True Greatness: Defining Spiritual Leadership in Terms of Selfless Service - HB Charles Jr.
00:00:00.000 | It's a joy to be with you this afternoon.
00:00:07.440 | My assignment for this hour is to speak on true greatness, defining spiritual leadership
00:00:17.040 | in terms of selfless service.
00:00:20.120 | I want to do so by asking you to turn with me to Mark chapter 9, and I want us to meditate
00:00:32.560 | on a section of Mark 9 as we consider this subject this afternoon.
00:00:40.680 | Mark chapter 9, I want you to note with me verse 30 through verse 37, "They went on from
00:00:54.960 | there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know, for He was teaching
00:01:04.120 | His disciples, saying to them, 'The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands
00:01:11.760 | of men, and they will kill Him.
00:01:16.880 | When He is killed, after three days He will rise.'
00:01:23.520 | But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask Him.
00:01:30.480 | And they came to Capernaum, and when He was in the house, He asked them, 'What were you
00:01:37.240 | discussing on the way?'
00:01:40.980 | They kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the
00:01:47.240 | greatest.
00:01:49.560 | He sat down and called the twelve, and He said to them, 'If anyone would be first,
00:01:57.680 | he must be last of all and servant of all.'
00:02:04.480 | And He took a child and put Him in the midst of them, and taking Him in His arms, He said
00:02:10.680 | to them, 'Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives
00:02:18.840 | Me receives not Me, but Him who sent Me.
00:02:25.720 | I am the Son of Man.'"
00:02:31.360 | 7.51 a.m. on a Friday, June 12, 2007, a man in jeans, a t-shirt, and a ball cap arrived
00:02:49.120 | at the Washington, D.C. metro platform and played his violin there for 43 minutes.
00:03:02.840 | During that time, 1,097 people passed by, most on their way to work.
00:03:14.260 | Forty-seven people stopped to listen.
00:03:21.800 | Over those 43 minutes, 20 people tossed in a total of $32 in the open violin case that
00:03:31.160 | sat at his feet.
00:03:35.200 | That subway fiddler was the world-renowned and Grammy-winning musician Joshua Bell.
00:03:46.820 | On a violin worth $3.5 million, Bell played six of the most intricate classical pieces
00:03:59.600 | ever written for the violin.
00:04:03.380 | Two days prior, he performed a sold-out theater show in Boston, where the average seat cost
00:04:11.180 | $100.
00:04:15.540 | Bell's stunt that day was a social experiment sponsored and organized by the Washington
00:04:21.900 | Post.
00:04:24.260 | The experiment proved its point.
00:04:29.800 | The average person doesn't recognize true greatness when it's in their midst.
00:04:40.540 | Unfortunately, the same can be said of too many of us pastor-teachers.
00:04:49.900 | Mark chapter 9, verses 30 through 37 is a divinely inspired social experiment.
00:04:56.580 | The platform for this experiment is a journey through Galilee.
00:05:03.700 | Jesus and His disciples were on the opening leg of His final journey.
00:05:11.180 | This slow and long journey would ultimately end in Jerusalem, where Jesus would be betrayed,
00:05:22.020 | arrested, condemned, crucified, and buried.
00:05:30.140 | The previous verses of Mark 9 that lead up to our text record miraculous events.
00:05:39.740 | The chapter begins with the glorious transfiguration of Jesus, where His divine nature shined through
00:05:49.140 | His human flesh.
00:05:53.140 | And when Jesus descended from the mount of transfiguration, He healed a boy that was
00:05:58.420 | possessed by a demon that caused him suicidal seizures.
00:06:04.620 | But when you get to our text, there are no miraculous events recorded, only conversations
00:06:13.520 | between Jesus and the disciples.
00:06:17.580 | First, Jesus predicts His crucifixion and His resurrection.
00:06:24.440 | Then the disciples, as they travel, argue with one another about who is the greatest.
00:06:33.080 | And finally, Jesus teaches them what true greatness looks like.
