The Ministry God has put Before Us

Thank you Keith. I really enjoyed that last one. I got to enjoy that ahead of time, Wednesday night, when they were practicing. When they began to play that, I just began to worship, even though they were practicing. I enjoyed that. I like that phrase, "I gladly count my life as loss." That's a very heavy phrase to sing, very heavy phrase to say. I pray that we can accurately, truthfully sing that. I gladly count my life as loss. Thank you. I enjoyed that, brother Keith. I'll take your Bible this morning. Turn with me to Mark, the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 9. You should know where the Gospel of Mark is.

We spent quite some time in the Gospel of John. I look forward to getting back to our verse-by-verse study in John. It won't be long. I've been kind of in my own heart, looking down the road to getting back to that series, Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live. But we're still in this series that I have been calling, Messages from the Pastors Heart. This morning we'll be in Mark's Gospel. Chapter 9 will be in verses 33 through 37. Now, we've been in this series, Messages from the Pastors Heart, since November.

If you go back and look at your notes, you'll remember that we started November the 15th, and we've had some 11 messages dealing with the family. We've covered a wide variety of subjects. We've covered a wide variety of needs. I challenge you to go back and study your notes, maybe listen to those messages. It was not an exhaustive study on the family by no means. I was sharing with brother Keith numerous times this week. The frustration that I do feel sometimes, feeling like I could continue to go on and on. But these were some things that were on my heart on brother Keith's heart. And we dealt with the origination of the family.

Remember, that first family came from God. We learned that we must operate as a family under the authority of God, His Word, the authority of the Lordship of Christ. And we learned that if we deviate from that, like Adam and Eve did, we have failure. So I have enjoyed those messages, and I'm looking forward to the other messages that are within this series, these messages that have been on my heart. But this morning, we'll move away from these messages on the family. Now, I want to remind you how we got into this message series, and the importance of this series.

First of all, you need to realize that as a pastor, as the elder that the Lord has placed here, not just myself, but brother Keith and I both, there are many times we carry burdens concerning the church. Many times we look out, we look into your lives, we look out into the congregation, and we do see needs that need to be addressed. I know if I go back and look at some of my notes, some of these burdens really began to come to light, come to the surface back in the summer, in July and August. And I begin to make preparations and pray over certain things and make notes. And so these are burdens that we carry. These are concerns that we have.

These are needs that we see in many lives. And second, you need to realize why these messages are important. First Peter, chapter 5, verses 1 through 3, help us see why these messages are important. You don't have to turn to that passage. I'll read it for you. Peter says, "So I exhort the elders among you," he's writing to the church, "as a fellow elder." Peter, an apostle, functions as an elder. He's writing to elders, and he's giving them instruction. And what does he say? He said he was a witness to the sufferings of Christ, therefore he was an apostle, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

And now here comes the instruction. "Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight." Now we come to the motivation. He says, "Not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you. Not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock." So that is why we do what we do. We are burdened for you as we shepherd you, as we oversee the work of the church. And there are subjects, there are issues that come about that we must address. And that's why I hold on to that series title, "Messages from the Pastor's Heart." So these messages are part of a work.

And I want you to see these messages are part of a work that God is doing in me and doing in us. We are much like a Nehemiah figure. And we must be a Nehemiah figure in your life and in this church. And God is using us to do this work in you. As we bring these messages, as I preach through this series, we desire and I pray that the burden that the Lord has placed on me for these subjects would come about in you. I'm reminded of our study in the book of Revelation. You know, we took some time and studied those seven churches. And look at the order. The Lord Jesus tells John what they're right.

And he addresses each of those letters to the angel of those churches. That word angel in the original meant messenger. And that was the elder, the pastor, the minister of the gospel there in those churches. So look at the order. The Lord gives it to John. John writes to those pastors. Those pastors take those needs to the church. So that is exactly what we want to see happen in me, in us, in you, in this series. Now, this morning's message truly does come out of a burden and it does come out of brokenness. But this burden has two sides. This burden relates to two different groups of people.

