The Gospel & the GOAT: True Greatness & the Kingdom of Christ
Mark 9:30-41
Introduction
G.O.A.T. Greatest of all time – the goat. There is a never-ending debate, who is the greatest of all time? Some debates still rage on: LeBron or Jordan? Other debates have been settled: Tom Brady. Whether it’s in the realm of sports, movies, TV, music, politics or business, the argument persists, who is the greatest of all time?
This conversation is not new. In fact, our text this morning shows us the disciples of Jesus Christ had the same debate. Typical men, right? Twelve dudes get together and they’re gonna debate who’s the goat. But the disciples weren't arguing about the Greek games, they were debating about themselves. And Jesus once again reveals that his kingdom is not of this world.
Most of us are more than willing to admit that we’re not in the same stratosphere as Michael Jordan. Yet we’re still prone to pursue our own standard of greatness. Of course I’m not saying that striving for excellence in work, education, or hobbies is wrong. Because we’re made in the image of God we should pursue excellence. The problem is that we’re fallen image bearers, so the pursuit of excellence can slide into self-righteousness. We can be consumed with climbing the corporate ladder, making more money, having a bigger house, and we start to place our value or the value of others in these things. What Friedrich Nietzsche called “the will to power” beats in every human heart.
When the goal of our lives becomes “greatness,” in our eyes or the eyes of others, we’ve already missed the mark. When identity is found in work, education, money, sexuality, or politics, when things that fade sculpt our view of greatness, then we’ve already lost. But Jesus Christ offers a better way. He shows us true greatness. True greatness begins with the gospel.
The Gospel
Remember Tim Keller helpfully showed us that the Gospel of Mark can be divided into two halves epitomized by the famous London train station, King’s Cross. The first half of Mark reveals that Jesus is the king. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament covenants and promises. He is the final king of Israel and the true king of the world. The book hinges on chapter 8 where Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ (Mark 8.27-30). Then in Mark 8.31-9.1 Jesus explicitly preaches the gospel. What has happened since then? Jesus was transfigured, he preached the gospel to the disciples on the way down the mountain, and then he pictured the gospel by exercising a demon from a child and effectively raising that child from the dead.
Now in verse 30 what does Jesus do? He explicitly explains the gospel for the third time since Peter’s good confession. Jesus teaches, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” Son of Man is Jesus’ favorite title. He gets it from the Old Testament, book of Daniel:
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Dan 7.13-14).
What’s fascinating is that that most of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew. Daniel is one of two books (the other being Ezra-Nehemiah) that have portions written in Aramaic and Daniel 7 is one of them. The title Son of Man in Aramaic is בַ֥ר אֱנָ֖שׁ. We also know that even though the New Testament was written in Greek, Jesus spoke Aramaic. So when Jesus called himself Son of Man, he was harkening the actual words that Daniel wrote.
And Jesus tells them again that he will be delivered into the hands of men, killed, and rise again on the third day. It’s important to note that everything is going according to plan. The death of Jesus was not chaos or coincidence. Jesus says that he is being handed over. It’s the present passive indicative of the verb παραδίδωμι, which means, “to hand over or turn over.” There’s a lot of theology in this verbal form. First, the verb is passive. It’s what Greek grammarians call a divine passive. Jesus is being handed over by God himself. And it’s not future tense (like the ESV translates it) but it’s present tense, which means it’s already happening. Before the world began the Father, Son, and Spirit made an eternal covenant wherein the Father would hand the Son over to die for the sins of the elect. Everything is going according to plan.
This message is called the gospel; it means good news. And so we remind ourselves, why is it good news that the Son of Man will be killed and rise again? Because this is how he will be given dominion, glory, and kingdom. Adam was given dominion over the world but he fell in sin. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Rom 5.12). As a result, we need a man who can rightfully obtain dominion again. Jesus of Nazareth did through his sinless life. He’s the only one who never missed the mark of God’s holiness. He then died as the substitute for our sin. As he died on the cross the wrath of God was poured on him for our sin and he exhausted it. God unleashed every bit of judgment that we deserve. And on Easter Sunday Jesus stood back up.
This is the good news of salvation. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom 10.9). If you don’t believe I pray that the Holy Spirit will raise your heart even now to see the beauty of the Son of Man. If you do believe, rest in the good news afresh this morning.
