In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines Jesus’ teaching on discipleship as Jesus starts journeying toward Jerusalem. Pastor Babij explains the first three of five truths on serious discipleship: listening to Jesus and understanding God’s will is paramount, self-sacrificing service to others is the greatest pursuit in this world, and discernment and restraint are necessary in judging Christ’s real disciples.
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mark chapter 9 we’ve been seeing that the Lord has been teaching his disciples and he will continue to do that but it’s getting closer to the cross for him to die on the cross and so he kind of expedites his teaching and presses it home to them so they get it so this morning we’re going to look at the truths of serious probably won’t finish this morning but I’ll reber I’d I leave off I’ll leave off mark chapter 9 we’re going to be looking at verse 30 probably to verse 41 let’s pray lord this morning as we come before you we do thank you for your kindness to us and allowing us to gather together to be able to open up the Word of God to be able to hear the word of God preached and lord I pray that you would give us listening ears that you would give us receptive hearts that you would give us minds that are engaged and that also Lord view ourselves in light of these scriptures so we Lord can you want us to be disciples that are faithful and are serious I pray Lord that you enable us and teach us some of the things those that means so we can at least Lord put them into practice and be able to live our life in a way that is pleasing before you so Lord bless us this morning in this text I pray in Christ’s name Amen now we have been looking at the inner core of disciples Peter James and John they with their eyes saw the glory of the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration and with their ears they heard the endorsement the father to listen to his son and the voice from the cloud was the father’s voice in verse number seven and this is what the father said this is my beloved son listen to him now the disciples really had a difficult time listening they had a difficult time listening to what Jesus really was saying to them they still had a stumbling block before their faith and that stumbling block must be removed that stumbling block as I’ve been saying is really the necessity to understand that the Son of man must suffer and die matter of fact unless he did that nothing else could happen there could be no salvation there could be no coming Kingdom there could be nothing unless Jesus died so he really impresses upon his disciples from verse 30 onward about being a serious serious disciple now I was thinking about things that we ought to take serious and one of the things serious is lightning you know it’s reported that 50 people are reported killed by lightning each year in the United States hundreds more are seriously injured of course they tell you listen you need to get into a safe building or a vehicle at the first sign of thunder lightning or dark threatening clouds stay inside at least 30 minutes after the Thunder stops don’t take shelter under trees and why is that well is because if you consider the facts of lightning you have to take it seriously it’s powerful stuff a typical lightning flash is about 300 million volts about 30,000 amps in comparison comparison to your household current your household currents only 120 volts and 15 amps maybe 20 amps so it’s really powerful stuff most people who get struck by lightning Tsar on golf courses and it was interesting I was watching an experiment and the experiment had to deal with what people were wearing on a golf course if the lightning struck who would who would actually be saved from it one wore a full suit of armor made of metal one war of course there was one person of course these were all dummies that they used to do the experiments one person was supposed to have no clothes on another person had a wetsuit on all fully rubberized one person had a raincoat on with rubber boots when the lightning struck which one remains standing well believe it or not everyone was consumed except the person had food of metal armor because the lightning struck that and it went right down to the ground like a lightning rod and the person inside of it was not affected at all so see lightning needs to be taken very seriously if you don’t take it seriously then you could die if you take it lightly you could die and it’s some interesting things is that even though lightning may strike three miles from the center of the thunderstorm far outside the rain or the storm clouds bolts can strike 10 to 15 miles from that storm so if you’re in that vicinity you can possibly get electrocuted because of a lightning strike so really get in your car get in your house get away so you take it seriously now I say that as an illustration for this we need to take discipleship as seriously as lightning safety because it is so important to be a serious disciple of Jesus Christ so on this lord’s day we need to get a grasp on five important truths that shed light on what a serial serious disciple looks like I probably won’t look at all five today we’ll look at at least three some of them are very simple something are going to get deeper but they are all very seriously serious to consider the first truth about serious discipleship is this listening to Jesus and understanding the will of God is paramount for a disciple in fact look at verse number 30 it says from there they went out and began to go through Galilee and he did not want anyone to know about it now what is happening here is Jesus in this second half of his ministry is heading towards Jerusalem now you know it’s going to happen at Jerusalem so he wants to avoid the crowds so he can prepare his disciples privately especially about the horrible events that will come upon them in a very short period of time the goal of Jesus teaching is simply to prepare them for what lies ahead so they need to