Everyone plays status games and no one wants to admit it.
When I was in high school, most of the students at my California
public school naturally sorted themselves into the traditional
cliques. Nerds, jocks, popular girls,
stoners, band kids over in their own little weird corner.
Everyone knew where each group stood in relation to the others.
Everyone knew what place their group held on the ladder.
No one used the word. What was it all about status?
And of course, there wasn't just a hierarchy between those
groups. There was a hierarchy within
each group. Whatever group you most belong
to, you might be able to say, I don't care what those kids think
about me. I'm not trying to be a jock, but
you would care what the people in your own group thought about
you. The criteria for being at the
top varied depending on the group.
Best looks, best grades, best athlete, best performer, biggest
risk taker. But you cared where you fit
based on those criteria in one way or another.
Status is a game that most of us are playing much of the time.
In his provocative book The Status Game, English journalist
will store writes When people defer to us, offer respect,
admiration or praise, or allow us to influence them in some
way. That's status, he observes.
In the developed world we play political games, religious
games, corporate games, sports games, cult games, legal games,
fashion games, hobby games, computer games, charity games,
social media games, racial, gender and nationalist games.
The variety feels infinite. Within these groups we strive
for individual status acclaim from our Co players.
We don't often describe them like this, but status games are
everywhere. If you're a high school athlete,
you play JV or varsity. If you're trying to get onto a
college team, is it D3D2 or D1? Are you a starter or do you come
off the bench? If you have a professional job,
you know where your profession sits on the prestige ladder
compared to other professions. And within your job, you know
where your job title puts you in the hierarchy.
What's the noun in your job title?
What's the adjective or series of adjectives like senior vice
president? Sometimes the traits that can
confer status or show off status are either highly arbitrary or
deeply personal. Even intimate.
Clothes, cars, vacation spots, kind of arbitrary.
Much more intimate looks, body type, fitness, thinness.
What does status give you? It's a form of currency.
It's a kind of relationship. Cash.
The more people think the more highly of you, the more reason
you have to feel good about yourself.
Not only that, the more social power you have.
Status is validating the worth other people gives you, proves
your worth to yourself. So you think it also means
people tend to treat you better the more status you have.
Why? Because you have something they
want, they can get more of it from you.
Why don't we like to admit that we play status games?
It's uncomfortable. It's not one of those realities
we often look at or talk about or name.
It's hidden. It's under the surface.
Why here, again, Will store is helpful, he says.
To admit to being motivated by improving our rank is to risk
making others think less of us, which loses us rank.
Even admitting it to ourselves can make us feel reduced, so our
awareness of our desire for status eats itself.
We readily recognize it in Rivals and even use it as a
method of insult, which, ironically, is status play, an
attempt to downgrade others and thereby raise ourselves up.
What status games do you care about?
What status game do you care most about?
I'm not asking you to say anything out loud.
I'm just asking you to be honest in your own head right now.
What are you tempted to neglect or harm in your quest for
status? This morning we continue our
series in Mark's Gospel with Chapter 9, verses 30 to 41.
If you don't have a Bible, you can put up your hand and someone
will bring you one. Do we need any?
Dawson's ready. Brian's ready.
Looks like everybody's got a Bible.
Mark Chapter 9, verses 30 to 41. Our passage for this morning is
all about status. Once you see it, you can't Unsee
it. Specifically, it's about how
Jesus turns our quest for status upside down.
If you follow a crucified Savior, what does that do to
your quest for status? Consider that question as I read
the whole passage. 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 12.
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. Our passage answers a simple,
crucial question, and it's a question that's intimately tied
up with status. The question is, what is true
greatness according to Jesus? True greatness is making
yourself least and putting yourself last.
True greatness is making yourself least and putting
yourself last. How can you do that?
Our text has three sections. The sermon will have three
points. How can you make yourself least
and put yourself last? Point #1 embrace the suffering
servant, embrace the suffering servant.
That's the challenge of verses 30 to 32.
Look again with me at those verses.
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. Now verse 30 tells us that Jesus
is leading his disciples on a journey.
