Proper Motives?

[0:00] Tonight and next week we'll cover sections of Mark's Gospel that are easy to understand, but! often painful to apply correctly. You may have noticed that the title of tonight's lesson is proper motives. It's phrased as a question intentionally. In Mark chapter 9 verses 30 through 41, we'll study three different interactions between Jesus and the twelve as they continue making their way toward Jerusalem and Jesus's appointment with the cross. Each of those interactions will reveal different drivers behind the people's behaviors. Consider whether the people involved demonstrate proper motives. But where the rubber is really going to meet the road is when we personalize this passage. Each of us should use this passage to see how we are demonstrating proper motives for serving God, or perhaps we may not be demonstrating proper motives for serving God.

[1:07] So with that as a challenge, let's read Mark chapter 9 verses 30 through 41. They went 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 twelve, 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.

[2:29] 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.

[2:43] Here's the main idea for this section of Scripture. Believers should model the humility of the Savior whom they profess to follow. Once again, believers should model the humility of the Savior whom they profess to follow.

[2:59] Because Jesus was willing to humble himself to redeem those who put their faith in him, Jesus' followers must be willing to serve without recognition. Every sin has improper pride at its root.

[3:14] Fallen human nature typically believes that we deserve better circumstances than we have. Excessive pride is nothing new. Aristotle, one of the most influential philosophers of the ancient world, described pride as the crown of the virtues.

[3:32] Every fallen human heart is a relentless worshiper of itself, and fallen human nature is dominated by pride. John MacArthur said, In a bizarre twist, our society diagnoses the cause of people's problems as a lack of pride or self-esteem.

[3:50] Such is not the case. No one lacks self-esteem. Everyone is consumed with himself or herself to one degree or another. To diagnose the cause of all human ills as a lack of self-esteem leads people to be even more prideful.

[4:05] Inflating pride under the guise of promoting self-esteem as a psychological benefit exposes people to pride's devastating consequences, including defilement, dishonor, strife, and most significantly, God's judgment.

[4:20] Tony Morita put it a little more simply. He said, The gospel frees us from our addiction to ourselves. Before Christ redeems us and sets us free, we are like crack addicts addicted to ourselves.

[4:36] We are like alcoholics intoxicated with ourselves. We're not as interested in serving as we are in being served, in giving as in receiving, in pursuing God's way as in getting our way, or in being the least instead of being the greatest.

[4:55] Right now in Mark, we're in the middle of Jesus' great discipleship discourse. It runs from Mark chapter 8 through Mark chapter 10. Our Lord is turning upside down the value systems of this world.

[5:09] His teaching is radical and mind-blowing. It's no wonder that the disciples did not understand. Today, of course, just as in their day, ours is a world where everything is about me.

[5:22] Jesus died to free us from such slavery, and he died to free us to serve and to walk a road of true greatness. And that, of course, is the road he himself walked, as he did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

[5:39] When we get to the end of his discourse, we'll see that is Mark chapter 10, verse 45. Service to others frees us. It gets our eyes off of us and on the others who need the same Christ that we need.

[5:54] An anonymous author said, world missions is God's major therapy for our sin of selfishness that eats the heart out of the local church. Allegiance to Christ will lead us to applaud and celebrate those on God's team, even if they are different from us.

[6:12] We have yet to start digging into the verses, but are you already starting to see why this passage will be easy to understand, but often painful to apply? These verses will challenge us to model the humility of the Savior whom we profess to follow.

[6:28] So let's buckle up and start digging deeper into the scripture. We'll split tonight's passage into three sections, starting with Mark chapter 9, verses 30 through 32.

[6:41] And in those verses, we see the horrific pronouncement. The horrific pronouncement is the first thing you'll need to fill in. Here are verses 32, 32 again.

[6:55] They went on from there and passed through Galilee, and he, of course, that's Jesus, 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.

[7:11] And when he is killed, after three days he will rise. But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him. The travel narrative now gains a sense of decisiveness.

[7:25] Jesus is passing through Galilee for the final time. He does not want anyone to know because he's not stopping there. Jerusalem is his destination. His date with destiny is drawing near.

