Greatness Redefined (Mark 9:30-41)

Everyone plays status games and no one wants to admit it.

When I was in high school, most of the students at my California

public school naturally sorted themselves into the traditional

cliques. Nerds, jocks, popular girls,

stoners, band kids over in their own little weird corner.

Everyone knew where each group stood in relation to the others.

Everyone knew what place their group held on the ladder.

No one used the word. What was it all about status?

And of course, there wasn't just a hierarchy between those

groups. There was a hierarchy within

each group. Whatever group you most belong

to, you might be able to say, I don't care what those kids think

about me. I'm not trying to be a jock, but

you would care what the people in your own group thought about

you. The criteria for being at the

top varied depending on the group.

Best looks, best grades, best athlete, best performer, biggest

risk taker. But you cared where you fit

based on those criteria in one way or another.

Status is a game that most of us are playing much of the time.

In his provocative book The Status Game, English journalist

will store writes When people defer to us, offer respect,

admiration or praise, or allow us to influence them in some

way. That's status, he observes.

In the developed world we play political games, religious

games, corporate games, sports games, cult games, legal games,

fashion games, hobby games, computer games, charity games,

social media games, racial, gender and nationalist games.

The variety feels infinite. Within these groups we strive

for individual status acclaim from our Co players.

We don't often describe them like this, but status games are

everywhere. If you're a high school athlete,

you play JV or varsity. If you're trying to get onto a

college team, is it D3D2 or D1? Are you a starter or do you come

off the bench? If you have a professional job,

you know where your profession sits on the prestige ladder

compared to other professions. And within your job, you know

where your job title puts you in the hierarchy.

What's the noun in your job title?

What's the adjective or series of adjectives like senior vice

president? Sometimes the traits that can

confer status or show off status are either highly arbitrary or

deeply personal. Even intimate.

Clothes, cars, vacation spots, kind of arbitrary.

Much more intimate looks, body type, fitness, thinness.

What does status give you? It's a form of currency.

It's a kind of relationship. Cash.

The more people think the more highly of you, the more reason

you have to feel good about yourself.

Not only that, the more social power you have.

Status is validating the worth other people gives you, proves

your worth to yourself. So you think it also means

people tend to treat you better the more status you have.

Why? Because you have something they

want, they can get more of it from you.

Why don't we like to admit that we play status games?

It's uncomfortable. It's not one of those realities

we often look at or talk about or name.

It's hidden. It's under the surface.

Why here, again, Will store is helpful, he says.

To admit to being motivated by improving our rank is to risk

making others think less of us, which loses us rank.

Even admitting it to ourselves can make us feel reduced, so our

awareness of our desire for status eats itself.

We readily recognize it in Rivals and even use it as a

method of insult, which, ironically, is status play, an

attempt to downgrade others and thereby raise ourselves up.

What status games do you care about?

What status game do you care most about?

I'm not asking you to say anything out loud.

I'm just asking you to be honest in your own head right now.

What are you tempted to neglect or harm in your quest for

status? This morning we continue our

series in Mark's Gospel with Chapter 9, verses 30 to 41.

If you don't have a Bible, you can put up your hand and someone

will bring you one. Do we need any?

Dawson's ready. Brian's ready.

Looks like everybody's got a Bible.

Mark Chapter 9, verses 30 to 41. Our passage for this morning is

Mark 9:30–41

all about status. Once you see it, you can't Unsee

it. Specifically, it's about how

Jesus turns our quest for status upside down.

If you follow a crucified Savior, what does that do to

your quest for status? Consider that question as I read

the whole passage. They went on from there and

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 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.

And he sat down and 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 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,

and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me.

John said to him, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons

in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not

following us. But Jesus said, do not stop him.

For no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able

soon afterward to speak evil of me.

For the one who is not against us is for us.

For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to

drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his

reward. Our passage answers a simple,

crucial question, and it's a question that's intimately tied

up with status. The question is, what is true

greatness according to Jesus? True greatness is making

yourself least and putting yourself last.

True greatness is making yourself least and putting

yourself last. How can you do that?

Our text has three sections. The sermon will have three

points. How can you make yourself least

and put yourself last? Point #1 embrace the suffering

servant, embrace the suffering servant.

