September 9, 2025 • 16 mins
Pastor Brandon explores Mark 10, challenging us to embrace Jesus' call to pick up our cross rather than pursuing status, examining how this transformative principle upends our understanding of greatness.
• Jesus addresses divorce, emphasizing marriage as a sacred commitment rather than a casual arrangement
• Children are welcomed by Jesus as models of kingdom citizenship, demonstrating the humility needed to receive God's kingdom
• The rich young ruler walks away sad because he cannot let go of his possessions to follow Jesus
• Jesus teaches that wealth can be a significant barrier to entering God's kingdom
• James and John's request for positions of honor reveals how status-seeking infected even the disciples
• Jesus redefines leadership: "Whoever wants to be first must be slave of all"
• The healing of blind Bartimaeus demonstrates Jesus' compassion for those society marginalizes
• Service to others rather than self-promotion is the path to joy and fulfillment
• When we approach each day looking to serve rather than be served, we find opportunities everywhere
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon.
Today, mark, chapter 10, andtoday's title is Pick Up your
Cross, not your Status.
Pick up your cross, not yourstatus.
I wonder what it would looklike if we walked through life
with a big old cross.
You ever seen this before?
(00:21):
I have been going down the roadbefore driving down the road and
I would see someone who'swalking down the road and
they've got a cross and they'vegot two little wheels on the
long part down there so it cango along behind them and they're
just walking with their crossas a mission of reminding people
about Jesus.
I think it's cool, I think it'sawesome, I think that's an
amazing thing for them.
(00:42):
In my mind, I wonder what wouldit look like as Christians if
we literally walked around witha cross.
First of all, we would never beable to go up and down stairs
because that would be so hard,but at the same time, it would
be a constant reminder of whatthat is and it would really give
us a moment to think aboutthings before we dip.
I will be very honest with youand tell you that when we are
(01:05):
going through these chapters, somuch is covered in one chapter.
It is hard to come up with oneunifying idea.
And this one, though, I thinkthere are two or three times
where Jesus just challenges uswhat are you living for?
It's time to follow a cross,not try to pick up a status.
We're getting all that in justa moment.
So make sure you get yourBibles out, get your coffee
ready, all the good things, butalso don't forget to take just a
(01:26):
moment to make sure tosubscribe to YouTube channel and
the podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
Make sure you're also going tothe Bible Breakdown discussion
on Facebook, because we have anamazing team doing a wonderful
job and you can get all thatinformation at
thebiblebreakdowncom.
And one of the things that wedon't talk about all the time is
if you would like to receive atext message every day with the
(01:49):
links to the YouTube channel andthe podcast and the updated
links every single day, you cantext RLCBIBLE to 94000, and we
will send that to you every day.
And for some people, they likethat because it's a daily
reminder, because they get up inthe morning, they look at their
phone and immediately boom,there's a text message that
reminds them.
Oh yeah, today I'm going to getinto God's work, so it's really
(02:14):
good, really helpful, and Ilook forward to joining you in
that.
Well, as we are continuing tomarch through the gospel of Mark
, one of the things we've beentalking about is this is the
gospel of action, and so we callit the gospel in motion.
Jesus is constantly movingforward.
It's like he's in a hurry, eventhough he's not moving forward
from place to place to place.
It is the shortest gospel andhe just continually is saying
all these different amazingthings.
(02:34):
Well, today he's going to gofrom controversy to controversy
and just really reminding people.
We've got to keep the mainthing.
The main thing we have to makesure that we are picking up our
cross, not looking to be astatus symbol, and that's
important because, as much as wedon't like to talk about it,
there are certain environmentswhere it is a status symbol to
(02:58):
be considered religious.
But you know, it's not a statussymbol to be a true Christian,
because a true Christian causesus to stand against some of the
things of culture.
I've noticed in my own world,kind of walking around, that if
I tell someone I'm religious,they're like oh yeah, me too.
But if I say I'm a Christian,immediately they're like yeah,
(03:18):
me too.
They're not so certain becausethey understand that with that
comes an identity that they'renot so sure if they want.
Well, jesus is going to help uskind of grapple with this today
and we're going to see how hejust kind of helps us dig in on
this idea of what it means topick up our cross, not
necessarily try to pick up astatus.
Okay, here we go.
