First Baptist Church of Tampa Sermons

S1 E16: The Path to Glory

• First Baptist Church of Tampa • Season 1 • Episode 16

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Sermon Overview

Series: Follow Me

Title: The Path to Glory

Text: Mark 10:32-45

Date: May 24th, 2026

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO THRIVE?

We want to help every person make a genuine commitment to follow Jesus and then follow through with that commitment in Connecting People to a Thriving Life in Christ. These Thriving disciples should Dig In to the Bible, Grow Up in Christ, and Branch Outinto the community.

Our Mission: To Connect People to a Thriving Life in Christ. What is a thriving life in Christ? Scripture says that Jesus Christ came “that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Our mission in the city of Tampa is to make disciples who follow the pattern of the believer in Psalm 1 and desire God’s glory above all things.

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SPEAKER_00

As you're being seated, if you would take out your copy of God's word, join me in Mark chapter 10 this morning. I'm going to pick up in verse 32, Mark chapter 10. However, you brought your Bible with you, if it's a book or if it's on your phone or at a device, open it up, turn it on, join me Mark chapter 10. If you don't have a Bible, there are some in the pew back there in front of you. We want you to use that Bible today and then take it. Let it be your Bible. We want you to have a Bible. We're going to be on page 908 in that pew Bible this morning as we consider Mark chapter 10, picking up in verse 32. Every day for me is a spiritual battle. I assume if you are a Christ follower, this is true for you as well. Every day I struggle between the spirit and the flesh. Every day I struggle between doing the things I want to do and doing the things I know I'm supposed to do. Every day it's a battle. Every day I have to surrender in order to win that battle. And far too often I fail. Every day is a spiritual battle. One area of a battlefield that is particularly difficult for many is the area of ambition. What our world tells us versus what our Lord tells us. What we value and the approval that we seek. Ambition is a spiritual battlefield. Even just a casual or cursory reading of the New Testament reveals to us that there is a call and a command on everybody who claims the name of Jesus Christ. You don't have to dive deep into the New Testament to figure out that there is a clear call and command on anybody who wants to carry the name Jesus Christ, who claims the grace of God in their lives. And that clear call, that clear demand is simply this: that we would be distinct. That we would be different from the world. That we would talk differently, that we would act differently, that we would be different. The Bible teaches us that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. In fact, the Bible teaches us that as Christ's followers, we're to love our enemies even as Christ loved our enemies. There is a clear and distinct call on our lives. This is grounded in Scripture. This isn't a pastor trying to get you to behave differently. This is the truth of God's word as it is clearly revealed that if you're going to claim to be a Christ follower, then we must act like Christ. Don't claim to be a little Christ if you're not going to act like Christ. This is clear in Scripture, and yet, day after day, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, generation after generation of believers like me and like you, we have struggled with this reality. We have struggled because of the spiritual battlefield that is ambition in our lives. We have struggled because the world tells us that there are certain things that we need to pursue in order to be successful, and then the word of God tells us that there's other things that we should be pursuing that lead to success. We have been studying together the Gospel of Mark for the better part of a year and a half now. We are coming to the end of chapter 10, and I promise by the end of this year we will complete the Gospel of Mark as we only have a week left of Jesus' earthly life as we start chapter 11. But as we get to chapter 10, verse 45, I believe we come to the key verse of Mark's gospel. What he has been trying to teach us, he teaches us in one sentence. We were here on Wednesday night, and we celebrated our children who were finishing a semester of Iwana. Iwana is our Wednesday night ministry with our children, and it teaches children how to memorize scripture, how to put it in their hearts so that they might not sin against God. And it's a wonderful ministry. Olivia and Krista and all of them that are involved in that do a great job. And I had the privilege, I wasn't teaching on Wednesday night, so I got to come in and watch them celebrate, and that was just a joy for me to see children lined up on the stage, age group by age group, and after they they received their rewards for all their hard work. And some of these children have memorized like 500 verses of scripture. Not one or two verses of scripture, like 500 verses. You're like, I didn't know there were 500 verses of scripture. There are. And after they would presented their rewards, one or two of them would quote scripture. They would just memorize, here, I want to quote scripture to you. And many of them did a great job. And one of them in particular stood out because he quoted this verse. Cohen Cates stood up. And he quoted it from Matthew, not from Mark, but nevertheless, it's the same verse. And here it simply says this for the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. That is Mark's key verse in his entire letter. If you understand that, you understand who Jesus Christ is, you understand why Christ came, and you understand his command on those who would be his disciples. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. In Mark's gospel, there is an overarching theme throughout the entire gospel. And that theme is one of contrast. It is one of conflict. It is a conflict between Jesus' disciples and their expectations and Jesus' reality of who he was and what he came to do. The disciples had an expectation that Jesus was going to be a powerful earthly Messiah who would overthrow their oppressors and replace Israel back into the power that they wanted them to be in. The disciples were thinking of power. They were thinking of prestige. They were thinking about victory parades. But when Jesus came, he did not come to overthrow earthly governments. He did not come to overthrow earthly powers. He came to overcome the king who is over this world. He came to snatch the world out of the clutches of Satan. He came to defeat sin and death. He had a much bigger kingdom in mind. And the path to glory does not lead through what this world says is glorious. The path to glory leads through what Jesus says is glorious. And we have this overarching conflict throughout the Gospel of Mark as we see the disciples struggle with this concept. That it's not about this world, it's about the world to come. That it's not about any kingdom we can build on this planet, it's about the kingdom that God is building for eternity in heaven. This was a stumbling block for the disciples. This was a stumbling block for the nation of Israel. Because the path that led to glory in heaven led through suffering and a cross. And the disciples wanted to get to glory. They just didn't want to follow the right path. They didn't want to go down a path that led to a cross. They didn't want to go down to a path that led to suffering. They certainly didn't want to go down to a path that led to service. Quite honestly, this has not changed in the 2,000 years since then. We still want glory, but we don't want to go down the path that God tells us leads to ultimate glory. We would prefer to go down a different path. And therefore, every day we have a spiritual battle of our own ambition. In the text we have before us this morning, Jesus is going to teach a lesson to his disciples once again. It is a daunting lesson for them, and it is a lesson for us still today, and it is still a challenging lesson for us to learn about our own ambition. If you're willing and able, would you stand with me as we read from God's Word? We're going to pick up in Mark chapter 10, verse 32, and read through verse 45 this morning. Jesus and his disciples were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again he took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him, saying, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and to the scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, spit on him, and scourge him and kill him. And three days later he will rise again. James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, Grant that we may sit one on your right and one on your left in your glory. But 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 shall drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. But to sit on my right or my left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. Hearing this, the ten 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 a slave for all, 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. Heavenly Father, we come to you today with our Bibles open and our minds and our hearts opened, so that you might use your word to change our hearts and our minds. We pray, Lord, that the spiritual battle of ambition would be won by the Spirit in our lives today. Lord, help us to seek greatness in your kingdom, not in any kingdom of this world. Help us to seek your glory, not our own. God, help us to learn from the disciples. Help us to learn from a patient Savior. Lord be glorified in our lives, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. I believe that grace ignites within the heart of a genuine believer a radical shift in our ambition. When we understand grace, God's riches, at Christ's expense, when we understand that I've done nothing deserve being right with God, in fact, there's nothing I can do to deserve to be right with God, and yet God, out of his mercy and his grace, has made me right with him by sacrificing his own son in my place. When I understand grace, it ignites a new fire in my heart. A