Greatness

to 50.

Before I read and preach, let me pray and ask God for help.

Heavenly Father, as you spoke on that mountaintop

and told the disciples of your son Jesus to listen to him,

Lord, we have gathered as disciples of Jesus today,

again, to listen to him from your word.

So won't you speak to us?

That we might be captivated by that glorious vision of Christ

and live our lives aligned with the glorious Christ

who suffered and died and was raised for our redemption.

Please shape us in the likeness of Christ this morning.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Luke 9.

On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain,

a great crowd met him.

And behold, a man from the crowd cried out,

Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.

And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out.

It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth and shatters him

and will hardly leave him.

And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.

Jesus answered,

O faithless and twisted generation,

how long am I to be with you and bear with you?

Bring your son here.

While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him.

But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy

and gave him back to his father.

And all were astonished at the majesty of God.

But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing,

Jesus said to his disciples,

Let these words sink into your ears.

The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.

But they did not understand the saying,

and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it.

And they were afraid to ask him about the saying.

An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.

But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts,

took a child and put him by his side and said to them,

Whoever receives this child in my name receives me.

And whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.

Jesus answered,

Master,

we saw someone casting out demons in your name,

and we tried to stop him,

because he does not follow with us.

But Jesus said to him,

Do not stop him,

for the one who is not against you is for you.

This is the word of the Lord.

As humans,

we obsess over the concept of greatness.

We pursue greatness

and admire those whom we perceive to be great.

For example,

professional athletes openly strive to be the greatest of all time.

You guys have probably seen this debate rage all over the place,

often shortened to G-O-A-T,

GOAT,

and posted on social media with this little GOAT emoji,

of the actual GOAT, right?

And greatness is mentioned everywhere,

but it's hard to find it defined clearly anywhere.

It's an evasive concept because,

at its heart,

the concept,

the worldly concept of greatness,

is comparative and competitive.

In order to be considered great,

you need to be perceived to be superior to others

in some kind of significant way.

There is no objective level of achievement

that qualifies you to being great.

You must achieve something that others have not achieved.

As soon as everyone else reaches your level of wealth,

success,

fame,

beauty,

or power,

you cease to be great.

Because greatness is essentially comparative and competitive,

as the world perceives it.

You're only great if you're better than somebody else.

Everybody else, really.

The pursuit of so-called greatness

is really,

biblically speaking,

an unbridled expression of human pride.

Because it brings so much focus on the self

and the public perception of the self,

it produces deep anxiety,

insecurity,

and because it thrives on comparison and self-promotion,

it erodes community and destroys camaraderie.

God's not impressed by such greatness.

Psalm 147, 10 to 11 says this,

His delight is not in the strength of the horse,

nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,

but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,

in those who hope in his steadfast love.

We are deluded if we think that our human feats

and accomplishments can impress God.

A toddler might draw something for her dad,

as often happens in my house,

and present her artwork to him

with beaming eyes and a wild smile on her face.

And the loving dad will surely do it on her

and pay some lavish compliments for her artwork.

But I can assure you that that dad

is not then going to turn around

and then frame that artwork

and hang it on his living wall

as if it's the masterpiece that it's not.

He's not impressed by the daughter's artwork.

He's pleased by her love for him

and the fact that she used her limited skills

to draw something for him.

That pleases him.

That impresses him.

But the disparity between our heavenly father and us

is far greater than the disparity

between a dad and a toddler.

So yes, God's pleased when we work hard for him,

for his glory,

when we write poems and novels for his glory,

when we run fast for his glory,

when we study diligently for his glory,

when we compose and arrange songs for his glory,

when we build houses for his glory,

and when we explore nature

and make scientific discoveries for his glory.

He is pleased by all of that.

He's not impressed

by our great accomplishments themselves.

Rather, he's pleased by the way we relate to him,

by our desire to glorify him,

by our humble orientation toward him.

That's true greatness.

