The Outward Focused Life

Mark 10:42-45

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.  43 Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  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."

In this world, we are tempted over and over again with status, position, and authority.  We are tempted with greatness.  We like to be on top in this world.  The world has its own ideas about what greatness is and how to obtain it.  The Bible has something to say about greatness, as well, and it is totally opposite of the world.  Jesus said in Mark 10:43, "Whoever wants to become GREAT among you must be your SERVANT." Jesus went on to say in verse 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."  When it comes to greatness, there is no one greater than Jesus.  His model of greatness came in the form of servanthood.  In other words, He lived the outward focused life.  He was a giver, not a taker.  He ultimately gave His life...for us!

What we see in Mark 10:42-45 is that there is a challenge in being a servant.  In our sinful nature, we look down upon servanthood.  In our sinful nature, we want to be served.  In our sinful nature, we suffer from the "Burger King Syndrome," which is "have it your way right away!"  Being a servant is challenging because we have to throw off our sinful nature and embrace Jesus' way of living...the outward focused life.  There is a cost in being a servant.  In a previous verse, Mark 10:38, Jesus said to James and John, "You don't know what you are asking.  Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"  The cup that Jesus referenced was the cup of death.  The baptism that Jesus referenced was the baptism of suffering.  Living the outward focused life of servanthood will cost.  However, we see in the Scriptures that we are saved to serve.  In Luke 19:10, Jesus said, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."  When you couple that statement of Jesus with what He said in Mark 10:45, we can clearly see that we are saved to serve.  When we repent of our sin and embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior, we do so in humility and in obedience.  We die to sin and to self, and we live in Jesus.  We are saved and called to live as SERVANTS in a SERVE-ME world!  My prayer today is that God will help me and enable me to live the outward focused life.  My prayer today is that God will help you and enable you to live the outward focused life.  May we embrace these truths in Scripture, and may we live these truths out loud for the world to see...for God's glory!  Amen!