Who's ever heard the story of the tortoise and the hare? Have you heard that one? Who should win the race? The hare should win the race. And hare, I found out, is not just another name for rabbit, but hare actually has longer legs than a rabbit, so it's built for speed. It's fast. Who actually does win the race? Right? The tortoise. And what does that teach us? Slow and steady, wins the race. Have you heard of fables like this before? Have you heard little stories that are meant to teach a point? See, nobody's a better teacher than Jesus. He can teach you a point in just one line. He can teach you that if you want to be first, then you must be last. I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Mark, chapter 9, verses, 30 to 35, where Jesus is going to teach that to his disciples, and he's going to teach it to all of us here today. And so, if you've got a Bible, open it up to Mark 9:30-35. If you don't have a Bible, if you’ve got one of these bulletins, it's printed on the handout there in the bulletin, so you can read along with us. We're going to study two things that Jesus says, and I would encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention. So out of respect for God's Word, let's all stand up for the public reading of Scripture, and please follow along with me as I read Mark 9:30-35.
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “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.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat, and you can take some notes there on the handout if you want to. And this is the second time now that Jesus tells his disciples he's going to be killed. If you look back over into chapter 8, maybe just across the page there, right after Peter said, “You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, you're the one all the prophecies are about. You're the one who's come to save your people.” He said, great. Now let me tell you what's going to happen in Mark 8:31. He began to teach them the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders and chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days he will rise again. Now maybe you remember after he said that the first time, Peter decided to take him aside and rebuke him, and he said to Peter, “Get behind me,” who? Satan. So now, when he says it the second time, do you notice how no one says anything after this time, right? So, but this time, we get a quote of what he actually said, and the purpose of Mark giving us Jesus telling them on three different occasions that they're going to go to Jerusalem and he's going to be killed, why does Mark include that three different times? Well, there's a repetition there. He wants us to really get this point. And every time he tells us that Jesus told the disciples he's going to be killed, he always contrasts it with what the disciples are thinking about. So, you're supposed to feel like that cringe. Do you ever feel bad for somebody else who should be embarrassed for themselves but they're not? So, you start feeling like dumb chills? Does anybody else know what I'm talking about? Like that person should be ashamed of themselves. They're not, so I'm feeling ashamed for them right now, right? That's what we're supposed to feel for the disciples in the Gospel of Mark. Here's Jesus saying, they're going to deliver me over and I'm going to be killed. And they're having a side conversation over here on a power ranking of the disciples, and who's got the top spot this week. And so, all he has to do is say to them, what were you talking about? And they're right back to that place where we're not even going to say anything, because we don't want to say what we were talking about compared to what he's talking about. Mark's going to do this again in chapter 10.
Go over to chapter 10, and you'll see. Here in verse 32, when they're getting close to Jerusalem, so really, at this point in the Gospel of Mark, we started all the way up in the north in Caesarea Philippi, and we're on a march all the way down to the capital city of Jerusalem, going up to that city on a hill. And as they're going up, it says here to Jerusalem, and Jesus is walking ahead of them. They're amazed and they're afraid. And he takes the twelve again, and he began to tell them what was to happen to him, verse 33 saying, see, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered. He uses that word again, “delivered over” to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. Do you see how descriptive he's getting here? This is what's going to happen when we go to Jerusalem right now. This is what they're going to do to me.
And then look at what happens next. Verse 35, ‘James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ Then he said to them, ‘what do you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory.’” Right. Do you see the contrast here, everybody? They're going to flog me, they're going to mock me, they're going to kill me. Hey, Jesus, we've got a request. Who gets to sit next to you? Right? You see how the disciples and what they're thinking is contrasted with Jesus and what he's thinking? And the reason Mark does this three times is we might have the same contrast here today that Jesus was on a mission.
See, here's the point. If you want to get this down for point number one: “Jesus knew.” He knew what he was walking into. He knew what's going to happen to him. He knows who's going to betray him. Who knows who's going to hand him over? He knows exactly what they're going to do to him. Here he is saying it, mock him, spit on him, flog him, kill him. And Jesus, it's not like somebody who just has an idea of what's going to happen. Maybe this will happen in the future. Every step that Jesus takes towards Jerusalem is him going closer to what he knows is going to happen. Jesus knows the whole time, and he is willing to lay down his life. He is willing to suffer.
He came not to be served, but to serve. And they're over here thinking, which one of us is the greatest? Where are we going to sit in glory? They're very focused on how's this going to all work out for me? And Jesus already knows it's not going to work out for him, and he's going into it anyways. Do you see the contrast there? Who are you following? Are you following the poor example of the disciples at this point, or are you following Jesus? Well, then you need to have the mind of Christ, which is, I need to go and lay my life down, not have this thought of, how's it all going to work out for me? And a lot of people who go to church these days, they want to, oh, yeah, I'll serve Jesus, but I also want it to work out for me and see, there's a contrast. Are you really following Jesus, or are you trying to make it work out for yourself?
