Introduction
I want to start by reading you some word-for-word quotes from a current world leader. No prizes for guessing which one it is…
· There's nobody bigger or better at the military than I am.
· I'm just thinking to myself right now let's cancel the election and give it to me.
· The beauty of me is that I'm very rich.
· I think I'm actually humble. I think I'm much more humble than you would understand.
· Any negative polls about me are fake news.
· My IQ is one of the highest and you all know it. Please don't feel so stupid or insecure; it's not your fault.
Today, I want to talk about what greatness is. Who do you truly, admire? Other than Jesus, that is. Who in life do you really look up to? Who you aspire to be like?
It might be from the world of entertainment, or politics perhaps; it could be a sporting hero - or maybe someone much closer to home; a parent or grandparent who is particularly special to you…
Who is it that commands, beyond your respect, your esteem as a figure who rises head and shoulders above their peers, one in whom there is the air of greatness? And what is it about them that attracts you and inspires you?
Welcome to the conversation between Jesus’ closest followers. For context remember, looking back at last week, they have just failed miserably, spectacularly and publicly to take care of a situation Jesus had specifically trained them to deal with.
Then, at the beginning of our reading, they have - all twelve of them - failed to understand a perfectly simple statement, in plain language, that Jesus articulated to them at least three times.
Now, they are not only discussing, but (v34) they are arguing about which of them is the greatest as they walk along the road. Who’s top of the apostles? Who’s the most distinguished and exalted of them all? Who’s going to Right Reverend, who’s going to be Most Reverend, who’s going to be Very Reverend?
This is like bald men fighting over a hairbrush! This is like the seven dwarfs in a bitter dispute over which one is the tallest! Or a dozen village idiots auditioning for University Challenge.
Jesus waits till they arrive at their destination and then he asks them what the raised voices were all about on the road. And they all have this sheepish look about them. They’re ashamed to admit they’ve been fighting about who was going to be top dog. Finally, it comes out and Jesus just has to quietly sit down and get his head around it all.
“Let’s get this straight. The question is which one of you twelve is the greatest? Seriously?”
And so Jesus takes a deep breath and starts to teach them about spiritual growth. If you want to attain true greatness there are five keys right here from the mouth of the undisputed greatest ever, for whom there is no rival, no equal, no peer.
1) Set aside time to learn from Jesus (v30-32)
Key number one; if you want spiritual growth towards true greatness, set aside time to learn from Jesus.
Right at the beginning of our reading, it says that Jesus left a crowded place and made for a quiet, secluded spot that no one knew about so he could teach them. He doesn’t want any interruptions or any distractions. This is priority time away from noise and everyone else’s agendas. He plans some privacy so his followers can learn and you will never make a good follower of Jesus unless you set aside time to be a learner.
It is often said that you are what you eat. The Bible says you are what you think. “For as a person thinks in their heart, so they are,” it says in Proverbs.
Some of you are doing the Bible in a Year, or the New Testament in a Year. Maybe that’s not manageable for you. But start somewhere. A former curate here with very young children used to say that whatever his day ahead looked like he would always start it by reading some words of Jesus.
If the disciples had had the wit to understand what Jesus taught them they would have seen that Christianity is not about going around doing good. It includes that, but that’s not the message.
Fundamentally, it’s about Jesus dying and rising again. That’s what Jesus drummed into them over and over again. People killed Jesus saying he was too bad to live. But God raised him from the dead saying he was too good to die.
Could you explain in a few sentences to a friend outside the church why Jesus died and rose again? If you don’t think you could, I think you should learn to. Set aside time to learn from Jesus.
2) Cultivate a servant heart (v33-37)
Key number 2; if you want spiritual growth towards true greatness, cultivate a servant heart.
In v35 Jesus says, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
What does this mean? It means Jesus is not impressed by outward badges of success. He is not interested in worldly displays of status. He is not looking for leaders who are up themselves and focused on discussing their own importance.
He is looking for Christians who get that it’s all about “how can I make you stronger, how can I inspire you to maturity?” and not “how can I look better, how can I get more likes on Facebook?”
Jesus is looking for individuals who unassumingly choose the humblest, most lowly positions, who will start at the bottom.
If the Queen were to pay a visit here, I know we’d have people offering to get the place spic and span and with a new lick of paint. Well, you would not believe the people who take a turn to clean this church every week. Some of them are amongst the busiest people in All Saints’.
They clean this place not because the Queen is coming next month, but because they know the King of kings is here every week.
