Sermon Notes / Transcript

Mark 10:35–45 — Servant Leadership and Godly Authority

Speaker: Daniel Coughlin
Date: Sunday, Jul 5, 2026 at 10:30 AM

Scripture Reading

Our scripture reading for today is Mark chapter 10, verses 35 through 45. This is the word of God, and it is eternally true.

James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came 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?
And 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 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.
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 become first among you shall be slave of all.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

This is the word of the Lord.

Opening Prayer

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts will be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Jesus Sees Through Men

One of the things that's interesting about Scripture is how Jesus sees through men. Because oftentimes you'll be in a conversation with someone and they'll ask you a question. And you'll think they're asking something about you, but really they're revealing something about themselves. Right?

Have you ever noticed that in conversation?

That the way someone responds, the way someone talks, the way someone even asks questions, oftentimes tells you more about them than really they care to know about you. If you haven't noticed that before, watch for it in conversations from now on. Because you'll start to notice that this is true. And this is exactly what we see with James and John here. Right?

James and John ask for glory. They want to sit. Right?

Like, we've got the two chairs here. Right?

Like, I can imagine someone saying, hey, can I come sit up there?

Can I, any of you want to come sit up here?

We can put one on either side. And we can have one on my right and one on my left. Right?

That's the vision. Right?

You can imagine a king sitting in a throne and who's on his right hand and on his left. Have you ever watched the State of the Union?

How, if you ever watch the State of the Union, you'll see that there's the, I'm trying to think of how it actually looks now that I'm talking. There's the president of the Senate on one side. And then, anyway, I'm not going to get into all the details because I'm going to flub it if I do. But anyway, you have powerful men, powerful women on either side of the president who's giving the address. And then you have others around, right, that are ready to go, you know, whether they're pages or whether they're the parliamentarian or whatever they are.

That's the seat of power. Right?

It's the president's, I'm trying to remember the office. It's the person who schedules, does all—is the chief of staff, right?

The chief of staff is the one, if you want an in, you get an in with the chief of staff because that's the person who can, you know, fit you in the schedule or get you in the door or fit you between appointments. Right?

You want to be at the person in power's right hand or left hand because that's where, you know, you might not be the person in power, but you get a lot of their power. And everyone treats you like you do have the power. Scripture gives us many examples of people going to Jesus and asking for things or going to God or going to rulers and asking for things. Right?

I mean, you've got Solomon who asked God for wisdom to lead. You have Jacob who wrestles against God to demand a blessing. You have Esther who goes before her king and he promises up to half my kingdom. Right?

That's like, that's the gracious kingly offer. Right?

Up to half my kingdom. When Herodias' daughter dances before Herod, she gets the same offer. Right?

That's like the gracious kingly offer is up to half my kingdom. But even with that in mind, James' and John's words are just jarring. Right?

Jesus, I want you to do whatever I'm going to ask. Right?

If your kid comes up to you and says that, they're setting you up for something. Right?

You know that. Right?

Otherwise, you just ask the question. If you thought it was a reasonable request, if you thought there was a good chance you're going to get it, what you want to do is you want to bind them to, you know, doing what you want and then tell them what you want. It's bold and it's presumptuous. Now, it's almost understandable. You know, if we try and put ourselves in the disciples' shoes, which is always a good thing to do.

Right?

We're closer to the disciples in our thoughts and our actions than we are to Jesus. And so, put yourself in the disciples' shoes. And you have to think, they had just heard Jesus say that they were going to Jerusalem and in three days he would be lifted up. And so, the thought is, well, here comes the earthly kingdom. Right?

Jesus is going to go conquer, prevail upon Jerusalem. And he's going to set up a throne there and he's going to start to rule Jerusalem. And so, we want something very natural. We want to be the vice president or the chief of staff or the, you know, president of the Senate or whatever the position is, whatever the role is. Who cares what the title is?

The idea is, we want to sit there right next to you. There's no doubt they had in mind this quickly coming political victory where Jesus sits down and has authority. And asking for such power makes sense, right?

Asking, Glory, and Leadership

Because Jesus had already taught them. This is from Luke 11. Mark doesn't record this, but Luke does. > So, I say to you, ask and it will be given to you.