And so, let's go back now to mark 9:30, and look at what he says, because this is the first time we get this quote, and I want you to circle this word on your handout there, the Son of Man is going to be delivered. Let's circle that word, because that's a key word in the Gospel of Mark. It's really a key word in the New Testament. What is Jesus saying that he's going to be delivered over. Another way you could translate it is “betrayed”; another way you could translate it is “given over.” So, Jesus knows what's going to happen, and this is going to happen on many different levels. Okay, so we're going to really track this theme of being “delivered”.
Go with me further into Mark, into Mark 14. Let's see how this plays out. Because what I'm trying to help you realize is, Jesus knew what he was walking into, and he walked into it anyways. Jesus knew what he had signed up for. It was trouble, it was suffering, and he was willing to do it. And this is the level of what he knew, even when he's talking to his disciples. In Mark, chapter 9, you can go to chapter 14, verse 10 and 11. Look what it says in Mark 14:10-11. It says, “Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve. We knows who Judas is? One of the twelve. If you've been to church at all, you've heard the story of Judas, and we know him. “He went to the chief priest in order to betray him.” That word “betray” there is the same word as to “deliver him over.” Okay. And then verse 11, “When they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him” or deliver him over into their hands. Here is Judas, one of the twelve, willing to sell Jesus out for money.
Let me ask you a question, did Jesus know this the entire time? Did Jesus know this when he chose Judas to be one of the twelve. Even when we think of these intimate moments where it's just Jesus in the house with his disciples, is there a mole among them the entire time? Is the enemy right there in the camp the entire time? You see this idea that Jesus, well, he had some peaceful moments on his way to suffering. No, he's got a traitor with him every single step of the way. He knows this guy is going to sell him out for money, and he's like, they're going to hand me over. When he says they're going to hand me over, who's going to hand him over is one of the twelve hearing him say that. And Jesus knows that he will be betrayed. But it goes even deeper.
Look at chapter 15, verse 1. If you jump over to chapter 15, verse 1 of Mark, Mark is intentionally using this word to build a theme here. And Mark 15:1, “As soon as it was morning, the chief priests,” and now we're talking about the religious leaders of the Jews here, the chief priests, “held a consultation with the elders and the scribes.” The whole council. They get everybody together in the middle of the night for this trial with all these false accusations against Jesus. “And they bound Jesus, and they led him away and delivered him over to Pilate.” So, all these people here, the elders, the scribes, the whole council, they represent the leaders of the Jews, and Pilate, he represents who everybody? The Romans, who are over the Jews at this time. Do the Jews like their Roman overlords at this time? The answer to that would be, no. Are they willing to work with the Romans to get rid of Jesus? The answer to that is, yes, compromising themselves just to go after Jesus. So, you see, this is how deep this delivering over, this betrayal goes. Judas, one of the twelve, delivers him over to the religious leaders of the Jews. The religious leaders of the Jews now deliver him over to Pilate. And if you study the interaction of Jesus and Pilate, Pilate saying things like, this man's done nothing wrong. This man is innocent and doesn't deserve to die. So, what happens with Pilate? Go down to verse 15 of chapter 15, and you can see so Pilate wishing to satisfy the crowd. “He released for them, Barabbas, this known criminal, and having scourged Jesus,” which is like him getting whipped and flogged like he said was going to happen, “he delivered him over to be crucified.”
So, we have Judas. He doesn't do the right thing; he delivers him over and sells him out. We have the Jewish religious leaders. They don't do the right thing; they deliver him over and betray him. And then we got Pilate, who knows this guy shouldn't be killed. But why does he do it? To satisfy the crowd, to please people, to grow in his popularity, he's willing to deliver Jesus over to be killed. Now go with me to Acts, chapter 3, and look at after Peter gets the spirit, and Peter starts preaching on the streets of Jerusalem, filling Jerusalem with the name of Jesus. You thought you got rid of Jesus. No, now you’ve got these apostles going all through the city. You’ve got thousands of people coming to believe in Jesus here in the book of Acts. And in Acts, chapter 3, verse 13, Peter's second sermon here that we have recorded for us in Jerusalem, after they've done this miracle to heal a man. And a great crowd is gathered around, and they're in the temple, and Peter is preaching. Look at Acts 3:13, with me. It says, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.” Notice how it describes Jesus as his servant.
So, Judas betrayed him. The Jewish leaders betrayed him. Pilate betrayed him. But now, Peter’s got his pointy finger out, and he's saying to the crowd, it was you who betrayed Jesus. It was you who shouted, “Crucify him.” It was you who was thirsty for his blood. You are the people that killed Jesus. That's what Peter preached. And many people were cut to the heart and they repented. And they turned to believe in Jesus, even after they had shouted “Crucify him.” So, you can see this idea of going to be “delivered over.” Well, Jesus knows that one of his own will betray him. He knows the scribes. They're out to get him. He knows the Romans. They're not going to do what's right and use their authority to protect him. And then he even knows that the people themselves, the crowd, will turn against him. And here's Jesus saying to his disciples, they're going to deliver me over. And it says, the disciples don't even understand, and they don't even ask any questions. How alone must Jesus feel as he's the only one who really understands what's happening, and yet he still just keeps taking steps all the way to the end.
