Bible Verses That Freak Me Out #12 - "Whoever wishes to be great" - Mark 11:42-45

"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 slave of 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." - Mark 11:42-45

This pronouncement appears in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Matthew and Mark, it's as Jesus and the disciples are walking toward Jerusalem before the Passion. In Mark, James and John ask for seats at the hands of Jesus in His kingdom. In Matthew, it's their mom who asks on their behalf. They are essentially asking to be Jesus' vice-president and prime minister.

In Luke, this is Jesus' response to the disciples' discussion of which of them is the greatest, which they are having at the Last Supper!

Jesus isn't just recommending a new model of leadership. It's a revolutionary way to live your life. Jesus has been demonstrating it to His disciples, and will soon make the climatic statement of what it means to live a sacrificial life.

The thing that freaks me out is asking whether I have actually bought into this. This is Christianity. This, if nothing else, is what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Oswald Chambers takes this principle in "My Utmost for His Highest" and applies it to John 7:38 - "He who believes in me...out of him will flow rivers of living water."

"Jesus did not say - 'he that believeth in Me shall realize the blessing of the fulness of God,' but - 'he that believeth in Me out of him shall escape everything he receives.' Our Lord's teaching is always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a man; His purpose is to make a man exactly like Himself, and the characteristic of the Son of God is self-expenditure. If we believe Jesus, it is not what we gain, but what He pours through us that counts. It is not that God makes us beautifully rounded grapes, but that He squeezes the sweetness out of us. Spiritually, we cannot measure our life by success, but only by what God pours through us, and we cannot measure that at all....God spilt the life of His Son that the world might be saved; are we prepared to spill out our lives for Him?"