That's the challenge of verses 30 to 32.

Look again with me at those verses.

They went on from there and 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 were afraid to ask

him. Now verse 30 tells us that Jesus

is leading his disciples on a journey.

He's taking them on the way. The way to where they don't know

it, but he's leading them to Jerusalem.

They don't understand it, but he is heading to his own death on

the cross. Jesus has already taught them

back in chapter 8 that he's going to die for sins and rise

again. But they didn't get it.

And if his inner circle of disciples didn't get it, the

broader crowds following him certainly aren't going to get

it. Which is why he does this follow

up teaching in private, in secrecy.

He teaches his disciples again with nobody else around.

This is the second of three times in Mark's gospel that

Jesus predicts his death and resurrection.

Once in chapter 8, once in Chapter 9, once in chapter 10.

This one is the shortest. It's plain stark, simple.

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. The keyword in Jesus teaching is

delivered. This will be literally fulfilled

in a series of events. Judas will deliver Jesus to the

Sanhedrin, the religious authorities.

The Sanhedrin will deliver Jesus to Pilate.

Pilate will condemn him to death and deliver him over to soldiers

and those soldiers will literally deliver him bodily to

the cross. In each case the verb delivered

means that Jesus is in the hands of he's under the power of

someone else and he's being handed over to a fate that if he

were acting in his own self-interest, he would not

choose. In the Greek text of verse 31,

Jesus verb delivered is actually in the present tense.

You could translate it literally.

The Son of Man is being delivered.

I think the Esvs future translation is fine.

Jesus talking about something that's going to happen, but why

does he put it in the present? It's as if he's saying it's

already happening. God has determined it.

God has decreed it. It is certain even though you

don't see it happening outwardly.

It is in process right now though.

Evil human acts. We'll hand Jesus over to

condemnation. The ultimate reason for Jesus's

suffering is God's sovereign will of salvation.

Behind each human act of betrayal, Jesus points to the

sovereign hand of God. And Jesus willingly embraces his

role as the suffering servant. He is making no objection.

He is registering no dispute. He is voluntarily endorsing his

own role and handing himself over.

As we saw a couple of weeks ago on the similar passage in

chapter 8, Jesus names himself here as the Son of Man.

That title points to a figure of power and glory from Daniel

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

Chapter 7. But he attributes to himself as

the Son of Man what was prophesied in Isaiah's teaching

about the suffering servant, especially in Isaiah 53.

For instance, Isaiah 53 verse 8 says by oppression and judgement

Isaiah 53:8

he was taken away, meaning by injustice he was delivered over,

carried off. The Son of Man is the suffering

servant. There's irony here.

There's paradox here. The Son of Man will be delivered

into the hands of men. The one who's sovereign over all

gave himself over to the most degrading, horrifying death.

Why? Why did He do that?

All the human acts of handing over Judas, Jewish leaders,

pilot soldiers, those were all human instruments of a greater

glorious divine. Handing over God the Father

delivered God the Son to death for our sins.

Jesus Himself delivered Himself over to death to save us.

Why did He do that? Because of His love, because of

His mercy, because of His grace, and because it was the only way

that we sinners who have completely alienated ourselves

from God and rebelled against God, could be reconciled to God.

In the wisdom of God there had to be a substitute to satisfy

God's wrath against sin, and in the mercy of God he was willing

that it should be so. Jesus came to earth knowing and

endorsing that this would be his destination.

The Son of Man came, He'll tell us a chapter later, not to be

served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The only way that you as a sinful human individual can be

reconciled to God is by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

By the death of Jesus that pays for your sins.

By the resurrection of Jesus by which he proves his power over

sin and death and enters into the the new creation life that

no death can touch. If you are not trusting in Jesus

to save you, repent and believe today.

He's the only way to be right with God.

Note that Jesus's death is crucial both as a physical,

bodily death and as a status death.

Jesus is the one who is rightly due all glory, honor, and

worship, and yet he willingly allowed himself to be mocked,

maligned, mistreated, hit, spat on, and crucified.

The crucifixion of Christ is the greatest distortion of status in

the history of the world. The crucifixion of Christ is the

greatest status death in the history of the world.