And that's the greatness model for us here

by the suffering son of man

that we ought to pursue.

That's the main point of this passage,

that we should pursue the greatness model for us

by the suffering son of man.

And first, we see the greatness of God

and then the greatness of Christ

and then the greatness of disciples.

First, let's look at the greatness of God.

Despite Peter's desire

to prolong the transcendent mountain-type experience,

Jesus comes back down from the mountain

with Peter, James, and John.

This fits the pattern we saw earlier

in Luke 6, 12 to 19,

where Jesus, as here,

goes up to the mountain to pray,

but then returns shortly thereafter

to minister to the crowds.

Jesus does not retreat permanently

into a secluded monastery like a monk.

But always returns down from the mountain,

down from his community with the Father

to serve the people of God.

And it says in verses 37 to 38

that a great crowd met him.

And behold, a man from the crowd cried out,

Teacher, I beg you to look at my son,

for he is my only child.

And behold, a spirit seizes him

and he suddenly cries out.

It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth

and shatters him and will hardly leave him.

The seizures, the sudden cries,

the convulsions, and the foaming

lead many people to identify the boy's condition

as a type of epilepsy.

And in a parallel account in Matthew 17,

he actually uses the Greek word

that is sometimes translated as epilepsy.

But back then, it was more a name

for a set of symptoms

and not the technical medical term

that the word is today.

The World Health Organization identifies

two different types of epilepsy.

The first type is symptomatic epilepsy,

which has known causes,

which is why it's called that.

It has symptoms.

It's caused by some kind of brain damage,

brain defect, or brain tumor.

And interestingly, there's a second type of epilepsy,

which is the more common kind.

It's called the idiopathic epilepsy,

which literally means that it's an epilepsy

without known causes.

There's no way to discern from physical evidence

for what's actually happening.

And this is the more common type

with no identifiable cause.

It's certainly conceivable

that some of these cases

are actually instances of demonic oppression,

though probably not all of them,

as is the case in our passage.

So it's a terribly desperate situation.

The father tells Jesus

that this is his only child,

which helps us get a sense

of the man's desperation.

And he further says

that a spirit's oppression of his son

shatters him and will hardly leave him.

These episodes of demonic oppression

leave the boy completely broken.

And it's not an occasional thing.

When it happens,

the evil spirit will hardly leave.

The oppression is persistent.

And then in verse 40,

the father of the boy adds this,

and I begged your disciples to cast it out,

but they could not.

Since the crowds met Jesus

as he was coming down from the mountain

with James, John, and Peter,

it's presumably the other nine disciples

who were left behind

that had tried to cast out this demon and boy.

But to the father's disappointment,

they were unable to exercise the demon,

and so the father waited for Jesus

to return from the mountain.

And Jesus answers in verse 41,

O faithless and twisted generation,

how long am I to be with you

and bear with you?

Bring your son here.

So Jesus speaks generally

about the entire generation,

but there is certainly an implicit rebuke here

for the disciples themselves,

because earlier in chapter 9, verse 1,

Jesus specifically called the 12 apostles

and together and gave them power and authority

over all demons and to cure diseases

and to send them out to proclaim

the kingdom of God and to heal.

So their inability to drive out demons here

is a sign of faithlessness

and twistedness, Jesus says.

Faithlessness is a lack of dependent trust in Jesus.

They were commissioned with the power

and the authority of Jesus himself,

but they didn't exercise Jesus' power

and authority through faith.

But they sought in vain

to exercise the demon in their own strength,

their own power and authority.

The word twisted literally means crooked,

being turned away from a straight path.

So instead of following the straight

and narrow path of God,

the disciples and the generation at large

had gone astray from God and his ways.

And that's Jesus' assessment of why

the disciples weren't able to exercise the demon.

And the man tries to bring his son to Jesus.

As the man tries to bring the son to Jesus,

verse 42 says that the demon threw him

to the ground and convulsed him.

But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit

and healed the boy and gave him back to his father.

