Now they said to Him, "Grant to us that we should be seated, one at Thy right and one at Thy left, in Thy glory." Yet Jesus said to them, "Not aware are you what you are requesting. Are you able to drink the cup which I am drinking, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am being baptized?" Yet they say to Him, "We are able." Yet Jesus said to them, "The cup indeed which I am drinking shall you be drinking, and with the baptism with which I am being baptized shall you be baptized. Yet to be seated at My right or at My left is not Mine to give, but it for whom it has been made ready by My Father."
Marks Account 10: 37-40, Concordant New Testament
I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker this week which centered around who would be the most important in the Lord's heaven. Would his own pastor, who had spent a lifetime of serving the poor and needy, have a seat of prominence in God's paradise? What place would he, a reformed sinner, have in heaven? Well, I reminded him that this question had already been asked of Jesus by His own disciples James and John. These brothers had asked that Jesus grant that they be seated at His right and at His left in His Fathers kingdom. Jesus' answer? This authority had not been granted to Him, but by the Father {Marks Account 10:40}. Too often we get too involved in our own pride to realize what it is we are desiring. James and John wanted to be seen as being on the same level as Jesus, and this did not sit well with the other disciples {Marks Account 10:41}. Are we truly that arrogant that to believe that our own goo deeds will grant us a prominent place in heaven? The apostle Paul speaks in Ephesians that it is not by our good works that we enter into the Fathers salvation, but through His grace alone {Paul to the Ephesians 2:8-9}. No matter how good a life we have lived, no matter how many we have helped along the way, it is by the love and grace of the Father by which we are saved. It is because of the Fathers love for us that He dispatched His only Son to give Himself for us on the cross {Johns Account 3:16-17}. It is because of the love of Christ that He willingly became sin that we would no longer bare its penalty {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}. Also, as with my co-worker, do we consider ourselves simply "Reformed sinners?" This reminds me of the Christian catch phrase that we are simply "Sinners saved by grace." While we have been saved by the love and grace of the Father, our identity is no longer linked to the past, but to Jesus. Jesus is who we truly are {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}.
For in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is not out of you; it is God's approach present, not of works, lest anyone should be boasting.
Paul to the Ephesians 2: 8-9, Concordant New Testament
Have you ever known God to show favoritism? Have you ever known Him to go back on His word? Well, when we believe that the Lord favors those who do good deeds over those who have likewise been saved by the sacrifice of His Son we are staking the claim that God is playing favorites with His salvation gift. Remember, at the end of the day, our salvation is a gift from God {Paul to the Ephesians 2:8}. Can you imagine the turmoil amongst the followers of Jesus were James and John granted their request to be seated at His side? Yes, James and John were loyal followers of Jesus, but they were also human. How long before they would have bragged about their positions of prominence among the other disciples? How long before the other disciples requested from Jesus positions in heaven of their own? I'm sorry, but we're human, that's what we do. Knowing this, Jesus gave the correct response to His followers that day. Their position in heaven was not His to give, but the Father. Part of the response I gave to my co-worker was that we are all created in the Fathers likeness {Genesis 1:27}. God has not created one greater or better than the other. For we are all children of God {First Epistle of John 3:1}. We should be glorying in His love and mercy and not in our own desires.
~Scott~
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