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Bless the Lord, we're so cared
for and helped. Thankful for the ministry this
morning, Pastor Will and Carol leading us, congregation. Your
Bibles, we're continuing in Mark's Gospel, chapter 9, verse 30 through
37. It's on page 845 of the Pew Bible. While you're turning there, just
a couple of remarks. I want to welcome back our students
and many of us new semester. Students learning and we're all
learning, we're all growing in grace, but of learning and education,
the ancients once said that the object of education is to teach
us to love what is beautiful. That's the goal, and let us thank
God that He has enrolled all of us into His school, the Holy
Spirit school, the study of the Word of God, that we would love
what is beautiful, that we would love Him, He who is the greatest,
as we're all learning greatness. As Psalm 145.3 says, great is
the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
It's beyond measure. Pastor Will's been leading us
through Mark's gospel, showing us Jesus's greatness, his beautiful
heart, his consecration in his ministry, that Jesus is the one
who raises the poor. He lifts the needy from the ash
heap. Children, you remember last week with the young boy
who he was oppressed by evil. He was trapped in evil bondage,
but Jesus took him by his hand and raised him up. so that we
can always remember when we're afraid or when we're troubled,
we can call on Jesus. Take us by your hand and lift
us up. He gives us comfort. He gives us strength. He is the
one who's lifted us from condemnation, that he justifies the ungodly.
He is our righteousness. He is our justification. We also
remember a few weeks back how how Jesus took the blind man
and he touched his eyes twice, really pointing to the theme
of our sanctification, how we as disciples, we need him to
continually open our eyes, as we heard last week, because we
keep seeing the dirt. We keep seeing the filth of our
hearts and our sin, and we need to continually look to Jesus
for our cleansing, for our healing. And as we're learning on the
way as disciples, as parents take children, as in Deuteronomy
6, we learn on the way Jesus is teaching us. And it's been
compared to maybe some of you young ones, you're learning to
write. You think how a parent can come alongside a child who's
learning to write and hold their hand and help them form the letters? That's what our Lord is doing
for us. He's taking the hands of our heart And He's helping
us form the letters of life. He's forming our lives. He's
changing us. He's changing our values. It's
that great reversal, right? What John's been talking about
in Sunday school. He's changing our hearts. He's
releasing our desires as we're being conformed to Jesus Christ,
that we're learning greatness. This last week, as Martin Luther
King once said, that anyone can be great because anyone can serve,
right? And so we're refreshed, our family,
the Barbies, refreshed in the ministry here. Just recently,
my wife, Bargis, and I were talking about, we love how intentional
PCC is. with ministering to one another,
thoughtfulness, and care, and service. And if you're new like
us, kind of new, and you're looking to get involved, well, remember
the tried and true. Come early, stay late. Ask questions. See how you can get involved.
How can we come alongside those who've been carrying ministries
for a long time? The history of PCC, 51 years,
right? It's a lot of ministry. So ways
that we who are new can come alongside Sunday school teachers,
come alongside nursery workers, servants, hospitality, our brothers
doing the media. So all kinds of ways we can serve
and come alongside one another. Also, maybe this morning, maybe
we're being inspired for a new ministry. As we think about the
needs of Coventry, think about the needs of our neighbors, ways
we want to move towards the lost, want to move towards the lonely,
the grieving, the hurting, the addicted. It's exciting that
we can dream together as a church and get lost in wonder and praise. Amen? Let's look to Mark chapter
9. learning greatness this morning,
verses 30 through 37. This is God's word to us. They went out from there, and
they passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to
know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, the
Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they
will kill him. And when he is killed, after
three days he will rise. But they did not understand the
saying, and they were afraid to ask him. And they came to
Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he asked them, what
were you discussing on the way? But they kept silent, for on
the way they had argued with one another about who was the
greatest. Verse 35, and he sat down and
he called the 12, and he said to them, if anyone would be first,
he must be last of all and servant of all. And he took a child,
and he put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms,
he said to them, whoever receives one such child in my name receives
me. Whoever receives me receives
not me, but him who sent me. Thanks be to God. God's word
to us. So, looking at this text, let's
look at two themes this morning. First, learning of the Son. learning of the Son of Man, and
then secondly, learning greatness. So learning of the son and then
learning greatness. And as we said, the goal of education
is to learn to love what is beautiful and how the kingdom of Christ,
the ministry of Jesus, how he teaches us in that parable about
the man who's out in search for precious gems and pearls, and
then he finds the pearl of great price, of great value, and therefore
he sells everything and he buys that pearl. So learning of the
Son, learning of Jesus, Jesus is redefining for us what is
of great value, what is important, what is truly the treasure of
the world. The author G.K. Chesterton, in
his biography of Francis of Assisi, we sang his hymn, Opening Up
All Creatures, but how Francis, he said, was ravished with a
love for Jesus Christ, that Christ was the pattern for his life.