So the boy's convulsions,

even on his way to Jesus,

shows just how severely tormented he was.

But once he's with Jesus,

there's no prolonged struggle,

no fight, no resistance.

Jesus simply rebukes the unclean spirit

and heals the boy

and gives him back to his father.

And after this, it says in verse 43

that all were astonished at the majesty of God.

This verse really sets up the rest of the passage

because the word translated here as majesty

has at its root,

the word that is translated great

later in verses 46 to 48.

It's basically the noun form of the adjective great.

All were astonished at the greatness of God.

Surely if anybody is great,

God is great.

And here is the demonstration

of his unparalleled authority and power.

And all the crowds are astonished

at the greatness of God.

That's the first point.

And then we see the greatness of Christ.

Instead of basking in the praise

and adoration of the crowds,

Jesus tells his disciples to settle down

in verses 43 to 45.

Even though the disciples had failed

to drive out the demon,

through Jesus' success,

they kind of feel a little vindicated probably.

And it became their triumph.

But Jesus does not let the disciples

get carried away by people's admiration.

It says here in verse 43,

but while they were all marveling

at everything he was doing,

Jesus said to his disciples,

let these words sink into your ears.

The Son of Man is about to be delivered

into the hands of men.

Let the crowd's astonishment and marveling,

let the admiration that they heap on you

and on me,

let all of that go in one ear and out the other.

But let these words sink into your ears.

The Son of Man is about to be delivered

into the hands of men.

Jesus is adjusting his disciples' expectation here.

All this public acclaim surrounding Jesus

is feeding the disciples' egos

and making them think that Jesus

will soon declare himself to be the king of the Jews

and overthrow Roman oppressors.

That was the popular expectation

of what the Messiah would do.

But Jesus tells them,

the Son of Man,

the one who has come to represent humanity

and to save humanity,

that Son of Man is about to be delivered

into the hands of men.

The expression,

delivered into the hands of men,

refers to being subjected to

men's authority and power,

being left to their cruel discretion.

It's an echo of what Jesus predicted

earlier in Luke 9, verse 22.

Luke 9:22

The Son of Man must suffer many things

and be rejected by the elders

and chief priests and scribes

and be killed and on the third day be raised.

This was so contrary to the popular expectation

that it says in verse 45,

they did not understand the saying

and it was concealed from them

so they might not perceive it

and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

I mean, it doesn't mean that they didn't understand

the words that Jesus was saying.

The words are perfectly clear.

The Son of Man is about to be handed over to these men.

They understand that,

but he's the messianic king.

He's the one that should be welcomed

and hailed as king by the Jews.

Instead, he will be rejected

by the Jewish elders, chief priests, and scribes.

He's the one that should victoriously

vindicate God's people,

but instead he will be killed by them

and handed over to their power.

The Son of Man will be killed

by the men whom he came to save.

That's the greatness

that he's redirecting his disciples' attention to.

In Mark 10, 42 to 45,

when his disciples were at another point

bickering again over who will be more

improminent in the kingdom of God,

Jesus said this to them,

You know that those who are considered rulers

of the Gentiles lord it over them,

and their great ones exercise authority over them.

But he shall not be so among you.

But whoever would be great among you

must be your servant,

and whoever would be first among you

must be a slave of all.

For even the Son of Man

came not to be served,

but to serve,

and to give his life as a ransom for many.

That's the true greatness

that Christ modeled for us.

And that's why Paul uses the example of Christ

to teach us in Philippians 2,

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,

but in humility count others

more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests,

but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves,

which is yours in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not count equality with God

a thing to be grasped,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a servant,

being born in the likeness of men,

and being found in human form,

he humbled himself by becoming obedient

to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

If anyone in human history

deserved to look out for his own interests,

it was Jesus.

He was the messianic king.

He was sinless.

He deserved all the praise and admiration

that people heaped on him,

and more.