It is an infinite status death. God himself submitted to

crucifixion. The Lord of all made himself

nothing to save those who believe.

Now, what did the disciples make of all this?

Sadly, nothing. They heard the words.

They must have understood at least the part about Jesus dying

and rising again, although it just didn't compute.

It didn't make sense. It didn't fit with their

pre-existing programs of what the Messiah would be.

It caused all of their programs to glitch, to freeze up.

Blue screen of death is what these sayings of Jesus induced

in their minds. It doesn't compute.

Suffering Messiah dead son of man, huh?

And they were afraid to ask. That's because they were afraid

of a rebuke. Jesus has already taught them

this once. Here comes the same lesson,

class and session again. Guys, you didn't get it last

time, so we have to repeat the lesson.

Jesus is a patient master teacher.

He's instructing his disciples in what they need and yet

they're none the wiser. So they're afraid.

The best thing for the disciples would have been to understand

and embrace Jesus teaching. The next best thing would have

been to confess their ignorance and ask him to explain.

Brothers and sisters, members of Trinity Baptist Church, embrace

the humility of asking questions.

If there's a biblical truth, you're wrestling with something

you don't understand. Ask a mature believer.

Ask somebody who knows Scripture well.

Ask an elder of the church. Humble yourself to get help.

As parents, this is something Kristen and I are always

teaching our kids about knowledge in general.

If we're reading a book to them and they don't understand what a

word means, they pipe up and say, What does that mean?

We want to encourage them. Hey, good job being humble.

Good job asking. You certainly don't want to go

around using words you've heard if you do not know what they

mean. Instead, you should ask whenever

you hear a word you don't know what it means.

If you don't know, always ask. The disciples were sorry, let me

back up. The disciples should have been

further along than they were. Their spiritual dullness kept

them from understanding the truth Jesus was teaching, and

sometimes we can feel like that as Christians.

I should be further along than I am.

When I kind of look at the other believers around me, maybe the

other members of the church, I kind of feel like they're

farther ahead of me. I feel behind.

Don't be embarrassed by that. Don't let a feeling of

comparative inadequacy keep you from growing if you have a

question or struggle that seems too basic or too elementary to

ask about. Like, surely this was taught in

Christianity 101 and I I missed that day, or somehow I just kind

of fell behind. If you ask somebody, you may

well discover the thing you're struggling with is something

that seemingly very mature believers around you continue to

struggle with too. If you're not a believer in

Jesus, I wonder how his being delivered over to death strikes

you. One of the reasons the disciples

failed to understand Jesus teaching is that it really does

not make sense in worldly terms. It doesn't.

It isn't meant to. A dying savior, A crucified

king. That seems backwards.

That seems upside down. You know, there's actually an

ancient anti Christian graffiti that reflects the fact that non

believers have always found Jesus crucifixion absurd.

This graffiti was scratched in plaster on the wall of a room in

ancient Rome in about 200 AD. There's a picture and there's

words. The picture is this.

There's one man worshiping another man who's being

crucified and who has the head of a donkey.

The text under the picture says Alexa Menos worships his God, an

early Pagan Roman mockery of Christianity from not long after

Christianity was born. The cross has always looked

stupid to non believers. My question for you is, if

you're not a believer, what values make Jesus look stupid to

you? What pursuits, what pleasures,

what status games that you're invested in?

Make Jesus look to you like a crucified donkey.

We believers understand it looks crazy.

We believers understand it looks stupid.

We just also confess with the Apostle Paul that the

foolishness of God is wiser than men.

Whatever those values are, whatever in your kind of value

system makes Jesus look stupid, I'd beg you to reconsider.

I'd exhort you to repent of any of this world's values that get

between you and Jesus. The cross is a paradox.

The cross is upside down, and that's for a very good reason.

It was the only way for God to turn this upside down world

right side up. How can you begin to pursue true

greatness? What does it take to make

yourself least and put yourself last?

It starts when you embrace the suffering servant.

But it doesn't stop there. What Jesus became for us, we

must become for others Point to become a humble servant.

Become a humble servant. That's the lesson of verses 33

to 37. Look first at verses 33 and 34.