(03:39):
Chapter 10, verse 1.
Let's bring on the controversy.
Here we go.
Chapter 10, verse 1.
Let's bring on the controversy.
Here we go.
Then Jesus left Capernaum andwent down to the region of Judea
and into the area east of theJordan River.
Once again, crowds gatheredaround him and, as usual, he was
teaching them.
Some Pharisees came and triedto trap him with this question
Should a man be allowed todivorce his wife?
(04:01):
Ba-ba-bam, you know, there wego.
Jesus answered them withanother question what did Moses
say in the law about divorce?
Well, he permitted it.
They replied.
He said if a man can give hiswife a written notice of divorce
, you can send her away.
But Jesus responded he wrotethis command only as a
concession to your hard hearts.
(04:21):
But God made them male andfemale from the beginning of
creation.
This explains why a man leaveshis father and his mother and is
joined to his wife and the twoare united into one.
Since they are no longer twobut one, let no one split apart
what God has joined together.
Later, when he was alone withhis disciples in the house, they
(04:42):
brought that subject up againand they told him Well, whoever
divorces his wife and marriessomeone else commits adultery
against her.
And if a woman divorces herhusband and marries someone else
, she commits adultery.
Now pause, I know that cancreate a lot of difficulty,
because in our culture it's justall over the place.
(05:03):
On one end we have this ideawhere we think we get married
only for love and so the momentI don't love you, I can just go,
so we don't think about thecommitment like that.
But then we have other peoplewho it's just, it's kind of
touchy, right.
It's like well, wait a minute,I wasn't a divorce.
What's the problem here?
You know, and will God forgiveme?
All that Jesus is talking about.
(05:23):
The idea is is to think ofmarriage as sacred.
Back during this time they hadgotten so lax with the idea of
marriage and divorce thatliterally for almost any reason
at all.
There were some reports thatthe Pharisees would even quote
unquote grant divorce over thefact that the wife burned the
dinner.
I mean literally as silly asthat kind of stuff, and you just
(05:44):
get divorced.
And so what Jesus is is he isbringing marriage back to a
place of hey, this is a holycommitment you made to one
another before God, so don't letit lightly be dissolved.
Now there are reasons for andgrounds for divorce, but what
Jesus is saying is make surethose grounds aren't who burned
dinner.
Make sure that they are massiveand you go into it gravely.
(06:09):
And so that's what he's doingthere.
Verse 13,.
One day some parents broughttheir children to Jesus so he
could touch and bless them.
The disciples scolded theparents for bothering him.
When Jesus saw this happening,he was angry with his disciples
and he said to them let thelittle children come to me,
(06:29):
don't stop them.
The kingdom of God belongs tothose who are like these
children, and I tell you thetruth anyone who doesn't receive
the kingdom of God like a childwill never enter it.
Then he took the children inhis arms, placed his hands on
their heads and he blessed them.
As Jesus was starting out on hisway to Jerusalem, a man came
running up to him, knelt downand said Good teacher, what must
I do to inherit eternal life?
Why do you call me good?
(06:51):
Jesus asked.
Only God is truly good.
It's almost like he'schallenging him.
It's like wait a minute, god isgood.
You're calling me God.
You're calling me God.
You're calling me good.
What are you saying here?
But then he keeps going.
He says but to answer yourquestion, you know the
commandments you must not murder, you must not commit adultery,
you must not steal, you must nottestify falsely, you must not
cheat anyone, you must honoryour father and mother.
(07:14):
Teacher, the man replied I'veobeyed all these commands since
I was young.
Looking at him, jesus feltgenuine love for him.
There is still one thing youhaven't done, he said Go and
sell all your possessions andgive the money to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.
At this, the man's face felland he went away sad, for he had
(07:37):
many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said tothe disciples how hard it is for
the rich to enter the kingdomof God.
This amazed them.
But Jesus said again dearchildren, it is very hard to
enter the kingdom of God.
In fact, it is easy for a camelto go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich person toenter the kingdom of God.
(07:57):
Disciples were astounded Then.
Who in the world can be saved?
They asked.
Jesus looked at them intentlyand said Humanly speaking, it is
impossible, but not with God.
Everything is possible with God.
Then Peter began to speak up.
We have given up everything tofollow you.
He said yes.
