SPEAKER_00: As we turn our attention back to God's word this morning, we turn back to Mark chapter 9.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 9, we're going to be picking up in verse 30 in just a few moments.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible, there are some in the pew back in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be on page 906 in those pew Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: As we continue our walk through the Gospel of Mark, I was just struck sitting there on the front row, praising God, singing along with you.
SPEAKER_00: Once again, those words, I pour contempt on all my pride.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just letting that phrase resonate in my heart right now as we turn to this passage on humility.
SPEAKER_00: Do I truly pour contempt on all my own pride?
SPEAKER_00: Social media is a relatively new phenomenon in our culture.
SPEAKER_00: It has burst onto the scene over the last two decades.
SPEAKER_00: When it first came out, I was baffled by this new thing.
SPEAKER_00: People taking pictures of themselves and the food that they ate and constantly posting it online as if I cared what food they were eating all the time.
SPEAKER_00: A new word has been coined in our society.
SPEAKER_00: It's called a selfie.
SPEAKER_00: Where we take pictures of ourselves all the time.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not picking on our younger generation because I know many of you in the older generations, you also use social media.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not picking on the younger generation.
SPEAKER_00: I just don't get it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a social media guy.
SPEAKER_00: But I understand that often social media is used to promote self, to put the best version of yourself out there.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you watch social media and you follow other people, I dare say you rarely see them at their worst.
SPEAKER_00: You only see them at their very best.
SPEAKER_00: How exhausting that must be to try to constantly put a better version of ourselves out there.
SPEAKER_00: Statisticians tell us that social media allows us to measure the fact that we are more self-centered today than we've ever been.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I agree with that.
SPEAKER_00: I think we're just as self-centered as we've ever been.
SPEAKER_00: We just have new tools to demonstrate it.
SPEAKER_00: We've always been self-centered.
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing how self-centered human beings can be.
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing how centered on ourselves, and each day the majority of our thoughts are turned inward.
SPEAKER_00: They're turned to our comforts and our thoughts and our needs and our whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_00: We are selfish by nature.
SPEAKER_00: My parents did not have to teach me how to be selfish.
SPEAKER_00: No one had to do that.
SPEAKER_00: I came by it naturally in my fallen state.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, my parents had to teach me, and I continually have to learn how not to be selfish, how to care for others, and how to put others in front of myself.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if we're all honest, most of us would rather be served than serve.
SPEAKER_00: Most of us would rather receive than give.
SPEAKER_00: Most of us would rather get our way than allow someone else to get theirs.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to say those words out loud.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to admit those things.
SPEAKER_00: But that's the truth of who we are in our fallen selves.
SPEAKER_00: Self-centered.
SPEAKER_00: It's a common battle for all humans in all places at all times.
SPEAKER_00: All humans face this because we all have the same nature.
SPEAKER_00: We're all fallen.
SPEAKER_00: We are all naturally selfish.
SPEAKER_00: I imagine some fight it or resist it more than others.
SPEAKER_00: But yet it is a battle for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: For those that bear the name of Christ, it is a daily battle that must be fought, waged, so that we don't put ourselves out there instead of the name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Charles Spurgeon, the famous British preacher, once said that selfishness is as foreign to Christianity as darkness is to light.
SPEAKER_00: Selfishness is as foreign to Christianity as darkness is to light.
SPEAKER_00: Selfishness is the opposite of the light of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It goes against the very aims of Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: To promote self, to seek higher status, to place ourselves above others goes exactly opposite of what Christ came to do and what he has called his followers to do.
SPEAKER_00: We're in a section of Mark's gospel, chapter 8, 9, and 10, where Jesus has turned his attention to training his disciples, to teaching his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And we're just taking these lessons one by one.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we saw a lesson on you can't accomplish supernatural things in your own ability.
SPEAKER_00: Stop trying to do what God's called you to do in your own ability.
SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to look at a lesson he teaches them on humility.
SPEAKER_00: Next week we'll see another lesson as we continue through.
SPEAKER_00: This is just a series of lessons that Jesus taught his 12 disciples that the disciples who live even today, that's us, his Christ followers, we still need to learn.
SPEAKER_00: We still need to grasp these truths.
SPEAKER_00: These disciples had upside-down aspirations.
SPEAKER_00: They were thinking more of self and temporary than they were thinking of others and eternal.
SPEAKER_00: They were thinking more of what position they could get in an earthly kingdom rather than bringing other people into a heavenly kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus was about to turn their upside-down aspirations right side up.
