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Not so With You. (Mark 10:35-45)
I have been watching Peter Ackroyd's excellent
television series about the Romantic poets, Keats, Shelley, Blake, etc.
Products of the Enlightenment they rebelled against the Industrialisation
of society and the dehumanising of people that they saw the Enlightenment
produce but seemed to embrace that aspect of Enlightenment that, as they
saw it, freed men and women from the idea of God. John Keats wrote:
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all Ye
know on earth, and all ye need to know. (Ode on a Grecian Urn)
Yet, strangely, these same men seemed preoccupied with future generations
and how they would be remembered. To become 'immortal' was much sought
after, 'I think I shall be among the English Poets at my death', wrote
Keats. I asked myself the question, why? Why, if God is not there, this
life is all there is, and future generations can think what they may but
you won't be there to know it, why care so much? Two thoughts occurred
to me. The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote:
What does the worker gain from his toil?
I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful
in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot
fathom what God has done from the beginning (Ecclesiastes 3:9-11)
Eternity is important because God has put eternity in men's hearts. And
when men turn from God they don't simply "live for today" (though many
seem to do just that) but ponder on eternity without knowing why.
Further, without God man looks to himself, becoming self-centred, and
yet seems inexplicably drawn to things beyond himself. Without God what
man finds beyond himself is that which God has made beautiful in its time
- creation. As the pinnacle of creation, and finding nothing his equal
in creation, man ends seeking eternity in his reputation, his peers and
in generations to come, in other words in man. He worries about his future
reputation, nonsense if you believe that you have no meaningful future
beyond death. How stupid to look to a temporal state to give you eternal
worth! It is like a fish aspiring to breathe the air.
Yet we were made for eternity and recognising this makes all the difference
in how we live our lives. Man, in his sinful state, is preoccupied with
himself because he cannot find the true purpose and goal of his eternal
instincts, but in his saved state is preoccupied with the eternal God
and the standards of His everlasting kingdom. This is what Jesus is saying
here. Fallen man behaves just like James and John, seeking preferment
and status. Jesus declares that this is the way a godless world behaves,
"but not so with you."
If the Twelve were the inner circle of Jesus' followers then Peter, James
and John were the innermost circle. This story is something that, sadly,
we see acted out in churches today from time to time. Those who regard
themselves as "deserving" because of their long service, experience, close
proximity to the leader seek recognition or reward, to be thanked and
to be consulted. Then others, who regard themselves as highly as the first
group, become "indignant" (v.41). Jesus' answer to all this is to teach
us how the government and economy of Heaven operate.
You know that those who are regarded as
rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise
authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become
great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must
be slave to all. For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but
to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
To a Christian eternity and the promises of God are sure. The creeds state
that the chief purpose of man is to worship God and enjoy him forever.
Jesus showed us in his incarnation, life, death and resurrection how this
is best achieved by serving others thereby serving God. All this being
true, the Christian need not be concerned about eternity because God has
promised that we shall have it. The Christian does not concern himself
with his place in eternity because the best way to enjoy eternity is to
worship God. The Christian need not be concerned about his reputation
amongst his peers or progeny because his eternity is not invested in them
but in the God who put eternity in his heart.
May we value those things that God has made beautiful in their time but
may the focus of our lives be the God who made us for himself and put
eternity in our hearts.