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 is the greatest.

Now, as the following verses are going to show, Jesus asks what

the disciples were discussing, not because he didn't know, but

because He did know. He could have overheard them.

He could have known by his divine omniscience.

The text doesn't specify, but the point is, Jesus caught them.

The disciples again keep silent, this time out of embarrassment.

They're like school boys who got caught by the teacher talking

about something they shouldn't be talking about.

Whoop. Keep quiet.

Maybe we won't hear, maybe we'll forget about it.

Don't say anything. Their behavior is almost

childish, and so it's all the more fitting that Jesus will use

a child as an object lesson to instruct them.

Here in verse 34, we learn that the disciples were playing a

status game. They were arguing about which of

them sits at the top of the ladder.

Who is the highest status disciple?

That's what it means to be arguing about who's the

greatest. What could be more unfitting for

followers of a Savior who's on his way to crucifixion?

What could be more unfitting for followers of the one who's just

proclaimed that he is going to willingly endure an infinite

status death to save them? But that's what pride does.

It blinds us to how comically foolish so many of our quests

for status are. And pride, of course, is at the

root of so much striving for status.

Just to be clear, not all giving and receiving of status is

sinful. It's right to honor things that

are honorable. It's right to celebrate things

that are good. Everything from athletic

achievement to excellent work to some outstanding moral acts do

deserve recognition. But our pride leads us to crave

status as an idol. Our pride drives us to sin in

pursuit of status and to sin when we don't get the status we

want. Here the disciples are an object

lesson in how pride leads to selfish sinful status seeking.

So it's Jesus answer. It comes in two parts, 1st and

verse 35 there's a thesis then in verses 36 and 37 and

illustration first verse 35. Here's really the heart of our

passage. And he sat down and called the

12. And he said to them, if anyone

would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

Jesus posture of sitting down adds a note of authority and

formality. It's what he's about to say.

It's the posture of a teacher instructing his students.

And so it sets up the question, what's the lesson?

If you want to be first, you must become last of all and

servant of all. If you want to be great, you

have to make yourself least and put yourself last.

If you want to be great, you have to make yourself nothing.

The only way to be great in Jesus eyes is to be a humble

servant. After all, that's exactly what

he did for you. That's what he became in order

to save you. The only way to faithfully

follow a crucified Messiah is to make yourself nothing.

The only way to faithfully follow the suffering servants is

to make yourself a humble servant.

Anything else is a contradiction in terms.

Humble service is a mark of every genuine believer.

Sometimes we think of humility exclusively as our attitude

toward God. It starts there, but it doesn't

stop there. Humility is not just having a

lowly attitude before God, it is having a lowly attitude and

actions toward others. Humility is proven not just by

your attitude toward God, but by your attitude and actions toward

others. Humility is not just thinking

less of yourself, it is also necessarily doing more for

others. To become a humble servant is to

make yourself least and put yourself last, and there is no

way to do that without undergoing a painful series of

deaths to self. To make yourself least will cost

you. It will cost you things you want

and things you love. It will cost you things that

make you look good and feel good.

It will cost you things that could get you praise and esteem

from others. It will cost you making hard

decisions, suffering hard losses that no other human being will

adequately notice or appreciate or repay.

Putting yourself last will hurt. It'll hurt your pride.

It'll hurt your ego. It'll hurt your plans and

ambitions. It might even hurt physically.

There are times when providing for others needs and serving

others good demands that you continue to extend yourself when

you're already worn down and spread thin.

Being a servant comes to the price tag and the whole point is

it the price you pay. And the test of whether you're

really paying the price is whether those you're serving see

you do it gladly. Ah, if you pay the price, but

you're mad about it, you're passing along the costs to those

you're allegedly serving. This kind of service can only

come from a total transformation of the heart.

This kind of glad sacrificial cost, paying so that the other

person doesn't even know how much it's costing you, that is

serving in the way of Jesus. The cost you pay are many.

Loss of status, loss of recognition, loss of ease, loss

of enjoyment. What could possibly motivate you

to willingly, gladly undergo such losses?