And this burden must be seen as two different ministry opportunities from God. Now, that leads me to the title of the message. The title of the message is the ministry God put before us. The ministry that God has put before us. I really work hard at sermon titles. I don't always feel like they're adequate because the title of the message should really wrap its arms around the totality of the message. The sermon titles should be a theme, a theme that runs all throughout the message. And the sermon titles should help you grasp what the Lord is saying. But we're going to look at a ministry, the ministry that God has put before us.

You see the main truths we're going to divide, the spiritual climate. And verses 33 through 34, the spiritual order. Out of verse 35 and the spiritual ministry out of verses 36 through 37. Now, these main truths will mean nothing until we divide these passages and see what's going on here in the Gospel of Mark. And then after we dive into the messages and begin to divide the text, then these truths will come to the surface and they will explain themselves. So let's read the text starting in verse 33. And they came. This is Jesus and his disciples. I know we're really diving right in the middle of Mark's Gospel. But this is the disciples.

This is Jesus. They came to Capernaum and when he was in the house, he began to question them. What were you discussing on the way? Verse 34, but they kept silent for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. And sitting down, he called the twelve and said to them, if anyone wants to be first, he should be the last of all and servant of all. And taking a child, he sent him before them and taking him in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me. And whoever receives me does not receive me but him who sent me. So what do we have here?

This is one of those many teaching opportunities between Jesus and his disciples. In our study of the Gospel of John, although we're not through, we have stopped right there at the end of Chapter 11. We know this pattern. We know this habit. Jesus is journeying along in his earthly ministry. Those disciples are tagging along. And every now and then he just has to have these sit-down teaching moments trying to prepare them and mold them into the people that he wants them to be. So that's what's taking place here. So let's look at main truth number one, the spiritual climate. The spiritual climate, verse 33 and 34, they came to Capernaum.

And when he was in the house, he began questioning them. What were you discussing on the way? That was the journey to Capernaum. But they kept silent for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Now in these two verses, we see the spiritual climate among the disciples. I chose that word climate purposely. We get a glimpse of the spiritual climate. You might say condition of the disciples right here. Remember that these were the disciples. These were the chosen ones. Jesus had prayed all night. The Gospel of Luke tells us. And he had chosen them, designating them as apostles.

By this point, he had already called them. He had already set them apart as disciples. But although they had been under Jesus' teaching for quite some time, they still had serious spiritual problems. And Jesus is trying to correct. Jesus is trying to mold. Jesus is trying to guide them into the men that he needs them to be. Now there are four observations I want to make out of these verses. First of all, notice the scene. The scene. The text reads that they went to Capernaum. Now the town of Capernaum is important in that it was really like Jesus' headquarters. He had previously been rejected in Nazareth.

And after that we find him traveling to and from Capernaum. So if you sit down and you study the Gospels, you will notice that habit that they go back and forth to Capernaum. Now notice also that the text reads "The House." All of the translations use that definite article there, "The House." Now the language construction indicates that Jesus stayed in the house frequently. It was a common place for them to meet. Some Bible commentators have even speculated that this could have been Peter's house, the Apostle Peter's house. But that fact is unknown.

But what I want you to see is they're going to Capernaum, and they're going to a favorite meeting place, a favorite home where they gathered. But then second, notice the question. The question. Jesus says, "What were you discussing on the way?" Jesus asked him what they had been discussing as they traveled. Matthew's account of this situation does not have the question. Now I want to think about this question just for a moment. Did Jesus, did he, as they were traveling, did he hear them in this debate, and therefore that prompted him to ask this question?

Or did he know that they were in the middle of this debate because of his supernatural abilities? We've already seen that there are times when he has supernatural intuitive knowledge about a set of circumstances. Was this debate reported to him? Could one of the disciples come to him and say, "Lord, you should hear what the guys are debating?" You know, we really don't know. Because the Scriptures are silent here. But it is obvious that Jesus knows accurately what they were discussing. So he asks a question. And then third, I want us to see the reaction. Notice the reaction.

