Doing as Christ Does

What does it mean to follow Christ?

Interestingly, in 2,000 years, so much has changed and yet things are exactly the same. That is to say, while so much about our world has changed, human beings today have the exact same tendencies as people back then.

Throughout the Gospels, the authors paint a rather ugly picture of the way that the disciples postured and jockeyed for status and position.

Like the disciples, in our worst version of ourselves, we jockey and posture. Even if we would never admit it or verbalize it this way, we sign up to follow Jesus with minds and hearts consumed with selfish ambition. 

In this passage, Jesus rebukes His disciples and offers them a clear picture of what it means to be one of His disciples.  

Discipleship is about submission, not personal gain.

In vs. 35-38, the Bible tells us that the disciples thought of being a disciple in terms of personal gain and that Jesus had to rebuke them for their understanding. The Bible says, “Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory. But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you ask.’” Three things in the text stand out for us that highlight the selfishness of the disciples.

• They tell Jesus to serve them. In vs. 35, they say, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” The whole request here is rather presumptuous. They forget who is Lord and who is a servant. Like us many times, they seem to think of Jesus as someone who exists to serve our ends and goals. Often we use God as a free meal ticket.
• They want to sit in the highest seats. In vs. 37, they request the highest positions possible in Jesus’ kingdom. This, again, is very presumptuous and arrogant. It shows they follow Jesus for purely political benefit, and certainly not loyalty.
• They make this request on the heels of the news that Jesus would be crucified. Their selfishness is also seen in the fact that the request comes right on the heels of Jesus’ announcement that he would be killed. Vs. 34 says, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”

The bottom line is simple: the disciples were in this thing for themselves. Their only interest was in seeing themselves rise to power and receiving attention and glory for themselves. They have everything backward and clearly miss God’s intention. Being a disciple is not about your own personal gain. It is about submission to the Lordship of Christ.

Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

II Corinthians 5:14-15, 18, & 20. “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. . . Now all things are from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. . . Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”

Thus, we must guard against such self-centeredness in our lives.

Discipleship is about death and sacrifice, not comfort and ease.

In vs. 38, 42-45, we see how Jesus rebukes James and John and explains what following him is all about. Specifically, Jesus confronts their foolish and carnal understanding of discipleship with a series of questions. He says, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.” So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.” Here we see Jesus pointing towards what it means to be one of His followers. He asks if they will be able to drink of his cup—a symbolic way of pointing to His suffering. In other words, Jesus asks them if they are able to suffer in the same way that He would suffer. He then asks them if they can be baptized with His baptism—a symbolic way of pointing to His death, which he just mentioned in the previous text. Here He is asking them if they are able to die as He would die.

What Jesus is doing here is teaching a hard truth about the nature of discipleship and being one of His followers. To follow Him, to be His disciple, is to embrace the life of suffering and death. Elsewhere He says:

Matt. 16:24-25. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Luke 9:58. “And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

What Christ makes clear here is that being His disciple is not about being comfortable or at ease. To follow Him often entails sacrifice and hardship.

Paul in Philippians 3:7-11. “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Thus, if we are to be faithful to Christ, we must be willing to sacrifice our basic comforts.

 Discipleship is about servanthood, not lordship.

In vs. 41-45, Mark tells us that Jesus confronted the disciples with the hard truth that being His disciple means being a servant, not a lord, or master over others. The Bible says, “And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. 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.” Notice here that Jesus underscores the fact that “it shall not be so among you.” That behavior is the behavior of the pagan, and it must be different among us. How so? In God’s economy, things are the opposite of the world. We are not here to be served, Christ tells us. Rather, we are here to serve.

Phil. 2:5-11. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, 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.”

Towel and the Basin.

Thus, we are to be a people who serve, not demand for ourselves.

Conclusion

• Do you follow Christ for what is in it for you, or do to you follow with a heart of submission?
• Do you expect comfort and ease, or are you willing to suffer and sacrifice?
• Do you take the posture of a servant, or do try to Lord it over others?