Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S30 || Who Will Be Greatest in God's Kingdom? || Mark 9:33-39 || Session 30 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
With gentle wisdom, Jesus flips conventional thinking upside down: "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." This revolutionary principle challenges everything our achievement-oriented culture values. Rather than condemning his followers, Jesus waits for the right moment to redirect their understanding, demonstrating how God often allows us to walk our misguided paths before bringing loving correction.
The lesson deepens when Jesus embraces a child – someone without status or influence in first-century society – declaring that welcoming such marginalized individuals means welcoming both him and the Father. This profound connection between serving the "least of these" and serving God himself remains one of Christianity's most challenging and transformative teachings.
How might we apply these countercultural principles in our lives today? Where are we seeking status instead of servanthood? Whom are we excluding that Jesus would welcome? Join us as we continue exploring how Jesus challenges our deeply ingrained notions of greatness, belonging, and kingdom work.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible. We are in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus is encountering a long series of people and interactions with people in and around him. Mark is the gospel of going and doing, and there's a lot of action, there's a lot of activity, and that's going to be the case again. Today we're going to see what happens when Jesus asks a question of the disciples. Steve, can you read Mark, chapter 9, starting in verse 33 and going down to verse 37?
Speaker 2:They came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he began to question them what were you discussing on the way? But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest, sitting down. He called the twelve and said to them If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. Taking a child, he set him before them and taking him in his arms, he said to them Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me, and whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me.
Speaker 1:Jesus and the disciples had been traveling and he asked them a question what were you discussing along the way? He asked a question that, of course, he already knew the answer to. I find this interesting. He's God, he knows all things. He knew what they were doing. Plus, he's just an intelligent person so he could tell. And they were right there, so he knew the answer to this question. I'm reminded of God in the Garden of Eden, genesis 3.9,. When Adam and Eve had sinned. God approaches them and says where are you? So he asked a question that he already knew the answer to.
Speaker 1:God will sometimes ask us questions about ourselves even though he already knows the answer. Well, why would he do that? Well, he does it to help us realize things about ourselves, to teach us things. He asks questions to help us learn. Usually, when Jesus asks a question, he's teaching us something. This is true both here and prior. In this same chapter, he asks about the argument between the disciples and the Pharisees, in verse 16. Then again here in verse 33, he asked the disciples what they were discussing along the way, steve, what were they arguing about?
Speaker 2:Well, they were arguing about who was the greatest. We see this kind of silly discussion amongst them of his inner group, of you know which one is the better among us all? Which one does he like the best out of all of us? Which one of us has more intelligence? I'm better and I'm better liked than you are. Because of this reason or because of that reason? It's just. It's a silly thing to be discussing or talking about as to who the greatest is amongst everyone. But it is a very much of a human thing to do everyone. But it is a very much of a human thing to do to want to jockey for position and be a person that's going to be thought of as being greater than somebody else, whether through intellect, or whether it's through strength or abilities, whatever it could be. Human nature says I want to be better than somebody else.
Speaker 1:Do we in our day have similar arguments, or are we too educated and spiritually mature, that we don't have to worry about this anymore.
Speaker 2:No, we do have similar arguments and, even more so, we most likely have similar thoughts. Maybe we don't voice them, but we might be thinking I'm better than that person. Why is it that that person is given such and such a responsibility and I'm not given it Because I'm better than them? Once again, it's a human nature and we have that even today.
Speaker 1:He asked this question in verse 33,. What were you discussing along the way? Well, how did they react to his question in verse 34?
Speaker 2:They kept silent and that's because they were caught. Just like whenever we might have caught our kids. We say what are you doing? Walk in on them when they're in the room, you know what they've been doing. And they just stay silent because they know they've been caught. Same thing here.
Speaker 1:I think the story here, this one little vignette, tells us a great spiritual lesson, because think of what happened here. They were walking along the way going from one place to another. They walked a good long walk. During the walk, they were discussing and talking amongst themselves. Jesus allows them to have this discussion. They were talking about something actually sinful who's going to be the greatest? Jesus allows them to do that. Then, at the end of their journey, when they get to the house, what does he do? It says he sits them down and asks this question, and asks a question to help them realize the sinfulness of their conversation that had been going on for a length of time earlier.
