The Way of Greatness

Introduction

Back in the gospel of Mark

We are at the hinge of Mark

Jesus’s Ministry -> Jerusalem

In chapters 8-10, Jesus is headed to Jerusalem

And there seems to be less ministry with the crowds, and more time preparing the disciples for what is about to happen in Jerusalem

In these 3 chapters, we have 3 predictions of Jesus’s suffering on the cross

And each time, it’s followed by some failure of the disciples that Jesus seeks to correct

If you remember, the first prediction, immediately after Peter is rebuked “get behind me Satan”

Today we have the second prediction of the cross and resurrection, and another failure of the disciples

This time the problem is pride and selfishness

Let’s read

Scripture Reading

Mark 9:30-50

I know there was a lot we read, but here Jesus is hitting at one of the deepest longings in each of our hearts

The path to greatness

Deep down we all want to be great//we thirst for glory

We want to be celebrated, we want to be recognized, we want to be applauded

For some of us it is in academics, others in art or music, others in sports, or for some its even here in church and in ministry—we all have a desire for greatness and glory

And in what we read today, Jesus is addressing this very desire

And some of us might be surprised: because he is not saying that wanting to be great is bad; but he is redefining what it means to be great

What are some ways we measure greatness in our world today? — It’s all competition

Talent

How many people you are better than

Fame

How many people look up to you

Influence

How many people work under you

Greatness is measured by excellence, by putting yourself first, by dominance

But that is not the way Jesus defines greatness

Jesus defines greatness by humility

Those that are truly great in the kingdom—are people who are marked by humility

And I want to put a simple definition of humility forward before we jump into the scriptures:

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself; It is thinking of yourself less”

EXPOUND

The Way of Greatness is through Humility

3 Aspects of Humility Outline

(SLIDES)

Service

Unity

Sacrifice

Service

(SLIDES)

Mark 9:35–37 CSB

35 Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.” 36 He took a child, had him stand among them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one little child such as this in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but him who sent me.”

Like we said, the way of the world measures greatness by how many people serve you, not by how you serve others

We would say to be truly great is to have others at your command

But Jesus flips this on its head

“If anyone wants to be first,

he must be last and servant of all.”

This isn’t just a teaching point that Jesus makes: Jesus’s life embodies this service—he practices what he preaches

He is the greatest of all; yet he is the servant of all

John 13 - Washing feet

Cross - the God of the universe dying for us

And as Jesus calls us to follow him—we are called into a life of service towards others

Servant of all: Its a lot easier to just be a servant; but to be a servant of all—its a lot more difficult

You see: We typically serve those who can serve us

We want to impress those who can offer something back to us — we want to impress the people in power or with influence so that we might get something back from them

But Jesus tells us whoever welcome one little child in my name welcomes me

And the way they viewed children back then was different than we do today

Children today: Innocent, vulnerable, gentle

Children back then: Insignificant, no social status

You don’t get anything from serving a child

There is no honor, no reward, no prestige they can offer you

And here, I think Jesus is talking about more than just children

but those who are vulnerable and lowly

The people who are irrelevant and unrecognized

The people that have nothing to offer us in return

True humility is marked by service

Especially service of those who have nothing to offer you

We serve them out of a heart overflowing with God’s love—not a secret scheme to gain influence and power

Who are these people in our lives?

People in our schools that are marginalized and pushed to the side

The homeless

Our siblings

And this is embodied by Jesus:

He has served us, given his life for us, and we have nothing to offer him to repay him

The way of greatness in the kingdom is through service

Again not thinking less of myself; but thinking of myself less

How can I freely serve others, not because what I can gain from it, but to truly bless them?

Secondly,

Unity

(SLIDES)

Mark 9:38–41 CSB

38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.” 39 “Don’t stop him,” said Jesus, “because there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name who can soon afterward speak evil of me. 40 For whoever is not against us is for us. 41 And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ—truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

The second aspect of humility is unity

We are not in competition with one another, we are on the same team

John’s words are so telling:

“we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.”

This world is often ‘zero-sum’ - Do you know what that means?

In our competitive world it comes natural

It is deeply engrained: A win for you is a loss for me.