Jesus replied and I assure youthat everyone who has given up
(08:19):
house or brothers or sisters, ormother or father or children or
property for my sake and forthe good news will receive now
and in return a hundred times asmany houses, brothers, sisters,
mothers, children and property,all along along with excuse me
persecution.
Let me say that again becauseit's very important.
He says you will receive ahundred times as many houses,
brothers, sisters, mothers,children and property, along
with excuse me persecution.
(08:40):
Let me say that again becauseit's very important.
He says you will receive ahundred times as many houses,
brothers, sisters, mothers,children and property, along
with persecution, and in theworld to come that person will
have eternal life.
The many who are the greatestnow will be the least important
then, and those who seem leastimportant now will be the
greatest then.
They were now on their way up toJerusalem, and Jesus was
(09:02):
walking ahead of them, and thedisciples were filled with awe
and the people following behindwere overwhelmed with fear.
Taking the twelve disciplesaside, jesus once more began to
describe everything that wasabout to happen to him.
Listen, he said we are going upto Jerusalem, where the Son of
man will be betrayed, but to theleading priest and teachers of
religious law.
They will sentence him to dieand hand him over to the Romans.
(09:24):
They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip and kill
him, but after three days hewill rise again.
Then James and John, the sons ofZebedee, came over and spoke to
him.
Teacher, we want you to do us afavor.
What is your request, he asked?
They replied when you sit onyour glorious throne, we want to
(09:44):
sit in places of honor next toyou, one on your right and the
other on your left.
But Jesus said to them youdon't know what you are asking.
Are you able to drink from thebitter cup of suffering?
I am about to drink.
Are you able to be baptizedwith the baptism of suffering.
I am about to drink.
Are you able to be baptizedwith the baptism of suffering I
must be baptized with?
Oh yes, they replied.
We are able.
Jesus told them you will indeeddrink from my bitter cup and be
(10:09):
baptized with my baptism ofsuffering, but I have no right
to say who will sit on my rightand on my left.
God, his Father, has preparedthose places for those ones he
has chosen.
When the other ten disciplesheard what James and John asked,
they were indignant.
In other words, they's afurious.
So Jesus called them togetherand said you know that rulers in
(10:30):
this world lorded over theirpeople, and officials flaunt
their authority over those whoare under them.
But among you it will bedifferent.
Whoever wants to be your leaderamong you, they must be your
servant.
Whoever wants to be first amongyou, they must be a slave of
everyone else.
For even the Son of man did notcome to be served, but to serve
(10:50):
others and to give his life asa ransom for many.
When they reached Jericho, andas Jesus and his disciples left
town, a large crowd followed him.
A blind beggar named Bartimaeus, son of Timnus, was sitting
beside the road when Bartimaeusheard that Jesus of Nazareth was
nearby, he began to shout Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me
(11:13):
, be quiet.
Many of the people yelled athim, but he only shouted the
louder Son of David, have mercyon me.
When Jesus heard him, hestopped and he said tell him to
come here.
So they called the blind mancheer up, come on, he's calling
you.
Bartimaeus threw aside his coat,jumped up and came to Jesus.
What do you want me to do foryou?
Jesus asked my rabbi.
(11:42):
The blind man said I want tosee.
Jesus said to him go.
Wow, I love it.
I love it so much.
And I love again, notice how hesays your faith has healed you.
In other words, he's not sayingthat you were strong enough.
He was saying you put yourfaith in the right place.
Go, be healed.
I love that so much.
But remember the title was pickup your cross, not your status.
(12:05):
And I love how Jesus he talksabout the idea of we live in a
world that is upside downbecause of the fall, that it's
upside down, that to get aheadyou got to step on people To be
first you must be the greatest.
All this kind of stuff.
Jesus takes this upside downworld and turns it right side up
by saying actually, if you wantto be greatest in the kingdom
(12:26):
of God, you must be willing toserve the most.
You must be put yourself as theleast.
That's how you become thegreatest.
And that only soundscounterintuitive to us because
we are used to the rules and thesystems of this world, not
according to the systems of thekingdom of heaven.
And so what Jesus is saying isthe people that I want to put in
(12:47):
leadership are the ones whoonly see it as an extension to
serve even more, the people whosay I want to get higher up the
ladder so I can be in charge, Ican be better.
That's not who he's looking for.
He's looking for people thatsays you know what?
