SERIES: Mark — The Cross-Shaped Life
TEXT: Mark 10:32-45
MESSAGE: “The Humble Path To Greatness”

“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” — Mark 8:34

So, what does today’s text tell us about being a disciple?

“…whoever would be great among you must be your servant…” — Mark 10:43

“…the best definition of humility I have heard—one that has haunted me for years—was one I heard from a pastor years ago. “Humility in the Bible,” he said, “is not primarily an inward posture of the heart; it has an outward look and feel to it. The humble in the Bible are those who are willing to embrace humble circumstances and be associated with those of low estate.” This was striking to me because unlike any other definition I’d heard, it took humility out of the inward realm of personal self-regard and placed it in the observable world of concrete, daily circumstance…It entailed the embracing of humble circumstances and a willingness to be associated with those of low regard.” — Abe Cho

“I am a prideful man, seeking humility by the grace of God.” – CJ Mahaney

TEXT: Mark 10:32-45

“For the third and final time (8:31; 9:31) Jesus predicts his death and resurrection. Following the three lessons on discipleship in 10:1–31, the third passion prediction, which is the most explicit of the three, reminds Jesus’ followers that discipleship is always and ultimately following Jesus, who goes to Jerusalem to suffer (10:33–34) and “to give his live as a ransom for many” (v. 45). Discipleship is thus not only characterized by identifiable behaviors within marriage (vv. 1–12), with children (vv. 13–16), and with possessions (vv. 17–31), but, as demonstrated by Bartimaeus, by expressly “following Jesus along the road” (v. 52). The centrality of Jesus is further emphasized by Mark, who, in contrast to the third passion prediction recorded in Matt 20:17–19 and Luke 18:31–34, shows Jesus “leading the way” (v. 32) to Jerusalem.” — James Edwards

What does Jesus teach us about the path to true greatness? It’s found in three steps…(1. The Disclosure 2. The Disconnect 3. The Difference)

1. The Disclosure (v. 32-34)

“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, 33 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. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

“But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.” — Isaiah 50:7

2. The Disconnect (v. 35-41)

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.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 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?” 39 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, 40 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.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.”

“Humility is the displacement of self by the enthronement of God.” ― Andrew Murray

3. The Difference (v. 42-45)

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 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.”

“True gospel-humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation, with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness.” — Timothy Keller

“Why did this definition haunt me for all those years?…I think the answer is this: as someone who has come to believe in a gospel that was forged in the context of American, middle-class sensibilities, I want to be able to claim an inner posture of humility that doesn’t require me to take on the outer circumstance of the “poor, wretched, needy, afflicted.” It makes me uncomfortable to think that biblical humility might require me to take a downwardly mobile path toward those of low estate. I don’t want the biblical antidote for my pride and conceit to be social—that I need to be socialized into the ways of the poor and overlooked.” — Abe Cho

TAKEAWAYS: What does our path look like? Humility is…

• Starting with Jesus

• Recognizing Personal Pride

• Embracing Insufficient Sufficiency 

“Welcome, Prince,’ said Aslan. ‘Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?’ I – I don’t think I do, Sir,’ said Caspian. ‘I am only a kid.’ Good,’ said Aslan. ‘If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been proof that you were not.” ― C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” — Mark 10:45