The Problem of Ambition

Welcome, Review, and Scripture Reading

Well, good morning, church. Welcome to the Countryside Vineyard. For those that are visiting here today, my name is Bill Vanway. I'm one of the pastors here. My prayer today is to encourage, if not to challenge you with the word of God. Amen. Amen. But first, let me say this. So, last week, Troy was saying, "Have you had a week?" Yep, we had a week. And I just wanted to say before I forgot that how grateful Angie and I were for your cards and gifts yesterday or last week for pastor's appreciation.

Kind of ran out of here because we had some things going on, but we're good now. So, um, just I wanted to make sure that we said thank you. So, thank you guys for all of your blessings. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you. It's It's good to hear. You're welcome. All right. So, last week Ouch. I poked.

Introduction: The Problem of Ambition

So, last week, Joe talked about um Jesus's betrayal and death, meaning Jesus talking about giving himself away. He's talking to the disciples about being uh killed and while while his disciples are thinking or talking about getting ahead or how they place themselves higher on the org chart. And so we'll we'll talk more about that. So Jesus was talking about his uh betrayal and that he was going to be killed and the the disciples are talking about how they can get ahead and um yeah quite the conflict there.

So this week I want to talk about specifically the a problem of ambition. The problem that we have with ambition relative to in this situation relative to the disciples talking about getting ahead. So, if you have Bibles with you today, open them up to Mark 9:33–37. Mark 9:33–37. If you don't have a Bible, there's Bibles in the backs of the chairs. If you don't own a Bible, please accept one of these as a gift from us to you.

Mark 9:33–37. All right. So, as a way of introduction, one author says this. He says, "The disciples on more than one occasion argued over who should hold the highest position in the kingdom." That said, we as people, as a society, have the same need for recognition. We have the same need for position, for authority, for challenge, all of those same things. And there's nothing really wrong with that.

But at times we let those things overwhelm who we are. They overtake us. They um with selfishness and things of that nature. We begin to want more and more and point out the issues that I guess really from a worldly perspective bring us peace or bring us life. James 4:1–3 says this. What causes fights and quarrels among you? What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?

You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want. So you quarrel and you fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives. Let me say that again. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

What Christ sets out to do here is change our lives and re-educate us on what greatness really looks like. I'll say that again. What Christ sets out to do here is to change our lives and redirect our concept of greatness.

1. Ambition Can Cause Disputes and Arguments

Which brings us to our first point here today, which is ambition can cause disputes and arguments. Ambition can cause disputes and arguments. Mark 9:33 says this. They came to Capernaum and when he was in the house he asked them he said what were you arguing about on the road? Remember ambition can cause disputes and arguments. Jesus had returned from Capernaum and along the way there the disciples had been disputing among themselves and they were probably continuing to argue about this very same point when they were in the house.

And I imagine and ask you to imagine as well how Jesus's heart must have been cut to the core. Let me explain that to you. How Jesus's heart must have been cut to the core. Think about it. He had told them about the cross. He was about to stand to face to face with the cross. Yet the disciples are arguing over who should be the greatest. So Jesus asks, "What are you arguing about on the road?"

Listening to What People Are Really Saying

I feel like it I'm going to take like a little break here, like two two sermons in one. But I think at this point we should look at the fact that I think Jesus was actually warning the disciples how important it is to listen to what people are saying to you. Jesus is saying to them a horrible, terrible thing that's going to happen to him in his life.

And all they wanted to do was argue about who is the greatest. Sometimes we I'm not saying you, maybe I'll just say I. Sometimes I'll listen to people, but I don't really hear what it is they're saying. And we move past that. And that causes distress and maybe some concern and maybe some um I don't know, sadness in their hearts because we're not really listening to what it is that they have to say.

2. Ambition Can Shame

And that all leads to the second thing in our outline, which is this. Ambition can shame. Ambition can shame. Mark 9:34 says, "But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest." Ambition can lead us down the hall of shame. The disciples did not mean who would be the greatest in character or who would even but what they were talking about is who would be the greatest in name and position.

They were thinking in terms of power and fame and wealth. They sensed that Jesus was about to set up his kingdom and about to assume his throne. And they were apparently gripped with jealousy and envy, ambition and some rivalry. The fact is they misinterpreted what Jesus's words were saying when he said that he must die and rise again. Apparently they connected the thought of rising from the dead with the setting up of his kingdom and began to argue over the top positions of leadership.