True Greatness
But the disciples still aren’t getting it. There are 4 reasons why: (1) they’re afraid because what he’s saying doesn’t fit their worldview. They had no category for a resurrection in the present age, especially of the messiah! To say that God’s kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven through his death is like Justin Verlander pitching in the World Series with both hands tied behind his back. (2) They’re also afraid because when Jesus preached the gospel before and Peter gave the wrong answer Jesus called him Satan (Mark 8.33-38).
(3) Luke also gives us insight into why the disciples didn’t understand the gospel before Easter Sunday. But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying (Luke 9.45). God was sovereignly blinding their eyes. (4) But it’s also because they’re not paying attention. They get back to home base in Capernaum and Jesus asks them, “What were you discussing on the way?” And it gets awkward. They kept silent. The verb tense is imperfect which means they kept on being silent. The disciples are like kids who were having a naughty conversation and they’ve now found out that dad was overhearing them.
They were having the goat debate about themselves; on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. Like Pastor Kevin said last week, maybe it was because of the success they had when Jesus sent them out, maybe Peter, James, and John were arrogant about the transfiguration, whatever the case, they were actually arguing about who was the goat of the disciples. And Jesus turns their logic over like it’s a table in the Temple. He says, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” In the Kingdom of God greatness means service.
Then Jesus gives a flesh and blood illustration: he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” In Aramaic the word for child is טגא. The word for servant is also טגא. Jesus says if you want to be the goat you must be the טגא of all and welcome the טגא.
One scholar wrote, “the injunction to ‘receive’ the child, reverses the conventional value-scale by according importance to the unimportant.” In the 1st century Greco Roman world children were socially irrelevant. Jesus is saying that true greatness is found in serving those who are socially irrelevant. This would have been the antithesis of the wisdom in the 1st century. Plato wrote, “How can a man be happy when he has to serve someone?” But the way of Jesus is countercultural; the greatest of all is the servant of all.
Young moms who spend your days feeding and changing your small kids, doing the same mundane work day after day, you’re welcoming Jesus. Those of you taking care of your elderly parents, doing the hard work of parenting your parent you’re serving Jesus. When you drive a handicapped neighbor to church, when you teach kids Sunday school, when you become a surrogate parent to a new believer ostracized by their biological family, you are receiving Jesus. And when you welcome Christ you welcome the Father. Don’t forget that the why is the basis for the what. Vss. 30-32 is the reason for vss. 33-41; gospel produces greatness.
And Jesus reminds them that the Kingdom is also a team effort, not an individual accolade. Christianity is football not golf. John speaks up and tells Jesus that they saw someone casting out demons in the name of Christ and that they tried to stop him because he wasn’t one of the twelve. But Jesus gives them 3 reasons not to stop him introduced by the word for: (1) for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. The man’s obedience and success is proof of his election. (2) For the one who is not against us is for us. And (3) For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Love and service to fellow believers is proof that they have received Jesus.
The headings aren't inerrant Scripture, but they can be helpful commentaries. I like the heading the NKJV gives: “Jesus Forbids Sectarianism.” Though we’re Protestant – in protest to the Roman Catholic Church – we fall into the same sin that they do: if you don’t practice Christianity our way, you’re not really Christian. Low-church traditions like Baptists and Pentecostals are notorious for sinfully thinking they’re the only game in town. The truth is that God has preserved the church throughout time in different cultures with different denominations.
God forgive our arrogance. And that’s what it is, arrogance. Notice the end of vs 38. We might expect the disciples to say we tried to stop him, because he was not following you Jesus. But that’s not what they say. They say because he was not following us. They argue over who’s the greatest. They tried to stop people who weren't following them. The world-renowned Southern Seminary Greek scholar A.T. Robertson wrote on this verse, “One needs to know the difference between loyalty to Jesus and stickling over one’s own narrow prejudices.”
C.S. Lewis writes of mere Christianity like a hallway with each group having their own room. We reside in the Reformed Protestant room. Even though we believe with all our heart this is the most biblical room, we sin if we self-righteously judge Christians in other rooms, or even those in the hallway. There are cardinal doctrines over which we cannot disagree: the Trinity, deity of Christ, resurrection, virgin birth, etc. but when we move to 2nd and 3rd tier issues, we sin when we forgo Christian unity.
Conclusion
True greatness is found in the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of the greatest man who ever lived. The gospel creates believers who serve the unimportant. The gospel creates a church that is not divided by narrow prejudices but is unified in the gospel, which creates worship in Spirit and truth. Man, that’s not just good news; it’s the greatest of all time!