Selfish Ambition
Mark 10:32-45
Message #38
In our last message in Mark, we met the Rich Young Ruler and we looked at the third hard saying of Jesus in this section of Mark. I think today is the fourth hard saying in a row and the last.
Today, Jesus addresses selfish ambition. Here’s a good definition of selfish ambition: being concerned with your own interests and welfare over the good of others.
And today, Jesus is going to call us out over our tendency to be far more concerned with ourselves over the good of others, and Jesus is going to give us the clear antidote for us to be healed from our selfish ambition disease.
We pick it up today in Mark 10:32.
Mark 10:32 (NLT)
32 They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, (possibly at the determination of Jesus to get to Jerusalem) and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear . . . (possibly because they anticipated trouble when Jesus got there).
And maybe because of the awe and fear in the group, Jesus felt the need to once more remind them of what was coming when they got there.
And so, in Mark 10:32(b)-34 we read,
Mark 10:32(b)-34 (NLT)
32 . . . Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him.
33 “Listen,” he said (try to pay attention), “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans.
34 They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”
This is the third time Jesus has clearly explained this to his disciples, but Luke adds in his account of this event, the following in Luke 18:34.
Luke 18:34 (NLT)
34 But they (the Disciples) didn’t understand any of this. The significance of his words was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.
This seems pretty weird, right? What part of mock, spit, flog and kill are you not getting the significance of? But the very next section proves that the Disciples completely missed the significance of what Jesus was saying (verses 33-34). Or, maybe they didn’t want to hear it because it didn’t fit into their plan – which is not that different than how we sometimes take news that we don’t want to hear. Sometimes we don’t want to hear what Jesus has to say.
And, it’s an important note because in the very next verse (Mark 10:35), the NET Bible translation notes say this, the word “then” (verse 35) is used to indicate the implied sequence of events.
Meaning, the very next event after Jesus tells the Disciples again that he’s going to be mocked, spit on, flogged, and killed when they get to Jerusalem…The very next thing that happens is this.
Mark 10:35-37 (NLT)
35 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.”
36 “What is your request?” he asked. (a little miffed)
37 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.”
Wait a minute!
Jesus just told them he was headed to Jerusalem to go through a horrific suffering and death and be raised up again on the third day. And the Sons of Thunder (as they’re known) are like, “Yeah, Jesus, we hear you, but look, we’ve got a favor to ask you. Is now a good time?” NO! Now is not a good time. Are you kidding me?
I think what’s even worse for these Sons of Ambition is that in Matthew’s account, Matthew says they actually brought their mother to plead their case for them. And their mother may have been an aunt to Jesus, making James and John possibly cousins.
(Making this entire thing look like something Joe Biden would do for his son Hunter to get him a multi-million-dollar salary from a Ukrainian oil company.)
Can you see the selfish ambition exploding here?
So, knowing that the Disciples weren’t really getting what he was saying, Jesus plays along with their request. Again, in verse 37, James and John ask to sit in places of honor next to Jesus when Jesus takes his throne.
And then we read in Mark 10:38-39,
Mark 10:38-39 (NLT)
38 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?”
39 “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” . . .
Oh yeah, Jesus, we can do that – no problem.
Does that mean we get the place of honor?
We’re not really sure what you’re talking about, but if it’ll get us the position, then yeah, sure – we’ll do it.
But Jesus is talking about the bitter cup of death. He’s saying if you want a place of honor with me – it involves death. If you want honor from Jesus, prepare to die.
The Sons of Thunder didn’t know what they were asking. They were just trying to get in ahead of all the other guys, get a leg up, you know, secure their position – just like in the business world and far too often in the church world.
But Jesus is trying to get across to them that the pathway to honor for a Christ-follower is through suffering and death. Just as he said so clearly in Mark 8:34,
Mark 8:34 (NLT)
34 . . . “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross (walking as a dead man), and follow me.
In the life of following Jesus, any honor comes from a genuine death, and that genuine death is a death of self.
And so, Jesus, with a heavy sigh, tells them in Mark 10:39(b),
Mark 10:39(b)- (NLT)
39 . . . Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering.
1 Peter 4:13 says – the trials and persecution you suffer for His Name – cause you to SHARE in his suffering and all of the Disciples did drink from the cup of suffering for his name, and all were baptized with a similar Baptism of Suffering.
So, Jesus says, indeed you WILL experience some similar suffering. But then in Mark 10:40, Jesus says,
Mark 10:40 (NLT)
40 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.”
Jesus isn’t going to feed this sinful, selfish ambition, and he’s not going to try to explain anything about thrones in his Kingdom because right now, these two are getting an F minus in the school of understanding.