new fire that changes radically my ambition in life. Prior to salvation, my ambition in life is all about me. Prior to salvation, I recognize that the world tells me to look out for number one, to watch out for me, to push my way up the ladder, pushing anybody else out of the way I have to to get to the top of the ladder. But once I recognize God's grace in my life, my ambition changes from what's good for me to what's best for him. My ambition changes from where can I accomplish, what can I accomplish here in this world, to what does God want to accomplish with me, through me, for his glory in his kingdom. Christ's followers ought to live and operate by different principles and valuations than the rest of the world. We ought to operate differently. We ought to recognize that the things that the world says are the most important things aren't the things that are the most important things in the kingdom of God. We ought to recognize that the praise of men is fleeting and the praise of God is eternal. We ought to operate with different principles, different valuations. This is clear, and yet we continue to struggle with it. We see this in the life of the disciples who have been walking with Jesus for a couple years now. By the time we come to Mark chapter 10, verse 32, they've been with Jesus for nearly three years. And yet they are still stiff-necked, yet they are still slow in the head, yet they are still not getting it. And you know what I find in that? Encouragement. Because I've been walking with Jesus for the better part of 45 years, and I'm still stiff-necked and thick in the head sometimes, and I need a patient savior. Because this is still a constant struggle, even in my own life. Jesus has invited us on a journey down a path that leads to glory in heaven. But that path is not the one we might expect it to be. Just three things I want you to see from our text this morning. The first one is this Jesus clarifies the path to glory. The second one is that Jesus confronts personal ambition. And thirdly, I want you to see that Jesus corrects mistaken identity. First of all, Jesus clarifies the path to glory, verses 32 through 34. Jesus is on a journey, Mark tells us. It's his final journey towards Jerusalem. He has been tracing Jesus' steps for us throughout his gospel, starting with his baptism in the Jordan, and then time around Jerusalem, and then going up to Galilee and having a great ministry there. A ministry where he did such remarkable things that crowds gathered around him wherever he went. He taught in such a way that they had never heard someone teach before. He did things that they'd never seen anybody do before. And Mark tells us he couldn't even sit down for a meal without the crowds gathering around him, calling him out, asking him to heal or to teach. Jesus took some time and he took his disciples and they went north to an area called Caesarea Philippi and he ministered in that area for a little while. He also just got a break from ministry in that area a little while, and then he came back to Galilee, and the crowds immediately gathered back around him. Jesus then began to head towards Jerusalem. Along the way, he stopped in the hill country on the other side of the Jordan River. And he ministered once again there. And now Mark tells us, as we come to this section, that he is now heading towards Jerusalem. This will be his final time to head towards Jerusalem. Within a week's time, Jesus will be tried, convicted, beaten within an inch of his life, crucified, die on a cross, and resurrected again. He is now on his final journey to Jerusalem. Along the way, Jesus has warned his disciples what was what is going to take place in Jerusalem. He did not want them to be surprised. He did not want them to be caught off guard. He wanted them to know exactly what was going to happen when they got there, because what they expected was a parade. What they expected was an overthrow of a government. What they expected was all the people would come out, proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, he would rule from there, and everything would take place. That's what they were expecting. And he said, No, you need to understand what's going to happen. And he tells them not once, not twice, he tells them three times what's going to happen. He did so in chapter 8, verse 31. He did again in chapter 9, verse 31, and now he does it again in here, chapter 10, verse 32, this time with more detail than he'd ever given before. He said, The Son of Man is going to go to Jerusalem, and he will be delivered up by the chief priests and the scribes. They're going to condemn him. And then they will hand him over to the Gentiles. The Gentiles will mock him, the Gentiles will spit on him, the Gentiles will scourge him, they will beat him with a cat of nine-tails within an inch of his life. They will kill him on a cross, but three days later he will rise again. He says, Men, I need you to know what's going to happen. This is what's going to take place when we get to Jerusalem. I told you before, I'm going to tell you again, prepare yourselves. We're not heading to a victory