August 23, 2026 Service - "Missions Month: What Do We Do?

The family of God stands as more than a social club or a group doing good things together. God has knit together a quirky, imperfect body in Christ, and that body becomes a gift in joyful seasons and in heavy seasons. Jesus tells his people that rain falls on the just and the unjust, and he does not pretend that following him shields anyone from turbulence. Jesus also says, “take heart,” because he has overcome the world with all of its gunk and junk.

Mark 10 brings that comfort into the way of Jesus and the mission of his people. Jesus has just told his friends that Jerusalem will mean betrayal, arrest, beating, crucifixion, and resurrection. James and John then come asking about seating arrangements. Jesus is talking about a cross, and the brothers are talking about chairs. They want the right and left hand seats when Jesus comes into his glory.

Jesus does not crush the desire for greatness, but he redefines it. The other disciples get indignant, maybe because they are humble, or maybe because James and John beat them to the punch. Jesus calls them together and points to the way rulers lord power over people and flaunt authority. Then Jesus says, “among you, it will be different.” His kingdom does not run on status, class, privilege, recognition, or having people beneath someone.

Greatness in the kingdom is not about how high a person can climb, but how low a person is willing to serve. The world asks, “How many people are beneath me?” Jesus asks, “Who are you willing to serve?” James and John want a position that makes them look important to the world, but Jesus offers a posture that makes them look like him. That posture may look ordinary, like a listening ear, a meal taken to someone in need, showing up when no one else does, or serving someone who cannot give anything back.

Service also costs something. The dad tax may be a funny picture of small costs, but Mark 10 goes much deeper. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus’ service cost him his life, and following him will cost time, comfort, money, energy, convenience, and sometimes the desire to be thanked. Jesus is not calling his people to destroy themselves or mistake exhaustion for holiness, but he is calling them away from comfortable Christianity into sacrificial love. The deeper question is not simply whether more serving gets done, but whether Jesus is forming his people, or whether the world’s definition of greatness still has a grip on the quiet places of the heart.

##

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. Greatness gets low enough to serve Jesus does not throw greatness away. Jesus turns greatness upside down until it looks like a towel, a basin, and a servant’s posture. The kingdom measures greatness less by visibility and more by willingness to love where no applause may ever come. [47:23]
• 2. Chairs reveal a worldly imagination James and John hear about a cross and start asking about chairs. Their request exposes how easily kingdom language can still be filled with worldly hunger for position, honor, and control. A disciple can be near Jesus outwardly while still needing Jesus to confront the imagination inwardly. [41:27]
• 3. Service costs more than convenience Jesus’ way of service is not just helping when it fits neatly into a schedule. Service may interrupt comfort, spend energy, require money, and involve people who never say thank you. Sacrificial love is not glamorous, but it is the road where the servant King is most clearly followed. [55:06]
• 4. Boundaries are not selfishness Jesus does not call his people to destroy themselves, never say no, or treat exhaustion as a badge of holiness. Healthy limits do not cancel sacrificial love, but they do expose false ideas of holiness that confuse burnout with obedience. The real call is away from comfort and toward costly love shaped by Jesus. [56:22]
• 5. Jesus forms servants, not consumers The deeper issue is not merely doing more religious activity. Jesus presses beneath behavior into formation, asking what is shaping the desires, measures, and hidden cravings of the heart. Comfortable consumer Christianity reaches for benefits, but the way of Jesus reaches for the towel.
  
  ## [59:07]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [29:30] - The Gift of the Church Family
• [31:17] - Jesus Has Overcome the World
• [35:04] - Missions Month and Mark 10
• [37:15] - James and John Ask for Honor
• [40:16] - Cross Talk and Chair Talk
• [43:09] - Greatness Turned Upside Down
• [45:05] - Titanic Classes and Kingdom Status
• [48:26] - A Posture That Looks Like Jesus
• [52:07] - Serving Costs Something
• [54:17] - The Son of Man Gives His Life
• [56:22] - Sacrifice Without Unhealthy Exhaustion
• [59:07] - Formed by Jesus, Not the World
• [61:14] - The Servant King Saves

Bible Reading

Mark 10:35-45
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do us a favor." "What is your request?" he asked. They replied, "When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left." But Jesus said to them, "You don't know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?" "Oh yes," they replied, "we are able!" Then Jesus told them, "You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen." When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many." [37:21]

Matthew 5:45
For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. [31:45]

John 16:33
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. [32:18]

John 13:1-17
Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus replied, "You don't understand now what I am doing, but someday you will." "No," Peter protested, "you will never ever wash my feet!" Jesus replied, "Unless I wash you, you won't belong to me." Simon Peter exclaimed, "Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!" Jesus replied, "A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you." For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, "Not all of you are clean." After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, "Do you understand what I was doing? You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are right, because that's what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them." [51:10]

Observation questions

1. In Mark 10, what exactly do James and John ask Jesus for, and how do the other ten disciples respond when they hear it? [39:17]
2. What contrast does Jesus make between the rulers of this world and the way his people are supposed to live? [39:27]
3. What simple, ordinary pictures of service appear in John 13 and in the examples given here—things like washing feet, listening, bringing a meal, or showing up? [51:26]
4. What two truths are placed side by side in Matthew 5:45 and John 16:33 about life in this world and Jesus’ promise to his people? [32:18]

Interpretation questions

1. James and John hear Jesus speak about suffering and still ask for honored seats. What does that reveal about how easily people can misunderstand Jesus’ kingdom while still staying close to Jesus outwardly? [41:36]
2. Jesus says, “among you it will be different.” Why is that such a strong statement about the culture of the church, especially in a world that measures greatness by status and control? [43:43]
3. Jesus does not reject greatness, but redefines it. What does it mean that greatness in his kingdom is measured by how low a person is willing to serve? [47:23]
4. Jesus came not only to serve but also to give his life as a ransom for many. How does that keep Christian service from becoming mere volunteerism or simple niceness? [54:34]

Application questions

1. Where is the pull toward “chairs” strongest right now—recognition, influence, being noticed, getting credit, being in control? What might it look like to lay that down and take the posture of a servant instead? [49:54]
2. Is there a person in this season who needs something simple and lowly from you—a listening ear, a meal, a visit, practical help, or quiet presence? What makes that easy or hard for you? [51:26]
3. Serving often costs time, comfort, energy, money, or convenience. Which of those costs tends to be hardest for you, and why? [55:17]
4. Sacrificial love is not the same thing as unhealthy exhaustion. How can someone tell the difference between faithful service and trying to play the hero? [56:28]
5. In the quiet places of the heart, is there still a need to be thanked, noticed, or affirmed for serving? How does that desire shape the way you serve people? [01:00:04]
6. What does your serving actually look like right now? Is it mostly what fits your schedule and preferences, or is there evidence of real sacrifice? [01:00:30]
7. Jesus has overcome the world, even while rain still falls on the just and the unjust. How could that truth help someone keep serving faithfully in a heavy season instead of pulling back into comfort or self-protection? [31:45]