Reshaped: Greatness | Week 2
Reshaped • A Life Formed By Jesus • Week 2
Mark 10:32–45 • Philippians 2:3–8Our Ambition: Power
Power, influence, and recognition are not inherently wrong. But Jesus reshapes our understanding of what they are for. In His Kingdom, greatness is not measured by how many people serve us, but by how faithfully we use what has been entrusted to us to serve and care for others.
Key Concept
Jesus reshapes our understanding of greatness by teaching us that power and influence are not for our own benefit, but to serve and care for others.
Reflection Questions
- When have you experienced someone use power or influence in a way that helped you thrive? What made it different?
- Where might a desire to be needed, respected, recognized, or in control be shaping the way you lead or serve?
Scripture
Mark 10:32–45
Philippians 2:3–8
Luke 22:24–27
Power is not inherently bad. Neither is the desire to be known, seen, recognized, or valued. But when the values of this world begin shaping our understanding of power and recognition, good desires can become distorted.
We begin wanting influence primarily for what it can do for us.
We want the position.
The title.
The recognition.
The authority.
The ability to control an outcome.
And eventually, our pursuit of power begins shaping not only how we see ourselves, but how we see everyone around us.
Jesus confronts that understanding directly.
James and John had already sacrificed a great deal.
When Jesus first called James and John, they were fishermen working in their family's business.
They left their nets.
They left their father.
They left the workers.
They left the security and familiarity of the life they knew.
Then they spent years following Jesus.
It was not a comfortable journey.
There was sacrifice.
Uncertainty.
Cost.
So when we meet them again in Mark 10, their request is deeply human.
Jesus, after everything we have given up, what can we expect to gain?
Sacrifice can quietly become entitlement.
James and John approach Jesus immediately after He has described the suffering awaiting Him in Jerusalem.
Jesus tells them He will be rejected, mocked, beaten, killed, and raised again.
Their response is to ask:
Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.
Mark 10:37They want status.
They want positions of significance beside the King.
They want the seats through which authority and recognition would flow.
And there are only two seats.
Their request is not simply to be honored.
They want to be elevated above the other disciples.
They had sacrificed to follow Jesus, but their sacrifice was beginning to create a sense that Jesus owed them something.
We can fall into the same trap.
It would be easy to criticize James and John.
Jesus has just described His suffering, and they are asking about status.
But unlike them, we already know the rest of the story.
We know what Jesus endured.
We know about the cross.
We know about the resurrection.
We know the life, forgiveness, and hope we have received because of Him.
And still, we can begin keeping score.
- Jesus, I gave this up to follow You.
- Jesus, I have tried to be faithful.
- Jesus, I have been generous.
- Jesus, I have served.
- Jesus, following You has cost me something.
Then a subtle expectation begins to grow:
Shouldn't my life be easier?
Shouldn't I be more comfortable?
Shouldn't more of my prayers be answered?
Shouldn't I be protected from some of this suffering?
Following Jesus can become transactional when sacrifice turns into a claim on what we think we deserve.
Jesus wants to transform us, not simply elevate us.
James and John want Jesus to elevate them.
Jesus desires something much greater.
He wants to transform them.
To reshape their minds.
Their hearts.
Their ambitions.
Their understanding of greatness.
The life Jesus is offering is greater than a better seat at the table.
Through Him they receive new life.
A new identity.
A new family.
A new community.
A new Kingdom.
We can become so focused on what we want Jesus to give us that we miss what Jesus wants to make of us.
James and John are reaching for scraps of status while Jesus is inviting them into something far greater.
Jesus never hides the road He is walking.
The Kingdom Jesus announces does not promise an easy road.
Jesus repeatedly tells His disciples where He is going.
It is a road of surrender.
Sacrifice.
Suffering.
Ultimately, the cross.
Only Jesus can give His life as the ransom that rescues us.
But those who follow Him should not be surprised when His way also reshapes our relationship to comfort, status, control, and self-interest.
James and John wanted status. Jesus was forming them for surrender.
The struggle was bigger than two disciples.
When the other ten disciples hear what James and John requested, they become indignant.