As bestselling author, Rory Vaden said, “If serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you.” Do you know leaders who appear to think that serving is for less important people?
Jesus says, “I’ll tell you how greatness works. Let me tell you how to achieve that,” and he takes a young child in the crook of his arm.
Even today, this is still very counter-intuitive. In Jesus’ time, it was baffling. Children were considered a waste of time. They were in the way. No one took boys seriously until the bar-mitzvah at age 12, and girls, not at all. But Jesus has other ideas.
This was a little child. You didn’t get to climb the ladder of success and influence by spending time with kids. Jesus says here, “If you want true greatness, you must learn to minister to unimportant people.”
Let’s hear this loud and clear; God has called us to be a church that excels in loving and making disciples of children. This is prophetic and significant for us; and listen, the very first place Jesus looks for a servant heart is in investing in the spiritual development of our children.
Yes, we need, and insist on, appropriate safeguards. And of course, we understand that not everyone can do this work, but we should never, ever be in a position here where our children’s work is understaffed.
What does Jesus say? “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me.”
What a shock for the disciples! They argue like feral cats about who’s getting the best places at the top table. They’re focused on all the VIPs they’ll get to be seen with and Jesus says, “If you guys want to really go places, you need to spend more time in the kids’ ministry, giving out to those who won’t give you prestige or raise your social profile.”
Jesus is dead serious. Essentially he says, “You guys should stop squabbling and help some kids.” This is still revolutionary teaching 2000 years later! How often in 2017 do you see good, wholesome, competent men, as well as women, being role models in children’s lives?
As well as our Sunday morning children’s work (and we insist that no one is out with children every week, not even our Children’s Worker), and Friday morning Play and Praise, and school assemblies, and Messy Church, and the puppet team of course.
Then there are one-offs like the Life Exhibition and the Glow Party. (By the way, what a brilliant Glow Party on Tuesday. Thank you so much to all of you who gave of your time to make that such a great event, I am so proud of you).
Thank God for our magnificent servant-hearted teams who really get it that welcoming these little ones is exactly the same thing as welcoming Jesus. Might God be calling you also to serve by offering to join one of these teams, even as an occasional helper?
Cultivate a servant heart.
3) Adopt a kingdom mind-set (v38-41)
Key number 3; if you want spiritual growth towards spiritual greatness, adopt a kingdom mind-set.
In v38 John says, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop because he was not one of us.” John does not feel comfortable with the lack of protocol here.
This is like the old Yorkshire joke;
There are three kinds of people in this world.
· Those who were born in Yorkshire.
· Those who wish they were born in Yorkshire.
· And those with no ambition at all.
John is saying “Lord, there’s a bloke going around casting out evil spirits and he’s not even from Yorkshire.”
Notice John doesn’t say “this guy was out of order because he doesn’t follow you.” He said, “He was out of order because he doesn’t follow us.”
“This is bad! He might have an amazing ministry but he didn’t spend three years in Cranmer Hall. He is nowhere to be seen on the electoral roll. He’s not even Church of England!”
So Jesus says, “Oh, leave him alone. Do not stop him.”
“Yeah, but he’s bringing deliverance and relief to oppressed people. And he hasn’t got the right accreditation.”
“Well, that’s good. I haven’t got an issue with that. He doesn’t have to be part of our group. What is the problem, John? Are the demons not leaving quick enough for you? Is he not doing a good job?” Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
We’re on the same team! If a church down the road is doing well, and God is blessing them - fantastic! They don’t have to be from our tradition, they don’t have to agree with our theology, they don’t have to be part of our network of churches – probably we’ve got a lot to learn from them.
When you adopt a kingdom mind-set instead of an empire mentality you stop being suspicious, or envious, or critical. Instead, you see God at work and you say, “Praise God! We want to cheer you on.”
Adopt a kingdom mind-set.
4) Be ruthless towards sin in your life (v42-49)
Key number 4; if you want spiritual growth towards spiritual greatness, be ruthless towards sin in your life.
We’ve just seen that the disciples were judgemental when they looked at other people but they were lenient on themselves. This is a common problem thing; “holier than thou.”
What’s the main reason smoke alarms don’t work? Anyone know? It’s because people disconnect the batteries. What could possibly go wrong doing that? But how many of us unplug the batteries of our conscience so that it won’t sound the alarm about falling into sin?