SPEAKER_00: And we would pray that he would do the same for us.
SPEAKER_00: If you're willing and able, would you stand again with me?
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 9, verses 30 through 37 this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus teaching us about humility.
SPEAKER_00: From there they went out and began to go through Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: And he did not want anyone to know about it.
SPEAKER_00: For he was teaching his disciples and telling them, The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be killed, and he will rise three days later.
SPEAKER_00: But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him.
SPEAKER_00: They came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he began to question them What were you discussing on the way?
SPEAKER_00: But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was to be the greatest.
SPEAKER_00: Sitting down, he called the twelve, and he said to them, If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.
SPEAKER_00: Taking a child, he set him before them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me, and whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we pray that as we open your word, that you would open our minds and you would open our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that you would teach us to pour contempt on our own pride, that we would boast in nothing but the cross of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That we would see our worth in the name of Jesus, and we would be satisfied in your love for us.
SPEAKER_00: Father, help us to turn our upside-down aspirations.
SPEAKER_00: Right side up we pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: In our text for this morning, there are no miraculous events.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't perform a miracle, he doesn't heal anybody, he doesn't cast out a demon.
SPEAKER_00: He simply has a conversation with his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: He simply has a conversation with the men who are following him and learning from him.
SPEAKER_00: And in that conversation, we see three things.
SPEAKER_00: We see a prediction of suffering, we see a preoccupation with status, and we still see an illustration of service.
SPEAKER_00: We see a preoccupation with status and an illustration of service.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus and his disciples have been up near Mount Hermon.
SPEAKER_00: They've been in the very extreme north, and now they're making their way south, back towards Capernaum, back to their home base of ministry for the last two years in the region of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: This is his final stop as he is now about to head towards Judea and Jerusalem for the very last time.
SPEAKER_00: As Jesus is taking his disciples to Capernaum, he knows within six months he will be arrested, he will be tried, he will be convicted, he will be crucified, he will die, he will be buried, and he will be resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: He knows this is what lies ahead.
SPEAKER_00: He has prepared himself for it, and now he begins to prepare his disciples for what lies ahead.
SPEAKER_00: They could not have possibly understood.
SPEAKER_00: They could not have possibly figured all that was going to take place, and so Jesus is helping them as they move towards the cross.
SPEAKER_00: The cross is always prevalent in Mark's gospel, but from this point forward, the shadow of the cross looms over everything that takes place.
SPEAKER_00: This conversation, Jesus is starting to help his disciples understand exactly what is going to take place, and so we see this prediction of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He tells them exactly what's about to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 30 and 32, he says, We're gonna go, they're gonna mistreat me, they're gonna kill me, I'm gonna be buried, I'm coming back to life three days later.
SPEAKER_00: He tells them exactly.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't sugarcoat it, he doesn't try to hide it, he needs them to understand.
SPEAKER_00: This is, by the way, the second of three times that Mark records the exact same thing that Jesus taught his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: He's told them this before.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling them now, he will tell them again.
SPEAKER_00: These are just three times that Mark recorded it.
SPEAKER_00: I can imagine Jesus said it many times to his disciples, trying to get it to sink in about what was going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Why did he have to keep telling them over and over again?
SPEAKER_00: Why didn't they just get it the first time?
SPEAKER_00: Over and over again, he has to just drive home.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: We're not heading to a victory parade.
SPEAKER_00: We're not heading to an earthly kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: When we get to Jerusalem, there's not going to be a mighty battle where we take over.
SPEAKER_00: There's going to be a crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: The Messiah is going to die.
SPEAKER_00: And they could not wrap their heads around it.
SPEAKER_00: Mark tells us they could not understand it.
SPEAKER_00: Why couldn't they understand it?
SPEAKER_00: It was just as plain as day.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling them as clear as he possibly can, and yet their hearts and their minds would not accept it.
SPEAKER_00: They were mystified by it.
SPEAKER_00: He uses a phrase, he says, the Son of Man is going to be arrested.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man is going to be crucified.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man is going to die.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man is going to rise again.
SPEAKER_00: Son of man is a term they would have understood.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from Daniel chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: That prophetic voice in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: In Daniel chapter 7, it describes the Messiah, the Son of Man, approaching the throne of Almighty God.
SPEAKER_00: And there he is given honor.
SPEAKER_00: There he is given glory.
SPEAKER_00: There he is given dominion.
SPEAKER_00: There he is given a kingdom to reign over, and all the nations of the earth come and worship him.