In fact, it doesn't just talk in the Scripture about the people who delivered him over. It talks about it in a theological way, as well. Go to the book of Romans, chapter 8, verse 32. Look at the book of Romans and how this word “delivered” or “given over,” continues to be talked about into what happens to Jesus when he's going to be killed. And here in Romans 8:32, it gives this idea, he who did not spare his own Son. And then you can see this phrase here, “but gave him up for us all.” Write that down, “gave him up for us all.” And so, who are we talking about here? The one who didn't spare his Son, the one who gave him up for us. We're talking about the Father in heaven. See Romans 8:32, is one of my favorite verses, because it takes me back to the Garden of Gethsemane. It takes me back to that little garden at the base there of the Mount of Olives, right outside of the temple there in Jerusalem. I love going to the garden of Gethsemane. And you get in there, there's all these olive trees, and you just read the passage where Jesus is lying down on the ground, disturbed, troubled. Jesus is now feeling the full weight of what he's about to do. He's feeling literally the weight of the world on his shoulders. He's feeling the weight of all of our sin that he's about to pay for, and he's sweating as if great drops of blood are falling from his face, and he's crying out, “Father, if it's possible, remove this cup from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus knows it's the will of the Father to crush his own son. I mean, this idea of being delivered over, it goes all the way back to the epic prophecy of Isaiah 53 and the suffering servant. “And it's the will of the father that he would be pierced for our transgressions, that he would be crushed for our iniquities.” He, the God himself, is delivering over his own Son to be our sacrifice.
And so, it says here, “If the father is willing,” if he didn't spare his own Son, if he gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him, graciously give us all things? If the Father's already given the down payment of his Son, is the father going to give you everything else you need, too? The answer to that is, yes. It's an argument from the greater to the lesser. We're over here wondering if God will help us through the day when God delivered his Son up to pay for our sins. If he's willing to deliver his Son to pay for our sins, of course, he's going to give us the grace in our time of need for everything else. But this idea, whoa, who's going to really deliver him over? Well, it's not just these people. It's actually God who's delivering over his Son.
Then go to Galatians 2:20 with me. And maybe this is a favorite verse of many here in the room. Galatians 2:20. Maybe you have this verse memorized. It's often quoted. “I have been crucified with Christ.” It says here in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” It's like I died with Jesus and I rose with Jesus. I don't just believe the gospel happened two thousand years ago, I believe the gospel has happened to me, and I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, ultimately, who delivered himself over to be killed, not even just the father, but Jesus himself. What does he say? “I have the authority to lay my life down, and I have the authority to take it up again”. No, in John 19:30 when Jesus said, “It is finished,” he gave up his spirit. Jesus delivered himself over. Jesus gave his own life willingly. Jesus died in your place to pay for your sin, and he knew every step that he took on his way to Jerusalem. He knew that's what he was going to do.
Can you imagine that feeling the weight of that, like you know something bad is coming, and you keep going towards it the whole time, and then when the moment comes, there you are. It is finished, and you give yourself completely. That's what Jesus did for all of us. And the thing that's so impressive to me is Jesus, he knew what he was walking into, and he walked into it anyways. And if you're going to follow Jesus, that's how you’ve got to learn to live your life. If you're going to follow him, you’ve got to be willing to lay your life down. You can't be a follower of Jesus, thinking, how can I keep my life for myself? What can I get out of my life? That's not what Jesus did. Jesus willingly gave his life away, and he knew he signed up for it. He was willing to do it. That's how we need to think about following Jesus.
And so, when he's teaching them this, when he's telling them beforehand, I mean, go back to Mark 9. Jesus is prophesying here. You may not think of this as an epic prophecy in the Bible, but Jesus called the shots in his own life before they ever happened. Jesus knew what he was walking into and he's telling them beforehand three times. He's trying to make it clear he wants everybody to know after the fact that he already knew before it happened. And what response can you imagine sharing like the deepest part of your heart, sharing what your whole life is about, sharing like the climax and how hard it's going to be for Jesus. We see that in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus, he's God, but he's also one of us. He's also a man. And so, wow, can you imagine the weight of the world, of everyone's sin on your shoulders, in the in the sacrifice you know you're going to have to give, and you share that with your closest people in your life, and what's the response? It says in verse 32, “But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.” They were afraid to ask him because they didn't want to be called Satan like Peter was last time he said this. And so, they don't get it. And I wonder, how many people go to church, how many people call themselves Christians right now on this Sunday, and they don't get it, they don't understand. I wonder how many churches are even giving people the impression that Jesus is in it for you, when Jesus, the way he was in it for you was he gave his life away, and he's calling you to follow him in giving your life away. People, in the name of Jesus are trying to keep their life they're still putting themselves first. And that's not how it works with Jesus.
And so, we’ve got to see this example. If you really mature in your faith, if you really educate your expectations with the Scripture, you're going to see that you will suffer if you follow Jesus. You will see that if you follow Jesus, you're signing up for trouble. You will see that if you're going to follow Jesus, it says very clearly, you’ve got to deny yourself, you’ve got to take up your cross. You’ve got to be willing to give your life away. And are you going to know this might not work out well for me, but I'm going to do it anyways, because I want to follow Jesus? Is that what you're thinking? Or will we reach a limit? Will there be a test? I'm not willing to follow Jesus through that. That doesn't seem like it's going to work out for me, and that's where you pull back to preserve yourself.
