Preparing for Great Responsibility
This morning for our scripture and the sermon, we're going to be in Luke chapter 9. We're continuing in this chapter. This is now the fourth message that I've preached out of this chapter to try to highlight how Jesus was preparing his disciples.
It's not unlike, but it's also not exactly like, when someone is preparing you for something big in terms of responsibility. Probably the first large thing that I got trained for was earning my driving license. And the same is probably true for you that, whatever your age, you looked forward to driving a car by yourself with both excitement and trepidation. There was the excitement that you would now have the freedom to go where you wanted, when you wanted, and you could get there in style depending on your family or your circumstances.
But the truth is, in spite of all the preparation and all the practice and all the driving instruction that you received, when the day finally came for you to get the keys to the car and make your first solo journey, there was also a hint of anxiety. There was the fear of what's going to happen. I don't have that co-pilot telling me to do this and not do that. What if I encounter some weird thing in traffic that I've never encountered before? What if I lose control of this car and all of its power? And we can rightly have a sense of both awe and fear about that responsibility that had been given to us.
If you can't relate to driving, then certainly when you got your first major job, and you were trained and shown what to do, and then suddenly you were left alone to actually do the job, you wondered: Am I going to live up to their expectations? Will I be able to do all the things that they've asked of me? Will I be able to perform at the level that they expect of me? And while you were both exhilarated to get this new job and the rewards that came with it, you also quietly wondered if you're up to the task.
Well, those emotions, whether it's relating to taking your first solo journey in a car or having your first big responsibility at work, are some of the things that are running through the disciples' own minds. They're excited that they're with Jesus, the great teacher and master, the one who's taught with authority in such a way that people are drawn to him. They're amazed at his teaching. They're also just bowled over that they get to walk with Jesus and watch him perform miracle after miracle after miracle. It seems like every day, multiple times a day, someone was coming to Jesus to ask for a healing or a demon to be cast out or perhaps even a dead person to be raised again.
And now Jesus in chapter nine is telling the disciples, "You men have the same responsibility."
The Disciples' Mixed Response
I'm giving you my power and my authority to go out and proclaim the kingdom of God. Well, the disciples were no doubt excited, but they were also anxious. They were wondering, "How are we going to do this? What's this going to look like? And will we be able to meet Jesus' expectations?"
And so far, the early reports are mixed because Jesus has sent them out at the beginning of chapter 9 in their initial mission, and they've come back with some successes, but then they are faltering. As Jesus predicts his own death and he reveals to them his deity, they begin to have problems. And those problems are juxtaposed right next to their successes. It's not unlike our own experience when we are on the high of walking with Christ and being in his presence and then we feel the low of wondering if we are even a Christian.
Here, the disciples in chapter 9, beginning in verse number 37, have just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration and they experience a sudden low. Follow along as I read from chapter 9, verse 37 through 50.
"The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, 'Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him, and suddenly he screams, and it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.'
'You unbelieving and perverse generation,' Jesus replied, 'how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.' Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at his greatness.
While everyone was marveling at all Jesus did, he said to his disciples, 'Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.' But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it. An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, 'Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you who is greatest.'
'Master,' said John, 'we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he's not one of us.' 'Do not stop him,' Jesus said, 'for whoever is not against you is for you.'"
As Luke records these events, there are parallel passages in Matthew and Mark's gospel. And in those passages, there are different emphases. Luke's emphasis is on the disciples and how they respond to Jesus' revelation of his deity, his authority, and his power. And the disciples' response is mixed. On the one hand, they're excited to be in the presence of Jesus. And on the other hand, they're powerless to do what he has called them to do.
And in this passage, we see Jesus amazing everyone at the greatness of God. And he wants the disciples to understand his own greatness so that they can lean on that for their ministry to accomplish his mission. In this chapter, Jesus demonstrates and shows them over and over again that without his power and authority at work in their lives, their own preaching would be powerless and their ability to heal diseases and cast out demons would be of no effect. No matter how hard they may try, neither their enthusiasm nor their effort would be enough to propel them forward. So instead of self-reliance or dependence on their past successes, the disciples would need an ongoing faith in Almighty God. So Jesus brought them to the point of their need and showed them again that they were not capable of doing the ministry that he called them to without dependence on God.