SPEAKER_00: And it tells us in Daniel chapter 7 that his reign will never end.
SPEAKER_00: When he referred to himself as Son of Man, which was his personal preference for referring to himself, and he did so rightly, he was claiming to be the Messiah who one day would reign, every nation would worship him, and his reign would never come to an end.
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples, after two years, have finally gotten to the point where they recognize that the man they serve is actually the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: They believe him to be the Son of Man of Daniel chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: That part they're not confused about.
SPEAKER_00: The part they're confused about is when it says, and he will be handed over and killed.
SPEAKER_00: He said, the Son of Man is going to be delivered over.
SPEAKER_00: The word delivered there is a technical term meaning a criminal who is delivered over to trial and judgment.
SPEAKER_00: This is what they tripped over.
SPEAKER_00: This is what they could not comprehend.
SPEAKER_00: They could not comprehend the Son of Man who is going to reign and rule forever, being delivered over, handed over, and killed.
SPEAKER_00: They surely had to be thinking, who would do that?
SPEAKER_00: Who would hand over our Messiah for death?
SPEAKER_00: Who in the world would do that?
SPEAKER_00: No one would do that.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, as we continue in our gospel and as we know the story, there's one of his own named Judas who does exactly that.
SPEAKER_00: He turns them over.
SPEAKER_00: There's the religious leaders of the day, the scribes and the Pharisees, who don't like Jesus, and he's threatening their authority and their power.
SPEAKER_00: So what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They turn him over.
SPEAKER_00: There's the Roman governor named Pilate, who's in a rock and a hard place, having to keep the peace, but finding no guilt in Jesus, and yet the threat of the Jews rising up if he does not do something about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What does Pilate do?
SPEAKER_00: He delivers him up.
SPEAKER_00: But there's one other that delivers Jesus up that we really need to understand.
SPEAKER_00: It's not Judas.
SPEAKER_00: It's not Pilate.
SPEAKER_00: It's Almighty God who delivered Jesus up.
SPEAKER_00: It's his own father who handed him over for judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Peter after the resurrection, after the ascension and Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has fallen, and Simon Peter, the same one who just a few days before had said, You're the Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: That Peter stood up before a group of people, and he gave one of the greatest messages, one of the greatest sermons ever preached.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to hear just a few words of that message.
SPEAKER_00: Men of Israel, listen to these words.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.
SPEAKER_00: This man was delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.
SPEAKER_00: You nailed him to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death.
SPEAKER_00: But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it is impossible for him to be held in its power.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Men of Israel, you know who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: He came, he is God, he did things only God could do.
SPEAKER_00: But what happened?
SPEAKER_00: The Father delivered him over.
SPEAKER_00: It was God's eternal plan for Jesus Christ to go to a cross, to die for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: This is why the Father sent the Son.
SPEAKER_00: The same Son of Man who we read about in Daniel chapter 7, we also read about in Isaiah 53.
SPEAKER_00: Except in Isaiah 53, he's a suffering servant, who was wounded for our transgressions by the plan of God.
SPEAKER_00: The same Son of Man that we read about, who is given an authority and a dominion which will never end in Daniel chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: We also read about in Psalm 22.
SPEAKER_00: Who is mocked and beaten and crucified.
SPEAKER_00: And cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
SPEAKER_00: Not a question he didn't know the answer to.
SPEAKER_00: It was a cry of victory.
SPEAKER_00: God, you have done this because of your great plan.
SPEAKER_00: Before Jesus, our Creator, ever said, Let there be light, Jesus said, I will go to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: This is what tripped up the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: This is what mystified them.
SPEAKER_00: This is what caused them to pause to say, Yes, I believe Jesus is the Messiah, but who would kill the Messiah?
SPEAKER_00: Who would hand him over?
SPEAKER_00: Who would deliver him up for death?
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is God.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, why would God do that?
SPEAKER_00: Why would God do that to his own son?
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 4, verse 25 says, He was delivered for our transgressions.
SPEAKER_00: Why did God hand him over?
SPEAKER_00: Because of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: And he was raised for our justification.
SPEAKER_00: He was delivered over because of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: He was crucified, taking our place, but he was raised back to life so that we might be justified with our Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_00: This is what they kept tripping over because they had preconceived ideas of who the Messiah was, and none of this fit it.
SPEAKER_00: They were good with a Son of Man coming and reigning forever, but that Son of Man being delivered over for sin.
SPEAKER_00: They were mystified.
SPEAKER_00: The same Son of Man who's glorified.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't comprehend being humiliated.