Scripture offers 2 massive motivations. 1 looks back, the

other looks forward first. This is the price Jesus has

already paid for you. He did it at infinite cost to

himself. He did it at the cost of his

life. This is how Jesus has already

served you. So to make yourself least and

put yourself last is to love others the way Jesus has already

loved you. Second.

That's looking back. This is looking forward.

There's the reward that Jesus promises to all who humble

themselves as he teaches in Matthew 2312.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles

himself will be exalted, or as he teaches later in Mark chapter

Mark 10:31

10, verse 31. But many who are first will be

last, and the last first. All throughout Mark's Gospel we

see that Jesus's path is 1 of reversal.

Reversal of expectations, reversal of fortunes.

He will humble himself to death and then be exalted.

He will suffer and then enter into glory.

And so will we. Humbling yourself is not the end

of the story. It would be a pretty rough way

to live if it was. The humbling yourself may last

as long as this life does, but the good news is this life is

not all there is. Humbling yourself is not the end

of the story. It's necessary, there's no way

around it. But it's only a chapter.

Even if you humble yourself throughout this entire chapter,

what's Jesus going to do when it finishes?

Exalts you with Him by sharing His own glory with you forever.

Any cost you pay now is nothing compared to the reward Jesus

will give you. Any death to self you suffer now

is nothing compared to the life you will receive with Jesus and

from Jesus. Anything you give up in order to

serve others now is nothing compared to gaining eternity

with Him. So ask yourself, what can you do

to make yourself least and put yourself last?

What would it look like for you to be the greatest servant in

your home? What would it look like to be

the person most willing to die to their own preferences and

desires in your workplace or on your team or in your class?

Mothers in the congregation, I just want to encourage you.

You all do this in so many ways every day.

There is maybe no earthly calling that is so shaped around

death to self and self denial as motherhood.

You do this all the time. I see my own wife, Kristen, die

to herself and make herself last and least for the good of our

family all the time, including right now.

We have a couple of kids who are not well.

This morning she is home with them so that I can be here to

preach. Husbands, encourage your wives

for the sacrifices you see them making.

They are making many. You should be noticing them.

It's easy to miss them. Just open your eyes, you'll see

some. And then once you do, encourage

your wife for ways you see her pouring herself out in Christ

like service for your family. Our culture, for the most part,

does not notice or praise or confer status on mothers.

To be a mother, particularly to be a full time mother, is to die

a status death, especially if you've given up any kind of

career or credentials in order to devote yourself to your

children. It's all the more necessary for

us as believers, for us in the church, to rightly celebrate and

honor and repair the status of mothers.

Mothers should be honored by us and among us in ways they simply

aren't out in the world. Members of Trinity Baptist

Church, I also want to encourage all of you for ways you're

selflessly and sacrificially serving one another and doing so

in ways to help establish this church together.

Giving generously, showing up early to set up, running sound,

helping lead in worship, teaching in children's ministry,

greeting, welcoming, investing in each other's spiritually,

providing for each other's needs.

There are thousands of ways you all are serving one another for

the good of this body. There's also one small act of

service I saw a few months ago in a different context just

stuck with me. I've often thought about it.

Our daughter Lucy, in the previous school year had a

several weeks of like a band practice and they all got to

learn an instrument. So she was loaned A flute from

the school and one morning when she's supposed to have band, she

left the flute at home. And so Kristen, and yet one more

sacrificial act of service, made another trip to school to bring

Lucy the flute. She brought it into the middle

school admin office, having to see the principal, Dr. Matt

Hall. Dr. Hall just says, oh, that's

fine, I'll take it. And he runs it down the hall to

Lucy's class and brings the flute to or himself right away.

He didn't pass it off on somebody.

He didn't kind of leave it there for a lowly admin person to take

care of. The person in charge of the

whole school didn't want Lucy to be worried about her afternoon

practice a second longer than she needed to.

He proved by that that he cares about her, and he's willing to

care for her. No matter what position of

authority or status or prestige. You have one way to serve

others. It's by continuing to pursue

whatever menial tasks it takes to love and care for those under

your charge. Make yourself least, put

yourself last. That's Jesus thesis.

Then comes the illustration, verses 36 and 37.

