When I Get Big, I Want to Be Little
Mark 9:30-37
Children are born dreamers. You can watch them act out their dreams when they play and pretend. With a few plastic army men they wage earth-shaking battles; with a baby doll they practice being gentle, caring mothers. The sky is the limit in who they can be, or what they can do. Adults will sometimes ask a child to pinpoint their dreams for the future when they ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” or as the kids from south GA used to ask, “What do you want to be when you get big?” The response runs something like this: When I get big, I want to be …a policeman…a nurse…a soldier…a mommy…a cowboy…an astronaut…a singer…a basketball player…president of the United States.”
Wouldn’t it be interesting to flashback to your childhood days and recount what you dreamed of being “when you get big.” You might still be dreaming of what you will be when you get big- when you get enough money, or get the rights breaks, or finish your education, or whenever you finally “arrive”. You might think of it this way: When I get big…I want to get married…I want to get my driver’s license…I want to live out on my own…I want a higher paying job… I want to have kids… I want to own a Mercedes…I want to make a million dollars…I want to own my own home… I want to be my own boss…I want to retire and enjoy life.” You fill in the blank. “When I get big, I want to…”
There is nothing wrong with dreaming, even after you become an adult. God gives you some dreams to spur you on to become what He wants us to be. But when you dream, Jesus tells us that if you really want to dream big, then you’ve got to think small. One of the highest priorities in Jesus’ teaching is that even as you mature, you still need to keep a childlike heart that is willing to learn from Him, serve one another, and be at peace with one another. You could say Jesus wants you to be able to say with all of your heart, “When I get big, I want to be little.” Let’s listen in on His explanation of what that means in Mark 9:30-37.
I. WHEN YOU GET BIG, YOU ARE SMALL ENOUGH TO LEARN (v. 30-32)
In chapter 9, Jesus’ public teaching ministry ends. He will spend most of the rest of His time privately instructing His disciples. Unfortunately, these 12 men, like you and I, sometimes have a hard time understanding their Teacher. You and I should pay close attention to the lesson of these verses: you will never get big until you are small enough to learn from Jesus.
a. Jesus wants to teach us. (v. 30-31) As Jesus and His followers pass through Galilee to get back to headquarters at Capernaum. Jesus is trying to avoid publicity because He wants some private time of instruction for His men. For the 3rd time in Mark, Jesus reminds them of He is going to be murdered, but that He will come back to life. The new fact He reveals is that He will be betrayed into the hands of his killers.
They need to know this, so they will understand later God is in control of these events; what happens to Jesus is part of God’s plan to save the world. Jesus wants them prepared, just as His lessons for you will help prepare you for what happens in your life. The danger is that like these dull disciples,
b. If you are too big, you will miss the lesson. (v. 32) They do not understand what Jesus is talking about. All their lives they are taught the Messiah would come as a conquering King, not a dying Savior. It doesn’t make sense. The sensible thing to do if you don’t understand is to ask a question, right? These confused men keep quiet. Maybe they are scared to ask because of Jesus’ rebuke of Peter in Mark 8:33. Maybe they are frightened He may really be serious about dying. They are too big to learn; if they really realized their need to know, they would ask in spite of their fears. Their solution: ignore the lesson, and maybe the Teacher will go on to something else. This is not my dream, so I’ll just forget it. They had not become small enough to listen and learn from their Teacher. Have you learned this lesson?
c. You have to grow small enough to learn from Jesus. When I was 18, I couldn’t wait to graduate from high school. I couldn’t wait to leave home and follow my dreams, without the pesky interference from my parents or teachers. I had learned enough lessons; I was an grown; I was big now, with big dreams and big plans to live like I wanted to live. I knew it all.
Of course, it didn’t take long to discover that I had more lessons to learn, whether I wanted to or not. It took me quite a few years to discover that there are two ways to learn lessons for life: either from my own experience, or from someone else’s experience. More often than not, I chose the painful path of learning from my own mistakes and failures. The technical term for my attitude is expressed by a redneck phrase: I was too big for my britches.
You can get too big for your britches spiritually speaking, too. As long as you live on this earth, God will be teaching you. He instructs you through His Word, the Bible. He educates you through other people. He tutors you through circumstances, both good and bad. He teaches you, but the question is are you listening and learning? You can ignore these lessons. You might not like what He says because it makes you afraid or uncomfortable. Maybe the lessons cramp your style, or just seem to be too much trouble to put into practice. But one thing is sure: you will not learn from Jesus until you get small enough to listen and learn.
