“The Servant’s Mission”
Mark 7:24-8:10
“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and after three days rise again.” – Mark 8:31
This is the first time in the Gospel of Mark that we find Jesus instructing His disciples that He must go to the Cross. It would be His ultimate mission, the reason He came to this earth, so this is an important marker.
We have seen the Servant’s authority and power to heal every disease and sickness, walk on water, and even raise the dead. But here marks the beginning of the Servant’s Road to the Cross. From here He will begin to make His way toward Jerusalem to “suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and priests and scribes, and be killed.”
What caused the Servant-King to do such a thing? Love!
If you ever had a pity party and felt like “no one loves me,” well, you can rest assured, Jesus loves you! And He did not just say it but showed it by way of the Cross.
Jesus took upon Himself your sin and my sin and then He died, because the wages of sin is death. He died for our sins so that we might have a righteous standing before God. And that was the Servant’s ultimate mission. He served Himself unto death.
His example, however, is one to take note of as a disciple. Because Jesus emptied Himself for us, we ought to empty ourselves for others. Notice after Mk 8:31 comes Mk 8:34, “Whoever 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 and the gospel’s will save it.” It is an interesting sequel to ponder!
If there is one thing to remember from the message this morning it is this: Lose your life in Christ. Reckon selfish desires dead and leave them at the cross. There is no better life than being dead to self and alive in Christ!
I know that sounds counter-intuitive because it is, it is counter-intuitive to the natural-man, yet instinctive to the born-again Spirit.
But it is in the born-again Spirit that real liberty exists.
