us that he's

always been, from the very beginning, way before

Bethlehem, he has always been. And he willingly

entered the world with a mission. And when he

says that he came not to be served, it reminds

us that although he deserved every ounce of honor,

glory and worship, he willingly laid aside those

privileges in order to serve sinners like me

and you. But then Jesus tells us the heart of

his mission is to give his life as a ransom for

many. So that word, if you... would turn there

if you're still there. I want you to circle the

word ransom and I want you to write next to it

however you need to, if you need to draw an arrow,

whatever it looks like. I want you to write the

Greek word of that, which is Lutron. So it's

just like it sounds, L -U -T -R -O -N, Lutron.

And Lutron, because we don't really use the word

ransom so much unless somebody's like kidnapped

and they put up for the ransom, right? But ransom

in this term in the Greek, means something similar,

but it's even better. It's a price that was paid

to purchase the freedom of a slave or a prisoner.

Someone else made the payment so another person

could go free. So that word Lutron, again, ransom,

is talking about a payment that has been paid.

So a few weeks ago, I talked about why Christ

had to die. We looked at the personal reasons,

but we also looked at the cosmic reasons. Our

sin created a debt that we could never repay.

And it took a cosmic payment to satisfy the justice

of a holy God and to defeat a cosmic evil. And

Jesus made the payment on the cross and he paid

the ransom that we could never pay ourselves.

And that is where our passage begins. Jesus was

absolutely committed to his purpose. But as we

will see, while Jesus is focused on giving his

life away, His disciples are still focused on

gaining something for themselves. And in contrast,

Jesus not only reveals his purpose, but he reveals

ours. So let's go to chapter 10. We're going

to start in verse 32. You guys ready? Here we

go. And they were on the road going to Jerusalem

and Jesus was walking ahead of them and they

were amazed. and those who followed were also

afraid. And taking the 12 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 priest

and the scribes, and they will condemn him to

death and deliver him over the Gentiles, and

they will mock him, spit on him, and flog him

and kill him, and after three days will rise

again." So do you see how Jesus now is prophetically

speaking like specific details now. So first

it was son of man's got to come and die. Now

he's giving details. What about this though is

interesting is notice that he says the chief

priest, right? And the scribes will deliver him

over to the Gentiles. Why does he give that information?

What do you think? Is it? Is it the role of a

chief priest and the scribes to kill someone?

Nope. So they take him, but they have to give

him over to the Roman guards, right? To the Romans

in order for him to be killed. And so that's

why Jesus is giving you this information. Cause

if he just said, the chief priests, they're going

to kill me. They'd be like, that doesn't make

much sense. They can't do that. Right? So he's

giving us a little bit more detail. Let's keep

going. 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. Hilarious,

by the way. 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. And 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 baptism with which I

am baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit

at my right hand or at my left hand is not mine

to grant, but it is for those for whom it has

been granted or been prepared. In Matthew it

says that God had ordained. So if you read the

Matthew account of this, he says, God has ordained

those to be at my right or my left. And when

the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant at

James and John. And Jesus called to them and

he said, you know that those who are considered

rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and

their great ones exercise authority over them.

But it not. it, but it shall not be so among

you. But whoever be great among you must be your

servant and whoever 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. All right. If you are taking

notes, that first line is a willing sacrifice.

A willing sacrifice. There's a documentary, I've

been thinking about having it, showing it here,

because we own it, for us to see. There's a series

of them, but they're called the American Gospel.

The seminary I went to, Southern Seminary in

Louisville. was the ones that produced these,

and it's called the American Gospel, and then

it always has like, you know, whatever the kind

of theme is. And so, is anybody familiar with

those? Those documentaries? They're really, really

good. They're on Amazon Prime. Super, super,

super good. But this one in particular that I'm

thinking of is American Gospel Christ Crucified.

And so, as I said, there's multiple of the American

Gospel series, but this one specifically deals

with Christ's willingness to go to the cross.