Maybe right now, you need to raise your hand, spiritually speaking, and ask the Teacher, Lord, what was that again? Could you help me understand what You’re trying to say? The Bible promises God will teach you if you are willing to learn.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Before you get big, you have to become small enough to learn from the Lord.
II. WHEN YOU GET BIG, YOU ARE SMALL ENOUGH TO SERVE (v. 33-37)
It’s sad to read that as Jesus speaks about His humiliation, His followers are jockeying for the pole position in Heaven. They have been talking during class, so they have no idea what the Teacher has been saying. So Jesus again straightens out their thinking by saying: If you want to be biggest you have to become small enough to serve. Jesus says when you get big:
a. You don’t waste time worrying about who is biggest. (v. 33-34) They knew they
were busted as soon as Jesus walks into the house (probably the home of Simon Peter and Andrew). He asks them what were you fellows discussing while I was talking? The verb tense indicates Jesus keeps asking the question. Peter what were you discussing? Thomas what was the fuss about? The language also indicates they keep refusing to answer. They are embarrassed because of what the argument was about: Who’s the biggest? Peter, James, and John narrow down the field to 3, since they were Jesus’ “inner circle”. We’ve seen Elijah and Moses! Peter whittles the circle down to one: He called me the Rock! Judas speaks up and says guys! Remember who Jesus put in charge of the money? The rest have their own ideas.
None of them got it; not one understood that the biggest person spiritually is not who stands on the top of the ladder and gives orders, but who stands at the bottom and serves. Jesus taught them the very opposite: if you want to be biggest in His kingdom
b. You will invest time in serving the smallest. (v. 35-37) When nobody answers Jesus’
question, He quietly sits down and calls all of his men to Him. He gently, but firmly, tells them Guys, you have it exactly backwards. It is not those who are served who are the biggest in God’s eyes. The biggest person in God’s kingdom is anyone who serves the smallest person.
While they all stand around scratching their heads, trying to figure out what that means, Jesus scoops up a toddler- maybe one of Simon Peter’s children- and tenderly holds the child in the crook of His arms. You have to receive one of these little ones to be big with God.
Just in case you are scratching your head wondering what Jesus means, let’s unpack His words. First, the same word Jesus uses for child here is also the word for servant (=diakonos where the words minister and deacon comes). This word does not refer to a slave, but someone who willingly works to takes care of someone else’s needs.
Secondly, Jesus makes a connection between the one who receives this child in His name, and the one who receives Christ Himself and God His Father. The word receive here means to receive someone to serve. Like a hostess who receives guests for dinner or a hotel clerk receives overnight visitors, Jesus says the one who serves a child serves Him, and the God Who sent Him. What does this mean? Jesus is using a child to illustrate the truth of v. 35. He is saying that the greatest person is the one who serves others the way an adult serves a child.
Do adults ever serve children? Ask the parent of a newborn. Babies are high maintenance people. You have to feed them, burp them, dress them, change them, put them to sleep and wake them up. Babies are not high up on the corporate ladder, or on the political spectrum. But if you judge their worth by how much service they require, they are some of the most important people in the world. Ask parents, and they will tell you they are the most important people in their world. This illustrates Jesus’ point: you are greatest when you serve the smallest, most helpless, insignificant person you know. Do this and you serve Him, and serve God.
Are you big enough to serve? Someone said that your willingness to serve is demonstrated when someone treats you like a servant. You and I don’t mind serving others- as long as we get something out of it. You serve your boss to get a paycheck; you help out a friend or stranger if they will repay the favor. But if you really want to be great- to be big in God’s sight- Jesus says serve those who cannot repay you. Spiritually speaking, big people serve little people- those whom everyone else forgets. Jesus once told another parable to illustrate:
Luke 14:12-14 12…“When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. 13But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
That doesn’t mean its wrong to ask your family or neighbors over to eat. But it does mean that the greatest people in the world are those who are small enough to serve those who everyone else forgets. For you that might mean befriending that kid at school nobody else likes. Maybe you could serve a lonely person by just calling to chat. You might know someone right now who is not very outgoing, or significant in the eyes of the world, but who needs someone to help them in some small way. If you want to be big before God, find a way to serve them. Find a way to give to those who cannot give back. When you get big, you will be small enough to serve others.
III. WHEN YOU GET BIG, YOU ARE SMALL ENOUGH TO BE AT PEACE (v. 37-50)
One of the main sources of conflict in our relationships comes when we try to be bigger than we are. We want to be the biggest, which according to the world, means we want to be the one who is always right; we want to be able to say Live and let live- I can do what I want as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else; we want to be big enough that everyone has to see eye to eye with us. The only peace we want is for other people to leave us alone; we might even wish God would leave us alone to live like we want to without being hassled about holiness.