And because they’re failing so bad, then the selfish ambition explosion occurs.
Mark 10:41 (NLT)
41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant.
Indignant means to be annoyed and angry at unfair treatment. And the other ten Disciples were annoyed and angry at this potential unfair treatment. And why were they (most likely) so angry and annoyed? Probably because they had the same selfish ambition, and James and John beat them to the punch.
So, it’s on now. These guys (probably all of them) have serious selfish ambition problems. And so, Jesus addresses it.
Mark 10:42-43(a) (NLT)
42 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.
43 But among you it will be different . . .
Is it, though, really?
Is the selfish ambition and self-promotion we see in the church really different than what we see in the world? It is supposed to be, but often, sadly, it is not. Certainly, it’s because of our selfish ambition sin nature, but also, I think it’s because we define success in the church according to the world’s definition of success. Which means our definition of success in the ministry is built on a completely false foundation.
Because Jesus made the church an upside-down organization. Think of a pyramid, then turn it over on its top, so the person on the top becomes the person on the bottom. That is the Jesus style of leadership.
And so, Jesus is going to flip the success pyramid on its head for the Disciples.
Mark 10:43(b)-44 (NLT)
43 . . . Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,
44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.
Do you have a true servant’s heart desiring to help those around you with no regard to your “self”? Are you willing to genuinely take the lowest position of a slave in order to serve those Christ has put in front of you? If you genuinely and truly do, then you are counted as the most honored in the upside-down Kingdom of God.
And I say genuinely and truly because we see (too often) a Christian “put on” this approach in order to succeed in their selfish ambition.
But God sees the heart, and the heart of a true servant, the heart of a true slave to others is the heart that is most honored in the Kingdom of God. God sees your heart. God wants your heart. Are you serving with that genuine heart of a slave?
Why?
Because Mark 10:45 says,
Mark 10:45 (NLT)
45 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.”
Many scholars view this verse as the key to the entire Gospel of Mark. Sacrificial Servanthood, on the order of Jesus Christ himself. The Son of Man came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. How in the world can we say we are following Jesus if we are driven by seeking a position, or a title, or honor?
Worldly ambition in the ministry is a black eye on the church. It causes jealously, and rivalries, and all things that come from the flesh, and the response of the other ten Disciples proves that.
And if the Disciples who were physically walking with Jesus for three years can so easily succumb to this destructive sin of selfish ambition, then how likely are we to take on these same sinful tendencies?
The words of Philippians 2:3 should pierce our hearts on this matter.
Philippians 2:3 (ESV)
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition (concern for yourself) or conceit (thinking too highly of yourself), but in humility (not thinking of yourself) count others more significant than yourselves.
This requires the bitter and humiliating death of self, not just trying hard to act this way so you can get the position you’ve been vying for. This requires real rubber meets the road death. It is death to self. It is the death of self. Death to self is ugly. It genuinely is about death.
Galatians 2:20 says,
Galatians 2:20(a) (NLT)
20 My old self (my sin nature) has been crucified with Christ . . .
That is positionally true if you are saved today, your sin nature has been crucified. Then why are we still acting out of selfish ambition on conceit? Maybe because you have not put into practice the rest of the verse.
Galatians 2:20(b) (NLT)
20 . . . It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Listen to me, please. If we take the beginning of this verse, My old self (my sin nature) has been crucified with Christ . . . and then we try really hard to not have selfish ambition in our lives, then we’ve missed it completely because we don’t understand the rest of the verse.
Your old nature can’t be dead (in a practical sense) without the new life of Christ taking its place. There cannot be a void of nature in you. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Have you allowed that to be true in your life? Are you truly allowing Jesus Christ to rule and reign in your life to live in you completely? You cannot grit your teeth and crucify your old sin nature – you’re actually focusing on it. But when you replace it with the new life of Christ, then there is less room for the old nature.
We must live out what only Jesus Christ can live out in us. We cannot be like Jesus. We must have the nature of Jesus take over our lives.
We must live by fully trusting in the life of the Son of God living fully in us in order for us to lay our life down and be a true servant to others. And then the one who came to earth to be a servant and to give his life a ransom for many will be in you – the sacrificial servant he has called you to be.
And if you will allow him full reign and rule and presence in your life, then he will be who he is through you. We’ve have got to get this as a church. It’s not, “I’ve got to try harder.” No. There’s not enough try in you. You need more Jesus in your life. You need to give him more rule and reign. You need to actually obey him. You need to be filled with his Spirit, connected with him at all times, walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh, and actually allowing him to live in you and through you.
We have to close with the words of another James, this one most likely the brother of Jesus.
James 3:14–18 (NLT)
14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying.
15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.
