True Greatness

Good evening, everyone. Please have a seat. We’re continuing our journey through Mark’s gospel – a book written to answer the questions: Who is Jesus? What did he come to do and What will it mean to follow him? But before we dive in, let me pray for us:

Father God you know each one of us, and you alone know what is in our hearts. Please would you search us, test us, show us where we are not walking in your ways. And please would you show us more of Jesus – so that we may walk in his ways and be like him. Amen

I first moved up here for university. I studied medical microbiology. In first year, I lived in Castle Leazes halls and if you know the city well, you’ll realise that meant I was just a few minutes walk away from my lecture theatre, just across Leazes Park. Now you need to know, that I have never been a morning person and that is still the case now, despite working life and parenthood doing its best to reform me. I still remember how much I hated 9am lectures all those years ago. They were the absolute worst! Well one day, having hit the snooze button till things were dangerously close, I rolled out of bed, grabbed breakfast and got to my lecture just in time. Phew! If you’re trying to imagine the scene you need to remember that in those days we didn’t have laptops in lectures, so you need to imagine me getting out my slate and chalk to take notes. Now, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that I had gone to the wrong place and the lecture I was listening to was not medical microbiology! I was in the wrong room, and I didn’t even realise it.

Now why have I told you that? It’s because when we think about what it means to be great, we may well find that we are in the wrong room. And by that I mean, as disciples of Jesus, it may be that we are sleepily absorbing the anti-Jesus culture around us and are living life at odds with the path Jesus follows. Tonight, Jesus teaches us (if only we will listen to him) what it means to be great. And if we are his disciples then we need to learn from him. We need to realise we are in the wrong lecture theatre listening to the wrong voices. And so what we need to do is to leave that lecture theatre and learn from the right professor.

So what are some examples of how we get it so wrong when thinking about what greatness is? Well, just listen to the messages we give to kids and students in movies, in end of term speeches and so on. Or in what we want to be when we finally grow up: what does it take for people to consider that you have finally have ‘made it’? Or the social media memes that get shared around with cheesy soundbites like “You can do anything you set your mind to”, “the world is your oyster”. They show some of the things we value as a culture: to have lots of influence, to carve out our own path, to shape our own destiny. To be recognised by the crowds. Those are just some of the ways our culture views being great. And that is the lecture theatre we may have accidently stumbled into. But we need to be next door – listening to Jesus telling us what true greatness actually looks like. Let’s read Mark 9.33-35:

And they (Jesus and his disciples) came to Capernaum. And when he (that is Jesus) was in the house he asked them (his disciples), “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.”

1. Jesus corrects our misunderstandings about what true greatness is like.

It’s like Jesus pokes his head round the door of the lecture theatre, looks down the row of chairs, makes eye contact and says “Ramzi, you’re in the wrong room”. Come with me. I love the detail in this account. Jesus is lovingly confronting the 12 disciples here – he knows what is in their heart. They’ve been travelling by foot- almost certainly Jesus was up front. And the rest following along. Who’s next in line? Who trails at the bottom of the line? Who is most important? As they walked along these proud men have been bickering and squabbling about it - and though they may feel his hadn’t heard their discussion, he knows. Jesus knows. But he won’t leave them where they are. So, when they get to the house at end of the day’s travel Jesus sits down and calls them around him. That’s lecture theatre mode – rabbi with his disciples. Let the lesson begin. And he corrects their misunderstanding and addresses their wrong ideas so that they may better follow him as his disciples. Like he said to Peter in 8.33:

For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

And he will treat each one of us like that too. But we need to listen to him. What was their misunderstanding? It was that greatness involved power and prestige. And our culture is the same. Greatness is having the power to do what I want. Greatness is other people see me and realise how significant I really am. And Jesus wants to show them that this is a misunderstanding of what it means to be great. And as we stand back and watch the disciples arguing about who is the greatest let’s not be too quick to chuckle at their arrogance. Are we not the same? Do we not rate ourselves to those around us? Whether we say it out loud is not our inner conversation so often taken up with working out where we are in the pecking order. Or trying to make sure we’re with the in crowd – those who is most important. Or chasing after recognition and applause from others?

