Scripture Reading: Mark 10:35-45 (NIV)
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
“We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “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 of 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.”
A Full-Service Life
Mark 10:35-45
March 16, 2025
Pastor Mark Fuller
Is Full Service the Key to Happiness?
SERMON IN A SENTENCE of the Book of Mark
Mark 10:45
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.”
Today’s Big Idea: The full-service life Jesus calls us to is to serve others fully.
Three Full-Service Takeaways:
1: Jesus is our model of full-service.
Jesus is our model of full-service.
1 John 3:16
‘We know by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren’
Philippians 2:3–4
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
2: Full-service (not self-service) leads to happiness and riches.
“Love and service make us rich.”
Anne Lamott, “A Short Guide to a Full-Service Life”
“Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.”
Albert Schweitzer
“Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “The Drum Major Instinct”
3: Full-service doesn’t mean big service.
Acts of service do not have to be gigantic to be great. In fact, they can be quite small.
DAILY LITTLE
One daily little is simply to (at least once a day) do some sort of self-less service.
• In your church.
• In your world.
• In your home.