Jesus did not pull back to preserve himself. He went all the way till they killed him, and then he rose on the third day, and he's trying to teach that to his disciples. So, notice that phrase there in verse 31, he was teaching his disciples. So, we're in this part of the gospel of Mark now where it's not really about the crowds. It's not really about the scribes and his interaction and challenging them. Jesus is focused. His intent right now is to prepare the twelve, and to teach them really how to live this way of service. And so, after he tells them what he's going to do, not much conversation afterwards. Well, later on, they get to the house in Capernaum, where apparently they were going. And now Jesus asks, “What were you discussing on the way?” And once again, he's met with silence, because what were they discussing, everybody? Who is the greatest! You know, I don't know, John, I think when I cast out that demon the other day, I went ahead of you in the power rankings. Can you imagine that conversation? I mean, it's bad enough when you get into the argument about LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Have you ever been in that one about who's the greatest before it's bad enough when you hear people talk about other people being the greatest? Can you imagine being a part of a conversation where it's really like, I don't know. I think you're like number two, and I'm number one. Can you imagine people saying stuff like that? Well, that's what was going on here, apparently. I mean, they're having a conversation, a full on argument about which one of them kind of deserves the right hand man spot there with Jesus. And all Jesus has to do is say, what were you talking about? And they don't even want to bring it up, because they know arguing about being the greatest doesn't really go along with what Jesus is saying to them.
And so, notice it says here in verse 35, “He sat down.” When you sit down, that was in their culture, the position that you're about to teach something. Every synagogue would have had what they call a Moses seat. So, we might be used to someone standing when they preach, or maybe at a pulpit when they preach, but their posture of teaching the Word was, someone would sit down, and then they would open up the scrolls and teach from the scrolls. So, when it says here in verse 35 he sat down and he called the twelve, he now has a teaching just for his twelve Disciples. And he said to them, hey, if you're trying to put yourself in the first the spot you guys should be arguing for is not number one. You guys should be arguing for number twelve, because if you want to be first, then you must be last. And maybe you've heard that before. If you want to be first, then you must be last. Or there's another way it gets said, which is, everyone who's last will be first, and the first will be last. But I want you to see how Jesus completely flips the script on power rankings here, because he doesn't just say, if you want to be first, you must be last. He says you must be last of all. And then he even goes further, and he says you must be servant of all. He uses the word diakonos, which means that other people are above you and you're coming underneath them. There's some kind of race to the bottom.
See, we're not saying Slow and steady wins the race. We're saying that you’ve got to go low if you want to win the race to the bottom, if you want to be last, then you have to humble yourself, and you have to see other people as more important than yourself, that you're here to serve them, not here for what they're going to do for you, but you're here for what you're going to do for them. Servant of all, Jesus. Now, the reason I wanted to stop at verse 35, we'll get to the next week, if you want to come back. But in verse 35 the reason that we stop there is this line is unique to Mark. There are other lines about first and last or being a servant, but this line here specifically that “you must be the servant of all,” nobody's got this exact line besides Mark. Mark is the one who, more intentionally than anybody else, builds this theme of service.
In fact, go to chapter 10, because when the next time Jesus has this same conversation, when James or John are like, can we sit next to you in glory? Well, at the end of that, he really teaches them more. If you go down to verse 42 of Mark 10, it says, “And Jesus called them to him, and he said to them, ‘You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.’” Hey, this is how the world does greatness. In the world, you're great if you can tell other people what to do. Verse 43, “But it shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.” Who is the greatest, who is the first, who is the name above every name, who is the Lord of all? His name is Jesus. And he did not come to tell everybody what to do. He came to serve. And if even he came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life away for many for us, then how can we say we're following Jesus when we're making it about ourselves? You can't do that. See, he's teaching this very clearly here, are you the servant of all? Are you the slave of all? Are you following the example of Jesus to give your life away for others?
One of the very interesting phenomena that I've experienced in my life, growing up going to church, a lot of them right here in Southern California, is the whole culture outside of the church, knows that the church is so rife with hypocrisy, they don't even want to come here. But then, at church, we act like there's no hypocrisy here, and everybody who does anything at church, they're just an awesome person. So, we’ve got to get real here today, that there are people who are following Jesus for their own benefit. And Jesus is confronting that in his disciples, and he's saying, you can't make it about yourself. You can't put yourself first. You can't try to be great by being over other people. No, if you want to be great, race to the bottom and go low and put other people above yourself. That's what Jesus taught.