parade. We're heading to a cross. It's not going to be what you think it's going to be. Victory is not going to look like what you think it looks like. But yet victory is coming. And so they head towards Jerusalem. And Mark tells us that Jesus is walking out in front of them. Jesus is not being dragged to Jerusalem. Jesus is not reluctantly going towards his death. Jesus is going without fear towards Jerusalem. He knows why he is going. Mark refers to him as the Son of Man. This is Jesus' favorite title for himself. It comes from the book of Daniel, a prophetic book pointing towards one who would come to be the Messiah. But in Daniel chapter 7, it refers to a Messiah who will suffer for his people. He is referring to himself as the one who comes down from heaven. He is the Messiah. He is God in the flesh, but this God in the flesh recognizes his mission is to lay down his life. And Jesus is not afraid of this. Jesus is not walking towards Jerusalem with timidity. Jesus is walking confidently towards Jerusalem. In fact, I would make the argument that when Jesus gets there, he does not hide from those who would harm him. He provokes those who would harm him. He instigates those who would harm him because he has a timeline that he is going to follow. He is going to go to the cross on Passover. He is going to do what God has sent him to do. And so when he gets to Jerusalem, does he sneak into the city quietly? No. There is a massive parade, a triumphal entry where for the first time Jesus allows people to cry out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Remember how the disciples or how the Pharisees responded to that? You need to tell those people to be quiet. Jesus said, I'm not going to tell them to be quiet. They're speaking truth. If they're going to be quiet, the rocks will start crying. Out. You know what he does next when he gets into the city? He goes to the temple and he overthrows the tables of the money changers and he says, You people have taken my father's house, which is to be a house of prayer, and you've turned it into a den of thieves. Does that sound like somebody who's hiding from those who want to persecute him? Does that sound like somebody who is fearful of what might happen to him? No, Jesus is heading straight towards his mission and his purpose. He's walking ahead of them. And Jesus says, the Son of Man will be delivered up. He's going to be delivered up. The chief priests and scribes have been looking for a time when they could take Jesus out. They were long since done with Jesus. Judas, one of Jesus' disciples, delivered him into the hands of the chief priests. The chief priests conduct a false trial, convict Jesus, but they don't have the authority to kill him. So they hand him over to Pilate. Pilate's the Roman governor. He can't find anything wrong with Jesus, but he's afraid of the Jews rising up and causing turmoil. So he turns Jesus over to Herod. Herod can't do anything with him, so he sends them back to Pilate, and Pilate finally convicts him to die and then hands him over to the Romans just as Jesus said they would. And what do the Romans do with him? What do the Gentiles do with them? They mock him. They put a crown of thorns on his head. They put a purple robe around his shoulders. They put a scepter in his hand. They smack him and say, Which one of us did it? They spit on him. They beat him and then they crucified him, just as Jesus said they would do. They delivered him up. But you know who really delivered up Jesus? It wasn't Judas. It wasn't Pilate. It wasn't even the Romans. Romans chapter eight, verse thirty two. Paul writes, he, God, did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us. Acts chapter two, verse twenty-three. This Jesus who was delivered up according to the perfect plan of God. Jesus was not surprised by what happened to him. Jesus went to Jerusalem with the idea, I am here to lay down my life. No one took his life from him. He went resolute. Resolute towards his sacrifice. Mark tells us that as the disciples were walking along with Jesus, two emotions took place. Number one, they were amazed. Number two, they were afraid. They were amazed. They were watching Jesus, having told them multiple times, we're going to Jerusalem. You know what's going to happen in Jerusalem? I'm going to die. And here he is walking in front of them. Nobody's dragging him. He's not running away from it. He is walking towards his death. And they are amazed. Second thing is, they were afraid. He's told them. Guys, it's not going to go the way you think it's going to go. We're not talking about crowns. We're not talking about thrones. We're not talking about victory parades here. We're talking about crosses and suffering and death. And they were afraid. They were afraid, certainly they were afraid for Jesus, but here's what I think they were afraid for. If they're going to do that to our rabbi, what will they do to us? In fact, there's another story where Jesus says, let's go to Jerusalem. And Thomas, who later earns the nickname Doubting Thomas, says, Let's go with them so that we can die too. They were amazed and