Jesus, on the other hand, has a different definition of peace. He says when you get big, you are small enough to enjoy peace with those who disagree with you, and peace with God.
a. You have to be at peace with Christians who disagree with you. (v. 37-41). John seizes
on the words about those who receive Jesus to try and gain some points with the Teacher. Lord, we saw some other people who aren’t part of our group driving out demons in your Name. We told them to stop because they weren’t one of us- they haven’t received you like we have! Poor John is trying to become bigger by putting some other folks who evidently believed in Jesus down.
Jesus gently pops John’s big balloon. Don’t hinder people from working for me. If they really are working in My Name, they are on our side- even if they aren’t part of your group. Even those who do the smallest good deed for My followers in My Name are doing my will, and I will reward them.
Jesus is giving an important teaching here: when you get big, you are able to accept other believers who don’t agree with you. You stop trying to decide which groups of true Christians God is carrying to Heaven, and you accept the fact that God blesses some people you disagree with. That doesn’t mean that you accept people as believers who teach false doctrines, and it does not mean you pretend like your differences do not matter. It does mean if someone is truly born again, whatever label they wear, they are on the Lord’s side, which means you are both on the same side. When you get big you learn to be at peace with Christians who disagree with you.
b. You have to be at peace with God. (v. 42-48) Jesus mentions …one of these little
ones… to make a solemn warning: whatever you do, don’t lead other believers into sin. He warns here about the power of sin to not only make other stumble into sin, but also to lead you into forsaking your faith in Christ and losing your peace with God. Two things you must keep in mind as you read vs. 43-48:
1) Jesus is not commanding amputation to save us from sin. He is deliberately exaggerating to point out that whatever would lead you or those around you into sin must be dealt with drastically. Nothing in your life is worth holding onto if it leads you or those around you into forsaking Christ.
2) Jesus is telling us that sin can lead us to hell. Though Jesus exaggerates about cutting off arms and hands, the hell He speaks of is real. The punishment for all who serve sin as their master is eternal punishment in the eternal fires and gnawing pains of hell. Hell is not a parable nor a fable, but a terrible reality. You and I are saved from hell because of our faith in Jesus Christ, but be careful: if you choose to forsake your faith in Christ, you forfeit your peace with God. His warning ought to make us be careful: sin can lead you to exchange the peace of God for the pains of hell. When you get big, you won’t play with fire- you will be small enough to trust Christ and stay away from sin.
c. You have to grow small enough to be at peace with one another. (v. 49-52) God is in the
business of purifying you and me from sin. The OT sacrifices often had to be offered with salt as a means of keeping them from decaying before they could be given to God. Jesus is saying let God preserve you in His peace. When you have peace with Him, you will have peace with one another. The Bible promises you can enjoy peace with God, and enjoy the peace of God with others. When you get big, you are small enough to be at peace with God and with everyone else.
The Biggest Person in the universe once became small enough to learn what it means to be a human being. He became small enough to serve sinners like you and I by dying for us. He became small enough to bring peace between you and God. Even when He was small, He was still the Biggest Person the world has ever seen.
One night a father was tucking his son into bed when the little boy asked his daddy about what it was like to be all grown up. The dad tied to explain what he could to his son, but the son interrupted by asking, “Daddy, when you get big, do you have to move out of the house with your mommy and daddy?”. The dad told him yes, when kids got old enough then they usually moved out of the home. The little fellows eyes got misty, and finally he burst out sobbing, “Daddy, I don’t want to leave you and mommy! I don’t want to get big!”
The dad took his sons into his arms and comforted him. Buddy, you don’t have to leave home until you get ready. But one day you will get big enough to have your own little boy or girl to love, just like I love you. When you get big, you and I will still love one another, and I will always be there to help you any way I can. One day, when you get big, I might need you to take care of me. You don’t have to worry, buddy. No matter how big you get, deep down inside you will always be my little boy.
God does not want you to be immature; He wants you to grow up. But even as you get bigger, He still wants you to keep that child-like heart that trusts Him.
This morning, Jesus wants you to know that no matter how big you get, you will always be His child. When you get big, you will be small enough to listen to Jesus and learn from Him. When you get big, you will be small enough to serve those who are the smallest. When you get big, you will be small enough to be at peace with God and others.
What do you want to be when you get big? I hope you will say to the Lord, “When I get big, I want to be small.”