Displaying the Greatness of God
So Jesus amazes his disciples and all of us with his greatness. And he does this first in this passage by displaying the greatness of God. Jesus displays the greatness of God.
It says the next day to begin this section, which is the day after the transfiguration, where Jesus has literally transformed in front of Peter, James, and John, showing them his full deity. Now they have come down from the mountain where a large crowd has gathered, and this group of people were eagerly waiting for Jesus, some desperate to see Jesus because the disciples left behind were proving to be ineffective. The nine disciples who did not go up on the mountain were left at the foot of the mountain trying to manage the crowds, trying to help people that were sick and possessed with demons, but they were struggling to keep up with the demand and they were struggling to do the work that God had assigned them.
Maybe while Jesus, Peter, James, and John were on the mountain, they had observed the presence of God pass over the Mount of Transfiguration in the same way that the Israelites had seen God's presence over Mount Sinai. Or maybe the people at the foot of the mountain just were desperate to get close to Jesus. Whatever the case, there were throngs of people all calling out and trying to get his attention.
And there was one man in particular in verse number 38 that called out from the crowd and he was able to get through. In spite of all the noise and all the chaos of people clamoring to be near Jesus, this man was able to get Jesus' attention with his urgent plea. It rose above all the others. I can't help but think of the woman who had the issue of blood, who crawled through a crowd to touch Jesus and Jesus noticed her. Now we have a man whose son is demon-possessed and he's been able to get through the crowd and raise his voice in a way that Jesus acknowledged him.
And here's what he said, verse 38: "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child." Luke does not identify this man or his son as he did in some cases, but instead he's simply giving us a picture of a desperate father who merely wanted Jesus to look at his son. Notice the father is not demanding that Jesus heal his son or cast out the demon. He puts no expectations on Jesus. He simply humbly comes before him and asks Jesus to have enough compassion to look at his son.
This was the third parent who had come to Jesus desperate about their child. Jesus had already restored a widow's son who was dead when they encountered one another in a funeral procession, and Jesus raised the son to life. Then there was Jairus, who had his daughter was dying, and when Jesus went into their home, he appeared to be dead, but Jesus brought her back. And now this desperate father was calling out, asking Jesus for help, saying, "Please look and see if there's not anything that you can do." Even if no one else had been able to help this demon-afflicted son, the father believed Jesus would be able to help him. He was desperate.
And why? Because there was an evil spirit tormenting his only child, it says in 38 and 39. When this evil spirit seized control of his son's body, it was terrifying because the boy would suddenly scream, which was the indication that bad things were about to happen. He wasn't squealing with delight or screaming in pain. He was screaming in abject fear because his body was being taken over by a demon. And then he would convulse uncontrollably and foam at the mouth, demonstrating he had no power over himself. This demon was violently destroying this young man and publicly humiliating him. He was aiming to destroy the man's son just like Legion had tried to do with another man a couple chapters ago.
Some have tried to reduce this to simply say that the young man had epilepsy and that he was having some kind of seizure. So they have only a medical explanation for this young man's symptoms. But I would say that is not the case. Luke himself was a physician. He would understand medical conditions and needs, but he describes this not in terms of epilepsy, but in terms of demon affliction. This young man was being tormented by an evil spirit, and the father was desperate to do whatever he could to free his son from this oppression.
So he begged Jesus' disciples. Apparently, before he had come to Jesus, while Jesus was up on the Mount of Transfiguration, he was with the disciples in the crowd asking them to drive this demon out. But it says in verse number 40, they could not do it. The other disciples had failed to exercise the authority that Jesus had delegated to them. He had given all of them the power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, verse number one from this chapter, but the disciples faltered and revealed their faithlessness. In response to this desperate father's pleas, Jesus laments about everyone in the crowd.