And he took a child and 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, and whoever receives me receives

not me, but him who sent me. Why does Jesus use a child as an

object lesson? I don't think it's necessarily

as an example of faith or dependence.

I don't think it's an example of humility either.

Not necessarily. Instead, it's because the child

has no status. In the ancient Mediterranean

world, children were at the lowest place on the social

ladder. They were under the authority of

others. They had no legal rights.

They could not stand up for themselves.

Jesus is not teaching his disciples about becoming

childlike through some kind of native good quality in children.

Instead, he's teaching them that they need to give up their quest

for status and they need to embrace those who have no

status. So what does Jesus mean when he

talks about receiving one such child in my name?

How is that? How is it that by doing that you

receive Jesus? I think in both his action and

his teaching, Jesus is using the child as a symbol for a

believer. I think the child represents A

believer. The child has no status and

every believer in Jesus is someone who has given up the

quest for status in order to follow Christ.

So to receive a child in Christ's name means to receive a

believer for Jesus sake. It means to welcome someone else

because Jesus does and not for any other reason.

More on that in the next point. Jesus says that whoever does

this receives him, and whoever receives him receives the

Father. You prove that you receive Jesus

by receiving his people. You prove your love for Jesus by

loving his people. You prove that you belong to

Jesus by embracing all who belong to him.

That's another way you make yourself least and put yourself

last. So by making a child an example,

Jesus is charging his disciples to reverse their structure of

values to turn their status ladders upside down.

Quit climbing up, because as you do, you're going to pass Jesus,

who's on his way down. Quit striving for status and

start giving it out freely. Quit seeking importance and

start giving importance to those who have no importance in the

world's eyes. What status ladders are most

popular in the region where we live?

What status ladder do you most want to climb?

What can you do to seek greatness in Jesus's eyes more

than in the eyes of any mere human?

The last part of our passage shows us one more test of

whether you're a humble servant. It holds one more way to make

yourself last and least point #3 welcome all his servants.

Welcome all his servants. That's the message of verses 38

to 41. If you want to embrace the

suffering servant and become a humble servant, you must also

welcome all his servants. Start with verse 38.

John said to him, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons

in your name and we tried to stop him because he was not

following us. We don't know who this rogue

exorcist is, but I think it's best to understand him as a

genuine follower of Jesus. I don't think this man is

falsely claiming Jesus name, we're just using it as a kind of

magic spell. I think the only problem in

John's eyes is that this man is not travelling with Jesus

disciples. He doesn't belong to their

group. Notice how John describes it.

Because he was not following us. Following us, John?

Is it like he has to be your disciple or he can't be Jesus's

disciple? Shouldn't the question be

whether he's following Jesus, not whether he's following us?

Every other time in the Gospel that word following is used.

It's about Jesus, not us. Now, it's more than a little

ironic that this man was effectively driving out demons.

Remember the previous passage from last Sunday?

The whole inciting incident was that the disciples couldn't do

that. So here they see someone

succeeding at doing what they failed to do.

And John says, hey, stop it. No more of that, thank you very

much. All because he wasn't officially

part of their group. John.

Was apparently trying to protect the disciples in Group

advantage. He was trying to preserve their

status. Hey, you can't cast out demons.

That's what we do. That's our competitive

advantage. Thank you very much.

Stay in your lane, please. Either join our group so we can

count your numbers, report them back to HQ, or knock it off.

How does Jesus respond? He gives a command in verse 39.

Do not stop him. And then he gives 3 reasons for

the command in verses 39 to 41, starting in verse 39.

But Jesus said do not stop him. For no one who does a mighty

work in My name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of

me. For the one who is not against

us is for us. For truly I say to you, whoever

gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to

Christ will by no means lose his reward.

I think that first reason in verse 39 is simply a way to say

mark the outward fruit. Notice what he's doing.

If he's speaking against demons in my name, he's not going to be

bad mouthing me after in verse 40, Jesus is saying there's only

two teams, the team against Jesus and the team for Jesus.

If you're not on one, you're on the other.

Now, that doesn't mean that it's enough not to consciously oppose

Jesus, as if you somehow get to be with Jesus by default as long

as you don't choose against him. Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus

teaches the same point from the other side.