And there's a reason for that. Because throughout

the documentaries, they're interviewing several

liberal theologians and pastors. And I went through

yesterday and rewatched it just to take down

some quotes for you. And I'm gonna have them

right up here. so you can read them as I go along.

So the first one is from Bart Campolo. His father

is Tony Campolo, who is a famous, famous pastor,

writer, theologian, who has, he recently passed

away about two or three years ago. And he ultimately,

because of his son, Bart, who became an atheist,

he ultimately became, Tony himself went from

being very conservative to very progressive.

in order to try to mend fences with his son.

But Bart says this, why would I serve the God

of the Bible when I can imagine a much better

God in my mind? Then Tony Jones, who's another

famous liberal theologian, progressive theologian,

he says this, how does Jesus dying take care

of your personal sins? By what cosmic mechanism?

It doesn't just or it doesn't make sense. And

that is not in the Bible, and that is most certainly

not the God I see there or worship. Yeah, because

the one that you worship is not the one true

God, it's the one you made up in your head, like

Bart Campolo. This next one is from a woman you

have seen, I know you have, you just don't realize

it before. She is a priestess, she's covered

in tattoos. She writes a lot of theological books

on sex. But she says this in the documentary,

it turns God, so the Christ sacrifice turns God

into some sort of cosmic divine child abuser.

And that's Nadia Bowles Weber is her name. And

then the last one is a guy who is Very, very

famous. And the funny thing is, his church is

in St. Joe. Big church. I say big church. It's

a big building, but not a lot of people in it.

And his name is Brian Zond, and he believes he

is God's gift to the Bible. But he says, if you

believe that Christ's atonement and sacrifice,

was necessary, then you have to ask the question,

does God really love me or has he simply been

paid off? So every one of those objections is

aimed at the very truth we find in our passage

today. Too many people, or too many people, the

idea of Christ dying on the cross to satisfy

God's justice sounds primitive, barbaric, or

like something straight out of an antiquitic

story. And the question usually becomes, why

wouldn't God just forgive everyone and be done

with it? Why would he require sacrifice? And

if you remember that sermon I preached a couple

of weeks ago, I answered that question and you

should go back and listen to that sermon again

if you don't remember, but I'm going to bring

it. fresh back to your memory. If you'll recall,

I used an illustration of a broken lamp and it

was Scott's broken lamp. And I said, Scott, if

I come to your house and I accidentally knock

over your wife's reading lamp and it breaks,

we have two choices. Right. And I said, either

I pay for it. Right. Or Scott says, no, I forgive

you. But he still absorbs the cost of the broken

lamp, right? Because he's still got to go get

another one. He paid for it once, probably paid.

See what I'm saying? So if you guys will remember

that, forgiveness doesn't erase the cost. It

simply determines who absorbs it. And so the

cross is no different. Jesus didn't have to die

despite God's love. He had to die because of

God's love. I'll say that again so it clicks

in your brain. Jesus didn't die despite God's

love. He had to die because of God's love. And

that's because real life changing love is always

substitutionary. Someone bears the cost so someone

else can go free. I want you to think about it

in another way. I want you to think about parenting.

Children enter the world completely independent,

right? Thank you. There's one person. No, they're

completely dependent, right? So if they're completely

dependent, they can't survive on their own. They

don't magically grow into mature adults by themselves.

And the only way they can become independent

is if someone else willingly gives up a great

deal of their life and their own independence

for years. Right? You read the same books over

and over and over again, not because they're

gripping literature, but because that's how children

develop language, imagination, and understanding.

You lose sleep, you sacrifice time, money, hobbies,

and dreams, and you absorb the cost so they can

grow. I'll give you more of an example of that.