00:06:40.840 | The beginning of our text, the greatest person who ever lived announced that He would make
00:06:48.980 | the greatest sacrifice ever offered, but His closest followers did not understand what
00:06:58.740 | He was talking about.
00:07:00.740 | There's a sense in which they didn't want to understand.
00:07:06.460 | The disciples no doubt believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah King, but they had
00:07:13.860 | wrong expectations about what the Messiah King would accomplish.
00:07:19.380 | They were expecting military conquest, political revolution, and economic prosperity for Israel.
00:07:28.760 | And of course, as His closest followers, the disciples expected top cabinet positions when
00:07:35.920 | these great things occurred.
00:07:40.360 | Being in the proximity of greatness would make them great, so they thought.
00:07:50.320 | But none of this could be accomplished if Jesus was going to be delivered into the hands
00:07:54.940 | of men and killed.
00:07:56.560 | And so, even as Jesus predicted these things would take place, the disciples literally
00:08:01.960 | blocked out of their mind the notion that any of this would come to pass.
00:08:08.120 | Here in our text, we feel the tension between the theology of the cross and the theology
00:08:15.120 | of glory.
00:08:17.860 | In the theology of the cross, there is glory through suffering.
00:08:24.880 | But in the theology of glory, there is glory without suffering.
00:08:31.080 | This is what the disciples wanted and expected.
00:08:34.880 | In the parallel, Matthew 18 verse 1 says, "At that time, the disciples came to Jesus
00:08:41.520 | saying, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?'"
00:08:48.780 | This worldly question, unfortunately, often raises its ugly head among the disciples of
00:08:56.840 | Jesus today, including spiritual leaders.
00:09:04.480 | R.C.
00:09:05.480 | Sproul wrote, "It seems that great is not good enough for us.
00:09:09.640 | We want to be determined to be the best of the best."
00:09:13.840 | And we fail to recognize that the person in the front of the line is not necessarily the
00:09:22.840 | most important person in the line.
00:09:27.540 | And so because we confuse prominence with significance, too many pastors are driven,
00:09:35.560 | prideful, frustrated, discouraged, burned out by a futile pursuit of so-called greatness.
00:09:50.040 | We ask the question of greatness with the wrong motives, and we accept the wrong answers
00:09:57.040 | to the question of greatness.
00:10:00.440 | But in our text, Jesus answers the question of greatness once and for all.
00:10:08.440 | His answer is countercultural.
00:10:10.440 | In fact, it would be better to say that His answer is supracultural.
00:10:19.680 | Very simply, here Jesus teaches us, brothers, that as Christians, we descend into greatness.
00:10:36.840 | J.C.
00:10:37.840 | Ryle commenting here said that this fact is recorded for our learning.
00:10:43.400 | The Holy Ghost has caused it to be written down for the perpetual use of Christ's church.
00:10:49.600 | Let us take care that it was not written in vain.
00:10:56.560 | So the question on the table this afternoon, brothers, is this, "What is true greatness?"
00:11:02.040 | And I just want to walk you through Mark chapter 9, verses 30 through 37, and here I want you
00:11:09.120 | to see two characteristics of true greatness as Jesus defines it.
00:11:17.520 | First, true greatness suffers.
00:11:26.840 | True greatness suffers.
00:11:32.960 | Verse 30 says, "They went on from there and passed through Galilee."
00:11:42.040 | The publicity surrounding the healing of the demon-possessed boy made it impossible for
00:11:48.600 | Jesus to remain where He was.
00:11:52.440 | So Jesus and the disciples passed through Galilee.
00:11:58.440 | There is a sense in which this marks the end of the public ministry of Jesus, as Mark will
00:12:04.040 | tell the story.
00:12:07.100 | Without a doubt here, it is clear He is no longer focused on the people of Israel.
00:12:11.520 | It is now His priority to teach His disciples in preparation for the things that will come.
00:12:20.300 | And this is what you find in verses 30 through 32.
00:12:25.280 | Jesus is teaching His disciples.
