What’s in it for me? (Mark 10: 28-45)
Most of you here this morning are well aware of the fact that the bible teaches that salvation is a free gift. There was a price, but Jesus paid it when he died on the cross and to receive the benefits of that gift, we simply trust in him.
Just think about that, eternal heavenly life, is a free gift.
However, there is something that comes after the amazing free gift of salvation and that is walking the path of being a disciple.
The word disciple simply means learner, and we are told we are learners not just by study but by following and doing what Jesus taught.
The problem for us is that this process of being a disciple has a cost, in fact sometimes in history or in some parts of the world it has been seen to be very costly to be a Christian Disciple.
I focused on the cost of discipleship a few weeks ago, but the question I want to ask this morning is the price we pay, worth paying.
I want you think about this for a moment before you blindly nod your head and say yes.
In real life most of us before we decide to do anything ask the question, what am I going to get out of this? What’s in it for me?
In order to answer question that I would like to draw your attention to the scripture that were read for us this morning.
The narrative starts with Peter asking a question.
Then Peter spoke up, ‘We have left everything to follow you!’
(Mark 10: 28)
Is this a question or is it a statement?
Remember just prior to this Jesus had had a conversation with a rich young ruler.
He had told the rich young ruler in verse 21, to give away everything he had, then he would have treasure in heaven and then Jesus tells him that after doing that he was to “come follow him”.
That was verse 21 and here now in verse 28 Peter is saying, hey look Jesus, we gave it all up, what do we get for doing that. We left our homes, we left are jobs, some of us even left our families. Don’t you see we left everything to follow you. What’s in it for us?
Jesus gives then the answer.
‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – along with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.’
(Mark 10: 29-31)
So , the idea is you going to leave stuff behind, perhaps your home, maybe even your family, or even land or jobs or careers.
Isn’t that exactly what these Galilean fishermen had just done.
So, what is the point being made here about get back 100 times.
Does it mean if we give are money to the church or to a Christian charity, we will get it back 100 times?
One commentator says it like this, this is more about being, “compensated for anything you might forgoe”.
You will receive back something of much higher value than whatever you gave up.
Another said, “you are going to gain spiritually above and beyond anything physical you might have given up”.
Even forsaking your friend and family for a season in the service of God will bring about new spiritual friends so dear and so close it will be like gaining a new spiritual family around you.
Christians who travel often meet other Christians who become like brothers and Sisters to them.
Whatever you give up in service of him you are going to get back in value something worth far more, and the hyperbole of a 100-fold is used to emphasise that fact.
To put it simply, you are never going to out give God, whatever you give to God, he can definitely give you back something a 100 times better.
In fact, Jesus is saying you are not only going to be better off in this life, but in the life to come, because that life to come is going to be eternal.
Let me remind you.
Your physical life was a gift from God, what did you do to earn your physical life?
Answer: Absolutely nothing, it was given to you.
And what about your spiritual re-birth, what did you do to earn that, it’s the same, absolutely nothing.
For those who give their lives, invest their lives, in the mission of God on this earth.
Those who invest everything in serving Jesus Christ, they are going to be internally wealthy in the life of the Spirit and in the future coming kingdom.
And those who instead choose to live for themselves are going to live a life of spiritual poverty in this life and may even not get to experience heaven in the life to come.
Salvation is for free, but discipleship costs.
Discipleship costs time, money, energy, status, and maybe even a whole lot more than that.
Maybe even persecution.
You might be misunderstood, misrepresented, misjudged.
It’s going to cost you, but what you get out of it is spiritual blessing, a 100-fold, both in this life and in the coming kingdom.
So that the first part of the passage.
The story continues in verse 32.
They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again, he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. ‘We are going up to Jerusalem,’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.’
(Mark 10: 32-34)
Now, the disciple hear this and they are astonished, perhaps astonished that he is still going to Jerusalem in spite of telling them all of what is going to happen.
Perhaps they are also afraid because they are thinking if He is going to be killed, what is going to happen to those who are following him.
But although they half get this, the main focus of the disciples still seems to be more about their coming glory and not any potential coming suffering.
This is why we see them say this rather strange thing in the next part of the passage.
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’
(Mark 10: 35)
This request is a strange one.
However, it’s going to become apparent in a moment what it is that they actually want.
Helpfully Matthew’s account throws some light on this subject.
Let’s have a look and see how Matthew describes what’s going on.
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favour of him. ‘What is it you want?’ he asked. She said, ‘Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.’
(Matthew 20: 20-21)
It was mother who prompted this, it was the disciples mum who came up with this question.
Why would she do that?
Well, if you have been following us along these last few weeks you will know that recently Peter James and John had just been specially chosen and taken up unto the mount of transfiguration. So, mum is thinking how she can get her two sons to the head of the queue.
What is being asked for here is the place of honour in the coming kingdom. She, and they, obviously didn’t pay attention when Jesus had just taught about the first being last, and the last being first.
May I suggest there is a little bit of James and John’s mother in all of us.
We want to put ourselves and our families top of the pile.
God forbid we should serve under anybody else, this is why Jesus says.
‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said. ‘Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?
(Mark 10: 38)
Let me paraphrase, Jesus is saying, “You guys don’t have the slightly clue what I am talking about or what you are actually asking for” Don’t you understand, “I’m going to Jerusalem to suffer and to die”.
