Who’s the Greatest? (Mark 9:33-37)
After I stepped down from preaching in Virginia, Tammy, the boys, and I placed membership with a congregation about 15 minutes from our home. And, since I was unemployed, money was very tight in the Imel household. Tammy’s brother started a GoFund me campaign, and many friends, loved ones, and even strangers contributed to keep us afloat.
When my disability payments started, the financial stress eased some, but we were still far from rich. While we were financially stressed, Tammy needed surgery on her foot. The day before the surgery, the hospital called and collected a huge copay; we were fine. But then, when she was released from the hospital, we had to stop at a medical supply store and buy a wheelchair, a bedside potty, and a few other items.
We weren’t expecting to buy anything from a medical supply store, we hadn’t budgeted for purchases from a medical supply store, and were in serious trouble. I hated to, but I went to the congregation and asked for $500. Yes, we received a check from the church treasury, but the members gave us more than $500. People opened their wallets and just started giving me cash. I walked away from the men’s meeting where I asked for help with far more than I needed.
You’ve probably needed help a time or two yourself. Maybe someone helped you with groceries or a ride to pick up your car from the garage or with a job recommendation; maybe an employer saw you, went out on a limb, and gave you a job. Perhaps you were the one who was helping someone in a tight spot—bringing food for the pantry or providing supplies for children’s homes or sending a monthly contribution to a children’s or giving a neighbor a ride to the doctor or writing a recommendation letter.
The disciples didn’t think they were down and out; they weren’t seeking help from anyone—in fact, they didn’t wanna help anybody. They focused on great positions of honor in Jesus’s kingdom. Jesus told them that if they really wanted to be great in his kingdom they would do one thing: serve. Jesus made extremely clear: “The greatest is the one who serves the least among us.”
Scripture (Mark 9:33-37)
verse 33-34:
Jesus asked the disciples, “What were you discussing on the way?” The disciples kept quiet because “they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.” In verse 33, the verb “discussing” is in the imperfect tense, which refers to repeated action in the past. In other words, the disciples discussed and discussed and discussed who was the greatest.
The people of Jesus’s day had their criteria to determine a person’s rank. For some, it was money; for others, it was the class into which you were born. I don’t have any idea about what different criteria the disciples were using, but Jesus gave them the only criterion which matters.
verse 35:
Jesus told the disciples they could become great through service: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
verse 36-37:
Jesus took a child in his arms and said, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
Our culture really values children: Parents can provide educational games to help their children learn and parents tend to be conscientious about doing what’s best for their children physically, emotionally, and psychologically. But in Jesus’s era, children were the least significant of all people; they were completely helpless and dependent on their parents for everything. Jesus used a child to say that true service—true greatness—involves caring for those who cannot repay you. True greatness comes from serving someone as insignificant as a child.
Application
Christianity is largely about serving others. “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return” (Lk 6:35). “As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10). “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (Heb 13:16). “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (Js 1:27).
The disciples didn’t understand that Jesus’s kingdom would be about service; they wanted to be important in that kingdom and have folks serve them. Jesus, however, reminded them: “The greatest is the one who serves the least among us.”
How can you be the greatest? It begins with your:
Attitude
The disciples had a problem in their thinking. Their Attitude was turned inward, focused on how they might be great, instead of turned outward to the needs of others. Your Attitude must be turned outward; you must focus on the needs of others.
You develop this Attitude simply by looking at Jesus. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28). “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (Jn 13:14-15). Jesus “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:7-8).
Do you really want to develop an Attitude of service? Think about how Jesus has served you: how he left heaven’s glory to come to this sin-sick world because you were in sin, how he taught his disciples the truth so that you could know the truth, and how he endured untold agony on that cross to save you from eternal hell.
Look at Jesus’s service for you. When you grasp that Jesus willingly served you, you develop an Attitude that is willing to serve others.
Becoming the greatest begins with your Attitude, but it ends with your:
Assistance
It’s great to have an attitude of serving, but until you offer Assistance, it’s all for naught. Jesus commanded his disciples to serve: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave” (Matt 20:25-27). “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35).
How will you give Assistance? National Night Out is next week, and I still have some spots open where you can offer Assistance. The Lord needs you to be here and to help: to set up tables, to welcome guests, to serve food, to mingle with our guests, and to clean up. The Lord has given you talents, and he expects you to be of Assistance. How will you be of Assistance in the kingdom?
Do you need to come this morning and begin a life of service in the kingdom and become great?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.