And he will treat each one of us like that too. But we need to listen to him. What was their misunderstanding? It was that greatness involved power and prestige. And our culture is the same. Greatness is having the power to do what I want. Greatness is other people see me and realise how significant I really am. And Jesus wants to show them that this is a misunderstanding of what it means to be great. And as we stand back and watch the disciples arguing about who is the greatest let’s not be too quick to chuckle at their arrogance. Are we not the same? Do we not rate ourselves to those around us? Whether we say it out loud is not our inner conversation so often taken up with working out where we are in the pecking order. Or trying to make sure we’re with the in crowd – those who is most important. Or chasing after recognition and applause from others?

What about us as a church. Who is the greatest at JPC? If you were here last week, you’ll have head Matt talk about his very special invisible lanyard with his name and job title on it. I suspect he had actually forgotten to wear it. But even if such a thing did exist, is it not the truth that I don’t really want an invisible lanyard. I want a very visible one with my title in big bold letters, Ramzi Adcock ‘Executive Minister’. But that’s because I (we) so often believe the lie that who I am and my significance, my greatness - is tied into what I do. But that is not true! For a start, my identity is based on what Jesus has done in my life not on some title or role that I happen to have. I am a sinner who has been saved by grace and adopted into God’s family. That is my identity. That will still be my identity when the time comes for me to stop being Executive minister.

We are not so unlike those twelve disciples. So big question tonight: have you been sat in the wrong lecture theatre? Have you been absorbing what our culture says about greatness? Are you in the wrong room? Then come next door and learn (from Jesus) the true meaning of greatness in Jesus’s Kingdom. Read Mark 9.30-32 – backing up a bit, to earlier in the day:

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.

This is what a great life really looks like. It is the way of the cross. It involves giving your life in the service of others. This is the second of three moments in Mark’s gospel where Jesus teaches that he will end up humbled, looking like a nobody, crucified on a cross. Yet this is the heart of the Christian faith. God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave up the riches of his glory in heaven to come to earth as a man and die on a cross. Why? In order to make it possible for us to be forgiven and made right with God. He became poor so we could become rich in spiritual blessings. And if we accept his gift we need no longer face punishment for our guilt and can instead receive a new heart and a new status as accepted daughters, forgiven sons. It's a gift that is available completely free of charge to every one of us, but it was not without cost. Jesus gave so much for us - willingly, cheerfully, generously and sacrificially. But they find it hard to understand – like stumbling into a completely different lecture. Perhaps they do not want to understand this confusing message about a Saviour who suffers and dies.

And we too cannot naturally accept a Lord like that because it requires a radical reorientation. Following Jesus means greatness is redefined as living a life of service. Jesus was the greatest person ever, and that took him to the cross. On the cross, the greatest of all becomes the least of all in order to serve and welcome the little and the small. As Jesus will go on to explain Mark 10.45:

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The greatest victory was won by the greatest servant of all. Jesus shows us what lies ahead for him, and he shows us what true greatness is like for those who follow him. It will be humbling, and like the one we follow it will involve being a nobody in the world’s eyes. If we follow Christ, we are to be like him. Mark 9.35, again:

If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

Everything is upside down. We spent too much time in wrong lecture theatre, listening to the wrong voices. Listen to Jesus and he will correct your misunderstanding of what real life, true life, great life looks like. That’s the first thing we see here.

2. True greatness is becoming a servant of all

Have a look at Mark 9.36-37:

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 whosent me.”

So Jesus picks up a little child (and uses them as a visual aid) as he delivers the evening lecture. You see this little person, says Jesus. They’re a nobody in the world’s eyes. They come very low in the pecking order. The world says: avoid being a little person, a nobody. Greatness is found in others serving me/ being under me/ praising me for not being a nobody / recognising me for who I am. But Jesus corrects his disciples by redefining greatness. It is life as a servant. It is knowing the joy of giving your life away for the sake of others. Jesus says greatness is me serving others / me getting under others to meet their needs. Just like he did for us. True greatness is becoming a servant of all. And when we do that, we ultimately serve Jesus and his father who sent him. I’m not just serving the other person, but Jesus and his father. That gives the lowliest service the highest status, the privilege of serving the king of kings.