[7:39] He will die there, and he will rise again on the third day. And he informs the disciples of that one more time. Consider where this teaching falls. The disciples had just seen Jesus exercise a demon from a little boy.

[7:54] The demon was one that nine of the disciples had failed to remove, but Jesus made it look easy. Of course, Jesus made it look easy because he was and is God in human flesh.

[8:08] The abrupt change that Jesus makes by talking again about his death had to be jarring to the disciples. Luke's account of the same event highlights the abrupt change even more.

[8:20] Listen to Luke 9, verses 42-44. These verses begin with the summary of how Jesus healed the little boy.

[8:31] So here are Luke 9, verses 42-44. While he, that's the boy with the demon, was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him.

[8:44] But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father, and all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, Let these words sink into your ears.

[9:02] The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. Almost certainly, the disciples were on an emotional high.

[9:14] The crowd was astonished at the majesty of God. And from a human perspective, the disciples were some of God's closest followers. We can visualize them puffing themselves up a bit and thinking, if not saying, we're with him.

[9:30] Obviously, they wanted some of the attention that Jesus was getting. But like everyone else, the disciples needed to learn humility because they also battled pride by their exalted position as the Messiah's closest followers.

[9:47] The Jewish religious leaders were supremely prideful, so they were notoriously poor examples for the people to follow. The cultural and religious environment in which they lived made the disciples struggle with pride all the more difficult.

[10:04] As was frequently the case, the Lord was teaching his disciples, as Mark quotes it, that the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him.

[10:16] And when he is killed, after three days, he will rise. That was the primary truth that the disciples needed to understand and that they were unable to comprehend or accept.

[10:26] As it was for their fellow Jews, a crucified Messiah was a stumbling block for the disciples. A dying Messiah was incomprehensible and unacceptable to them.

[10:40] For that reason, Jesus exhorted them, let these words sink into your ears. The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. They needed to listen carefully and understand what he was saying to them about his death.

[10:57] Both Mark and Luke say that Jesus will be delivered into the hands of men. Many translations have betrayed in the margin notes as an optional translation for the word that's more appropriately translated as delivered.

[11:13] Obviously, betrayed is partially appropriate. We know that when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, one of his own group of disciples will betray him to the authorities who want to put him to death.

[11:26] It's possible that this course of action was already playing out in Judas' mind as they were going there. But Jesus did not have the actions of Judas or any other person in the world in mind.

[11:39] He was making the point that he was being handed over or delivered at that very moment. And the one handing him over was the Father. Jesus was being sent to Jerusalem to fulfill his office as Messiah.

[11:54] Because it was the Father sending him there, it was not an act of betrayal. From all eternity, it had been agreed among the members of the Trinity that the Father would send the Son into the world to bring about his plan of salvation for his people.

[12:10] At this point, Jesus had to be delivered into the hands of evil men. Jesus was accepting of that deliverance. He had come to do the will of the Father and to do that, he had to suffer at the hands of sinful people.

[12:26] So the Father's plan to hand him over to fulfill his destiny was now drawing to a climax. We always must remember that the events that happened on what we now know as Good Friday were planned before the beginning of time.

[12:43] God the Father and God the Son have always known that plan. As we think about which people in tonight's passage illustrate humble service, Jesus gives us the perfect example.

[12:56] Paul summarized Jesus' example in Philippians 2, verses 5-8. Philippians 2, 5-8 say, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

[13:23] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Let's go back to our Mark text and see what kind of example the disciples set.

[13:39] Here is Mark 9, verse 32 again. It says, but they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him.

[13:51] J.C. Ryle said, The dullness of the disciples in spiritual things appears once more as soon as this announcement was made. There was good in the news as well as seeming evil, sweet as well as bitter, life as well as death, the resurrection as well as the cross.

[14:11] But it was all darkness to the bewildered twelve. They did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. Their minds were still full of their mistaken ideas of their master's reign on earth.

[14:25] They thought that his earthly kingdom was going to appear immediately. Never are we so slow to understand as when prejudiced and preconceived opinions darken our eyes.

