480
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
December, 1937
IN T E R N A T IO N A L L E S S O N Commentary Outline and Exposition Blackboard Lesson Children’s Division Golden Text Illustration Object Lesson B y B. B. S utcliffe B y G retchen S ibley B y H elen G ailey B y A lan S. P earce B y E lmer L. W ilder Points and Problems B y A lva J. M c C lain
JANUARY 2, 1938 THE GOSPEL OF MARK: A PREVIEW M ark 10:35-45
of atonement for our sins, and indeed we cannot know Him at all as our Example, until by faith we receive Him as both Saviour and Lord. Service to man or to God, however wide it may be, is not a substitute for the sinner’s simple faith in Christ as his personal Saviour. En trance to the kingdom is by the new birth alone (cf. John 3 :l-6). Position in the king dom depends upon the character of that service which is rendered as one follows the pattern of the Servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. Points and Problems 1. Verses 32 to 34 should be read care fully as the background of the lesson in Mark 10:35-45. Our Lord had been teach ing His disciples that He must suffer and die; yet in the face of this solemn utter ance they could think only of their own selfish interests. Luke in the parallel pas sage explains that “they understood none of these things” (18:34). 2. “James and John . . . come unto him” (v. 35). Matthew 20:20 tells us that the mother came with the sons, joining in their request. Humanly speaking, there was a certain plausibility in the request they came to make. It was well known that James and John belonged to the inner circle of three, and that John was “that disciple whom Jesus loved.” Perhaps it was this relationship which led them to presume that divine rewards could be had merely for the asking. 3. "Ye know not vihat ye ask” (v. 38). There is a sermon in these words. Of course, in a certain sense these disciples knew exactly what they were asking for as far as the end was concerned. What they did not know was the means by which the desired end must be attained. And we today often pray glibly for certain things without realizing what we must face when God answers our prayers. We pray to God for patience, for holiness, to be made more like our blessed Lord; and when God be gins to answer our prayers by leading us into the furnace of affliction, we begin to complain. 4. "Is not mine to give” (v. 40). This is not a disclaimer of our Lord’s sovereign rights. The honors and rewards of the kingdom are His to give. The misunder standing arises through the punctuation and words supplied in the English Bible. If we omit the semicolon and the italicized words “it shall be given,” the passage reads as follows: “But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give but to them for whom it is prepared.” That is, our Lord is the Giver, but He gives the rewards in accordance with the will of the Father.
Lord Jesus Christ, the Sinless One, endured, there is a solemn sense in which he may “drink of the cup” and be “baptized with the baptism.” Unlike the obtaining of salvation, which is a matter of the sinner’s receiving the finished work of Christ by faith (Eph. 2:8,9), the enjoyment of places of promi nence depends upon that which is earned, not that which is given. Christ did not say that the disciples could not have the positions for which they asked (v. 40). Per haps they have them now. But the manner in which they sought them of the Lord Jesus revealed that they possessed at that time a spirit directly opposite to the one which would obtain for them the desired object. II. T he R esentment of the T en (41) The ten disciples were rightly displeased at the attempt that was made by James and John to take unfair advantage of them. But in their own ambition, the ten revealed that at heart they were no different from the two. They all needed the Lord’s in struction. III. T he I nstruction by J esus (42-45) Christ set before them two great princi ples (vs. 42,43): The great of the world are served by many; the great of the king dom serve many. The Lord Jesus made plain that service is the law of greatness. Even Christ Himself was not exempt from this law. The Lord set before the disciples the path to greatness (vs. 43,44). In one word, it is “service.” The desire to serve others, and thus serve the Lord, is a commendable wish, and it cannot be too strongly im planted in the hearts of Christ’s disciples, for in it is the basis of true greatness. But all self-exaltation is of Satan. Moreover, our Lord pointed out the pat tern of greatness (v. 45), that is, Himself. In this one verse we find compressed the truth of the whole Book. Care must be exercised here lest we distort the gospel. We cannot follow Christ in His provision BLACKBOARD LESSON WD WWOSOEUEfcOFMOU UMLL6ETHE CHIEFEST, UBS
Goldin Text: “And whosoever of you will be chiefest, shall be servant of all” .(Mk. 10:44). Outline and Exposition T HE THEME of Mark is “The Son of God in Service” (cf. Isa. 52:13). The key verse is, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (10:45). The key word is “straightway” (or “forthwith” ) found in Mark over forty times out of the eighty times it is used in the New Testament. The Gospel of Mark presents the Royal One, girded for service, in the attitude of ministry, finding His sphere among the needy. The miracles, of which there are seventeen appearing in Mark, reveal the powers of the world to come; and the parables, of which Mark speaks of four, are each concerned with service. The following brief outline of the Gospel of Mark has been found helpful: I. The Self-Surrender of the Servants (1:1-13). II. The Ministry of the Servant (1:14 to 10:52). III. The Rejection of the Servant (11:1 to 15:47). IV. The Exaltation of the Servant, (16:1-20). The passage given for today’s lesson may be divided into three Sections. I. T he R equest of J ames and J ohn (35-40) James and John were ambitious to ob tain a prominent place in the kingdom (vs. 35-37). They seemed doubtful whether they could secure it on the ground of merit; therefore, speaking to the Lord Jesus, they demanded something like a blank check: “We would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire” (v. 35). They were trying to gain an advantage over their fellows and to secure places above them or “over” them. Our Lord immediately revealed their ignorance (vs. 38, 39). It was their pre sumption that hid the truth from their eyes. The “cup” was symbolic of Christ’s in ward sufferings, taken voluntarily; the “baptism” spoke of His outward sufferings, endured from others. While no disciple can share the awful suffering for sin that the [These lessons are developed from out lines prepared by the Committee on Im proved Uniform Lessons of the Interna tional Council. The outlines are copy righted by the International Council of Religious Education and used by permis sion .— E ditor .]
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