One author says, "Note that the disciples held their peace. They kept quiet and said nothing in response to Jesus. They knew that they had done wrong and were ashamed and embarrassed. Their ambition had led them to quarrel and divide and their ambition shamed them. You get that, right? It's like somebody's telling us something and we get it wrong and now all of a sudden we're like, I should have like known that that that's what he was saying.

And here's this like I feel like this is like this very tender moment that Jesus is having with his disciples to say he's like guys this is what's going to happen this is what's going to go on and you don't don't you sometimes say something to somebody and you expect a certain kind of reaction from them and I don't think Jesus expected them to be arguing about position in that moment

3. Ambition Needs Instruction

which leads to our third thing. Ambition needs instruction. Ambition needs instruction. Mark 9:35 says, "Sitting down, Jesus called the 12 and said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be very last and the servant of all." Let's say that again. Sitting down, Jesus called the 12 and said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all. The third thing is notice that Jesus sat down and called the disciples.

In Jesus's day, if the rabbi was going to teach something that he wanted them to understand, that he wanted them to hear, that he wanted them to pay attention, that he wanted to put an exclamation point on, he would have them sit. The disciples had slipped into a gross error, meaning they must be corrected and taught the truth. Their ambition needed to be instructed and guided in the right direction.

Ambition is fine as long as it's in the right direction. 2 Timothy 2:15–16 says, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.

4. Ambition Must Be Directed Toward Service

To be more specific, fourth thing is ambition must be directed toward the right goal which is to serve. To serve. Mark 9:35 says, "Sitting down, Jesus called the 12 and said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all." Couple points that Jesus is making here is that ambition is a good thing. It's not a bad thing, but it must be directed towards the right goal.

The way to greatness is service. Humble service. I didn't say it. The word of God just told you that anyone who wants to first to be first must be very last and the servant of all. Servant of who? Servant of all. Jesus said we must be the servant of all. That even means, let me shock you for a second. That even means to serve those that you don't necessarily want to serve.

Maybe to serve those that you don't necessarily care for. Maybe to serve those that you're having a dispute with. He says to serve all. If a man wishes to be great, then he must actively seek to serve others. No matter his position or authority, he is to serve. He is to actively work for the sake and the benefit of others. We are to actively work for the sake and benefit of others.

One author says this. He says, "A man's ambition must not be to rule for the sake of holding position and authority and receiving honor from men." In contrast, another author says this. He says, "To be great, a man's ambition must be to use his gifts and abilities to serve others, helping and ministering to them in every way possible. A great man does not build his own prestige.

A great man builds the lives and betters the welfare of others." Romans 12:3 says this, "For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourselves more highly." Kind of like what the disciples were doing. He says, "Then you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith that God has distributed to each of you."

When I read these verses, I think about the fact that, you know, for me, it's like I hate titles. I just hate titles. I just don't like them. Never did like them. I was reading a an article about John Wimber and this was John Wimber's favorite title was he was just a fat man from Missouri trying to get to heaven. So, I mean, seriously, isn't that what we're trying to do?

And and we're able to do that because of the blood of Jesus Christ, because of what Jesus did for us. When Jesus died for us, we were what? Yet sinners. All of us. Every one of us. But yet he died for us. And all of those sins. The sins you had had yesterday, the year before, the tomorrow, the year after, all of those sins are washed away because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.

Right. Okay. Just making sure you're still there. I think there's times in our lives where we gain position or we gain a claim and we at that point think that we're better than this person or better than that person. I I always thought, you know, if you ever played guitar, ever played guitar, you're never going to be as good as you want to be. Ever. There's always going to be somebody out there that's going to be better than you, right?

It Is About Jesus

That's the That's the thing in life is it isn't about being better. It's about Jesus. All of this has to be about Jesus. All of our life has to be about Jesus. You might have seen my crazy van sitting out there that talks about how Jesus is God. Why in the world would somebody put that on their van? Because it's extremely important to me to make sure people know that Jesus is God.

Jesus is God. There's so much rhetoric here in our world today where people talk about and I'll just say it that you know Allah and God are the same God. You know they're not the same God. They're not. Look at their character. One says kill people, behead people, do this thing to women and do that thing to children. And the other God says, "Love them. Care for them.