be listening so in preparation Jesus gives them a second passion prediction about what’s going to take place and notice in verse 31 this is what he sets to them privately he says for he was teaching his disciples and telling them the Son of man is to be delivered into the hand men they will kill him and when he has been killed he will arise three days later so that’s the prediction the Lord gives his disciples his prediction reading it is simple it’s clear it is precise in its timing that Jesus will die and three days later he will rise again the Son of Man will be placed in the murderous hands of men so the Heart of Jesus teaching was his coming death and resurrection that was the most important thing for them to understand however the next verse shows the dishes are and how they were their faith we have been talking about from last time weak faith now we faith is better than no faith but weak faith always needs to be strengthened and one way weak faith is strengthened is by teaching by truth by understanding what is being communicated so the disciples though were not ready to receive this clear truth so the stumbling block remained in their life they could not move forward until they grasped that in other words they didn’t get it but listening correctly and the statement and they were afraid to ask him so the language here stresses that the disciples were in a continuous state of ignorance and fear so they didn’t understand the will of God because they have not been carefully listening and usually when people are not carefully listening they’re thinking about something else they’re thinking about their own agenda and what they want to think about so they were not carefully listening and so out of fear the Bible says here these asking questions now you know question could be by dead for further understanding something right you always want to be asking questions they’re not asking any questions it does remain the same for of course some people some of you who may not grasp the message of salvation or God’s will for you because you really have not been listening and the reason why you have not been listening could be that you have been preoccupied with your own self seeking pursuits and the reason why I could say that is because we’re just like the disciples we are not much different than them now what were the disciples preoccupied with well Jesus self-sacrificing posture not putting contrast up against the disciples self-seeking the disciples were actually deep in long discussion about what they were preoccupied with and so the scripture gives us a clue why they did not have room in their worldview for a dying Messiah also their ignorance and pride prevented them from seeing the real road to greatness in the kingdom of God so the second truth about after listening understanding is that self-sacrificing surface to others is the greatest pursuit in this world that’s according to Jesus so what happens is that Jesus and His disciples have arrived back in his hometown and of course they’re now at Peter’s home if if you look at verse number 33 it says they came to Capernaum and when he was in the house he began to ask them what were you discussing on the way but they kept silent for on the way they were discussing with one another look what they were preoccupied with which one of them was the greatest now you see there’s something wrong there you see that it is very surprising that Jesus is predicting suffering and death and his disciples are discussing discussing who’s going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God so their silence actually indicated their shame to reveal to Jesus the unworthy manner the other one worthy subject they were discussing it also reveals that there is a certain amount of envy and jealousy that existed pride that existed among the 12 apostles the disciples atheos gospel acts brings the in or count don’t we we we want we want our lives to mean something we want our lives to have some impact on someone while we live through this world you know just this past week our sister Valerie Kern’s went home to be with the Lord now some of you did know Valerie but she has been in our church probably for around twenty seven years her daughter moved away and she had to move with them for a period of time but I got a chance to do the funeral but you know Valerie was an unassuming kind of person but she actually had an impact on people by the way she lived their life and by her faith in Jesus Christ and even on her own family and the troubles that she had in her life she had an impact actually her life counted and as the people gave eulogies and testimonies of her life that came out about what kind of woman she was and so all of us someday when we pass on we want our life to have impacted somebody to some extent in a good way see Jesus actually turned the meaning of what it really means to be great right on its head what Jesus actually says about it is very paradoxical he says this if you want to be great you must choose to be last nobody wants to be last everybody wants to be first but he’s saying this if you want to be great you have to be last and so in verse number 35 he begins to do that he begins to teach them again and if we notice here that Jesus sits down and sitting down that that means that he wasn’t sitting down to rest he was taking the posture of a teacher rabbis used to sit down when they taught for really or when they taught about something very serious so Jesus sits down in verse 35 he called his twelve and said to them if anyone wants to be first he shall be last of all so that’s where he begins to start start to teach them about what real greatness is see if a person wants to be first and of course that word wants is really the word that has to do with their will their volition by his own volition will make himself either first or last you have to want in your will to be last and men regard people who are first as Lords as leaders as those who who are in charge but if a disciple seeks greatness alone they’ll