16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
17 But the wisdom from above (the opposite of this) (this is the life of Christ living in you as you serve Jesus) is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.
18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
Today, Jesus addresses selfish ambition. Here’s a good definition of selfish ambition: being concerned with your own interests and welfare over the good of others.
And today, Jesus is going to call us out over our tendency to be far more concerned with ourselves over the good of others, and Jesus is going to give us the clear antidote for us to be healed from our selfish ambition disease.
We pick it up today in Mark 10:32.
Mark 10:32 (NLT)
32 They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, (possibly at the determination of Jesus to get to Jerusalem) and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear . . . (possibly because they anticipated trouble when Jesus got there).
And maybe because of the awe and fear in the group, Jesus felt the need to once more remind them of what was coming when they got there.
And so, in Mark 10:32(b)-34 we read,
Mark 10:32(b)-34 (NLT)
32 . . . Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him.
33 “Listen,” he said (try to pay attention), “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans.
34 They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”
This is the third time Jesus has clearly explained this to his disciples, but Luke adds in his account of this event, the following in Luke 18:34.
Luke 18:34 (NLT)
34 But they (the Disciples) didn’t understand any of this. The significance of his words was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.
This seems pretty weird, right? What part of mock, spit, flog and kill are you not getting the significance of? But the very next section proves that the Disciples completely missed the significance of what Jesus was saying (verses 33-34). Or, maybe they didn’t want to hear it because it didn’t fit into their plan – which is not that different than how we sometimes take news that we don’t want to hear. Sometimes we don’t want to hear what Jesus has to say.
And, it’s an important note because in the very next verse (Mark 10:35), the NET Bible translation notes say this, the word “then” (verse 35) is used to indicate the implied sequence of events.
Meaning, the very next event after Jesus tells the Disciples again that he’s going to be mocked, spit on, flogged, and killed when they get to Jerusalem…The very next thing that happens is this.
Mark 10:35-37 (NLT)
35 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.”
36 “What is your request?” he asked. (a little miffed)
37 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.”
Wait a minute!
Jesus just told them he was headed to Jerusalem to go through a horrific suffering and death and be raised up again on the third day. And the Sons of Thunder (as they’re known) are like, “Yeah, Jesus, we hear you, but look, we’ve got a favor to ask you. Is now a good time?” NO! Now is not a good time. Are you kidding me?
I think what’s even worse for these Sons of Ambition is that in Matthew’s account, Matthew says they actually brought their mother to plead their case for them. And their mother may have been an aunt to Jesus, making James and John possibly cousins.
(Making this entire thing look like something Joe Biden would do for his son Hunter to get him a multi-million-dollar salary from a Ukrainian oil company.)
Can you see the selfish ambition exploding here?
So, knowing that the Disciples weren’t really getting what he was saying, Jesus plays along with their request. Again, in verse 37, James and John ask to sit in places of honor next to Jesus when Jesus takes his throne.
And then we read in Mark 10:38-39,
Mark 10:38-39 (NLT)
38 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?”
39 “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” . . .
Oh yeah, Jesus, we can do that – no problem.
Does that mean we get the place of honor?
We’re not really sure what you’re talking about, but if it’ll get us the position, then yeah, sure – we’ll do it.
But Jesus is talking about the bitter cup of death. He’s saying if you want a place of honor with me – it involves death. If you want honor from Jesus, prepare to die.
The Sons of Thunder didn’t know what they were asking. They were just trying to get in ahead of all the other guys, get a leg up, you know, secure their position – just like in the business world and far too often in the church world.
But Jesus is trying to get across to them that the pathway to honor for a Christ-follower is through suffering and death. Just as he said so clearly in Mark 8:34,
Mark 8:34 (NLT)
34 . . . “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross (walking as a dead man), and follow me.
In the life of following Jesus, any honor comes from a genuine death, and that genuine death is a death of self.
And so, Jesus, with a heavy sigh, tells them in Mark 10:39(b),
Mark 10:39(b)- (NLT)
39 . . . Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering.
1 Peter 4:13 says – the trials and persecution you suffer for His Name – cause you to SHARE in his suffering and all of the Disciples did drink from the cup of suffering for his name, and all were baptized with a similar Baptism of Suffering.
So, Jesus says, indeed you WILL experience some similar suffering. But then in Mark 10:40, Jesus says,
Mark 10:40 (NLT)
40 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.”
Jesus isn’t going to feed this sinful, selfish ambition, and he’s not going to try to explain anything about thrones in his Kingdom because right now, these two are getting an F minus in the school of understanding.
And because they’re failing so bad, then the selfish ambition explosion occurs.
Mark 10:41 (NLT)
41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant.