SPEAKER_00: So what did he keep telling them?
SPEAKER_00: Guys, this is the mission.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man's going to be delivered over.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to die.
SPEAKER_00: Three days later, I'm coming back.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't understand it.
SPEAKER_00: Why not?
SPEAKER_00: Because they couldn't wrap their heads around it.
SPEAKER_00: And they they they were afraid to ask.
SPEAKER_00: Mark tells us they didn't understand, but verse 32 says they were afraid to ask questions.
SPEAKER_00: Why were they afraid to ask?
SPEAKER_00: I can come up with two reasons.
SPEAKER_00: I think the first reason is this.
SPEAKER_00: Just a few days earlier, Jesus asked the disciples, Who do people say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Some people think you're Elijah, some people who think you're another prophet, think you're John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Fine, who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: And Simon Peter stood up and said, What?
SPEAKER_00: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what Jesus said next?
SPEAKER_00: Good job, Simon.
SPEAKER_00: You got this one right.
SPEAKER_00: Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but my father who is in heaven, here's what's about to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Son of man is going to go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to be delivered over, he's going to be killed.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to be buried, and then he's going to rise again.
SPEAKER_00: And Simon Peter said, Let's go, Jesus, I'm with you.
SPEAKER_00: No, what did Simon Peter say?
SPEAKER_00: God forbid, I will not let that happen.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, Simon, Satan, get behind me.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't think that's in their minds while they're having the same questions Peter had?
SPEAKER_00: While Jesus is describing it, they're like, I don't understand it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not about to ask them though, because remember what he called Peter?
SPEAKER_00: That has to be in their minds.
SPEAKER_00: But I think even more than that, I think they're starting slowly through the Spirit to put two and two together.
SPEAKER_00: They're starting to slowly allow their minds to come around to what God is teaching them, and they're starting to understand.
SPEAKER_00: He said he's going to go and they're going to mistreat him and crucify him.
SPEAKER_00: He's our leader.
SPEAKER_00: If they're going to do that to him, what will they do to me?
SPEAKER_00: And they understood enough to understand that they didn't want to understand anymore.
SPEAKER_00: They did not like where that conversation was going.
SPEAKER_00: And so they just shut it down.
SPEAKER_00: I've been guilty of that.
SPEAKER_00: I've been guilty of understanding that God's leading me in a certain direction.
SPEAKER_00: And just shutting the conversation down because I didn't like where it was going.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard God calling my name to go do something.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not asking questions.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just keeping my mouth shut.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just keeping my head down.
SPEAKER_00: Because if I keep my mouth shut and my head down, maybe he will change his mind.
SPEAKER_00: There was a prediction of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: There's also a preoccupation with status.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has told them what's going to go on.
SPEAKER_00: They arrive in Capernaum, and Mark tells us they go to a house.
SPEAKER_00: It's probably the same house that they were in when they were in Capernaum before, more than likely Simon Peter's house or a relative of Simon Peter's.
SPEAKER_00: They go into this house, and Jesus asked them a simple question.
SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, what were you discussing on the road as we traveled here?
SPEAKER_00: You know, they had over a 20-mile walk, which was through dangerous passes.
SPEAKER_00: They weren't walking in a clump where everybody could hear each other.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was probably out front, and then they kind of straggled behind two by two, three by three.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus couldn't hear the whole conversation, but he could hear that they were having a conversation, and he could tell it wasn't just a conversation, because the other gospel writers tell us that it was more of a heated debate than it was a conversation.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew tells us that they were arguing about who was the greatest in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: They were arguing about when he gets to his kingdom, I'm going to be better than you.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to appoint me to the highest position.
SPEAKER_00: James and John were plotting to go get their mommy to come talk to Jesus so that she might influence it.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, What were you talking about?
SPEAKER_00: And not a one of them said a word.
SPEAKER_00: They did not answer.
SPEAKER_00: Certainly they did not answer because they were embarrassed about the conversation they had been having.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had been teaching them about his suffering, his humiliation.
SPEAKER_00: He had been teaching them about setting aside self and serving others.
SPEAKER_00: But despite all that he had been teaching them, their hearts were still centered on self.
SPEAKER_00: And a heart that is centered on self and pride will desire status and recognition above all else.
SPEAKER_00: And these disciples, despite of all that Jesus has just told them, have a selfish heart, a prideful heart.
SPEAKER_00: Their aspirations are upside down.
SPEAKER_00: They're still thinking worldly, they're still thinking temporarily, they're still thinking of self.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is wanting to turn those aspirations right side up.
