Jesus Teaches His Disciples (Part 2) Series

Introduction:

A. In last week’s sermon, we started a section in the Gospel of Mark where Jesus was privately teaching His disciples some very important lessons on discipleship.

1. The two lessons we explored last week had to do with prayer and the passion of Jesus.

2. In today’s sermon, we will explore two primary lessons about pride and prejudice.

B. But before we get into the text, let’s start with a little humor about learning.

1. As disciples of Jesus, we must continue to learn and grow, and there should never be a time when we stop learning.

2. Winston Churchill said: “Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.”

3. Sometimes being taught can be humbling and painful – some of us seem to always have to learn things the hard way.

4. Here’s a few memes about learning things the hard way.

a. Note to self: Never buy two bunnies at once – they guy always says they are two males or two females, but don’t trust him!

b. Note to self: Dish soap is not dishwasher soap.

c. Note to self: Turning up the heat does not make the food cook faster.

d. Note to self: Never play twister with a full bladder.

e. Note to self: Sometimes, social distancing is a very good thing.

f. Note to self: You have the capacity to learn from your mistakes – if you live through your mistake – don’t wake a sleeping bear!

C. As we see Jesus teaching His disciples today, I have to believe that they did learn from their mistakes, and I hope we can learn from their mistakes as well.

I. Lesson #1 was about PRIDE and Humility (Mk. 9:33-37)

A. Mark wrote: 33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.” 36 He took a child, had him stand among them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one little child such as this in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but him who sent me.” (Mk. 9:33-37)

1. Back in verse 30, Mark told us that Jesus and His disciples were making their way through Galilee and now He tells us that they arrived at Capernaum.

a. Capernaum had become Jesus “home away from home” and very likely the house they were staying at was Peter’s house, where they had stayed previously.

2. One by one, the spiritual flaws of Jesus disciples were being exposed.

a. First, it was their prayerlessness which prevented them from having the power to cast the demon out of the boy.

b. Second, it was their fear which kept them from asking Jesus about the things they didn’t’ understand – like Jesus’ death and resurrection.

c. Now, the spiritual flaw that gets exposed is their pride.

3. As Jesus and His disciples were making their way to Capernaum, the apostles began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest in the coming kingdom of God.

a. Most of us would like to be known or at least be remembered as a great person.

b. What it means to be great is probably different in the minds of all people and most of our desires and thoughts about these matters are subconscious in nature.

c. The apostles were like us and so they struggled with these desires of greatness as well.

4. But nothing so clearly shows how far the disciples were from understanding the real meaning of Jesus’ Messiahship and the true nature of His kingdom than this argument about who was the greatest.

a. At this point in their training, Jesus had made it clear on two occasions that suffering, crucifixion and resurrection awaited Him in Jerusalem, but they were still thinking of His kingdom in earthly terms and of themselves as holding the chief positions.

b. There is something heart-breaking about the fact that the cross was on Jesus’ mind, while all they could think about was which of them would be the greatest in Jesus’ kingdom.

B. It appears to me that perhaps not all the apostles had been a part of the argument about who would have the greatest position.

1. It appears that Jesus took a small group of apostles aside and confronted them about their argument, but then gathered the whole group of apostles together to teach them the important lesson.