Light on the Hill

James Kaddis: Do you want to be great in God's kingdom? Listen to this. If you want to be great in the kingdom of God, then you will understand what the true definition of greatness is. He's not saying, if you want to be great in the kingdom of God, then go to the back of the line. That's not what he's saying. He's saying, understand what greatness is.

Greatness in the kingdom of God is not what you call greatness in this world's economy. Being in first place is absolutely not defined as greatness, as the world would say it. Being in the front of the room in great prominence is not what it means to be the greatest. Been there, I've done that. I've sat at tables that are oftentimes considered to be reserved for the greatest of all people. I'm going to make something very clear to you. I don't want to be near any of those guys.

Guest (Male): The word is spoken, but the question is: Are you listening? If you are and you're ready to apply what you've been told, some big changes will occur for the better. Things will get very real, and that's not a bad thing. We'll explain today on Light on the Hill as we present Pastor James Kaddis's message, "God Said This and It Can't Be Ignored." We're in Mark chapter nine.

James Kaddis: All right, Mark chapter nine, and we are going to start in verse 30. Now, I want to say this because it's important, and that is the fact that where we leave off, or at least where we're going to pick up, the disciples are very confused. They're hearing Jesus say things that are bringing great conflict to them. They're having a difficult time with the things that Jesus has been communicating. They don't really realize everything that's going on, and there's actually fear in their hearts because they don't know what it eventually means or how it will reconcile.

They're confused. Christ is wanting to keep things under wraps for a lack of a better term because he knows that as the disciples lack in understanding concerning the situation, when the people hear concerning what's going to go on, they're going to not understand the real value of the things that are being put in front of them. As a result, they are going to run away from the only thing that can bring them hope. I think that this is something that's very important for us to understand because this is oftentimes the kind of spiritual warfare type barriers that we run into as believers.

As believers, we find ourselves in situations where we look at matters, especially matters that relate to spiritual things, and we don't fully understand what we're seeing. We don't fully discern the matters before us because we're not looking at them through the lens that God has provided for us. Oftentimes, we fail to look at them through the lens of scripture. We fail to look at them through the understanding and the discernment that comes with walking with the Lord and being filled with the spirit of God.

So we only look at, analyze, think, consider, talk about very minute aspects of the very thing that we're looking at, or sometimes we look at things as a whole. We seem to react based on what we appear or what we think is happening as a whole, not recognizing that the small nuances make all the difference in the world. Either way, regardless of what the situation is, you must understand fully what God's desire and heart is for you in each of these situations. You also must understand fully what it is that God wants you to understand so that you can correctly navigate through the matters as they come in front of you.

In this particular case, Jesus has been talking to his disciples about his death and his resurrection. Again, these are subjects that are freaking the disciples out. They don't completely understand what they're hearing. They don't completely know what's really being said. God is seeking to bring to them a reconciliation and an understanding about those things, but oftentimes it doesn't work the way we think we want it to work. In a society like today, where we want everything now and if we can't get it fast enough then it's worthless to us, God says sometimes you have to wait before you're ever going to be able to understand.

This is something that's very difficult for us to contemplate because we're not about waiting. One of the biggest barriers that I run into when I sit down and do marriage counseling or when I'm talking to somebody who's going through a very difficult time or I'm trying to offer them counsel regarding an issue that they're dealing with—maybe there's something that's happening that is a little bit more challenging to them—one of the most difficult things that I run into is I give people assignments, things that I need them to do.

Sometimes they're not homework assignments; sometimes it's just counsel. I'm asking you to do this, and I'm needing you to be mindful of this. But they get upset when I ask them to do those things because what they demand in the moment is the fast answer. They want to know what the answer is to fix the problem that they have. An overwhelming majority of times, they do not realize that if I were to give them the answer in the current moment in which we were discussing the problem, it would go right through one ear and out the other. They wouldn't understand it.

That's a very difficult thing, and in some cases, the answer can't even come until the actual work is done. I think that's the way God typically operates. God doesn't just give us all the answers at once and simply unqualifies them. God tells us exactly what his instruction is, what his insight is, and then he demands that we do the work of obedience and have the patience that comes with understanding that God's timing is superb, that we might be able to make the more intelligent and informed decision that's predicated upon the wisdom and the knowledge of God rather than the insight that we think we have.

This is why we make lots of mistakes. When I go to people and I counsel them, oftentimes it's just a big waste of time. It's a waste of time because they don't want to do the work that will clean the lenses that they're trying to look through to be able to understand. Nobody can fully and truly understand the wisdom and the insight and the power of the word of God unless they do the work associated with the word of God, unless they walk in obedience.

Without walking in obedience and without an openness to being filled with the spirit of God, you are never going to understand all of the prerequisites necessary in order for you to be able to fully articulate all of the nuances that are oftentimes associated with very complex problems that, quite frankly, in the eyes of God are simple but in your eyes are a mess. It's a tough thing to do. It's a very hard thing to do, but God says, "Do it in my time. Trust me." In the process, walk in obedience and I'll get you through the whole thing. I'll take you through the process. There's nothing you have to worry about or fear.

We see a beautiful picture of this in the book of Mark, especially as we dig into the passage that we're going to dig into now. Let's look at this in verse 30. It says, "And they departed thence, and passed through the Galilee, and he would not that any man should know it." This is interesting because it is unique to recognize what's happening. Jesus wants them to be quiet as they're traveling through the Galilee.