He says, "You unbelieving and perverse generation." And then he asks them a rhetorical question, "How long shall I stay and put up with you?" Jesus did not chastise his nine disciples specifically and call them to the front and shame them. But he grieved over all of Israel, calling them a perverse, a crooked generation. Their doubts and unbeliefs were preventing them from believing in Jesus' divine power and strength.
Sure, they were interested in Jesus the teacher, thus this man calls him a teacher. And sure, they were interested in him as a healer, but they were missing the fact that he was none other than the Son of God. So Jesus, in spite of his lament and his sorrow for this generation, calls for the young boy and he says, "Bring him here."
And while the boy was coming, the demon grasped for his last ounce of control over this young man. He threw him to the ground and he started another convulsing fit in verse number 41. The demon overpowered this boy's body for the final time, aiming to display his might and challenge Jesus' authority for all to see.
But verse number 42 says, Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. The father had asked Jesus to simply look at his son, and now Jesus called the boy forward and spoke a rebuke over the demon that afflicted him. It doesn't say Jesus had to touch him. There was no magical ceremony. There was no exorcism. There was just simply Jesus rebuking the demon and the demon left the boy.
After Jesus cast this demon out, it says everyone was amazed at the greatness of God in verse number 43. Everyone was amazed at God's majesty because of what Jesus had done. This was the same amazement that Peter, James, and John experienced when they saw Jesus transfigured on the mount. Now everyone was marveling over the greatness of God displayed in the person of Jesus as he cast the demon out of this boy.
We see in this section that the only right response to the work of God is to wonder at his majesty and to recognize him as God and he alone. Many times people focus on what God does and they miss who God is. They worship God's works instead of worshiping God himself. The crowd in this instance observed Jesus cast out of a demon out of a boy and they marveled at the greatness of God. Even though they were a crooked and wicked generation, they acknowledged that Jesus had to be divine, that what he did here was something supernatural beyond the ordinary ability of people.
The disciples showed where ordinary ability faltered, and Jesus showed where the power of God succeeded. The crowd recognized the majesty of God and they were worshiping. They were worshiping because they were in awe over his presence and his work.
As today is Father's Day, some of you have probably fathers received cards or coffee mugs or t-shirts that say things like this: "World's greatest dad," or "Number one dad," or "Best dad ever." I've gotten a few of those things. And with all those shirts and mugs and things going around, it's really hard to tell which one of us is the best.
But with jesting aside, this passage challenges fathers to direct their children to the greatness of God instead of their own greatness. As much as this dad wanted to rescue his son and deliver him from the demon, and as many times as he tried to do exactly that, he was powerless. But this father introduced his son to the power of Christ and his son was healed.
As fathers, the way to be the greatest dad is not to be the coolest. It's not to be the best athlete or the smartest person. It's not even to be the most fun dad, but the way to be the greatest dad is to be a dad who has this kind of passion and intensity to introduce our children to God.
Young children in their innocence marvel at their dad's knowledge and strength. They genuinely believe that their dad can answer every question, and they ask a lot of questions. Those of you who were up here for the commissioning, just wait until those sweet children can talk. They will also believe that their dad is a superhero, that he is the strongest, the fastest, the most capable man on earth.
And while this adoration for their dads will fade with age, it is a hint at something far, far greater. This admiration that children naturally have for their dads points to the fact that we have an even greater father. And that father is in heaven. And he loves us more than any human father can love us. He genuinely knows all things because he is omniscient. He genuinely has all the strength because he is omnipotent. And he wants to deploy his knowledge and strength for our care and our good.
While you may not be afflicted by a demon and your child may not be afflicted by a demon, you still have the opportunity to come to Jesus and to ask him to save your child and your children.
In our culture, so many fathers are obsessed with providing a comfortable life for their children and giving them opportunities that they themselves did not have. And while those things are not bad per se, they're not what's best. What's best is that we introduce our children to Jesus from an early age and we show them our dependence on Jesus. And like the crowd, we marvel at his greatness. We wonder and we worship an incredible God. Don't make the mistake of letting your children wonder and worship something much less.