Indignant means to be annoyed and angry at unfair treatment. And the other ten Disciples were annoyed and angry at this potential unfair treatment. And why were they (most likely) so angry and annoyed? Probably because they had the same selfish ambition, and James and John beat them to the punch.
So, it’s on now. These guys (probably all of them) have serious selfish ambition problems. And so, Jesus addresses it.
Mark 10:42-43(a) (NLT)
42 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.
43 But among you it will be different . . .
Is it, though, really?
Is the selfish ambition and self-promotion we see in the church really different than what we see in the world? It is supposed to be, but often, sadly, it is not. Certainly, it’s because of our selfish ambition sin nature, but also, I think it’s because we define success in the church according to the world’s definition of success. Which means our definition of success in the ministry is built on a completely false foundation.
Because Jesus made the church an upside-down organization. Think of a pyramid, then turn it over on its top, so the person on the top becomes the person on the bottom. That is the Jesus style of leadership.
And so, Jesus is going to flip the success pyramid on its head for the Disciples.
Mark 10:43(b)-44 (NLT)
43 . . . Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,
44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.
Do you have a true servant’s heart desiring to help those around you with no regard to your “self”? Are you willing to genuinely take the lowest position of a slave in order to serve those Christ has put in front of you? If you genuinely and truly do, then you are counted as the most honored in the upside-down Kingdom of God.
And I say genuinely and truly because we see (too often) a Christian “put on” this approach in order to succeed in their selfish ambition.
But God sees the heart, and the heart of a true servant, the heart of a true slave to others is the heart that is most honored in the Kingdom of God. God sees your heart. God wants your heart. Are you serving with that genuine heart of a slave?
Why?
Because Mark 10:45 says,
Mark 10:45 (NLT)
45 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.”
Many scholars view this verse as the key to the entire Gospel of Mark. Sacrificial Servanthood, on the order of Jesus Christ himself. The Son of Man came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. How in the world can we say we are following Jesus if we are driven by seeking a position, or a title, or honor?
Worldly ambition in the ministry is a black eye on the church. It causes jealously, and rivalries, and all things that come from the flesh, and the response of the other ten Disciples proves that.
And if the Disciples who were physically walking with Jesus for three years can so easily succumb to this destructive sin of selfish ambition, then how likely are we to take on these same sinful tendencies?
The words of Philippians 2:3 should pierce our hearts on this matter.
Philippians 2:3 (ESV)
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition (concern for yourself) or conceit (thinking too highly of yourself), but in humility (not thinking of yourself) count others more significant than yourselves.
This requires the bitter and humiliating death of self, not just trying hard to act this way so you can get the position you’ve been vying for. This requires real rubber meets the road death. It is death to self. It is the death of self. Death to self is ugly. It genuinely is about death.
Galatians 2:20 says,
Galatians 2:20(a) (NLT)
20 My old self (my sin nature) has been crucified with Christ . . .
That is positionally true if you are saved today, your sin nature has been crucified. Then why are we still acting out of selfish ambition on conceit? Maybe because you have not put into practice the rest of the verse.
Galatians 2:20(b) (NLT)
20 . . . It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Listen to me, please. If we take the beginning of this verse, My old self (my sin nature) has been crucified with Christ . . . and then we try really hard to not have selfish ambition in our lives, then we’ve missed it completely because we don’t understand the rest of the verse.
Your old nature can’t be dead (in a practical sense) without the new life of Christ taking its place. There cannot be a void of nature in you. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Have you allowed that to be true in your life? Are you truly allowing Jesus Christ to rule and reign in your life to live in you completely? You cannot grit your teeth and crucify your old sin nature – you’re actually focusing on it. But when you replace it with the new life of Christ, then there is less room for the old nature.
We must live out what only Jesus Christ can live out in us. We cannot be like Jesus. We must have the nature of Jesus take over our lives.
We must live by fully trusting in the life of the Son of God living fully in us in order for us to lay our life down and be a true servant to others. And then the one who came to earth to be a servant and to give his life a ransom for many will be in you – the sacrificial servant he has called you to be.
And if you will allow him full reign and rule and presence in your life, then he will be who he is through you. We’ve have got to get this as a church. It’s not, “I’ve got to try harder.” No. There’s not enough try in you. You need more Jesus in your life. You need to give him more rule and reign. You need to actually obey him. You need to be filled with his Spirit, connected with him at all times, walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh, and actually allowing him to live in you and through you.
We have to close with the words of another James, this one most likely the brother of Jesus.
James 3:14–18 (NLT)
14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying.
15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.
16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
17 But the wisdom from above (the opposite of this) (this is the life of Christ living in you as you serve Jesus) is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.
18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.