Therefore, he was also consumed with a love for mankind. And if you're familiar with Francis,
how he gave his life in service to the Lord, a lot primarily
working with lepers, starting leper hospitals and care and
ministry to the poor and the forsaken of society. You know,
it's just people watching Francis and his devotion to the needs
of mankind, that even other businessmen, other leaders, they saw him,
and they were compelled to join him. You know, that kind of ties
in with the saying, how do we reach the rich of the world?
Well, we reach the rich by reaching the poor. Because they see, what
are we captivated with? What are we drawn to? And it's contagious. What are
we living for? Are we living for that which
is passing away or are we giving ourselves to what can't be shaken? And Francis, in his early life,
there's a story that he was in the market one day selling fabrics
with his father, and they were there, he was talking with customers,
and he was in a conversation with one customer when a poor
man walks up behind them. And he sees that the poor man,
he wants to talk to Francis, but Francis, he's doing business
with this guy, you know, it's a polite society, you don't want
to interrupt, but he can see him, and then he starts to see
this guy walking away. And he sees the beggar leave.
And then Chesterman said, Francis vowed to God that he would never,
ever again ignore a poor man. And so he runs after the beggar,
runs after him. And Chesterman said that was
a picture of Francis's life, that he was on one errand of
mercy, an errand of mercy. And let us ask ourselves, how
is Jesus, how is the gospel reshaping our values? How are we being
changed by the ministry of Jesus in the gospel? What are we turning
from and turning to? How are we beginning to see the
world differently? What can we say we are running
after? Or what is the great errand of
our life? was, as Will was teaching us
last week, we made a turning point in Mark's Gospel from Galilee,
and as we'll see, we're heading to Jerusalem. As Jesus is going
from preaching and healing in all the towns, saying, I've got
to go out into all the towns and preach and heal, and everyone's
coming to Jesus, but now He goes from that to not wanting anyone
to know He's passing through Galilee. Why is that? Why the change? Well, we can
say he's wanting to avoid the demands of the crowds so he can
teach his disciples as he's preparing them for his passion, preparing
to head into Jerusalem, that Jesus is drawing near to them.
As a man of understanding, as the man in Proverbs 25 says,
the purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man
of understanding will draw it out. He's drawing out their hearts. He's drawing them to their calling.
To their purpose. And as disciples, we're no different
from them. We need to continually learn
of the Son. Learn of the Messiah. A theology
of the Messiah. I've been greatly helped by Martin
Luther and his Heidelberg disputation in 1518. We can glean a theology
of the Messiah that we would be no longer theologians of glory,
but theologians of the cross. that we would leave a theology
of glory and take up a theology of the cross. Carl Truman commenting,
what is the theologian of glory? Well, he says the theologian
of glory assumed that there was basic continuity between the
way the world is and the way God is. If strength is demonstrated
through raw power on earth, then God's strength must be the same,
only extended to infinity. And we see this difference in
theology really with the expectations for the Messiah. What kind of
Messiah was expected? What were the people looking
for? Well, they were looking for a
Messiah to win man's way, use man's strength. As their desire
will see when Jesus is before Pilate, who did they call out
for? Barabbas. Give us the political hero. Give
us a zealot. Give us a man who brings power
and strength. Crucify Jesus. Even in John 6,
as Jesus multiplies the bread, and they see his power, and they
were coming to make him king. So we see the differences in
these theologies with the expectations of the Messiah. We also see it
in the disciples. You remember just recently in
Mark 8, when Peter, when Jesus is asking them, who am I? Who
do you say that I am? And Peter says, you're the Christ,
you're the Messiah. And then Jesus teaches them.