Jesus says here, “Don’t unplug the batteries. Show no mercy towards sin in your life.” And he uses quite graphic picture language about severing limbs if necessary in order to stop behaviour becoming addictive. It’s hyperbole; it isn’t meant to be taken literally, but Jesus does expect it to be taken seriously.
It simply means this: if there is anything you’re doing (the hand), or anything you’re watching (the eye), or anywhere you’re going (the foot) that the Holy Spirit shows you is not right, or that you know is contrary to God’s will, cut it out of your life. Don’t hold back. Be absolutely ruthless.
In China in the 1960s and 1970s the authorities decided to change the colour coding on traffic lights. They had Chairman Mao’s red book and a red flag so they thought red should be seen as a positive colour.
So the government said, “Right. From now on, red means “go” and not “stop.” Guess what happened... It was a disaster! Road accident statistics went through the roof. People were simply too accustomed to thinking that red means “stop.”
In our culture today the same thing has happened with morality. People are trying to tell you “red really means green.” “Stop really means go.” We are becoming morally colour-blind. But red is red; stop is stop; sin is sin!
Jesus says here, with absolute seriousness, that there is a way that leads to eternal disaster. Don’t go there! Cut out whatever it is that might sever you from Christ and lead you there. Notice Jesus said it to his twelve disciples. Judas didn’t listen - and he paid the price.
Be ruthless towards sin in your life.
5) Be distinctive (v50)
The last key, key number 5; if you want spiritual growth towards spiritual greatness, be distinctive. Stand out. Live differently.
“Salt is good,” Jesus says, “but if it loses its saltiness how can you make it salty again?”
This is a well-known saying by Jesus that few people understand. How can salt lose its saltiness? Sodium chloride is sodium chloride. What we call table salt doesn’t ever become less salty. It can’t. It is a physical and chemical impossibility.
So what does this mean? Here’s the explanation. Salt, in Jesus’ day, wasn’t used for seasoning. They salted fish not so much to flavour it as to preserve it. But Jesus isn’t talking about flavouring or preservative.
The two main uses of salt were as a fertiliser and a disinfectant. They got their salt from the Dead Sea; there was lots of natural potash in it, and they threw it on their fields as a very effective, organic fertiliser, greatly enriching the soil.
They also used it in sanitation. They didn’t have flush toilets, so they created earth mounds with a central hole into which they emptied their bowels. Once they had done that they poured some of this salt in and it acted as an antiseptic, neutralising the unpleasant smell.
At that time, dishonest merchants were known to mix sand into their salt/potash product, a bit like a pub landlord watering down the beer. That is what Jesus means when he talks about salt “losing its saltiness.” The more it’s thinned down the less it works.
That’s why Jesus said (in Luke 14) “If salt loses its saltiness it is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, and it is thrown out.”
Christians can become dull. Some appear to be no different from the world around them. They’ve lost their saltiness, their distinctiveness.
Bishop Rod Thomas said recently, “A Christianity that merely recycles the norms and values of the prevailing culture renders itself irrelevant and subservient.”
What kind of distinctiveness does Jesus want to see in your life?
Fertiliser brings growth, it brings life. That’s what God wants you to do; be a positive influence at work, the one in the office who’s most likely to bring a bit of cheer. The one who always says wholesome things. The one who’s on time and does a full day’s work. The one who sends a get-well card to a colleague off sick. That’s salt on the soil, bringing life.
Disinfectant gets rid of bacteria and bad smells. That’s what God wants you to do; to be the one who never passes on gossip, who doesn’t bad mouth the boss, who doesn’t join in with vulgar jokes and swearing.
That’s what it means to be the salt of the earth.
Kathie once took a new job and, without her new boss saying a single word about Jesus, or wearing any kind of Christian badge, she just knew he was a Christian from Day 1 – it was his joyful, positive attitude, his love and concern for even the most junior employee, and his wholesomeness of speech. He was the salt of the earth.
Ending
God wants you to grow. He wants you to attain spiritual greatness. Here are five keys to help you get there. He says, “Set aside time to learn from to Jesus.” He says, “Cultivate a servant heart.” He says, “Adopt a kingdom mind-set.” He says, “Be ruthless towards sin in your life.” And he says “Be distinctive.”
These are five keys to you becoming a spiritual giant. You don’t need to go to Bible College. You don’t need to get a degree. You don’t need to be especially gifted or talented.
It’s easy. Anyone can grow. These keys are for everyone. Which key, or which keys, are you going to take hold of and use today?
Let’s stand…
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 5 November 2017
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