Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Mark

The Virtue of Being Last, pt. 2

Mark 9:30-41

 

Last week we got halfway through a study of Mark 9:30-41 which gives us a look at a lesson the Lord taught His disciples about humility.  Let’s reread the text and get it in our mind.

 

Mark 9:30-41

 

Jesus and the disciples are traveling toward Jerusalem.  Jesus is preparing them for what will happen when they arrive there.  They are hearing Him, but not comprehending what He’s telling them.  In the meantime, they are arguing about who is greatest in the kingdom.  Jesus knows they will need to learn humility if they will be successful in what He has for them.

 

The greatest example of humility the world will ever know is the cross, so that’s where He begins and we see that in verses 30-32.  In the remaining verses the focus shifts from the teacher to the students and that’s what we see in verse 33-41.

 

 

Now the teaching plan for the Lord’s lesson on humility has three negatives and a positive.

 

Verses 33-34

 

 

As I mentioned a moment ago, somewhere along the road, mixed in with Jesus telling them about His pending death and resurrection, an argument broke out about who is the greatest in the group. 

 

Now we’re a little more sophisticated than they are.  We don’t argue about it publicly, we just go around thinking we are better than everybody else.  But they’re having this heated discussion about it. 

 

And the very first thing we discover about humility is

 

 

Notice, Jesus asks what the argument was about and nobody said anything.  Why were they silent? They were ashamed. They were embarrassed. They knew those kinds of attitudes were wrong. They knew those were sinful expressions. Their consciences would tell them that. They were silent because they had been discussing with one another which of them was the greatest.

 

The Lord had just spoken about His own humiliation and all they can think about is their own exaltation. And out pride always compels us to push others down so we can elevate ourselves.  It destroys unity. 

 

And the only way to effectively deal with pride is by humbling yourself.  Only humble people can truly love others and there is no unity apart from humility.

 

Second,

 

 

 

Proud people battle for position but unfortunately, they wind up with the opposite of what they want.  Did you ever know someone who did everything they could to push their way to the top and what happens?  They wind up being hated and resented for what they’ve done to climb the ladder. 

 

verse 35

 

If you want to be first and be honored and recognized, then learn to be a servant. The way to get there is to humble yourself because pride will forfeit the very thing you desire.  You can’t get it that way.

 

Think about how Jesus responded to the spiritual pride of His day. He just blasts the religious leaders of Israel who loved the chief seats and the honored greetings in the marketplace.  Over and over He referred to them as hypocrites.  They forfeited the very thing they wanted. 

 

If what you want is the accolades and the affirmation and the exaltation of men, you forfeit the real reward. You find true honor when you are willing to be last, not when you have to be first.

 

Third,

 

 

Now it gets really serious. Pride not only destroys unity and forfeits honor, but it rejects God. 

 

Verses 36-37

 

Now what we have here is a child small enough for Jesus to pick up in His arms and hold in His lap and this child will become His primary illustration of humility. 

 

This child is an object lesson and the child represents, not children but children of God. And the point is a child has no power, no achievement, no accomplishment, no greatness.  A child is weak, dependent, ignored, vulnerable and has nothing to offer. This is a perfect illustration of a believer.

 

And as Jesus is holding this child, every eye on them, notice what He says:

 

Verse 37a

 

How you treat another believer, one of God’s children, is how you treat Christ. What a profound lesson this must have been if those men got any inkling of what He was intending them to understand. Here they are stepping on each other’s necks and trying to promote themselves above each other instead of opening up their arms to become the servant of each other.

 

And Jesus says because I live in you and I come to you in each other, it’s the same as rejecting Me.  This is serious stuff.

 

Over in Matthew 18, we find a little insight into what He said.

 

Verse 1

 

 

Again, they’re always talking about who is the greatest and I don’t think it was just a general question about greatness in the kingdom.  I think they were saying, among us standing here in front of you, who is the greatest in the Kingdom?  Which one of us is the greatest? 

 

Verse 2

 

He says, “Unless you’re converted and become like children, you’re not even coming in to the Kingdom, much less being the greatest in the Kingdom.”

