A Shocking Place - Shocking Statement's of Jesus Part 2
As part of the series "Shocking Statements" at North Point Community Church, Brent Shoemaker talked about ranking, competition and comparison, a topic that often hits a little close to home in small town America. (
http://www.northpoint.org/messages/shocking-statements-of-jesus ) As one of four daughters, I can't think of anything I did more often in my childhood than trying to one-up my sisters. If they did something, I had to do something better to prove that I was the best and try to win peoples' (....usually my parents',) approvals.
Academically, this has served as a good motivation tool. Although there's no difference between a 93 and a 100 on college transcripts, there are many classes that I have put in more effort not because I wanted to learn more, but because I refused to get a lower grade that a freshman whiz-kid or one of my friends that never ever studies. If we're honest with ourselves, we are always doing these three things because we always want to find significance in ourselves.
Going to the gym is one of those places that I always find myself struggling with ranking and comparison. I see shirtless women with layers of make-up on and their hair done perfect, and I think to myself "I'm working out harder than them." I see the marathon runner casually sprinting 10 miles and I think "I will never be able to run one mile that fast. They'd lap me in a one lap race." Depending on who is at the gym on that particular day, I usually envision myself as about average on the fitness toe-tom poll. Never the less, I see my significance based on how great I am compared to others, and I'm not the only one.
When you look in Mark 9, you will see that the disciples did this too. After traveling around to different areas, all the while Jesus performing miracles, the group arrived in Capernaum. Knowing full well what had happened on the road, Jesus asked the disciples, "What were you arguing about on the road?" (v. 33) He knew however that they had been debating amongst themselves who was the greatest.
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Here they had a man in there group who could perform miracles and people wanted to make him king. Then this same man kept talking about a kingdom. Why wouldn't they want to be the closest one to him? I will be honest and say that there are people in my life that I've tried really hard to get in their close-knit circle because I know they have the power to change the world and I want to have that claim to fame, not because I truly loved them. Here, the disciples were having that conversation, but they were ashamed to tell Jesus.
But, "Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said "
If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." (v. 35) This is so contrary to our society today. It seems radical. Even in bible times, you know the disciples must have been somewhat confused. How could being low make one high? How could being a servant be elevating? Nothing that he was saying was making sense.
When though, was Jesus like just another king? He was born in a stable to a carpenter and his wife. He was not rich. He loved on others without expecting anything in return. And he served. If you think about who you admire most, who comes to mind? To me, these people would probably be my parents, my grandparents, soldiers, police, firefighters, nurses and my teachers. In each case, they serve others to bring them up instead of trying to crawl over people to get to the top. These people have always had time for me, to pour into me even when they're obviously running on empty themselves.
And Jesus was the perfect example of service. He didn't have a home because he was constantly moving from one place to another helping people. He knew that the greatest influence you can make is to serve and empower others. While he could have placed himself above them all, been born into a ruling family and demand all his subjects to bow down or die, he didn't.
I think what Jesus was trying to tell the disciples then, and us now, was that they were looking in the wrong place to find their significance and they were missing out on something greater because their eyes were on their own reflections instead of downwards trying to lift others up.
Because we are like sheep, often too dense to get anything the first time, Jesus went and took a child up in his arms and said to the Twelve, "
Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."
YES! I finally did something right! I love kids! In fact, there are times when I would pay someone to let me babysit their children just to be able to be with children. While not everyone probably has that extreme of a love for kids, I think it's pretty safe to assume that most people like kids. So Jesus is telling us that welcoming kids is welcoming God and that's what will bring us greatness. Wow, I am so great!
But oh no.... not so fast. This is where putting things into context really matters. In today's society, we see kids as precious little bundles of joy, but was that what they were seen as during this period? Not hardly. As Pastor Brent pointed out in his sermon, kids in this day were not held in the value that we see them today. They were often seen as undesirable. If a woman had a baby and the father didn't want to keep it, they would "take care of it" by putting the baby outside where it was left to die or be adopted. Now being adopted, that doesn't sound so bad right... until you find out where most of these babies were going. In this time period, people could be sold into slavery and lots of times, if these kids were adopted, that's where they went, not to a loving family. Think back to the story of Moses. The government killed the innocent babies. No matter how you look at it, these children, these babies, were not looked at as highly treasured possessions. So Jesus was telling them, love those that you've placed below you to obtain greatness.
Application!
To the disciples, there's no doubt that welcoming and loving kids had to have been hard but Jesus told them, whoever welcomes them in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me (v. 37)
***Who is right underneath you that you could be serving but are missing out on because you're too busy crawling over them to try to reach greatness on your own? *** For me, I know one of those people is my little sister. This last summer, I spent so much time to fix my relationships with adults that I missed out on some really important moments with her.
***How can you serve them? Give them your time AND your attention. *** A lot of the time we try to do one of these things without the other. We can sit by someone watching movies for 3 hours but never give them our attention. Or, we tell someone we really want to know what's going on with their lives but get up and leave in 5 minutes because we have other things to do to raise ourselves up.
***How do we get significance? We already have it.*** When you think about the greatest act of service, most people would agree it's a life. That's why we have days like Veteran's day, to thank those that gave up everything for us. That's why so many people suffer from survivor’s guilt when someone else dies instead of them. There is no greater sacrifice to show one's love than with their life. And that's why you're significant. The disciples were hanging out with God, fighting over who was greatest, trying to determine their significance while the whole time Jesus was saying....You are significant. That's why I'm here, to die for you, to pay the price of your sins because I love you and I want you. You are significant. Period.
In Christ's Love,
Liza