He began to teach them, the son of man must suffer many things,
be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes
and be killed, and after three days rise again. And you remember
Peter's response? And Peter took Jesus aside and
began to rebuke him. But Jesus, turning and seeing
his disciples, he rebuked Peter. He said, get behind me, Satan,
for you're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on
the things of man. So here we could say a theology
of glory or a theologian of glory is one who sets their mind on
the things of man. As if man can look into the invisible
things of God and say, yes, I know. I know what's going to happen.
I know where things are headed. No, and even Peter, you know,
taking Jesus aside. And I think we could say, you
know, Peter, likely out of a deep reverence for Jesus. No, you're
not going to be rejected. No, you're not going to suffer.
But he had no category in his mind for a suffering Messiah. As our pastor said, one who would
come not to be served, but to serve, give his life as a ransom. Also, as we see the disciples
in our passage, likely they were afraid, how are things going
to turn out for me? If he's rejected and he's killed,
how is this going to turn out for me? Likely a sense of self-protection. Maybe even who would take Jesus'
place? Maybe there's some rivalry because
Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain of transfiguration. They left the others. You know,
and even in our text says they were arguing about who was the
greatest? Who would be the greatest? Likely
this thirst, selfishness, selfish ambition. Who would be eminent? Who would be esteemed the most? And we can ask, you know, beloved
James asked the same thing in chapter four. What causes quarrels
and fights among you? Why are we quarreling? Why are
we arguing? James 4 says, is it not this,
that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do
not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain,
so you fight and quarrel. The late Tim Keller wrote a book
titled, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness. And in that book, he references
Soren Kierkegaard and his work, Sickness Unto Death. And Soren,
he says that it's the normal state of the human heart to try
to build its identity on anything other than God. What's driving
this thirst? What's driving this covetousness?
How our hearts are sick. Our hearts are wounded, and in
the book, Keller compares it to, you know, when you think
about a part of your body that's wounded or hurt. Maybe some of
you athletes in here, you're nursing an injury, and what is
your body doing? It is reminding you you're in
pain. You know, whatever situation you're in or circumstance your
body's sending signals to your brain, you're hurting. You're
injured, you're wounded. And Keller says the same thing
about our hearts. You think about how, you know,
when we walk into a room, how we can be tempted to just draw
all that attention on ourself. Draw all that attention into
ourself. Our hearts are busy, seeking, looking for attention,
wondering how are we being perceived by others. We compare ourselves
to others, sizing one another up. How we can cringe at looking
weak. Looking like people who are inefficient. We're not put together. And how
we can be prone to boast. Boasting ourselves. Attempted
to gossip. Put others down. We can be plagued
by this restless bondage. Bondage of self. And how not
only that's going on in our hearts and how we're perceiving others,
but it can lead us to pay attention to certain people and neglect
other people. How James, in chapter 2, he says,
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a
gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor
man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention
to the one who wears fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good
place, while you say to the poor man, you stand over there, or
sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among
yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? how this
shapes our mind. And a theologian of glory and
to have a theology of glory is really to have a sick mind, a
man who is sick-centered, just like the boy who was held down
by evil, how our minds can be held down by evil. But how merciful
is Jesus? How merciful that we would learn
of the Son, that we would learn a new theology of the Messiah,
That we'd be theologians of the cross. As we heard this morning,
that the way up is not striving to be up, but the way up is coming
down. And that we can learn that because
Jesus has healed us by his wounds. As we see in our text, he was
handed over to lift us up. We would learn this of the son,
look back at verse 31. As the second time, Jesus is preparing
His disciples, teaching them of His sufferings. The Son of
Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. He's going
to be handed over. And they will kill Him, and when
He is killed after three days, He will rise. Here, the Son of