00:12:30.320 | Notice three aspects of the lesson He teaches them.
00:12:37.060 | It is, first of all, a private lesson.
00:12:41.600 | Verse 30 says that He did not want anyone to know.
00:12:48.960 | Don't miss the magnitude of that subtle statement.
00:12:51.120 | It is a reminder that Jesus is not as impressed with crowds as we are.
00:12:59.680 | Sure, Jesus loved people, but He did not need the affirmation of people to validate Him.
00:13:11.780 | Jesus was wise enough to know that catering to crowds can shift the priority of the mission.
00:13:19.060 | And so He passed through Galilee inconspicuously, not wanting anyone to know.
00:13:30.400 | The text tells us why at the top of verse 31, "For He was teaching His disciples."
00:13:36.720 | At this point, there were still many needs to meet, many bodies to heal, many demons
00:13:45.640 | to exercise, but Jesus had more important work to do.
00:13:52.280 | His time on earth was coming to an end, and that time left must be used strategically
00:13:57.640 | if His kingdom work was to continue after His departure.
00:14:03.120 | So Jesus prioritized private time with His disciples to teach them.
00:14:12.760 | He still does.
00:14:18.640 | Brothers, Jesus wants to spend private time with you.
00:14:29.680 | Mark it down, crowds, noise, and hurry will short-circuit your spiritual effectiveness.
00:14:42.840 | Crowds, noise, and hurry will short-circuit your spiritual effectiveness, your spiritual
00:14:51.880 | devotion, your spiritual maturity to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
00:14:57.600 | You've got to learn how to get alone, quiet the noise, and slow down to be with Jesus.
00:15:07.040 | What life lessons are you missing because you are not spending time alone with Jesus?
00:15:18.520 | A couple of years ago, I was in the car with a pastor friend.
00:15:26.000 | It mentioned that he attended a conference that I wanted to attend and was not able to,
00:15:31.420 | and I was asking him about the event, asked him who spoke.
00:15:37.160 | He mentioned the name of a pastor that I had heard of but had never heard speak before,
00:15:43.320 | and I asked him, "Is he a strong preacher?"
00:15:48.440 | "Absolutely," my friend replied.
00:15:52.800 | He says, "And as he's preaching, it's obvious that he's been with Jesus."
00:16:05.320 | What a great statement.
00:16:08.360 | I didn't ask any more questions, I couldn't.
00:16:12.880 | I just felt the weight of that answer.
00:16:14.560 | Of course, you know this as a reference to Acts chapter 4, verse 13, where in the midst
00:16:19.920 | of persecution, the authorities recognized that these untrained Galileans had been with
00:16:27.160 | Jesus.
00:16:32.240 | The same should be said of every pastor teacher.
00:16:37.240 | It should be evident in your private life and your public ministry that you have been
00:16:42.560 | with Jesus.
00:16:45.720 | So in the text, we see a private lesson, and then secondly, a prophetic lesson.
00:16:53.320 | Verse 31 says, "He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, 'The Son of Man is going to
00:17:02.640 | be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.
00:17:06.240 | And when He is killed, after three days, He will rise.'"
00:17:15.960 | This is the second of three times in Mark's gospel Jesus predicted to His disciples His
00:17:22.160 | crucifixion and His resurrection that is to come.
00:17:29.040 | Listen to the language here, "Jesus would be delivered into the hands of men."
00:17:40.240 | What a thought!
00:17:43.080 | The one that they had been with and watched Him steal the seeds, cast out demons, and
00:17:49.200 | heal the sick would be delivered into the hands of men.
00:17:54.160 | He would be delivered into the hands of men by the betrayal of Judas.
00:18:00.780 | Moreover, He would be delivered into the hands of men by the divine plan of God the Father.
00:18:12.280 | Acts chapter 2 verse 23, Peter will say, "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite
00:18:20.480 | plan and foreknowledge of God, You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men."
00:18:31.320 | That's the historical truth of it.
00:18:34.440 | Romans 4:25 states the theological truth of it.
