Order, Words, & Voices
02.25.24, Being Great, Mark 10:35-52
Order
Pre Worship Music – Spotify – Open and Close
Songs Great Are You Lord Lynn/Team
Indescribable
Reading and Prayer Petty
Songs I Surrender All Lynn/Team
Once Again
Passage Mark 10:35-52 Renee
Message Being Great Rick
Music Softly and Tenderly Lynn/Team
Community/Benediction Rick
Closing Peace Rick
Music The Goodness of God (Chorus) Lynn/Team
Post Worship Music – Spotify – Open and Close
Music (slides) Lynn/Team
Great Is The Lord CCLI Song # 1149
Verse
Great is the Lord
He is holy and just
By His power we trust in His love
Great is the Lord
He is faithful and true
By His mercy He proves He is love
Chorus 1
Great is the Lord
And worthy of glory
Great is the Lord
And worthy of praise
Great is the Lord
Now lift up your voice
Now lift up your voice
Great is the Lord
Verse
Great is the Lord
He is holy and just
By His power we trust in His love
Great is the Lord
He is faithful and true
By His mercy He proves He is love
Chorus 1
Great is the Lord
And worthy of glory
Great is the Lord
And worthy of praise
Great is the Lord
Now lift up your voice
Now lift up your voice
Great is the Lord
Chorus 2
Great are You Lord
And worthy of glory
Great are You Lord
And worthy of praise
Great are You Lord
I lift up my voice
I lift up my voice
Great are You Lord
Indescribable CCLI Song # 4403076
Verse 1
From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation’s revealing Your majesty
From the colors of Fall to the fragrance of Spring
Ev’ry creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming
Chorus 1
Indescribable uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky
And You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful untamable
Awestruck we fall to our knees
As we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
Verse 2
Who has told ev’ry lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom
Interlude
You are amazing God
Chorus 2
Indescribable uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky
And You know them by name
You are amazing God
Incomparable unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart
And You love me the same
You are amazing God
Ending
You see the depths of my heart
And You love me the same
You are amazing God
(REPEAT)
You see the depths of our hearts
And You love us the same
You are amazing God
Participatory Response (Slides) Petty
Leader: May we come into the presence of God with an attitude of helplessness and a trusting dependence.
Response: May we come before God with a joyful hope, a teachable spirit, and an open heart and mind.
Leader: May we be humbled by our moments of foolishness, prayers of selfishness and a self-absorbed focus.
Response: May we grow in our concern for others with an awareness of opportunities to serve rather than to be served.
Leader: May we permit God to give us wisdom and grace as we see with the eyes of Jesus
Response: May we see through a holy perspective and may we respond with holy actions.
Leader: May the lessons we have learned lead to a life that is transformed.
Response: May our lives be transformed by the path that Jesus traveled for us.
Leader: May our pursuit be not on bringing glory to self but to God.
Response: May our path lead not to recognition but to sacrifice.
Leader: May today be a moment on that path.
Response: May this day be lived in gratefulness for the steps walked before us.
Leader: Join us in the prayer of Jesus,
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses,
while we forgive those who trespass against us.
And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Music (slides) Lynn/Team
I Surrender All CCLI Song # 23189
Verse 1
All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live
Chorus
I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all
Verse 2
All to Jesus I surrender
Humbly at His feet I bow
Worldly pleasures all forsaken
Take me Jesus take me now
Chorus
I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all
Verse 4
All to Jesus I surrender
Lord I give myself to Thee
Fill me with Thy love and power
Let Thy blessing fall on me
Chorus
I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all
Once Again CCLI Song # 1564362
Verse 1
Jesus Christ
I think upon Your sacrifice
You became nothing
Poured out to death
Many times I’ve wondered
At Your gift of life
And I’m in that place once again
I’m in that place once again
Chorus
Once again
I look upon the cross
Where You died
I’m humbled by Your mercy
And I’m broken inside
Once again I thank You
Once again I pour out my life
Verse 2
Now You are
Exalted to the highest place
King of the heavens
Where one day I’ll bow
But for now
I marvel at this saving grace
And I’m full of praise once again
I’m full of praise once again
Chorus
Once again
I look upon the cross
Where You died
I’m humbled by Your mercy
And I’m broken inside
Once again I thank You
Once again I pour out my life
Bridge
Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the cross my Friend
Chorus
I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all
Passage (Slides) Renee
Brothers, James and John, came forward and asked Jesus, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
Jesus said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” James and John said to Jesus, “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
The two brothers replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you will be baptized,
However, to sit at my right hand or at my left is not within my authority to appoint. The assignment of those seats has already been set.”
