But Who Is The Greatest
Pastor Frank Zerbel
© 2005 FORGIVEN! Community Church
Mark 9:33-41
By the middle of my freshman year of High School my passion was music. I had problems consecrating in other classes anticipating music. Why was it that until 9th grade I enjoyed music and singing, but I wasn’t as excited about it until I reached this point?
I’ve thought a lot about it and I realize it was do to the teacher that God had placed in my path. Actually there were two teachers. One started his first year teaching as I started my High School journey, the other just a few short years from retirement.
The older teacher was the head of the department, Miss Kleecamp. The younger took over the choirs and intro to music, Mr. Callahan.
Now being new Mr. Callahan wanted to make a name for himself he wanted to be the best music teacher that Rosemead High ever had. He made all the same mistakes that all new teachers make.
Wanting all the students to like him
Losing his temper when he lost control
Letting jealousy control his relationship with other teachers and students
I believe he was insecure about himself and to feel better about himself he had to make himself superior to everyone around him, and by doing so put a wall up against his students.
Miss Kleecamp on the other hand already had the reputation of being hard. She had nothing to prove to anyone and because of this, her very presence demanded respect.
Without yelling she could handle any student in the school, no matter how radical their behavior was. And it took me years to understand how she became the outstanding teacher that she was.
She was a true servant! And this is where it becomes tricky.
We all look at servants as being available to our bidding. Someone who will bring you breakfast in bed, serve you coffee, take care of your every wish. But that is not what Jesus meant when he called himself a servant.
A true servant doesn’t necessarily give you what you want for the temporary pleasure or gratification you receive for the moment, but what you need for the joy that lasts for a lifetime!
Mrs. K was a true servant to these students. She kept control, and wouldn’t let them get away with anything, but she taught them about the passion she had for music. She would go to any length to foster talent and reach something deep inside them to trigger a thirst for more.
Because of this dedication of service to students, thousands of lives have been touched over the years. Businessmen and women, politicians, pastors, entertainers, and the list goes on.
The younger teacher Mr. Callahan must have had some of that service attitude rub off on him. I understand that young teacher of thirty years ago was, the last that I heard, Vice Principal of the High School and I pray that he has touched as many lives as Miss K.
I’ll bet you ask, “How does this correlate to today’s lesson?”
Well, it has to do with the discussion that the disciples were having on the road to Capernaum:
Mark 9:33-34 (NIV)
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
How many times in your life have you felt superior to someone else, or had the argument that you were better than the other guy? You may not want to admit it but if you are honest with yourself we all have done it and to a point we still do it.
Ladies have you ever tasted a cake and said to yourself or a loved one, mine is better? Have you ever looked at the way someone is dressed and it made you feel better about yourself?
Men have you ever looked at the way someone does something handy only to think to yourself, I can do better than that.
We, the human race are always comparing others to our standards. But have you ever noticed that we don’t want to compare ourselves to the standards of others? We would rather make our own set of rules and set our own personal set of standards.
This is what we must guard against; Paul clearly addresses this situation in Galatians 6;
Galatians 6:3-4 (NIV)
3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,
This is what was happening on the road to Capernaum. I can hear the conversation now.
“You know guys; it was I, Peter, James and John that the Master took up the mountain for that special meeting. I did notice that the rest of you stayed behind in the village.”
“Now wait a minute,” Judas said, “I was collecting money for the poor that surely is greater than anything else?”
Matthew replies, “Nothing can be greater than working with the sick, at least we were trying to do something!”
You know, if you are truthful with yourself, you’ve probably had conversations very similar in your own life. Sometimes, the only way we can cope with these feelings is to make fun of them. There’s a song in Annie Get Your Gun that seems to illustrate the point.
It goes;
Anything you can do I can do better
I can do anything better than you
No you can’t
Yes I can
No you can’t
Yes I can
No you can’t, no you can’t, no you can’t!
Isn’t it strange that we can laugh at a parity or a joke about being better than someone else, but we can’t see it in ourselves. We work hard to be the best at what we do only to tare down what someone else is doing.
Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not wrong for believers to be industrious or ambitious. But when ambition pushes obedience and service to one side, it becomes sin. Pride or insecurity can cause us to overvalue position and prestige. In God’s kingdom, such motives are destructive. The only safe ambition is directed toward Christ’s kingdom, not our own advancement.
