Who is the Greatest?

Join with me in a word of prayer. Father God, it is sobering and humbling to think as we worshiped and sang this morning, Lord, that we do not know how much it costs you, Lord, to be able to see my sin, our sin, the world's sin upon that cross that you gave your one and only son Jesus, to shed his blood to pay for the penalty of our sin. And we are truly thankful for that, Lord, that even while we were your enemies, you loved us, you pursued us, and you sent your son Jesus to die for us. Father, forgive us as we go about our week. As we sin against you, Lord, we confess those sins. Whether those are things we said, things we did, things we thought, Lord, forgive us and allow us as we live lives that they are not about us, but it is about you, Father. We also recognize, Lord, as we go about our week, that there's need within our church body, Lord, whether it's our care or counseling, Lord, people are facing issues physically or whether, Lord, they're in counseling, Lord, and there's things going on, Lord, whether it's relationally things in their life, Lord, or things we are not even aware of, whether they're people here in person or online, Lord, that they are walking into church or as they're watching this morning, Lord, those burdens they are carrying. Lord, we pray that you would meet our people where they're at. Your presence would be with them. Help us as your body, their church family to be an encouragement and to care and to walk with them, Lord, as they navigate all they're going through. Lord, I pray that you would grow their faith through what they are dealing with. We pray for your will to be accomplished through it all. And Lord, as we sang this morning, we recognize, Lord, it's for our good and for your glory. And so we submit all those things to you, Father, as we enter into November, a new month, we recognize this Tuesday, Lord, we have elections and Lord, we put that before you. Lord. First, we want to recognize and understand, Lord, that we can treat it as stewardship. Lord, there are many people around the world that do not have the opportunity that we do that. We get to go and vote for the leaders that represent us, whether it's here, locally, in this county or within our state or within our country, Lord, There are people around the world that long for the day, Lord, that they would have an opportunity to do something that they can be able to choose, Lord, their leader. So help us to recognize that. And, and as we go, Lord, we recognize a few things as we vote, Lord, we Recognize that you are not on the ballot. And so, Lord, as we go through, when we decipher, trying to think what to do, Lord, we recognize that your word does not change, that you do not change. Your word tells us that you are the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so, Lord, with that, those biblical values, Lord, we understand, Lord, that that's the things that we want to be able to see within our country. And so, Lord, we recognize that whether it's a political leader, it's a position or a political party, Lord, all those things can come and go. They can change, Lord, but you do not change. And so, Lord, we pray that there would be people that would hold tight biblical values, Lord, here, locally, and in our country. And, Lord, that they would pursue you. And, Lord, that they would be men and women that want to live godly lives. Have your heart, Lord. And so we put that all before you and entrust that to you as we go forth this Tuesday. Father, would you continue to be with us as we're in this service, as we worship you? Would you be with Pastor Mike as he brings your word? Would you allow your spirit to be speaking in and through him, allow our hearts and minds to grow and be transformed from your word and your spirit as we continue going through our study in. In the Book of Mark. And Lord, we look forward to what you're going to do not only here at this service, but also at 11, Lord. And so we just entrust and pray this all in the strong and powerful name of your son, Jesus. Amen. Thank you very much. Pastor Jarrett, we invite you to open your Bibles today or the devices on which you have your Bible to mark chapter nine. Mark, chapter nine. And we'll be looking this morning at verses 30 through 41. If you have your Bible with you, the scripture will be projected on the screen and it will be read in the midst of the sermon. So we'll be studying the scripture, and I'll be reading portions of it as we make our way through, so as to help illuminate the meaning of the word of God and help us to understand that truth. Buddy Robinson was a preacher of old, I understand, a good friend of Billy Graham, and he once remarked that pride is the only disease known to mankind that makes everyone sick and except the person who has it. Think about that for a moment. You know that that's true if you've spent any amount of time with someone who is full of himself, and in the entire conversation, all they can talk about is themselves, themselves, themselves, themselves, and you get sick and tired of it, to be quite honest. You just get sick and tired of it. And I want you to know something. Jesus is sick of pride as