00:18:37.920 | He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
00:18:46.480 | Jesus would be delivered into the hands of men, and then they would kill Him.
00:18:57.620 | He doesn't merely say He's going to die, He says He will be killed.
00:19:06.520 | He says it twice here.
00:19:09.080 | The double use of "kill" emphasizes the violent nature of His death.
00:19:14.160 | It was cruel and unusual punishment for a righteous man who had done no wrong.
00:19:26.720 | Isaiah tells us, though, He was wounded for our transgressions.
00:19:34.880 | He was bruised for our iniquity.
00:19:36.560 | The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.
00:19:42.440 | Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.
00:19:47.720 | We have turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us
00:19:54.120 | all.
00:19:57.800 | Jesus declared to them what was to come when they arrived in Jerusalem.
00:20:03.200 | He would be delivered into the hands of men, and they would kill Him.
00:20:09.120 | But thanks be to God, brothers, that's not the end of the story.
00:20:16.080 | Jesus says, "And when He is killed, after three days He will rise."
00:20:27.720 | No one survived a Roman crucifixion, but Jesus would die on the cross and yet live to tell
00:20:40.620 | about it.
00:20:45.380 | Not just that, He foretold it before it ever happened.
00:20:50.680 | He would rise from the dead by divine might and power and authority, and not only did
00:20:58.000 | Jesus predict His resurrection, He predicted when it would happen.
00:21:03.780 | After three days, He will rise again.
00:21:13.180 | Jesus is sovereign over the worst that could happen, death itself.
00:21:19.820 | And so, after this prophetic lesson, would you note thirdly here in this first section
00:21:28.480 | that Jesus gives them a private lesson, a prophetic lesson, and then a perplexing lesson.
00:21:39.420 | Verse 32 says, "They did not understand what He was saying and were too afraid to ask."
00:21:49.700 | The disciples' messianic expectations had no place for crucifixion.
00:21:56.100 | How could one who came to restore Israel die before that happened?
00:22:05.300 | And resurrection was even more perplexing to them than crucifixion.
00:22:11.300 | The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, and the rest of the Jews believed that there
00:22:15.700 | would be a general resurrection on the day of the Lord.
00:22:19.100 | They did not have a category for a person rising from the dead after he died.
00:22:26.300 | And they didn't understand what Jesus was talking about, even though this is the second
00:22:31.260 | time He predicts His crucifixion and His resurrection.
00:22:37.780 | The disciples did not understand, but they were afraid to ask.
00:22:45.860 | Go to Acts chapter 8 after the great confession, in verses 27 through 30.
00:23:00.980 | After that great confession, Jesus gives His first prediction that He would die and rise
00:23:11.060 | from the dead.
00:23:13.060 | In Mark chapter 8, verse 32 and 33 says, "And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
00:23:21.220 | But turning and seeing the disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind Me, Satan!
00:23:29.460 | For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.'"
00:23:38.580 | And so, maybe they were afraid to ask because they didn't want to be called Satan.
00:23:48.660 | Or perhaps at this point they were afraid to ask because they understood enough to know
00:23:54.900 | that they didn't want to learn more.
00:24:03.900 | Consider these next two sentences very carefully, brothers.
00:24:09.620 | Self-centeredness avoids the cross.
00:24:16.960 | But to avoid the cross is to stop following Jesus.
00:24:29.180 | I'm moving on, but just let me pause here to say before I move on.
00:24:33.740 | That it is not accidental or incidental that the Lord's prediction of His suffering and
00:24:40.600 | death immediately precedes His instructions about greatness.
00:24:53.180 | You don't understand greatness until you see the One who made everything hanging on the
00:25:01.220 | cross for your sins and mine.
00:25:06.580 | True greatness is not defined, brothers, by power, position, prominence, popularity, or
00:25:12.740 | possessions.
00:25:15.260 | It is measured by the cross where Jesus suffered and died for our sins.
00:25:22.300 | And so, very clearly here we see that greatness is not about success.