I want to climb this ladderbecause that means I can serve
more and more people.
Those are the people that Jesusis looking for.
(13:09):
And if you disagree, then noticewhat he says in verse 45.
He says even the son of mancame not to be served but to
serve others.
And to Lord of lords, the onewho earned, deserves, has a
right to the highest throne inall.
(13:29):
Creation came and made himselfthe servant of all.
Here's my question for youtoday.
What would it look like today?
And if you're listening to thisin the evening?
What would it look liketomorrow If you took the posture
of every environment I walkinto?
I want to think about how I canserve somebody else.
How can I be like Jesus in thisroom?
(13:52):
The question, you know theremember the old school thing of
WWJD what would Jesus do?
Well, according to thisscripture, what Jesus would do
is he would walk into everyenvironment trying to see who he
could serve, not who couldserve him.
Now that looks very different.
A lot of context.
So let me give you some examples.
As a husband in a home, how canI serve my family by leading
(14:13):
them closer to God today, forchildren?
How can I serve my family bydoing what's expected of me, by
bringing joy to the environment,whatever you think you can do
when it comes to going to arestaurant, how can I serve the
person who is serving me with akind attitude and bring light to
their day, to a co-worker?
(14:33):
How can I serve them by doingwhat's expected of me showing up
on time and in some way findinga way to bring encouragement
and bring up the topic of Godtoday?
But you do it as an act ofservice to others.
Can I tell you, just like youever heard the phrase if you go
into the world looking forfriends, you'll find very few.
(14:53):
If you go into the worldlooking to be a friend, you will
find friends everywhere.
Can I tell you, I have noticedin my own life, and maybe you
have too.
I have noticed that if I gointo my world looking for joy,
if I go looking for something tomake me happy, then many times
I'm disappointed.
But if I go into my world thatday looking to be a servant,
(15:16):
looking to make somebody else'sday, bring a smile to somebody
else's face, it is amazing thatjoy is everywhere, even in what
is sometimes a dark and lonelyand difficult world.
You go looking to be adifference maker, you will find
opportunities everywhere.
Give it a try today.
Let me know down in thecomments how it goes.
Let's pray, god.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you, god, that you arewith us in all things.
(15:38):
I pray Holy Spirit.
Today you'll open our eyes tosee opportunities to make a
difference, not so that we canbe served, but so we can serve
others.
And by that worship your name.
We're thankful for you.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen, what God's Word says inMark, chapter 8, verse 34,.
It says if anyone would comeafter me, let him deny himself,
(15:59):
take up his cross and follow me.
We have a God worth following.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow.
For Mark, chapter 11.
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon.
Today, mark, chapter 10, andtoday's title is Pick Up your
Cross, not your Status.
Pick up your cross, not yourstatus.
I wonder what it would looklike if we walked through life
with a big old cross.
You ever seen this before?
(00:21):
I have been going down the roadbefore driving down the road and
I would see someone who'swalking down the road and
they've got a cross and they'vegot two little wheels on the
long part down there so it cango along behind them and they're
just walking with their crossas a mission of reminding people
about Jesus.
I think it's cool, I think it'sawesome, I think that's an
amazing thing for them.
(00:42):
In my mind, I wonder what wouldit look like as Christians if
we literally walked around witha cross.
First of all, we would never beable to go up and down stairs
because that would be so hard,but at the same time, it would
be a constant reminder of whatthat is and it would really give
us a moment to think aboutthings before we dip.
I will be very honest with youand tell you that when we are
(01:05):
going through these chapters, somuch is covered in one chapter.
It is hard to come up with oneunifying idea.
And this one, though, I thinkthere are two or three times
where Jesus just challenges uswhat are you living for?
It's time to follow a cross,not try to pick up a status.
We're getting all that in justa moment.
So make sure you get yourBibles out, get your coffee
ready, all the good things, butalso don't forget to take just a
(01:26):
moment to make sure tosubscribe to YouTube channel and
the podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
Make sure you're also going tothe Bible Breakdown discussion
on Facebook, because we have anamazing team doing a wonderful
job and you can get all thatinformation at
thebiblebreakdowncom.
And one of the things that wedon't talk about all the time is
if you would like to receive atext message every day with the
(01:49):
links to the YouTube channel andthe podcast and the updated
links every single day, you cantext RLCBIBLE to 94000, and we
will send that to you every day.