Okay, right?
Seek and you will find.
Knock and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives.
And he who seeks, finds.
And him who knocks, it will be opened.
Now, suppose your father is asked by his son for a fish.
Will he not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?
Or if he's asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? So, okay, Jesus has already told them, ask for good things, right? Ask. We want our children, we want those under it, to ask us for good things. And we know that being in a position of authority is a good thing. You know, Paul hadn't written this yet, but he's going to write to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3.1. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, bishop or elder, it's a good work that he desires to do. So it's good to desire leadership. Young men, it's good to desire leadership. I was just talking to somebody yesterday who was telling me that they have, he serves in a church of 500 and they have five elders and they struggle to get men to commit to doing the work of being an elder. And I just thought that should not be, right? I mean, we should want, it's a good thing for you to want to be a leader, for you to want to take authority, for you to want to succeed. Drive is good. Passion is good. Leadership is good. And so what's wrong with this request? What's wrong with James and John saying, I want to sit at the right hand and I want to sit at the left hand? Because it's good to ask and it's good to want to be a leader. So what's wrong? What's the problem here? Well, that's why I think, that's why I started with what I did.

Jesus Reveals Their Ambition

Jesus starts to unpack their hearts, right?

He reveals what their real desires are, right?

This, these words came out of their mouth, but what's their desire?

What's their, what are they after?

And what's also interesting is how the other disciples reveal themselves, right?

Because when the 10 hear what James and John have asked, they become indignant. You ever become indignant?

Do you know what indignant means?

It's like, how dare you?

How dare you think that?

How dare you ask that?

But why did they think, how dare you?

Because they're jealous. Why didn't I think of that first?

Why didn't I think of that?

Of course, they all were jockeying and positioning. They all wanted to be leaders. They were jealous. Each one secretly carried the same expectation of being first. Well, if he gets the right hand, that means I can't. I don't get that. And who does he think he is?

Does he think he's better than me?

Does she, right?

It's ambition for place and honor and advantage. Everybody wants that. So what does Jesus do?

Jesus doesn't like throw them all away. He's not disgusted with them. He gathers them in together. This should stand out to us. This is verse 32. The 10 began to feel indignant with James and John. So there's problems, right?

There's division in the crowd. What should we do if there's division among y'all?

We should gather you in together. Calling them to himself, Jesus says to them, you know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. So he gathers them in and then he teaches them. He doesn't pretend like there's no problem. He addresses the problem right head on. Come on, guys. Come, come. We got to talk about this. There's a problem. I know you think you want to be the boss and they are really mad that you said you want to be the boss.

So let's come together and let me explain what's really going on here.

The Cup and the Baptism

Because James and John are representative of the desire of what the disciples are after. But James and John have a flaw in their request. And Jesus unpacks this in two glorious ways. I mean, the one is they don't understand the depths of which Jesus is going to suffer in the very near future. And so the way Jesus reveals this to them is a little obscure to us. If you're not familiar with the Old Testament terminologies.

And right, this is verse 38. Jesus said to them, you do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?

Now, if you're not familiar with how Scripture uses the word cup and drinking from the cup, it doesn't make sense, right?

You think that there's some king's goblet and it's like, oh, can you drink from the cup?

But the cup is often in Scripture referred to as the cup of God's wrath. And what happens is as people sin, this is how Scripture uses this terminology. As people sin, God's wrath starts to fill up this cup until it overflows. And then that's when discipline and punishment flow out from it. Like, if you read Isaiah, you read Jeremiah, you see this sort of imagery, this sort of symbolism of how God deals with mankind. And so here's Jesus getting ready to go be crucified.

He knows why he's here. He knows the mission he's on. And he knows the cup that he's about to drink. He's about to drink the wrath of God for the sins of mankind, right?

For the sins of all those who are saved in Jesus Christ. He's about to take all that punishment, a cup of punishment. Think about the most bitter, vile, nasty cup of punishment. And he's about to drink it down. And so he says, are you able to drink the cup that I'm going to drink?

And then he says, you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. Okay, now most of us in this room have been baptized. Was it a scary thing?

Rachel, you're most recent, right?

