The Greatest of All Time

Well, good morning, church. It’s great to be together this morning. For those that don’t know me, my name is Mike and I serve here on staff helping with the small groups. And if you’re visiting here at the building or you’re visiting online, we’re so happy that you decided to spend your Sunday morning with us. If you haven’t been with us, let me catch you up. We’ve been inching our way through a two plus year sermon series called The Ministry of Jesus. And in this series we’ve been saying that our goal is to walk through every engagement that Jesus has, every interaction, every conversation that Jesus is a part of so that we can find ourselves on the receiving end of his teachings, his instructions, his healings and warnings. Today I’m super excited because we’re going to continue on in the series by picking up in Mark chapter nine. And just to let you know up top, most of his talk will be educational and then the remaining time will be some relevant application for our lives. Now, before we get into the text, I’d like to start off by bringing up a discussion that I believe a lot of us have strong opinions about.

And the discussion I want to bring up today is centered around the term the GOAT. The greatest of all time. People love to say this person is the GOAT. That person’s a GOAT. This guy, this woman is the greatest of all time. If you ever had a conversation about the GOAT, that you learned very quickly that this discussion is very debatable. You see, in in the sports world, some say Michael Jordan is the GOAT, or LeBron James is the GOAT or Tom Brady. Oh, man, sorry about the bucks, man. It’s crazy. But Tom Brady is a GOAT. Or some say in the music world, Michael Jackson is the GOAT or Elvis is the GOAT or Beyonce is the GOAT. Or if you look at some renowned leaders, some say Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Is the GOAT or Winston Churchill or Gandhi is the GOAT. I was talking with my wife about this the other day and I wondered, why do people even care about who’s the GOAT? I mean, out of all the things we could talk about, why is the GOAT debate so interesting to us? And I realized after all these years talking about the GOAT, the reason I believe a lot of us care about the topic of greatness is because we’re all born with the desire to be great.

We all have a desire to matter, to make a difference. Deep down, none of us want to just take up space and just merely exist. We all want to leave the world better leave the world better than when we found it. I mean, ask a kid, what do you want to do when you grow up? You’ll probably hear stuff like astronaut or a fireman or policemen or a doctor, a scientist. I mean, whether you’re a kid or not, we all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Think about it. What type of movies do we obsess over? We just love movies like Star Wars with a Luke Skywalker or Lord of the Rings with a Frodo or Spiderman with a Peter Parker. We just love the story of a man or a woman born in obscurity that goes on a journey of self discovery and sacrifice that ends up beating the odds and making a difference. We watch movie after movie, right? We read novel after novel, and it’s the same story on repeat. Why? I believe we gravitate towards these stories because these stories are the human story. All humans. As humans, we desire to be great, to contribute, to matter, to give.

In fact, I would argue the desire to be great was put there by God himself. I mean, after all we’re made in this image, right? Read Genesis one. We’re made to rule over the earth, right? To do something on this planet that matters. But the problem is, although the desire to be great was gifted to us by God, what ends up happening over time is that God given desire ends up becoming corrupted by our sin. For instance, many of us numb our greatness with self indulgence. Others of us become so consumed with greatness that we’re willing to do anything to anyone just to be called great. A lot of us go from a desire to do something great to a desire to be thought of by others as great. The point I’m trying to make is this sin has mutated the desire for greatness in all of us. And as we try to follow Jesus, we have to find a way to push back against that tainted view of greatness and rediscover the greatness that God has put before us all along. And so today, as we get into the Scriptures, the question that Jesus is going to answer for us today is how do we become great in the eyes of God?

I know our society has its own agenda of how we ought to pursue greatness. But what does Jesus say about pursuing greatness? As we get into the Scriptures my hope is that we can capture God and Jesus’s vision for greatness and in so doing, learn to pursue the greatness that we were created to pursue. Amen. Now, if you have a Bible, you can go ahead and turn to Mark, chapter nine, verse 30. Otherwise the passage would be up on the screen. Mark, chapter nine, starting verse 30 says they left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, the Son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him and after three days he will rise. I’m going to stop here. Now, if you read the Book of Mark then you know that this is the second of the three prophecies about Jesus’s death and resurrection. There’s one in chapter eight we read already, one in chapter nine we’re reading today and then there’s one in chapter ten. And all three of these prophecies are, are pretty crystal clear.

