Act through Service

Good morning and welcome to another week at the Bridge. I am so glad that we can be gathered here together. I wanted to share with you one of the most powerful experiences from my life that have informed a lot of who i am and how i approach things in life.

One of the best things that i ever did was work in both the food industry and in retail. I remember in high school working at Pizza hut as a cook. I started out making the pizzas. Now of course this was when Pizza hut still had a lot of stores that had dine in. After awhile as a cook i decided to try and wait tables on occasion as well. I have to say waiting tables is always an interesting experience.

I figured out that a good waiter/waitress needs to learn how to read a table. I always remember when i would have a table walk in and i would let them determine how i waited on them. An example for you. A couple would walk in and sit down and I would open with the normal greeting and small talk. It becomes really clear quickly in my opinion when a table wants to talk to you as a waiter. There are people like my father in-law that will spark conversation with you and try to engage you. Than there are other people who just want to talk to the person that is across the table from you.

Both tables want you to take care of their needs and make sure they have a good experience but the way you interact with them is very different.

Then there are the people who come in by themselves. Now i have to admit that i at least had an advantage back then because cell phones aren’t what they are today. Most people who would come in for dinner by themselves would often have a book in their hands.

As a waiter do you think if someone comes in who has a book wants to talk?

Most of the time these people want to read their book and eat a meal and be left alone. I will say i had one or two who might talk with you but most just wanted to be left alone and have their food taken care of.

I was able to usually do pretty well on a night waiting tables. I could walk out of Pizza hut. Pizza hut with anywhere between 75 to 100 dollars for four hours of work. Trust me this wasn’t always easy to do.

Now why i said this was important for me is because it taught me some of the most valuable lessons i ever learned and that is the importance of valuing service and caring about the people you were taking care of.

Now i know Pizza isn’t that important but it puts into perspective the value of good service. I appreciate service even more.

Lets dig into the word this morning.

Mark 9:30–37 NIV

30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. 33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” 36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “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.”

Passion narrative

we begin this mornings passages with first a passion narrative. What is interesting this is not the first but is actually the second of small passion narratives or narratives about the coming Death of Jesus. There is one in 8:27, and 10:32.

This passion narrative was the most direct one though and its easy to see why with statements like this.

Mark 9:31 NIV

31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.”

This passion narrative is setting the stage for the message that Jesus share in the next passage that we are looking at but there are some really important things that we need to acknowledge from this particular section.

First, is the face that this reference to the coming death of Christ does not mention the Jewish leaders but instead...

Hands of Men

This is a powerful statement because it helps us realize that it wasn’t just the Jewish people that Killed Jesus but it was the very nature of our humanity that he was handed over to. The truth is that the hands of men is a dangerous place to be. We have proved this over the years when we look at our past at some of the horrible atrocities that we have done. Even right now with that statement i am willing to bet you are scrolling in your mind some of the horrible things that humans have done that you have learned about or witnessed. the hands of man were so feared that even David talks about this.

2 Samuel 24:14 NIV

14 David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

It is this reminder that Being in the hands of humans is not a safe place. It is a testament to what Jesus did for us on the Cross and it is an important reminder before we dig into the rest of the passage.

Mark 9:32 NIV

32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

Response of the Disciples

The response of the disciples to this is an amazing one to me because they just heard Jesus talk about his coming death and their response is...

Ignorance and Fear

Here is Jesus and he is sharing with them exactly what is going to happen. They didn’t want to understand it what jesus was talking about. They had this diea int heir head that this couldn’t possibly happen. They chose instead to be afraid and remain in their ignorance of the coming days and not dig deeper into what Jesus was telling them. This lead to an another interesting moment as they traveled on the road.

Mark 9:33–37 NIV

33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” 36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “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.”

The Disciples Argument

As they were traveling I can imagine the situation was kind of like Jesus is traveling along and the disciples are hanging back a little bit and talking amongst themselves and they are trying to keep it down because they don’t want him to hear too much but i obviously were load enough that Jesus heard them.

Jesus had to be storing up and remembering this moment and knew that it was going to be a moment that he needed to challenge them on.

Here is Jesus having just shared with them what is going to happen to Him and they are worried about their position when it comes to heaven. It is in this moment that the disciples were clearly not realizing what Jesus was tryign to teach them. This was a moment that the message had to be come clearer.

Mark 9:35 NIV

35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

Jesus calls them Service

The truth of the matter is that our life as followers of Jesus is about service this passage helps demonstrate this very key point. It is the call to submitting ourselves to others and to put the well being of others high in our lives. We know this moment is important also because Jesus establishes this moment of teaching by asking the disciples to sit down. He is establishing his authority as teacher in this moment. This grabs our attention and it helps us to realize that service is something that we should remember. In fact...

Service should be one of the defining characteristics of the Christian life.

This divergent not only o the world the disciples were living in but for our current world as well.

Think about this how often do we look down on people who are in roles that we would consider lower than us. We think that just because someone is working in a restaurant or retail that they aren’t smart or capable of doing more.

I remember this when i was working in retail during my education and people would get snobby or snooty with me because i was a younger person and they thought i was just not capable of understanding or i didn’t have and education. Needless to say i sometimes found ways to show to people that i was educated and capable but i needed to work while i was in school.

Sometimes the jobs and roles that aren’t glamorous are the ones that produce an amazing harvest. I can’t help but think about what jesus does next in this passage to help drive that home.

Mark 9:36–37 NIV

36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “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.”

Jesus Welcomes the child

Jesus brings in this child not to be used as an example of humility for the disciples but to show that we need to be ready to accept those we wouldn’t normally.

Think about it. We often regulate children to others and don’t want to deal with it. This is a common problem in not only the church but the whole world. Children can be viewed as a inconvenience or unimportant. yet, here is Jesus bringing this child into the midst of them and showing that they need to accept them into the very situation and embrace them and welcome them and become servants to the very ones we consider to be less.

Conclusion

We are called to be reminded that this attitude of service is essential and it must not be forgotten in light of what Jesus is about to do for us in the coming chapters as they travel the road to Jerusalem. We need to worry less about where we stand within the standings of heaven and more about how we can help others around us. This is the focus that we need to embrace and this is the attitude we must never forget as Christians.

Let us pray.