well. We're going to notice that very clearly in Mark, chapter 9, verses 30 through 41 today, and two different conversations that Jesus has with his disciples. But in order to get there, we're going to have to do some defining, some definitions that will help us understand the rest of the sermon. Let's begin with the definition of pride. What is pride? Pride is an overestimation of me. Pride is an overestimation of me. Say that with me. Pride. Pride is an overestimation of me. The proud person elevates self, seeks to have his or her importance recognized by others, is blind to obvious personal faults. A proud person has an exaggerated view of him or herself. An overestimation of me. What is humility? The counter of that humility is a healthy, balanced of me. Humble people put the interest of others ahead of their own and consider others better than themselves. C.S. lewis, definition of humility is hard to improve on. This is what he writes. True humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. It is not that kind of sickening. Oh, I'm just a worm, I'm no good, I have nothing to offer. Stop that. Just stop that. No, no, no. What humility is, is when you think of yourself less because you are thinking of others ahead of yourself. With those definitions in our minds, let's look at Mark, chapter 9, verses 30 through 41. Here Jesus calls out the pride of the 12 disciples. And in that very practical terms, what he does is. Is he teaches them. And he teaches us how to live humble lives, truly humble lives, by considering others better than ourselves and putting their interests ahead of our own by becoming, if you will now note this, a servant to others. So the context for these two conversations is important. As always, the context of the word of God is important. So what is the context? Well, go back to last week. We studied Mark, chapter 9, verses 14 to 29. And in that story we learned that Jesus and his three executive disciples, Peter, James and John, were on the mountaintop in the transfiguration. And while they were there, at the base of the mountain, there were nine disciples left. And there was a dad who brought his son, who was bound by. By an evil spirit since he was a little child, brought his son to those nine disciples, because I'm sure he heard that they have a record, a track record of casting out demons. Can you cast out the demon from My son, Jesus and the Peter, James and John come down from the mountain. Guess what they find? They find there is a major argument. There is fuming, there is frustration. Why? Because the nine disciples could not cast out the demon. They had done it before they had been successful. Read Mark 6. But they could not cast out the demon. As a result, the teachers of law are in an argument with the disciples and they're frustrated. And the Father is losing his faith. And he looks at Jesus and says, if you can. And Jesus says, if you can. Everything is possible with those who have faith. And he immediately casts out the demon and takes the boys behind closed doors. And the 12 asked him a question. Why couldn't we cast it out? And Jesus looks him in the eye and he says, because these kind only come out by prayer. You forgot to pray. You forgot to pray. Matthew tells us that he also called out their lack of faith. You forgot to pray. You did not have faith. It was a humbling experience for the nine disciples, especially. Humbling experience that they could not do what they had previously done to help a man and his son who was in bondage to the devil. You could only hope that they learned a lesson from that experience. And that leads us into Mark, chapter 9, verses 30 to 32. They left that place, meaning Jesus and the 12. And they passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching the disciples. Let me pause right there and say to you that Jesus is not trying to keep a secret here. He's simply trying to get the full attention of the disciples. He wants to eliminate distractions. He doesn't want anyone to know where they're going. He wants the full attention of the disciples. He said to them, the Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him. And after three days, he will rise. But they did not understand what he meant and they were afraid to ask him about it. Now, Mark, chapter nine is an important chapter. It records a turning point in the Gospel of Mark. It is the turning point where Jesus turns and faces Jerusalem. Think of it this way. He. He fixes his eyes on Jerusalem. You know why? Because he knows what his mission is. And he is headed in the direction of Jerusalem. Why? Because there he will die. There he will rise again. There he will be the victor over sin and death and evil. And so with that in mind, Jesus begins to prepare the 12. Back in Mark, chapter eight, he told them very first time that there was a prediction. He told them very clearly, I'm going to Suffer. I'm going to be killed, but on the third day, I'm going to rise. They were clueless. What are you talking about? And you remember that Peter particularly said, no, no, no, no, that's not going to happen. You remember how Jesus responded, Get behind me, Satan. In other words, you're thinking