Jesus here is teaching one of the most fundamental principals in the bible, and most Christians as far as I can see don’t really understand this.
And that is that, “suffering proceeds glory”!
You want to share in the glory, well, be careful what you wish for, because to receive glory, you’ve got to pay.
We have to be careful we are not following Satan’s philosophy of seeking glory without suffering, rather than God philosophy of suffering being transformed into glory.
The book of 1st Peter deals with this issue across it whole 5 chapters.
Jesus himself had to endure the cross before he received the crown.
Paul tells us this plainly in his letter to the church in Rome.
Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
(Romans 8: 17)
There it is clearly spelled out for you.
Salvation is a free gift, but honour and glory in the coming kingdom is gained by doing what God says.
And in doing what God says we forego the things of this world for what is to come and that may mean we may well suffer for a season.
Paul continues to say.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
(Romans 8:18)
There had to be a cross before there was a crown.
The truth of the matter is there are many Christians who look the will of God square in the face and say, “I’m not going to do that, because the cost is to high”.
It’s going to cost and that is what Jesus is teaching here in Mark Ch 10.
‘We can,’ they answered. Jesus said to them, ‘You will drink the cup I drink and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.’
(Mark 10: 39-40)
The big question these verses raise is, who are the people these places have been prepared for?
The answer is it is prepared for those who have suffered for their faith.
Quite rightly the highest honour and glory is reserved for those who have suffered most for their faith.
So, if you’re asking for that, then be careful what you ask for.
Glory and honour in the coming kingdom is not a gift, it is a reward, and a reward has to be earned.
Salvation is a gift, and is free, but glory and honour is a reward that is earned by trials and sufferings.
How then do the disciples react?
When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.
(Mark 10: 41)
The are indignant, the don’t say to James and John that is a ridiculous thing to say, you should be ashamed.
Instead, they say, hold on a minute, that’s not fair, what about me?
They are upset with James and John, but only because they thought they were pushing themselves to the front and talking a place they desired for themselves.
Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
(Mark 10: 42)
So, Jesus response is, if you gong to think like that.
If you want honour and authority in this world, well go join those people living in the world and go Lord it over other people.
But we/you are called to be different.
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
(Mark 10: 43-44)
Follow me and it will cost you, for some of you it will mean suffering.
But for all of you it will mean you got to serve other people.
It means you are going to have to put other people first, which means you are going to be last.
People often start at the bottom, in order to get to the top. Today people take roles in order to progress, to climb a ladder as such, to get to a position where others serve them.
Jesus says in my world, in my economy you take up the position at the bottom to serve and you progress by getting to a position where you can serve more people.
That’s the pattern in scripture.
Consider Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Timothy Paul, all servant leaders.
Even the greatest servant of them all, Jesus himself, as the closing verse of today’s passage tells us.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
(Mark 10: 45)
The object, the goal of the Christian faith is to serve.
To be first in the kingdom, one must be a servant of all.
Jesus is asking, Who, do you want honour form?
From other people or from God.
To receive honour from God you have to sacrifice what you want and instead live by serving God and your fellow human beings.
1 John 3: 16 one of the most famous verses in scripture.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters”.
(1 John 3: 16)
John’s Gospel in Ch 3: 16 tells us categorically that eternal life is free.
But 1 John 3: 16, tells us, if you really want to follow me, then you have got to be a servant of you brothers and sisters in Christ and that has a cost because you are called to serve him, sacrificially.
You stop doing what you want to do, and start doing what he wants.
Let me sum this up for us.
Let me conclude by making two quick simple observations, one of which might surprise you.
You want to know what you get out of this whole being a Christian business.
Please note, Jesus does not say, hoping for something in return is wrong.
Jesus just says, ask for something in return, but just ask for the right thing.
He doesn’t say wanting honour is wrong, he just make sure you desire to receive honour from God, and not from man.
And he reminds us in order to get that we will have to carry a burden or pay a cost.
So, the bottom line is that sacrificial service will be rewarded in this life and the next.
But there is a cross to carry now, and the crown will come later.
If you don’t pick up the cross now, you won’t experience the crown later.
So, let me end by asking if we have been called to sacrificially serve others, then how one might we do that.
I’ am going to give you one suggestion, the very simplest imaginable thing you can do to serve God, sacrificially.
Something so obvious you probably never even thought about it before.
In very simple practical terms gathering with other believers is a way of sacrificially serving others.
Attending things, being involved in things.
Do you realise that when unchurched people come into the orbit of the gospel and see that they are surrounded and supported with people who are committed and attend regularly it says something to them.
Gathering to do Bible Study is important.
Simply by being present, by attending times of praise worship and bible study, you make a sacrifice.
It says something significant to those who are not believers because it tells them something is happening here, these people are sacrificing their time to be here.
It says Christianity must means something important to them.
And when new people come into our orbit.
When you take time to get to know people’s names and you draw them into your life both inside and outside your worship life, you continue to add to a culture and an atmosphere that says ever stranger and every newcomers belong here.
I felt welcomed.
Welcomed by God and by the Christians who welcomed me in His name.
And by doing so in this life, you store up treasures in heaven in the life to come.