About your attention for a few moments to the gospel of Mark, please. You find our text in chapter nine, Mark chapter number nine, for just a few moments, as we consider the words of Christ in Mark chapter nine, his words to his disciples on a very important subject. Please keep your Bible handy. We will look at several verses here in chapter nine and 10. When I first started preaching, I thought I'm gonna surely run out of something to preach after so many years. But now I feel the other way. Now I feel like I'm never gonna catch up. I feel like I've got a thousand sermons I need to preach. and the Bible is that way. It's just full, amen, it's full. There's very few books I would read over and over again. I'm sure you'd say the same, but this is God's word. So as we look in Mark 9, at verse 33, the Bible says, and he came to Capernaum, Jesus came to Capernaum and being in the house, he asked them, what was it that you disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. So we're thinking on the subject, what were you arguing about? What were you arguing about? The disciples of our Lord were good men, but they were just human. They were like we are. The Bible says of Elijah that he was a man subject to like passions. So when we read in this text right here that the disciples are arguing, we shouldn't be too hard on them because we're all guilty ourselves sometimes. The disciples are disputing, it says. They're bickering, they're debating, but you'll be surprised perhaps of what they're arguing about. They're arguing about who's the greatest, who's gonna be the greatest. We immediately respond by saying, well, them fellows, how carnal, how immature of them, how selfish of them, how totally out of character. Well, maybe so, but we'll see ourselves before we're done tonight. So first of all, I want you to notice that Jesus confronts them, he has been listening to what they've been saying. When he asked them, what have you been arguing about? It's not that he doesn't know. Jesus never asked a question in the Bible because he didn't know the answer. He always asked a question to make a point. So, And our text here, he says to them, he asked them, what was it that you disputed among yourselves by the way? I've been listening. What was it you were talking about? And it shows that he is concerned about every word and that every word is accountable. The Lord is listening to us all the time. Just keep that in mind. Keep that in mind. When I was a boy, me and my brothers would argue, and daddy would get a little white Panasonic cassette tape player, put a cassette tape in it, push record, set it underneath the bar, and record us arguing. And then about 30 minutes later, he'd say, all right, sit down, be quiet. Now listen to this. Play. We didn't want to hear it. And I'm sure a few times when we started to argue, we thought, let's not argue. We don't want to hear this. Wouldn't it help us to know that God with his great big recorder is taping everything we say, do, even think. It is written down. It is written down. So Jesus is aware of their dispute. He confronts them with it. And apparently it's all about worldly ambition. not a godly ambition, but a selfish prideful ambition that says, I'm better than you. I'm greater than you. I want a higher position than you. There was a time in our Lord's ministry when a lot of the people thought he's going to be the king. It looks like he's going to take over the government. Let's see how we can get in good with him. See how we can get a position. Apparently that spirit is rubbed off on the 12th, because they're arguing here about who should be the greatest. And would you believe that not just once here, but we'll see it in the next chapter, they're doing it again, arguing. I'm sure Peter said, fellas, you know, I should be the vice president. I'm always the one that speaks for this group anyway. Don't that sound like Peter? And somebody else said, well, you know, Peter, you've made too many blunders. I'm the greatest. I'm the greatest. One of them was a Herodian. I forget which one, but one of the 12 could have said, you know, I've had a little political experience. I should be. the top dog, as they say. I'm sure it grieved Jesus because what they're talking about is the very opposite of everything he'd ever taught them. but it's an ambition for fame, for fortune, for power, which is common to all man. Nobody ever has to sit a child down and say, now today, son, I'm gonna teach you how to be selfish. And I'm gonna teach you how to want your own way. And I'm gonna teach you how to desire to climb the ladder and push other people under your feet and take care of number one. No, we all know that. That comes with the package of being a depraved, deprived sinner. Yeah. I mean, it's not unusual to see people wearing the T-shirt that says, it's all about me. Yeah. So this ambition is a selfish prideful ambition that promoted self and sought power and fame. It's amazing that they talk about it here. They argue about it here. They argue about the next chapter and then believe it or not, you can go home and read Luke 