they were afraid. And they tried to dissuade Jesus from his task. They tried to get him to change his path. They tried to get him to go a different way. This, I believe, was the great temptation that Jesus felt his entire ministry. I think this was the temptation that Jesus felt when Satan met him in the wilderness for 40 days and tempted him. He tried to get Jesus to take the route of glory that did not go through suffering, that did not go through a cross. Just do miracles and people will lodge you. Just bow down to me and I will give you the kingdoms of the world. This was the temptation before Jesus constantly. This is a temptation that I think came back to him time and time again. And Satan used Jesus' own disciples to present this. Jesus, you don't have to do this. Jesus, we don't have to go that path. Jesus, there's another way. We don't want to go that way. They tried to dissuade Jesus, and honestly, if we think about it, we also try to dissuade Jesus because the path has not changed. The path to glory in Christ has not changed. From the call on the disciples to the call on our lives. Luke chapter 9, verses 23 through 25. If anyone wishes to come after me, Jesus talking to his disciples, if anyone wishes to come after me, what does he say next? They must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. You want to follow me? Means you have to deny yourself. You want to follow me? It means taking up your cross. You didn't take up your cross in that time for anything but one purpose. You took up your cross to die. He goes on and he says, What does it profit a man if he gains the entire world? Yet loses his soul? Which path are you pursuing? The things that this world tells you will bring glory? The things that this world tells you will bring accolades? Or the path that God has for you? Because you could gain not part of the world, not some of the world, not the majority of the world. Jesus says you can gain the entire world, and let if you yet if you lose your soul, what have you gained? The call has not changed. Jesus clarifies the path to glory. The path to glory leads to a cross. The path to glory leads to humility on our parts, humbly saying, I am a sinner in need of a savior. I cannot make myself right with God. I cannot be good enough. I cannot do enough good things. I cannot be righteous. I must humble myself and submit myself to the Savior who died for me. Which leads then to humble love and humble service. This is the path that God has called us to. You would expect the disciples to come up to Jesus and say, Is there anything we can do for you, Jesus? Is there anything we can do to make this process easier for you? What can we do for you, Jesus? We would expect that to be the response. Except we've read the rest of the gospels and we've found out that the disciples have a pattern here. The first time Jesus told them that this was going to take place in chapter 8, verse 31, Peter went up to him and said, I'm never going to let that happen, Jesus. The second time he told them about what was going to take place in chapter 9, verse 31, the disciples on the road start arguing with one another about who would be greatest in the kingdom. Oh, Jesus, we didn't hear anything about a cross. We heard kingdom. We heard glory. Who's going to be the greatest in this kingdom? This time, Jesus tells them once again, he's going to a cross. And now two of his disciples come up to him. And don't say, Jesus, what can we do for you? They don't say, Jesus, how can we make this easier on you? They say, Jesus, what are you going to do for us? Why were they so tone-deaf? Why couldn't they, why couldn't they get it? I think it's because the fallen human heart has a fundamental drive. And that fallen fundamental drive is all about me. It's all about me. In Genesis chapter eleven, we read of mankind coming together. And they pool their collective intellect and they pool their collective abilities, and they say, let's build a city, and in that city, let's put a tower that reaches up into heaven so that we can make a name for ourselves. You see, the call of a fallen human heart is to make a name for ourselves, to make much of ourselves, not to make much of the one who created us. That has not changed. Our fallen hearts want to make much of us. They want to brag about us. They don't want to brag much on the one who created us. Famed atheist Friedrich Nietzsche calls this the will to power. It is not only about making mus of us, it is about pushing down others to domineer over them. To do whatever we have to make us self ourselves better. James and John come up to Jesus and they say, Jesus, we want you to do whatever we ask of you. That's a pretty presumptive approach, is it not? Jesus, we think we expect, we did, we deserve something from you. We've been with you for three years now, Jesus. We left our lives behind. We left our fishing business behind. We've been following you for three years. We've been doing a lot, Jesus. We think we deserve something from you. We want you to do whatever we ask of you. We're entitled to this. Perhaps they were thinking about the conversation that