Mark does not explain exactly why.
Maybe they were offended by the ambition of James and John.
Maybe they were frustrated that someone else asked first.
Either way, Jesus recognizes that this is not simply a problem with two ambitious brothers.
This is a discipleship problem.
It is a human problem.
So He gathers all twelve together.
Jesus is about to reshape their understanding of power.
"You know" how the world uses power.
Jesus begins with something His disciples already understand.
You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them.
Mark 10:42They know.
They live under Roman occupation.
They have experienced what power looks like when it exists primarily for the benefit of the powerful.
We know too.
We have experienced teachers, coaches, supervisors, leaders, institutions, parents, churches, and other authorities using power in very different ways.
The world's instinct is often:
- Gain more control.
- Move higher on the ladder.
- Protect your position.
- Increase your influence.
- Make sure others know your importance.
Power becomes valuable because of what it can accomplish for us.
Power is rarely satisfied with enough.
Once power becomes a source of identity, status, or security, it becomes difficult to stop pursuing more.
Another promotion.
More influence.
A larger audience.
Greater control.
More recognition.
And often, for us to move higher, someone else has to move lower.
The world's version of power asks, "How can this elevate me?"
Jesus asks a completely different question.
"Not so with you."
Four words mark the dividing line between the values of the surrounding world and the Kingdom Jesus is building:
Not so with you.
Mark 10:43Not in this Kingdom.
Not among My disciples.
Not in My community.
Not in My church.
Jesus does not say His followers will never possess authority, influence, leadership, expertise, resources, or responsibility.
Instead, He radically redefines what those things are for.
Jesus does not eliminate ambition. He reshapes it.
Jesus tells them:
Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.
Mark 10:43Notice that Jesus does not tell them they must stop caring about greatness.
He changes their definition of it.
The world's ambition asks:
How high can I climb?
How much recognition can I receive?
How much control can I have?
Jesus redirects that ambition:
How much of what God has entrusted to me can be used for the good of someone else?
Power becomes stewardship.
Every one of us has something entrusted to us.
Maybe it is formal authority.
Maybe it is not.
We may have influence as:
- Parents.
- Spouses.
- Friends.
- Teachers or coaches.
- Employers or employees.
- Neighbors.
- Ministry leaders.
- People with experience, resources, relationships, or expertise.
Power is simply the capacity to influence what happens around us.
And Jesus asks us to see that influence as stewardship.
In the Kingdom of Jesus, power is not primarily something to possess. It is something to steward for others.
Greatness looks like lifting others.
Jesus changes the question from:
How can this position benefit me?
To:
How can this position help someone else thrive?
How can my influence create opportunity?
How can my experience encourage someone?
How can my resources meet a need?
How can my leadership create safety?
How can I use what has been entrusted to me to lift someone else?
Kingdom greatness is measured by our willingness to use what we have for the flourishing of others.
Jesus does not merely teach this. He embodies it.
Jesus does not stand above His disciples and tell them to serve while protecting His own privilege.
He says:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.
Mark 10:45The King comes as a servant.
The One with ultimate authority does not use that authority for His own advantage.
He uses it to rescue.
To heal.
To forgive.
To restore.
And finally, to give His life.
Jesus shows us that the greatest expression of power is not taking for ourselves, but giving ourselves for others.
Paul describes the same downward movement.
Writing to the church in Philippi, Paul gives a practical command:
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.
Philippians 2:3Do not look only to your own interests.
Pay attention to the interests of others.
Then Paul points to Jesus.
The God of the universe did not consider His position something to exploit for His own advantage.
He made Himself nothing.
He took the nature of a servant.
He took on human flesh.
The King was born not in a palace, but in humility.
And He humbled Himself even further:
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:8The cross reveals what Kingdom power looks like.
Rome used the cross to demonstrate its power.
The cross communicated domination.
Humiliation.
Control.
Death.
Jesus transforms the meaning of that symbol by willingly giving Himself upon it.
He does not conquer through domination.
He conquers through sacrificial love.
The Kingdom of Jesus is led by a King who uses His power to give Himself away.