Like in Matthew 1230. Whoever is not with me is

against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

We'll come back to verse 41 in a minute.

So what's Jesus main point here? It's an extension or application

of what he taught in verse 37. Believers in Jesus should

welcome all who believe in Jesus.

Now, right off the bat, we need to acknowledge that in order to

welcome other believers in Jesus, we have to be able to

define what it means to believe in Jesus and to discern who does

believe in Jesus. Of course we can't judge

people's hearts, and of course our discernment of who is a

fellow Christian will never be perfect.

But there are basic moral and doctrinal boundaries to being a

Christian. For instance, if you deny the

resurrection of Jesus, you are not a Christian.

The apostle Paul essentially says so in First Corinthians

1517. If Christ has not been raised,

your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

It makes no sense and it contradicts all of scripture to

say something like, well, that person really loves Jesus, they

just don't believe in the resurrection.

It's not Jesus you're loving if you believe he's still dead.

That's a fake Jesus, not the real Jesus.

Believers in Jesus are those who believe the true gospel and

whose lives give evidence of genuine faith and repentance.

Now, that said, believers in Jesus should welcome all other

believers in Jesus. One way we should apply this as

a congregation is to cultivate a Catholic spirit toward other

Christians and other churches. Catholic in the sense of

embracing the whole. That's what that word means,

having a loving concern for all of Christ's people, whatever

their location or denomination. So as a church, we should

constantly strive to cultivate both conviction and charity.

We want both strong convictions and open arms, and there are

many senses in which having strong convictions helps us have

open arms. One way to cultivate both

conviction and charity is to try to develop a sense of

theological triage. That's a medical image barred

from the emergency room. Basically discerning how crucial

a given doctrine is. Is an error on a given point

spiritually life threatening? Some are?

Is an error on a given point something that regretfully will

need to result in genuine Christians forming different

churches so they can each obey God according to their

convictions? Or is it something we should be

able to disagree about and happily be members of the same

church? I've just laid out three

categories. Let me walk through them again

briefly. 3 levels of three theological triage.

Level 1 Issues that are essential for being a Christian.

Issues like believing in the Trinity, the deity of Christ,

the resurrection, the need to repent and believe in order to

be saved. Level 2 Issues that are

necessary to agree on in order to have a local church together.

There are issues that genuine Christians will disagree about,

but that we need to agree on in order to form a church.

How should a church be structured?

How is authority to be handled in the church?

What about the ordinances of baptism in the Lord's Supper?

How should we do those who should partake of those?

But then the third tier or third category, third level, whatever

word I'm using, issues we can disagree about and still live

together in joyful unity as members of the same church.

Items in this category are so abundant I'll leave it to you to

discuss them over lunch. Items in this category are so

abundant that the apostle Paul has 2 multi chapter discussions.

1 Romans 1415, one of First Corinthians 8 to 10 about issues

where you should be able to disagree and still have unity in

the local church. Beware the temptation of trying

to build up a brand within Christianity or a sub team

within Christianity. Don't fall into John's pitfall

of having an in Group we're better mentality as a local

church. How can we strive to avoid those

temptations and pursue catholicity?

One way is to desire as much fellowship and partnership with

those other believers in churches as we can within the

bounds of our shared convictions.

Different degrees of agreement rightly lead to different

degrees of partnership, but we should be looking to do as much

as we can with other believers within those boundaries rather

than using different convictions on secondary matters as just an

excuse to kind of withdraw, not care, be indifferent, neglect

other believers. We should also pray for other

believers in other churches. Michael and I do this every week

in our pastoral prayers. We try to make a point of

praying for churches that don't agree with us on every point,

but whose ministries we want to see flourish and glorify God.

We want to celebrate other churches wins.

We want to delight and all the UNC students are being well

discipled as members of Risen Christ Church.

Praise God for that. May there be more.

We want to help and not hinder other churches ministry.

As Jesus said, do not stop him. We're all on Jesus team, so we

especially want to look for ways to promote unity and partnership

with other believers in churches who agree with us on essentials

differ with us on important secondary matters.

