This is Mark 9, verses 30-41. This is God’s Holy Word. They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And He did not want anyone to know, for He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.
And when He is killed, after three days He will rise, but they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him. And they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he asked them, what were you discussing on the way? But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve, And he said to them, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me.
John said to him, Teacher, We saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us. But Jesus said, Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, will by no means lose his reward.”
Thus far, God’s holy, inspired, and infallible word. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for that word. We thank you that you use every word to strengthen us and help us, even if we don’t realize it at the time. And so may that be our situation today, Lord, as we read through these matters and then comment upon them. May your spirit apply them as we need and as we’ll help those around us. Lord, we are most thankful that you care for us so much and that you’re willing to take the time to deal with us as we need it. We ask for that help now in Jesus’ name, amen.
All right, I have a question for you. I’d say you get a prize if you know the answer, but I don’t have any prizes to give you. But here’s the question. What makes Jack what? Be nimble. Be nimble, not bad. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. Well, what makes Jack a dull boy? What does dull mean? Dull, I would say, has to do with being slow and tedious. You know the old thing that you say to somebody that doesn’t quite get it? You say, you’re not the sharpest knife in the drawer, are you? What makes Jesus’ disciples spiritually dull? Well, from today’s passage, I would say four things. Ignorance, embarrassment, jealousy, and self-image.
The Lord has just healed a demon-possessed boy. Remember, he came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and there was this big to-do, as we saw last time. And Jesus kind of stepped in and said, calm down now, tell me what’s going on here. Of course, He knew, but He wanted them to think it through. So He went on, of course, to heal the demon-possessed boy.
And such a wonderful miracle, really, should have caused a lot of praise to God. If I were to ask you what’s the most important thing you can do in life, I would not be wrong if I said to praise the Lord. To praise Him, yes, with your lips, but to praise Him just in the way you live. But there was not so quickly praise for God, although I’m sure there were some people there that said praise the Lord because they saw this healing take place.
But as Jesus looks at the situation there, He quickly sees that His disciples, His own disciples, need some instruction. Which is an understatement, because they had already received a lot of instruction, but they still need more instruction. And we will see that the instruction that He gives is meant not only for those twelve disciples, but for us as well. The writer to the Hebrews, in other words, the writer of the book of Hebrews, said this, and I’m kind of picking up in the middle of what he says, but it is about this we have much to say, but it’s hard to explain, since you have become dull. of hearing, Hebrews 5 verse 11, if you would like the reference there. Well, I kind of gave you a hint earlier about the four things to consider today, but here are our points this morning.
Struggling continues for these disciples with the prospect of Jesus suffering. That they would suffer, well, they can accept that to some extent, but Jesus suffer? They’re still struggling with that whole idea. Secondly, they’re still having a hard time with their own personal ambitions. Who is the greatest among us? Struggling with that. Thirdly, feeling rising jealousy toward supposed rivals.
Well, we saw this man. He was doing such and such, and we didn’t feel exactly right about that. Why not? because they were jealous. And finally, thinking that Jesus needed them to preserve his glory. Well, we’ll go through those as we continue on here.
Still struggling with the prospect of Jesus’ suffering. Verse 32 says that they were still lacking in understanding. They did not understand. Now, how long had they been with Jesus? Well, we don’t have a timetable here exactly, but at least a number of months, maybe enough to make even a couple of years. We’re not sure. Timing is not always the important thing in these passages. But they still had not wrapped their minds around the fact that Jesus was going to suffer.
Now, remember Simon Peter. when he and the disciples were up in Caesarea Philippi, up to the north there, and he began to tell them of his greatness and so forth, and he said, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but my Father who is in heaven. And he went on to talk about his suffering, and then Peter said, Whoa, wait a minute.
Surely you’re not going to suffer. We’ll suffer, maybe. There may be suffering in the world around us, but not you, Lord. for Simon realized that he was dealing with the Son of God, and by that statement, no one less than God Himself was among them. So Simon had already had a verbal conflict with Jesus about whether he was going to suffer or not. And in fact, Jesus was so upset with him that He said, Get thee behind Me, Satan. Don’t tell Me I can’t suffer. I shouldn’t suffer. In fact, I must suffer, He said.
Well, later on when Jesus is risen from the dead, he’s walking with a couple of disciples, not from among the twelve, but they’re still called disciples. We call them the Emmaus disciples because they’re on their way to the village of Emmaus where they lived.