Verse 34, "But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest." We see here that they kept silent when Jesus questioned them. Were they embarrassed? Were they ashamed? Were they both embarrassed and both ashamed? Were they shocked at Jesus' question? Were they just stumped by his question and they did not know how to answer? Now, notice also that verse 34 tells us the flavor of the discussion that they had. The New American that I'm reading from uses the word "discussed." But that word's really not strong enough.

The English Standard reads, "argued." The King James reads, "disputed." This must have been more than a discussion. This must have been more than a friendly debate. It must have bordered into an argument. It must have spilled over into a dispute because of the language here. It wasn't just a friendly conversation here. And we see their reaction to Jesus' question and it was silence. And then fourth, notice the reason for it all. Notice the reason for it all. Verse 34, "But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed, they had argued amongst themselves." They had argued amongst themselves which of them was the greatest.

So here we see the reason for their arguing and the reason for Jesus questioning them. Here we see the real problem. They were arguing he was the greatest among them. Now, why in the world would these men, these 12 men, have resorted to this type of argument? Were they not born again believers? Were they not chosen of God? Were they not set apart for a particular task as disciples? But what we need to see is that these men were sinners. They were men much like you and I. They were redeemed and they knew Jesus, but they were sinners. Some have speculated that this stemmed from Peter, James, and John being the closest to Jesus.

If you go back earlier in chapter 9, you will see at the beginning of the chapter the transfiguration. And we know that Peter, James, and John were chosen to be there at that amount of transfiguration. So maybe, just maybe, the other disciples were a little bit jealous. We know that John was the favorite or the closest to Jesus of even Peter, James, and John. Now this is pure speculation. We do know that these three did have a unique relationship with Jesus. But what we need to see is the reason for it all is that they were arguing, they were debating, they were seemingly getting into it about who was the greatest of the 12.

So this tells us the spiritual climate among the disciples at this point in time in their journey with Jesus. And right in the middle of this climate, we have a deafening question by Jesus. I mean, his question silences the entire group. Not even Peter was bold enough to say anything. And here, I want to use one word to describe the spiritual climate. Pride. Write that word down. It's pride. You see? You see why I chose that word, "climate"? The spiritual climate among the 12 right there reaped with pride. It oozed with pride. Everything about them was prideful and selfish and arrogant because they were arguing who was the greatest.

I want to move on. I want us to divide and look at the main truth. Truth number two, I want you to see the spiritual order. The spiritual order. Notice verse 35. Jesus is in command of the situation. And sitting down, he called the 12 and he said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." Here we see Jesus move away from the question and he begins to deal with their spiritual pride. That climate. He does more than rebuke them for their pride and their arrogance. Here we'll see that he sets things in order. It's like he's saying, "Well, you want to be great.

Well, let me tell you how you can become great." Three observations I want to make out of this verse. First of all, I want you to notice Jesus posture. Notice Jesus posture. Verse 35, "And sitting down." That might not mean much to you, but this sitting down of Jesus is very important because it was common in that day for teachers to sit down when they teach. Jewish rabbis, Jewish teachers would sit down before the people and begin to explain the Word of God. In our day, in our culture, the man of God, the preacher of the gospel does that sit down. He stands up.

So if I were to stand up behind this pulpit as I am now, you understand that I am delivering the Word of God. And that is exactly what Jesus was doing. In sitting down, he was standing up. So notice his posture. Then second, notice Jesus called them. And sitting down, he called the twelve and he said to them. It is important to see that Jesus, after assuming this position and role of a teacher, and he deliberately calls them to himself. This gives us a full picture of Jesus teaching his disciples. He sits down as one with authority and he calls them unto himself. Why? To teach. To give the spiritual order here.

Then third, notice Jesus' correction. Here he makes a statement. If anyone is all-inclusive, wants to be first, he should be last of all and servant of all. Here Jesus gives them, and I love this, what A.T. Robertson, he was a Southern Baptist Bible commentator, what he calls the rule of greatness. And that is servanthood. I love how the amplified paraphrase reads. It reads, "If anyone desires to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." No doubt Jesus is cutting against the grain of everything they would have been taught in their culture. No doubt Jesus is flying in the face of their sinful desires to be great among others.