end up with nothing if one desires to be first in this world he will buy his own deliberate choice end up being last but Jesus says if you want to be great you have to be willing to be last that’s what my disciples do that’s how serious it is now that means several things it means death to self it means a steaming other is higher than yourself it means putting down pride and envy and jealousy a lot of things are going on there when that happens but Jesus also added something else he said this if you want to be great not only does that mean to be last but it means greatness means that you are to be a servant in verse 35 sitting down he called 12 and said to them if anyone wants to be first he shall be last of all and servant of all if a serious disciple is too seek anything they must seek being a servant so Jesus is saying to his disciples listen if you want to be great you must choose to be last if you want to be great if you want to be great and on the way to greatness then that way is the way of service serving people so Jesus has an illustration in verse number 36 to enforce what he is saying he says this in verse 36 taking a child he said him before them and taking him in his arms he said to them in verse 36 whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me and whoever receives me does not receive me but him who sent me see the illustration is this that children had little honor status at all in the world at that time children were also vulnerable they were week there were easy targets of abuse and neglect so disciples are to receive in other words the weak and the unimportant in society if you want to be great if you want to be a servant then you have to receive those who are weak you have to receive those who are on the fringes you have to receive people who are unimportant they’ll never be important in society you have to receive people like that so if you think you’re great in the world’s eyes you’ll never minister to the lowly but you will minister to the lowly if you consider yourself a servant an attitude of humility will express itself in voluntary service to others that true servants have an attitude of unselfish pneus which seeks the welfare of others and not only that when you are like that when you learn to be like that when you take discipleship so serious that you are taking serious being a servant no matter what rank you have no matter what knowledge you have no matter what position you may have in this world to take a place and be like a servant is could be a step down for you most of the time it is a step down but it’s a step in the right direction if you want to be great before God if you want to be usable if you want your life to count then a servant who is humble and serves it says something very interesting in verse 37 if they are willing to receive the week and important they’re also receiving something else it says in verse 37 whoever receives one child like this in my name you’re going to see that repeated in this text receives me but notice whoever we sees me does not receive me but him who sent me now we see the approval of a serious disciple by not only the Sun but by the father so the Godhead is approving someone who realizes in their life that the road to greatness is the road to being a servant and to someone being last of course Jesus is the greatest example of what a servant is and what a servant does because remember the main text of the whole gospel of mark is chapter 10 verse 45 for even the Son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many so although Jesus was infinitely great himself all-powerful to lord over all he came in his incarnation on a mission that was the very opposite so in a very real way the Lord’s asking us to be the very opposite of what the world says to be is great and what you think it is to be to be great and think the very opposite of that see Jesus could have right Lee compel have compelled all men to be servants even slaves but he himself the Lord of glory the creator of the heaven and the earth and creator of mankind itself came to serve and the purpose of the Lord’s life in coming into the world the first time was to give and not to receive to give and not to take so Jesus took on himself the very nature of a servant and anyone who’s going to be a serious disciple has to consider this that I want to be like the Lord and if I’m going to be like the Lord he was the greatest servant then I also need to be a servant remember what it says in Philippians who although he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men and being found in the appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on the cross so Jesus was the greatest minister who ever walked the face of this planet and he expects his disciples to be very very serious about being a servant like himself of course the question for you is are you a surfing and do people see you as a servant because somebody who is a servant believe it or not is very powerful they’re willing to do anything it takes no matter how dirty and messy it may get to act like Jesus Christ and you’re not going to get any more messier than being beaten and going to a cross to die as an innocent man and be treated like a criminal and then dying for the sin of sinners not your own see that can only be accomplished by someone who is a servant and so Jesus definitely was a servant there’s a third truth about serious discipleship found in our text and it’s this that discernment and restraint is necessary when judging who are Christ’s real disciples now this one is is a very interesting one it’s the one that kind of like we don’t really think this way but and the disciples weren’t necessarily thinking this way either but its necessary to be serious about being a disciple in verse number 38 c disciples are to listen or discern those with undeveloped faith while being careful not to offend them look what it says in verse 38 jesus said to him or John said to him teacher we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we try to prevent