And not everybody in the church does that. The disciples at this time aren't even doing that. And so, we’ve got to really think, what does it mean to be the servant of all and not just assume that that's what people are doing at church just because they're serving? No. What is the biblical definition of a servant? Diakonos. This word is sometimes translated “servant,” sometimes it's also translated “minister”. So, if you're taking notes, can you write that down? This one Greek word gives us two English words, servant and minister, and it's important for us to put both of those English words in the definition of diakonos, because in English, we use servant and minister in different ways. Serve sounds like I have a task that needs to be done. Minister sounds like I'm interacting with people and I'm doing something for people. And so, some people today, they're like, well, I'll serve, but I don't want to minister, because people, man, they’ve got problems, and I don't know if I want to get but if you just give me something to do, I'm happy to do it. And so, we've kind of separated this idea of diakonos into two different categories. But really there's no idea of serving, except that you're doing it for the people. You are the servant of all; all is the people. You're not serving an institution, you're not serving a church, you're not serving at a service. The whole point of serving is to benefit Jesus and his people. That's the purpose. You're not just doing something to do it. And so, diakonos, sometimes you'll see that word translated servant or service, or sometimes you'll see it translated minister or ministry. But it's the same idea here. Sometimes they don't even translate it. They just take the Greek word diakonos and they turn it into this word, maybe you've heard before. It's the word Deacon, and it describes a person who is a servant at the church. They are ministers at the church.
Go with me to 1 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 8 to 13, where it gives us a description of a diakonos. 1 Timothy 3:8-13. I'd like everybody, if you’ve got a Bible, you need to read this description. Fi1rst Timothy 3 is a letter that Paul wrote to his disciple, Timothy, and he told him, here's how you should conduct yourself at church. If I don't get to come and see you, I'm writing this so you would know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of the faith. Here's the things the church should be all about. And so, if you really want to know how to do church, 1 Timothy is a great book to go and study. And in 1 Timothy, chapter 3, it says, in verse 8, “Deacons, likewise.” So, there's diakonos, but now we're going to get all the way from verse 8 to verse 13, a description of who? These servants of Jesus in the church. And notice when it says “Deacons, likewise,” that's because if you go back up to verses 1 to 7, it gave us the idea of an overseer, sometimes referred to as an elder. Usually today, we use the word pastor. So, in verses 1 to 7, it described that person who's able to teach at the church. But then in verse 8, it starts saying, now let me talk about the servants, the ministers, the deacons. Here's what diakonos looks like. “Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.” I don't know if you've ever thought about this before, but when Jesus says, “When the master comes and he finds the servants who are ready for him. He says to them, ‘Well done, good and faithful,” what, everybody? Have you ever thought about this? It's like, “Well done, good and faithful” who? The deacon, the person who has proved themselves that they are about service. Okay, so this is the description of what this word is really all about.
What kind of a person does Jesus want serving in the church? It's this person right here, and I don't understand why every single man, woman, and child who loves Jesus wouldn't want to be this person right here. Like, if you know this is what it looks like to be a servant of Jesus, why wouldn't you then pattern your life to be that way for Jesus?
So, let's get this down for number two: “A deacon is a tested, recognized servant in the church”. A Deacon is a tested, recognized servant in the church. That's what we have through this word. If you really study diakonos throughout the Scripture, you're going to see this person. Okay. Now this is very different than how it usually goes in church, because the church these days, there's a common thought of like, well, if you give me a position, then I will serve. That's just a normal way that we go about thinking. Oh, well, if you give me something to do, then I'll go and do it. What we need to observe is that's not what it's talking about here in this passage about deacons; the deacons are already doing it. They're already serving before they're ever recognized as deacons.
Go back and look at verse 10 with me again. It says, “Let them also be tested first.” So, there's a time of proving themselves. There's a time of testing where it's like, well, let's see how they serve. So, you don't just show up and say, hey, I'm here. Put me in, coach. I have amazing skills and abilities. I can immediately be the number one player on your roster. I'm great for the church. Where do you see what I'm going to do for your church? Put me in. No, that's not what it says here. It says you don't need to bring your own resume. You can show it when you're tested, and then after you're tested, and you prove you're about serving, then you get recognized as one of these people. See, we have really gotten it very backwards these days. We have people who are like, well, I'm not going to do anything until they ask me to do something. Well, let me just tell you very clearly, Jesus is saying, if you want to be first, you must be last of all, you should be the servant of all. If you want to be great, then you should seek to serve. You don't need anybody else to tell you to do it, other than Jesus telling you to do it like he taught his disciples to do it, and as you start to serve, as you start to put other people first, as you start to see people's needs and care about them, as you show up, ready and willing and able, we'll see then you'll be tested, and it'll be proven over time. That's who gets recognized as a deacon. But people today, they're like, where's my name tag, where's my post? Then I'll go greet people. Oh, give me a specific role at a specific time, then I'll show up at that time. And by the way, can you let everybody else know I'm going to show up at that time? There's a lot of that attitude. There's a lot of this kind of hypocrisy going throughout churches like ours, where it's like, the reason I want to serve is I want to be seen there. I'm not serving because I see the needs of other people. I'm serving because I want other people to see me. They're going to see me there on Sunday morning, and they're going to know. Jesus warns about that. Jesus talks about that, like that's going to happen.
