The Confusing Christ - Mark 9:30-37

OPEN - Fitted sheet. Instructed over and over… Same instructions, over and over

Discipleship - a recurring theme, and it will be until He returns. Get used to it :)

Aspects of Growing Discipleship

READ: Mark 9: 30-37

1) Built on Foundation of Truth

Opening part of this passage: Melancholy

Jesus is passing through Galilee, his home area, on His way to Jerusalem, He’ll never return here the same way again. Bigger picture now.

Instead of focusing on His personal feeling, He goes to TRUTH

He will suffer, die, be buried, rise again!

Many opposed to the truth then…and now

“Son of Man to be betrayed” - He spoke Aramaic, the word use is clear. This is not specifically about Judas - this is about humanity

The enemy of Christ is sinful humanity

And God’s will, His plan, was for Jesus, the Christ, to die for all humanity.

Human responsibility, our responsibility - NOT betray Him, but trust Him

Teaching is important to Jesus - teaching disciples, especially the Passion, to understand truth, to know what would yet be to come.

Jesus must teach His disciples

But again, they cannot grasp it, they are afraid, the word used is more like “ignorant”

And these are the ones, HAND-PICKED, closest to Him, most likely to “get it,” and they don’t

QUESTION: How many of us truly understand and believe? We are to be the ones who are most likely to “get it!”

If you read the beginning of Mark 9 - Transfiguration - Peter, James and John saw the transfiguration, Jesus in His amazing glory!

That’s pretty special company (Moses and Elijah showed up, too)

Yet Jesus focuses on the foundation - truth

That to follow Him would mean to take up your cross - FULLY SURRENDER in a life of sacrifice and service - TRUTH

2) True Discipleship is Formed - Attitude

POINT - Attitude first, mindset, THEN discipleship

Attitude is a heart issue, and attitude is at the heart of discipleship problem.

The disciples are afraid to ask questions here - maybe they recall the recent rebuke of Peter?

Jesus deals with the dullness of the disciples - as they feared questioning

They feared, so they turned to self, preoccupations that seemed to fit them

Let’s talk about it, the importance of attitude and discipleship

Contrast: Jesus’ humility with the disciples’ desire for recognition, prominence

Attitude: “What’s in it for me?” “Give me some good reasons to be a disciple, I mean, becasue if I don’t get what I want, is it worth it?”

They had a hard time understanding. Do we?

Jesus: Count the cost of dicsipleship

Them: Count the assets, the value, personal

Jesus: Be disciples, count the cost to follow, and then follow

He WILL allow you to reject Him, betray Him, to not follow Him

REM - we know what’s coming (Good Friday, etc.) - Jesus is stressing the imporatnce of recognizing what is happening, and responding with surrender to Him.

POINT - How much difference is there between the 12 and His opponents?

POINT - How much difference is there between us and His opponents

Attitude, priorities, mindset, values, importance

They were preoccupied with rank

OK, I mean, they are hangin out with Messiah, the Christ

“He’s gonna win, right?” YES, just in a way different than they expect

So…if He’s not talking then about His triumphant military victory, what does He expect of the 12, His followers, anyone who calls himself/herself a “disciple.”

3) Humble Service

REM - WE know what’s coming (Jesus’ return) - Jesus is stressing the importance of recognizing what is happening, and responding with surrender to Him.

POINT - Be great in the things that matter to God - GIVING

Best way to give? HUMBLE SERVICE

Be a servant, humble, a slave, a child - diakonos is the word

Culture: But how can you be “happy” if you have to serve?

Jesus: Love/serve one another - experience joy

Illustration of a child - There was no sentimentality for children, they could not afford to be sentimental to them

Very high infant mortality rate, great demand for child labor

A child is a great illustration of the “very least”

Again…Jesus spoke Aramaic, a common language to people: the same word means child and servant

a symbol of helplessness, vulnerability

“Be humble, like a child” - Children were humble, and they were humbled, they were pretty much property

Jesus received the lowly, the humble, the vulnerable

So should we. We “receive” others, by our service, (and always include the Gospel.)

POINT here is not to be like children, but to be like Jesus who served and embraced those needing Jesus, the “least of mine.” Humble followers of Jesus should serve and love humble followers of Jesus!

Jesus died for all humanity, including some “undesirable”. Our task is to reach the lost, disciple them, and serve them and serve with them.

When we serve each other - humbly - and not seek our own prominence or reward here and now, we serve Jesus, we serve God!

Humbly serve, and let God reward later.

“In Jesus Name” - we serve this way

REM - Peter and John went to pray (Acts) - meet a beggar who cannot walk

“In the name of Jesus rise up and walk”

We serve, make disciples, help people grow spiritually, in the name of Jesus

Humbly serving, and then excitedly, unashamedly, pointing to Christ as the foundation and the reason.

It frustrates Jesus that they don’t get it

In the Kingdom, values are reversed - as God defines them

Here - self is key, make a name for yourself

Heaven - service, serve others - THE ultimate Servant is there.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven

God’s will is for us to serve, as Jesus Himself served

SURRENDERED LIFE TO HIM!

CLOSE

God knows the heart

When we serve each other humbly, not seeking our own elevated status, then we serve Jesus, we serve God, we serve YAHWEH! Then we are like Him!

REM - WE know what’s coming (Jesus’ return) - Do we understand? Do WE believe? How often do we need to hear it to “get it.”

Actually, we need to “get it” before we can “live it” - Starts with salvation

And once you start “living it” you will “get it” more and more. You will know the value of faithful, surrendered service, not needing reward now

Jesus is stressing the importance of recognizing what has been done, what is happening in the world, and responding with surrender to Him.

Humbly serving, “in Jesus name”, and then excitedly, unashamedly, pointing to Christ as the foundation and the reason.

And when people see you, know you and your service, tell them it’s in Jesus’ name.