Jesus is going to Jerusalem and he’s enroute to die on the cross and then come back from the dead. But we read verse 32. They, as in the disciples, did not understand what he meant. Meaning the prophecy of Jesus’s suffering, it went right over their heads, the disciples heads. Why? I don’t think it’s because they’re stupid. But to them a suffering Messiah that would die at the hands of Rome then come back from the dead was extremely off from their vision of the Messiah. Remember back in Mark chapter eight, we, we talked a bit about this already, but Jesus told his disciples for the first time that he was going to suffer and die. And then Peter, we love Peter then Peter in his audacity took Jesus aside and decided that he was going to begin to rebuke him. It’s almost like Peter tried to push back against Jesus self proclaimed destiny because he and probably the other disciples expected Jesus to be this violent warlike messiah that would defeat Rome and usher in an earthly kingdom all at once. And this is why we read verse 32 again. They were afraid, the disciples, they were afraid to ask him about it.

You know when you don’t want to ask a question because you’re afraid to know the answer? That’s exactly what’s happening here with these disciples. They don’t want to imagine a Jesus that is going to suffer and they definitely don’t want to imagine a Jesus, well they definitely don’t want to imagine a life where they would have to suffer. So they did what people tend to do when they are uncomfortable with the conversation. They deflect it. They completely changed the topic of the conversation. Verse 33 they came to Capernaum when he was in the house, he asked them, what were you arguing about on the road? But they, the disciples kept quiet because on their way they had argued about who was the greatest. Now the house that they’re referring to is probably Peter’s house because as you probably noticed throughout the Gospels, peter’s house operated as a sort of headquarters or like a second home for Jesus’s ministry. So when Jesus got into the house that’s the first thing he wanted to know about. What were you arguing about on the road? And when Jesus asked this question their response was sorry, they were silent.

They kept quiet. Now I would imagine their decision to remain silent was warranted because 1 minute Jesus is teaching about suffering and self sacrifice, then the next minute the disciples are arguing about who’s the greatest. So it makes sense why they would be quiet right? Instead of being sensitive to how Jesus must have been feeling, all they could think about was themselves. You would think they would want to minister to Jesus in some way or try to process the information they just received. But no, they ended up debating about who’s the GOAT. They ended up debating about who’s the greatest. If I were like a fly on the wall, I could just imagine the type of arguments they were probably making for themselves. Maybe Peter said something like come on guys, it’s obvious I’m the greatest. After all, I was the first one to declare Jesus as the Messiah, right? Or maybe Andrew said something to the effect wait a minute, bro. I introduced you to Jesus. If it weren’t for me, you would still be out there catching fish or whatever. Or maybe John trying to hop into the debate by saying hey guys, remember I am the quote, disciple that Jesus loves. I want you to remember that, okay? Don’t forget that. Whatever debate or whatever case they were trying to make for themselves, it’s obvious that Mark, the author, is trying to help us to see that Jesus’s vision of greatness is radically different from the disciples vision of greatness. The Twelve want to be great and that’s fine. But what they mean by great was completely influenced by their culture and not by their Messiah. In Jesus’s day, your rank or the position you held was extremely important to the culture, to the Jews. One commentator said it this way at all points in worship and administration of justice at meals, in all dealings there constantly arose the question of who was greater, and estimating the honor due to each was a task which had constantly to be fulfilled and was felt to be very important. You see, the belief that surrounded the disciples said the greatest is the person who was considered the most important. The greatest is the person who’s the most qualified. The greatest is the one who gets elevated to the top of the social ladder. So it was no wonder why they’re bickering. They’re having this huge debate about who’s the greatest.

To the disciples, greatness centered around prestige. But to Jesus, greatness centered around something totally different. Verse 35 sitting down. Okay, Jesus is taking the teacher position, right? He’s putting his rabbi hat on. He’s getting ready to sit his disciples down. They’re his students, so he’s going to teach them. So sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all. So notice as Jesus is pulling his students together, right, Jesus doesn’t rebuke the disciples for their desire to be great. Instead he redefines greatness for them. He doesn’t say, you desire to be great. How dare you, you selfish generation? Instead he pretty much says you desire to be great? Sounds good. Here’s how, become a servant. Jesus is showing the disciples that greatness is not found in your status, it’s found in your service. Now, the word servant in Greek is dioconas, where we get the word deacon, which means one who waits on tables, which can be translated as waiter. So the literal meaning of the word is to kick up dust. So here’s the image, you have the image of the first century person. If they heard the word Diaconus, they would imagine a servant kicking up little puffs of dust as they move from one duty to another. And so the point is that to Jesus, the word great is synonymous with the word servant. Now, this if you rewind to first century Galilee, this would make absolutely no sense because servants were at the bottom of the social ladder. It was a demeaning role. In fact, it was Plato, a philosopher from the ancient world, who said, quote, how can a man be happy when he has to serve someone? This was the belief of the day. This is what people lived by. This was their standard. But to Jesus, to Jesus standard, it was the exact opposite. His belief was totally different. In his ministry, Jesus said things like blessed are the merciful. He also said things like, it is more blessed to give than to receive. In other words, despite what the philosophers of the day had to say, Jesus was saying, if you want to be happy, decide to show compassion to somebody. Decide to serve somebody. Now, some of us, if we’re honest with ourselves, some of us only want to be great if that means others will be serving us.