He's taking them on the way. The way to where they don't know
it, but he's leading them to Jerusalem.
They don't understand it, but he is heading to his own death on
the cross. Jesus has already taught them
back in chapter 8 that he's going to die for sins and rise
again. But they didn't get it.
And if his inner circle of disciples didn't get it, the
broader crowds following him certainly aren't going to get
it. Which is why he does this follow
up teaching in private, in secrecy.
He teaches his disciples again with nobody else around.
This is the second of three times in Mark's gospel that
Jesus predicts his death and resurrection.
Once in chapter 8, once in Chapter 9, once in chapter 10.
This one is the shortest. It's plain stark, simple.
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. The keyword in Jesus teaching is
delivered. This will be literally fulfilled
in a series of events. Judas will deliver Jesus to the
Sanhedrin, the religious authorities.
The Sanhedrin will deliver Jesus to Pilate.
Pilate will condemn him to death and deliver him over to soldiers
and those soldiers will literally deliver him bodily to
the cross. In each case the verb delivered
means that Jesus is in the hands of he's under the power of
someone else and he's being handed over to a fate that if he
were acting in his own self-interest, he would not
choose. In the Greek text of verse 31,
Jesus verb delivered is actually in the present tense.
You could translate it literally.
The Son of Man is being delivered.
I think the Esvs future translation is fine.
Jesus talking about something that's going to happen, but why
does he put it in the present? It's as if he's saying it's
already happening. God has determined it.
God has decreed it. It is certain even though you
don't see it happening outwardly.
It is in process right now though.
Evil human acts. We'll hand Jesus over to
condemnation. The ultimate reason for Jesus's
suffering is God's sovereign will of salvation.
Behind each human act of betrayal, Jesus points to the
sovereign hand of God. And Jesus willingly embraces his
role as the suffering servant. He is making no objection.
He is registering no dispute. He is voluntarily endorsing his
own role and handing himself over.
As we saw a couple of weeks ago on the similar passage in
chapter 8, Jesus names himself here as the Son of Man.
That title points to a figure of power and glory from Daniel
Chapter 7. But he attributes to himself as
the Son of Man what was prophesied in Isaiah's teaching
about the suffering servant, especially in Isaiah 53.
For instance, Isaiah 53 verse 8 says by oppression and judgement
he was taken away, meaning by injustice he was delivered over,
carried off. The Son of Man is the suffering
servant. There's irony here.
There's paradox here. The Son of Man will be delivered
into the hands of men. The one who's sovereign over all
gave himself over to the most degrading, horrifying death.
Why? Why did He do that?
All the human acts of handing over Judas, Jewish leaders,
pilot soldiers, those were all human instruments of a greater
glorious divine. Handing over God the Father
delivered God the Son to death for our sins.
Jesus Himself delivered Himself over to death to save us.
Why did He do that? Because of His love, because of
His mercy, because of His grace, and because it was the only way
that we sinners who have completely alienated ourselves
from God and rebelled against God, could be reconciled to God.
In the wisdom of God there had to be a substitute to satisfy
God's wrath against sin, and in the mercy of God he was willing
that it should be so. Jesus came to earth knowing and
endorsing that this would be his destination.
The Son of Man came, He'll tell us a chapter later, not to be
served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
The only way that you as a sinful human individual can be
reconciled to God is by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
By the death of Jesus that pays for your sins.
By the resurrection of Jesus by which he proves his power over
sin and death and enters into the the new creation life that
no death can touch. If you are not trusting in Jesus
to save you, repent and believe today.
He's the only way to be right with God.
Note that Jesus's death is crucial both as a physical,
bodily death and as a status death.
Jesus is the one who is rightly due all glory, honor, and
worship, and yet he willingly allowed himself to be mocked,
maligned, mistreated, hit, spat on, and crucified.
The crucifixion of Christ is the greatest distortion of status in
the history of the world. The crucifixion of Christ is the
greatest status death in the history of the world.
It is an infinite status death. God himself submitted to
crucifixion. The Lord of all made himself
nothing to save those who believe.
Now, what did the disciples make of all this?