Someone gets the role in the play you wanted

Someone gets the starting position you wanted

Someone gets the award you wanted

Some one gets an opportunity that you wanted

Jobs

We see here that this even happens in Churches

If you are a going to that church then you aren’t going to this church

And often we find that churches are just as competitive as the world around us

But that is not the path to greatness

And that is not humility

The road to greatness is not a path we can walk by ourselves

We need to identify those who are on the same team as us—and join them in our shared journey

There is no such thing as a lone-wolf Christian

The path to glory is shared with all who are believers in Christ Jesus

A true marker of this humility is being able to celebrate the success of others

To rejoice with others—especially if it is something you wanted

Right, it doesn’t say it, but I think John here, is a little jealous

He thinks that his group has the monopoly on ministry

He’s not able to celebrate the success of others

This reminds me of a story found in Numbers:

(SLIDES)

Numbers 11:16–17 CSB

16 The Lord answered Moses, “Bring me seventy men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. 17 Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.

Numbers 11:27–29 CSB

27 A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 Joshua son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth, responded, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” 29 But Moses asked him, “Are you jealous on my account? If only all the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would place his Spirit on them!”

We must recognize that we are all on the same team

A win for you means a win for me

Think of sports

How does a team preform if everyone only wants to celebrate their wins?

Elaborate

But those that are great in the kingdom—are team players

They don’t make it all about them

Unity and teamwork is key to way of Greatness in the kingdom

Again humility is not thinking less of yourself, its thinking of yourself less

Everyone hates a ball hog—even the MVP needs a team surrounding them

True humility is thinking of ourselves less, and thinking of our team unity first—we win together; we lose together

Finally,

Sacrifice

(SLIDES)

Mark 9:43–47 CSB

43 “And if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell

Jesus has some pretty harsh words to say here

Jesus talks about hell more than any other person in the Bible

But it’s almost always a warning for believers not a tactic to scare nonbelievers

And here Jesus again is going against the grain of what we think greatness is:

We think it is amassing power and respect—building ourselves up

But here Jesus says: be willing to sacrifice—even the important things, if they are in the way of truly following him

And I think he has a purpose with the body parts he mentions:

Not self-mutilation

(SLIDES)

Hands - What we do

Feet - Where we go

Eyes - What we look at

If your habits—the things you do, cause you stumble

It’s better to cut them off, than have them drag you down

Social Media, Sports, Video Games, Busyness, Gym

If the places you go cause you to stumble

It’s better to cut them off, than have them drag you down

“If you’re an alcoholic, you probably shouldn’t be spending time in the bar”

With our phones and the internet we live in a whole new world—we can go places—without ever leaving our bed

Social Media, Youtube, etc.

Are these causing you to stumble?

And lastly, closely tied to the previous ones, our eyes

If the things you are looking at are causing you to stumble—cut them off

Lust of others, narcissism of self, worries around us

As believers we need a steady and unified vision of Jesus—and need focus on the things that matter

But with all of these things:

Are we willing to sacrifice for the kingdom

The way of greatness is marked by humility

Humility is not thinking less of ourselves; but thinking of ourselves less

Are we willing to sacrifice—because we aren’t focused on ourselves?

I’m thinking less of myself and my desires and more on who Jesus is

And I am happy to cut things out of my life, even good things—if they are coming in between me and Jesus

Conclusion

So I’ll say it again

Jesus is redefining what it means to be great

It is someone who remains humble

Someone marked by:

Service of others

Unity among others

Sacrifice for Jesus

(SLIDES)

Matthew 23:11–12 CSB

11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

It is our job to remain humble

God’s work is lifting us up

The way to greatness isn’t by bare-knuckle willpower

It’s through humbling ourselves

Trampoline/Slingshot

God will reward true humility (in this life or the life to come)

This isn’t just what Jesus has to say; this is how he lived

(SLIDES)

Philippians 2:5–11 CSB

5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God himself, humbled himself for you

Are we willing to humble ourselves for him?

Reflection Questions

How would you define greatness? How do you think Jesus would?

Where might God be calling you to grow in humility?

(Not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less—where are you preoccupied with self?)