And so, we need to get real. We need to admit, hey, there's a legitimate question. When people serve, why are they serving? Let's ask this question here. Let's put it up on the screen: “Do you want to serve for a position, or are you here to serve the people?” So, this is a legitimate question every one of us should ask God to search our hearts, examine our hearts, show me what it's about. Do I just want some kind of title? Do I just want to kind of have some kind of authority, or is it about me really laying myself down, racing to the bottom and serving meeting the needs, doing what needs to be done for Jesus and his people. When you serve, are you actually putting yourself first, or are you actually walking into the room like you're the least important person here, because everybody else here is why you're here? That's a question we need to ask, because let's just get honest. There have been people who've served at this church, and they wanted to be seen by other people. They were not doing it because they really cared about other people. That is happening on a massive level, and if we act like it's not happening, the only people we're fooling is ourselves, because Jesus knows who's really serving him, even the world knows not everybody who's doing it is really doing it for Jesus, for other people, a lot of people.
They think a lot of pastors are hypocrites. And why would they not think that? I mean, even as a pastor here in Huntington Beach, these are some of the questions people regularly ask me, like, why don't you call yourself the senior pastor? Aren't you the main pastor? Aren't you the primary pastor? Why don't you call yourself the senior pastor, and when are you going to start your radio ministry? When are you going to start your side ministry? And why don't you build your brand more? Why don't you expand your social media platform? When are you going to write a book? When are you going to get your name out there? These are regular questions people ask me as a pastor. And how many pastors do we know who wrote a book, who got social media famous, who went out there and built some kind of brand, and they got rich and they got too big for their own church, and then some moral failure was revealed in their life. We don't need any more pastors in America who are in it for themselves. We’ve got a lot of those kinds of people trying to put themselves first. You know what? We need pastors that are all about, how are the widows in the church doing? Who are the people in need that they need someone to care for them and meet with them? What's going to happen next Sunday, when we get together at nine o'clock and we open up the Word, what does the Word say? We need everybody to hear what the Word says. That's what we need pastors focused on, serving the church, caring for the people, feeding the sheep of Jesus with the truth of the Scripture. We don't need pastors that are there for themselves.
And so, this is a big problem in the American church, that you can go to church and still be increasing yourself like you're some kind of influencer, rather than learning at church the way of Jesus, where it's about serving and giving your life away for other people. And so, I'm asking you to ask this question. I'm asking you to really examine yourself. Why do you do what you do? And are you really a servant for the Lord Jesus, or is it still perhaps about you? I want you to consider this. I don't want you to assume that just because you're serving, you're doing it right. See, I don't think that's how it's supposed to be. I don't think it's like we're desperate for anybody who will just help us, and if you want to help us, it's just good. That's not what it says about a deacon. A Deacon is tested and proves themselves before they get recognized as an official servant in the Church of Jesus Christ. So, that's because there's going to be people who come in and they don't pass the test; they're in it still for themselves.
So, you’ve got to ask God to search your heart. And I want you to think about it like this. How do we know that those disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying when he said they're going to kill me, and it says the disciples did not understand. In fact, they didn't even ask him a question because they were afraid. How do we know the disciples had this conversation on the way to Capernaum about who was the greatest, and they were arguing about which one of them was first? How do we know? Because if it's just Jesus and it's just the twelve, and he's sitting down and he's calling just his twelve disciples to teach them, then the only way we could know that the disciples didn't get it, and we're arguing about being great, and we're afraid to even ask about it, is the disciples turn themselves in. See, if you know who Mark is, Mark, he got to know some of the disciples. In fact, when Peter gets freed from prison in the book of Acts and his life is spared. Miraculously, he's released from prison, whose house does he go to right away? Does anybody know? He goes to John Mark's mom's house. So, Mark knew Peter. Mark knew these disciples. I wonder if the disciples were like, you know what, Mark, when Jesus was telling us they were going to kill him over and over, Mark, he told us they were going to kill him, you know, Mark, I didn't get it. You know, Mark, I actually took Jesus aside one time, and I tried to rebuke Him. Can you believe that, Mark? I remember one time he told us, and I was so ashamed, I just didn't even say anything. I remember that I had a very compelling argument why I was ahead of James and John in the power rankings of the disciples. I knew I was number one. How do you think Mark heard about that the disciples realizing about themselves that their thinking was wrong? Where did this contrast between the way Jesus thinks and the way the disciples think? How do we really even know about that? Because the disciples admitted they were thinking the wrong way, and they remembered the wrong way that they thought, and they learned the new way of Jesus
A lot of people start out serving at church for the wrong reasons. It's a very common tale. If you find out that you're serving for the wrong reasons, you're trying to put yourself first, rather than really humbling yourself and serving other people, you should admit that, like these disciples did, you should turn yourself in. This is how it goes for a lot of people. You might start out thinking, oh, wow, look at me, and look what I'm doing. And then later on, you’ve got to realize, no, it's not even about that. It's look at him and look at what he did. And how can I follow him? By giving my life away for his people.
So, if you realize I'm serving for the wrong reasons, I would love to talk to you about that. There are plenty of people here at the church. They would hear you. They wouldn't judge you about that. They would think, wow, I'm so glad you're realizing this. So, let's pray about this. Let's learn a new way to think about this, because a lot of people start out being in it for themselves, and then they learn the way of Christ. They're here to serve, but it's to be seen. It's not really to serve the needs that they see in other people.