[14:38] The disciples have not learned the lesson that the father of the demon-possessed boy had just modeled for them. Despite Jesus' constant teaching on his death and resurrection, they fail to understand and they are afraid to ask for help.

[14:55] But the rest of the story is going to help us see that really they were too arrogant to ask for help. The next two sections of our passage prove that arrogance also influenced the disciples to neglect asking Jesus what he meant.

[15:12] In verses 33 through 37, Jesus begins to correct that wrong attitude by giving the disciples the humbling picture. The humbling picture is the second thing we'll cover.

[15:27] Listen to just verses 33 and 34 first. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house, he asked them, What were you discussing on the way?

[15:42] But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. We know that the disciples never anticipated a dying Messiah, but that was only one reason why Jesus' teaching had failed to sink in.

[15:59] Another reason was that they were too focused on themselves to comprehend what Jesus said. During the long walk from Caesarea Philippi to Capernaum, the disciples had been having a prolonged and heated discussion.

[16:14] Not wanting to admit what they had been talking about, they kept silence and embarrassment. The discussion had been another episode in their long-running debate over which one of them was the greatest.

[16:28] Surprisingly, as we go further and further along, we'll see that that debate was still going on at the Last Supper on the night before Jesus' death. The Lord had just spoken to them about his humiliation, but all they could think about was their exaltation.

[16:45] Have you ever had the experience of telling someone something extremely important, but the other person is so busy thinking about what he wants to say next that your comment goes unnoticed?

[16:58] One of my aunts was a chronic hypochondriac, and in her mind she had nearly every disease known to mankind. She would go to doctor after doctor and then get upset when each one told her that she had nothing wrong with her.

[17:14] One Sunday, another lady in my aunt's Sunday school class announced that she, the other lady, had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. My aunt replied to the other lady, at least you know what's wrong with you.

[17:27] my doctors won't tell me what is wrong with me. The disciples in this passage are similar to my aunt. Even when faced with difficult news about someone else, they never stop thinking about themselves.

[17:45] Luke's account tells us in Luke 9, 47, that Jesus knew what the disciples had been thinking even though they refused to tell him. Because he knew their thoughts, Jesus decides to teach the disciples a valuable lesson.

[18:01] Look at Mark chapter 9, verse 35 now. It says, and he, of course, that's Jesus, sat down and called the twelve, and he said to them, if anyone would be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all.

[18:16] Here's another quote from J.C. Ryle. He said, these words are deeply instructive. They show us that the maxims of the world are directly contrary to the mind of Christ.

[18:28] The world's idea of greatness is to rule, but Christian greatness consists in serving. The world's ambition is to receive honor and attention, but the desire of the Christian should be to give rather than receive, and to attend to others rather than be attended to.

[18:47] In short, the person who puts the most effort into serving other people and in being useful in the present time is the greatest in the eyes of Christ. When Jesus said, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all, he turned the values and aspirations of all human beings upside down.

[19:10] Every one of us is born with aspirations for significance. We want our lives to count. We want to achieve the goals that we pursue in our lives. the last thing we want to do is to come in last.

[19:25] We are dissatisfied with mediocrity. We dream of glory, of winning, and of reaching the pinnacle of success, or of getting to the top, of attaining greatness, or of being the best.

[19:37] We want to be great, and if you aspire to significance, and if you want your life to count, and if you really want to be first in the kingdom, Jesus says, you must choose to be last.

[19:49] This is a paradox that Jesus used this approach again and again. Just think of some other passages in the Bible where Jesus used this approach.

[20:00] He said, if you want to save your life, you have to lose your life. If you want to be great, you have to suffer. He who is first shall be last, and he who is last shall be first.

[20:13] And the way to greatness is the way of service. If we want to be great, we must be the greatest servants that we can be. Jason Meyer suggested that we all should test our hearts by asking ourselves a few questions, and this is the first of two tests that we'll have in the study tonight.

[20:34] Here's the first of his questions. Do we size people up to measure if we are better than they are? So once again, do we size people up to measure if we are better than they are?

[20:46] then he said, and do we use people or do we love people? Do we use people or do we love people? I like this quote from him.