And what is he saying? I'm giving you the rule of greatness. I am correcting you and I am setting things in spiritual order. So here we see Jesus setting things in order. He set the proper spiritual order. He says, "Well guys, you want to be great, then be last of all and servant of all." He is saying, "You want to be first, then be last. You want to be great, you become a servant." This is the rule of greatness. I think A.T. Robertson really captures it. So notice, he sets things spiritually in order because it was in disarray. And then third, I want you to notice the third main truth. And that is the spiritual ministry.

Verse 36, "And taking a child, he set him before them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 'Whoever receives one child like this and my name receives me, and whoever receives me does not receive me but him who sent me.'" Here Jesus does what he frequently does, and that is he uses an object lesson. Now many times Jesus taught in parables. We know that by now. And a parable is a story that is cast alongside a spiritual truth that illustrates that spiritual truth. And here we will see that Jesus uses an object lesson. Jesus was a masterful teacher.

And whether he is using a parable, or whether he is using an object lesson, or merely teaching, Jesus teaches with great authority, and Jesus teaches exactly what the people in hand needed to hear. So here we see the spiritual ministry. Two observations I want to make here. First the object lesson. Verse 36, "And taking a child, setting him before them, and taking them, or him in his arms." Now all of the translations that we read use the word "child." Now again I refer to the Amplified, it reads "little child." Now the original language indicates that this is an infant or a small toddler.

So I would venture to say, based off the original, that the Amplified really captures it because it says "little child." As some have speculated that they were in Peter's house, some have even speculated that this could have been Peter's child. But we have no way of knowing. That would really just be for our imagination. But notice how Jesus takes this little child. The text says that he takes the child in his arms. He embraces the child. Go back to the verse.

"And taking a child, he set him before them." And then he moves on and it says, "taking him in his arms." So notice the object lesson is in the arms of Jesus, in the lap of Jesus, this little child. Second observation, notice the Christ-centered ministry. Look at verse 37. "Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me. And whoever receives me does not receive me but him who sent me." If I can use this language right here in this verse, Jesus boils it all down. While embracing a little child, he tells these disciples that those who receive ones like this child, they receive him.

And when they receive him, they receive the Father. Listen, there is a key phrase back in this verse. Go back to the verse. "If anyone wants to be first, he should be last." But then he goes on to say, "Whoever receives one child like this in my name." In my name. That is a key phrase. Because that key phrase means they are receiving them under his name and all that his name represents and all that he said and all that he did. They are receiving that little one in the totality of all of who Christ was, what he taught and what he will do. So Jesus boils it down.

He says, "If you receive one in my name, you are receiving me." And not just me, but the Father who sent me. So here we see Jesus as a masterful teacher. He completely obliterates their pride and their spirit of ascendancy. Notice that ascendancy. "No, I'm the greatest." "No, I'm the greatest." "No, I'm the greatest." But he obliterates all of that. He is teaching them that to have Christ-centered ministry, they must have Christ-centered lives. And having Christ-centered lives, they will have Christ-centered ministry.

And to have Christ-centered ministry, they will welcome such as these in his name, offering them the totality of who Christ was and is. Now, we've taken the time to divide the passages. We've taken the time to divide these verses. Now, I want to turn it around and move away from the verses. And I want to move into the application portion of the message. Three things in application. First of all, if we are not careful, this type of pride can manifest itself even in us. Now, I speak specifically about us and our church, you and me.

I'm not exempt from this, but I also speak generally in churches, churches that you and I know, churches that you and I have no knowledge of. But what I'm showing you is, if we are not careful, as born-again Christians and members of the body of Christ and active in the local church, if we are not careful, pride of this magnitude can manifest itself among us. I've seen it. I've experienced it, and I've been a part of it. I give you some ways in which I've seen it.

I've seen certain people who adhere to certain theological positions, and they're very proud of how they have studied, and they are very proud of their accomplishments in their theological studies. And sooner or later, in some, it can get to the point where they are prideful, and they are prideful of their knowledge and prideful of their theological position. And then, lo and behold, it becomes a position of ascendancy. I have attained this. I know this. This is where I am, and you are not here. I've seen certain people have certain rules and convictions.

