Do you want to be Great?
Notes
Transcript
Good morning!
What do you get when you cross an angry sheep and an angry cow?
Two animals in a baaaaaaad moooooooood!
Please keep me in your prayers this week as Tuesday I am starting a lunch Bible study at my work.
Please pray for our house to sell, we have someone coming in and they want to look at it on Monday or Tuesday!!
Pray for the Mullins Association, we are meeting tomorrow night to elect a search committee to start the process of hiring a new DOM.
Don’t forget the business meeting right after service. It should be exciting!!
This morning we are going to be in Mark 9:30-41.
Last week we looked at Jesus healing the boy with the unclean spirit. We saw that belief is the acknowledgement of something and faith moves us to action. We can’t have faith if we don’t have belief first. We can say we believe that the airplane can fly, but getting on the plane and flying in it shows we have faith in the plane and its ability to fly. I believe that a sniper can shoot an apple off of a person’s head. I am not going to put an apple on my head and let him try. I do not have faith in him. There is a difference in the two! We also saw that prayer has power. The demon could only be cast out by prayer. To many times we forget to pray first and often. I forgot to last night while working on this sermon. I had to walk away and then come back and pray first. We have been given this amazing gift of being able to speak to God and so many times we forget or we just don’t do it. Prayer is our most valuable tool we have. I pray we get better at using it.
To day we are going to look at Jesus foretelling His death and resurrection. We are also going to look at being great.
Who wants to be great? Do you want to be great? Who does the world say is great? Elon Musk, Donald Trump, they are great by the worlds standards. Today we are going to see what Jesus and the Bible has to say about greatness!
Please stand as we read God’s Word.
30 And from there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. 31 For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” 32 But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.
33 They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them: “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. 35 And sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And He took a child and placed him among them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”
38 John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.
V 30 They are leaving the mountain where Jesus revealed His glory to Peter, John and James. They came down and found the scribes and a crowd arguing with the 9 disciples. They go through Galilee and Jesus didn’t want anyone to know He was there. He was focused on teaching His disciples. It is about six months from the Passover Celebration and His death. He is no longer focused on teaching the people but instead He is focused on getting His disciples ready for that day. Jesus tells them that He is going to be delivered into the hands of men. The NASB says He is to be handed over. I like the ESV translation better, I think the word delivered is a better idea of what is going to happen. The definition of deliver is - to carry and turn over to the intended recipient or recipients, to give into another’s possession or keeping. That is what happened to Jesus. The crowd took Jesus and delivered Him to the religious leaders. The religious leaders delivered Him to Pilate. We had a part in that delivery, our sins put Jesus on that cross. We are responsible for the delivery of Jesus. Ultimately, it was God who delivered Jesus to His killers. In Acts 2:23
23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
27 For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and purpose predestined to occur.
4 However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by God, and humiliated.
5 But He was pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To fall on Him.
This was God’s plan from the beginning. It was God who sent His son to the cross. No one took Jesus’ life. He willingly gave it up for us.
15 just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice; and they will become one flock, with one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it back. 18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Jesus volunteered to come to earth and be rejected, killed in the worst possible way, and then raise from the grave on the 3rd day. By this, we have salvation. We are justified in God’s sight. This is the whole reason we are hear today. Because Jesus gave up His life for ours, we gather to worship Him! If this didn’t happen, we have no hope. Praise God, that Jesus did come and He did die and He did raise up from the grave on the 3rd day!! What a great King we serve!
Jesus is teaching this to His disciples this and they don’t get it. This is the second time He has told them about His upcoming death and they still don’t get it.
V32 tells us that they didn’t understand and they were afraid to ask Him. I guess after what happened to Peter when He told Jesus no, and Jesus rebuked him, they didn’t want any of that! They are still expecting a political liberator as their Messiah. They can’t imagine why Jesus must die if He hasn’t defeated Rome, yet. They are still leaning on their own understanding and not what Jesus is telling them. Jesus is telling them in plain teachings, He is not trying to hide anything. They are not getting it. They don’t understand the resurrection either. They are expecting it to be one resurrection of mankind at the last judgement like it is told to them in Daniel 12:2. They just don’t get it.
V 33 They make it to Capernaum. They come to a house, probably Peter’s house. Once in the house, Jesus asks them what they were discussing on the way? He already knew, He is Jesus!! They didn’t want to tell Him, so they kept silent. They were afraid and more than likely ashamed. They had been arguing about who was greatest among them. Remember they still thought Jesus was going to free them from Rome and make them a great nation again. They were dreaming of status of being one of Jesus inner circle. They were dreaming of the honor of being a disciple of the new King. They were dreaming of all the power that would come with the new positions they were going to have. They were dreaming about greatness! They couldn’t have been more wrong!!