SPEAKER_00: Micah chapter 6, verse 8 says, What does the Lord require of us?
SPEAKER_00: But to walk humbly with the Lord our God.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians chapter 3, verse 12 teaches us to walk in humility.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 4, verse 6 says, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to those who will humble themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Man, humility is a hard lesson to learn.
SPEAKER_00: We've all been humbled before in our lives, but learning to be humble is a hard lesson.
SPEAKER_00: It was a hard lesson for them.
SPEAKER_00: It is a hard lesson for us.
SPEAKER_00: Because in our own fallen nature, we don't have to be taught how to be selfish.
SPEAKER_00: We're really good at it.
SPEAKER_00: For these people, it was hard to find a good example of humility.
SPEAKER_00: Even in their own religion, maybe especially in their own religion, it was hard to find somebody who was humble.
SPEAKER_00: Their religious leaders were not humble.
SPEAKER_00: They weren't known for being humble.
SPEAKER_00: They were known for making much of themselves.
SPEAKER_00: They were known for standing on the street corners, wearing tassels that were longer than everybody else, wearing phylacteries that were bigger than anybody else's, saying, look at me.
SPEAKER_00: And these were their religious leaders.
SPEAKER_00: It breaks my heart when I see a culture of celebrity ministers in our society.
SPEAKER_00: It breaks my heart when men of God, supposedly men of God, draw more attention to themselves than they do to the name of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And people flock to it.
SPEAKER_00: In our world, meekness is often seen as weakness.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was meek, and in no way was he ever weak.
SPEAKER_00: And those who would be his followers, he calls us to meekness.
SPEAKER_00: There is finally just an illustration of service.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus predicts his suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He asks them about what they're talking about, and we see their upside-down concern, more concerned about themselves, more concerned about power than kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus taught them a lesson.
SPEAKER_00: And he does so in three ways, I think.
SPEAKER_00: He takes a little child that is there, a little boy that is there.
SPEAKER_00: A boy that's not an infant, but small enough that he can be picked up and placed in Jesus' lap.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, if you want to be first in my kingdom, then the first shall be last.
SPEAKER_00: Literally, it says, if you want to be first, you shall be last of all and of all servant.
SPEAKER_00: He teaches them with a principle.
SPEAKER_00: With a proverb.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to be first in my kingdom, don't put yourself first.
SPEAKER_00: You want to be first in my kingdom, be last.
SPEAKER_00: Put others above yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not renouncing greatness.
SPEAKER_00: He's not saying it's not okay to strive towards greatness.
SPEAKER_00: He's not saying don't try to be great.
SPEAKER_00: He's just simply redefining what it means.
SPEAKER_00: He says, your world tells you that in order to be great, you have to put me first.
SPEAKER_00: But in my kingdom, put everyone else first.
SPEAKER_00: And he took this little child and he brought them into his lap and he said, if you will receive me, if you receive this child, then you will receive me and my father.
SPEAKER_00: That little child, children were looked on differently in that time, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: They really had no value until they got much older and can contribute to society.
SPEAKER_00: This child was the lowest on the rung.
SPEAKER_00: They were almost considered unworthy of time and consideration.
SPEAKER_00: This child, if you did something nice or kind for them, had nothing that they could give you in return for what you had done for them.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, if you will take someone who is like this, who society sees as worthless, and who has nothing to give you in return for your kindness, if you will receive them, then you understand how I received you.
SPEAKER_00: Because you had nothing to give.
SPEAKER_00: And yet I received you.
SPEAKER_00: And when you receive a child like this, you receive me and my father.
SPEAKER_00: He taught them in principle.
SPEAKER_00: He taught them with the picture.
SPEAKER_00: I also think Jesus taught them with practice.
SPEAKER_00: He taught them by the way he lived.
SPEAKER_00: He taught them by the way he served amongst them.
SPEAKER_00: He taught them by the way he served the crowds that would gather around.
SPEAKER_00: And when he was tired and exhausted, he would still give everything he had to those crowds.
SPEAKER_00: He taught them by caring for the down and out.
SPEAKER_00: He taught them by caring for those who were in need.
SPEAKER_00: At the Last Supper, he demonstrated this truth by going and getting a bowl of water and a towel and washing their dirty feet.
SPEAKER_00: Something the lowest of slaves was not required to do.
SPEAKER_00: And then he stood up in front of them and he said, You call me mastered and lord, and rightly so.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly who I am.
