TOPIC: WATCH YOUR AMBITION
TEXT: Mark 10:35-45(NKJV)
- 10:35. Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”
- 10:36. And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
- 10:37. They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”
- 10:38. But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
- 10:39. They said to Him, “We are able.” So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;
- 10:40. “but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but [it is for those] for whom it is prepared.”
- 10:41. And when the ten heard [it,] they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.
- 10:42. But Jesus called them to [Himself] and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
- 10:43. “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.
- 10:44. “And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.
- 10:45. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
STUDY:
Today is set aside to celebrate St. James, the apostle. There are three persons who bore this name in the New Testament: James, the brother of our Lord who later became a leader in the early church; James the great, the brother of John and a son of Zebedee; and James the less, son of Alphaeus, of who very little is known.
Today’s text reveals James the great as an ambitious person who in the company of his brother, John, sought to be next in rank to our Lord Jesus Christ in his anticipated glory.
Before this time, there had been an argument among the disciples as to who should be the greatest. When Jesus heard it, he rebuked this quest for power by setting forth the principle of kingdom leadership – Whoever wants to be a leader must be the servant of all (Mark 9:33-37).
Yet, ambitious James would not stop. Teaming up with his brother, he was ready to do anything to achieve his goal. They took their mother who was our Lord’s aunt, to persuade Jesus to grant them their request. Ambition is not evil if it is undertaken with godly measures. A life without ambition(s) is not worth living because it lacks direction and focus.
Yet, you must be careful how you go about seeking to achieve your ambition. Any aspiration that does not have the interest of God’s kingdom at heart but is born out of self-seeking fame, wealth and power, is not godly. Believers in Christ must shun such.
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