An Elitist Mentality Part 1
Scripture: Mark 9:33-40; Gal. 2:11-14
The title of my message this morning is “An Elitist Mentality.”
One of my co-workers, after discovering that I love to play golf, asked me if I was a “member” of any golf clubs. The person who asked me just assumed that I was because of my ability to afford it based on the type of job that I have and my position within the company. I told the person that I was not a member of any clubs and that I could not in good conscious pay to be part of a group that excluded others for any reason. The person did not understand what I was telling her.
We are a society that values the elite and vilify the poor. We judge people based on their position in life and how large their bank accounts are. If you doubt me just ask someone what their qualifications are for a future spouse and you will discover at some random point in the conversation, money will eventually come out. Within our society there are two primary groups, those who have and those who have not. Within each of these groups they are further divided into more groups. For example, in the “those who have” group, you have those who have some and those who have more. From the “those who have more” you find it’s further divided into those who have more and those who have the most. Even when you get to the group who have the most some must classify themselves as “old money” or “new money” meaning that those who have always had money were better than those who just recently came into their money. The same goes in the opposite direction for the “do not have” group. This mentality of dividing people into groups based on the world’s standard of success is also found within Christians. So what is an elitist and what is an elitist personality.
By definition an elitist is “a person or class of persons considered superior by others or by themselves, as in intellect, talent, power, wealth, or position in society.” Notice that it’s not just someone being considered superior by others; it includes someone who considers themselves superior. This is the mentality that I want to focus on in this message and let me say up front that there are many people of great wealth who does not have an elitist mentality just as there are poor people who do have this mentality. Based on the elitist’s “supposedly” superiority they are treated differently than the average or non-elite person. In order to have the class of the elite, someone else must be excluded from the group as everyone can’t be elite by definition. Someone must be seen as less in order for someone else to be seen as great. We are taught this basis principle at a very young age. For example, in elementary school we learned to play a game called “Musical Chairs.” The setup of this game required fewer chair(s) than the number of people needing them. This ensures that at least one person (sometime more) would be left without a chair. The very design of the game is to cause competition for a chair with some winning and some losing. Whoever did not have a seat at the end of the music playing was removed from the game. Their removal told them they missed out or were not “good” enough. Now you might think I am stretching it a bit here, so let me give you another example from our childhood. You remember team sports that you played in gym class? Remember how certain kids were always chosen to be the captain of the teams? What happened? Each kid began to choose their friends or those who were known to have skills in that particular game. At some point it came down to the last person who had not been chosen. The very last person, that person that no one wanted or voluntarily chose was now being placed on a team that did not “really” want them. This was the child that would often be left on the sidelines or placed in a role where their contribution was minimal. How do you think it impacted that child’s sense of self always being chosen last? Also consider how this affected the mentality of that child who was always selected first. How many people do you know still talk about their glory days in high school as if they have not accomplished anything else since graduating? The idea that one is better than someone else is taught to us and is a foundation pillar of our society. It is what we know and what we are accustomed to. This is one of the reasons why many African Americans cannot envision themselves being a part of the Republican Party – it’s the party of the “haves” who do not care about those who “have not.” When Ben Carson ran for president there were blacks who were outraged that he would even be a part of that party and believe and say some of the things that he did. While we do not like those who are considered elite among us, we do not mind carrying that title when it reflects us. Do you see the problem here?
This is what I am talking about when I say we have an Elitist mentality. Having an elitist mentality makes us do things to other people that we would normally not do. It makes us act a certain way because we are “supposed” to act that way. We join clubs that only certain people can be a part of because you have to go through a selection process. We desire to be a part of organizations that may not want us just so we can say we belong to this group that is seen as special. We purchase cars that only certain people with money can afford to buy – even if we do not have the money to pay for them. We put titles and degrees on our business cards so that people will see that we are somebody. We move to gated communities so that we do not have to mingle with the riff raffs. All of these acts, in my opinion, demonstrate our desire to be elite even though internally we view ourselves as just achieving success. But what happens when we allow this mentality to shape our walk with Christ? What if my elitist mentality causes me to avoid what the Spirit is telling me to do? Paul said the following in Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” If this is a true statement can I continue with an elitist mentality if I have become new in Jesus Christ? Before you answer, consider this story.
Jesus chose His twelve disciples and over time they began to see themselves as being “different” from others which in fact they were. However, at some point they saw others as not being “authorized” to do things in Jesus’ name if they were not one of His recognized followers. Let’s read the full story as recorded in Mark 9:33-41. “They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, "What were you discussing on the way?" But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." 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." John said to Him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. "For he who is not against us is for us. "For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.”