But Jesus completely pushes back against that idea. Greatness is not found in pushing ourselves forward into the limelight, but greatness is found and voluntarily taking the place of a servant. Then Jesus goes on verse 36. He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but welcome the one who sent me. Jesus is literally acting out greatness right in front of his disciples. He placed a little child among them, like smack dab in the middle of them as an object lessoned on greatness. Now, it’s very easy to misread Jesus’s teaching here because in our society, we tend to romanticize children. Don’t get me wrong. Kids are full of wonder, right? Joy, creativity, innocence. They’re beautiful, but they’re also hyper foolish, right? They have no emotional regulation, and they are extremely self absorbed. Am I right? I know we’re I know it might be uncomfortable to talk about, but here’s the point. Jesus was not calling his disciples to copy some childlike attribute like wonder or innocence or a carefree spirit or whatever, but rather Jesus point was for them to be like him, the one who embraces children.

That’s the point. More on this later. But in the first century they had a hierarchical society where it was Jew, gentile, male, female, slave, free all the way down. Then children were at the bottom of the pile, right next to the handicap, right next to gentiles, right next to slaves. Children in that day, they were considered nothing. And what Jesus is saying to his disciples is that greatness is when you welcome people. But in particular, greatness is when you welcome children. The word welcome is decomai in Greek and it was used for hospitality. It was the word for how you would treat special guests with honor. And so Jesus was saying not only were they to change how they viewed greatness, but they also are to give honor to others. Specifically children. Now, in Aramaic, the word for child and servant are the same. So Jesus is saying not only were they to welcome children but they also were to welcome anyone who had the status of a servant. Are you guys following me? So the unimpressive, the unimportant, the overlooked, Jesus wanted his disciples to treat them as if they were the Messiah. Jesus didn’t want those on the margins to be shut out, to be pushed away, to be ignored.

Jesus wanted them all to be invited in. Now, for Jesus to challenge his disciples to invite the servant types in meant the disciples had to take their attention off themselves. Why? Because the servant types could do nothing for them. They could do nothing for their status. Servants couldn’t enhance their position in society. Servants couldn’t add to their success. Servants had no authority. They had no status. They were at the bottom. And essentially they were like children with nothing but an open hand. You see, one of the reasons I believe Jesus used a child to teach his disciples about service is because children really couldn’t do anything for adults. Think about it. Every parent in this room knows what happens when you have a new baby. That child demands everything. From day one, the baby must be served and every need must be met by a willing adult. Children come into your homes and from the onset they take constant care and attention. If they are ignored, they will let you know all about it. In classic newborn fashion. Am I right? When that child is born, you give, you give, you give, you give, you give.

And unfortunately, at that stage of life they cannot repay you or say thank you for your service. They can’t do any of that stuff, right? And so what does that mean for us today? Well, let’s put it this way. If we want to be great in God’s eyes then we have to be willing to serve the people who have little or nothing to offer us in return, like a child.

Now, for some of us this is really hard because a lot of times when we serve we tend to serve people who will end up being a blessing to us. It’s normal to want to invest in people with money and talent and beauty and potential, with a great personality, someone that I enjoy being around. We go out of our way to help people who can help us become a success. But the way of Jesus is for us to be servants willing to serve any and all, even those who can offer us nothing in return. You know, as I was studying out Biblical servanthood, as I was preparing for this sermon, I realized in a spirit of transparency here that I wasn’t doing the greatest in this area.

I feel like I was doing terribly, actually. You see, before I repented yesterday that sounds weird, that sounds very weird, but that’s the reality. I was like, Man, I’m preaching tomorrow. I got to repent, man. But before I repented yesterday, for the last five months or so, I was avoiding someone. I was avoiding someone who I thought could do absolutely nothing for me but waste my time. This person has reached out to me. This person has invited me over. This person has done nothing but try to initiate with me. And before yesterday, I was keeping them at an arm’s length. The belief that I was carrying around is that if I spent time with them, they were just going to waste my time and just like, talk my ears off or whatever. So for five months, I kept blowing this person off because deep down I believed there wasn’t going to be anything mutually beneficial about spending time with this person. But I was I was looking at the life of Jesus and I found myself getting very challenged. Why? Because Jesus made it a habit to serve people who can do nothing for him and return.