Earlier this week, I was listening to a podcast where they were talking about the industry of holding kids back in the eighth grade. And you might guess, but with all the changes in college sports now with image, name, and likeness, and all the money that's being thrown at college athletes, there are now private schools being developed to hold children back in the eighth grade so they can become better and more competitive athletes in high school. That way they can maximize their child's opportunity to get money to attend college and, hopefully, even beyond that, to get more money to play professionally.
Many families are making incredible sacrifices, including their family dynamics, so their kids can be devoted to their sport, all with the hope that they will win the lottery and strike it rich by becoming well-paid athletes. While there's nothing wrong with sport in itself, I would say don't settle for so little. Don't settle for mere money when you have the majesty of God and you can introduce your child to the God of eternity.
Sports will pass away. Most professional athletes only make it four or five years, even great ones. Now, granted, there are exceptions, and we love to point to people like Chipper Jones, who played almost 20 years with the Braves. But they are the exception. Most people are like shooting stars, and at the end of it all, many of them have broken lives and broken bodies.
As we come to worship, we can bring our children into the presence of God, and that is far, far more important. And as we do that, we want to wonder and be amazed by God's greatness. And we want our children to experience that as well. Imagine the relief of this boy when the seizure stopped, and his foaming at the mouth ceased, and he was able to stand on his own two feet and look at his dad in his right mind and say, "What just happened to me? This is incredible."
It was incredible because his dad had the right perspective on God. Jesus was displaying the greatness of God, and this father was pursuing the greatness of God. But in the midst of this, the story takes an unusual twist because at the height of Jesus displaying God's greatness, he also foretells future suffering. And that's my second point this morning: that Jesus foretells future suffering.
Foretelling Future Suffering
It says beginning in the second half of verse 43 that while everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he told his disciples about his mission a second time. There's a stark contrast here between the crowd's euphoria, their marveling at God's greatness, and now we see Jesus' sobriety about his mission. This must have shocked the disciples. They too were probably reveling in what had just happened, looking at Jesus in wonder and amazement.
But Jesus did not want his closest followers to lose sight of his future suffering and pending death. He had already told them in verse number 22 that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and must be killed on the third day and raised to life. Now he says to the disciples, "Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men."
Jesus' second prediction repeats his title, the Son of Man. This is a reference to Jesus' full sinless humanity. And the Son of Man would soon suffer at the hands of men. In other words, the righteous Jesus Christ, who lived among sinful human beings, would be given over to his enemies and crucified for their sins. Not crucified for any wrong that he had done, but crucified because of all the wrongs they had done.
Jesus was now exhorting his disciples to hear these words and take them to heart. Their experience would not always be the mountaintop of transfiguration or the height of healing and seeing people respond so eagerly. Jesus knew that his disciples were still confused about his mission of suffering and death. It says in verse number 45, they did not understand what this meant. How could Jesus yield his divine power and authority to human enemies?
The disciples did not understand how a crowd that was currently raising their hands in worship and celebrating God's greatness would use the same hands to persecute Jesus to the point of death. How was this possible? Luke clarified that this was all hidden from them so that they would not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask Jesus about it. In other words, all the implications of Jesus' deity and his suffering were hidden in plain sight until God would give his disciples fuller understanding after his death and resurrection. For now, they would hear his words and they would ponder them, but they would not fully understand them.
At different times, every believer experiences the frustration of not recognizing what God is doing and having to wait until the future to understand it. We sometimes joke, "Don't ask God for patience because he'll give it to you." And that is certainly true. I've also heard it said that God never procrastinates, he's always on time. But to us, it feels like he's trying our patience and that he is procrastinating. But God is using these life lessons to teach us to trust him.
Sometimes God grants us an understanding fairly quickly, and we can make sense of our life and frame it in his sovereignty. But many times God teaches us this in the distant future—that's only in looking back a few years from now, or perhaps even in eternity, that we will fully understand. Ultimately, though, God uses our lack of understanding so we will learn to walk by faith and not by sight, Paul says, and that we will not lean on our own understanding, Solomon says in Proverbs. We usually do not know what God is doing, but he wants us to trust him in faith.