the way of the devil. You're not thinking the way of God. And so there he predicts, but they don't understand. Here is the second prediction, Mark, chapter nine. There's one more. We'll study it in two weeks in Mark, chapter 10. But in Mark, chapter nine comes the second prediction. He adds a little bit to it. He says, I'm going to be betrayed. We know about that betrayal on this side. We know that it was Judas Iscariot. I'm going to be betrayed. I'm going to die. And then I'm going to rise again. Who on the third day. And it's interesting. Look at the last sentence. Read it with me. But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. One more time. But they did not understand what he meant and they were afraid to ask him about it. You see, here's what they thought. They thought they're getting a Messiah. They're getting an anointed one. They're getting a Christ, one who is going to come and deliver them. They need a deliverer. But their deliverance that they were looking for was political. They were wanting to be delivered from the oppression of Rome. We're getting a Messiah who is going to deliver us from the oppression of Rome. That is not what Father has in mind. For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son. You remember this? Anybody know John 3:16? For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son. And why did he send his one and only Son? To die on a cross? To rise again on the third day, to deliver people not from Rome, but from sin and death and the evil one. And yet this was still not clear to these men. They still did not fully understand what he was talking about. And they were afraid to ask any questions of Jesus. So either way, Jesus has now just described for them what we call theologically his impending humiliation. That's important for us to understand. When you think about the cross, you realize, don't you, that he voluntarily gave himself on the cross for our sins. His life was not taken from him. He was not forced to that cross. Jesus voluntarily gave himself on that cross. He took the very nature of a servant. He did not count Equality with God. Something to be grasped. But rather he became obedient to death, even death on a cross. That is the humiliation of Jesus. He hung on that cross, humiliated from an earthly standpoint, not because he did anything to deserve that death, but because we have sinned and he loves us and desires to pay the penalty for our sins. He is our Savior and our Lord. Can you say Amen to that? He truly is. And that is the humiliation of Jesus. It is important contextually to note that it was in the shadow of his death on a cross that the disciples had the first of two conversations that unearthed pride in their hearts. Would you go with me to mark, chapter nine? Let's look at verses 33 to 37. They came to Capernaum. That means Jesus and the 12. Capernaum is the headquarters. It's the city from which they based their mission. In Mark, chapters one through through nine. It is the city in which Peter resided. And Peter had a home there. And his mother in law lived with him. His home. We learned that earlier in Mark. So the word of God says, when they were in the house, maybe it was Peter's house, we don't know. He asked them, what were you arguing about on the road? But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest sitting down. Jesus called the twelve and he said, if anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last and the servant of all. Can you read that with me? If anyone wants to be first. And then he took a little child and had him stand among them. And taking that little child into his arms, he said to them, whoever welcomes one of these little children and my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but the one who sent me. Can you imagine how shocked they were when they get inside the house and he turns to them and says, what were you arguing about? They were doing their best to keep it quiet. I'm sure that as they were walking behind him in muffled tones, they were arguing with each other about who was the greatest. And these men were fairly young men, as we understand it, so they weren't hard of hearing, therefore talking louder than they should have been talking. When they were trying to whisper, they weren't doing that. They were shocked. And notice that their answer to his by the way, did you ever walk into a conversation where the people are talking about you? Did you ever walk into that kind of conversation? What do they do? They shut up. They're silent. They don't know what to say. They didn't know what to say. It's such a powerful verse. They kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. You know why they were silent? Because they knew that Jesus wouldn't approve and he did not. It's so very interesting to me that the next thing that Jesus does is he sits down. You see, in the day of Jesus, rabbis, master, teachers, when they had something important to say, a teaching to deliver to the people, they sat down and people stood up and listened. We ought to try that some Sunday. I sit down and you all stand. See what that's like. Just kidding. He sat down and he began to teach them. He identified