Now I want to give you a good example and a bad example. Can you see at the bottom of your handouts there the good example, or it says “Example A” two times. Does everybody see that? Okay, so let's go to an example. Acts 6. That's the first example. If everybody can turn to the book of Acts. There are many examples that I could give of people I've known throughout church, and even at this church, who were clearly, in the end, exposed for serving for themselves, but I will not share those stories to protect the guilty. Okay, I'm going to use biblical examples to show you. Here's a good example of people who served, and here's a bad example of people who served. And so, in Acts 6, we have a real problem that shows up in the early church, where the widows are not getting the daily distribution of bread. Have you heard about how generous the early church was? Have you heard about how big the early church was? Here thousand people got saved on the first day of the church in Jerusalem, and it kept growing day by day. So, we're talking about thousands of people, and there are plenty of them who have need. And so, some people who have, are selling houses and lands, and they're giving so that everybody can have what they need. And now there are some widows. Widows, out of all the people we know, the pure and undefiled religion is to help the widow. We know God really cares about how you treat the widow, and widows in the early church aren't getting the daily bread. In fact, it's even worse than that, because if you look at Acts 6, verse 1, it says, “In these days, when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” It's not just that we're not getting around to all the widows. No, we're getting around to all the Hebrew, all the Jewish widows, but some of the Hellenist widows are being neglected. So, it's not just that we're not serving all the widows who are in need. We're showing partiality and that we're preferring some of the widows over different widows.
And so, this problem becomes known, and the apostles, they want to address the problem, so they call for an assembly of the entire church. They say, everybody, we’ve got to come together. So, you're talking about a group of thousands and thousands of people now gathering there in the center of Jerusalem to address this problem about some of the widows not getting the bread. And look at what they say in verse 2, “And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.’” Hey, do you see their priority the way we were going to serve? Serve is the ministry of teaching the Word. So, we need other people to serve the food of these widows. And so, here's what they come up with. Look at this. This is so wise, verse three, “’Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’ And what they said pleased the whole gathering.” everybody's like, yes, this is a good idea. We're going to find seven guys. We've already got our twelve Apostles, and they're already focused on the teaching there in the temple, day by day. So now, we're going to find seven others. And notice how they're already people of good reputation. In fact, can we go back to that description in verse 3? Notice they are full of the Spirit. They're full of wisdom, and we're already going to know they're the kind of people who can serve. Why? Because they're already serving other people. They've already proved themselves blameless. They already have the reputation of a servant.
And look at some of the people that they end up with here in verse 5, “What they said pleased the whole gathering. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” Stephen, he becomes the first what of the church everybody? The first martyr. In fact, all of Acts 7 is about his articulate defense of his faith in Jesus, and how the Jewish people have always turned against God throughout so much of their history, and then they are so angry with what he says that they kill him, and they put their garments at the feet of a man named Saul. Right. Wow. Stephen is one of the guys they get to serve the widows the bread. Look at the second guy, Philip. Philip becomes a major character in the book of Acts. Philip is known as the evangelist.
In fact, go over now to our second example in Acts, chapter 8. That's your second Example A there on your handout. Acts 8 is our second example. This is now going to be our bad example about serving in the church, because after they kill Stephen Saul gets raised up, and they start ravaging the church. They're going to throw people in prison. They might kill people. And so, the believers get scattered out of Jerusalem, and it says, Philip here, look at verse 4 of Acts 8. “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ,” the Messiah. He's out there preaching Jesus. All this persecution did was take the thousands of people in Jerusalem and send them out to all the other towns in Judea and Samaria. This is how they became witnesses, not only in Jerusalem, but in the rest of the country. The persecution was actually used to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Philip's out here, preaching, and the crowds, with one accord, paid attention to what was being said by Philip. “And when they heard him, and they saw the signs that he did,” look, Philip's doing some amazing things for unclean spirits crying out with a loud voice came out of many who had them, and many were paralyzed or lame. Those who were paralyzed or lame, they were healed. He's doing miracles, like we saw Jesus do in the Gospel of Mark. And there was much joy in that city, I would imagine so. “But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great.” Keyword of the day, what everybody? Great. I'd like to introduce you to Simon the Great. Isn't it great how the Bible teaches you something and then gives you perfect examples to flesh it out? Oh, some people want to argue about who is great. Well, how about we meet a guy whose name is literally, Simon the Great. That's how he goes, right? The Magician. “And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.”
Let's just make it very clear that the miracles of Philip and the magic of Simon the Great are coming from two completely different places. And so then, in verse 12, “But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.” Even Simon the magician, Simon the Great had to admit, the way God was working through Philip here was awesome. “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John.” So, here we go. Here come Peter and John now from Jerusalem to where Philip is. And they came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So, if you go through the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit shows up first in Jerusalem, and then the apostles take him to other places. And so, that's what we're seeing here, an example of that he wasn't just everywhere. No, they had to spread him out as they took him and prayed for people and laid hands. So, that's what's happening here in Samaria. And verse 18, “Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’” Wow, I'd like that power.
