Sermon Tone Analysis

Emmanuel: The True Servant

I know I told you that we would be looking at the genealogies of each of the Gospels.

But there's a problem.

Mark doesn't have a genealogy!

Mark gets straight to the point of his Gospel immediately precisely because he doesn't include a genealogy!

No. Mark is all about immediacy.

He tells people what Jesus did.

He tells about miracles, and healings, and teachings, and going and coming and is always always always on the move.

Sometimes, that sounds a bit like our Christmas season, doesn't it?

Only, even in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus remembers to pause to do something that many of us forget at Christmas.

We forget to pause to pray.

See, even in the busyness and immediacy of Mark's Gospel we see several times when Jesus goes to be alone to pray, because not matter how strong or driven a Christ follower is, they must be regularly connected to the source of their power.

Jesus had to pause to reconvene with the Father to accomplish the tasks set before him as we do.

Mark's lack of genealogy is a glaring statement about Jesus' identity.

Remember, Matthew's communicated that Jesus was the expected king.

Mark's lack of genealogy communicates that Jesus is the ultimate servant.

See, in that day and culture, the only people whose genealogies didn't matter were the lowest of the low.

Jesus became the lowest of the low to serve us.

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Notice Jesus doesn't get angry with them for desiring greatness.

It's natural of people not to want to do anything halfway.

If you're going to give your life to it, you want to be great at it.

Jesus instead gives them the challenge to be like him.

To become a servant.

This is the word diakonos (10:43) where we get the word "deacon."

See, a deacon isn't by necessity a "leader" as we think about it.

A deacon is one who serves, and in that, Jesus says they become great in the Kingdom!

And this goes back to the Old Testament, as well.

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See, the Jews didn't believe that this was the messiah.

They thought this was someone totally different.

And now, they won't even read this chapter of Isaiah in their synagogues.

See, most Jews have given up waiting for the Messiah.

We think we've been waiting a long time for his 2nd coming, they've been waiting about 6,000 years for his arrival.

They weren't expecting someone who gets baptized.

Jews thought baptism was for gentiles.

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This Jesus is the ultimate servant.

He even goes so far as to wash his disciple's feet.

That's reserved for the lowest of the low.

[Describe the act of foot washing]

You want to see what a kingdom servant looks like, look for the attitude of Jesus that Mark proves.

Look for someone who acts like Christ [[]]

Because that's what we've been commanded.

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Translation: If we want to be the greatest, we must be the servant of everyone as Jesus was!

If we want to higher ourselves by lowering ourselves, we have no better example than that of Jesus Christ, who came as a baby.

He was GOD.

And he came and he emptied himself of that position.

HE gave up the advantages that he enjoyed in being God and came and lived a perfect life by the Spirit of God.

AND YOU CAN TOO!

The same power that lived in Jesus to empower his life lives in you to empower your life to obedience and service!

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[[Story about snacks at small group]]

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This is how we can know that our God is God.

He emptied himself.

He gave himself up.

He came into frail form.

He put on flesh.

He became helpless and put himself in our care.

We mocked him and despised him like Isaiah predicted.

We killed him.

Maybe our hands didn't, but our deeds did.

Our thoughts did.

Our hearts were wicked and rebellious, and yet he served us.

And then Jesus tells us to do the same.

I love this church's heart for service.

We serve the community well.

We are truly the Body of Christ.

May we all be willing to serve like Jesus served us.