[20:58] He said, a flourishing church is a place where the weak and poor and frail flourish. A flourishing church is not a church of big shots, but of big hearts.

[21:11] We do not view people as those to evaluate and compete with. We evaluate other people as those to serve. Meyer then finished his thoughts with these words.

[21:23] He said, Jesus is the ultimate standard of greatness. He is the servant of all. He is welcomed all the weak and needy in Mark's gospel, and the same is true today.

[21:37] Those who come to him, he does not cast out. That would be to un-Jesus himself. He is more ready to receive you than you are ready to be received.

[21:48] Indeed, the Father's arms are open to you, and the family of God is open to you, only because the Son stretched out his arms for you on the cross. Hang on to that last sentence.

[22:00] Here it is one more time. Indeed, the Father's arms are open to you, and the family of God is open to you, only because the Son stretched out his arms for you on the cross.

[22:12] Jesus then reinforces his point by using a living visual aid. Here are Mark 9, verses 36 and 37.

[22:23] 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.

[22:40] In our day, children are treated as the center of the universe, but the culture was much different in Jesus' day. To truly understand what Jesus is saying here, we need to remind ourselves of how children were viewed in biblical times.

[22:58] When the mortality rate was so high that a vast number of babies died before they were five years old, a little child was considered insignificant until he reached an age when it was likely that he would survive to maturity.

[23:11] So Jesus took a small child, a person who was considered to be of lesser dignity, and said to his disciples, Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

[23:23] In other words, he did not appoint the twelve to the position of greatness, but a child. He chose a child to be his ambassador and his spokesman to the world. He chose a person of no significance and no dignity.

[23:37] The lesson was obvious. The disciples were never to consider themselves to be great. But Jesus takes the point even further. He says, Receive me, and you receive the one who sent me.

[23:51] Effectively, he's saying, Treat well those who have no standing in this world, such as children, lepers, age victims, the mentally impaired, the physically disabled, and the aged, and you will receive an audience with my Father.

[24:06] In one short statement, Jesus turned upside down their whole scale of values, and ours as well. The way to true greatness in the Master's service is to become the servant of all.

[24:20] Jesus redefines greatness. He's telling us here, Be great in things that matter to God, not man. Plato said, How can man be happy when he has to serve someone?

[24:33] But Jesus says, You will only find real and lasting happiness and joy when you do serve someone, not because you have to, but because you get to, and because you want to.

[24:45] The work is not glorious in man's eyes, but it's great in God's. And here is a posture and a position that is worthy of heaven. A few minutes ago, we pondered a few questions from Jason Meyer to test our motivation behind what we do.

[25:03] Daniel Aiken added what he calls a painful pride test, and it is titled appropriately. Here are the seven questions on that test, and you also have them in your handout.

[25:15] Question one, Am I upset if I'm not praised for my work? So am I upset if I'm not praised for my work? Question two, Do I like and even long to sit at the head of the table in the seat of honor?

[25:31] So do I like and even long to sit at the head of the table in the seat of honor? Question three, Do I seek credit for what others have done?

[25:42] Do I seek credit for what others have done? Question four, Do honorary titles pump me up? Do honorary titles pump me up?

[25:55] Question five, Is popularity crucial to my sense of self-worth? So once again, Is popularity crucial to my sense of self-worth?

[26:06] Question six, Am I a name dropper of those who I know or pretend to know? Question six, Am I a name dropper of those I know or pretend to know?

[26:19] And finally, Question seven, Do I think I have something valuable to say about almost everything? That last one hits a little too close to home, I think, and that is, Do I think I have something valuable to say about almost everything?

[26:37] As you think about your answers to those questions, remember Proverbs 11.2 and James 4.6. Here is Proverbs 11.2. It says, When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

[26:54] James 4.6 says, But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So far we have seen the horrific pronouncements and the humbling picture.

[27:10] In the final section that we'll cover tonight, we have the helpful perspective. So the helpful perspective is the last thing we'll look at. Check out Mark chapter 9, verses 38 through 41 again.

[27:26] 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.

[27:37] 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.

