Four Principles of Stewardship
1. God owns everything, you own nothing.
2. God entrusts you with everything you have.
3. You can either increase or diminish what God has given; He wants you to increase it.
4. God can call you into account at any time, and it may be today.
3 aspects of Jesus’s sacrificial service that motivate us to be more faithful stewards
I. Jesus Accomplished His Assigned Mission
(v.32-34)
Mark 10:32a - They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them.
Isaiah 50:6-7 - I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord God helps Me, therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.
A. Encouraging the faith of those who are fearful
Mark 10:32b - …and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful.
B. Despite the challenges that the mission involved
Mark 10:32c-34 - And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.”
II. Jesus Corrected the Idea that Service Involves Self-Exaltation (v.35-41)
Mark 10:35-41 - James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John.
A. By reminding us that Christian suffering is the way of Jesus
Mark 10:38-39b - But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.”
B. By teaching us that we entrust God to bestow positions of honor
Mark 10:40 - But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.
III. Jesus Taught to Use Our Position to Sacrificially Serve, Rather than be Served (v.41-45)
A. Because what characterizes non-Christian authority is domineering leadership
Mark 10:42-44 - Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “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.”
B. Because Jesus’s ransom frees us from sinful self-serving to serve Christ
Mark 10:45 - For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
1 Peter 1:18-19 - …knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
Galatians 5:1,13 - It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery…For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
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