I've seen certain people work hard at their convictions, and what they do is they hone those convictions and they develop those rules in their own lives. They can ascend to a place of ascendancy. I have these rules. I have these regulations, and you don't. Something must be wrong with you. I have ascended. I've seen those who have freedom in areas of their lives. You know, there are certain areas that certain Christians have freedom, and certain areas that certain Christians do not. Those are a matter of conscience and the way the Spirit has worked out in their own lives.

But I've known people who have certain freedoms in their lives, and they ascend. I can do this, and I can do that. I have seen that. It is a position of pride and ascendancy. I've seen it in people's lives who have even gotten saved. I've known people who are in the life of the church, and they come to know Christ, and then they begin to look around the church, and they begin to realize, "Wait a minute, there are other people who are not Christian like I am. There are people in my family." And lo and behold, they swell up where pride is a position of ascendancy. I am saved, and many are not. I've seen it in gospel ministry.

I've known ministers of the gospel, and they become prideful and arrogant about what they've done and their accomplishments, and it becomes about, "Ah, me." And it is pride, and it is ascendancy. And I have been there, and I have done it. What am I trying to show you? This pride and this ascendancy can be manifest in so many different ways, because we are sinners and great sinners at that. And we must be careful not to let any pride or attitude of ascendancy to come into our lives. Second, if we are not careful, we will want to be great instead of being a servant.

And listen, for us to consistently be a servant, we must crucify self and flesh. We must mortify the flesh because we are sinners. We reek with sin. We reek with self. And if we are not constantly in tune with Christ, if we are not walking in obedience and under the Word of God and active in the life of the church, where the Word of God is preached, if we are not in obedience with the Lord, look, we will be about self, and we will want to be great instead of being a servant. To be a servant for the Lord Jesus takes a crucified life. A.T. Robertson put it just right. It's the rule of greatness. A servant. It's the rule of greatness.

And if we are not careful, we will not want to serve all. We will want to be served. We will not want to be last. We will want to be first. We will not want to be a servant. We will want to be served. And none of us are exempt from this. You know, you've heard these statistics in the life of the church. You know, people will say it like this, "Well, you know, 20% of the people do 80% of the work." Well, if this rule of greatness ran rampant in the life of the church, it wouldn't be the case.

See, if we all adopted this rule of greatness, and the Lord Jesus enabled us to let this work itself out in our own lives, and in the life of our church, look, it would be 100% of the people doing 110% of the work. Why do I say 110%? Because we would overlap. You would do some of the things I do, and I would do some of the things you do. Now, I know those statistics are common, and we speak about those types of numbers, but it helps us understand this, and we need to see the rule of greatness. It's about being a servant and being last. It's not about me, and it's not about you.

It's about serving the Lord and serving the church and serving one another. It's about being last and not first, the rule of greatness. And then third, we must see that the Lord Himself has dropped the opportunity for Christ-centered ministry right in our lives. The beginning of the message I told you that this burden relates to two different groups of people. This relates to two ministry opportunities. The first ministry that He really dropped in our lap was a wonderful ministry to children. You know, we've prayed for spiritual orphans in our community. Now, think about this. God has brought them to us. Now, get that picture.

They're in Capernaum, a familiar home. Jesus takes the child, and the text says He set it before them. The Lord has set before us a wonderful ministry. Difficult? Yes. Hard at times? Yes. Does it cause us to pull our hair out? Yes. Does it cause us to ask many questions? Yes. Do we have the strength to do this? No. Do we know how we're going to have the strength to do this? No. What am I trying to show you? The Lord has put before us a tremendous ministry to these children, and we have been bearing this burden week in and week out. Some of us year in and year out.

We've been bearing this burden, pouring our lives into these children, wondering how these things are going to be fleshed out, sometimes even questioning if God can even work. But the Lord has put before us a wonderful, wonderful ministry to children that He has brought our way. Listen, it's as if we're in Capernaum at a familiar place, and the Lord plopped them right down in front of us. Second, the other ministry opportunity of a great, great spiritual needs on every pew. If you are in tune at all concerning the lives of the people here, you will see that we have gigantic spiritual needs in many lives.