Speaker 1:Jesus will sometimes wait until we're at the end of a journey and then sit us down and explain something. He sometimes allows us to go our sinful way and to have our sinful thoughts, to go our sinful way and to have our sinful thoughts. But then, at the end of the journey, he'll sit down and gently explain what the situation is and why we were off track. Notice what he did not do he didn't prevent them from having the sinful conversation in the first place. Then the second thing he did not do is he didn't really get harsh with them because of their sin. No, he allowed them to sin, waited till the end of the journey, got to the house they were staying in, sits them down and has a gentle, careful, loving but corrective conversation with them, saying here is how you should be doing and how you should have been doing For every follower of Christ. I think we can have a similar experience and I think we will get to the end of our lives and we'll have a nice loving conversation with Jesus. He will sit us down and say okay, along the journey, here's what you were doing and I allowed you to do all of these things, but here's where you could have done better. Here's how you should be thinking. He, lovingly, will correct us.
Speaker 1:Jesus doesn't stop us from sinning. Today we have the freedom to go and sin. The Holy Spirit bothers us. The Holy Spirit won't allow us to stay there, but at the end of our lives there will come a time when we get to the place that he has prepared for us and we will sit down with Him and he will gently, lovingly, tell us what we didn't understand along the way and he will ask us some questions why did this happen and why were you doing that?
Speaker 1:Remember verse 32, they didn't understand what Jesus had been saying and then they started talking about sinful things. That's the human condition we don't always understand what Jesus is telling us and then we get up and go off and do sinful things is telling us, and then we get up and go off and do sinful things. We do not understand here on earth, our journey, we get off track and we think about ourselves instead of thinking about the Lord. When we die and get to the heavenly dwelling place that Jesus talked about in John 14, I go to prepare a place for you. He will sit with us gently, lovingly, explain what should be happening and, steve, I find that to be a very loving, tender thing.
Speaker 2:Isn't it interesting? The way that you've explained it there is that the reprimand is done in a teaching way and not just a way of saying don't do that because I tell you not to do it. He gives them a reason to understand what they are discussing, and we're going to talk about that here in just a little bit. As far as, how is it that you become the greatest? So teaching moments, we always see Jesus do it. The other thing is, this is his inner 12, and he says he brings them together to give them this teaching moment.
Speaker 1:He had taught them. Then they went off and sinned and he allowed them. He gently, lovingly corrects them. He didn't get angry at them for sinning. Who does he get angry at? He gets angry at the religious leaders that are self-righteous. He gets angry at the religious leaders that, after he gives them truth, they try to correct him and challenge him. He reserves his severe anger for the Pharisees, the wicked religious leaders, the commoners, the people that were following him, his disciples. He is gentle with them when they sin, and that's how the Lord is with us. He corrects them, but he does it lovingly and gently. Then, in verse 35, he sits down before he begins to teach the disciples. Often he would sit prior to teaching something important. And in verse 35, Steve, according to Jesus, who will be the greatest in the kingdom. How does that work in our lives today?
Speaker 2:Well, he says if anyone wants to be the first, he should be the last of all and servant of all. He's conveying here that you need to have a servant spirit, one who wants to do things for other people. And whenever you have that type of a servant heart, that's exactly what you're putting yourself out of the picture and you're asking that person what is it that I can do for you? What is it that I can do for you that will take care of your situation or ease your situation that you're in or help you with whatever you're going through? When you have that servant heart, you're not thinking about yourself.
Speaker 1:You're thinking about the other person that you're serving Jesus says here in this passage if anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. That tells us that when we want to do great work for the kingdom, we need to view ourselves as a servant, as a servant of Christ, as less important, as one of the last in line. If we view ourselves that way, then God says we are then able to do great work. If we lift ourselves up and we say, look at all the talent I have and look how much managerial skills I have and look how much intelligence I have, then that's the people that won't get much accomplished. Much intelligence I have, then that's the people that won't get much accomplished. Our pastors and our church leaders should view themselves as servants. When they lift themselves up and say, look at my high position and I have a title after my name, so therefore I'm somebody important, well, they've just proven to the Lord that they're not very important. They should view themselves as servants. That's the message here.
