HBF Winter Retreat Message

Jesus, A Ransom

Mk 10:42-45; K.V.: 10:45
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.

Why this passage? And why this Title? In praying for a key verse for 2012, us HBF teachers began by seeing what God was doing in you guys, in HBF these days.

And these are the things we saw:

-          We saw some of you take the initiative to start up a LINK chapter, have a Baby Bible Camp to raise money for it, and even hosted the Nomads to come to our church and promote awareness of the crisis in N.K.

-          We saw Marlene and the Lenthang family decide to raise money to build a well in India.

-          We saw many of you serving as CBF/BBF teachers
-          We saw others in leadership roles at school, in Bible Clubs, orchestra, and Praise Team

And we  looked forward to 2012 and noticed that this year is going to be a year in which we really spread across the globe. With the Seniors doing their usual trip to Korea. I also heard prayers for some of you possibly going to N.K., and Germany. I heard Joy was going to get the chance to tour Europe and use her gift of violin to see God’s huge and vast world. And then, 12 of you have decided to go 10 days to Ecuador.

 With all these things in mind, we wanted to pray to dedicate 2012 as a year of going into the world, and while doing so, growing as servants.

 As we prayed for a K.V. God gave us this passage that teaches us that true greatness comes through serving.

            We really wanted to title this retreat about “servanthood” or “greatness.” But when we studied this passage together as leaders, we were filled with Jesus himself.
            We realized Jesus is the quintessential perfect example of everything we had in mind.
            So we realized greatness is not about us at all, or even about the obtaining the quality of servanthood. It is all about Jesus. So we titled this conference: Jesus, A Ransom.

So with greatness and growing as a servant in mind let’s turn our attention to this passage.

As we prepare to do so, let me say a word of prayer.

Look at verse 42. 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.”  Roman rule was based on brute force. The oppressed had to comply or die. In spite of their own experience of oppression and suffering, the disciples were exhibiting the same lust for power in their words and deeds. Their earlier request (37) shows that they understood glory and greatness to be about power and rank, rather than suffering and service.

Notice that Jesus never rebukes his disciples for desiring greatness. He redirects that desire. Jesus had good reason to rebuke his disciples, for surely in their actions they exhibit pride and selfish ambition. But Jesus did not do that. What this means is that we should not rid our desire to be great and accomplish something. Because having such desires is not a bad thing. How we deal with it is important. (Three things we do with desires: keep, get rid of, or redeem) What we need to do is redeem the pursuit of greatness. Jesus makes this pursuit right and holy and helps us understand what it truly is.

This is important because every one of us is a leader of someone. Some of you are formal leaders of clubs, sports teams, or groups. Some of you are informal leaders, people just come to you for advice and seek council, everyone has friends right? Some of you have big influence, where a lot of people look up to you. Some of you have little influence, a smaller intimate circle. Some of you are big siblings that have little siblings that look up to you.

So let me ask you a question. Do you want to be great? It’s a hard question isn’t it? Because if we receive greatness as the world does, if we receive leadership as the world does, we’re probably going to be arrogant, proud, and selfish.

Some of you need to aspire to more. Some of you, are just lazy. Some of you have not presented yourself for leadership in your school or in our church. Some, in the false name of humility have not tried your hardest and not done your best to be great where ever you are. Every person, created by God, should aspire to be the best version of yourself, by the grace of God, you can be. We all need to maximize our skills, talents, and abilities so we might help others.

So by not rebuking his disciples Jesus is saying that we should seek greatness. Not worldly greatness, but godly greatness. So let’s understand this greatness a little bit.

Look at verses 43 and 44. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever want to be first must be last of all. In these verses Jesus turns the pagan notion of greatness on its head. In the world, the greater you are, the more people serve you (maids, butlers, groundskeepers, chauffers, cooks, employees, or little siblings) But in Jesus’ kingdom, the greater you are, the more people you serve. The greatest one is not on the top looking down, exercising authority by force. The greatest one is on the bottom, looking up and serving all others.

Greatness is simply service. This is hard. Because everything in our pride and our sinful nature and our culture propels us to be anything and everything but this kind of servant. And Jesus says no, that’s the essence of greatness.

So Jesus is saying, aspire to greatness, and inasmuch as you’re able, lead. But not in a way that is worldly, in a way that is godly. And here’s how Jesus redeems it, how he makes it holy. First he tells us to reject worldly views of greatness and leadership. He says that worldly views of greatness are all about the leader. You lord it over people. You intimidate, boss around, bully. You’re mean, cruel, and harsh. People exist to honor you, to obey you, to tend to you, to serve you. And you are the center. It’s all about you.

Jesus says, not like that.  He says, be like me. Jesus doesn’t tell us what it is and leave us figuring out how to do it all on our own. Jesus himself lived his life embodying the greatness that he challenges us to pursue.

Let’s read verse 45 together. 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. I want to highlight 2 words in this, our key verse for 2012.

1.”come”

            This word is rather important. It is a strong hint that Jesus existed before he was born a baby in the manger. He came into the world. By saying, “did not come to be served” he assumes that he had every right to expect to be honored and served when he came. In short, when Jesus says “come,” he is saying that he is a pre-existing divine being who came to earth. This is a truth of staggering proportions. As 2nd gens we’re kind of numb to this. But this is truly amazing! Jesus came to earth! Giving up his throne in heaven, at God’s right hand!

2. “ransom” In the days of Jesus, “ransom” did not usually mean to pay kidnappers (as it does today), but to purchase a person out of slavery.

Let’s consider 3 implications of this word.