Jesus had just had with Simon Peter. You'll remember if you go back in chapter 10, there was the rich young ruler who came up to Jesus and said, What must I do to be saved? And Jesus asked him about the laws, and he said, I've done those since childhood. And he said, Fine, go sell everything you've got and come follow me. And he went away sad, and Jesus said, How difficult it is for those who are wealthy to inherit the kingdom of heaven. In fact, it's impossible. And the disciples turned to him and Peter says, Look, Jesus, we left everything to follow you. What's in it for us? And Jesus tells him that if you've left everything to follow me, then I will multiply to you wives and husbands and children. A hundred times over, it'll be multiplied to you. And I can't imagine that that hasn't just been reverberating in these two disciples' minds, thinking, man, what's in it for us? Jesus, we want you to do anything. We're entitled to this. We've left everything to follow you. You know, in your crevices of your own heart, have you ever thought, God, I've been following you a long time. I deserve this. I've been going to church every Sunday for a while. I I you do you should treat me differently than you treat other people. Jesus, I try to understand his response. Was it frustration with two disciples who still didn't get it? He wasn't surprised. They had prideful ambition. They were part of the inner circle. Man, James and John were two of the first disciples who were called. Of the disciples, there were James, John, and Peter. They were part of that inner circle who went with Jesus everywhere. He allowed them to see things others didn't get to see. They got to see healings that others didn't get to see. They were on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus revealed his glory. Man, they were in the inner circle. And I bet they're thinking, Jesus, when you get to your glory, man, we're lined up. Just tell us which one gets the right and which one gets the left. Besides that, they say, Mark tells us that they're the sons of Zebedee. Zebedee had a wife who happened to be the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Not only were James and John closest disciples, they were related. Jesus, man, we're close. We're tight. We're not like those other guys. We deserve something. There was prideful ambition. There was selfish ambition. James and John go to Jesus. Where's Peter? He missed out. James and John are like, hey, every man for himself, brother. You gotta step up, get your own. And there is ignorant ambition. There's prideful ambition. There's selfish ambition. There is ignorant ambition. They are ignorant as to how it works in the kingdom of God, and they are ignorant about what is going to take place in their own lives. Jesus said to them, You don't know what you're asking me. You want to sit at my right hand, you want to sit at my left hand? You have no idea what it takes to get there. And then he asks them a question: Are you able to drink the cup that I'm going to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I'm going to be baptized in? The cup was the life, the assignment that God had given to him. It was a cup of wrath. Are you able to drink that cup? The baptism was that which would immerse his life, suffering, shame, laying his life down for others. Are you able to be baptized with that baptism? And their response demonstrates their ignorance. Yeah, we can do that. Yeah, I'm able to do that. And Jesus said to them, Here's the deal. Boys, you want to know what the path looks like? Here's the path I'm going to take. And I'll be honest with you, you are going to drink the cup that I'm going to drink. You are going to be baptized in the baptism that I'm going to be baptized in, but you don't know it yet, and you're not ready for it yet. James was the first disciple to be martyred. He was beheaded by Herod. John was the last disciple standing, but he was, they tried to kill him multiple times and then exiled him to an island by himself. There's a wide path that many people try to go down, but it leads to destruction. There is a narrow path. And Jesus said, This is the path. Let me show you the right path. Let me deal with your selfish ambition. And then finally, and I'll do this quickly, he corrects their mistaken identity. Verses 41 through 45. Mark tells us that as he hears this taking place, that the other disciples became indignant, lest we have empathy for the other ten, thinking they might have been more empathetic with Jesus. Mark quickly tells us, no, no, no, no, if the other ten had gotten the shot, they would have taken the same shot. They were indignant with John and James, not because they asked for privileged positions, but because they did it before they got a chance to do it. They're just as guilty as James and John. And Jesus, always the teacher, sees a moment of teaching and he calls his disciples to him. And he says, guys, do you not realize what's taking place right now? You recognize that the rulers over the Gentiles, they lord it over them. Here's what he's saying. You're acting like a bunch of Gentiles. You're acting