22. They argue about it again at a most unlikely time and occasion. The last night Jesus was on the earth, they're sitting around at the last supper. Jesus has just broken the bread and distributed the cup and lo and behold, the Bible says that they argued about it again. Right there in front of Jesus, who's hours away from the cross. Luke 22, 20 through 24. Ambition. That was behind Lucifer's fall. Pride and ambition. That was behind Korah's rebellion. Korah who said, Moses, you take too much on you. I want a little bit of that fame. I want a little bit of that limelight. and the earth opened up and swallowed Korah and his company. Selfish ambition fueled the Tyre of Babel, the revolt of Absalom, the tyranny of Doctrophes in the New Testament, who wanted to take over the churches. Ambition is a terrible thing. If it's not consecrated, to the will of God. The Bible calls it emulations. Paul called it a work of the flesh emulations, which means the incessant desire to be better than other people. Do you know why you can never win at that? Because you don't know other people's heart. You will never truly 100% know if you're better than anybody. No, the Christian attitude is I need to be a better Christian than I was yesterday. I need to be a better me. And as for comparing yourself to other people, that's a waste of time. Who cares if you're better than anybody else? God made you to be you and junk all that ambition and all that jealousy and that desire to outdo, out give, out sing, out whatever anybody else. That's foolish. It's a work of the flesh and not the spirit. Sometimes people get caught up in that. Churches get caught up in that. Churches say, we wanna be the biggest. We wanna be the best. And we'll do whatever we gotta do to be the biggest. And I've seen them do some very ridiculous things. That's stupid. That is. The purpose of a church is to do God's will. It doesn't matter if you got 11, 111 or 411. We're not trying to outdo anybody else. If somebody gets saved at another church, you know what I'm gonna say? Hallelujah. There's one more that missed hell. Amen. Not trying to outdo anybody. That's the spirit of the world. That's carnal. So earthly fame and fortune are fleeting and brief. I'll never forget the story of the game. I think it was a soccer game. They had this team one and you know, they always call the most viable player, the MVP of the game. And they all got around him. You know how they throw him up in the air. You know, he's the star, he's in the light. You know, but do you know how long his fame lasted? It didn't last long enough for him to catch him. They threw him up in the air, forgot him, walked away and he hit the ground, broke his arm. So his fame lasted three seconds. That ain't long. Whatever this world can give you, it can't last long. It's just a puff of smoke. but these disciples forgot all that. Jesus said, what was y'all arguing about? You know what they said? Nothing. They didn't answer. They were embarrassed, guilty, condemned by their own pride and jealousy. So I wanna say thirdly, finally, Jesus admonishes them about this. And he tells them plainly how to be great, really great. And he says to them, if you want to be great, then you be the servant of all. The world says you're great by how many people serve you. Jesus said, you're great by how many people you serve. That's the opposite. And everything in Christianity is the opposite of the world. Yes. Jesus said, you have by given. You live by dying. You win by surrendering. The way up is down. All those are Bible paradoxes. They're the opposite of what this world will tell you. I remember being in school, my teacher said to me, said, Alan, just believe in yourself, self confidence all the way. You're great. There's nothing you can't do. You just, he just said, he said, you'll be the president or you'll write his speeches. That's what he said. You know, and I, that sounded good. That really fed my ego. Then I started reading the Bible and I didn't find nothing like that. I read in the Bible where you got to deny yourself and crucify your own will and say, not my will, but thine be done and not have confidence in the flesh, but have confidence in God and the Bible. Yeah, not, those are two very opposite ways of thinking. So the admonition here, the lesson is the way to be great is to be the servant. For our Lord says, if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all. Verse 35, servant of all. And then when they're arguing about it in the next chapter, Jesus says at verse 43, but so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. So Jesus said, you want to be great? Do you? Well, the price is self-denial, humility, loneliness, and says, by the way, how do you treat children? This was a test. because he gets a child, brings that child before him and says, how you treat this child is how you treat me. You receive that child, you're receiving me, you receive me, you're receiving the father that sent me. How do you treat the least and the lowest? He said, that's the standard. The old preachers used to say, if you wanna really find out how spiritual