Sadly, nothing. They heard the words.
They must have understood at least the part about Jesus dying
and rising again, although it just didn't compute.
It didn't make sense. It didn't fit with their
pre-existing programs of what the Messiah would be.
It caused all of their programs to glitch, to freeze up.
Blue screen of death is what these sayings of Jesus induced
in their minds. It doesn't compute.
Suffering Messiah dead son of man, huh?
And they were afraid to ask. That's because they were afraid
of a rebuke. Jesus has already taught them
this once. Here comes the same lesson,
class and session again. Guys, you didn't get it last
time, so we have to repeat the lesson.
Jesus is a patient master teacher.
He's instructing his disciples in what they need and yet
they're none the wiser. So they're afraid.
The best thing for the disciples would have been to understand
and embrace Jesus teaching. The next best thing would have
been to confess their ignorance and ask him to explain.
Brothers and sisters, members of Trinity Baptist Church, embrace
the humility of asking questions.
If there's a biblical truth, you're wrestling with something
you don't understand. Ask a mature believer.
Ask somebody who knows Scripture well.
Ask an elder of the church. Humble yourself to get help.
As parents, this is something Kristen and I are always
teaching our kids about knowledge in general.
If we're reading a book to them and they don't understand what a
word means, they pipe up and say, What does that mean?
We want to encourage them. Hey, good job being humble.
Good job asking. You certainly don't want to go
around using words you've heard if you do not know what they
mean. Instead, you should ask whenever
you hear a word you don't know what it means.
If you don't know, always ask. The disciples were sorry, let me
back up. The disciples should have been
further along than they were. Their spiritual dullness kept
them from understanding the truth Jesus was teaching, and
sometimes we can feel like that as Christians.
I should be further along than I am.
When I kind of look at the other believers around me, maybe the
other members of the church, I kind of feel like they're
farther ahead of me. I feel behind.
Don't be embarrassed by that. Don't let a feeling of
comparative inadequacy keep you from growing if you have a
question or struggle that seems too basic or too elementary to
ask about. Like, surely this was taught in
Christianity 101 and I I missed that day, or somehow I just kind
of fell behind. If you ask somebody, you may
well discover the thing you're struggling with is something
that seemingly very mature believers around you continue to
struggle with too. If you're not a believer in
Jesus, I wonder how his being delivered over to death strikes
you. One of the reasons the disciples
failed to understand Jesus teaching is that it really does
not make sense in worldly terms. It doesn't.
It isn't meant to. A dying savior, A crucified
king. That seems backwards.
That seems upside down. You know, there's actually an
ancient anti Christian graffiti that reflects the fact that non
believers have always found Jesus crucifixion absurd.
This graffiti was scratched in plaster on the wall of a room in
ancient Rome in about 200 AD. There's a picture and there's
words. The picture is this.
There's one man worshiping another man who's being
crucified and who has the head of a donkey.
The text under the picture says Alexa Menos worships his God, an
early Pagan Roman mockery of Christianity from not long after
Christianity was born. The cross has always looked
stupid to non believers. My question for you is, if
you're not a believer, what values make Jesus look stupid to
you? What pursuits, what pleasures,
what status games that you're invested in?
Make Jesus look to you like a crucified donkey.
We believers understand it looks crazy.
We believers understand it looks stupid.
We just also confess with the Apostle Paul that the
foolishness of God is wiser than men.
Whatever those values are, whatever in your kind of value
system makes Jesus look stupid, I'd beg you to reconsider.
I'd exhort you to repent of any of this world's values that get
between you and Jesus. The cross is a paradox.
The cross is upside down, and that's for a very good reason.
It was the only way for God to turn this upside down world
right side up. How can you begin to pursue true
greatness? What does it take to make
yourself least and put yourself last?
It starts when you embrace the suffering servant.
But it doesn't stop there. What Jesus became for us, we
must become for others Point to become a humble servant.
Become a humble servant. That's the lesson of verses 33
to 37. Look first at verses 33 and 34.
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 is the greatest.