 

Hear what He’s saying?  If you get in the Kingdom, you must be converted.  And in order to be converted, you’ve got to be humbled.  To get in God’s kingdom you come as little children with no bragging rights. 

 

The next verse makes it even more clear

 

Verse 4

 

Verse 4 makes it clear. “Whoever humbles Himself as this child, He’s the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

 

Then He goes a step further in

 

Verse 5

 

How you treat other believers is how you treat Jesus because Christ comes to you in His children. The amazing truth of the Kingdom of Heaven is Christ comes to us in every other believer and how we respond to them is how we respond to Him.

 

What comes next is even more amazing. Look at

 

verse 6

 

Now what had they been doing?  They were arguing about who is greatest in the kingdom and what He says is if you cause a child of God to stumble by getting in a fight about who’s the greatest in God’s kingdom and you’re leading him into the sin of pride, it would be better the person who does that to have a rock hung around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.

 

That is a pretty serious crime. You’d be better off to die a horrible death by drowning with a millstone around your neck than to cause one of the little ones who believe in Me to stumble.

 

Why? It is because Jesus lives in that little one and what is done to the child is the same as doing it to Him. 

 

Then Matthew picks up the thought again in verse 10

 

So what does that mean? What it means is God looks out for His own children and the angels surround His throne and watch His face to pick up on His concern over one of His children who is being harmed.  If that happens, then the Father can send the angels to protect that one. In other words, all of heaven is watching how His children are being treated.

 

The bottom line is you better be careful how you treat other believers. Our Father, according to verse 14, doesn’t want any of His little ones to be devastated.

 

So, back to Mark 9:37, you’ve got to change the way you think.  Instead of thinking you’re better than everybody else, you’ve got to become the servant of everybody else and realize that every other believer is a child of Mine in whom I live and dwell.  And to reject the child of God is the same as rejecting God Himself.

 

Here’s the fourth thing:

 

 

Verses 37-39

 

We don’t know anything about what John is referencing, but John remembers it an incident where someone is casting out demons in the name of Jesus and the disciples are insulted by that because they were not a part of their tribe. 

 

What causes that kind of attitude?  Pride!  Remember, they are arguing among themselves about who is the greatest!  And John confesses, “We are not only competitive with one another.  We are competitive with outsiders also!”

 

And apparently what was going on was legitimate.  God was at at work through a true believer in Christ and he was doing it in the name of Christ. But they were telling the guy to stop because he wasn’t a part of their group.

 

Jesus said, “Don’t hinder him. There’s no one who will perform a miracle in My name and then go around badmouthing me.”

 

But pride develops exclusivity.  You’ve got your own little club and there’s nobody else in it. And then Jesus makes the principle clear.

 

Verse 40

 

Humility will teach us there is diversity in the Kingdom. Just because somebody doesn’t dot every “i” and cross every “t” exactly the way you do and I do is no excuse for us to shut them down. They’re either for us or against us. And if they’re for us, they’re for us. And if Christ is being preached just rejoice in that. 

 

A final word and it’s a positive thing.

 

 

Verse 41

 

Since they’ve got greatness on the brain, Jesus talks about rewards.  Greatness equals glory and glory equals reward. So if they want the payoff that comes from greatness, then understand the key to real rewards is found in humility. 

 

If you want to know how to have rewards in God’s kingdom, then give someone who belongs to God a cold drink of water.  Serve somebody. 

 

We’re always afraid we’re going to lose the fight so we bow up and defend ourselves.  After all, if I end up on the bottom, I’ll be last and lose my reward.  I want to be first. 

 

 

But the truth is if you wind up on the bottom, you don’t lose.  You win.  The simple act of sacrificial kindness to one who belongs to Christ will result in what you will never achieve by elevating yourself. You won’t lose your reward, you’ll gain it.

 

Want proof?  Listen to what Paul wrote in

 

Philippians 2:1-4

 

That’s a call to humility, isn’t it?

 

Then he gives the model.

 

verses 5-8

 

Did He lose His reward by becoming less? No, what happened?

 

Verse 9

 

God humbles the proud and exalts the humble.

 

Let’s pray.