He also had every right

to strike dead on the spot

anyone who opposed him,

because he was the perfect son of God,

the king,

and wicked men deserved to be punished

for their rebellion.

If anyone was entitled to anything,

it was Jesus.

Jesus is the second person of the Trinity,

and he had every right

to count himself

as God the Father's equal.

But instead,

Jesus submitted to the Father

and obeyed him.

He emptied himself

by taking the form of a servant,

being born in the likeness of men.

And still further,

he humbled himself

even to the point of death,

death on the cross.

Instead of selfishly seeking

his own interests,

Jesus sought the interests of others.

Instead of letting sinners die

and be consigned to hell

as their sins deserved,

Jesus died to bear the penalty

for their sins,

so that he might save them

and give them eternal life.

That's true greatness.

Christian pastor and author,

C.J. Maney,

puts it this way in his book

entitled,

Humility,

True Greatness.

As sinfully and culturally defined,

pursuing greatness looks like this.

Individuals motivated by self-interest,

self-indulgence,

and a false sense of self-sufficiency

to pursue selfish ambition

for the purpose of self-glorification,

contrast that with the pursuit

of true greatness

as biblically defined.

Serving others

for the glory of God.

This is the genuine expression

of humility.

This is true greatness

as the Savior defined it.

We are so easily seduced

by the world's perverted definition

of greatness.

And my prayer is that we,

as the church,

will be captivated

and consumed by the greatness

that Christ modeled for us.

God's word does not teach us

to count others

as significant as ourselves.

God's word teaches us

to count others

more significant than ourselves.

Because that's what Jesus did for us.

When your child is nagging you

and testing your patience,

count her more significant

than yourself.

When both you and your spouse

or both you and your roommate

are exhausted,

but there's still a mountain

of household chores

to be completed,

count others more significant

than yourself.

When another church member

is hurting

and needs your care

and needs your prayers,

look out for her interests

more than your own interests.

Set aside your time

and resources to help her.

That's the path of service.

That's the path of sacrifice.

That's the path of love

and carrying our cross

as Jesus carried his cross for us.

That's the way to true greatness.

That's the greatness of Jesus Christ.

And that brings us

to our final point,

the greatness of the disciples.

In light of the true greatness

that Jesus demonstrated,

this is what his followers

ought to pursue

and this is what they should look like.

Read verses 46 to 48 with me.

An argument arose among them

as to which of them

was the greatest.

But Jesus,

knowing the reasoning

of their hearts,

took a child

and put him by his side

and said to them,

whoever receives this child

in my name

receives me.

And whoever receives me

receives him who sent me.

For he who is least among you all

is the one who is great.

It's not a little ironic

that immediately after Jesus

speaks to them

about the kind of greatness

that will lead him

to the cross

that his 12 apostles

are arguing about

their relative greatness.

And they got into

an argument about it.

Luke omits the details,

the embarrassing details,

but it's not hard

to imagine their arguments

for greatness.

I'm the greatest

because Jesus called me first.

I'm the greatest

because I'm the best preacher.

I'm the greatest

because I'm the best organizer.

I'm the greatest

because I cast out that demon.

Remember in that town?

Oh yeah,

I healed the lame person.

Well, I opened the eyes

of the blind.

And then you could hear

James, Peter, and John saying,

well, while you guys

had trouble casting out

that demon,

we were beholding

the glorious Son of God

on the mountaintop.

Their Lord is on his way

to die on the cross

to save them,

to save his people

as the ransom price

for their freedom.

But the 12 are embroiled

in petty arguments

about who among them

is the greatest.

And Jesus doesn't need

to hear them

arguing out loud.

He knows their thoughts.

It says that he knew

the reasoning of their hearts.

And so he takes this opportunity

to teach them patiently.

And he uses a child

as an object lesson.

Children are the least

in any given society.

They contribute the least

to society.

And they have yet

to accomplish anything

worthy of note.

in terms of their ability

to contribute

to the economy,

they're just not there yet.

They haven't arrived.

They're cute.

