church

INI
Oculi, the Third Sunday in Lent
March 7, 2010
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

CLIMBING DOWN THE LADDER OF CHRISTIANITY
Mark 10:42-45

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
This morning we will consider the Word of God in the Gospel of Mark, chapter
ten, beginning with the 42nd verse, as follows:

But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who
are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones
exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever
desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you
desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to
be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Here ends our
text.

In the Name of Jesus, Who often said that "...the last shall be first, and the first
last," Dear Fellow Redeemed,

I'll give you a famous Bible quote, and you see if you can tell me who said it.
"He must increase, but I must decrease." -Did you get it? It was John the
Baptist, and the circumstances under which he said it were rather surprising.
You see, John the Baptist himself had quite a following before Jesus showed up
on the scene. He had his own disciples. He had crowds of people coming to the
valley of the Jordan to hear him preach. John seemed to be on his way up the
ladder of fame and power. But then Jesus arrived, and when He did, John got
humble all of a sudden. Suddenly he gave up his power, left the top of the
ladder -- and climbed to the bottom! "This is the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world," John said, "follow Him. This is the One whose shoelace
I'm not worthy to tie. He must increase, but I must decrease."

Well, if that sounds like pretty strange behavior to you, I'm not surprised.
Because our American society runs just the opposite, doesn't it? A person's
success is very often judged by how high up on the ladder he's been able to
climb - how much money he makes, how many people he has working for him.
The ones on the bottom serve the ones on the top. But in our text for today,
Jesus explains that there's one very important arena in which the rules are just
the opposite. That's the kingdom of God. And that’s why our theme this
morning is an unusual one:

CLIMBING DOWN THE LADDER OF CHRISTIANITY

I. In the kingdom of the world,
everyone scrambles for the top.
II. In the kingdom of God,
Christ calls us to the bottom!

Climbing the ladder - be it the financial ladder, the corporate ladder or the
social ladder - is in the American blood. Almost everybody would like to make
more money, have more power, and be in charge of a lot of people. Wouldn't
you? Sure you would! And things such as money, power and authority aren't
necessarily bad things in themselves. They can certainly be blessings from God,
for which we should thank Him. If God gives us these things, we should be
good stewards of His gifts and use them responsibly to His glory. But we need
to understand one thing very clearly - the kingdom of God doesn't run the same
way the world runs. If anything, it's just the opposite.

In the passage just before our text, two of Jesus' disciples got a little mixed up
about this. James and John came to Jesus with a rather strange request: "Grant
us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your
glory." Jesus had predicted that, one day, He would be seated on a throne of
glory. James and John thought He meant an earthly kingdom and an earthly
throne. So they were trying to reserve the best seats, right next to Jesus, in
advance. If Jesus was going to end up on top of the ladder, they felt, then they
deserved to be right up there with Him.

And they weren't the only ones who were spiritually ambitious. All of the
twelve disciples had the bad habit of arguing over which of them was the
greatest, and who deserved to have precedence over the others. Each of them
wanted to be on top of the "ladder". Of course, when they found out that James
and John had gotten their request in ahead of them, they got pretty sore about
it. Jesus cut short the argument. He took them aside and said to them, "You
know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them,
and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among
you."

Jesus knew very well how the ladder works: in the kingdom of the world,
everyone scrambles for the top. People grab for all the power and authority they
can get. More often than not they abuse that authority by oppressing the people
who are lower down. "Yet it shall not be so among you," Jesus said. In the
kingdom of God - among the community of your fellow Christians - this is
simply unacceptable behavior. Rather, He said, "If anyone desires to be first, he
shall be last of all and servant of all." Mark 9:35.

But how often don't you and I displease our Savior by doing just the opposite?
We scramble to the top, trying to gain the upper hand over the very people
Jesus tells us to serve! “Well, I never do that!” you’re saying to yourself about
now. But don’t you? How much damage is done, for example, to the Christian
family when people are bent on being served, instead of serving each other!
Christian wife: are you serving your husband by submitting to his authority, as
the Bible commands? Husband: are you serving your wife by loving her as much
as Christ loves the Church? -That's what God's Law requires! You young
people, are you serving your parents by being obedient to them and helpful? Or
do you disobey them, talk back to them, and make things difficult? A church
member who considers himself or herself a very important person in the
congregation, people who expect others in the congregation to pay attention to
them and serve them and do things their way -- such people have their spiritual
priorities all turned around! A pastor who lords it over his congregation and
forces his decisions on them whether they like it or not -- well, he's at the wrong
end of the power structure! Because for us Christians, the ladder doesn't work
the same way as it does in the world. In the kingdom of God, Christ calls us to
the bottom.

But humility can be such a difficult thing. When Harry Truman was thrust into
the presidency at the death of F.D.R., House Speaker Sam Rayburn – a wise old
political operator - gave him some fatherly advice. "From here on out you're
going to have lots of people around you,” he said. “They'll try to put a wall
around you and cut you off from any ideas but theirs. They'll tell you what a
great man you are, Harry. But you and I both know you ain't." It struck me that
that would make a pretty good prayer for a Christian. “Lord, people keep telling
me what a good guy I am, but you and I both know I ain’t!” God’s Law reveals
to us our dismal failure to keep His Ten Commandments. It wakes us up to our
true condition, and puts us right back at the bottom where we belong. But
that’s not a bad place to be, for that’s the very place to which our Lord Jesus
willingly went for us!