00:25:30.660 | In the real sense, it's about what are you willing to suffer for the One who suffered
00:25:37.940 | for you.
00:25:40.020 | Galatians chapter 6 verse 14, "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of
00:25:49.420 | our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world."
00:26:02.580 | In an interview before his death, Carl Henry was commended for his humility, and he objected
00:26:09.140 | to the compliment, asking, "How can anyone be anything but humble when you're standing
00:26:22.660 | next to the cross?"
00:26:30.040 | So may that be our constant prayer.
00:26:39.820 | Jesus keep me near the cross.
00:26:44.580 | There's a precious fountain free to all, a healing stream that flows from Calvary's mountain.
00:26:52.500 | In the cross, in the cross be my glory forever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond
00:27:03.920 | the river.
00:27:07.780 | In our text, Jesus gives two lessons about what true greatness is all about.
00:27:12.180 | We have seen the first.
00:27:13.700 | True greatness suffers.
00:27:17.220 | There is a second lesson.
00:27:20.540 | True greatness serves.
00:27:26.620 | True greatness suffers.
00:27:30.900 | True greatness serves.
00:27:35.060 | The text begins with Jesus and the disciples passing through Galilee.
00:27:43.380 | At some point, they arrive in Capernaum, the headquarters of the Galilean ministry of Jesus.
00:27:54.540 | They enter the house, maybe Peter's house, maybe Andrew's house, and it is there that
00:28:02.620 | the question of greatness arises.
00:28:08.980 | They did not understand the greatness of Jesus, and they misunderstood their own lack of greatness.
00:28:20.200 | So, in verses 33 through 37, Jesus teaches what true greatness means.
00:28:31.360 | It is servanthood, not lordship.
00:28:39.460 | Here Arkyn Hughes comments that there is a mindset that defines ministry as a kind of
00:28:45.100 | lordship, sitting in the honored seat, being the feeded guest at luncheon, speaking to
00:28:51.700 | vast thrones, building monuments, and collecting honorary titles.
00:28:57.180 | This type of attitude values being served.
00:29:06.920 | That is not what discipleship is about, much less what ministry is about.
00:29:13.960 | It is not what discipleship is about.
00:29:16.240 | It is not what leadership is about.
00:29:18.180 | It is not what greatness is about.
00:29:25.320 | And what does it mean to be great?
00:29:29.560 | Two answers.
00:29:34.800 | Being the last and receiving the least.
00:29:41.280 | What is true greatness all about?
00:29:42.620 | First, it is about being the last.
00:29:48.760 | Verse 33 says, "And they came to Capernaum.
00:29:53.720 | And when he was in the house, he asked them, 'What were you discussing on the way?'"
00:30:00.080 | So, you already know, brothers, when Jesus asks a question, He's not trying to gain information.
00:30:08.760 | It's like a parent asking a child, "What are you in there doing?"
00:30:18.840 | He already knows it is something you should not be doing.
00:30:27.320 | Note "asked" in the text is in a grammatical emphasis that indicates He kept asking.
00:30:39.840 | Jesus was demanding to know what they were talking about.
00:30:45.800 | The disciples apparently followed Jesus to Capernaum from a distance, and as they were
00:30:53.440 | walking behind Him, apparently, they had among themselves what they thought was a private
00:31:01.680 | conversation.
00:31:05.480 | But Jesus knew what they had discussed.
00:31:08.240 | We're tempted to giggle at that, but just remember the implications of that for our
00:31:15.360 | own lives.
00:31:16.920 | How would your conversations change if you believe Jesus was listening to everything
00:31:21.720 | you say?
00:31:28.880 | Verse 34 says, "But they kept silent.
00:31:33.000 | For on the way, they had argued with one another about who was the greatest."
00:31:38.720 | As Jesus kept asking, the disciples remained silent.
00:31:47.360 | It was the silence of shame.
00:31:55.780 | They were embarrassed that they were arguing.
00:32:02.400 | Verse 14, earlier in the chapter, "They were arguing with the scribes, but now they are
00:32:07.800 | arguing with one another."