Man, and we've seen this designation Christ gives Himself. As we learn
in Daniel 7, the son of man who's sovereign over all the nations,
he's sovereign over all humanity, but the one who is sovereign
will be handed over into the hands of men, teaching us the
son of man must suffer. Theology of the cross, Martin
Luther says, is a theology of revelation. Luther says, no one
has seen God, but Jesus of Nazareth has made him known. A God with
holes in his hands and feet and a pierced side. A God who has
come near to us in our twisted and ruined existence. A God who
comes near to us in his blood to drown our sins. So that we
would together learn of the Son, have a theology of the cross,
that he's come to be handed over. Paradidomi, the Greek. This really
speaks of a divine offering. It's according to the decree
of God that all things are working to the counsel of His will for
His own glory. Therefore, He has foreordained
all things which come to pass. As we've been learning at home,
Galatians 2.20, Solomon's been memorizing that verse, so I want
you all to ask him after service, say, hey, how's Galatians 2.20
coming? I've been crucified with Christ,
no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Therefore the
life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself up for me. He was delivered. He was handed over for me. So that we could be filled with
his life. That we would be learning greatness,
beloved. And that he's, he's coming to
us that the purposes in our hearts are like deep water, but he's
the man of understanding, drawing it out. As he asked the disciples,
what were you discussing on the way? He's asking us this morning,
what is what are our hearts busy with? What errand is your pain
driving you to? Where's our life moving towards? So Jesus, we could say, is like
that wise man of understanding coming alongside us, taking hold
of our hands, helping us form the letters. He's teaching us
to love what is beautiful. His life getting into us, His
life spreading out in us. lifting our dark minds, touching
our blind eyes. Beloved, this is greatness. This
is greatness. Look at verse 35. He sat down.
He called the 12. He said to them, if anyone would
be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. If you
want to be eminent, you want to be high, you want to be first,
you must be last. Last of all and servant of all.
Do you remember when Jesus was invited to dinner at the Pharisees?
And how he noticed that they wanted the best seats. They wanted
the seats of honor. How they all kind of moved and
jockeyed for it and pushed themselves to it. And how he responded with
the parable. He says, but when you're invited,
go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes,
he may say to you, friend, move up higher. Then you will be honored
in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For everyone
who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will
be exalted. He says, friend, let this fill
your mind. Learn this, friend. Move up higher. Move up higher. Learn greatness
by becoming a servant. A servant to all. As our Lord
Jesus, He deacons sinners. He serves sinners. He blesses
sinners. He washes sinners. Look at verse
36. And so He shows us. He took a
child. He put him in the midst of them. and taking him in his
arms, he said to them, whoever receives one such child in my
name receives me. Whoever receives me receives
not me, but him who sent me. You think how Jesus is teaching
us about that he was handed over to take hold of us? What is he
taking hold of in the world? And that you and I would take
hold of the same? That by receiving and welcoming
and taking hold of Jesus is receiving the Son of God. He is the Son
of God. He is divine. To receive Him
is to receive the Father. And that we would also take hold
of His ministry. Take hold of the least of these. Those that are lowest in status
in society. How our Lord in the Gospels,
He's giving us a high view of women and a high view of children. Also giving us a high view of
the sick. a high view of the lonely, a high view of those
who are in prison. As he says in Matthew 25, as
you minister to them, as you minister to the least of these,
what? You've done it unto me. As we
reach out towards those, taking hold of them, to serve them and
bless them, as Proverbs says, when we remember the poor, we're
lending to the Lord, we're giving to the Lord, we're doing it in
Jesus's name unto him. So where we said a theologian
of glory expects a Messiah to come in and summon all the powerful,
summon all the beautiful, that he would raise an army of society's
elite, as theologians of the cross, to see the Messiah truly
as Isaiah 42, Matthew says Jesus fulfilled, that he will not cry
aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street,
but a bruised reed he will not break, a faintly burning wick
he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth
justice. Who is our Lord gathering to
himself? Who does he have an eye for?