And that's a good thing

because otherwise

they might be

even more neglected.

And especially

in the ancient world

where mortality rates

among children

were much higher

than now,

many people

simply didn't consider

it worth their time

to deal with children.

So in Judaism,

children under the age

of 12

could not be taught

the Old Testament law.

So spending time

with them

was considered

spiritually unfruitful

and wasteful.

For example,

in the Mishnah,

which is the collection

of Jewish oral commentary,

on the scriptures,

it says,

morning sleep,

midday wine,

chattering with children,

and tearing in places

where men

of the common people

assemble,

destroy a man.

Chattering with children

was considered

beneath the station

of dignified men.

But Jesus brings

a child to his side.

And he tells his disciples,

whoever receives

this child in my name

receives me,

and whoever receives me

receives him

who sent me.

For he who is least

among you all

is the one

who is great.

This is a remarkable

statement.

It's often misunderstood.

Jesus is using

the language

of representative authority.

According to

Jewish custom,

a messenger

functioned with

the full legal authority

of the sender

whom he represented.

And using this analogy,

Jesus takes a child

who has literally

zero status

or esteem

in their society

and says that

even this child,

should he belong

to Jesus

and represent him,

will carry with him

the full dignity

and authority

of Jesus himself.

Whoever receives

this child in my name

receives me.

And since Jesus

is himself sent

by God the Father

as his authorized messenger,

he continues,

and whoever receives me

receives him

who sent me.

This is a wonderfully

liberating teaching.

Jesus is telling us

that greatness

does not reside

within us.

Greatness does not come

from our own attributes

or our own accomplishments.

Greatness comes

from Christ

who is our Lord

and Christ

what he has done

for us.

If you are a child

of God,

you might be

the least

in this world.

The world might

falsely accuse you,

persecute you,

and save all kinds

of evil against you

because of Jesus.

People might ignore you.

They might snub you.

But Jesus is telling us,

don't you mind

what they say

about you.

Your heavenly Father

will have a word

with them.

The King of Kings

will deal with them.

The Lord of hosts,

the Lord of armies,

say this about you,

that you are a child

of God.

And those who receive you

receive Jesus himself.

And those who receive Jesus

receive God himself.

And those who reject you

then,

when you stand with Christ

and speak for him,

are rejecting God himself.

some of us

frequently experience

existential crises.

Everything we say

and do,

it seems,

is to validate

our own identity

and to justify

our existence.

We want to prove

ourselves

to our parents,

to our peers,

to those who didn't

see our potential,

to the world.

We don't feel

successful enough,

so we are always

looking to beef up

our resume,

to go shopping

for status symbols.

We don't feel

beautiful and

desirable enough,

so we do diets,

get plastic surgery,

and look for

someone to date.

We do and say

things to make

ourselves look good.

We want to attain

greatness.

We're like

Harold Abrams

in that Academy Award

winning film,

Chariots of Fire.

Abrams is a talented

Olympic sprinter

who runs for

his own glory

and desperately

fears losing

and he's consumed

with being the fastest

sprinter in the world

and he plays

literary foil,

a contrast to

Eric Little

who is a Christian

Olympic sprinter

who runs for

God's glory

and therefore runs

with great freedom

rather than fear.

In a reviewing

dialogue before

one of the last

races in the movie,

Harold Abraham

says this,

And now in

one hour's time,

I will be out

there again.

I will raise

my eyes and

look down that

corridor four feet

wide with ten

lonely seconds

to justify my

whole existence.

But will I?

He runs hard

to justify

his existence.

He fears

losing.

He fears that

he will be

mediocre,

just average.

He fears that

he will be

a nobody.

Some of us

live our lives

this way.

But if you have

renounced your

sins,

if you've repented

of your sins,

you've turned to

Jesus with faith

and you believed

in him,

his life,

death,

and resurrection

on your behalf

for your salvation,

you are an adopted

child of God.

God.

You don't need to

justify your own

existence.