immediately that the issue was pride. An overestimation of me on the part of 12 men, each one of them seeking to have his own importance recognized by the others. And so, in a firm but a gentle rebuke, Jesus calls the proud to be humble. And then he redefines greatness. Hear it again. Powerful words. Read it with me. If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last and the servant of all. This is a dramatic relationship reversal of the world's values, both then and also now. To be great in the eyes of God is not a matter of position, but of practice. To be great in the eyes of God is not your rank, not your recognition, not your title, not the accumulation of the world's goods. To be great in the eyes of God has nothing to do with position. It has everything to do with practice. Jesus calls the twelve and every one of us to selfless service to others. Selfless service to others. Get your eyes off yourself. Get your eyes off yourself and look to the needs of others. Life isn't all about you. Jesus would say to us, life is about considering others better than yourself and considering their needs ahead of your own needs. Dr. David Garland, Bible scholar, notes that the disciples still have visions of of grandeur and do not fantasize about becoming servants who are at everybody's beck and call. They suffer from puffed up ambition. So what does Jesus do? Practically, powerfully, he illustrates this truth. And he does so by taking a child into his arms. Now we look at that and we memorialize this in beautiful paintings. And we talk about how Jesus loves the children, all the children of the world. Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible, Bible, Bible tells me so we look at this and we say, what a beautiful, precious picture. I guarantee you that the people in that day were not saying that. They were like, what in the world is he doing? You see, in that day Children were to be seen, but not heard. And if you have to see them, you saw them. They were at the lowest rung of the social ladder. They had no rank in society. They were not to be recognized until they grew up and became something meaningful. For the purposes of society, they had no standing in the world. Knowing this to be true, Jesus turns the world's values on its head. 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. You see, his point is simple. Our world is filled with people who have no standing, no position, no power, but great needs. Jesus followers, then and now, are called to serve all people everywhere, no matter what their standing may be in life. By welcoming a child, Jesus is saying, all people everywhere have value and dignity because all people everywhere have been made in the image of God. Has that image been marred by sin? Yes, it has. And because that image has been marred by sin in the lives of every one of us, there is brokenness in every one of us. In some, it might be more visible in the exterior. In others, very visible in the interior. As he took that child into his hands, he was saying, I want you to welcome the people who are important to me. And when you welcome the people who are important to me, you are welcoming me. And not only are you welcoming me, you are welcoming my Father in heaven. One Bible scholar wrote, treat well those who have no standing in this world, and you will receive an audience with my Father, Jesus. Half brother James wrote this. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up. You know, the way of Jesus is not the way of this world. The way of Jesus works this way. The way up is down. The way to get is to give. The way to be first is to be the very last. The way to be great is to be the servant of all. And that is the first lesson that Jesus teaches us about pride and humility. The word of God. The word of God. If you want to be great, if you want to be first, you must be the very last and you must be the servant of all. Now, with that conversation behind him, they go a little further and John introduces a second conversation. So interesting. Look, if you would, at Mark, chapter 9, verse 38. Here's how the conversation begins. And I'm sure that John is saying that with a fair amount of confidence that Jesus is going to be very pleased. Teacher said, John, we saw a man driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop because he's not one of us. Now, folks, I don't want you to miss two things here, irony and sincerity. You know, the irony of this is that these are the guys who just failed to drive out demons, but they're pretty quick to say, jesus, guess what we did? We stopped someone who was doing what you wanted us to do in your name. Kind of ironic, but also sincere. See, on Jesus Day, there were a load of Jewish exorcists running around, and they were presumably casting out demons in the name of this archangel or that archangel, or this lower angel or that lower angel, or an Old Testament hero like Solomon. Name is Solomon. And when John saw this man casting out demons in the name of Jesus, he thought, he's not one of us, he's one of them. And we told him to stop. He's not one of us. Look at Jesus. Response verses 39 to 41. Do not stop him. Jesus said, do not stop him. Do