Now, as the following verses are going to show, Jesus asks what
the disciples were discussing, not because he didn't know, but
because He did know. He could have overheard them.
He could have known by his divine omniscience.
The text doesn't specify, but the point is, Jesus caught them.
The disciples again keep silent, this time out of embarrassment.
They're like school boys who got caught by the teacher talking
about something they shouldn't be talking about.
Whoop. Keep quiet.
Maybe we won't hear, maybe we'll forget about it.
Don't say anything. Their behavior is almost
childish, and so it's all the more fitting that Jesus will use
a child as an object lesson to instruct them.
Here in verse 34, we learn that the disciples were playing a
status game. They were arguing about which of
them sits at the top of the ladder.
Who is the highest status disciple?
That's what it means to be arguing about who's the
greatest. What could be more unfitting for
followers of a Savior who's on his way to crucifixion?
What could be more unfitting for followers of the one who's just
proclaimed that he is going to willingly endure an infinite
status death to save them? But that's what pride does.
It blinds us to how comically foolish so many of our quests
for status are. And pride, of course, is at the
root of so much striving for status.
Just to be clear, not all giving and receiving of status is
sinful. It's right to honor things that
are honorable. It's right to celebrate things
that are good. Everything from athletic
achievement to excellent work to some outstanding moral acts do
deserve recognition. But our pride leads us to crave
status as an idol. Our pride drives us to sin in
pursuit of status and to sin when we don't get the status we
want. Here the disciples are an object
lesson in how pride leads to selfish sinful status seeking.
So it's Jesus answer. It comes in two parts, 1st and
verse 35 there's a thesis then in verses 36 and 37 and
illustration first verse 35. Here's really the heart of our
passage. And he sat down and called the
12. And he said to them, if anyone
would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.
Jesus posture of sitting down adds a note of authority and
formality. It's what he's about to say.
It's the posture of a teacher instructing his students.
And so it sets up the question, what's the lesson?
If you want to be first, you must become last of all and
servant of all. If you want to be great, you
have to make yourself least and put yourself last.
If you want to be great, you have to make yourself nothing.
The only way to be great in Jesus eyes is to be a humble
servant. After all, that's exactly what
he did for you. That's what he became in order
to save you. The only way to faithfully
follow a crucified Messiah is to make yourself nothing.
The only way to faithfully follow the suffering servants is
to make yourself a humble servant.
Anything else is a contradiction in terms.
Humble service is a mark of every genuine believer.
Sometimes we think of humility exclusively as our attitude
toward God. It starts there, but it doesn't
stop there. Humility is not just having a
lowly attitude before God, it is having a lowly attitude and
actions toward others. Humility is proven not just by
your attitude toward God, but by your attitude and actions toward
others. Humility is not just thinking
less of yourself, it is also necessarily doing more for
others. To become a humble servant is to
make yourself least and put yourself last, and there is no
way to do that without undergoing a painful series of
deaths to self. To make yourself least will cost
you. It will cost you things you want
and things you love. It will cost you things that
make you look good and feel good.
It will cost you things that could get you praise and esteem
from others. It will cost you making hard
decisions, suffering hard losses that no other human being will
adequately notice or appreciate or repay.
Putting yourself last will hurt. It'll hurt your pride.
It'll hurt your ego. It'll hurt your plans and
ambitions. It might even hurt physically.
There are times when providing for others needs and serving
others good demands that you continue to extend yourself when
you're already worn down and spread thin.
Being a servant comes to the price tag and the whole point is
it the price you pay. And the test of whether you're
really paying the price is whether those you're serving see
you do it gladly. Ah, if you pay the price, but
you're mad about it, you're passing along the costs to those
you're allegedly serving. This kind of service can only
come from a total transformation of the heart.
This kind of glad sacrificial cost, paying so that the other
person doesn't even know how much it's costing you, that is
serving in the way of Jesus. The cost you pay are many.
Loss of status, loss of recognition, loss of ease, loss
of enjoyment. What could possibly motivate you
to willingly, gladly undergo such losses?