It has not been easy for my wife. to put her

own dreams on hold to homeschool our kids. She

had big dreams and plans. When we first started

dating and getting married, she wanted to be

a licensed therapist. And she had to put all

of those dreams on hold in order to navigate

homeschooling. There have been extra sacrifices

or there have been sacrifices like no extra income.

her personal goals, opportunities she could have

pursued. But I know she would tell you today

that while it has been hard, it has been absolutely

worth it. Just spend a few minutes with my kids

and you'll see what I'm saying. I'm pretty proud

of them, but mostly because she's done a great

job. They're growing in God's word, they're growing

intellectually, and they're growing to be wonderful

young men and a wonderful young lady. And that's

what love does. Write this down. Sacrifice is

always at the heart of genuine love. Sacrifice

is always at the heart of genuine love. So it

shouldn't be a surprise to us that a God whose

love is infinitely greater than ours would make

the ultimate sacrifice to deal with the ultimate

problem. Sin created a debt that we could never

pay, so God paid it himself. Think about this

for a moment. God could speak light into existence,

he could speak stars into existence and oceans

and mountains and platypuses and giraffes and

all the crazy stuff, but he could not simply

say, let there be forgiveness. Because justice

demanded that the debt be paid. Who was going

to absorb the cost? And he loved us too much

to leave us to pay the debt he knew we could

not. And so sometimes people say, I've never

asked God, like if you've ever talked to anybody

that's not a believer, you know, and you're like,

you know, Christ has come, forgive your sins.

He died for you. Well, I never asked him to do

that for me. I've never heard that. Have I ever

said that to you? I have. My response is always

the same. No, you didn't. But he did it anyway.

C .S. Lewis actually captures this beautifully

in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as Aslan

gives his life in Edmund's place. C .S. Lewis

writes this, when a willing victim who had committed

no treachery was killed in a trader's stead,

the table would crack and death itself would

start working backwards. And that is exactly

what Jesus came to do. He wasn't forced to the

cross. He walked there willingly knowing that

his death would become our life. And so when

someone says, is Jesus or God is some sort of

cosmic child abuser, you can look back at them

and say, last I checked, he's always been here.

And he willingly went. He signed up for it. He

knew the mission. If you go back in chapter 10,

verse 32, and they were on the road going to

Jerusalem. Why were they going to Jerusalem?

Because Jesus knew he had a mission. So it didn't

catch him off guard. Point number two, a humble

sacrifice. But now we come to the part of the

passage where once again, the disciples just

do not get it. And it's funny because it's easy

to shake our heads at them and be like, dude,

what is the problem here? But if you're anything

like me, and I'm sure some of you are, I have

to take the long way around with Jesus sometimes.

He has to like, Say it and repeat it over and

over before I finally go and then sometimes I

put myself in bad situations Bad life circumstances,

and that's the thing that usually wakes me up

and then I'm like, oh Now I get it. Why didn't

you just say it Jesus? You know what I mean?

He's like, okay Jesus has just told the disciples

that he's going to suffer and die instead of

asking questions about his suffering James and

John step forward and ask if they can sit at

his right and left in his glory. I want you to

think about the audacity of that request. They

basically say, teacher, what would they say?

Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask. If

my kids came to me with that line, I would literally

do the exact opposite. Just because I'm like,

nah, nah. But he doesn't snap at them. You actually

see Jesus's patience, and he simply asks, what

do you want me to do for you? Now, if I'm like

Jesus, or if I was Jesus, I should say, I'm giving

these two goobers a smack on the back of the

head and like, guys, I'm literally talking to

you about my death, my death for you and you

guys wanna know what I'm gonna do for you. But

as I looked more and more at this part of the

passage, I couldn't help but hear the Holy Spirit

going and yet still you always come to me in

prayer. Here's what I need you to do for me.

Anybody else? But Jesus patiently listens and

after hearing their request, he simply says,

you don't know what you're asking. And then he

asked, can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized

with the baptism I am baptized with? And so James

and John, when they think glory, they're thinking

thrones, they're thinking powers, they're thinking

prestige, and they're thinking influence. They're

picturing cabinet positions in the kingdom, but

Jesus is teaching them that His greatest glory

will actually be revealed where? On the cross.