And for some people, they likethat because it's a daily
reminder, because they get up inthe morning, they look at their
phone and immediately boom,there's a text message that
reminds them.
Oh yeah, today I'm going to getinto God's work, so it's really
(02:14):
good, really helpful, and Ilook forward to joining you in
that.
Well, as we are continuing tomarch through the gospel of Mark
, one of the things we've beentalking about is this is the
gospel of action, and so we callit the gospel in motion.
Jesus is constantly movingforward.
It's like he's in a hurry, eventhough he's not moving forward
from place to place to place.
It is the shortest gospel andhe just continually is saying
all these different amazingthings.
(02:34):
Well, today he's going to gofrom controversy to controversy
and just really reminding people.
We've got to keep the mainthing.
The main thing we have to makesure that we are picking up our
cross, not looking to be astatus symbol, and that's
important because, as much as wedon't like to talk about it,
there are certain environmentswhere it is a status symbol to
(02:58):
be considered religious.
But you know, it's not a statussymbol to be a true Christian,
because a true Christian causesus to stand against some of the
things of culture.
I've noticed in my own world,kind of walking around, that if
I tell someone I'm religious,they're like oh yeah, me too.
But if I say I'm a Christian,immediately they're like yeah,
(03:18):
me too.
They're not so certain becausethey understand that with that
comes an identity that they'renot so sure if they want.
Well, jesus is going to help uskind of grapple with this today
and we're going to see how hejust kind of helps us dig in on
this idea of what it means topick up our cross, not
necessarily try to pick up astatus.
Okay, here we go.
(03:39):
Chapter 10, verse 1.
Let's bring on the controversy.
Here we go.
Chapter 10, verse 1.
Let's bring on the controversy.
Here we go.
Then Jesus left Capernaum andwent down to the region of Judea
and into the area east of theJordan River.
Once again, crowds gatheredaround him and, as usual, he was
teaching them.
Some Pharisees came and triedto trap him with this question
Should a man be allowed todivorce his wife?
(04:01):
Ba-ba-bam, you know, there wego.
Jesus answered them withanother question what did Moses
say in the law about divorce?
Well, he permitted it.
They replied.
He said if a man can give hiswife a written notice of divorce
, you can send her away.
But Jesus responded he wrotethis command only as a
concession to your hard hearts.
(04:21):
But God made them male andfemale from the beginning of
creation.
This explains why a man leaveshis father and his mother and is
joined to his wife and the twoare united into one.
Since they are no longer twobut one, let no one split apart
what God has joined together.
Later, when he was alone withhis disciples in the house, they
(04:42):
brought that subject up againand they told him Well, whoever
divorces his wife and marriessomeone else commits adultery
against her.
And if a woman divorces herhusband and marries someone else
, she commits adultery.
Now pause, I know that cancreate a lot of difficulty,
because in our culture it's justall over the place.
(05:03):
On one end we have this ideawhere we think we get married
only for love and so the momentI don't love you, I can just go,
so we don't think about thecommitment like that.
But then we have other peoplewho it's just, it's kind of
touchy, right.
It's like well, wait a minute,I wasn't a divorce.
What's the problem here?
You know, and will God forgiveme?
All that Jesus is talking about.
(05:23):
The idea is is to think ofmarriage as sacred.
Back during this time they hadgotten so lax with the idea of
marriage and divorce thatliterally for almost any reason
at all.
There were some reports thatthe Pharisees would even quote
unquote grant divorce over thefact that the wife burned the
dinner.
I mean literally as silly asthat kind of stuff, and you just
(05:44):
get divorced.
And so what Jesus is is he isbringing marriage back to a
place of hey, this is a holycommitment you made to one
another before God, so don't letit lightly be dissolved.
Now there are reasons for andgrounds for divorce, but what
Jesus is saying is make surethose grounds aren't who burned
dinner.
Make sure that they are massiveand you go into it gravely.
(06:09):
And so that's what he's doingthere.
Verse 13,.
One day some parents broughttheir children to Jesus so he
could touch and bless them.
The disciples scolded theparents for bothering him.
When Jesus saw this happening,he was angry with his disciples
and he said to them let thelittle children come to me,
(06:29):
don't stop them.