like a bunch of people who don't understand grace. You're acting like a bunch of people who have not trusted in me. You know you're acting like the world right now. And then he says this phrase, it is not this way among you. It might work that way in the kingdom of this world, but in my kingdom, we don't domineer over each other. In my kingdom, we don't push each other down. In my kingdom, if you want to be first, you have to become a servant. In my kingdom, if you want to be great, you have to be a slave. Servant is the word diakonos. Take a wild guess what English word we get from diakonos. Deacon. It's God's sovereign design that we were ordaining Stephen today as a deacon, a servant in the church. Acts chapter 6 describes them as table servants. They come along and they serve others. He says, if you want to be great in my kingdom, then don't try to be served all the time. Be a servant. He says, if you want to be great in my kingdom, be a the dolos. It's a word for slave. The apostle Paul, whenever he would introduce himself, often referred to himself as a bond slave of Jesus Christ. He says, You want to be great in my kingdom? Don't exalt yourself. Humble yourself. You want to be great? You want to experience the glory? The path to glory is humility and service. It's not this way among you. Why should we follow such a path? What in the world would make that path attractive to us? Chapter 10, verse 45. For even. It connects what he's about to say to what he's just said. If you want to be great, be a servant. If you want to be great, if you want to be first, be a servant. If you want to be great, be a slave. For even the Son of Man, God who left heaven and took on flesh, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Why should the disciples be servants? Why should you and I should be servants? Why should we humble ourselves? Because that's what Jesus Christ has done. Philippians chapter 2 tells us to have this attitude, which is also in Jesus Christ, who, even though he was equal with God, did not hold equality with God, something to be grasped, but he laid it aside and he took on flesh and he became obedient even to the point of death. And because he humbled himself, God has exalted him and put a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He says, This is the attitude you ought to have. In John chapter 13, John records for us the final Passover that Jesus had with his disciples. You and I call it the Last Supper. And in that meal, they came into the upper room and they'd come from the dirty, dusty roads around Jerusalem, and they came to have a meal together, but there wasn't a servant there to do what What only servants would do. And so Jesus got up from the table and he took off his outer garment and he put a towel around himself. And he got a basin of water and a pitcher. And he walked amongst the disciples and he washed their feet one by one. He even washed the feet of Judas, the one who would betray him, and he came to Peter, and Peter said, You're not washing my feet. And Jesus said, If I don't wash your feet, you have no part in me. And then Jesus got up, he put his outer garment back on, and he says, Do you know what I've just done for you? You call me master and Lord, and rightly so. That's exactly who I am. I am your Lord, I am your Savior, I am your master. And I have just done the role of the lowliest servant. I have washed your feet, and I have done so to teach you a lesson. Because if I have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. Because a servant isn't greater than his master, and the messenger isn't greater than the one who sends them. Jesus says, here's how to be great in my kingdom. Act like Jesus. Humble yourself. Humble yourself and say, I need a Savior. Surrender your pride and say, I can't do it on my own. That humility is the path to glory. Not a path that fades here on earth, but a path that is eternal in heaven. And that path leads to humbly loving others and serving others. Whose approval are you trying to seek? Galatians 1, 10, I believe it is. Paul writes, am I trying to seek the approval of men? If I were, I wouldn't be doing the things I'm doing. And yet we are in a constant spiritual battle in our lives of ambition. Daily, do I seek the approval of men? Do I seek the accolades of men? Do I seek the crowns and the thrones and the praise of man? Or do I seek the praise of God? Jesus said the path to glory isn't the path that the world walks you down. It is the path that I walk. It's a path of humility, it's a path of service. Who are you trying to please? And then finally, this. If this has hit you as hard as it hit me this week, if you see within your own heart a struggle over ambition of putting yourself over Christ, of seeking your own self over the things of Christ, know this. God is patient. And I praise God for the stories of disciples who took three years and then the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to finally figure it out. And what God has begun in you, He will carry to completion. But you have to surrender. And you have to be willing to walk the right path. Will you pray with me?