00:32:12.800 | And they are arguing about who was the greatest.
00:32:16.760 | It's the question as old as time.
00:32:22.280 | Who's number one?
00:32:28.500 | Listen to the language of the text.
00:32:29.920 | They are not asking who will be the greatest one day.
00:32:36.240 | They are arguing about who's the greatest now.
00:32:42.800 | Charles Spurgeon said of this text, "It was a dreadful descent from communing with Moses
00:32:50.860 | and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration to meeting the furious demon at the foot of
00:32:56.080 | the hill."
00:32:59.200 | But this looks like a far greater descent from the self-sacrifice of the divine Master
00:33:05.400 | to the petty jealousies and self-seeking of His chosen servants.
00:33:16.000 | So Jesus intervenes.
00:33:18.740 | Verse 39, "He sat down and called the twelve."
00:33:22.880 | That is, Jesus took the teaching posture and began a formal lesson.
00:33:29.400 | This instruction consisted of a paradoxical statement.
00:33:35.440 | If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.
00:33:46.400 | Would you note, brothers, that Jesus does not here rebuke the desire or the determination
00:33:51.200 | to be great.
00:33:59.400 | He rebukes the wrong path to greatness.
00:34:06.800 | What is the right way to achieve greatness?
00:34:09.080 | Jesus says to be first is to be last.
00:34:20.360 | Last to be the spirit of spiritual leaders, not an argument to try to get to the front
00:34:31.840 | of the line, but a willingness to go to the back of the line.
00:34:46.600 | In Matthew 19, you remember there the encounter Jesus has with the rich young ruler.
00:34:52.680 | It's one of the sad passages of the Bible, one of the sad encounters Jesus has.
00:35:04.080 | The rich young ruler has eternal life offered to him, but he walks away sorrowful because
00:35:09.320 | he had many possessions, or maybe it could be said his possessions had him.
00:35:20.400 | But as sad as that story is, it gets worse.
00:35:23.960 | You remember that when the rich young ruler walks away, Jesus tries to warn His disciples
00:35:31.240 | about the spiritual dangers of material wealth.
00:35:38.800 | You know what their reply is?
00:35:42.440 | "Lord, we gave up everything to follow You, what will we get out of it?"
00:35:53.440 | In Matthew 20, Jesus tells that parable about the landowner who keeps going out throughout
00:36:02.560 | the course of the day collecting workers for his field, and at the end of the day, just
00:36:16.560 | for the fun of it, he pays the latecomers first and the early birds last and gives them
00:36:25.040 | all the same amount.
00:36:30.400 | Remember the story?
00:36:34.520 | Those early birds wanted to give the landowner a piece of their mind.
00:36:40.000 | "We've labored all day and borne the burden.
00:36:48.320 | You made these men equal with us."
00:36:50.360 | You need to go back and read that parable in Matthew 20 and see if you can hear the
00:36:56.640 | Lord Jesus talk to you as the landowner talks to those angry early birds.
00:37:05.920 | Have I wronged you?
00:37:12.920 | Here's the big question, don't I have the right to do what I want to do with what belongs
00:37:18.520 | to me?
00:37:27.480 | Or are you just envious because I decided to be generous to somebody, not you?
00:37:38.160 | The whole passage ends in Matthew 20 verse 16 with the principle here that Jesus confronts
00:37:43.120 | us with, "So the last will be first and the first last."
00:37:51.720 | Jesus says you want to be first?
00:37:53.400 | Don't fight for first place, just get to the back of the line.
00:38:00.660 | How do you get there?
00:38:04.900 | Jesus says, "Be servant of all."
00:38:16.300 | The Disciples Study Bible notes here that Christ teaches only one office, God's slave.
00:38:27.700 | Willful, joyful, obedient service for Christ is expressed by putting the concerns and interests
00:38:38.960 | and benefits of others ahead of our own.
00:38:46.780 | Here's our problem, even as ministers, there are times that we want to be thought of as
00:38:52.660 | servants without being treated as servants, but it doesn't work that way.