We will need to learn this more than once.
Jesus' lesson in Mark 10 did not permanently cure the disciples' desire for greatness.
Later, on the final night before the cross, the disciples are together again.
Jesus has told them that one of them will betray Him.
And soon afterward, another argument erupts among them:
Which one of us is the greatest?
They still need reshaping.
Formation is not a lesson we hear once. It is a way of life Jesus continually works into us.
The early churches needed the same reminder.
Paul had to write about selfish ambition years later because followers of Jesus continued struggling with status, ego, recognition, and power.
The church still struggles with it today.
"Not so with you" must include the church.
Some of the deepest wounds people carry have come from places that claimed the name of Jesus.
Spiritual authority has sometimes been used to control rather than serve.
Leadership has sometimes protected itself rather than vulnerable people.
Recognition and status have sometimes become more valuable than humility.
Jesus' words remain:
Not so with you.
The church should be one of the clearest places where the world's assumptions about power are overturned.
Authority should create safety.
Leadership should seek the good of others.
Influence should lift rather than diminish.
Power should look increasingly like Jesus.
You have more influence than you may realize.
Some of us can hear a sermon about power and assume it belongs to someone else.
I'm not a CEO.
I'm not the boss.
I'm not a public figure.
I don't lead an organization.
But formal position is only one kind of power.
All of us carry influence somewhere.
Parents have influence with children.
Spouses have influence with one another.
Friends shape friends.
Experience creates influence.
Resources create influence.
Relationships create influence.
Even the simple ability to include or exclude another person is a form of power.
The question is not whether we have influence. The question is what we are doing with it.
Even serving can become a pursuit of recognition.
The desire to serve does not automatically free us from the desire to be seen.
We can serve while quietly hoping someone notices.
We can help because we want to be needed.
We can become generous because we want to be admired.
We can sacrifice because we want someone to owe us.
We can even serve because we imagine it will make God love us more.
The action may look humble while the heart is still pursuing status.
Jesus does not only reshape what we do with power. He reshapes why we want it.
What would "not so with you" look like here?
Imagine the impact if followers of Jesus entered every sphere of life asking a different question.
Not:
What can I get?
What do I deserve?
How can I move ahead?
How can I make sure I am recognized?
But instead:
How can what God has placed in my hands be used in the service of someone else?
What would happen in our homes?
Our marriages?
Our friendships?
Our workplaces?
Our schools?
Our neighborhoods?
Our church?
What could happen if we consistently used our influence to lift others instead of ourselves?
Jesus is reshaping our ambition.
The answer is not to pretend we have no ambition.
The answer is to allow Jesus to transform what we are ambitious for.
Be ambitious about serving well.
Be ambitious about creating opportunity for others.
Be ambitious about using leadership to protect and care.
Be ambitious about helping another person flourish.
Be ambitious about becoming more like the King who came not to be served, but to serve.
Jesus does not call us away from greatness. He calls us toward His definition of it.
Ask, "Who can this serve?"
Pay attention this week to one area where you have influence, authority, resources, experience, or relational power. Instead of first asking how it benefits you, ask how Jesus might use it for the good of someone else.
- Notice: Where do I currently have influence - formally or informally?
- Examine: Am I using that influence primarily to protect, elevate, control, or gain recognition for myself?
- Reframe: Ask, "How could what God has entrusted to me help another person thrive?"
- Serve: Take one concrete action that lifts someone else without needing recognition in return.
Reflection Questions
- When have you experienced someone use power or influence in a way that helped you thrive? What made it different?
- Where might a desire to be needed, respected, recognized, or in control be shaping the way you lead or serve?
A Prayer for Kingdom Ambition
Jesus, continue reshaping my understanding of power, influence, recognition, and greatness. Show me where I am tempted to use what You have entrusted to me for my own comfort, control, status, or recognition. Give me the mindset that was in You - the King who did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life for others. Help me notice the influence I already carry and teach me to use it to lift, protect, encourage, and care for people around me. Free me from selfish ambition and the need to be noticed. Form in me an ambition for Your Kingdom and a life that increasingly looks like Yours. Amen.