The kingdom of God belongs tothose who are like these
children, and I tell you thetruth anyone who doesn't receive
the kingdom of God like a childwill never enter it.
Then he took the children inhis arms, placed his hands on
their heads and he blessed them.
As Jesus was starting out on hisway to Jerusalem, a man came
running up to him, knelt downand said Good teacher, what must
I do to inherit eternal life?
Why do you call me good?
(06:51):
Jesus asked.
Only God is truly good.
It's almost like he'schallenging him.
It's like wait a minute, god isgood.
You're calling me God.
You're calling me God.
You're calling me good.
What are you saying here?
But then he keeps going.
He says but to answer yourquestion, you know the
commandments you must not murder, you must not commit adultery,
you must not steal, you must nottestify falsely, you must not
cheat anyone, you must honoryour father and mother.
(07:14):
Teacher, the man replied I'veobeyed all these commands since
I was young.
Looking at him, jesus feltgenuine love for him.
There is still one thing youhaven't done, he said Go and
sell all your possessions andgive the money to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.
At this, the man's face felland he went away sad, for he had
(07:37):
many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said tothe disciples how hard it is for
the rich to enter the kingdomof God.
This amazed them.
But Jesus said again dearchildren, it is very hard to
enter the kingdom of God.
In fact, it is easy for a camelto go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich person toenter the kingdom of God.
(07:57):
Disciples were astounded Then.
Who in the world can be saved?
They asked.
Jesus looked at them intentlyand said Humanly speaking, it is
impossible, but not with God.
Everything is possible with God.
Then Peter began to speak up.
We have given up everything tofollow you.
He said yes.
Jesus replied and I assure youthat everyone who has given up
(08:19):
house or brothers or sisters, ormother or father or children or
property for my sake and forthe good news will receive now
and in return a hundred times asmany houses, brothers, sisters,
mothers, children and property,all along along with excuse me
persecution.
Let me say that again becauseit's very important.
He says you will receive ahundred times as many houses,
brothers, sisters, mothers,children and property, along
with excuse me persecution.
(08:40):
Let me say that again becauseit's very important.
He says you will receive ahundred times as many houses,
brothers, sisters, mothers,children and property, along
with persecution, and in theworld to come that person will
have eternal life.
The many who are the greatestnow will be the least important
then, and those who seem leastimportant now will be the
greatest then.
They were now on their way up toJerusalem, and Jesus was
(09:02):
walking ahead of them, and thedisciples were filled with awe
and the people following behindwere overwhelmed with fear.
Taking the twelve disciplesaside, jesus once more began to
describe everything that wasabout to happen to him.
Listen, he said we are going upto Jerusalem, where the Son of
man will be betrayed, but to theleading priest and teachers of
religious law.
They will sentence him to dieand hand him over to the Romans.
(09:24):
They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip and kill
him, but after three days hewill rise again.
Then James and John, the sons ofZebedee, came over and spoke to
him.
Teacher, we want you to do us afavor.
What is your request, he asked?
They replied when you sit onyour glorious throne, we want to
(09:44):
sit in places of honor next toyou, one on your right and the
other on your left.
But Jesus said to them youdon't know what you are asking.
Are you able to drink from thebitter cup of suffering?
I am about to drink.
Are you able to be baptizedwith the baptism of suffering.
I am about to drink.
Are you able to be baptizedwith the baptism of suffering I
must be baptized with?
Oh yes, they replied.
We are able.
Jesus told them you will indeeddrink from my bitter cup and be
(10:09):
baptized with my baptism ofsuffering, but I have no right
to say who will sit on my rightand on my left.
God, his Father, has preparedthose places for those ones he
has chosen.
When the other ten disciplesheard what James and John asked,
they were indignant.
In other words, they's afurious.
So Jesus called them togetherand said you know that rulers in
(10:30):
this world lorded over theirpeople, and officials flaunt
their authority over those whoare under them.
But among you it will bedifferent.
Whoever wants to be your leaderamong you, they must be your
servant.
Whoever wants to be first amongyou, they must be a slave of
everyone else.
For even the Son of man did notcome to be served, but to serve
(10:50):
others and to give his life asa ransom for many.
When they reached Jericho, andas Jesus and his disciples left
town, a large crowd followed him.