The other ten disciples were angry with James and John because of the request the two had made of Jesus.
So Jesus called all twelve disciples together and said to them, “You know that the leaders of the gentiles use their position to lord their power over the people. The leaders become horrible tyrants.
However, this must not be so among you. Whoever wishes to become great over you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave to all.
For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:35-45
Message Rick
? Opening Illustration: Store clerk w/survey
Introduction
- Passage presents us Jesus affirming the mystery of the why of his death and the how of the avenue of his death. Our grappling with blood and suffering. Praise team member not wanting songs about blood after school and concert shootings.
- Ill: Deaths this past week.
- In this moment, we also tie in Jesus teaching at the start of his ministry, the counter intuitive ‘Blesseds’ with the oncoming suffering. Jesus radical teachings of love, mercy, and compassion.
- Jesus’ followers are, & we are, challenged to adopt Jesus’ radical counter to way the world sees greatness & power
- Context – Jesus again, and for final time in Mark, telling his fate in Jerusalem
[Slide – leave screen share up until noted to end]
“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the I will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn me to death;
[Slide] then they will hand me over to the gentiles; they will mock me and spit upon me and flog me and kill me, and after three days I will rise again.” (Mark 10:32-34)
[Slide] Jesus has just told of his coming suffering as James and John approach him asking, “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” (Mark 10:37)
- J&J mother, Salmon
- Transfiguration moment
- Jesus has mind set on suffering as approaching Jerusalem.
- Jesus asks if they are able and ready to face his ‘Cup’, his suffering They say they are, Jesus knows differently – tells them this later.
Matt Skinner writes,
[Slide] “When Jesus softly chastises the two for their ignorance and speaks about “the cup” he must drink and “the baptism” he must undergo, he reiterates that violence and death that awaits him in Jerusalem.
[Slide] Such is his role, corresponding to the paradoxical nature of his kingship, according to which he will die as an utterly despised and powerless “king.”
[Slide] Mark’s Gospel emphasizes that such rejection and death are inevitable and required, because of who Jesus is, because of the boundary-breaking character of his ministry,
[Slide] and because those who wield power in the world will do all they can to protect themselves and their prerogatives from the implications of that ministry.” (Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.)
[Slide] Greatness – Other disciples outraged at request.
- Jesus gathers disciples together to calm them down
- Explains worldly greatness as opposed to holy greatness- and what earthly greatness is about to do to him in Jerusalem by Jewish institution that by Religious and Politics
- Holy power vs. Earthly Power
- Holy Eternal Greatness vs Fleeting Earthly Greatness
- Radical affirmation and reflection of Jesus’ life
- Suffering is radical renunciation of earthly priorities
[Slide] Jesus’ death is an affirmation, and a reflection, of his life. His suffering is a radical renunciation of earthly authority and privilege. All the more radical to both of these points is the fact that it is God’s son who is the suffering servant.
[Slide] The Greek word detailing Jesus’ act of sacrifice/death, lytron points to the fact that Jesus’ death is a sacrificial ransom that is given to secure the release of humanity. To free those God created who could not free themself from the imprisonment they themselves had chosen. Jesus’ death is transactional, a payment made to satisfy the penalties accrued by our human rejection, our turning away from God.