For Christ has

justified you.

You have been

united with Jesus

by the Spirit

of God.

He is your

right to

existence.

He is your

worth.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

comments on this

in his book,

Life Together.

This question of

the greatest,

it is a struggle

of the natural

man for

self-justification.

He finds it

only in comparing

himself with

others,

in condemning

and judging

others.

Self-justification

and judging

others go

together.

As justification

by grace

and serving

others go

together.

those who

are secure

in their

identity

in Christ

don't need

to engage

in one-up

manship

in their

conversations.

They don't

need to

measure themselves

up against

everyone around

them because

they have

already the

full measure

of Christ

as their

possession.

Instead of

using other

people to

elevate

themselves,

they can

now freely

serve others

without worrying

about how

they're perceived

because they

are fully

secured in

their identity

in Jesus

Christ.

That's what I

would hope

for all of

you.

A Christian

pastor whom

I have the

privilege of

knowing,

Dave Harvey,

wrote a book

called Rescuing

Ambition.

He says this

in his book,

my search

for approval

is over.

In Christ

I already

have all

the approval

I need

because Christ's

righteousness

has been

transferred to

me all

the time

and energy

I once

squandered

trying to

be life

or praised

or to

achieve

something

to validate

my existence

can now

be redirected

toward doing

things for

God's glory.

I no longer

live for

approval.

I live

from

approval.

That's why

Jesus says

at the end

of verse 48,

he who is

least among

you all

is the one

who is

great.

If you

try

to attain

greatness

for yourself

apart

from Christ

by how

smart

you are,

by how

athletic

you are,

by how

talented

you are,

by what

college

you went

to,

by how

many

degrees

you have,

by how

much

Bible

you know,

by how

moral

you are,

by how

much money

you earn,

by how

many social

media followers

you have,

by what

people say

about you,

by how

many good

works

you have

done,

then you

will never

attain

to your

greatness.

And you

always

feel like

a fraud,

like you're

falling short.

But if you

become like

a child,

if you

become the

least,

if you

renounce

all your

pretensions

and boast

of nothing

but Christ

crucified,

then you

will be

great.

because the

greatness

of Christ

is now

fully

yours.

That's

what that

means.

For he

who is

least

among

you

all

is

the

one

who

is

great.

And

notice

Jesus

intentionally

doesn't

say

the least

among

you

is

the

greatest.

This

is not

yet another

competition

to try

to become

the

lowliest.

There

is no

competition.

There

is no

comparison

because

if you

are in

Christ,

you are

great

in

him.

The

least

among

you

is

great.

There

is no

longer

need

for

these

horizontal

comparisons

to

others

because

of

our

vertical

connection

to

Jesus.

And

this

truth

has

far

reaching

implications

not only

for how

we

perceive

ourselves

and how

we

live

but

also

for

how

we

view

our

Christian

brothers

and

sisters

because

this

means

every

church

member

is

united

with

Christ

and

is

his

representative.

