The Secret of Greatness   Mark 9:30-40

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- April 30, 2006

Our text for consideration this week follows immediately upon the transfiguration on the mount and the dealings with the man and his demon possessed son. From there Jesus and his disciples make their way from Caesarea Philippi to Capernaum. Apparently desiring to be alone with his disciples, Jesus led them away from the crowds of people who had been following them.

Once again, Jesus begins to teach his disciples that he would be delivered up and killed and then he would then be raised from the dead on the third day.  His disciples did not understand what he was saying to them and they were afraid to ask him for information regarding his teaching.

And upon their arrival in Capernaum, Jesus questioned them. Our text tells us that he asked them repeatedly, continuously. What was it that he wanted to know?

He asked them what they were reasoning about on the trip to Capernaum. What he really wants to know is what they were disputing with each other about. They were arguing.

But they did not answer Jesus, because they were arguing about who was the greatest among them.

You will remember that Peter, James and John were with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. The other nine disciples were down in the valley. I suppose Peter and James and John must have thought themselves special for having been chosen to go with Jesus. The others did not get to go. It, therefore, stands to reason that they are superior disciples to the others. Perhaps, they assumed an air of superiority over the others. This is probably the reason for the disputing among the disciples on the way to Capernaum. ( Jesus spent a lot of time in Capernaum. It is normally accepted that Jesus would spend time at Peter’s house when he was there. That was undoubtedly his base of operation when he was in Galilee.)

Henry Augustus Rowland, professor of physics at Johns Hopkins University, was once called as an expert witness at a trial. During cross-examination a lawyer demanded, "What are your qualifications as an expert witness in this case?"

The normally modest and retiring professor replied quietly, "I am the greatest living expert on the subject under discussion." Later a friend well acquainted with Rowland's disposition expressed surprise at the professor's uncharacteristic answer. Rowland answered, "Well, what did you expect me to do? I was under oath."

Today in the Word, August 5, 1993.

Jesus’ response to his disciples is to teach them about real greatness.

“If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.” The word servant used here is a word that means to wait on others, to consider and meet their needs. The one who serves others is the one who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. That is the secret of greatness.

Many people want recognition. They seek fame, fortune and power. They want to be a household name. They want people to stop and take notice of who they are and of what they have done or of their accomplishments. With all of that comes notoriety not greatness. People just do not understand what greatness really means.

A young American pianist was touring Europe. She stopped in the museum where Beethoven’s piano was displayed. Speaking with the guard of the exhibit, she asked if she could play a few bars on the piano. After giving the man a lavish tip, he allowed her to do so. She sat down and began playing the first few notes of the Moonlight Sonata. When she had finished, she said, “I sure all of the great pianists who come here ask to play something on this piano.” To which the guard said, “No.” The great Polish pianist Paderewski even said that he wasn’t worthy of touching the piano.

However, Jesus says the ambition of serving others is the pathway to greatness.

And then Jesus took a little child into his arms and declared that “Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, does not receive me, but receives Him who sent me.”

Note if you will John’s response to this. We have a new paragraph in our text, but don’t think for a moment that the subject has been changed. It is as if the light bulb of inspiration has suddenly come on for John.

He said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to hinder him because he was not following us.”  He has recognized something very important in the receiving of the child in Jesus’ name. It is as if he realizes that accepting the man who was casting out demons in the name of Jesus is really no different than receiving the child in the name of Jesus. Note too, that he was not just trying to cast them out, he was actually casting out the demons in the name of Jesus. John recognizes that he is wrong.

Jesus tells him, “Don’t hinder him…don’t forbid him…or literally stop hindering him. Why? Well, no one can do a miracle in the name of Jesus and the say something evil about Jesus. Whoever is not against us, is for us. Basically, he includes this man in fellowship and declares that he really was one with the disciples.

Jesus then continues teaching the disciples about this. And when he has finished he tells the disciples: “”Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.” This injunction is the revelation of a sequence.

First of all, the salt that produces peace.

And secondly, the peace that is produced by salt.

Jesus had just said that “…everyone shall be salted with fire.”  Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.”