He has his reasons for concealing his divine purposes. Sometimes it has to do with his timing. As it did for the disciples here, it was not yet time for him to die, but he was preparing them for his soon death. But at other times, God withholds his knowledge because it's too heavy for us to bear. And it's an act of his merciful kindness that he keeps us blissfully ignorant. If we knew the future, we might lose heart and give up.
Anyone who's played youth sports has probably experienced a level of confusion and frustration over their coach's instructions and drills. "What is he talking about? This does not make sense," we might wonder when asked to do a drill. "Why is he making me do this? I don't understand. Or how in the world is this going to help me in a real game? I just want to play ball and the coach is getting in the way." And yet, successful players and successful teams learn to trust their coaches, and those crazy drills and those unclear instructions suddenly become crystal clear in the moment of competition.
Jesus foretold his future suffering so his disciples could one day make sense of his death and resurrection. He didn't pause here for a lengthy explanation. He gave them enough information to move them forward. He was preparing them for the time when he would no longer be with them. They would gather in the upper room and talk about his life and remember his teaching, including this.
Then they would run to his empty tomb and then they would fully understand his power over life and death. And it would all start to make sense.
Imagine the disciples here are too scared to even ask questions among themselves about why Jesus was bringing this up and what it could possibly mean. But in that moment of understanding, it emboldened them to carry the gospel forward to the point of their own deaths.
Jesus doesn't reveal everything that you and I want to know when we want to know it. But he gives us enough. He shows us that he is trustworthy and that we can follow him with all of our lives.
Although we live in a culture and society that wants to measure everything and that celebrates metrics and dashboards for performance, Jesus simply calls us to trust him. The metric and the dashboard is: Are we listening to him? Are we intaking from his word? Are we sensitive to his spirit? And are we obeying what he says for us to do?
Jesus doesn't give us all the answers because we're not prepared for all of the answers. But he gives us enough that we can take the next step.
Again, with it being Father's Day, what a great example for fathers to live that for their children, to show them that obedience to God is far more important than obedience to a boss, or obedience to a dollar, or obedience to an ambition, but obedience to an almighty God, one who is worthy of worship, one who is full of majesty and glory. He is the one that we ought to trust and follow.
Well, Jesus is displaying the greatness of God, even foretelling his future suffering. But wouldn't you know it, there's a problem. And the problem reveals itself in the disciples. And that is the third thing I want you to see this morning from our passage.
Correcting Human Arrogance
And that is that. Jesus corrects human arrogance. While Jesus is showing the greatness of God by casting out a demon and even predicting the future that he would be handed over to men who would torture him and kill him, human arrogance rears its ugly head. It says, an argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest, verse number 46.
The disciples had not only failed to understand Jesus' mission of suffering, but now they were consumed by their own pride. They were passionately arguing among themselves about each man's status and who would hold the highest position. Perhaps their self-centered pride explains why the disciples did not understand Jesus' mission. They were not listening to his words about suffering, but they were considering how they could be elevated and celebrated as Jesus' greatest followers.
While Jesus was focused on his future, they were openly debating who would be the greatest disciple then and there. Jesus foretold of his rejection at the hands of men, while the men closest to him were fighting over their rank and importance. Their arrogance stood in stark contrast to Jesus' humility.
So to deal with their argument, Jesus gave them a word picture, an object lesson. It says in verse number 47 that he took a little child and he had the child stand behind him. Some would speculate, perhaps this is the child who just had the demon cast out of him. I don't think that has to be the case. It's interesting to think of it that way.
But Jesus called a child from among many children that were in this crowd. And this child did not pick Jesus as much as Jesus chose him. And there he stood beside Jesus.
And Jesus, because he knew what the disciples were thinking, did not argue with them. He did not settle their debate. He did not give them the score and say who was in the lead or who would be the greatest. Instead, he challenged them with this little child. He brought the child forward rather than Peter, James, or John, or any of the other disciples. And he stood this child in a position of honor beside himself. And then he said these words to them in verse 47 and 48.
The Least are Greatest
"Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you who is the greatest."
