Humility

Bible Passage: Mark 9:30-41

INTRO

“Soma Church exists to love the body of Christ and equip them to do the work of ministry here, near and far, all for the glory of God.”

The topic that we are going to cover this morning is one of the most important things that we will ever discuss in church.

This is because what we will be talking about today is not only essential for entry into the kingdom of God but also life within the kingdom of God.

But before we dive in I wanna tell you a little bit about someone who was very dear to me.

My grandfather Charles Courtney Bartig or As I called him, Grampy, passed away about 4 Christmases ago and he left behind quite a mark on our family.

Aside from his success as a career educator, being a phenomenal artist and the most infectious laugh you have ever heard there are two things that I remember most about Grampy.

First is His passionate love for Jesus. And from this love for our Savior came an uncanny ability to make everyone around feel like they were the most important person in His life.

Grampy truly had the gift of encouragement and service.

You needed a drink, He is already up before you can finish expressing your thirst.

Every time you were with him and spoke of something you wanted he would slip you a 20 on your way out to support the cause.

Every Sunday without fail my dad and I would both receive a phone call from Grampy for no other reason than to tell us that we did an amazing job preaching and leading worship.

And Grampy truly took to heart Proverbs 12:4 “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband… because he loved my grandmother like his life depended on it.

If I could sum up all of these examples into one statement, it would be this… Grampy embodied true humility.

He was highly successful, extremely talented but his life was marked more by elevating and celebrating Jesus and others over himself.

And humility is what I stated earlier as being one of the most important things that we could discuss as a body.

A definition of humility that I think is helpful to frame our time together is this… Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking about yourself less.

As we dive into God’s word today, we are going to see Jesus teach us and model for us what true humility looks like and how it impacts those around us.

And as we do I want you to chew on this question… How often do your actions serve only to benefit someone other than yourself?

BODY

Last week we left off with Jesus teaching healing a demon possessed by and teaching those around Him about the nature of true faith.

Faith is not about quantity but quality. Jesus being the object of our faith makes it a faith that is worth having.

And today we pick back up in Mark 9:30

Mark 9:30 ESV

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know,

If you remember, we have watched Jesus transition His ministry from being very public and driven by large crowds, miracles and teachings to being more focused on the training of His 12 disciples.

This is likely why He didn’t want people know His location and will be an important filter for the rest of the story today.

Mark 9:31 ESV

for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”

This is now the second time that Jesus has told His disciples very explicitly that He will be delivered up to die.

And the disciples are perplexed as you can imagine.

For starters, it isn’t very often that you have someone calling the shot on their own death.

And to make it personal for these guys, the talk of their rabbi who they believe to be their messiah who is going to free them from Roman rule and ride establish a mighty throne is terrifying for them.

These men are nothing special in societal standards. Frankly, they are a hodgepodge group of nobody’s but they are following the most famous rabbi to ever live. If Jesus goes away then so does their status.

It is easier to ignore what Jesus said and move on rather than ask and have to deal with His answer.

Mark 9:33–34 ESV

And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

Arriving back at their home base of Capernaum, Jesus inquires of the 12 what they were talking about and it says that they were silent.

They were silent because they knew Jesus wouldn’t approve of what they were saying.

Anybody remember saying something dumb as a child and your parent asking”What did you just say?” The only right thing to do is get real quiet.

They were discussing who the greatest was in their group.

Oh how quickly pride can take over our lives. Just a few short years prior these men are nobody’s on the bottom of the societal totem pole and now they wanna know which of them is the best.

Makes me wonder though, how often do we walk into rooms and situations and silently think the same thing?

We survey the social landscape to divide people into classes and see who is wirhty of our time and attention. Or who can we talk to that would make us look or feel better?

These men are walking with the definition of humility every day and still caught up in themselves.

And Jesus is sure to address this head on.

English Standard Version Chapter 9

And he sat down

Jesus takes on the posture of a teacher and pulls in their attention…

Mark 9:35–37 ESV

And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Jesus flips their whole perspective of what greatness looks like with a huge paradigm shift.

He says, in order to be great in my Kingdom you will be a servant. It is the servants that are great, not the rulers.

And He uses a child to drive him his point.

Serving kids in this day was nothing glorious as children were not considered significant socially but this further drives home Jesus’ point

Jesus says that to receive what He has for you (salvation) looks a lot more like taking in a child. It looks a lot more like caring for those we would call the least of these.

You see, the Kingdom that Jesus has brought with Him is upside down. Its a kingdom where the rulers serve their people from the bottom and the marginalized are elevated to the top.

This is the Kingdom where the King washes feet like a slave boy and leaders give their clothes to peasants.

Jesus says “You wanna be the greatest in my Kingdom? Then try being least.”

Ya know, some of yall are so concerned with being great and working hard to make a name for yourself, to build wealth or to leave a legacy. When was the last time you pursued this by doing something that gives you no recognition from anyone but God?

Would you still do the things that you do if no one ever noticed again?

Leaders eat last

What if all of us were always looking to join the back of the line instead of pushing our way to the front?

It seems like John (the disciples whom Jesus loved) is really starting to kick himself for his foolishness so he tries to to make it up to Jesus starting verse 38

Mark 9:38–41 ESV

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

In the spirit of humility, John is sure to tell Jesus that they asked somebody to stop doing things in his name.

But notice what he said at the end of verse 38 "he was not following us"

John, trying to right his wrongs still doesn't get it. Jesus wants people doing ministry and his name and furthermore people are not following Jesus and the 12 they are following Jesus.

So Jesus says if anyone is doing ministry in our name, let them because recognition of Jesus's power and authority is the first step to them and others stepping into their eternity.

Ya know we have talked a lot about the fact that the disciples just don’t seem to grasp what Jesus is doing and saying right in front of them.

And this story is yet another example of that.

When you really think about it, the placement of the 12 discussing their greatness is pretty interesting because what did Jesus do right before that?

Foretold of His own death. The ultimate act of humility. Laying down His own life for the elevation of others who by the way don’t deserve it.

Jesus is showing them what the standard is for humility. It is to give everything for the sake of others.

Philippians 2:6–11 ESV

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

BODY

Jesus is your model for what it means to be humble and give of yourself.

It is the humility of Christ that has given you the ability to have new life and now He calls us as His followers to embody this.

Grampy Vacuum story

What does humilty look like for you this week?

Do you need to humble yourself in front of a savior who loves you and died for you?

How can you elevate and celebrate those around you this week the same way Jesus does for you?

PRAY