Bring peace to them, joy to them." That's what we're supposed to do, right? We're supposed to love people and care for people, bring joy to their lives. And ultimately, that joy comes from us introducing to them Jesus Christ. Do you know what amazing thing that is? to give people Jesus. Everybody likes to give good gifts, right? Yeah. Don't you like to see people light up and go, "Oh, I've always wanted that.

You don't know what it's like to give a gift until you've given the gift of Jesus Christ, to give the gift of life to people."

5. Ambition for Service Proves Discipleship

Which leads us to our last thing. Ambition for service proves a person's discipleship. Ambition for service proves a person's discipleship. I just want to point something out like right now. Ambition for service proves a person's discipleship. Week after week after week after week, you are invited to serve in the pantry. You are invited to help with kids ministry, to do this thing or that thing. It says here that ambition for service proves a person's discipleship.

In other words, we shouldn't be going, I am not giving up a Saturday to go sit and give food to people. You've heard that before. Coming out of your own head. I've heard that before. Coming out of my own head. Our ambition for Jesus Christ should come through service. Why do we belong to a church? Why do we have this gathering together? This isn't our mission field in here.

Our mission field is out there. And so we take the things that we've learned in here and we take them out into the street and tell people about Jesus Christ. We serve them. Some of the best I've said this before and it sounds kind of corny, but seriously, if you want to show your neighbors the love of Jesus Christ, take a box of Cheerios and walk across the street and give it to them, right?

Yeah. I mean, dude, we used to walk through Evansdale with a with a wagon full of Doritos and just hand out Doritos to people as they were walking on the street. Because that's what discipleship does. That's what the love of Jesus Christ calls us to do, entices us to do, makes us want to do these things. We used to we used to hand out I think we still have them and I'd be happy to give some to you guys if you want them.

But we used to have these cards that says when you hand something out to somebody the card simply said no joke it's free, right? Because most people think if you give them something there's a cost to giving them that thing. But with Jesus Christ there is no cost. He paid the cost. He paid the price for each and every one of us. We used to have a tent when we'd do the community service out there that'd say free prayer.

And I remember sitting in that tent that said free prayer and people was like really free prayer like it costs. But some people do think it costs that after you've prayed for them that now they owe you something. But they don't, right? We just love on them because we care for them.

Welcoming a Child and Welcoming God

Mark 9:36–37 says this in regards to ambition for service proves a person's discipleship. It says, "He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." Come on. That's got to give you goosebumps.

Did you hear what I just said? Now, welcoming Jesus is welcoming the one who sent him, which is God himself. Right? Does that not make you excited? Does it not make you excited that things that we do, we do not just for ourselves, not just for other people, not just for Jesus, but for God himself. God. The God that spoke the stars into the heavens. The God that put breath into your lungs.

The God that lets you wake up every day and serve him. That's the God. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but the one who sent me. I'm just going to say that all day long. Right? Whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but the one who sent me.

The Qualities of a Servant

The story of this little child illustrates Jesus's point. The very qualities necessary to receive a child are the qualities that are to characterize our lives. Our proof of service, our proof of discipleship. The very qualities necessary to receive a child are the qualities that are characterize that characterizes our lives. Our proof of service, our proof of discipleship. I don't know anybody. Maybe it's a grandpa thing, but it's like ever since I I took on the grandpa role, hugging a child is so much more.

There's so much more of a blessing there, right? And that's what he's talking about. That's why he's using this child as an illustration. That's how, guys, hear me. the love and care that you have when you're hugging a child, right? That thing that takes all of the air out of your lungs, that makes your heart skip a beat or two. That very feeling that you're having, that's the feeling.

That's who we are as disciples of Jesus Christ. that person that you see in the street and you just got this unction to give them a hug. That's the hug that you give to them. He's saying that discipleship requires and I'll just mention a few things here. Receiving a child requires humility. Requires humility. Many consider a child useless and unable to contribute. But a child requires and teaches us the spirit of love.

A child teaches us how to care and how to forgive, how to be courageous and how to trust. On and on we learn these simple things from a child. A person who serves a child must be humble. A person who calls themselves a disciple of Jesus Christ must be humble. Another thing is receiving a child requires courage. Child's a great responsibility. Amen. Okay, I'll say that again.