You can write this down. The place where the

world sees weakness is the very place where God

displays His greatest love. In fact, when Jesus

is lifted up in His greatest moment of glory,

There will indeed be someone at his right and

his left, but they aren't honored officials.

Who are they? When Christ is lifted up onto that

cross, who are the ones that God ordains to be

at his right and his left? Criminals. Those who

are ordained to be there are criminals hanging

on a cross. The cup and the baptism both point

to the judgment of God against sin that Jesus

is about to bear. That James and John have no

idea what they're asking because they still don't

understand the cross because before we're too

hard on them, we should admit that we're often

just like them. At some level, our pride blinds

us too. Scott was talking about pride this morning

and I couldn't help but kind of like chuckle

to myself because I'm like, oh man. I saw my

notes. But our pride blinds us too. We naturally

assume we know how our lives should go, and when

they don't, we question God. So take worry, for

example. We worry because we love people, and

that's understandable, but constant worry often

reveals something deeper. It quietly says, I

know how the situation should turn out, and God

isn't getting it right. That's pride dressed

up as concern. Real humility loosens its grip.

It allows us to laugh at ourselves, to be honest

about our weaknesses, and to trust that God's

wisdom is better than ours. And that's what the

cross produces in us. When you realize that the

Son of God willingly took your place, it's hard

to keep pretending that you're the center of

the story. I'm gonna repeat that. When you realize

that the Son of God willingly took your place,

it's hard to keep pretending that you're the

center of the story. But humility doesn't stop

with seeing ourselves rightly. It always moves

outward in service, and that's exactly where

Jesus takes the disciples next. He gathers them

together and he says, the rulers of the Gentiles

lord it over them, not so much with you. The

world gains influence through power, wealth,

and position and control. It says, if I have

enough money, if I have enough influence and

enough connections, then I can get my way. I've

definitely lived that way. You guys have heard

me talk about my time in the Christian music

industry. It was all, the entire thing was about

gaining as much influence and money and success

as I possibly could. just so it would slap Jesus

on it, but really so it could be about me. But

just as Jesus said to the disciples, so Jesus

said to me when he said, not so with you. Jesus

isn't calling us to withdraw from society. He's

calling us to engage it differently. It's the

same principle we saw in Jeremiah in our verse

of the week. Bring that back up for me, bud,

please. Let's look at this again together. If

you look at the top, not the one, not but seek

the welfare, but if you go up the verse ahead

of that, God has sent them into exile and he's

telling them, don't shut yourself off. I'm the

one who sent you there. Here's what you're gonna

do. You're going to take sons and you're going

or you're gonna take wives and you're gonna take

husbands and you're going to plant gardens and

you're gonna have babies. And you're going to

multiply there and do not decrease but seek the

welfare of the what? City where I have sent you

into exile notice that it says where I have sent

you it wasn't by accident and Pray to the Lord

on its behalf for in its what's that say? welfare

you will find your Doesn't say as much as I would

like to create my own commune doesn't say to

do that. And so it says to seek, serve lovers,

seek the good of the place where God has planted

you, not out of obligation, but out of love for

Christ and love for them. The world believes

influence comes through power. Jesus says influence

comes through sacrifice. Power might change behavior

for a while, but it never changes a heart, but

sacrificial love does. And Jesus is saying, I'm

calling you to a different way of living. Love

people so deeply and serve them so faithfully

that they cannot imagine this community without

you. So here's a question I have for us as a

church and a question that every church should

wrestle with. And I want you to think deeply

about this. If we closed up this church tomorrow.

Would this town even notice? If you didn't hear,

Scott said probably not. I saw a couple others

shake their head no. That is a problem. Don't

you guys agree? Because as the church, we should

so seek its welfare. So seek its goodness, that

if we closed its doors, they would mourn. They

wouldn't mourn because a building is gone. They

would mourn because the love of Christ is gone.

Would they miss meals, prayers, encouragement?

Would they miss a people that looked like Jesus?