not stop him. No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Read that with me. For whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. You know, pride rears its ugly head in different ways in our lives. Sometimes it's very blatant. We argue over who is the greatest. Talk about blatant. That's as obvious as the nose on your face. Sometimes it's more subtle. We told him to stop because he's not in our group. Pride can lead to feelings of jealousy and rivalry. But Jesus here in these verses says that those feelings really have no place in the work of the kingdom. If we have believed in the name of the Son of God and are living by faith in his name. The name of Jesus, friends, is what unites us. The name of Jesus is what unites us. Who is it that is against us? Those who do not believe in the name of Jesus. Those who claim that the Bible is not inspired, is not infallible, is not inerrant, is not authoritative. Those who would say that there are multiple ways of salvation, who discount the exclusivity of Jesus as the one and only Savior in the world. But if you're not against us, then you're for us. And what's so interesting in this story is that we learn something that we haven't seen anywhere else in Mark, and that is that there are apparently believers in Jesus Christ apart from the 12 who are exercising power in the name of Jesus. That's what we see, that's what we hear. Someone has cast out a demon in the name of Jesus. And. And John said, we told him to stop because he's not one of us. And Jesus said, don't stop him because if he is not against us, he is for us. It is the name of Jesus that unites us. Look, if you would at Acts chapter 4, verse 12. The word of God clearly speaks to this issue. Read it with me. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved but the name of Jesus. The disciples had a high opinion of themselves and of their own group and little room for others. Jesus corrected this because it was an arrogant attitude. Whoever is not against us is for us. You know, months and months before we found the location in the southern end for our Quarryville campus, our southern end campus, the word was out. People knew that we were looking for a campus in the southern end. It made its way down Beaver Valley pike in lightning speed. People knew and I was blessed in a conversation one day with Pastor Ben Miller from Oak Hill Fellowship as he called to encourage us and just say, you're welcome here. We look forward to serving alongside of you. I was blessed in a visit that Paul and I had with Pastor Blake Dibler and Pastor Rich Stevenson at Wesley Church in Quarryville as they reached out and embraced us and said, we're excited that you're coming to the southern end. There's more than enough people here who need to know and follow Jesus. We welcome you. That, my friends, is an illustration of what Jesus is talking about. If they're not against us, if they line up with us according to your word and who you are, Jesus as the one and only savior of the world, then they're for us. Let's embrace them and let's build the kingdom of God together. It's not just about gcc. It's about gospel centered churches throughout Lancaster county with a heart and a burden to bring men and women to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. One of the joys that I have as a pastor is that when my, when my schedule allows, and I try to make it allow a lot, I'm part of a small prayer group of pastors. We gather at Calvary Church. Bo Eckert leads or hosts that prayer time and Kevin Eshelman from Ephron Community Church generally leads it. Tony Hunt from Lancaster Evangelical Free Church is usually there. Pastor Kurt from Victory Church attends that. Pastor Matt from worship center attends that. And we pray together for our county. We're not in competition. We are together as brothers and sisters in Christ seeking to bring men and women to a saving knowledge of Jesus in a county we love. That is what Jesus is talking about. Amen. That's what we're called to. And what a blessed privilege that is. It isn't a matter of pride. It's a matter of humbly recognizing that we work at this together in the name of Jesus. The bottom line is, on their way to Jesus selfless death on the cross. The disciples got selfishly consumed with themselves. And as a result of that, Jesus was able to draw out of them the pride of life and point them in the direction of humility. So I ask this question, what does that mean for us today? What do we do with Mark, chapter nine? And I want to invite you as I conclude this sermon here. And when I say that, concluding the sermon, You've heard me say this before. That's like coming in for a landing. And I take off again and circle several more times. So just hold on. Just hold on. I want us to consider these two conversations as cautionary tales. Do you know what a cautionary tale is? It is a story that warns us about the dangerous consequences of a particular action. I want these two conversations to be cautionary tales that. That warn us about the dangers of pride in our lives. The 12 are not unlike us. As followers of Jesus, they struggle with pride. We do, too. We do. They wanted to be