Scripture offers 2 massive motivations. 1 looks back, the
other looks forward first. This is the price Jesus has
already paid for you. He did it at infinite cost to
himself. He did it at the cost of his
life. This is how Jesus has already
served you. So to make yourself least and
put yourself last is to love others the way Jesus has already
loved you. Second.
That's looking back. This is looking forward.
There's the reward that Jesus promises to all who humble
themselves as he teaches in Matthew 2312.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles
himself will be exalted, or as he teaches later in Mark chapter
10, verse 31. But many who are first will be
last, and the last first. All throughout Mark's Gospel we
see that Jesus's path is 1 of reversal.
Reversal of expectations, reversal of fortunes.
He will humble himself to death and then be exalted.
He will suffer and then enter into glory.
And so will we. Humbling yourself is not the end
of the story. It would be a pretty rough way
to live if it was. The humbling yourself may last
as long as this life does, but the good news is this life is
not all there is. Humbling yourself is not the end
of the story. It's necessary, there's no way
around it. But it's only a chapter.
Even if you humble yourself throughout this entire chapter,
what's Jesus going to do when it finishes?
Exalts you with Him by sharing His own glory with you forever.
Any cost you pay now is nothing compared to the reward Jesus
will give you. Any death to self you suffer now
is nothing compared to the life you will receive with Jesus and
from Jesus. Anything you give up in order to
serve others now is nothing compared to gaining eternity
with Him. So ask yourself, what can you do
to make yourself least and put yourself last?
What would it look like for you to be the greatest servant in
your home? What would it look like to be
the person most willing to die to their own preferences and
desires in your workplace or on your team or in your class?
Mothers in the congregation, I just want to encourage you.
You all do this in so many ways every day.
There is maybe no earthly calling that is so shaped around
death to self and self denial as motherhood.
You do this all the time. I see my own wife, Kristen, die
to herself and make herself last and least for the good of our
family all the time, including right now.
We have a couple of kids who are not well.
This morning she is home with them so that I can be here to
preach. Husbands, encourage your wives
for the sacrifices you see them making.
They are making many. You should be noticing them.
It's easy to miss them. Just open your eyes, you'll see
some. And then once you do, encourage
your wife for ways you see her pouring herself out in Christ
like service for your family. Our culture, for the most part,
does not notice or praise or confer status on mothers.
To be a mother, particularly to be a full time mother, is to die
a status death, especially if you've given up any kind of
career or credentials in order to devote yourself to your
children. It's all the more necessary for
us as believers, for us in the church, to rightly celebrate and
honor and repair the status of mothers.
Mothers should be honored by us and among us in ways they simply
aren't out in the world. Members of Trinity Baptist
Church, I also want to encourage all of you for ways you're
selflessly and sacrificially serving one another and doing so
in ways to help establish this church together.
Giving generously, showing up early to set up, running sound,
helping lead in worship, teaching in children's ministry,
greeting, welcoming, investing in each other's spiritually,
providing for each other's needs.
There are thousands of ways you all are serving one another for
the good of this body. There's also one small act of
service I saw a few months ago in a different context just
stuck with me. I've often thought about it.
Our daughter Lucy, in the previous school year had a
several weeks of like a band practice and they all got to
learn an instrument. So she was loaned A flute from
the school and one morning when she's supposed to have band, she
left the flute at home. And so Kristen, and yet one more
sacrificial act of service, made another trip to school to bring
Lucy the flute. She brought it into the middle
school admin office, having to see the principal, Dr. Matt
Hall. Dr. Hall just says, oh, that's
fine, I'll take it. And he runs it down the hall to
Lucy's class and brings the flute to or himself right away.
He didn't pass it off on somebody.
He didn't kind of leave it there for a lowly admin person to take
care of. The person in charge of the
whole school didn't want Lucy to be worried about her afternoon
practice a second longer than she needed to.
He proved by that that he cares about her, and he's willing to
care for her. No matter what position of
authority or status or prestige. You have one way to serve
others. It's by continuing to pursue
whatever menial tasks it takes to love and care for those under
your charge. Make yourself least, put
yourself last. That's Jesus thesis.