[27:50] For truly I say to you, whoever gives a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Typically Peter is the one who sticks his foot in his mouth, but this time John does it.

[28:07] His conscience probably was troubled by the Lord's rebuke of their pride, and 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.

[28:20] The incident he refers to here is not recorded in Scripture, but the exorcist actually was casting out demons, apparently, and that is in contrast to the seven sons of Sceva.

[28:33] And although this man here in our passage tonight was a true follower of Christ, John and the others tried to prevent him because he was not following them. In other words, he was not one of their group.

[28:46] He was not part of the in crowd in John's mind. Think about the irony in the scene here. Jesus had barely finished teaching them that they need to receive people in his name, and perhaps those words were still hanging in the air when John told them that someone had been casting out demons in his name.

[29:07] But did the disciples receive this man? No, they rejected him, and apparently John was rather proud of the fact that he tried to set the man straight in his mind. So the scene is doubly ironic because, as we saw last time, nine of the disciples have just failed in their attempt to cast out a demon themselves, and this person who they tried to chase off was successful.

[29:31] To see an outsider apparently succeeding where they, the chosen agents of Jesus, have failed probably is doubly distressing to them. So rather than celebrate the defeat of the demons, they try to put a stop to it.

[29:46] Many commentators point to the similarities between this story and Numbers 11, verses 26 through 29. In Numbers 11, verses 26 through 29, some people began to speak as prophets who were not official prophets like Moses.

[30:04] Joshua was troubled by this, and he didn't want them sharing the limelight with Moses. So here are Numbers 11, verses 26 through 29. Numbers 11, 26 through 29 say, Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them.

[30:27] They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.

[30:41] And Joshua, the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, My Lord Moses, stop them. But Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake?

[30:53] Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them. In our Mark passage tonight, the disciples have narrow, prideful hearts that seem bent on cornering the market on ministry.

[31:09] But Jesus' heart is much more expansive. He rebukes John, and he tells him, Do not stop him. Jason Meyer noted that Jesus provided three reasons for the rebuke, and the first was not to stop anyone ministering in his name, because for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.

[31:33] Jesus has a standard. Mighty works must be matched with honor for the mighty name of Jesus. People can only do miracles in Jesus' name if they are in a proper relationship to Jesus.

[31:46] Here's the second reason for the command. For the one who is not against us is for us. Notice that Jesus redefines us beyond the scope of the disciples.

[31:58] In their preoccupation with themselves, they draw the circle of insiders around themselves only. Jesus drew the circle much wider when he said, If they are not against us, then they are for us.

[32:13] We need to remember that this is a war. It's the kingdom of God versus the kingdom of Satan. We must take sides, and there are only two sides in this war.

[32:23] The true adversary is Satan. He and his demons are the ones against us. The problem with the disciples is that their pride leads to cutthroat competition that would draw really small circles based upon who is a part of their group.

[32:38] The problem with this person they tried to stop is not what he is doing or the name he is using. He just simply fails to be part of their company. But Jesus goes even further in his third reason not to stop the man.

[32:52] He says don't stop him what he is doing in my name. And the phrase in my name and in your name has occurred three times in rapid succession in verses 37 through 39.

[33:05] And now we come to the climax in verse 41 where the actual name is explicitly spelled out when he says you belong to Christ. Never mind casting out demons.

[33:17] Even the smallest act has great significance when it is done for the greatest name. Jesus says a small act like giving a disciple a drink signifies something when we belong to Christ together and it signifies that we do belong to Christ together.

[33:34] Jesus' words here are a full frontal assault on our pride because pride is quick to exclude people and draw the circle really small. Pride is also quick to judge the supposed size of the actions.

[33:47] We are quick to notice large sensational works and overlook small everyday acts of kindness. Jesus will receive and reward what anyone does in his name whether it is the sensational act of casting out a demon or the seemingly small act of pouring a cup of water for someone.

[34:10] How much more does this truth apply to the church in our day on the other side of the cross? Christ came and tore down the dividing wall between us and he did it by his blood.

