THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Mark: Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God

Part II: The Perfect Service Of Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God, Mark 1:1-10:52

OO. Christ's Teaching On The REALISTIC Rewards Of Christian Service

(Mark 10:28-31)

I. Introduction

A. We learned in the first lesson in this series that Mark's Gospel presents the perfect service of God's Perfect Servant, Jesus, with Mark's focus of having rebounded unto upright Christian service from personal failure.

B. Mark had abandoned Barnabas and Paul on their missionary journey (Acts 13:13) possibly due to an unhappy experience since he may not have had a realistic view of service and service rewards in Christian service.

C. Christ taught about realistic rewards of Christian service in Mark 10:28-31, and we view the passage for insight to keep us consistently serving the Lord for His reward regardless what distasteful matters we face:

II. Christ's Teaching On The REALISTIC Rewards Of Christian Service, Mark 10:28-31.

A. Immediately after the rich man in Mark 10:17-27 had left Jesus sad over his unwillingness to give up all he possessed to follow Christ, Peter as a spokesman for the other disciples reminded Jesus, "Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee," thus expecting a big reward for their sacrifice, Mark 10:28 KJV (cf. Matt. 19:27).

B. The author of Mark's Gospel had rebounded from disillusionment in Christian service, so his record of Jesus' reply unique among the Gospels and fittingly for Mark presents the suffering that accompanies the rewards of service (B. K. C., N. T., p. 151), thus giving a REALISTIC view of rewards for service, Mark 10:29-31:

1. Jesus revealed that there would be rich rewards in this life for those who serve Him in it, Mark 10:29-30b:

a. Christ claimed that bountiful rewards in this earthly life would await those who serve Him, Mark 10:29-30a: (1) He said any believer who left house or lands for His sake would receive an hundredfold in this life, Mark 10:29, 30, or what occurs between His First and Second Advent, Ibid. This promise is fulfilled beginning in Acts 2:44-45; 4:34-35 when believers willingly gave of their material possessions to minister to one another. (2) Jesus also said that any believer who had left family members for the cause of Christ would find an hundredfold of such family members in the Church era (Mark 10:29, 30), what came to pass in Acts 2:41-42, Romans 16:13 and 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, and occurs for us believers today.

b. However, Jesus revealed that such rich rewards would also be accompanied by suffering, Mark 10:30b: (1) Mark's Gospel alone adds Jesus' comment "with persecutions" after the list of rewards for service, Ibid. (2) The Greek term for "persecutions" is diogmos, initially meaning "harassing," and it is used only of persecution for religious reasons in the New Testament, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 200 (Koine Greek lexicon); Liddell & Scott, Grk.-Eng. Lex., 1968, p. 440 (Classical Greek lexicon). (3) Thus, believers should expect to receive rewards of fellowship with others of like faith and a sharing in possessions with them, but with these the sobering reality of suffering harassing persecution for the faith. (4) [We also note the accompaniment of Satanic harassment in opposition to God's servants that would rise often in the form of slanderous lies, verbal abuse and/or bodily harm, cf. John 8:44-50.]

2. Jesus spoke of the reward of eternal life that awaited those believers who served Him, Mark 10:30c.

3. By His statement in Mark 10:31 that the first would be last and the last first, Jesus revealed that God's rewards would also be based on grace, not on human merit opposite Peter's expectation in Mark 10:28 of reward for what he had given up as in a bargaining arrangement. (Guthrie & Motyer, eds., The New Bible Com.: Rev., 1970, p. 873) God's eternal rewards will not be based on what one does to bargain for some compensation from the Lord, but on faithfulness in heeding the Lord's ministry assignment for him in the way that God willed him to perform it, Ibid., Bib. Know. Com., N. T., p. 151-152; Matt. 20:16; Lk. 13:30.

Lesson: Jesus taught that believers in our era who serve Him will gain (1) the earthly rewards of material and relationship bounty with fellow believers, but that (2) it will be accompanied by the pain of harassing persecution from the ungodly and from Satan. (3) Christ also taught that those believers who serve Him will also have salvation in eternity and (4) receive eternal rewards by God's grace for their faithfulness in doing God's will.

Application: (1) In serving Christ, may we have a REALISTIC view of the temporal blessings that arise in terms of relationships and possessions in fellowship with believers COUPLED WITH harassing persecution. (2) May we also focus on the eternal bliss of salvation and God's reward to be based on His sovereignly, graciously rewarding us not on human criteria, but by His GRACE based on our faithfully fulfilling His assigned will in His gifting!