great. We do too. You know what's so interesting here? Jesus is not saying that being great is a bad thing. You know what he's saying? He's saying it's the way you approach being great. That's a bad thing. Got to be careful about that. It's not so bad to want your life to count for something, to make a difference in the world in which you live. That's a good thing. The question is, how are you going to go about it? What's your attitude? What's the intent of your heart? Proverbs 11:2 says, Pride leads to disgrace. But with humility comes wisdom. What offered to you through three action steps as a result of Mark, chapter nine. Ready? Here they are. Three action steps. And these are action steps for every one of us. Look within. Listen up. Look around. Number one. Look within. I want to challenge you to pray. A risky prayer. It's only risky because Jesus will answer it. And then you need to do something about what he says. And here's the prayer. Where is pride? In my life. Jesus, I want to suggest to you that every one of us, beginning with Mike Sigmund, has a blind spot for pride in their lives. A blind spot, by definition, is a subject that you find very difficult to understand sometimes because you are not willing to try. I want to invite you to try. No time, no energy lost. If you're just willing to grab a hold of this prayer and sincerely, in the course of this day, say, jesus, you know my heart better than I do. Would you look inside and is there any pride here? And what is it? Because I need to deal with that. I don't want to be prideful. I want to be humble. I want to consider others better myself. I want to put their interests ahead of my own. It's interesting that in the annals of American church history, there's a story that comes out of 18th century New England of Jonathan Edwards, the great New England preacher, Puritan preacher. And Edwards had gathered 800 men into an assembly hall for a prayer meeting. And to Edwards came a note from a woman outside the assembly hall. And it simply was this. My husband is part of the gathering. He has become difficult and prideful. Please pray for him. Edwards thought, I'll pray for him in private. But then Edwards was led by the Holy Spirit to actually call the entire assembly of men to pray for this one man. And then Edwards said to the assembly, if you are that man, raise your hand so that we can pray for you. And 300 men pray, raise their hands. Because one of the beautiful gifts of humility is confession, the ability to acknowledge, I'm not all that. I've got sin, and I need Jesus to forgive me. Will you look within? Will you listen up? Will you remind yourself of what Jesus said? If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last. And get this, the servant of all. The way of Jesus is the way of service to others. The way of service to others is the way of making your life count and making a difference in this world. In two weeks, we will study the words of Jesus when in Mark, chapter 10, verse 45, he said, for even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Listen up. Listen to what Jesus is saying. And as you do, look around, look around. I became vulnerable at 8 o' clock with something that I hadn't even written into the sermon or thought about, but I'll share it with you. I can still hear my mother at times saying to me, michael Sigmund, the world doesn't revolve around you. I was not aware of that at the time. I assumed it did. An only child. That's the syndrome. An only grandchild. That made it worse. We lived in New Danville, around which everything revolves. That made it even worse. Life doesn't revolve around any one of us. Life revolves around one. His name is Jesus. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all. Because he is the servant of all and of you. Look around. Who is it that he wants you to serve? Because you see, to be freed from the addiction to ourselves, we need to be willing to consider others better than ourselves and put their interests ahead of our own. This is the word of God. Hallelujah and amen. Pray with me. Father, we want to thank you that you directed Mark to preserve for us these two conversations, giving us a window into your authoritative understanding of pride and humility and Jesus, your powerful, perfect call. To be the servant of all. We confess that too often we get ourselves wrapped up with ourselves. Life becomes all about me. Life becomes all about what I want, what I want to accumulate, what I want to do, what I want to achieve. All the time. You are calling us. To take our eyes off ourselves, fix our eyes on you, and become obedient as servants of all. I don't know what that means for each and every one of the people here in this sanctuary, online with us. You've been teaching me what it means for me. I pray that you'll teach every one of my brothers and sisters what it means for them. I pray that it would be practical. I pray that it would be powerful. I pray that it would be like Sandra said last night as she left, I know exactly what I need to do now in obedience to you. And I pray this for all of us. In the strong name of Jesus and all God's people said, stand with me. Let's sing a song of response.