A blind beggar named Bartimaeus, son of Timnus, was sitting
beside the road when Bartimaeusheard that Jesus of Nazareth was
nearby, he began to shout Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me
(11:13):
, be quiet.
Many of the people yelled athim, but he only shouted the
louder Son of David, have mercyon me.
When Jesus heard him, hestopped and he said tell him to
come here.
So they called the blind mancheer up, come on, he's calling
you.
Bartimaeus threw aside his coat,jumped up and came to Jesus.
What do you want me to do foryou?
Jesus asked my rabbi.
(11:42):
The blind man said I want tosee.
Jesus said to him go.
Wow, I love it.
I love it so much.
And I love again, notice how hesays your faith has healed you.
In other words, he's not sayingthat you were strong enough.
He was saying you put yourfaith in the right place.
Go, be healed.
I love that so much.
But remember the title was pickup your cross, not your status.
(12:05):
And I love how Jesus he talksabout the idea of we live in a
world that is upside downbecause of the fall, that it's
upside down, that to get aheadyou got to step on people To be
first you must be the greatest.
All this kind of stuff.
Jesus takes this upside downworld and turns it right side up
by saying actually, if you wantto be greatest in the kingdom
(12:26):
of God, you must be willing toserve the most.
You must be put yourself as theleast.
That's how you become thegreatest.
And that only soundscounterintuitive to us because
we are used to the rules and thesystems of this world, not
according to the systems of thekingdom of heaven.
And so what Jesus is saying isthe people that I want to put in
(12:47):
leadership are the ones whoonly see it as an extension to
serve even more, the people whosay I want to get higher up the
ladder so I can be in charge, Ican be better.
That's not who he's looking for.
He's looking for people thatsays you know what?
I want to climb this ladderbecause that means I can serve
more and more people.
Those are the people that Jesusis looking for.
(13:09):
And if you disagree, then noticewhat he says in verse 45.
He says even the son of mancame not to be served but to
serve others.
And to Lord of lords, the onewho earned, deserves, has a
right to the highest throne inall.
(13:29):
Creation came and made himselfthe servant of all.
Here's my question for youtoday.
What would it look like today?
And if you're listening to thisin the evening?
What would it look liketomorrow If you took the posture
of every environment I walkinto?
I want to think about how I canserve somebody else.
How can I be like Jesus in thisroom?
(13:52):
The question, you know theremember the old school thing of
WWJD what would Jesus do?
Well, according to thisscripture, what Jesus would do
is he would walk into everyenvironment trying to see who he
could serve, not who couldserve him.
Now that looks very different.
A lot of context.
So let me give you some examples.
As a husband in a home, how canI serve my family by leading
(14:13):
them closer to God today, forchildren?
How can I serve my family bydoing what's expected of me, by
bringing joy to the environment,whatever you think you can do
when it comes to going to arestaurant, how can I serve the
person who is serving me with akind attitude and bring light to
their day, to a co-worker?
(14:33):
How can I serve them by doingwhat's expected of me showing up
on time and in some way findinga way to bring encouragement
and bring up the topic of Godtoday?
But you do it as an act ofservice to others.
Can I tell you, just like youever heard the phrase if you go
into the world looking forfriends, you'll find very few.
(14:53):
If you go into the worldlooking to be a friend, you will
find friends everywhere.
Can I tell you, I have noticedin my own life, and maybe you
have too.
I have noticed that if I gointo my world looking for joy,
if I go looking for something tomake me happy, then many times
I'm disappointed.
But if I go into my world thatday looking to be a servant,
(15:16):
looking to make somebody else'sday, bring a smile to somebody
else's face, it is amazing thatjoy is everywhere, even in what
is sometimes a dark and lonelyand difficult world.
You go looking to be adifference maker, you will find
opportunities everywhere.
Give it a try today.
Let me know down in thecomments how it goes.
Let's pray, god.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you, god, that you arewith us in all things.
(15:38):
I pray Holy Spirit.
Today you'll open our eyes tosee opportunities to make a
difference, not so that we canbe served, but so we can serve
others.
And by that worship your name.
We're thankful for you.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen, what God's Word says inMark, chapter 8, verse 34,.
It says if anyone would comeafter me, let him deny himself,
(15:59):
take up his cross and follow me.
We have a God worth following.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow.
For Mark, chapter 11.
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