A child requires a great responsibility. Amen. Amen. You have a great responsibility as well as a disciple of Jesus Christ to take care of his people here on earth. Hear me say that you have a great responsibility. You weren't here I mean typically let me just say this. You weren't here to do the things that you think are cool. You are here for far much more than that and that requires courage.

Person who serves must be courageous. Discipleship takes courage. Receiving a child requires faith and it requires trust. A person has to believe the child will respond and learn and not rebel and reject. The person who serves a child must believe and trust you. You people, my brothers and my sisters, my family here in church, you must believe that that trust that you're giving them, the faith that you're giving them that what that you're giving all of these things rather in faith in trust.

So they feel that so they understand that that it's not just a you know you can h you can hug we you can hug a person like this sorry Mary you can go hug that's not the hug Jesus wants to give you that's not the hug he wants you to give someone else stand up hug listen we have we have a a church member who's not here currently.

So, otherwise I was going to pick on her. But Shelly, we all know Shelley Stutter. So, when Shelley would hug you, she she like wouldn't let go of you. Right. Right. Right. And then you'd kind of look at her and she goes, "Well, a hug takes two minutes to really be a hug." And you're like, "Okay, I learned that from her." Yeah. Hear me say that. I learned that from her.

I mean, it's easy to hug my wife for two minutes for crying out loud. That's an easy thing. But listen, somebody that's down and out, somebody that's feeling pain, somebody that that that doesn't trust to hug even, they might be squirming to get away from you, but you just hold on to them and say Jesus loves you, right? Or not. What I'm saying here is that like a child has faith in you, has trust in you.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ, people should have faith in you. They should have trust in you, right? Don't betray that trust. A child requires patience and endurance. And all of everybody said, "Amen." A child requires patience and endurance. And you, my friends, need to have patience. And you need to accept endurance when you're dealing with being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Because sometimes, just like I was showing you with Mary, sometimes a hug is just a squeeze on the shoulder.

But later in life, if you endure and have patience with that person, that hug becomes a greater thing. There becomes a connection there. Have you ever felt that? Have you ever hugged somebody and it's just like ah hug, right? And then another time you'll hug them and it's like, whoa, that this is a good hug. Thank you. Right? Encouragement comes from those types of things. And as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you are called to encourage people.

Right? People say that about prophetic things, but they think like like prophets are the ones that read your book and they're going to tell all the bad things about you. But really, prophecy becomes an encouragement. Should be an encouragement. They should be encouraging you. And we as disciples of Jesus Christ should be encouraging other people. Right.

A Call to Encourage, Forgive, and Receive Others

Sometimes I've talked to Joe about this a gazillion times. Sometimes you just feel like when you're speaking up here that you you just don't get it. You just don't get it. So I was thinking about that. I was thinking today I'm going to get it. I'm going to get it. I'm going to get that you get it. Okay. So this is what you're going to do. You're going to find somebody.

look to your neighbor, somebody, and you're going to just give them a Jesus Christ hug in Jesus' name. Amen. Please stand and do that for just a second. Oh my gosh. Oh, thank you so much. What the heck? What the heck? Thank you. Love you. God bless you. He's tall. He's tall, right? All right, go ahead and grab a seat and we'll we'll finish up here. Probably wasn't a great thing, was it Merlene?

So sometimes, sometimes, let me make this clear. Sometimes you might give somebody a hug and that might be the most painful thing that they experienced in their entire life, which I look here at Merlene and I know that she has this shoulder that is kind of jacked up. So, let's pray for her. Can we? So, Jesus, you just come Father, in a spirit of joy and love, we've expressed here today what it is that you've called us to do.

And so, Lord, we don't want this to be a painful thing. So, we want her healed, Jesus. We want you to reach down with your loving hand and bless her in this very moment, Lord, that she would relax the tension that's in her body right now from the pain that she's feeling. and that you would come and give her peace. It's that peace that surpasses all understanding.

It's that peace that shows a person, Jesus, the love that you have for them. That Lord, you just want to rip their heart wide open. That it would have all the calluses taken off from it and all the blessings would be received. Jesus, let your Holy Spirit come in this moment. Let your Holy Spirit be in this moment. Father, your spirit, Jesus, invades every area of Merlene's body.