somebody is, put them in the midst of five children. You know, some people can't relate to children. Some people forget that they used to be children. Yeah. Did you know Jesus did more for children than all other religions of the world put together? Jesus Christ and the gospel elevated childhood, womanhood, family, and gave a worth to every individual. Do you know how the heathen treated children for centuries and still do? They throw them away. Read the missionary stories, the killing ponds. If a girl was born, she was thrown in the pond by the millions. Because in pagan religions, you're nothing. Life is nothing. But Jesus Christ came on the scene and said, everybody's important. Even the Jews who were affected by the pagan religions, it says a child really is just to be considered only a servant, not even a member of the family till they reach a certain age. But then Jesus came on the scene and said, you want to be great? How you treating this little young man right here? Amen. Most people are too big. They're too important to take time for a child. Sure. So the admonition is how do you treat the least and the lowest? Jesus often said, it's not how you treat people who can return the favor. That's nothing. You're good to people that give you a birthday gift? That's nothing. You gave them one, they give you one back. Hey, you want to do something Christian? Do something for somebody that'll never repay you and probably won't even say thank you. That's the test. That's the test. So greatness is kindness. to children and everybody else. I like it when it says, Jesus said, suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God. 10, 14, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Amen. Greatness begins with salvation and salvation begins with child likeness. Amen. That's what he said. You got to come as a child trusting in simplicity. So you want to be great? Show kindness. Take the lowly place. Aim to minister. You know how most people walk out the door? With an entitlement mentality. Get out of my way, here I am. What are you doing for me today? Yeah. You know how a Christian walks out the door? Lord, what would you have me to do? How can I be a blessing today? How can I help? Who can I pray for? How can I give? How can I be like you, Jesus? That's greatness. That's Bible greatness. Amen. Greatness is a Christian fellow who was in the military and every night he'd bow beside his bunk and pray. And all the other fellows would laugh at him. Sometimes they'd even throw their muddy boots at him. But somehow every morning when they all woke up, their boots were washed and shined and put at their bed. That's greatness. That's greatness. These two little boys escaped from the orphanage. They didn't get very far. The one was carrying his little brother on his back. They got tired. run about a half a mile, the policeman said, when he got him, he said to the big boy, he said, you can set your brother down now, set your burden down, put your burden down. And he said to the policeman, he said, oh, he ain't no burden, that's my brother. Amen. I hope that's what you say next time somebody talks about a Christian to you. Oh, he ain't no burden. He's a brother. Amen. That's a sister. That's my family. That's how you'd want to be treated. Amen. Start treating people like you want to be treated. That's the golden rule. Amen. That's the golden rule. So I'm done tonight. Jesus didn't just talk about serving, but he did it himself. For he said in 1045, for even the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. He didn't just talk about it, he showed the way. The Lord of all became the servant of all. You fall in his steps and you'll be great. And if not, You're not great. I don't care who you are. I don't care what game you won. I don't care how much money you got. You can't be great in God's side if you're not saved and denying yourself and trying to be a blessing and serve. Amen. Eight of the richest people in the world were together at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago years ago. president of a steel company and a utility company, president of the New York Stock Exchange, member of the cabinet, greatest bear in Wall Street, president of a bank, head of the world's greatest monopoly. Together, these eight men had more money than the United States Treasury. The rest of the story, though, is that one of them, Charles Schwab, president of the steel company, died broke. Richard Whitney, the New York Stock Exchange president, went to prison. Albert Fall, member of the cabinet, was pardoned from prison to die at home. The Wall Street bear, Leon Fraser, as well the president of the International Bank, and Ivan Krueger, head of the world's largest monopoly, all committed suicide. Seven of the eight richest, most powerful men in the world. ended their own lives in tragedy and sorrow. Worldly greatness is an illusion, a bubble, a fantasy. Don't get caught up in that. Nobody's ever won. And what would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Seek Bible greatness, amen? Seek God's approval. and you'll never regret it. Amen.