You know, if you were going to talk to somebody here and you're going to say, oh yeah, be careful. You're going to be baptized with the baptism I was baptized with. It wouldn't be a terribly scary thing. But Jesus is not referring to that kind of a baptism, right?

A water baptism like we have here, where you go down and you come out. Well, at least not that quickly. The baptism Jesus is talking about here is his death and burial and resurrection. Okay, that is what our baptism symbolizes. That's what our baptism is a picture of. Is Jesus going down into the grave, his dead body being laid into the tomb and then three days later being brought back out of the tomb. So what is the baptism?

The baptism is nothing less than his death and burial and resurrection. So in that regard, anybody excited to be baptized into the baptism in which Jesus is baptized?

I mean, that means dying. James and John say, yeah, we can do that. We just see their underestimation of the pains of the work that Jesus had before him, right?

They're so enamored with this idea of glory that they don't stop to think about what the depths of the suffering that Jesus is going to have to go through. But then I also think that they misunderstood, yeah, they underestimated, wrongly, the height to which they were looking for. You know, the idea of sitting at God's right hand and God's left hand. If they were thinking about an earthly kingdom, that makes sense, right?

I want, we want to live with you. We want to reign with you. We want to be the chief of staff. We want to be the vice president. We want to be the Senate, you know, secretary, whatever. Don't think they saw the heavenly kingdom yet that they were asking to be co-reigning with Jesus at, right?

They had no thought that Jesus was going to be taken out of this earth to sit in the heavenly places at God's right hand in his throne ruling heaven and earth. Jesus Christ, the uncreated, immeasurable, eternal son of God who took on flesh and bore our sins, entered into the grave, rose from the dead so that, as we read in verse 45, he would be the ransom for many. What should happen to them happens to him. And so when we think about, you know, that, that, that just total misunderstanding of the, of the suffering, the depths of the suffering that Jesus was going to go through and the real height of glory that Jesus was about to enter into, the disciples had no concept of either the depth or the height.

Authority Under God's Law

And, and so Jesus is, is, is gracious and slow to tell them this. And in doing so, he tells us something about what it means to have authority under God's law, what it means to, to be responsible for that authority. And, and so he, he basically ignores their question, right?

And he says, it's not mine to give God's the one—the Father's the one—who's going to give that. But then he gets at a greater problem that they have. And the greater problem that they have is that they're so consumed with this worldly Gentile form of leadership. And now we're all Gentiles. Like everyone, I don't think we have any Jews in here. And, and that's, that's how the world's divided, right?

Jews and Gentiles. So my guess is all of us are Gentiles here and it can be a little, okay. Gentile leaders, but you have to put yourself in a Jewish frame of reference, right?

And so it's like, these are the worldly leaders. These are the leaders over top of the Jews at this time, right?

This is King Herod. This is, this is, you know, the, the various levels of leadership in Rome at the time. These were all Gentile leaders. So what he explains is that these Gentile leaders, they accumulate power so that they can be served. So that they get all the benefit, right?

The, the, the leader of the people is the, is the man who sits on the softest throne and does the least amount of work and has the most amount of benefits. And just like that, that's how they envision the kingdom of God. They think, oh, if I'm great in the kingdom of God, then I'm going to be served and I'm going to be honored and I'm going to be elevated and I'm going to be comfortable, right?

Like that makes sense in the context of the world of Rome. And it's not too far off from today, right?

If you look at our leaders, there's a lot of self-servicing going on. And Jesus is telling them that those who have authority, they have a responsibility. And it's a responsibility to, to serve. And not just that it's them who has the responsibility and those who have authority. He's telling them about himself. I am the first, I am the greatest, says Jesus. And I am going to be the greatest servant of all. I am going to serve more than anyone has ever served.

And this is, you're going to see this and you're going to know this is what leadership in my kingdom looks like. But I want to, we're going to talk a little bit more about that because it is, we've twisted this idea of servant leadership, which is a good idea and a good phrase and it's biblical.

Servant Leadership Is Not Servility

But we've twisted it so that it becomes servile leadership. And so let me, let me distinguish servant leadership from servile leadership. Servile leadership, at least the way I'm thinking about it, is, is this idea that a leader should give those that he leads over everything they want. If you want a thing and you ask your leader for it, he should give it to you. If you ask your father for a thing and you, and he should give it to you.