00:39:04.100 | The test of servanthood is how you respond when someone treats you like a servant.
00:39:14.660 | Hebrew commerce humility and service are not only the passport to greatness in Christ's
00:39:19.580 | kingdom, but also the very essence of greatness in His kingdom.
00:39:26.980 | So what is greatness all about?
00:39:28.620 | It is, first of all, it is being the last, and then Jesus says in verse 36 and 37, "It
00:39:36.780 | is also receiving the least."
00:39:38.540 | And He took a child and put him in the midst of them.
00:39:45.980 | Now, don't read that too quickly.
00:39:49.620 | Remember the implications of this.
00:39:52.220 | Little children were viewed and treated as the most insignificant people in the Greco-Roman
00:39:59.100 | world.
00:40:00.100 | At birth, the newborn would be placed at his father's feet.
00:40:03.780 | If he picked up the child, it was an act of acknowledgement, affirmation, and adoption.
00:40:07.820 | If not, the child was put to death.
00:40:10.940 | The bottom line is that children had no rights, and there were no orphanages, foster care,
00:40:19.180 | welfare system.
00:40:21.380 | Children then would make the perfect illustration of weakness, neediness, and helplessness.
00:40:29.860 | Now hear the text again, "Jesus took a child and sat that child in the midst of the disciples
00:40:35.820 | who are arguing about who's the greatest."
00:40:44.940 | I like these little touches Mark gives of the tenderness of Jesus.
00:40:50.020 | You see it here in this text.
00:40:51.700 | He brought the child into the midst of these arguing disciples and He took him in His arms.
00:41:07.540 | Holding this child in His arms, Jesus now has the text for a sermon He wants to preach.
00:41:16.780 | He says, "Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives
00:41:23.280 | Me receives not Me but him who sent Me."
00:41:28.300 | The key word here is "receives" is used four times.
00:41:32.380 | In the next chapter, Mark 10 verse 15, Jesus says, "Truly I say to you, whoever does not
00:41:37.580 | receive the kingdom of God like a little child shall not enter it."
00:41:44.380 | Childlikeness is how you become a Christian.
00:41:50.180 | We enter into the kingdom of God by childlike dependence upon the total sufficiency of Christ.
00:41:57.460 | We follow Him by trust and obedience that submits every sphere of our lives to His authority.
00:42:06.140 | On one occasion, the famous Chicago evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, once returned from a meeting
00:42:15.660 | and reported two-and-a-half conversions.
00:42:25.880 | Someone said, "I suppose you mean two adults and one child."
00:42:32.340 | "No," said Moody, "it was actually two children and one adult."
00:42:41.220 | The children gave their whole lives; the adult only had half his life to give.
00:43:01.820 | We are to be like children and give Him all.
00:43:06.460 | We are saved by childlike trust, not righteous acts.
00:43:09.580 | But in our text, Jesus is not talking about how to become a Christian.
00:43:13.380 | Remember, He's talking about how Christians, how disciples, how ministers become great.
00:43:19.340 | And He says, "Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me."
00:43:28.300 | The world thinks, brothers, it's not what you know but who you know.
00:43:33.620 | And so we try to associate ourselves with those who are considered great.
00:43:43.940 | Here Jesus says we should welcome those who are considered insignificant.
00:43:49.660 | We should show care and concern for the inconsequential in the name of Jesus, and to do so is to receive
00:43:57.380 | Jesus Himself.
00:44:02.220 | Remember the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 verses 31 through 46?
00:44:10.960 | Jesus renders judgment on the sheep and the goats, the sheep to His right hand, goats
00:44:19.540 | on His left.
00:44:24.420 | And then He tells the criteria of judgment of the nations, and that criteria is how the
00:44:34.900 | nations treated Him when He was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, a stranger, or in prison.
00:44:43.740 | And what blows me away about that parable is that both groups, those that got it right
00:44:48.520 | and those that got it wrong, have the same question, "When did we ever see you like that?"