him because he was not following us hmm now I do want you to notice the repeated of the the trays in your name because that is key that’s a key phrase for interpreting this passage and the ones in the context see the disciples rebuked this anonymous Exorcist because he was not among the regular followers of Jesus they didn’t recognize this particular person they assumed that only the followers of Jesus Christ had the right to use G his name to do mighty works so the disciples rebuked them you can’t do that you’re not one of us now it’s ironic that the disciples are rejecting someone for succeeding in exorcism when they had just failed in that very thing in the passengers we just looked at last week in any case harsh criticism to a person with undeveloped faith or spiritual immaturity is not helpful it can actually drive a person away from the Lord so it’s a legitimate question it’s a legitimate observations the disciples the disciples had but Jesus of course is going to tell them what they ought to do so the Lord response to them is a bit surprising in verse number 39 he says jesus said do not hinder them that’s a command do not hinder him for there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name now let me just stop there for a moment so it shows that the ministry and the message of Jesus Christ has gone out far and wide beyond where the disciples have been ministering and the name of Jesus Christ was out there and people were becoming followers of Jesus Christ all over the place and some of them they didn’t know who they were so this follower of Christ must have grasped the name of Jesus by faith and had become a real believer and was willing to engage in demonic warfare as a disciple of Jesus Christ immediately guy definitely had some character there he had some spunk as what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ let’s get right into the battle it’s not full around but Jesus what he does he asked for patience on the part of his zealous disciples to say to them listen give time for the faith of this man to develop obviously the man’s faith was young and it was undeveloped the man’s knowledge was limited so he needed to grow in both knowledge and faith now just get this for a minute just like the patient’s the Lord has been displaying to his own disciples who have been dull of mind and heart in other words he is saying to them listen in other words show the same patience and long-suffering with others as the Lord has been showing to you all along the way so if you’re going to be a serious disciple you really do have to consider other people you have to consider where they’re at spiritually you have to consider how much do they know do they grasp the gospel alright the problem is is that many times people are quite different than us and we respond to that difference but if you notice what the Lord’s the Lord’s reasons for not rejecting him is found in verse number 39 it says but Jesus says do not hinder him for there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name and be able to soon afterwards speak evil of me in other words a person like this would not soon turned against you or myself after working a miracle in the name of Jesus Christ and then in verse 40 he adds for he who is not against us is for us see the man was not against Christ he was not against his disciples so them to some extent he was on our side he was with us this caution us that we should be very careful not to be too quick to judge another person who was working in the name of the Lord yet they are different in their philosophy and their practice see the problem is is that when you know a lot when you would know a lot of theology which is good to know you can have a tendency to be too quick you just step into the realm of a judge than a humble servant disciple right you tend to judge everything now we’re to judge the Bible sit and says we were to judge things were to be discerning two things but he’s talking about people here and he’s saying listen there are going to be some people who are my disciples but they don’t know as much as you yet they have maybe got some wrong teaching but they’re mine and they’re different than you you can’t reject them you can’t reject them I’m quoting from RC sproul he said this about this there are many people who do not worship the way we do who do not share the same confession of faith that we have who interpret biblical passages very differently yet they are ministering in the name of Jesus we have to appreciate an embrace authentic ministry when we find it we also have to distance ourselves from heresy whenever we find it that takes discernment so in other words a serious disciple is going to show discernment and restraint when it comes to judging people where they’re at what they’re going through what they believe and not be jumping down their throat because they said something wrong or they thought something wrong see that’s always a time to step back and teach them if you can that’s what Jesus does he doesn’t come down and crush his disciples he steps back in patience and long-suffering and he brings them along ever so slowly you know we do want people to know what we know don’t we we do want people to have victory over their sin we do want people to have stronger marriages and parents to know how to lead and guide and train their children we want all those things we want to see that in peoples and in professed believers lives but you know sometimes it doesn’t come as quick as we like so we have to remain as a serious disciple with patience and long-suffering and care and prayer so we don’t push them away but we draw them in because we’re servants and we see their needs and we’re willing to move toward them to meet those needs and sometimes those needs are theological needs sometimes they’re those needs are habitual needs they have habits that are bad in their life and they don’t see it yet sometimes those needs are they just haven’t gotten coming to church yet they haven’t gotten learning the Word of God yet