The bruised, the forsaken, the forgotten, the Hagar's who are
perishing in the wilderness. He's heard your cry. The Lord
sees you and that you and I are learning this, we're learning
the values of the kingdom. As James 2 goes on to say, Listen,
my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor
in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom? Or
as the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1, he says, For consider your
calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according
to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many
were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish
in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the
world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised
in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing
things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence
of God. And because of Him, we are in
Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption, so that as it is written, let the
one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Beloved, learning greatness,
as it's been termed, is also learning gospel humility. It's
learning this humility that thinks less of ourselves, that you and
I are not needing to connect things always to us, that we're
able to give an answer to the busyness of our hearts, we're
able to meet the needs of our thirsty hearts and be redirected
to the needs of others, that you and I can learn when our
hearts are anxious, when they're afraid, when we feel that cringy
tension of anxiety, we can call on Jesus Christ. And call on
Him and He'll say, friend, move up higher. I'll lead you to move
up higher. You can rest in me. You can rest
in my love. You can stand in the presence
of those rooms, of those situations, and you can receive my power.
And you can receive my peace. That your security and identity
is in me, Jesus says. That we can be released from
the need for self-protection. We can be released from selfish
ambition. We can be released upon the earth
like the angels. Because we died and risen with
Jesus Christ. You're in Christ, you're already
dead. Who can bring any charge against God's elect? It is Christ
who justifies. You and I are free to descend
upon the earth like the angels, learning greatness, learning
what Paul says in Romans 15, this joyful concern for others. It's the joy in the Holy Spirit,
joy in the Holy Ghost, that we can therefore welcome one another
as Christ has welcomed us for the glory of God. You know, as
Christians, it's tough. It's tough to care for one another.
It's tough to get along. The late Jack Miller, leading
the international mission of Surge, and writing a lot of letters
to his missionaries who were having trouble. One of his letters,
he told the missionaries, he says, you know, if you really
want to love your teammates, love your team, seek to help
make them successful. What a picture. What an application. How can we help make one another
successful? How can we bless not only the
body of Christ, but our neighbors, our communities? B.B. Warfield, he once wrote, he says,
Jesus was led by his love for others into the world to forget
himself and the needs of others. Self-sacrifice means not indifference
to our times and our fellows. It means absorption in them.
It means entering into every man's hopes fears, longings,
and despairs, it means not that we should live one life, but
a thousand lives. Binding ourselves in sympathy
to a thousand lives, a sympathy that their lives would become
our own. We ask ourselves, how is he leading us to serve? What
are the needs around us, around you? What are the needs in your
family? The needs in our church, our
neighborhood. Needs at your work. What are
some ways that we can come alongside our deacons? Come alongside leadership? As Jesus is saying, move up higher,
friend. Let us be last of all. Let us
seek to be a servant of all. Let us have a new errand to run
after. And as we close, may I share
a prayer from Francis of Assisi, where he says, Lord, make me
an instrument of thy peace, that where there is hatred, I may
bring love, that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit
of forgiveness, that where there is discord, I may bring harmony,
that where there is error, I may bring truth, that where there
is doubt, I may bring faith, that where there is despair,
I may bring hope, that where there are shadows, I may bring
light, that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant
that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted, to understand
than to be understood, to love than to be loved, for it is by
self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is
forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Let us respond now in prayer. Oh Father, for the sake of your
son and the sake of your mercy, we come to respond to your word. We thank you for moving towards
us, to draw out our hearts, Oh Lord, that we would sense
and feel your compassion, that you know how our hearts are restless
and busy with much pain, much fear. Oh Lord, let our hearts be guarded
by your peace. Touch our eyes and help us see
you. being handed over for us. Oh,
Lord, lift our dark minds to the light of your grace. Help us move up higher, Lord.
Higher with you, we pray in Christ's name, amen.
Learning Greatness
Series Book of Mark
Mark 9:30-37
| Sermon ID | 131252038495678 |
| Duration | 32:54 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Mark 9:30-37 |
| Language | English |
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