Write this down. James and John thought their

purpose was to become important. Jesus knew his

purpose was to become a ransom. Our purpose isn't

to build our own little kingdoms. Our purpose

is to spend our lives pointing people to his.

Growing this church isn't for the sake of growing

a church. It's not about bigger numbers. this

church is about growing the kingdom and seeing

people come to Christ and ultimately seeing a

town be completely changed by the love of Jesus,

not through political influence, because that's

the thing that's getting me right now is I'm

seeing, and listen to me, be involved in politics.

That's good. I'm not saying that Christians shouldn't

be involved in politics. They should. But what

I'm tired of seeing is pastors, good pastors,

leave the pastorate in order to become a governor,

a senator, or whatever else, and notice that

they don't go back to serving people. So is it

really about influencing the country for the

kingdom, or is it really about gaining power

and influence for yourself? Do you understand

what I'm saying? So as the people of God, we

have to see that this is what Jesus is telling

us. James and John are going, Give us power and

influence. And Jesus goes, yeah, power and influence

don't come that way. It comes to dying to yourself.

So in closing. You've probably heard the studies

that say if you spend your life chasing your

own happiness, you'll actually become miserable.

Have you guys seen those studies? There's a lot

of psychological studies that talk about that.

If you. live your life for your own passions

and desires, you will ultimately become miserable.

Just go read an autobiography of any famous person.

So they say instead, if you serve other people,

you will actually find happiness. Sounds good,

right? Yeah, go serve people, you will find happiness.

But here's the question. If you're serving people

in order to find your own happiness, are you

really serving them for them or are you serving

them for yourself? Are you doing it because it

makes you happier? And so you can pet yourself

on the back or are you really serving them? We

don't serve in order to earn God's favor either.

We serve because we've already been loved and

we don't serve to become accepted by God. We

serve because in Christ we already are. So when

you truly understand the cross, when you understand

that Jesus willingly gave his life as a ransom

for you, it changes everything. You don't need

to prove yourself anymore. You don't need to

gain recognition for anything. You don't need

power and you don't need to make a name for yourself

because why? Because you're free. And free people

serve. So there is a there's a statue. That is

sorry. It sounded like I was calling a turkey

over there. So there's a there's a statue at

Southeastern University in Lakeland, which is

where Tracy graduated from. I started my bachelor's

degree there. And they have this big, I don't

know if they still do, but they did in the center

of campus, they had this big fountain. And then

the big fountain is a statue of Jesus washing

the feet of the disciples. So it's got the towel

around him and he's bent over and he's washing

the feet of the disciples. And I, for many, many

days when I would be there on campus for classes,

I would go and I would sit there in front of

it and I would pray and I would just be like,

Lord, would you let me give my life to just serve

the church? Let me just give my life to serving

the church. And then it was really funny, because

like 20 years later, I see this statue again,

but I see this statue not at Southeastern University,

not at a church. You want to know where I saw

it? In Atlanta, Georgia. The Chick -fil -A corporate

center, when I'm going through the last bit of

interviews, when you go through the security,

by the way, the Chick -fil -A corporate is gigantic.

Like it's massive and they got all this acreage

and it's really pretty. And you go through the

security and as you go through the security,

it then opens up and right in front of you is

the statue of Jesus washing the disciples feet.

And the purpose of it being there is true and

Kathy believed that as Christians, this is what

we're called to do, to serve others. But it stopped

me and made me remember back to when I would

sit at that statue and just pray to the Lord

about a prayer to serve the church. And it hit

me. Serving isn't about being just limited to

the church. It's not being limited to a church

building or a ministry position. It doesn't matter

if you're a pastor, a teacher, a rancher, a nurse,

a mechanic, a bread guy, didn't forget about

you, a stay at home mom, or a student, God has

placed you exactly where you are for a purpose,

not to be served, but to serve. In church, that's

our king. He came not to be served, but to serve

and to give his life as a ransom for many. and

may we joyfully spend our lives doing the same.

Let's pray.