If, if, if you ask your husband for something, he, he, that's how he's a servant leader is he gives you the thing you want. Problem with that. The problem with that is it actually takes authority and it flips it on its head. The servant leader is actually no leader whatsoever. It's all servant and no leader. Because everything that, that he does is driven by the desires of those underneath him in authority. And that's the trick about combining these ideas, right?

Jesus, and this is where this passage, it was, I just spent a lot of time thinking about it because it's so perplexing. James and John come to Jesus and they say, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And Jesus finishes this passage by saying, the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve. So he says, yeah, I came to serve. I came to do the things, do things for you. I am your servant. I am leading in your service.

How is that different than what James and John were thinking of, of this service, this servant?

It's because Jesus knows what we need. Jesus loves us and cares for us and knows what we need. And so he doesn't give James and John the thing they ask for just because they ask for it. He gives them what they need. He trains them up how they need to be trained. He dies for them because he knows their greatest need is not to have more authority in this life. It's to have their sins washed clean. It's to be given his righteousness.

And that's what they need. And then what do they need after that?

This is what's hard. Well, then they need to drink from the cup that Jesus drank from. And they need to be baptized with the baptism that Jesus was baptized with, which means they need to join with him in his suffering. And they need to join with him in his death. They need to have their sins killed. They need to have their flesh mortified. That's, that's what they need. And so Jesus's service is not just giving them everything that they're asking for.

It's giving them what they need. It's seeing what they need and giving it to them. He's a servant and he's a leader. He leads by serving his family, not just by bringing what they order to the dinner table, but by knowing them and loving them and caring for them. Now that's Jesus. And Jesus is the authority here.

Ordinary Authorities

But we are also authorities in our own right. And so this isn't just some abstract teaching that doesn't apply to us. It's not just about like what good government is. It has to do with what good government is. And I told you already, I've been reading some of the, some of the letters from some of the founding fathers. And, and, and, and been thinking about probably as, as a lot of you are at this 250th year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

What led up to it and, and what its significance is and what it should be for us today. And what I was struck with is how much they focused on the king's abuse of his authority. And this follows in a, in a long tradition, a great tradition, which is easily traced back to like the Magna Carta. If you know what the Magna Carta is, it, the, the king is not just the law, but he's subject to the law. And then, you know, that's, that's in 1215.

So we're talking almost a thousand years ago. That tradition continued about 400 years later with Samuel Rutherford's. He wrote a book called Lex Rex. And, and the argument is that rulers are under God's law. And even a king's authority is delegated rather than absolute, right?

So there's standards by which the rulers, the authorities have to comply themselves. They have to, have to abide under. And so that was one of the driving arguments of the revolution was that the king had a duty to rule over subjects, not as Gentile rulers do, not lording it over only for his own advantage, but that he could abuse his authority in a way that, that undermined and severed the real relationship. He was no, I mean, that was the argument.

He was no longer really the ruler because he had so abused the colonies that they were on their own already. They were under an abusive leader. Okay. So that's, you know, again, that's Jesus and that's the American revolution. And, and, and so what do we do with, with, with this teaching?

How do we apply?

Because I think it's easy for us to think that we're just ordinary people in ordinary positions and, and, and we really, you know, authority is not really a thing that we have to worry about. So I want to start and just unpack some very ordinary authorities that all of us in this room have.

• For the married man, the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. So for those who are married, you have authority and leadership responsibilities for your wife. You have to use those well. That is authority. The duties of authority apply to you.
• Fathers and mothers, hopefully this comes as no surprise to you, but you also have authority over your children. This is the fifth commandment. > Honor thy father and mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God gives thee. So if, if children have to honor their parents, what are they honoring of their parents? The authority of the parent, that is the father, son, mother, daughter relationship. It's one of authority.
• Okay, maybe you don't have children. Maybe you're not married. How about brothers and sisters? Do brothers and sisters have any authority? Does an older brother have authority over his younger brother? Certainly not as much as a parent has over their children, but they do, right? By, by means of maturity and education and physical capability, there is an authority that comes just from being an older sibling. That applies to brothers and sisters, right? These are all natural positions of authority within the family.
• Outside the family, we have authority in the church, right? We have pastors. We have elders. We have deacons. We have deaconesses. We have committees. Each one of those are either individuals or groups that have been given some certain amount of authority over an aspect of the church.
• We also have state authorities. We have county commissioners. We have mayors. We have precinct men. We, all the way up, right, to, to, to, at the state level, you have congressmen. You have senators. You have governors. You have, and then at the federal level, you have presidents and senators and congressmen, right? Those are all different levels of authority. Some of us wield multiple of those, but all of us have some level of authority. And when God places you in such a position, he commands you to use it well.