SPEAKER_00: I am the master, I am the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But I've come not to be served, but to serve.
SPEAKER_00: And just as I've served you, you should serve one another.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus taught them in his life, he taught them in his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: He taught them in washing his feet, and then he ultimately taught them because he went to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Philippians chapter 2 says he humbled himself, taking on flesh, and humbled himself to the point of dying on a cross for us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is just wanting them to see, if you want to be greatest in the kingdom, serve others.
SPEAKER_00: Lay your pride down.
SPEAKER_00: Humble yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Just a couple minutes.
SPEAKER_00: What do we do with this?
SPEAKER_00: How do we wrap this up?
SPEAKER_00: How do we take this home?
SPEAKER_00: What difference does this make?
SPEAKER_00: What practical applications can we make in our lives?
SPEAKER_00: Just three words of response.
SPEAKER_00: The first one to me is humility.
SPEAKER_00: As I read this story, I easily see myself as one of the disciples walking down that path, arguing with the other guys about who was going to be more important than the other.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't take me much imagination to see myself in this story.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't take much imagination for me to feel the pull of my heart towards the praise of men and the adoration of a world as opposed to what God has called me to.
SPEAKER_00: And I need to be humbled by that.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to look down my nose at these disciples and go, how could you not get it?
SPEAKER_00: I've been walking with Jesus for almost 50 years.
SPEAKER_00: I got news for you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm still struggling to get it sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: I see humility.
SPEAKER_00: I also see gratitude.
SPEAKER_00: Gratitude because Jesus didn't say, alright, boys, I'm done.
SPEAKER_00: You guys are killing me.
SPEAKER_00: I keep telling you this, and I keep telling you this, and you just don't get it.
SPEAKER_00: He told them, he's telling them.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna tell them again.
SPEAKER_00: God does not give up on us.
SPEAKER_00: Even when we are selfish and prideful and want the conversation to end, God does not quit.
SPEAKER_00: And for that I'm eternally grateful that God didn't quit on me when I didn't want to know where the path was going to lead.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, awareness.
SPEAKER_00: Humility, gratitude, and awareness.
SPEAKER_00: Awareness of just how devastating pride can be in a believer's life and in the life of a church.
SPEAKER_00: Pride can absolutely wreck the unity of a church.
SPEAKER_00: These disciples who should have all been on the same page, who should have all been saying, Jesus, this is your agenda.
SPEAKER_00: We're following your agenda, they all were arguing with each other, jealous of one another, angry with one another because they all had their own agenda.
SPEAKER_00: And that happens far too often in churches where we get our own pride and our own self-centeredness and we get our own agendas instead of following after Jesus' agenda.
SPEAKER_00: And there's competition that comes up.
SPEAKER_00: It happens within churches, it happens amongst churches.
SPEAKER_00: There's not a church in this city that we are in competition with.
SPEAKER_00: There is not a church in this city we should be jealous of.
SPEAKER_00: And yet our pride says, well, they're running more people than we are.
SPEAKER_00: There must be something wrong.
SPEAKER_00: They must be compromising some way.
SPEAKER_00: Pride destroys unity.
SPEAKER_00: Pride elevates the wrong person.
SPEAKER_00: Pride turns the attention towards us.
SPEAKER_00: When it ought to be always turned to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Pride enables leaders to become arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: When they seek being lifted up by their congregation more than they seek to lift up the name of Christ before their congregation.
SPEAKER_00: Pride makes us enable to confess our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Like social media, I only want to present the very best.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to show you my worst.
SPEAKER_00: I only want to show God my very best.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to confess to him my worst.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to show him my bad days.
SPEAKER_00: Pride says, I can't let my guard down.
SPEAKER_00: I can't let somebody know I'm struggling with sin.
SPEAKER_00: I can't let others know that I'm not a perfect believer.
SPEAKER_00: That's pride and pride alone.
SPEAKER_00: Pride tends to exclude rather than include.
SPEAKER_00: Pride tends to elevate us and push others down.
SPEAKER_00: Pride tends to say, you're not like us.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of, wow, we're all sinners in need of a savior.
SPEAKER_00: Selfishness is as foreign to Christianity as darkness is to light.
SPEAKER_00: It is the exact opposite of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And only God's grace can make me think of myself less.
SPEAKER_00: Only God's grace can move me out of the center of my life.
SPEAKER_00: Only God's grace can help me turn my upside down aspirations right side up and make much of him and be willing to be last rather than striving to be first.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that I would pour contempt on all my own pride.