You see, this is what so many people have done throughout history is they were somebody out here in the world, and they were trying to make it about themselves, and they were seeking fame or fortune or whatever it was, and then, all of a sudden, they see what's going on at the church, and they come into the church. But guess what they start doing in the church? The same thing, just a religious context, but the same. Self-promotion. The same. Everybody, look at me the same. I want to be seen as great. And that's what Simon just revealed about himself. Give me that power. I'd like to buy that power. I'd like to be able to give people the Holy Spirit. This is amazing. I want in on this. Look at how Peter cuts him down to size here in verse 20, “But Peter said to him, ‘May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.’” Wow. Peter's not like, well, Simon, that's good that you want to give the Holy Spirit. You just probably shouldn't bribe me about it. He's like, your heart's wrong. You may have believed and you may have gotten baptized, but I can see that you are still in your sin. He says to Simon, you better beg God to forgive you for that self-seeking greatness that's still in your heart. And look at what Simon even says. He acknowledges it. “Pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” So, he acknowledges that he's got the wrong attitude. The problem is, Peter didn't say, I'll pray for you. Peter told Simon, you’ve got to go pray about it. And I don't know if Simon really did, but you can see here that the Bible, that book of Acts, the Holy Spirit, working through Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, wants to show us how there was someone who wanted to be great, and he came in, he heard the gospel, he saw the power of the Holy Spirit. And even in that context, he still wanted to be great.
And so, we have to check our hearts. We have to go and pray to the Lord, and we have to ask God, God, make it clear to me. Make it clear in my heart. Let it be true of me that I'm here not to get something from other people for myself. I'm here to give my life away for many. Can I get an amen from anybody on this? We can't act like hey, we're so desperate for help in the kids’ ministry. We are so desperate for help in the parking lot. We're so desperate for people to do something around here. Well, we're just begging people to do something. We can't be like that as a church. No. People have to prove themselves. People have to show they're really about Christ. They're really one of the brothers and sisters. We're looking for people of good reputation. We're looking for people who pass the test and prove themselves blameless. How did the Church of Jesus become desperate for anybody to help when this is the example we're given? “Pick out seven men of good reputation, full of faith in the Holy Spirit.”
So, I don't know what happened over time in the church. I've even had people leave our church. And I was like, oh, where are you going? Well, we're going to this other church. I was like, oh, oh, why are you guys going over there? Well, because they recruited us, and they said they would make us a leader at that church if we went over there. I'm like, how does that work? You don't even go to that church, and they're already going to make you a leader? How do they know what you're all about? How do they get to know you? How do you pass the test and prove yourself with people who don't even know you? But that's where it's at. I did this at this other church. Here's my resume. You should put me in, because I can do great things for your church. So many people talk like that. Where are the humble people? Where are the people who go low? Where are the people on their race to the bottom? And they don't have to tell you that they're here to serve because you see it, because they're looking for opportunities. They're listening to what other people say. They're praying for the people in their fellowship group. They're looking to meet practical needs. They're looking for, what can I do to help? They're not trying to tell you, here's how, they're like, I'm here. What can I do?
We’ve got to ask God to make us not first but last, to make us the diakonos, the servant of all. Let me pray for our church.
Father in heaven, we come before you, and we're so thankful the disciples turned themselves in, told Mark about these conversations so we could learn from them today. And please, Father, give us that same humility. God, I want to thank you for all the deacons we have here at this church. I thank you for the elders we have here at this church, I thank you for so many people who faithfully serve. And I lift up everybody who's serving at this church to you. And if there's anybody who's being a hypocrite, there's anybody who's in it for themselves, if there's anybody who still is serving because they just want a position, a title, and they just want to be great. Father, I ask that you would reveal that about them, and not just that they would be exposed, but that they would understand it about themselves, and that they would turn themselves in, that they would humble themselves, that they would admit my heart is not right with God. I'm still doing this for me. I'm not doing this because of what Jesus did for me. I'm not doing this to serve the people of Jesus that he died for, that he loves. I'm still here because I want people to look at me. God, if there's anybody doing that at our church, please let it be revealed. Please use your Word to convict them. Let it be something that we can talk about. And God, I pray for all of us, that you will teach us the way of Jesus, that you will show that even though he is the greatest, he did not come to be served, but to serve. And if we're going to follow him, then we need to be the servant of all. We need to be the deacon. And I pray for some of the people here that you will raise them up to be the future deacons, that they will pass the test, that they will prove themselves blameless, that they will be clear to people, they're not in it for themselves because they're here to serve. They're in it for you. God, I pray for this church that you will do a refining and cleansing work as we go through these chapters in Mark. God, please don't let us be filled with hypocrites. Please don't let us all be hanging on for ourselves at the end of the day. Let us be here to serve. Let us be here for you. And let it not be because of us, because we're just some kind of great person. No, let it be because we have Christ in us. I've been crucified with Christ. Crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, it's Christ who lives in me and the life I'm now living. I'm not living for myself anymore. I'm living by faith in the Son of God, because Jesus loved me, and Jesus gave himself for me. And how could I know Jesus was dying there on my cross, giving up his life for me. How could I know Jesus became my servant and not want to serve him? So, God, please, let us hear someday, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Because today we chose the bottom. We chose to serve. And let us say on that day that it's not us, but it's Christ in me. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.