Then comes the illustration, verses 36 and 37.
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. Why does Jesus use a child as an
object lesson? I don't think it's necessarily
as an example of faith or dependence.
I don't think it's an example of humility either.
Not necessarily. Instead, it's because the child
has no status. In the ancient Mediterranean
world, children were at the lowest place on the social
ladder. They were under the authority of
others. They had no legal rights.
They could not stand up for themselves.
Jesus is not teaching his disciples about becoming
childlike through some kind of native good quality in children.
Instead, he's teaching them that they need to give up their quest
for status and they need to embrace those who have no
status. So what does Jesus mean when he
talks about receiving one such child in my name?
How is that? How is it that by doing that you
receive Jesus? I think in both his action and
his teaching, Jesus is using the child as a symbol for a
believer. I think the child represents A
believer. The child has no status and
every believer in Jesus is someone who has given up the
quest for status in order to follow Christ.
So to receive a child in Christ's name means to receive a
believer for Jesus sake. It means to welcome someone else
because Jesus does and not for any other reason.
More on that in the next point. Jesus says that whoever does
this receives him, and whoever receives him receives the
Father. You prove that you receive Jesus
by receiving his people. You prove your love for Jesus by
loving his people. You prove that you belong to
Jesus by embracing all who belong to him.
That's another way you make yourself least and put yourself
last. So by making a child an example,
Jesus is charging his disciples to reverse their structure of
values to turn their status ladders upside down.
Quit climbing up, because as you do, you're going to pass Jesus,
who's on his way down. Quit striving for status and
start giving it out freely. Quit seeking importance and
start giving importance to those who have no importance in the
world's eyes. What status ladders are most
popular in the region where we live?
What status ladder do you most want to climb?
What can you do to seek greatness in Jesus's eyes more
than in the eyes of any mere human?
The last part of our passage shows us one more test of
whether you're a humble servant. It holds one more way to make
yourself last and least point #3 welcome all his servants.
Welcome all his servants. That's the message of verses 38
to 41. If you want to embrace the
suffering servant and become a humble servant, you must also
welcome all his servants. Start with verse 38.
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. We don't know who this rogue
exorcist is, but I think it's best to understand him as a
genuine follower of Jesus. I don't think this man is
falsely claiming Jesus name, we're just using it as a kind of
magic spell. I think the only problem in
John's eyes is that this man is not travelling with Jesus
disciples. He doesn't belong to their
group. Notice how John describes it.
Because he was not following us. Following us, John?
Is it like he has to be your disciple or he can't be Jesus's
disciple? Shouldn't the question be
whether he's following Jesus, not whether he's following us?
Every other time in the Gospel that word following is used.
It's about Jesus, not us. Now, it's more than a little
ironic that this man was effectively driving out demons.
Remember the previous passage from last Sunday?
The whole inciting incident was that the disciples couldn't do
that. So here they see someone
succeeding at doing what they failed to do.
And John says, hey, stop it. No more of that, thank you very
much. All because he wasn't officially
part of their group. John.
Was apparently trying to protect the disciples in Group
advantage. He was trying to preserve their
status. Hey, you can't cast out demons.
That's what we do. That's our competitive
advantage. Thank you very much.
Stay in your lane, please. Either join our group so we can
count your numbers, report them back to HQ, or knock it off.
How does Jesus respond? He gives a command in verse 39.
Do not stop him. And then he gives 3 reasons for
the command in verses 39 to 41, starting in verse 39.
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.
I think that first reason in verse 39 is simply a way to say
mark the outward fruit. Notice what he's doing.
If he's speaking against demons in my name, he's not going to be
bad mouthing me after in verse 40, Jesus is saying there's only
two teams, the team against Jesus and the team for Jesus.
If you're not on one, you're on the other.
Now, that doesn't mean that it's enough not to consciously oppose
Jesus, as if you somehow get to be with Jesus by default as long
as you don't choose against him. Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus
teaches the same point from the other side.
Like in Matthew 1230. Whoever is not with me is
against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
We'll come back to verse 41 in a minute.