So Jesus sits down and calls them to Him. This is significant. This was a sign that He was starting a teaching session. They didn’t stand to teach in those days. The teacher would sit down and the students would sit down around them. Jesus sitting down and calling them to Him, they would have know that a class was about to start. I wonder if any of them were worried about what they were arguing about? He just asked them what they were discussing and they stayed silent and now He is starting to teach them. Not a coincident! Jesus is about to teach them a very important truth. If anyone wants to be great/first, they must first become last of all and servant of all!
This goes against everything. How can you be first if you are last! A servant is never great! They are under their master! How can they be greater than him? If you don’t know who the Jesus of the Bible is, you can never understand this. Jesus didn’t come to be served, He came to serve. He came to give His life for us. The suffering of Jesus characterizes patterns of conduct (such as humility, faith, and love) that are required in the kingdom. Jesus modeled greatness for us. He came and served us. He became lowly and rejected for us. He took on shame and God’s wrath, so we wouldn’t have to.
Notice Jesus didn’t rebuke them for wanting to be great. He sat down and began to teach them the true meaning of greatness. He wanted them to be great, but great in the right way, not the way the world defines greatness. The greatness of the world, tells us to do whatever it takes to get to the top. Use people to get what you want. That is not greatness. That is selfishness and prideful. Neither of these are fruit of the spirit. What is the middle letter in sin? When we put ourselves first, we sin. We put ourselves above God, we become prideful. Then God has to put us in our place. Jesus is the greatest person to ever walk on this earth. I can’t think of anyone else that I would rather be like. He always put others first. He was compassionate, and loving. He truly cared about everyone. That is greatness! He didn’t have much money, or even a house. But He was the richest person to ever live. Through love, we gain something more valuable than money can every buy us. Through love, we become more like Jesus. When we look at people and understand that God loves them just as much as He love us, that is when we get it. That is the beginning of greatness. Without love, love like Jesus had, we can never be great. I want to be great, but not by the worlds definition, by Jesus’ definition. I want to love more and serve more than I have before. I don’t care if the world remembers me. I care if Jesus remembers me.
Then Jesus takes a child and puts him in the middle of them and takes Him in His arms. That is a great picture of our King. He wraps His arms around us and loves us.
V 37 He tells them that whoever receives one like this child in His name receives Him, and whoever receives me, receives Him who sent Me. Children in that time were not considered valuable. They were often marginalized. They were thought of to have little or no importance, influence, or power. This is not someone who would be important to someone who is striving to be great in the world. Kids were to be seen and not heard. A lot of the children were working in the fields and on the family farm. They didn’t have any social standing. Today we ask how many kids can I afford to have? Then they would ask how many kids do I need to work the farm.
Jesus is teaching them that if they want to be great, they need to be willing to take on lowly, often unnoticed tasks and care for those who have little to no status in the world. If you do this, you not only receive Jesus, but the Father who sent Him. Humbly caring for people of lowly status out of obedience to Christ will be rewarded with rich fellowship with both the Father and the Son.
We have to get our truth from the Bible, we can not get it from the world. We just saw how different they are. The only truth that matters is the truth of the word.
V 38 John speaks up and tells of this person casting out demon in Jesus’ name. They tried to stop him because he wasn’t following who, them. They were more concerned that this person wasn’t following them, not Jesus. He was casting out demons in Jesus’ name. But he wasn’t one of them. He was an outsider. They are still not getting it. If someone does something in the name of Jesus, we should celebrate. Jesus is getting the glory. This person was doing something good, in the name of Jesus. They were trying to stop it!!! Let that sink in.
V 39 Jesus tells them not to stop him, no one can do a mighty work in my name and then be able to speak evil of me. He is saying if someone is doing something good in the name of Jesus, they are a brother or sister. Don’t try and stop them. I would say to see if there is something you can do to help them! Serve them. Don’t try and stop them just because they are not with us!
V 40 Jesus tells them that if one is not against us they are for us! This is similar to what Paul said in
15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill; 16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking that they are causing me distress in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.
But not only that, I also will rejoice,
If someone is doing something that gives Jesus glory, rejoice in it. Heaven will be filled with people from all denominations, and hell will be with all denominations. Jesus is teaching for us to focus on our task and leave the rest up to God. We are not to be quick to criticize others who also are following Christ but do not belong to our group. The main thing is that they must be following Christ.
Greatness is not a bad thing.
We should all strive to be great.
Before we do, we must make sure we have the correct definition of greatness.
We must be servants just like Jesus is. He is our example. He is our truth.
I want to end by reading these verses.
1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. 9 For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This is what we are to do to be considered great!
Let’s pray