And you know, to be honest with you, we are helpless to help, and we are hopeless without His help. Many of you are beginning to see it. Just the other night, I heard one of you say, right by one of the exits, you made the comment of all of the needs on every pew. In my heart, when I heard that, I said, "They get it." So what do we see? The Lord has dropped wonderful ministry opportunities right before us. Now, remember the object lesson, a helpless child. Some interpret these verses as a literal child. Some interpret this not as a literal child, but childlike situations. I would say it's both.

A child is helpless, a child is hopeless, a child needs. That describes the situation before us. Now, as I begin to conclude, I want to make three statements concerning these ministries. First of all, I do not have all the answers. I don't. Some days I feel like I've got two or three good ones, but most days I feel like I have none. But according to what I have right here in these scriptures, I have the best answer, Jesus. You might say, "Pastor, that's an oversimplification." No, it's not. What does Jesus say? What does he say in this verse? "Whoever receives one child like this in my name." That's not all the answers. In the name of Jesus.

And we don't have all of the answers, but we must roll up our sleeves and work our fingers to the bone to give them the totality of Jesus. Give them the Word of God, the precious truths of the Word of God, the person of Christ trusting that the Lord would save them, trusting that the Lord would work in these ministry situations and these great needs. Listen, we don't have all of the answers, but we know the one who has all the answers, and he is Jesus. And we do these things in his name. The second statement is this. In many ways, we're learning as we go. Let's just be honest. In many of these situations, we are learning as we go.

If you're familiar with how we have developed our ministry to our children, we are learning, we are developing as we grow, we are learning as we grow. And that's normal. And then the third statement. This will take Nehemiah-type people. Now, remember in our study of Nehemiah, we finished Chapter 1. We learned that Nehemiah was a broken man, engulfed in grief, brokenness. His life was consumed by the grief and the brokenness concerning the nation, the people in Jerusalem, the great needs that were there.

See, it wasn't enough for Nehemiah to be broken, because when God had done the full work in him at the end of the chapter, what does he say in his prayer? "Lord, grant me success." When he got to that place, that's when the Lord had him right where he wanted, because he wasn't just broken, he was willing. He was willing to be a part of the solution. Did you know that some of you are broken and some of you are willing? Some of you are willing, but you're not broken. Listen, the brokenness is far more necessary than you realize, because in brokenness for circumstances, in brokenness for people, somehow, some way, God does the supernatural.

He changes our heart. He gives us a Christ-like heart. He changes our understanding. He moves us, and he changes us, and he does something. He gives us a heart transplant, and somehow, some way, he gives us a little bit of his heart for the circumstances. Some of you are willing, but you're not broken. Some of you are broken, but you're not quite willing. See, when we get to the place of willingness, things have to change. Nehemiah is our example. He had to leave the comfort of Persia. It's a nice job. He had to risk traveling over a thousand miles back to Jerusalem, and even risk his life there.

So what I'm showing you is Nehemiah, after his brokenness, had to be willing, and when he got to the place of willingness, it took great change and sacrifice in his life. It took the mortification of self. And some of you, you're not at a place where you can be broken, and you can be willing yet. Some of you are not there yet, and I understand that. Some of you, it's going to take a work of God to get you to this place. I sure hope that we do not argue over who is the greatest. I sure hope that none of us jockey to be the greatest. I pray that we can embrace these two peoples, these two needs, giving them Jesus, the best of our ability.

Now I'll say this, and then we'll close. Church, either the gospel is good enough and sufficient. Either Christ in us is sufficient, and the work of the church is going to be successful, and we're going to have the power and the work of the Holy Spirit in these situations, or we're going to have nothing. Those things are enough. The gospel is enough to save these children in due time. Christ in us is enough to enable us to meet these needs. The work of the church is sufficient. We do not need what culture would offer. The power and the work of the Spirit is enough, and He will do this work through us, or we will fail.

And if we're not going to trust in these things, I'll just then close the door and quit. So what are we looking at? The ministry that God's put before us is exactly what Jesus did for the disciples in these verses. Lord Jesus, I pray you'll help us.