So what's Jesus main point here? It's an extension or application
of what he taught in verse 37. Believers in Jesus should
welcome all who believe in Jesus.
Now, right off the bat, we need to acknowledge that in order to
welcome other believers in Jesus, we have to be able to
define what it means to believe in Jesus and to discern who does
believe in Jesus. Of course we can't judge
people's hearts, and of course our discernment of who is a
fellow Christian will never be perfect.
But there are basic moral and doctrinal boundaries to being a
Christian. For instance, if you deny the
resurrection of Jesus, you are not a Christian.
The apostle Paul essentially says so in First Corinthians
1517. If Christ has not been raised,
your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
It makes no sense and it contradicts all of scripture to
say something like, well, that person really loves Jesus, they
just don't believe in the resurrection.
It's not Jesus you're loving if you believe he's still dead.
That's a fake Jesus, not the real Jesus.
Believers in Jesus are those who believe the true gospel and
whose lives give evidence of genuine faith and repentance.
Now, that said, believers in Jesus should welcome all other
believers in Jesus. One way we should apply this as
a congregation is to cultivate a Catholic spirit toward other
Christians and other churches. Catholic in the sense of
embracing the whole. That's what that word means,
having a loving concern for all of Christ's people, whatever
their location or denomination. So as a church, we should
constantly strive to cultivate both conviction and charity.
We want both strong convictions and open arms, and there are
many senses in which having strong convictions helps us have
open arms. One way to cultivate both
conviction and charity is to try to develop a sense of
theological triage. That's a medical image barred
from the emergency room. Basically discerning how crucial
a given doctrine is. Is an error on a given point
spiritually life threatening? Some are?
Is an error on a given point something that regretfully will
need to result in genuine Christians forming different
churches so they can each obey God according to their
convictions? Or is it something we should be
able to disagree about and happily be members of the same
church? I've just laid out three
categories. Let me walk through them again
briefly. 3 levels of three theological triage.
Level 1 Issues that are essential for being a Christian.
Issues like believing in the Trinity, the deity of Christ,
the resurrection, the need to repent and believe in order to
be saved. Level 2 Issues that are
necessary to agree on in order to have a local church together.
There are issues that genuine Christians will disagree about,
but that we need to agree on in order to form a church.
How should a church be structured?
How is authority to be handled in the church?
What about the ordinances of baptism in the Lord's Supper?
How should we do those who should partake of those?
But then the third tier or third category, third level, whatever
word I'm using, issues we can disagree about and still live
together in joyful unity as members of the same church.
Items in this category are so abundant I'll leave it to you to
discuss them over lunch. Items in this category are so
abundant that the apostle Paul has 2 multi chapter discussions.
1 Romans 1415, one of First Corinthians 8 to 10 about issues
where you should be able to disagree and still have unity in
the local church. Beware the temptation of trying
to build up a brand within Christianity or a sub team
within Christianity. Don't fall into John's pitfall
of having an in Group we're better mentality as a local
church. How can we strive to avoid those
temptations and pursue catholicity?
One way is to desire as much fellowship and partnership with
those other believers in churches as we can within the
bounds of our shared convictions.
Different degrees of agreement rightly lead to different
degrees of partnership, but we should be looking to do as much
as we can with other believers within those boundaries rather
than using different convictions on secondary matters as just an
excuse to kind of withdraw, not care, be indifferent, neglect
other believers. We should also pray for other
believers in other churches. Michael and I do this every week
in our pastoral prayers. We try to make a point of
praying for churches that don't agree with us on every point,
but whose ministries we want to see flourish and glorify God.
We want to celebrate other churches wins.
We want to delight and all the UNC students are being well
discipled as members of Risen Christ Church.
Praise God for that. May there be more.
We want to help and not hinder other churches ministry.
As Jesus said, do not stop him. We're all on Jesus team, so we
especially want to look for ways to promote unity and partnership
with other believers in churches who agree with us on essentials
differ with us on important secondary matters.
We want to be quick to recognize and support the good that other
churches are doing. We shouldn't be about building
up ourselves or our own congregation as much as
possible, but advancing the gospel as much as possible.