In Luke chapter seven, Jesus resurrected a poor widowed son. You guys remember that story? In Mark chapter five, Jesus healed a demon possessed man that lived out in the caves. He was homeless. In John chapter five, Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. His place where he lived was outside by a pool. In Luke chapter 23, Jesus forgave a man who was about to die on a cross. Time and time and time again, Jesus set the example for us to follow. He was a servant to the needy. He was a servant to those who could never repay him. He was a servant to those who would fail him. He was a servant to those who would deny him and dishonor him. When he died on that cross, he was a servant to you, and he was a servant to me. So again, who’s the greatest? If you want to be great, choose to be like Jesus and serve unconditionally. Now, sometimes in our goal to grow as servants, we can get overwhelmed because there are just so many needs. It can be stressful to give our hearts and to give our lives and to give our time and to truly invest in the needy around us because we don’t want to leave a needy person out.

So in an effort to not leave anyone out, we decide to not serve anyone at all. Brothers and sisters, that’s not the way. I believe there’s a better way. Instead of thinking I’ve said this here before, but instead of thinking, if we can’t do for everyone, then we shouldn’t do for anyone. We should shift our thinking to, we’re going to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone. This might sound a little strange, but I believe you don’t have to meet every need. But you can decide to meet a need. In fact, you won’t be able to meet everyone’s needs, but you can certainly meet someone’s needs. And as we come close to ending our time together, I want to show you someone who I believe did an excellent job at serving the people around him. I want to show you a two minute clip from a movie called It’s a Wonderful Life. Where’s Pat Brush? She’s probably excited, like, she loves that movie. She’s probably jumping around right now. But anyways, to set up the video, it’s important that you know that throughout this movie, George, the main character, who’s also the owner of the local small building and loan company, he’s built quite a reputation in his in his community.

The reputation that George had was that he was extremely generous and incredibly compassionate. He just made it a habit to look out for the needs around him. The scene we’re going to watch, he’s facing a difficult time. His company is at risk of bankruptcy, and he’s technically facing prison time for a crime he did not commit. And so, in response to George’s financial trouble, the same community that he had been so generous to over the years decided to rally together and support him and his family. So we could take a look at that video if you guys got it.

She told some people you were in trouble with it. They scoured all over town collecting money, didn’t ask any questions.

Quiet. Now get this. It’s from London.

Oh.

Mr. Gower cables you need cash. Stop. My office instructed to advance you up to $25,000. Stop. He haw. And Merry Christmas, Sam Wainwright.

I love this video. But when word got back that George was in trouble, as you can see, dozens of people just flocked. People arrived with a whole laundry basket full of money, jewelry, and other valuables. He even got $25,000 to completely cover the debt he owed. And the reason I wanted to share this video is to say, when we decide to serve, we’re deciding to make a difference. If George had decided to live for himself, in the end, he probably would have been left to fend for himself. But since George was resolved to live a life of service, in the end, he was able to see the impact of his service. What truly made George great was not his status, but the lives he touched. I think this video is less about the money he received and more about the impact he made. Now, as odd as it may sound to our culture, true greatness won’t come by holding rank above others, but it will only come through our service to others. And as we come for a close, the good news is for us today is that the ability to be great is accessible to all who have breath in their bodies.

Anyone can be great. No matter your family of origin, no matter what culture you were born into, no matter what time in human history you were born into, no matter what your strength is, no matter what your weaknesses are, all of us have the potential to be great. If we choose to be last, if we choose to be a servant, if we choose that greatness is not going to be found in our prestige, but in being helpful to other people. So choose as a choice that we all can make. Anyone can be great but choose to be a servant. Let’s pray for a communion.

Heavenly Father, we’re grateful to be able to learn from Jesus, to be able to look at the impact that he made, to see the power of being able to put others before ourselves. I know we live in a culture where it’s all about us, it’s all about our comfort, it’s all about our convenience. But we love how Jesus was able to make an impact by being a servant. God, I pray that’s something that we can emulate as we leave these doors, that we’re more excited about being a help and being someone who can help other people, as opposed to building a name for ourselves.

God, I pray you give us the strength to do that, help us to see the impact that comes with that. And even if we don’t get a thank you, God, I pray that we’re willing to be great the way you call us to be great. Because you call us that way, God, not because we got a confirmation or we got a thank you note or anything like that, God. I pray that we can model after your Son. I love you so much. It’s in Jesus name I pray. Amen.