We want to be quick to recognize and support the good that other

churches are doing. We shouldn't be about building

up ourselves or our own congregation as much as

possible, but advancing the gospel as much as possible.

One simple, practical application of that point.

We know there can be a variety of reasons why someone would

drive a decent distance to go to a particular church.

But whenever someone starts attending here who's coming to

us from some distance, our elders are quick to point them

to good churches closer to where they live.

Michael and I have had conversations like this with a

number of you. We're happy to have you here.

We just want you to know about other churches close to where

you live. Downtown Raleigh, check out

Hosea Church right by NC State North Raleigh, Tried Christ

Covenant or Tabernacle Baptist near Briar Creek by the airport.

Consider Mount Herman Baptist, where, Lord willing, Brian

Miller will be preaching in a couple of weeks to fill in for

their pastor, Andy Owens, Alamance County.

You'll be in good hands with our friends at Grace Reform Baptist

or Hall First Baptist Hall River with the pastor, Justin Seavers.

There's many others. Another application of verses 39

to 41 is that the church is not a clique.

Therefore, the church must not be a clique.

How can you have close relationships in the church and

even circles of friends without letting them become cliques?

I think the basic key is to keep the circle open.

Find ways to add and include others.

Initiate with others beyond your natural circle.

Invite others into that circle. Be deliberate to connect new

people with those who are already in your circle.

Act as a catalyst and conduit for friendship in the church.

Delight to share your friends with other believers so they can

become their friends. Don't be a friend hoarder, but a

friendship merchant. It's also important to build

relationships with people who are different from you,

especially with church members who don't have all the same

status signifiers you do. Build friendships across the

lines of all kinds of worldly divisions.

One very simple way to do this, if you're coordinating any kind

of group event, invite someone who is not already close with

most of the people who will be coming.

Use your connections to help connect somebody else.

Now as promised, back to verse 41 for truly I say to you,

whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to

Christ will by no means lose his reward.

This is parallel to verse 37. It's about welcoming other

believers because Christ welcomes them.

And here the welcome is a small act of charity.

Jesus sees, Jesus knows and Jesus will reward all those who

receive his people because they are his people.

He is not talking about non believers having charity toward

Christians. He's talking about his people

caring for one another. Now, 1 proof that you've become

a humble servant because you embrace the suffering servant is

that you welcome all His servants.

One last note on verse 41. You have to notice who's doing

the caring and who's receiving it.

Jesus is putting his disciples. He's anticipating a scenario in

which they will be in need of charity.

Whoever gives you a cup of cold water.

He's imagining these disciples being so vulnerable and exposed

they cannot even get their own water to drink.

What would put them into such a position?

I'll tell you. Fulfilling the Great Commission,

taking risks, suffering losses, leaving comfort, leaving home,

leaving livelihoods to go and make Jesus known where he is not

known. That is what will put these

disciples into the position of needing to beg somebody for even

a glass of cold water. They will suffer the loss of

status, the loss of support, even the loss of sustenance in

order to make Jesus known. And in some way or other, that's

what all Christians do. We make ourselves little in

order to make much of Him. We gladly endure hardship in

order to lead others to Him. We make ourselves weak and

vulnerable in order to try to lead lost sinners to the Savior

who died to save them. What does Jesus say he'll do?

He'll reward. He secures it.

He guarantees it shall not lose his reward.

He'll reward the one who gives the water.

And of course, by implication, he'll reward the one who needs

the water. What can motivate you to suffer

for Jesus now? What can motivate you to make

yourself least and last now? What can motivate you to give up

as needed, as demanded by the Gospel, any and every status

quest? You're on the promise that a day

is coming when Jesus will reverse the loss of status

you've suffered for his sake. A day is coming when Jesus

himself will exalt you. A day is coming when Jesus

himself will reward you beyond all you can deserve, and we'll

reward you beyond all you can imagine.

Come, rejoice now, Oh my soul, for His love is my reward.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray You'd

enable each of us to make ourselves last of all and

servant of all, not to earn your love, but because you've loved

us, not to earn your favor but because of your grace.

Father, would you shape and form in all of our hearts the shape

of the cross, of willingly lowering ourselves so that at

the proper time you would exalt us?

We pray in Jesus name, Amen.