(Life Application Commentary Mark 9:34)
And we are not the only people in history have this problem. All this time with Christ and the disciples still couldn’t put it all together. This must have really frustrated Jesus.
Mark 9:35 (NIV)
35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
Looking back 30 years at my time with Miss K, I can see how this verse makes sense. Miss Kleecamp became one of the greatest teachers I ever had because she became last in line to her students.
I wouldn’t be writing music to our Lord and Savior had it not been for Miss K working tirelessly to get me the proper training in voice and instilling an unquenchable thirst for music.
My parents were wonderful, but they didn’t know anything about music. They didn’t have the skills or the passion for music to instill in me.
That took someone special that God put in my path to amplify the talent that God had already implanted deep within me.
Think of this, if we were always mindful of the people around us, worried that they might take our place, what would we leave behind that would last.
But if we take the talent that God has given us and nurture the people around us, if we put ourselves last, we may help grow something that is to the glory of God.
If you are going to impact the world for Christ, you need to get it out of your head right now how great you are. The title Pastor has to be earned not taken. To many times we expose ourselves to public meetings or church gatherings to show off our title or just to get other people to boost our ego. If you are going to minister you need to be in prayer that you give the glory to God and not yourself.
It is by that glory to God that people ministered too, receive what they need not merely what they want.
And when we are sincerely willing to put ourselves last to the true needs of others, than we will find that in Gods eyes we will be first.
What are the true needs of others?
Sometimes food to a homeless man may not be his true need. He may just need words of encouragement, a hand up not a hand out; more often than not he just needs the Word of God.
Sometimes a place in our home to someone in need only makes it harder for them to become self-reliant
Sometimes a condom made available to a teenager is just an easier way out than counseling them about the responsibility and the dangers of pre-martial sex
Many of us feel that by giving out food, shelter or even temporary jobs we are helping when in reality all we are doing is feeding the situation.
To be real servants we must be willing to go one step further and continually witness to them. More people come off the streets and stay off the streets yearly through the Word of God than any other method.
Mark 9:36-37 (NIV)
36 He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
I believe that Jesus was touching on two issues when he talked about the children;
First: Jesus taught the disciples to welcome children.
This was a new approach in a society where children were usually treated as second-class citizens. I believe that it is important not only to treat children well, but also to teach them about Jesus.
Many churches build their programs and teaching around adults, but Jesus is telling us that we must train the children. Not just put them into a day care setting, but truly teach them.
We are not the ones to carry the Word of God to the next generation it is the children and we must not let them down!
Second: Jesus was saying that when we welcome people to Christ we must welcome them as children.
As people except Christ as their Savior we must welcome them as children of God and we must realize that we must teach them as we would the children to strengthen their faith.
We must start with the basics when a person comes to Christ!
When someone comes to Christ it must be with a child-like faith. They have to understand that the only thing that can give them salvation is a the sincere belief that God sent His Son to suffer the penalty of our sins by being crucified on the cross, buried in the tomb, and resurrected on the third day.
Nothing else;
not good works
not worship
not tithes
not devotion
not love of others
These things need to be the response to the personal relationship with Jesus, but salvation is only from unconditional child-like belief!
I was forced as a child to read the Bible for catechism. I read it for two years in class, answered the questions and did not understand much about what I read. As a consequence, I stayed away from the Bible for many years.
It wasn’t until I went to a church and the sermons and teachings were verse to verse out of the Bible that I started to understand and gain that thirst for the Word.
Much the way you teach a young child. You don’t go directly into geometry; you start with addition and subtraction.
This also brings us back to the first discussion of who’s the greatest. If we welcome everyone with a:
Child like faith in Christ
Child like wonder
Child like curiosity
Child like acceptance
We can’t possibly have a superior attitude toward anyone.
Dear Lord Jesus,
I ask that you take control of our egos and allow us to greet the world with the humility that you greeted us with. Give us the discernment to know the difference between our words and Yours. And Lord, help us to open our hearts to the lost with a child like faith that You are in charge.
We ask this in the Name above all Names; Jesus Christ. Amen