[Slide] However, this ransom, this lytron in this holy act, is a divine liberation not a payment as we commonly assume. It is not an empowerment of evil through an eternal payment that results in riches for evil – it is a holy reckoning with evil.
Here is a significant fact about Jesus’ death and divine ransom. Even though Jesus talks of his coming death and how it will free humanity from oppression and captivity restoring us to God – Jesus does not really explain how all of this works. He doesn’t explain the need for blood and death – we try to imagine a thread requiring blood that begins in the garden but they do not fully add up and explain. It is one of those things that, at least in this time, we are unable to adequately grasp. We are returned to the community of God’s reign through Jesus life, death, and resurrection, it is not fully explainable. A fact that we humans do not like.
Jesus therefore declares (without stopping to clarify precisely how) that God, through Jesus’ death, will free people from oppression and captivity to another power, restoring us to God’s embrace and community.
[Slide] Death will Jesus’ final Public Lesson of Greatness –The measure of greatness for Jesus, and for the followers of Jesus, is measured by their ability to live as servants and slaves, even if that life means suffering oppression at the hands of those who wield power. Jesus previously compared himself to a child, an image of powerlessness and vulnerability. Jesus forgoes his own power to control his own fate and to prevail over others.
[Slide] “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many”. (Mark 10:45)
[End Screen Share]
???
“Once we begin to lust after political power and political influence, we lose our prophetic voice.” (Rev. Randall Balmer)
The measure of greatness for Jesus, and for the followers of Jesus, is measured by their ability to live as servants and slaves, even if that life means suffering oppression at the hands of those who wield power. Jesus previously compared himself to a child, an image of powerlessness and vulnerability. Jesus forgoes his own power to control his own fate and to prevail over others.
- Christian focus at Easter
- Jesus suffering, Death, and Resurrection
- Challenge and reminder to us to check our view of power and greatness
Pray
Music (Slides) Lynn/Team
Softly And Tenderly CCLI Song # 28380
Verse 1
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling
Calling for you and for me
See on the portals He’s waiting and watching
Watching for you and for me
Chorus
Come home come home
Ye who are weary come home
Earnestly tenderly Jesus is calling
Calling O sinner come home
Verse 2
Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading
Pleading for you and for me
Why should we linger and heed not His mercies
Mercies for you and for me
Chorus
Come home come home
Ye who are weary come home
Earnestly tenderly Jesus is calling
Calling O sinner come home
Verse 4
O for the wonderful love He has promised
Promised for you and for me
Tho we have sinned He has mercy and pardon
Pardon for you and for me
Chorus
Come home come home
Ye who are weary come home
Earnestly tenderly Jesus is calling
Calling O sinner come home
Community (Slides) Rick
- Next Sunday, 02.25, Mark 12:1-12, ‘No Respect, No Recognition’
- ‘In-Between’ Bible Study, Tuesday, Feb 27 – this week at 11:00, at Nielsen’s, Mark 11:1-33
- Lent
- Giving Statements Mailed
Closing Benediction (Slide per line) Rick
We leave this place into a world that asks for power
A world that demands greatness
A world that longs to be first
A world that centers on self.
However, we leave with an understanding of a calling to live life differently
A life that recognizes the need for sacrifice
A life that exists in a state of humility
A life that see others as much as we see ourself
As we leave this place may our lives shine a different light
A light that shines on injustice, judgment, and condemnation
A light that reveals suffering and misery
A light that pierces the darkness of hidden pain
A light that reflects the sacrifice made for us on the cross
A light that gives hope in the midst of darkness
May we go into a world armed with the love that is God
Closing Peace (Slides) Rick
[Slide] Leader: May the peace of the Lord go with you.
[Slide] Response: And also with you.
Music [Slides] Lynn/Team
Goodness Of God CCLI #7117726
All my life You have been faithful
All my life You have been so so good
With every breath that I am able
I will sing of the goodness of God
Order, Words, & Voices 