they haven’t gotten I need to read my Bible they haven’t gotten that yet and yet see that’s what we’re discern and be able to help them and come alongside them so we can move them toward a deeper relationship with the Lord and deeper understanding of what is right and what is wrong and to do it in a very patient way in other words if you look at verse number 41 Jesus is really saying listen don’t reject them show them kindness it says for whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your of your name as followers of Christ truly I say to you he will not lose his reward in other words if somewhat is ministering to you as a disciple of Christ even though they may be different than you but they’re they’re ministering in the name and then they find out you’re following Christ and they want to help you then they will not lose their reward even if it’s just giving you a cup of water and even if you giving someone else a cup of water whose ministering in the name of Jesus Christ see no one who was seeking to serve the Lord no matter how seemingly unimportant his service may say or how insignificant the person may be is excluded from Christ circle so sometimes Christ’s disciples are not quickly recognized by us but they are his disciples so the act of giving a drink is performed in connection with a name both are confessing the name of Christ both are ministering under the name of Christ that you are Christ’s followers and believers of his because you bear the name of Christ it says this in Matthew 25 40 and the king will answer and say to them truly I say to you to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine even the least of them you did it to me in other words when we serve as servants and we serve with humility and we serve in the name of Jesus Christ we are going to be people that recognize people’s needs we are going to people be people that are compassionate towards people’s needs we are going to be people that are long suffering with people and patient with people and when we do that we actually exemplify the very character and person of our Lord Himself and I don’t know of any real disciple who wants to be serious don’t want to be like that but that doesn’t mean you have to deal with your own sin that doesn’t mean you have to deal with your own pride your own envy your own jealousy your own views of what it is to be great and where you want to go in this world what’s your goals you know what does mean to you to be great well this is what it means to be really great in the eyes of God now saying all that the fourth thing truth about serious discipleship which I will not develop this morning but i do want to mention is this if we don’t take on the attitude of a servant then we will end up pushing people away from the lord and not toward them so he says this and here this would be the fourth one the fourth truth about serious discipleship sin is to be taken seriously and it is to be defeated at all costs and there’s two areas of cindy’s going to deal with that the scripture deals with one of them is sins against others and then sins against ourselves in verse number 42 notice what it says whoever causes one of these little ones who believe that means they’re a real disciple to stumble it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck be he had been cast into the sea that’s pretty serious the Lord is saying I’m so serious about what a real discipleship is to be that when you are not one you actually turn people away from me and not toward me and that is a great offense you caused them to sin you caused them to stumble and whoever causes the followers of Christ the little ones who trust him like a child trusts his mother and father those who are of little who are little in faith and spiritually undeveloped if you cause them to fall into sin it is better right now for you to die before the supposition could become a reality before it happens before you cause somebody has stumbled sin it’s better if you die right now a millstone was a large flat stone that was turned by usually a donkey or horse to grind grain it was very heavy in other words if somebody tied one of those around your neck and threw you in the ocean you’re not coming up whoever destroys a childlike believer spiritually encouraged the greatest wrath of Jesus so this is this is a great danger of in Scenario thers into sin but there’s even in an easier danger and that’s allowing yourself to be ensnared and that’s where I’m going to stop this morning I’m going to pick it up next time let’s pray lord I pray this morning that as we consider these truths Lord you would impress it upon our heart today that as we go home as we go to lunch as we go to our home groups help us Lord to consider ourselves Lord have we been a person who’s willing to be last have we been a person who’s willing to be a servant in the church of god in the kingdom of God so we can have our lives count for you so Lord we can be used in any way at any time by the Spirit of God to minister to some person whoever they may be are we the kind of people Lord that have discernment when it comes to meeting people and finding out where they’re at and then Lord when we find out willing to be a servant then and meet their need to approach them in a humble way in a patient way I pray Lord that you would make us people like that we know Lord does not come from our flesh it doesn’t come from the world it doesn’t come from the enemy of our soul it can only come from the spirit but I do pray Lord you would make us people like that and any envy and any jealousy and any pride that needs to be put down today I pray Lord that we would put it down and that we would kill it so Lord we can be people who lead people to Christ and to a deeper relationship with him we will never be people who push people away and Lord cause offense before them were they stumbled even into sin or please donal ever allow that to happen amongst us so I prayed this this morning in the precious and the kind name of Jesus Christ amen let’s stand