In urging His followers to serve one another, Jesus very naturally used Himself
as an example. He said, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Yes, Jesus calls us to
service. Yes, He calls us to the very bottom of the ladder -- but not before going
there Himself!

This season of Lent is the perfect time for you to remember just how far down
the ladder Jesus was willing to go for you. During the Christmas season we
focus on His humble birth; how the King of all creation came down to earth as
a tender baby, born in the rudest of all shelters: a stable. But it's Lent that really
shows you just how low Jesus was willing to go in order to save you. After
living a perfect life of obedience to God and service to others, He made the
final, fatal sacrifice. On the hill of Calvary He offered up His innocent life as
the ransom for your sins. Only one price would pay your way into heaven: the
price of the innocent blood of the Son of God. This price your Savior willingly
paid. It meant being scorned and spit upon. It meant crucifixion: enduring the
physical and mental torture of that cruel, humiliating death. But Jesus did it. He
made Himself the lowest of the low -- for us. What a wonder - the Master of all
becomes the Servant of all! Paul says, "Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of
God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God...made Himself of no
reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became
obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross! Phil 2:5-8.

The sacrifice was offered, and it was accepted by God. The empty tomb on
Easter morning proclaimed to the world that the victory had been won. Satan
was disarmed, and heaven was open to all who would believe in Jesus. Now, by
faith, His perfect righteousness has become your perfect righteousness! His
death on the cross means that eternal death can never claim you! With His
resurrection, He makes the ironclad promise to you, "Because I live, you will
live also!" Jn 14:19. It gives me the greatest pleasure, as your pastor, to tell you
that, in Jesus, all your sins have been erased. Your name has been written in the
Book of Life. You and I will enjoy the bliss of life eternal together in heaven!

In the mean time, anything we can do to show our gratitude to Jesus can only
be considered a labor of love, don't you agree? And our Lord shows us how we
can do that: by following Him to the bottom of the ladder. He says to us
Christians, "Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.
And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all."

There isn't really any servant class left in America, is there? The days of butlers
and maids is long past. It's usually considered degrading to be a servant to
somebody else - let alone a slave! But on the upside-down ladder, serving others
is the no disgrace -- just the opposite. Among Christians, serving is an honor.
Even being a slave to our fellow-believers is the highest privilege! When you
husbands show love to your wives, you're really showing love for Christ. When
you wives submit to your husbands, you're really submitting to Jesus. Children,
by obeying your parents, you're obeying the Lord. People of this congregation:
you can honor the Lord by honoring each other, and by serving each other every
chance you get, both in and out of church. Paul says, "Be kindly affectionate to
one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another."
Rom 12:10. In honor give preference to one another. Consider others better
than yourself, Paul says. Consider their opinions of more importance than your
opinions. Consider their wishes as taking precedence over your wishes. Is it
easy? Not always. We all have our sinful flesh. We all struggle with spiritual
pride. Is it right and pleasing to God and appropriate for the Christian life? Yes
it is.

Some people don’t think they have much to contribute to their
fellow-Christians. But a wise man once said that, when it comes to Christian
service, the Lord isn’t primarily looking for ability – he’s looking for availability.
How can you make yourself available to your Savior? Teaching Sunday School,
cleaning the church, serving on the church council, supporting the work of the
Gospel with your financial resources - all these are honorable ways of serving
the Lord. They may seem like humble things, but on the upside-down ladder of
God's kingdom, that makes them even more important. In fact, the lower down
you can climb on that ladder, the better! If you take five minutes out of your
day just to share the Good News about Jesus with a friend, that may end up
being the most important thing anybody in this church does all week long! After
all, you never know whether such a simple word might end up saving an eternal
soul. It's certainly a good way to say thank-you to Jesus for saving your eternal
soul!

Nearly everyone who lives in the Pacific Northwest knows where the San Juan
Islands are, and knows how beautiful they are. What not many people know is
that President Theodore Roosevelt loved the San Juans too, and often spent his
vacations there. One night a friend, William Beebe, was visiting at the
President’s lodge in the San Juans. The two engaged in a long discussion about
deep subjects and high-flown philosophy. They began to think much of
themselves. As midnight came, they decided to go for a walk along the beach,
and passed many minutes strolling in silence. Eventually they simply stopped
and gazed upward. They marvelled at the bright, starry sky, all the
constellations in their order, and the vastness of the universe. Finally Roosevelt
broke the silence and said, "Very well, I think we are small enough now. Let's
call it a night." My Christian friends, you and I have stood for several weeks
gazing at the vastness of our Savior’s love for us, during this season of Lent.
Are we small enough now? Jesus Himself came not to be served, but to serve,
and to give His life a ransom for many. Let's follow our Savior to the bottom of
the ladder, to a life of service. That is, after all, the only fitting response to the
eternal service He has rendered us. AMEN.