Jesus had been teaching His disciples and told them of His impending death and His kingdom which they did not understand and refused to ask Him to clarify. However what they did understand was that Jesus would have a kingdom and they would be part of it. This led to a discussion about which of them would have the greatest position in Jesus’ kingdom, in other words, who would be elite. You would think that hearing the news of Jesus’ death would cause some concern, which it did, but it also opened the door for the disciples to do what we all do, think about self. Jesus, knowing what the conversation was and what was in their hearts, sat down and called them all to Him. When they were sitting Jesus told them the following: "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." He then took a child and sat the child on His lap. He told His disciples, “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”
I truly love children. Children are quick at finding out who truly loves them, and there were always some children around Christ. Can you see this child that Jesus called to Him looking up at Him with eyes of innocent wonder as He gently set him there? Mark does not record any word that Jesus may have said to the child and really none were needed. The child possessed everything the disciples needed to see: the unconsciousness of rank, the spontaneous acceptance of inferiority, the absence of claims to consideration and respect, which naturally belong to childhood as it ought to be. These are the things that children possess and what Jesus wanted the disciples to see. What the child is we have to become. This child was the example of being 'least of all' and perfectly contented to be so. Children do not think of power, position and greatness. They do not think of being elite. We, as adults, teach that to them! Jesus told His disciples and each of us that we were to come to Him with the mindset of a child, not an elitist. When we do this, we are able to serve versus waiting to be served. Do you know you can tell a lot about a person based on how they treat those who serve them? Whether it’s a waiter/waitress or the cleaning person at your hotel, how we treat those who are in service to us speaks volume about us and it does not go unnoticed by our Father in heaven. When Jesus sat that child on His lap it was like He was telling His disciples: “Look! this is how you must serve; for you cannot help the weak unless you open your arms and hearts to them.” Jesus, with the child held to His bosom, is the living law of service, and the child nestling close to Him, being sure of His love, is the type of the trustful affection we must evoke if we are to serve or help others. We will never get this type of response from others if our mentality is one of being elite.
Christ goes on to speak of the child, not as the example of service, but of being served. The deep words tell us of the recompense of the lowly servants that will be lifted high in the kingdom. Observe the precision of the language, both in regards to the person who received and the motive of the reception. When Jesus said “One child as this…” He meant those who are thus lowly, unambitious, and unexacting. “In My name” defines the motive as not being simple humanity or benevolence, but the distinct recognition of Christ's command and loving obedience to His revealed character. Truly there are some things that we will do out of obedience to Christ that if it were left to our own decision we would not do because of our hearts. However, the more we serve the more our hearts become that of a servant. Jesus said the first will be last and a servant of all meaning that those valued in the kingdom of God are those who are willing to serve others here on earth.
The disciples having being convicted in their hearts thought about what Jesus had just told them. John then spoke up and told Jesus about an encounter they had with a man who was casting out demons. Listen to what is recorded in Mark 9:38-41. “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name and be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. For he who is not against us if for us.” A good man was casting out demons and doing good and the disciples wanted to stop him because he was not “considered” to be a follower of Jesus. They would appear to have rather seen those people keep their demons than allow someone not “in the club” to cast them out. The Apostle John is uneasy when he remembers what they had done, and, like an honest man, he states the case to Christ, half-confessing, and half-asking for a decision. He begins to think that perhaps the man whom they had silenced was “one such little child,” and had deserved more sympathetic treatment. How he came to be so true a disciple as to share in the power of casting out devils, and yet not to belong to the closer followers of Jesus, we do not know. So it was; and John feels, as he tells the story, that perhaps their motives had not been so much their Master's honor as their own. “He follows not us,” and yet he is trenching on our prerogatives. The greater fact that he and they followed Christ was overshadowed by the lesser that he did not follow them. There spoke the fiery spirit which craved the commission to burn up a whole village, because of its inhospitality. There spoke the spirit of ecclesiastical intolerance, which in all ages has masqueraded as a zeal for Christ and taken “following us” and “following Him” to be the same thing. Are you seeing this? But there spoke, too, a glimmering consciousness that gagging men was not precisely “receiving” them, and that if “in Thy name” so sanctified deeds, perhaps the unattached exorcist, who could cast out demons by it, was “a little one” to be taken to their hearts, and not an enemy to be silenced. Pity that so many listen to the law, and do not, like John, feel it prick them! We read the word of God but apply it to others versus ourselves.
Jesus told His disciples that they should not hinder the man or anyone else working miracles in His name. In doing this, Christ sanctions “irregularities” and “unattached” work, which have always been a cause of concern for the believing that serving Christ can only come through one Church or one denomination. That authoritative, unconditional 'forbid him not' should have long ago died based on Christ’s words to His disciples and ended the temptation to idolize conformity and organized forms of Christianity with the union to Christ. But bigotry dies hard. The reasons Christ gave serve to explain the position of the man in question. If he had performed miracles in Christ's name, he must have had some faith in Christ’s name and his experience of its power would deepen that. So there was no danger of his contradicting himself by speaking against Jesus. The power of “faith in the Name” to perform good deeds, the certainty that rudimentary/basic faith will, when exercised, increase, guarantee that those experiences will lead to blessings from Jesus. Because the man's action gives guarantees for his future, they were not to silence him. That implies that they are only to forbid those who do speak evil of Christ; and that to all others, even if they have not reached the full perception of truth, they are to extend patient forbearance and guidance. This is a lesson for us today.
I will continue this next week, but before I close I want to ask you a question. In this message today we see how having an elitist mentality affects how we see the world around us. With this mentality we see others as being beneath us. We become afraid of them, not knowing what their motivations are towards us. We see the poor, disturbed and the addicts and while we may pity them, we like so many before us will cross the street to avoid interacting with them. While we may not be at the top of the social class, we are definitely not at the bottom. So my question is this: do you have an elitist mentality in any area of your life that will hinder you from doing whatever the Spirit of God may lead you to do at any given time?
May God bless and keep you is my prayer.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