Speaker 1:The disciples were doing exactly that. Who's going to be the greatest? Well, he says if you want to be great, you have to be last of all, you have to be servant of all. He then in verse 36, he takes a child because, remember, he had just had this conversation about who's going to be greatest. Well, he goes and gets a child who in that culture in those days, were looked down upon. My grandfather used to say children are to be seen and not heard. Children were less important, didn't have much intelligence to add to the conversation here. Jesus put a great importance on children. Jesus put a great importance on children and that is very telling to us because he's saying that again who wants to be first must be last and the last must be first. We hadn't got there yet, but down in verse 42, he talks about if you make a child stumble, it'd be better if you had a heavy millstone around your neck. He puts a great importance on children. Steve, how important is it in our churches to instill Jesus in?
Speaker 2:children, and that is a key thing. What I left out there is that he says whoever receives a child like this in my name. And that's exactly what we're doing in church, if we have put aside classrooms to take care of the children while the adults are in the sermon area and also in their Bible study area, and, of course, you have the parents that are taking turns taking care of the children at that time. But what are you doing? You're not just taking care of the children, you're teaching them about Jesus. You're giving them instruction. You're receiving those children in the name of Jesus. You take a great responsibility when you do that. You also need to teach them the correct things about Jesus whenever that happens.
Speaker 1:The Lord, god, gave us instructions on how to reach children. He said this quote you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. That's Deuteronomy 6-7. He tells us to teach children every day, as you go through the normal daily activities. Then we should teach our children about God. We shouldn't reserve spiritual education for just the people at the church. We shouldn't reserve spiritual education for just one hour a week on Sunday. No, we should teach children about the Lord Jesus all day long, when we lie down and when we rise up and when we walk by the way. And reaching the next generation is incredibly important. Christianity would die in one generation if nobody was reached for the Lord. And there have been groups. There's been groups that the Shakers were one were a religious movement that didn't believe in marrying and having children. Guess what? There's no more of them left. Reaching children is a great thing and Jesus puts a high level of importance on it. Many cultures today downplay the role of children, but Jesus said children were very important. He took children in his arms here in this passage. Children need physical hugs and being told that they're loved. That's one of the demonstrations that he gives here. Children are the future of the church. Without reaching children, the church are going to die in one generation.
Speaker 1:Then in verse 37, it has a very profound theological message Whoever receives me does not receive me but him who sent me. Think of that. From this we know, just from that simple little statement whoever receives me does not receive me but him who sent me. It tells us Jesus was sent by the Father. That's a profound spiritual lesson. It tells us Jesus was sent by the Father. That's a profound spiritual lesson. Jesus and the Father are not the same person, or that sentence doesn't make any logical sense if they were the same person. John 17, 21,. Jesus is praying to the Father and says you, father, are in me and I in you, and speaks of us as two persons. So we have the Lord, god as at least two persons here, and Jesus is identifying with God. If we receive Jesus, we have received God. So in these very simple, oftentimes just very simple statements, jesus communicates some great, profound truths. Now, steve, can you start at verse 38 and read down through 41?
Speaker 2:And we have a great teaching here about Jesus, talking about those that are not for us or against us, john said to him Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us. But Jesus said Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name and be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For he who is not against us is for us. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.
Speaker 1:So in verse 38, John comes to Jesus and has a problem. What's the?
Speaker 2:problem. He says that we saw somebody else that was out there casting out demons in your name, but we tried to prevent him from doing it because he wasn't following us. This is right on the heels of them all discussing about who was the greatest amongst themselves. But now we see there are others out there that are taking learnings from Jesus of what he's doing in casting out these evil spirits, and they're using his name to do it because they recognize he has the power to be able to do it and probably also have noticed some of the disciples the inner 12, doing it whenever Jesus had previously sent them out amongst all the different areas, he gave them the ability to cast out the demons. But John is couching this in a way of he wasn't one of the 12, jesus, he wasn't one of the ones that you gave the authority to do that, so we tried to prevent him from doing it. That's how John is couching this conundrum that he comes to Jesus with.
Speaker 1:The 12 disciples knew they were the 12 disciples. They knew they were the ones that had been chosen by Jesus. So John comes up and says wait a minute, lord, this guy's over here that are casting out demons in your name, in Jesus' name, but they're not following us. They're not following us, the 12. And that's the concern is, they're over there. We're over here, they're not following us.
Speaker 1:The first thing I think of Steve is the irony here is huge. Remember what happened earlier in this same chapter the demon that was possessing the boy back in verse 18, the 12 couldn't cast him out. They were unable to cast out a demon. But here, here was somebody else that was casting out a demon, but he wasn't part of our group, he wasn't in our church, he wasn't following the 12. So they're a little bit jealous here, in the sense that they had failed to do something.