Two Ways Authority Can Be Abused

Authority can be abused in two separate ways, right?

It can be abused by being harsh and critical and cruel and domineering, but authority can be abused the other side as well. It can be abused by weakness and neglect and a refusal to serve, a refusal to do the things that you've been, that you've given authority to do. So if we think about the American Revolution, it is easy to see the abuses of authority over us, right?

Every one of us loves to grumble about the authority over us, legitimate or illegitimate. It's more difficult to see the ways we abuse our own authority. Scripture tells us that those in authority must use the position God has given them to love and pray for and to bless those under our care. So that could be your children. That could be, you know, if you're on a homeowners association, that could be the owners of the homes in your neighborhood.

If you are on the library board, that could be the staff of the library. If you're an employer, that means your employees.

• Those with authority have to teach and guide and warn those under their authority.
• And they must encourage and praise and reward those who do what is right.
• And they must oppose and rebuke and discipline those who do what is wrong. You can't just be Mr. Nice Guy. If you have authority, it's essential, it's necessary that you both commend your children or your staff or those who are under you who do well, and that you discipline those under you who do not.
• You must protect them and provide for their physical needs as well as their spiritual needs.
• Those in authority must live in a serious, wise, holy, and godly way. Like there's responsibility and duty in that. To bring glory to God and to earn proper respect and preserve the authority that God has given. This means that those in authority sin when they fail to do these duties that God has given them.
• They also sin when they seek their own honor and comfort, gain, or pleasure, instead of the gain of those under them. And this is, you know, going back to John and James, this is exactly what they were looking for. We want to be the important ones, and so we want to sit at the right hand. It's not that they wanted to sit at the right hand because they thought they were really good administrators of God's mercy, and they were going to accomplish that effectively for everyone. Fathers, I feel like this is the easiest thing in the world for us to get in the habit of doing. It's seeking our own honor and comfort and gain and pleasure instead of the good of those underneath us. That's getting at the heart of servant leadership. Not doing what you're told is desired of those under you. It's looking out for their best interest, looking out for how you can serve those who are under your leadership.
• They sin when they command what is sinful or demand what people cannot do. And again, as fathers and mothers, this is hard. This is a hard line to learn, is what are your children capable of doing? And it's just as bad to underestimate as it is to overestimate. Because if you look at a four-year-old and you expect them to behave like a 12-year-old, they can't do it, right? They can't reach as high. They don't have the coordination. They don't have the understanding. They don't have the discipline. So we have to engage those who are under us according to who they are. And not everyone has the same gifts. I mean, this is as true with employees as it is with children. Different children have different strengths and weaknesses. And it's to the benefit of those who have the authority to see what the strengths and weaknesses of those underneath us have.
• Those in authority sin when they advise, encourage, approve, or support what is wrong.
• And they sin when they discourage, oppose, or suppress what is right. It's hard, right? That means you can mess up on either side. Whether you tell people to do a thing or to not do a thing. To be fearful or to be bold. To be outgoing or to be, you know, quiet. There's not always a right answer. Be careful of someone who always has a right answer in every situation. Because a lot of situations, you really have to know the person to know how they should respond.
• Those in authority sin when they discipline unfairly or excessively. Which side do you normally fall on? Do you abdicate your responsibility to discipline? Or are you an excessive disciplinarian? It's good to know yourself. It's good to know who you are and which side you tend to err on. And then if your spouse errs on the opposite side, then you guys can have good conversations and learn how you can both improve. And if you're both on one side, then that's harder. Then you might need some outside help.
• Those in authority sin when they carelessly expose those under them to harm and temptation or danger or leave them unprotected. We have a duty to protect those who are under our authority. And if we fail to do that, if we expose them to harms, and this is why we need to warn each other about false teachings and wicked things and ways to avoid, thoughts to avoid. There's things that will happen to you in this life or paths you're tempted to start walking down as young men and young women that you don't see how dangerous they are. And those who have a few more years of experience can see where that path leads you and how dangerous it is. And they have a duty to warn.
• Those in authority sin when they provoke those under them to an anger.
• They also sin when through unjust, foolish, harsh, or overly lenient behavior, they dishonor themselves and weaken the authority God has given them. Overly lenient behavior is my temptation of sin. It is easy for me to be overly lenient, to assume the best, assume the best motives, and to be slow to discipline. But what's the consequence? The consequence is that we weaken the authority that God has given us. It's a dangerous thing. Because what happens when authority gets weak? Power abhors a vacuum. Have you ever heard that saying? So if authority gets weak, what happens? Is there just less authority? No, someone else jumps in and takes over the authority. And that's exactly, if you watch parents very often, this is exactly what you'll see. You have this little domineering child who dominates their parents. And we were recently at somewhere and we were going to introduce our kids to someone. And the response was, well, let me see if my child will let me introduce them. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, we have to love those under us. And we have to choose things that are good for them and things that are bad for them. And that's hard. And we'll often get it wrong. And so we have to be quick to repent. And we have to see our own sinful desires in this. And we have to work through it. But what we can't do is abdicate parental authority to the tyranny of the four-year-old, the tyranny of the five-year-old, right? And you watch parents taking their kids to Disney World on an airplane trip. And you just see that tyranny all over the place. We have to be careful. If you give up your authority, someone's going to step in, even if it's a four-year-old girl. Right, Autumn? This means that a husband, father, mother, brother, or sister can sin in responsibility, both by being overly harsh and by being overly weak. Authority is not faithful merely because it avoids harshness. It must also accept responsibility for protection, correction, provision, care. So the godly authority does not give James and John the seats of authority simply because they asked for it. It's not Jesus is to give. Jesus came to serve, but his service is not servility to human desires. We don't control God's kingdom by our own passions and desires. His service is faithful obedience to God the Father for the true good of his people. And fathers and mothers, that means we don't properly exercise authority by giving our children everything they ask for. That would be a transfer of this very authority you've been given to the children themselves. And that corrupts them. That makes them presumptuous. That's letting them be James and John and then not gathering them all in and correcting them. Those in authority must therefore use authority as servants. Not by surrendering responsibility, but by seeking their true good before God. Which is hard because sometimes that means you have to say no. And no is a hard word to say. You have to say no. Your desires are wrong. You can't have what you desire.