And he had discussed things with them about what had happened in Jerusalem and these sorts of things. And then he goes more deeply into the Scriptures with them to show them about the suffering of the Messiah. And he says to them, he asks them this question, was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory? whatever sort of subgroup or extended group that these disciples belong to. They may not have had this ongoing experience of Jesus teaching about his sufferings, but he certainly brings that to their attention at this time.
And they’re kind of scratching their heads and saying, well, we know that he died, and we’ve heard these strange tales about his rising from the dead, and we’re confused about all this. And so Jesus says, well, let me explain things to you. Maybe I haven’t had that opportunity with all the great company of disciples that I have, like I did with the twelve, but He says it was necessary.
Was it not necessary? Is it not there in the Scriptures that the Christ, the Messiah, should have to suffer and then enter into His glory? Let me come back again to this verse 32 here. which simply says they did not understand the saying. They did not grasp it. And we’re not talking about the Emmaus disciples here.
We’re talking about the twelve who had been with him for a long time. And it says they were afraid to ask him any more about it. It was a shock. They had no doubt heard him rebuke Peter, at least understood that that’s what happened. They couldn’t quite grasp the fact that he had to suffer. Why not? Well, it’s hard to realize that we ourselves have no hope. There’s nothing we can do to add to the work of salvation.
Only Jesus can do that. And if you’re going to go to heaven, if you’re not going to perish, you have to believe in Jesus the Savior, the One who died on the cross and rose again from the dead. The Apostle Paul tells us that you have to believe in your heart, not only confess with your mouth, but believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, that He finished that work that went right through suffering.
The apostle also says later on as he writes, study to show yourself approved by God, a worker not ashamed. And I would just like to substitute there for the word ashamed, not dull. Not dull. Study to show yourself approved unto God, a worker not dull.
That is, if you’re going to be my apostles, if I’m going to send you out into the world with a message, with good news, right at the heart of it is going to explain the cross. You’re going to tell people that I had to suffer. That if I didn’t suffer, you would have to suffer. And then you can enter into glory with me if you believe in that and commit yourself to that. You need to understand that.
So we jump ahead a little further, and we see Philip going down to Gaza, and he comes across the Ethiopian eunuch, and the Holy Spirit says, get in the chariot with him. He says, do you understand what you’re reading? Because he was reading Isaiah 53, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all, and so forth. And he says, do you understand that? And he says, not really. And then, I guess, by the Holy Spirit, Philip says, well, let me explain it to you. And Jesus, in talking with these disciples, says, let me explain to you.
It’s the heart of everything. If you miss that, you may be religious, you may go to church, you may have all kind of accolades for how decent and moral and so forth you are, but if you miss this point, you’ve missed everything. That Messiah has to suffer. We’re told in this section here that they were afraid. They were afraid to ask Him. They were afraid of the truth. The truth is something that will slay you. It will knock you down. It will say, nothing you do is really going to count with God for your salvation. But don’t be afraid of the truth, dear friends. If you’re the Ethiopian unit, don’t be afraid of the truth. If you’re the Twelve Disciples, don’t be afraid of the truth. If you’re on your way to Emmaus, don’t be afraid of the truth.
It was necessary, but it was successful. He did die and save every one of those that the Father had given to Him. What a glorious bit of good news that is. Now, of course, it doesn’t mean, well, we won’t try anymore to be good. God says, now that you’re saved, I want you to be as good as you can be, as good as the Spirit will enable you to be.
But you must get a hold of that. So this first matter that’s dealt with here in the passage that we read today is to gain an understanding of Jesus’ suffering. And we’re coming into the Easter season, of course, and all of that even the religious stuff, not to include the bunnies and the eggs and all that, but just the fact that Jesus died on the cross. What does that mean? That He rose from the dead. What does that mean? You need to be able to understand that and explain it.
Alright, we move on. They were still having a hard time with personal ambitions. And that, of course, goes with the who’s the greatest debate or argument that they were having among themselves. They actually argued with one another. about who was the greatest. Why? I mean, what would come out of all that? Well, of course, the greatest would get the greatest attention, the greatest gifts.
He would be right there beside Jesus. And Scripture says don’t put anybody beside Jesus. Don’t say that you have Jesus and something else. He’s everything. If they had a hard time with their Ambitions, verse 34, tells us about they were arguing with one another.