Speaker 1:And there's somebody over there that was succeeding in the same task, but they're jealous about it and they're trying to stop it. They're trying to get Jesus to go. Stop that guy because he's not following us, the 12. And I find that to be just ironic. They had failed at something and now they're criticizing somebody that's succeeding in the same task, steve. Would that ever happen in our day, in our churches? That we would get? Okay, we are the ones that really follow the right path here. But those guys over there, they're succeeding in what I'm not, so I need to go stop them. It's known as elitism.
Speaker 2:They were saying we're part of the inner 12 that are here and that are following you. You're teaching us the things that you talk to parables on the other ones outside the group. You come to us and tell us what those parables mean. Therefore, we're special, we're the elite of the group. Those guys over there that were casting them out yeah, they were using your name, but they weren't getting the teaching that you're getting from us. They're not part of this 12. It's elitism. They're thinking that they're somebody special and in a way they are somebody special. We will see as their lives develop, especially after Jesus leaves, that they are special to the Word of God and the Christianity and the things that they do. But here Jesus is cautioning them and really kind of putting them back in their place in his answer to them of saying, well, don't prevent them from doing that, don't hinder them from doing that.
Speaker 1:That's one of the key things there, verse 39 and 40, jesus' answer was do not stop them. I find this to be quite profound. The picture here is the 12 are saying they're not following us, the 12. And Jesus goes to stop them and he doesn't Matter of fact. Does he even say anything about correcting these other people that are out there? No, he doesn't.
Speaker 1:There's many passages in the New Testament that talk about correcting false teachers. The false teachers that were in our midst are out there in the public square. 2 Peter, 1 Timothy 1.3, galatians Paul rebukes Peter. There's many places in the New Testament that talks about correcting false teachers. Here. I find this very interesting. John comes to Jesus and says Jesus, there's somebody out there casting out demons in your name, in Jesus' name, and Jesus not only says don't go, stop them, let them go, but he doesn't even go and correct them. He doesn't even go and correct them and say okay, you keep doing what you're doing, but follow under John and Peter and James. Here, no, no, he tells John and Peter and James don't go, stop them, let them be. I find this to be quite profound and quite applicable to church history and in our day Some churches try to draw a direct line from the apostles through the church fathers to their church, and these churches usually hold that they are the only valid church tradition and teach that others should stop and join them.
Speaker 1:Jesus says don't hinder people out there, even if they're not following in the same. Apostolic secession is the term they like to use. Mark 9 presents a specific case where people were not following the apostles' tradition and yet Jesus says to leave them be. He doesn't even correct them. They're out there doing things in Jesus' name. He says don't go and correct them. In fact he guides the apostles to not do that. Then, in verse 39 and 40, jesus is saying that even if someone is speaking in Jesus' name, he will not speak evil of Jesus. We're commanded several times in the New Testament to correct false teachers, but here Jesus says not to stop people just because they're not in our tradition. Steve, any thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:The way that that sentence is constructed, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. To me it's the inference of if they're casting out demons in my name, the demon is going to come out because of me, or the Holy Spirit, because God is going to cast that demon out. And the inference to me is that if that doesn't happen, they're not a follower of Jesus, because those people that aren't followers might turn around and speak evil of him. This might be put back to the Pharisees and the others who were casting out demons on a regular basis. They were speaking evil of Jesus.
Speaker 2:So the disciples come to him, or John comes to him and says here's this person out here that's casting out demons in your name. So he's not a Pharisee. That's doing it the Pharisaical way. Jesus says let him be, let him go ahead and do it, because if the demon comes out, when he's casting them out in my name, he is a follower of us. He will not be speaking evil of us, otherwise the demon won't be cast out. So I think that's an interesting way that that sentence is structured there and sometimes we have these little ideas of certain ways that things are to be done and sometimes it's caused church splits and different denominations to come out and really the bottom line is is it being done in the name of Jesus? That's the bottom line. A guidepost is are the people then afterwards speaking evil of Jesus or doing things against Jesus or doing things against his teaching? If they're not, then maybe the things that were split churches on were things that shouldn't have been split in the first place.
Speaker 1:There's still some great teachings in this passage, so we're going to stop here for today and come back to it next time. We encourage everyone to tune in, because these next passages are equally important about discerning between church groups and church traditions.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you. Music.