[34:21] Imagine the offense of building that wall back up again issue by issue. When the church is filled with prideful spirit it is our names and not the name of Jesus that are lifted high.

[34:36] The disciples are about to learn that God's kingdom is bigger than their experience of that kingdom. It is so large that anyone who is for Christ is with us.

[34:48] Sinclair Ferguson says in the last analysis it is more important that the servants of God are devoted to Christ than that they are to one of us. You might be thinking well does this passage contradict other passages that tell us to be on guard against false teachers?

[35:06] Or does this passage mean that as long as people claim to be teaching in the name of Christ we must tolerate it when they teach errors and incorrect doctrine? Well the answer to both of those questions is a resounding no.

[35:21] Here's how R.C. Sproul put it. He said sadly I know people who will not tolerate any deviation from their theology. If someone differs at any point whether it is over baptism art justification predestination or a myriad of other issues that person must not be truly saved.

[35:41] Then he says that's not just foolishness it is sinfulness. To assume that all differences divide us is nonsense. At the other end of the spectrum though are those people who say no difference is essential that it does not matter what we believe as long as we are sincere.

[35:59] Have you heard people say that one before? That seems to be a very popular saying these days. And he says this attitude denies that there is ultimate truth which is dangerous in the extreme.

[36:12] The New Testament calls us to recognize the difference between essential issues and non-essential issues. Jesus had to teach his disciples this truth and help them see that this exorcist was not sinning by not following the disciples.

[36:29] We know that there are many people who do not worship the way that we do who do not share the same confession of faith that we have or who interpret some biblical passages very differently yet they are truly ministering in the name of Jesus.

[36:43] We have to appreciate and embrace authentic ministry wherever we find it and we also have to distance ourselves from heresy whenever we find it. Simply put we need discernment and we'll see that discernment topic keep coming up as we go through the Mark passage in the coming weeks.

[37:03] After years with Jesus now the disciples were still lacking discernment. So we see from that that discernment clearly is not something that can be developed quickly but a good place to start is to appreciate everything that is done sincerely in the name of Jesus.

[37:20] Even those who give a cup of cold water to someone who is thirsty are recognized by Jesus if they do it in his name. We need to be careful to note that that does not mean we get into the kingdom by giving a cup of water to someone but Christ knows and appreciates any time he is honored.

[37:38] In the case of the disciples it was imperative for Jesus to get these points across if they were to understand what was waiting for them and for Jesus in Jerusalem.

[37:51] Remember the main idea believers should model the humility of the Savior whom they profess to follow. Jesus points the way to true greatness. Die to self serve others care for those no one else cares for receive them in Jesus' name and you receive Jesus and his father too.

[38:14] The way up is down the way to get is to give the way to be first is to be last. This is the way of Jesus and it also is the way to true greatness.

[38:28] Only true believers have any hope of obtaining the type of humility that's modeled by Jesus. When we recognize that we have repeatedly sinned against a holy God that's the start of true humility.

[38:42] When we recognize that those sins deserve eternal punishment in hell the Holy Spirit begins to grow that humility within us. When we recognize that we have no hope except for the salvation offered by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that humility expands even more.

[38:59] when we freely admit that Christ atoning death on the cross truly is our only hope that's when we begin making progress. Tonight we occasionally pause to ask ourselves some questions about our own motives.

[39:15] If you are a believer can you truthfully say that you always model the humility of the Savior whom you profess to follow? Anyone want to own up to doing that?

[39:26] If we're honest we know the answer to that question is no. But rather than despairing over that answer ask the Holy Spirit to continue making you more and more like Christ.

[39:41] He will do that. We know that from passages like Romans 8 verse 29. Romans 8 verse 29 says for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

[39:59] We also know that the Holy Spirit will make us more like Christ from passages like Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 and of course Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 says and I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.

[40:17] He doesn't say might bring it to completion he says he will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, these are hard words to study and they remind us that we fail to exhibit true humility like you call us to do.

[40:40] As we continue to grow and be sanctified, help us to become more and more like Christ and help us model Christ to the world. Make us more willing to share your good news with others no matter what people or their circumstances might be.

[40:57] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. . .

[41:08]