What comes next is a deeply challenging little incident, recorded here to reinforce the same point. The disciples have come across someone they consider to be a nobody doing ministry. And by implication they show what they think of themselves – they were the great ones, the important ones in God’s kingdom. They have not only been unwelcoming, they have positively opposed him. And they think they are right to do so because he wasn’t as special as they were. Let’s see what Jesus says to that (Mark 9.38-41):

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 afterwards 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.

It is truly shocking that they actually tried to stop another believer from ministry that was clearly being done in Jesus’ name – and effectively! Jesus says to John do not stop him. The disciples hadn’t got this right because they hadn’t learned the lesson that true greatness is becoming a servant of all. Realise that isn’t a false teacher. This is someone doing actual ministry, freeing people in the name of Jesus. The issue they had with him was that he wasn’t following us. He was not one of them – the important, ‘really special’ ones. He didn’t have the lanyard with ‘member of the 12 disciples club’ on it. To them, he was a nobody – he was not one of the great. But Jesus recognises the man’s ministry, and diagnoses that the reason they hadn’t welcomed him or his ministry was because they had:

3. Misunderstandings about what true greatness is like.

So what about us then? Where are we like this and where do we need correcting, and to change? Well, let me end with a few snapshots of what life as a disciple of Jesus might look like. This is how (in the power of his Holy Spirit) we will live as we grow more and more like Jesus.

i. Look to make much of Jesus. When you do something ask yourself: Do I most want people to love me more, or do I long for them to love Jesus more? Maybe we haven’t actually argued with a bunch of Christian friends about who’s greatest. But we’ve thought about it! We need to spot and turn away from our preoccupation with visibility. Are there tasks we wouldn’t or won’t do because they’re ‘beneath us’, or people you avoid hanging out with because you’re worried it will impact your ‘street cred’. As John the Baptist said in John 3.30 ‘Jesus must increase, but I must decrease.”.

ii. Look to what is best for those around you. Spot and redirect your natural desire to work for your own fulfilment and achievement. Remember that Jesus gave up his rights for me and for you. So be willing to forgo your rights if it means the gospel will shine brighter. Instead – learn to take joy in seeing other people thrive and grow and use any power or influence or money and resource that God blesses you with to serve others. Even to the point when they may overtake you and do the things you longed to do. The more we capture the heart of Jesus to serve, the more we will make it our goal to do what is best for those around us.

One of the shadows of Christian ministry is the horrendous betrayal of position and authority to abuse those who are vulnerable. The young, the poor, the weak. That is not acceptable. That is possible as far away as you can get from what Jesus teaches here about the way of a disciple. Following Jesus means we look to what is best for those around us and that should lead to the church being the best place to be for everyone. Truly inclusive. And a safe place, for even the most vulnerable and little in the eyes of our society. And what a powerful witness care for the vulnerable will be at a time when so few know of Jesus and consider him or his ways to be good.

iii. One of the challenges we need to feel is that God does not need us. Is there a danger that the ministries we’re involved in make us feel (sinfully) ‘special’? Are we reluctant to see others come on into the same ministries because we want to be seen as the best? Are there ways we fail to rejoice in other Christians’ ministry (even wish they weren’t doing it) because it’s not led how you’d do it? All of that, and more, in sinful pride and a misunderstanding of what greatness is in the kingdom of God.

That has challenged me as I prepared. This church does not need me and the more I grasp that, more useful I can become. What it needs is Christ. He will build his church how he chooses to build his church and one day I will no longer be here but that’s fine because he’s going to continue to build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But that’s not because of me. I am God’s servant; I am not important. One day the things I am doing now I will have to lie down. And because of what Jesus is teaching here, then when that day comes I will let them go and hand them over to others joyfully. Because I realise that God does not need me.

So, here is the challenge; Have you been sat in the wrong lecture theatre? Observing the words and sounds of the culture that tells us that the greatness is the life of power and prestige? Well, Jesus is inviting you to the room next door and to a different world. It’s a life where greatness is a life of service. Let’s pray as we end.