Jesus absolutely silenced the disciples' argument with a humble, unassuming child. He invited the child to join him, and then he said that this child was representative of the kind of people that Jesus welcomed. Jesus was not looking for pride of place, but he was looking for those from a low position.
Similarly, he had called all of the disciples, all 12 of them, from their former ways of life as mere teenagers. We sometimes think of them as men in their mid to late 20s, but they were probably men between the ages of 13 and 17. And he simply said to them, "Follow me."
Jesus did not promise his disciples titles, position, power, or influence. Instead, it was the exact opposite. He told them in verses 23 and 24, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and follow me, for whoever wants to save their life will lose it." Jesus was teaching the disciples the most important lesson of all: that the greatest in his kingdom were the least on the earth, and that the greatest on earth were not even a part of his kingdom.
R.C. Sproll observes this about this passage. He says, "We measure greatness in this world by power, wealth, achievement, and talent. However," he continues, "greatness in God's kingdom is measured by service, obedience, and humility."
Every human being bears the image of God and deserves respect. Even children are welcome in the presence of God and among his people. It is one thing to be an ambassador for Christ to the great and powerful, the pastor to presidents, as some have been called. But it is another thing to give our time to a child who's not that great in the sight of the world or anyone else. Nevertheless, every child is important and has value in God's sight.
So what Jesus is saying is that when we take time for a child, someone who's unnoticeable, it's as though we were taking notice of God himself. This not only motivates us to minister to children and their families, but it motivates us to minister to the least people in society, the people who are overlooked, neglected, and forgotten, because those are the people that Jesus sees and loves.
Our world pursues status such as titles, positions, degrees, and corner offices. I still love the line in the office sitcom about Dwight Schrute saying he was the "Assistant to the Regional Manager." But whatever title one may argue about, all of those things fade away in eternity. We certainly try to wear power suits and power ties and other things to project our status and our accomplishments. But Jesus gives us an even greater calling. He calls us to lay down our lives, to sacrifice, and to serve with humility. So instead of being consumed by our pride and self-promotion, God wants us to give our lives away in humble service.
Sadly, the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant about humility and true greatness. In the middle of an object lesson with a child, as Jesus is teaching them, we see John suddenly interrupting in verse number 49. And he comes to Jesus saying, "Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he's not one of us."
It's almost as if John is being recorded here as, "Never mind that thing about the child. Let's get back on the topic. I mean, the crowd was gathered because of demon possession, and there's another person out there who is casting out demons. What should we do about it?" It's ironic that the disciples were first arguing about their own status and now they're trying to exclude other people from ministry.
Avoiding Religious Rivalry
Jesus, with this child still by his side, tells John and the other disciples that they're wrong, that they have the wrong focus. He says, "Do not stop this man, for whoever is not against you is for you." The man driving out demons was doing this in Jesus' name, not in his own name for his own power or his own privilege. He was doing it to promote Christ, and he was not opposed to Jesus or the disciples. This man was on their side, Jesus is saying, and he should be allowed to cast out demons and proclaim the kingdom of God in Jesus' name.
The disciples closest to Jesus were not supposed to consider themselves exclusive ministers of Christ. Instead, every believer has the ability to minister in Jesus' name and should be encouraged to do so. In chapter 10, Jesus is going to commission 72 others to go out in his name, and there will be more beyond them. What Jesus does not tolerate is rivalry or competition between believers or churches. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ and declares the gospel should be welcomed and appreciated.
Yet far too many Christians are overly critical of other believers with whom we disagree on this or that point of doctrine or this or that practice in the church. We act as though we have an exclusive claim on the truth and that our practices must be the best practices. But in this section, Jesus is saying, "Don't interfere with other Christians if they're not interfering with the ministry of the gospel." In other words, if they are not against you, they are for you. If they're promoting Jesus, you're promoting Jesus.
And as we think about that in this context, we have the disciples who were supposed to be promoting Jesus. But perhaps the reason they were not able to cast out the demons themselves is because they were promoting themselves. They were saying, "Yeah, we're among that close inner circle of guys who travel with Jesus, who eat with Jesus, who ask him questions and talk to him. Come, ask us whatever you want. Let us do a miracle for you." And perhaps with mixed motives that were ultimately shown to be self-serving, they were powerless because, rather than pointing to Jesus, they were using Jesus to point to them.