It was evidently this ambition that helped to corrupt no one less than Judas Iscariot. I think when they first started this argument that they may have put Judas right up at the front and said, you know, Judas, he’s trusted with the money bag. And Jesus uses Judas in so many ways and maybe he’s the greatest. And Judas said, well, I can’t deny I have a pretty important position here. I’ll be glad to accept that greatness if you want to give it to me.
And of course, When the chips were down, Judas betrayed the Lord, turned away from Him. Why? Because he was ambitious, but his ambition was in the wrong direction in the wrong place. And the Lord said it would be better if he had never been born than what he turned out to be. You can imagine, as they had this discussion, who’s the greatest?
Well, this one and that one, and here’s Judas. And then it hits them. Judas fell as far as you could fall. What a corruption. What a disappointment. Was anybody more disappointed? And I know Jesus knew everything and so forth, but He also had every human emotion. What a disappointment.
When Judas, the one who was so trusted and so, if you will, beloved among this company of disciples, he turned out to be the worst imaginable. Jesus says in verse 35, if anyone would be first, that is the greatest, if anyone would be first, he must be last. He must be the servant of all. In Luke 22, 27, Jesus said, I am among you as one who serves. The Son of Man did not come into the world to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Mark 10.45. Let us examine our hearts and assess our motives for serving the Lord. Are you among the greatest? Well, I don’t know.
But unless you take the role of servant and serve all and be willing to be kicked about and disliked and disapproved, you’ll never have any sort of status. But the Lord said, I am among you as one who serves. They were afraid, you see, these disciples, not only to ask Jesus stuff, but they were afraid to be humbled. If Jesus had said, whoever wants to be the worst among you, raise your hand.
I don’t think there were any takers. I just made that up, of course, but you get the idea. I don’t think that any one of them would have said, oh, I’ll be the lowest. And when it says that they kept silent, this is in the second paragraph there where it says they were discussing who was the greatest. It says they kept silent. They didn’t want to be humbled. And they didn’t want to look too ambitious. But Jesus says, here’s something you have to learn. Here’s more instruction for you. You have to take the last place if you have any notion of being in the first place. Well, we move on to the third point today.
And that is this rising feeling of jealousy toward supposed rivals. And I say supposed. I don’t know that these who are acting as exorcists, casting out demons and so forth, that they had any notion that they were rivals. They just were thankful that God was using them to, as it were, attack the devil and cast out these demons.
And it was working! And there’s only one reason it would have been working, and that is that they had faith in Jesus. And that’s why Jesus is so accepting of them, because they were really trusting in Him. If they weren’t trusting in Him, I don’t think Jesus would have had a good word for them, other than repent and turn. But He says, what they’re doing is the right thing.
These disciples are saying, well, We’re with you all the time. And we’re your closest companions. And we know you better than anybody. And these guys, they haven’t had any of our education or experience or any of that. And Jesus says, don’t gainsay them. Don’t talk down on them. They’re really serious about defeating the devil and glorifying God.
You know, the disciples were jealous. of each other. When the mother of James and John came and asked if they could sit one on his right hand and one on his left hand, and Jesus had to talk them down from that, it says the other ten were indignant. The other ten were mad at the two brothers. They should have been mad at the mother, and maybe they were too. The fact is that there’s no reason for jealousy in the kingdom of God.
Everybody has his or her appointed task, and every task is important, and every task will glorify God when it is done in the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit. These unrecognized exorcists, that’s what I call them, you know, we talk about undocumented aliens. These unrecognized exorcists liked what they were doing. But they were disliked because they were doing it. Disliked by the disciples. They irked… That’s a good word, isn’t it? You don’t find that word in Scripture very much.
They irked the twelve disciples because they were getting attention And of course, when Jesus got all the attention, the others basked in all the attention. This is Jesus, and here are His 12 disciples. And I’m sure they liked that. And then here are these other guys, and they’re casting out demons in His name. And they were jealous.
The Apostle Paul gave this warning. He said, there is jealousy and strife among you. Are you not still in the flesh. 1 Corinthians 3, 3. It’s better to rejoice, better to rejoice that the power of Christ is present and hoped for than to pout about others. Whether it’s in your group or somebody over there that’s doing something for the Lord and in His name, rejoice, dear friends.
If it’s not what God wants, He’ll make that clear. But surprise, surprise, we’re not the only ones. We’re not necessarily the best ones. We’re just the ones that God has chosen for whatever He’s chosen us for. And if we’re faithful in that, the Lord will bless us. Well done, good and faithful servant. That’s what we’re waiting to hear.