What Jesus said was: “Everyone will be salted with unquenchable fire.” Literally, it is “…everyone will be salted with gehenna.” In this case the term “fire” interprets the word “salt”.

Fire destroys the perishable and perfects what is not perishable. An example of this is the refining of gold. The imperfections are melted and drawn off and the end result is pure gold. It is the fire that does this.

What does Jesus have in mind here when he uses the word “gehenna”? The valley of Gehenna was a gorge just outside Jerusalem. In this gorge, called the valley of Tophet, Solomon erected an altar to the worship of Moloch. During the reigns of Ahaz and Manasseh, human sacrifices were offered there in that valley until the reforms instituted by Josiah. Josiah defiled the valley by throwing refuse in to the valley and setting it on fire. It was the place from that time on where the evil things of the city were cast and burned. It became a spiritual witness to the necessity of cleansing in the city of Jerusalem. It was an actual, historic, geographical place where the refuse of the city was burned.

And consequently, it became a reference to a place and a state of being in the economy of God. Fire as used by our Lord here, was the symbol of the principle that makes no peace with evil. The fire of Gehenna is the holiness of God.

Jesus tells his disciples, “Have that fire burning within you and be at peace with one another.”

If you change the figure to salt, you have salt preventing corruption and preserving soundness, or health. Sound health is at the heart of the concept of holiness. “Have salt in yourselves.” tells us to let the salt search out every thing that is abhorrent to God, to hold it in check and to annihilate it so that we will have every opportunity to grow in holiness. Let the fire of God’s holiness burn within you deal with sin and evil. That fire burning within you will lead you to escape the ultimate fire of Gehenna that awaits those who do not believe.

Now let’s apply this to our lives today.

First of all, we have the spiritual responsibility of allowing the fire of God’s holiness burn within us to purify us so that we can live as God wants us to.

When we do that, we will find that ambition of the wrong kind is killed within us. Our ambition will be that of serving the needs of others, of thinking of them before we consider our own selves.

The passion for personal greatness will simply disappear.

When we do not allow this fire of the holiness of God to do its work within us, we will find that we too are among those who are troubled about who is the greatest. And wherever that passion burns, disputes arise and there is a destruction of peace among us.

So whoever would be the greatest, let him or her be the servant of all.

When we get it right about this idea of greatness and are willing to be the servant of all, there is an expansion of fellowship. John saw a man who was not part of their group casting out demons. He told him to stop. He was not one of the disciples. He was an outsider. He was not in the true order. Fortunately, he later realizes that this is wrong. Jesus, then, includes the man in the fellowship of God’s people.

What this means for us is that the fellowship of believers is much more extensive than we often believe or see practiced in our churches. There are those who do not believe everything that we do. But if they believe in Jesus and preach and teach in His name, we must fellowship with them as members of the body of Christ. That is the teaching of Jesus for us. Period!

Although George Whitefield disagreed with John Wesley on some theological matters, he was careful not to create problems in public that could be used to hinder the preaching of the gospel. When someone asked Whitefield if he thought he would see Wesley in heaven, Whitefield replied, "I fear not, for he will be so near the eternal throne and we at such a distance, we shall hardly get sight of him." 

W. Wiersbe, Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching and Preachers,  Moody Press, 1984, p. 255.

The borders of fellowship have been flung wide open and the company of believers is enlarged. If we have salt in ourselves, we will be at peace with one another.

Let’s say it another way because it is sequential:  If we would be at peace with one another, our first responsibility is to obey the earlier injunction. “Have salt in your selves.” Have the fire of the holiness of God burning in your life and the result will be that you are at peace with yourself and with others, willing to be the servant of all. That is the right kind of ambition.

When we get this right, we will truly be the “…salt of the earth.”

Let me close with this. One of the greatest men of God ever was the Apostle Paul. Look if you will at how Paul saw himself.

I am the least of the apostles. 1 Corinthians 15:9     - 60AD

I am the very least of all the saints. Ephesians 3:8   - 63 AD

I am the foremost of sinners. 1 Timothy 1:15    - 64 AD

That is a man on the pathway to greatness. He was growing in Christ and growing down…in honest humility.

May we follow in his footsteps.

 --Dennis Gleason