00:44:58.500 | And as much as you did it to the least of these, my brothers, you did it unto Me.
00:45:09.420 | That's not all.
00:45:10.780 | Jesus says, "Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives
00:45:15.540 | Me receives not Me, but Him who sent Me."
00:45:20.580 | Do you see the progression here?
00:45:26.100 | To receive a little child is to receive Christ Himself, and to receive God the Son is to
00:45:31.220 | receive God the Father.
00:45:34.060 | I'm wrapping up.
00:45:40.100 | And so, as Jesus is prone to do, what He basically says in His answer is, "You've got to hold
00:45:45.500 | question wrong."
00:45:46.500 | At the top of the talk, I said the question is, "Who is the greatest?"
00:46:06.260 | Now, at the end of the text, though, we see the real question is this, brothers.
00:46:14.300 | How high can the Lord lift you without losing you?
00:46:24.620 | Are you pursuing worldly greatness or the true greatness that suffers and serves?
00:46:37.420 | Dawson Trotman, the founder of the Navigators, was going through a difficult period and felt
00:46:50.300 | he needed to get ready for something that was about to change.
00:46:55.820 | His wife didn't understand what he was thinking or feeling, but she knew him well enough to
00:47:02.460 | know that when he started talking that way, she should take him seriously.
00:47:08.360 | So they pulled away from their work to pray and rest, to seek God.
00:47:17.080 | They spent some of that time at Word of Life on Shrewn Lake in New York.
00:47:26.580 | One day, while riding a boat with Jack Wurtson, the founder of Word of Life, and a few other
00:47:34.380 | campers, they hit some choppy water on that lake.
00:47:43.380 | Dawson and a female camper fell off the boat.
00:47:51.580 | Dawson held up the young lady until she was rescued, but in the process drowned in Shrewn
00:48:04.180 | Lake.
00:48:11.460 | But at his funeral days later, the eulogists noticed that Trotman Dawson died the same
00:48:26.380 | way he lived, holding others up.
00:48:36.360 | That's true greatness.
00:48:41.320 | I am thine, O Lord.
00:48:44.040 | I have heard thy voice, and it told thy love to me.
00:48:48.260 | But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee.
00:48:53.260 | Here's my verse.
00:48:55.780 | Here's the great prayer we should pray.
00:48:59.700 | Consecrate me now to thy service, Lord, by the power of grace divine.
00:49:07.180 | Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, and let my will be lost in thine.
00:49:15.060 | Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where thou hast died.
00:49:23.060 | Draw me nearer, nearer, precious Lord, to thy blessed bleeding side.
00:49:34.220 | Let's pray.
00:49:38.820 | Father, we recognize that there are so many temptations around us that would lead us astray,
00:49:47.980 | temptations of the flesh, the world, and the devil that would pervert our calling and assignment
00:50:00.300 | and mission to exalt ourselves rather than exalting Christ.
00:50:06.660 | Lord, would you help us to guard our hearts, knowing that from it flow the issues of life?
00:50:18.980 | Would you help us to bring every sphere of our lives under subjection to the lordship
00:50:25.400 | of Jesus Christ?
00:50:27.660 | And would you help us, Lord, to ignore, to reject, to condemn the worldly standards of
00:50:38.140 | personal success that have like a snake slipped and slithered into the church of Jesus Christ?
00:50:48.820 | May we look at Jesus who died at the cross for us and remember that true greatness suffers,
00:50:54.860 | and may we remember his illustration of the helpless child and remember that true greatness
00:51:01.620 | serves.
00:51:03.500 | And may that be, Lord, our devotion and our dedication to the place where you have assigned
00:51:12.500 | us to minister, even if that is a difficult place.
00:51:17.900 | May we be willing to suffer and serve to the praise of your glory, knowing that when the
00:51:23.460 | chief Shepherd comes, we will receive the crown of life.
00:51:29.140 | In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:51:30.940 | Thank you, brothers.
00:51:31.980 | [BLANK_AUDIO]