            First, the word ransom means that the person being ransomed is not free. When Jesus said that his death pays a ransom for us, he is automatically saying that human beings are in captivity and bondage. This tells us a lot about how Jesus sees our spiritual condition. And this is different than Jesus seeing us as free, but guilty people. He sees us like hostages on a hijacked aircraft, not destroyed yet, but under captivity and in mortal danger. And the only way for us to get out was for him to die on the cross.

            The condition we are in than assumes that we are in bondage and slaves to bad masters. Admittedly, most people do not feel like sinners at all, let alone feel like they are slaves to sin. But no one is more enslaved that the person who is not even aware that he or she is bondage. So the fact that most people do not feel enslaved by sin only shows the depth of the problem.

            So what are the “bad masters” to whom human beings are enslaved? There are three at least. 1. Sin itself. Jn 8:34 says, “Anyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Becky Pippert put it this way, “Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she seeks to please. You do not control yourselves, you are controlled by the lord of your life.”

2. Death. If we are enslaved by sin, then we are enslaved by death. It is a morbid thought, but the moment a child is born, there is no guarantee of anything in life, other than the truth that one day that child will die. It’s hard to feel it when you’re a growing teenager, but the truth is, we are all dying. Every moment we live only brings us closer to the day we will breathe our last breath. This is a result of sin. The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death.”

3. The Law. This is a theme through out Paul’s epistles. We are slaves to the law. This means that we are guilty, under the law’s condemnation, because we break the moral and perfect law of God.

Because of these things that enslave us, Jesus had to die to ransom us.

            The second implication of the word “ransom” is that there is a price and penalty to be paid in order to release the slaves in bondage. So therefore someone must bear a cost. And Jesus paid that price. Verse 45 explains to us the size of the ransom-price, “gave his life as a ransom.” Jesus did not pay a quantifiable, finite sum. It was his whole life for ours. It was a complete substitution. In other words, the very dark forces that held us in bondage, took hold of him instead. He experienced everything from the law, sin, death, and hell that we have and would have experienced.

            In general, the ransomer is the one that experiences loss so the slave can experience freedom. The ransomer does that which the slave is incapable of doing or supplementing. It is all initiated and made possible only by the ransomer. The Bible teaches us that Jesus purchased the church of God with his own blood.” 2 Cor 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

            The third implication of the word “ransom” is that a new relationship is formed with the ransomer. Ordinarily, the liberated slave now “owes” the liberator his or her own life, and so a new relationship of love and gratitude, and willing service begins. In a sense, the former captive of sin and death, is now a captive of love. 1 Cor 6:19 says, “you are not your own, you were bought with a price.”  It is a love relationship because what drove Jesus, our ransomer, is his love and care for us.

I’ve been meditating on this verse a lot the past week or so. I read the verses dozens of times. I listened to 2 sermons on the passage, and read 2 others. And admittedly, my heart was very cold and numb to the magnitude and significance of what Jesus did in becoming a ransom for me. I certainly did not have in mind, when choosing a key verse for 2012 for hbf, thinking about Jesus. But through the meditation and study of this verse, God began warming my cold heart to see Jesus. And it started by his conviction of the sin in my life.

Last night when Benji was leading us in prayer, I felt the tugs of Satan entering into my thought world. I couldn’t believe it, but in a time of prayer, and trying to be intimate with God, thoughts of jealousy and envy, and even lustful thoughts came into my mind. I shaking. In this moment, I cried out to Jesus to ransom me at this time, from the grip of Satan. These thoughts revealed to me where my heart has been. I was reminded of how much of a terrible sinner I am. And in worship, “God is so good…” I was reminded of how much Jesus serves me, every day. He served me by making the heavens and the earth. He serves us by humbly entering into the creation he made as a human being to identify me, to understand me. He served me by living without sin. He humbly served me by dying on the cross for me. He served me by giving me salvation, giving me grace, giving me love, giving me mercy, and giving me eternal life. I’m so thankful for this passage that filled me a new with Jesus.

So here is our prayer for the new year…

            Jesus gives us the most beautiful picture of the most sacrificial and humble servant and savior. He tells us what real greatness is and then shows us with the most real and vivid picture with his own life. We in HBF want each of you to be great. I want you to be great. You don’t know how often I am so proud of each of you. You see, as teachers in HBF we get to see amazing transformation and growth. Many of you come in as self conscience, awkward, small freshmen, not sure of yourself or of life. But then in 4 years we see you grow and develop into confident and mature Seniors ready to enter adulthood. It’s what keeps me working with high schoolers. I met young people as children and I watch them grow into adults. And part of all this is our deepest desire for each of you to be great. We really and truly do. And we firmly believe this is what God wants in each of you. And we are only here to support what God is doing in each of your lives. We want you to be great. God wants you to be great. We want you to lead people. We want you to influence your friends and classmates. We want you to make the year 2012 a year where in the places God puts you, or as He seems to be doing, sends you, that you be great. And you do so, by being a servant.

Our prayer is that this beautiful picture of Jesus himself may newly inspire us, and painfuly rebuke us, until we have this holy desire to serve others with the mind of Christ. I know that God created us to live life to the full. We’re not just here to live a plain and ordinary life. Our lives are not just about me and my desires, my hopes, my future, my career, my family, my friends. It’s all about Jesus. What God wants from us is not doing impossible things for God. It is just humbly doing the small things of a servant with compassion and love for others.

This picture of greatness is not pitiful it is beautiful. It is truly a perplexing path to glory in which Jesus led the way. May God inspire you to have such a desire by remembering that Jesus ransomed you.