One simple, practical application of that point.
We know there can be a variety of reasons why someone would
drive a decent distance to go to a particular church.
But whenever someone starts attending here who's coming to
us from some distance, our elders are quick to point them
to good churches closer to where they live.
Michael and I have had conversations like this with a
number of you. We're happy to have you here.
We just want you to know about other churches close to where
you live. Downtown Raleigh, check out
Hosea Church right by NC State North Raleigh, Tried Christ
Covenant or Tabernacle Baptist near Briar Creek by the airport.
Consider Mount Herman Baptist, where, Lord willing, Brian
Miller will be preaching in a couple of weeks to fill in for
their pastor, Andy Owens, Alamance County.
You'll be in good hands with our friends at Grace Reform Baptist
or Hall First Baptist Hall River with the pastor, Justin Seavers.
There's many others. Another application of verses 39
to 41 is that the church is not a clique.
Therefore, the church must not be a clique.
How can you have close relationships in the church and
even circles of friends without letting them become cliques?
I think the basic key is to keep the circle open.
Find ways to add and include others.
Initiate with others beyond your natural circle.
Invite others into that circle. Be deliberate to connect new
people with those who are already in your circle.
Act as a catalyst and conduit for friendship in the church.
Delight to share your friends with other believers so they can
become their friends. Don't be a friend hoarder, but a
friendship merchant. It's also important to build
relationships with people who are different from you,
especially with church members who don't have all the same
status signifiers you do. Build friendships across the
lines of all kinds of worldly divisions.
One very simple way to do this, if you're coordinating any kind
of group event, invite someone who is not already close with
most of the people who will be coming.
Use your connections to help connect somebody else.
Now as promised, back to verse 41 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.
This is parallel to verse 37. It's about welcoming other
believers because Christ welcomes them.
And here the welcome is a small act of charity.
Jesus sees, Jesus knows and Jesus will reward all those who
receive his people because they are his people.
He is not talking about non believers having charity toward
Christians. He's talking about his people
caring for one another. Now, 1 proof that you've become
a humble servant because you embrace the suffering servant is
that you welcome all His servants.
One last note on verse 41. You have to notice who's doing
the caring and who's receiving it.
Jesus is putting his disciples. He's anticipating a scenario in
which they will be in need of charity.
Whoever gives you a cup of cold water.
He's imagining these disciples being so vulnerable and exposed
they cannot even get their own water to drink.
What would put them into such a position?
I'll tell you. Fulfilling the Great Commission,
taking risks, suffering losses, leaving comfort, leaving home,
leaving livelihoods to go and make Jesus known where he is not
known. That is what will put these
disciples into the position of needing to beg somebody for even
a glass of cold water. They will suffer the loss of
status, the loss of support, even the loss of sustenance in
order to make Jesus known. And in some way or other, that's
what all Christians do. We make ourselves little in
order to make much of Him. We gladly endure hardship in
order to lead others to Him. We make ourselves weak and
vulnerable in order to try to lead lost sinners to the Savior
who died to save them. What does Jesus say he'll do?
He'll reward. He secures it.
He guarantees it shall not lose his reward.
He'll reward the one who gives the water.
And of course, by implication, he'll reward the one who needs
the water. What can motivate you to suffer
for Jesus now? What can motivate you to make
yourself least and last now? What can motivate you to give up
as needed, as demanded by the Gospel, any and every status
quest? You're on the promise that a day
is coming when Jesus will reverse the loss of status
you've suffered for his sake. A day is coming when Jesus
himself will exalt you. A day is coming when Jesus
himself will reward you beyond all you can deserve, and we'll
reward you beyond all you can imagine.
Come, rejoice now, Oh my soul, for His love is my reward.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray You'd
enable each of us to make ourselves last of all and
servant of all, not to earn your love, but because you've loved
us, not to earn your favor but because of your grace.
Father, would you shape and form in all of our hearts the shape
of the cross, of willingly lowering ourselves so that at
the proper time you would exalt us?
We pray in Jesus name, Amen.