Christ the Pattern of Kingdom Leadership

So when Jesus says that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, he's not merely giving us better leadership techniques. He's revealing the pattern of his kingdom, right?

Christ takes the lowest place. He does the hardest thing. He does the thing that we can't do for us on our behalf. Is that what we would have asked for?

No! We would have asked to rule in an earthly kingdom with him. Christ bears the cup of wrath and enters the baptism of death and gives his life as the ransom for many. You know what a ransom is?

If someone gets kidnapped, you give them money, you get the person back. It's that swap. Therefore, if we would follow him, we must stop grasping for glory on worldly terms. And instead, we must exercise authority, responsibility, and even enter into the suffering that God has given us. Abandoning authority or abusing authority is an abuse of the image of God, how he's created us. And it corrupts those underneath us.

And God holds those in authority accountable for how they treat those under them. So we have to be careful with this.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that we would hear this warning, that we would see the duties and the responsibilities that you have given us as fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters in our homes, in the church, in the state, even babysitting. There's an authority given to young men and young women to care for and protect those under their care. Father, help us to see this authority. We live in a day that authority is almost a bad word.

It's a thing that everyone desires for, but no one wants to admit. And it's a thing that many young men are fearful of. Because it is work, and it is responsibility, and there is a cup, and there is a baptism that comes with it. There is a cup, and there is a baptism that comes with being a mother and a father, of being a husband and a wife, of being a young adult who's growing up. Father, I pray that you would sustain us in this, that you would provide your Holy Spirit to give us that abounding hope, that we would not grow weary in doing good.

Father, I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.