Don’t be afraid of other believers. If they’re really believers, then rejoice. that God will use them as He will use you if you’re faithful to what He’s called you to. But don’t be jealous. And these disciples, they were jealous of each other, and they were jealous of these exorcists that were casting out demons.
And Jesus said, better to rejoice in what God is doing. Better to know that you can’t stop God. When He says, don’t stop them, He’s really saying, don’t stop God. They’re not casting out anybody. God is doing it, but God is using these people to do it. Just rejoice in what God is doing through His church. Well, that brings us to the last one here.
And they thought that, well, Jesus needed them to preserve His glory. Now, I kind of skipped over the fact that Jesus had taken this little child and pointed out how that they needed to humble themselves and be like the little child. But you will understand that they might have said, well, this little child is not going to do much to protect the glory of Jesus like we are. You remember Simon Peter, when the men came to arrest Jesus, what did he do?
Pulled out the sword, actually cut off an ear in the whole process of it. He needs us to defend him, to preserve his glory. We tried to stop them, talking about these exorcists. We tried to stop them, why? To protect you, Lord. Now, again, not quite right. There’s jealousy there and so forth.
But I’m sure they convinced themselves that Jesus needed them to protect Him. And there are times, of course, when we must stand up for Jesus. I didn’t choose that hymn today, but we could have sang, stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross. There are times when we have to do that. That’s different. than this thought situation where Jesus needs us to protect Him.
He is more patient than we are by a long way. And He’s more powerful. He said at the same time that Peter was swinging his sword, he said, don’t you know I could have called 12 legions of angels to come if I wanted to? Or lacking angels, I could have just said, to destroy these people. But He is more patient. Oh, you should be thankful this morning that He’s patient. I am. If He weren’t patient with me, I don’t know what would happen.
Jesus says that the exorcists were using His name sincerely. Now you can be sincerely wrong, But I think Jesus is saying, they had witnessed the power of the name of Jesus to drive out the demons. What does James say? He says, resist the devil and he’ll flee from you.
Use the name of Jesus as God intends you to use that name. I’ve given you this illustration before of being down in Mexico and this snarling dog came out after this fellow and he says, en nombre Cristo, in the name of Christ. And you know that dog? It quietly went away. In the name of Jesus, things happen. Things stop. Things go.
These exorcists, if we call them that, should not be stopped, but rather they have approval. Be careful who you say, oh, stop them from that. The Lord is not depending on us to come to His rescue, even in the case of His crucifixion. Even when He was hanging on the cross, His enemy said, come down from the cross. He could have, but he didn’t. And certainly the disciples had no notion that they were going to rush up and take Him, or at least maybe having prevented Him from even being there in the first place.
My friends, God does not need us. We need Him. And the Lord’s not depending on us to come to His rescue. He wants us to concentrate where? Not on the situation whether we can save Him or not save Him or whether we can do this or that or the other thing. He wants us to concentrate on His words.
The whole purpose of this passage that we read was instruction. You fellows need more instruction. You need to understand. You don’t understand. You need to stop this jealousy and pursuit of greatness. You need to understand your servanthood. And you need to let me take care of the rescuing, okay? He wants us to concentrate on His words and let Him do whatever defending is needed.
I think it was Oliver Cromwell who fought many battles in England for the Puritans. But it’s said of him, and I don’t know if this is apocryphal or not, but it is told that he said, Lord, if in the midst of the battle I forget Thee, forgettest Thou not me. He’s the great defender. And whatever defending is needed, He’s able to do it for Himself or for us.
Let us not be afraid that Jesus can’t handle any matters without us. And let us not be afraid that He can handle these matters and won’t need us. Because even if He doesn’t need us, He wants us. See, that’s the point. He wants us. He doesn’t need us, but He wants us.
They’re the people, as we said before, that God gave Him before the foundation of the world. They’re the people that He wants to have with Him. They’re the people He’s going to work to save, and that’s me and you, and not just those disciples or the Emmaus disciples or anybody else. We are the ones who believe in Him and therefore have His defense and have His reward.
And what more could you want than that? Dear Heavenly Father, bless the rest of our Lord’s day and help us always to keep our eyes upon Jesus and help us always to look to that low place that we will have so that we may be counted among the great ones for our humility and our commitment to serving and not to taking the honored places necessarily. Thank you for hearing us in Jesus’ name, amen.