In our own context, it's easy to do the same. It's easy to talk about being faithful to the gospel. It's easy to talk about how much we care about doctrine and how we are particular about practices. But sometimes we can get it inverted and make it about ourselves. I'm old enough and I've traveled in enough church networks to see this played out over and over again.
When I was in seminary earning my master's degree a long time ago, starting in another century, my daughter likes to point out in the 1990s, there were groups of people that I went to seminary with who talked about there needed to be biblical churches in every community. And if you had the chance to talk and ask, "Well, what do you mean by a biblical church?" Really, "biblical church" was code for a particular kind of church that looked a lot like their churches. And I would ask, "Well, aren't there faithful churches in... a lot of communities? I mean, what about this church and that church?" And I would name different denominations. And I went to a Baptist seminary and they would say, "Well, but we're talking about faithful biblical churches, churches that are faithful to the word of God." And I would push back and say, "Are you saying they're not faithful to the word of God?" And then those would turn into some interesting arguments, and some people would just walk away because they knew I was going to keep pressing them.
But as I have ministered over many years, I've seen that evolve from "biblical churches" to other groups will say, "Well, we need to have Baptist churches in every community," or "We need to make sure there is a Presbyterian church in every community," or "We need to make sure there is, fill in the adjectives, that there's a homeschooling-friendly church in each community, that there's a public school-friendly church in every community, that there's a healthy church in every community," and on and on the adjectives go.
While all of those things are helpful, and I pray that all different kinds of churches can be used to advance the gospel, what we don't need is tribalism that condemns other churches. Now, are there errant churches that deviate from the gospel? Yes. Are there people that don't have the gospel right that we need to call out? Yes. But we need to spend far more time declaring the gospel ourselves and highlighting others that are doing that. That's why we take time in our services to pray for other churches and other ministries. That's why we can celebrate that Pastor Dan and Rachel and their kids are going to Calvary Baptist in Lynchburg because we're all on the same team declaring the same Christ and we're one in him. It's not about building our network or our brand for the sake of the kingdom. It's Christ's kingdom and Christ's network and Christ's churches.
So we want to make much about Jesus. When we struggle as a church, sometimes the struggle is because of the suffering call to follow Jesus that he laid out here when he predicted it. But sometimes churches struggle simply because they cannot get out of their own way.
And I want us to be a church that gets out of our own way because we're following God's way, that we're submitting ourselves to the greatness of God, that we marvel over his majesty and his glory, that we embrace the call to suffer with Christ as we declare this glorious truth.
And as we do that, it will put us in our place and it will confront our arrogance and humble us. That's why I gave Dan the book, Leading with a Limp. Because it is in our greatest weakness that we see God's greatest strength. And Jesus prepared the disciples by saying, "Look to me, not yourselves, because I am the one you are declaring."
Marveling at God's Majesty
And the message is true for us: that Jesus amazes us with God's greatness because we declare him, not ourselves.
Let's pray. God, as we commit this to you, we ask that you would help us to marvel at your majesty. Help us to be overwhelmed at your greatness and see your incredible power and strength.
And then, God, help us to humble ourselves under that, not seeing ourselves as co-equals with you, that we are somehow jockeying for position to be the greatest church member at Milton Community Church or the greatest Christian in North Atlanta or beyond.
But instead, God, help us to identify like the Apostle Paul and say that we are the chief of sinners, that we are the worst sinner, one who is not even worthy to be called a son or daughter of Christ. And yet, that is precisely the kind of people you save and the people you commission to share your word.
So help us to be bold to share the gospel with our children. Help us to point them to God's greatness. And then, God, help us to be faithful to point our community to Jesus Christ. And help us to celebrate where other Christians and churches are faithfully doing that, so that more and more worshipers can be gathered under the throne of grace.
And we pray this in Jesus' mighty and powerful name. Amen.