Heal those areas, Jesus. Take the pain away. Take the suffering away. I speak joy. I speak happiness. I speak healing. Your word says, Lord, and we believe what your word says. Your word says that in the name of Jesus Christ, every knee will bow. Every knee, that's just not a physical knee, Lord. That's every knee. Everything bows to the name of Jesus Christ. So, pain, bow to your Lord.

Bow to your King. Bow in Jesus' name. More of you, Lord. More of you. Jesus. Better in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So, the cool thing I So, I get to sit stand up here and watch and you you would not have believed the the differences in hugs that I got to see. It was awesome. Some were fights. Some Some were like, "Oh, get away from me." Some were extremely like just I didn't even know the word.

just mushed into each other because of the love that Jesus showed in that moment. That's who we are. That's what we do. If you haven't hugged somebody, I want you to think of somebody right now. I want you to think of somebody in your mind that goes, "Man, that person sure needs a hug." Right? And you know what I mean by that. Yeah, that person sure needs a hug.

I want you to commit today. I want you to have the courage in this moment to go to that person. today. If you have to drive across town, that's okay. But today, go and love YOU if you only knew what that was all about. And I'm not going to tell you. Thank you, Troy. So listen, I forgot what I was even doing now. Okay, so we must be done.

But but here's the thing, guys. In that hug, I wanted to just close like this with a big kimp with the drums. I want to close by saying this, and we can have the worship team come up, but I want to close by saying this. Receiving a child requires forgiveness. The person that I asked you to think about could perhaps be that person that you need to forgive.

Maybe it's an attitude that they have been displaying over the course of many, many years. Maybe it's an attitude that they just took on a moment ago. Maybe it's something that they did to you. Maybe it's something they didn't do for you. Any whatever those circumstances are, I encourage you today to hug that person and forgive them in that hug. Listen, they don't have to forgive you back, right?

You're taking that off from you. What they do with it is up to them. But I think the thing that we understand is all of these things. Think about what we we just talked for 20 minutes about the blessing of what a child is to us. I want you to think about that. I want you to think about that as you enter into the world today.

Closing Summary and Prayer

Jesus was teaching that a child has needs. And the same is true for society or the people we walk past every day or the people that we walk with every day. The point is all men have needs. Just as we receive a little child, so we must receive all men. Just as we s receive and treat a little child, so we must serve and treat all men with humility, with courage, faith, and trust, patience, and endurance, and forgiveness.

Matthew 25:34–36 says this. Then the king will say to those on his right, enter you who are blessed by my father. Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why. I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was homeless and you gave me a room. I was shivering and you gave me clothes.

I was sick and you stopped to visit. I was in prison and you came to me. There it is. That's who we are as disciples of Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. Lord, forgive us for praying in a way that is just blind. Help us, Lord, to pray in a way that sees the very need in the person that we're praying for.

Jesus, open up our hearts and our minds to receive and declare your goodness to this entire world, to everything and everyone around. Lord, how dare we walk by someone and not give them the goodness of Jesus Christ. Father, let that be something that drives us each and every day as we present you, the living God, Yeshua, the living God, Yeshua. Come papa to your children even now.

Give them direction. Give them courage. But most of all, give them your peace that surpasses all understanding in Jesus' precious name. And all of God's children said, "Amen." Amen.

Ministry Invitation

All right. Right. So, we're going to worship for a little bit. You're free to stay here, here, here, here, here. Don't Don't just jump up and run away. Hang on just a minute. You're free to hang out and worship, but I would more encourage you to use the spirit that is in you and look at the people around you and see what they need from a prayer perspective.

Somebody should be back there praying for Cindy in this moment, right? Cindy can use some prayer. Anybody else feel like they need some prayer for some specific things? Raise your hand. Let people come to you. Um, don't be afraid. If you need prayer, tell somebody. Do not leave this place. You know, we thought, here's the thing. Let me show tell you this. Last week, we were praying.

Or was it the week before? Anyway, couple weeks ago, we were praying right here. And as we were praying for Stacy, and as we were praying for Stacy, we found out that there was five other people in our midst that needed prayer, too. They didn't get up to ask for prayer. You need to get up and ask for prayer. That's who we are. That's what we do.

In Jesus' name, you are free to go. Amen.