what you

do

for

the

least

of

us

what

you

do

for

the

least

accomplished

among

us

what

you

do

for

the

poorest

among

us

what

you

do

for

the

smallest

among

us

what

you

do

for

the

least

likable

among

us

all

of

it

you

do

for

the

one

no

one

less

than

Jesus

Christ

himself

Christ

sees

it

all

no

one

else

might

notice

it

Christ

sees

it

all

and

he

will

without

fail

reward

you

that's

what

Matthew

25

31

to

46

is

talking

about

it

says

that

at

the

final

judgment

of

Christ

the

king

will

say

to

those

on

his

right

come

you

who

are

blessed

by

my

father

inherit

the

kingdom

prepared

for

you

from

the

foundation

of

the

world

for

I

was

hungry

and

you

gave

me

food

I

was

thirsty

and

you

gave

me

drink

I

was

a

stranger

and

you

welcomed

me

I

was

naked

and

you

clothed

me

I

was

sick

and

you

visited

me

I

was

in

prison

and

you

came

to

me

then

the

righteous

will

answer

him

saying

Lord

when

did

we

see

you

hungry

and

feed

you

or

thirsty

and

give

you

drink

and

when

did

we

see

you

a

stranger

and

welcome

you

or

naked

and

clothe

you

and

when

did

we

see

you

sick

or

in

prison

and

visit

you

and

the

king

will

answer

them

truly

I

say

to

you

as

you

did

it

to

one

of

the

least

of

these

my

brothers

you

did

it

to

me

those

who

have

God

as

their

father

will

love

and

serve

their

Christian

brothers

and

sisters

and

what

you

do

for

them

the

king

himself

will

reward

as

if

you

have

done

it

directly

unto

him

that's

the

privilege

but

this

lesson

of

true

greatness

is

not

easily

learned

and

right

after

Jesus

teaches

them

to

receive

even

the

least

of

God's

people

in

his

name

the

disciples

tell

him

well

actually

we

just

kind

of

excluded

one

of

God's

people

from

ministry

John

answers

Jesus

in

verse

49

master

we

saw

someone

casting

out

demons

in

your

name

and

we

tried

to

stop

him

because

he

does

not

follow

with

us

this

is

not

a

pagan

exorcist

that's

in

view

John

says

clearly

that

this

man

was

casting

out

demons

in

Jesus

name

he

is

a

follower

of

Jesus

but

the

twelve

still

tried

to

stop

him

because

he

does

not

follow

with

them

this

is

an

example

of

elitism

we

are

the

twelve

apostles

and

he

is

not

one

of

us

this

is

also

an

example

of

exclusivism

Jesus

commissioned

us

with

authority

and

power

to cast

out

demons

so he

should

not

be

doing

it

there

is

rivalry

here

and

possibly

envy

too

since

this

man

was

doing

successfully

exactly

what

the

disciples

couldn't

do

earlier

for the

boy

with an

unclean

spirit

but

Jesus

responds

in

verse

50

do

not

stop

him

for

the

one

who

is

not

against

you

is

for

you

Jesus

reasoning

is

pretty

straightforward

there

are

only

two

sides

in

this

world

either

you

are

for

Christ

or

you

are

against

Christ

there

is

no

neutral

ground

and

in

this

case

this

man

was

casting

out

demons

in

Jesus

name

and

apparently

successful

in doing

so

and

shows

that

therefore

they

were

on

the

same

team

as

the

twelve

apostles

so

instead

of

trying

to

stop

him

they

should

have

encouraged

him

and

exhorted

him

and

they

should

have

appreciated

what

he

was

doing

so

this

is

actually

a

good

diagnostic

test

for

us

for

determining

whether

or not

we are

serving

and

ministering

in

pursuit

of

our

own

greatness

or

with

the

greatness

of

Christ

in

our

possession

do

you

get

envious

when

others

are

successful

or

recognized

in

their

service

to

God

are

you

envious

of

the

spiritual

gifts

that

others

possess

if

your

answer

to

that

is

yes

then

you

are

still

pursuing

your

own

greatness

not

serving

out of

the

greatness

of

Christ

because

the

worldly

greatness

as I

said

at

the

beginning

of

the

message

is

essentially

comparative

and

competitive

you

begrudge

others

gifts

and

successes

because

their

successes

dim your

own

chance

of

attaining

greatness

but

if

you

already

have

Christ's

greatness

in

your

possessions

then

you

can

genuinely

enjoy

other

successes

and

bless

them

because

you're

happy

as

long

as

God

is

being

glorified

this

is

an

important

lesson

for

us

corporately

as

well

as

the

whole

church

when

we

launched

our

public

services

for the

first

time

two

and

a

half

years

ago

we

were

the

only

gospel

preaching

church

in

East

Cambridge

now

there

are

at

least

two

others

that

I

know

of

and

as

this

area

continues

to

get

built

up

and

as

the

population

grows

there

will

be

more