There's a reason why Jesus wants them to be quiet. Although we don't fully understand it in the moment that we read this particular verse, by the time we get some verses down the line, we're going to understand Jesus's reasoning behind why he's doing what he's doing. He's instructing them right now to keep it on the down-low with their travel plans. Look at verse 31. "For he taught his disciples and said unto them..." This is the reason why Jesus is telling them to be quiet.

Let me read the last part of verse 30. "He would not that any man should know it." Why? "For he taught his disciples and said unto them, the son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day." Think about this. Jesus is basically telling his men, "We need to keep it quiet. Don't tell anybody that we're going through this area. Let's be concealed as we travel through. I don't want anybody to know."

Why? Because Jesus was teaching them about his death, burial, and resurrection. Look at what the next verse says. This is very critical. It's important to understand. "But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him." What we see given to us here is that Jesus, on purpose, had no desire for anybody around him, in terms of the audience that normally follows him, to know where he was going. The disciples that were with him were internally conflicted by the words that were being said.

They didn't understand it at all. They had no idea what was being said, and they were afraid to ask him. Here's the question that I would ask immediately right off the bat: Why would they be afraid to ask him? A lot of people will teach this as they were afraid to ask him because they were fearful of the fact that Jesus will look at them and go, "Hey, you knuckleheads, you should know better by now. Have I not been with you this whole time?" A lot of people teach it this way.

I actually believe their fear of asking him is centered around the idea that his answer may very well be that what he said was literal and that it would happen. I don't think that they're excited or happy or even by any stretch of the imagination remotely okay with the idea that Christ is going to be crucified. Rather than going to the Lord and asking him for deeper understanding concerning the matter that they are going to face and the things that they're going to see, their whole goal is to avoid it altogether.

"If I avoid it, then it won't be something on my mind. If it's not on my mind, then it's not going to be a big deal." The problem is Jesus now doesn't want them to be traveling while telling everybody where they're going to be because if the disciples themselves are fearful of asking what's going on, then they're not going to understand the message when it's time to speak the message. As a result, the people are going to end up suffering and end up faltering.

This is kind of important because I oftentimes think that as believers we behave the same exact way. I think that we tend to react in certain ways, act in certain ways, lean into certain things because we're fearful of what it might look like if we do anything else. We don't want to face the situations that we might be in the midst of. We don't want to deal with the circumstances that are growing in front of us. At the expense of sounding offensive to some people, I would see this happening especially in the earlier years of me being here as a young man even before I became a pastor.

In Calvary Chapel, I would see this all the time, and it was something that oftentimes deeply disturbed me. As I began to understand my walk with God a little bit more, as I began to discern things a little more clearly, and as I began to develop an awareness of how God wants us to look at our future, I actually became very bothered by the dynamic that I was beginning to see. I was beginning to see a dynamic where many of the guys who were leading spiritually in this movement were not encouraging people in the flock to be prepared for the future that they would be facing until the Lord returned.

As a matter of fact, the most common picture that would be drawn is, "Don't worry about all of any of that because the Lord is going to rapture us sooner than you think." There were people that were made to be more spiritual if they refused to engage in long-term commitments. Why would you engage in a long-term commitment like buying a house if you know the Lord is going to return before 15 years or 10 years?

So what happened was there was a genuine and sincere group of people who were not willing to engage in the things they needed to engage in until he comes because they were concerned about the fact that Christ could come at any moment. Of course, there were other people who actually refused to engage in those things because the reason why was they were scared of what it would look like if they did engage in those things. Jesus in the book of Matthew, chapter 24, basically cursed both of the people that were in those categories.

The people that were scared for the reason of "Why should I do this because Christ could come at any moment and I don't want to miss out on that?" or the people that were scared because they just didn't want to face the big bad ugly world in front of them until Christ came, God actually said, "Shame on you. You were the ones that buried the talent." Jesus said, "I've given you a talent."

That talent was not specifically or was not specifically referring to money, although there are some remarkable financial principles that we can draw from the parable of the talents and I teach them all the time. The one thing that I want everybody to understand is when you look at the story of the parable of the talents, the talent that Jesus was talking about in his parable related to the fact that Jesus was going to give us insight concerning the second coming.

Jesus was going to give us insight concerning the last days. He'd just done it in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew chapter 24, and then in chapter 25, he brings the parable of the talents. What he actually tells us is he says, "Don't take the information that I've given you, don't take your knowledge of the end times and bury it in the ground because you're so fearful of the fact that one day I'm going to return. What you actually need to do is take that talent and go multiply it."

You need to tell people that I'm coming. Because you know that I'm coming, you need to take the talent that I've given you and you need to multiply it. You need to take it into twofold, fivefold, tenfold. The problem is we don't think that way. We don't take the Bible knowledge that God has given us and use it to engage in the decisions that we make for the future because we're either scared of the future or we choose to make ourselves scared of God when in reality neither of those things matter.

These disciples were fearful of what God would say if that question would be imposed. As a result, they didn't deal with it, and the direct chain of causation that led to the point that Jesus did not reveal himself specifically within the arena of the Galilee was directly related to his disciples not wanting to know anything about the truth of what was going to happen. I would tell you that God's heart is that we take the time to deeply discern and understand and become aware of his truth that we might take that truth everywhere without shame and use it no matter where we go. We have example after example after example in the Bible that teaches us how to do these things.

It's very important that we understand that. So they were afraid. Look at this verse 33. "And he came to Capernaum." We say in Hebrew, Kfar Nahum. He came to Capernaum, and being in the house, he asked them, "What was it that you disputed amongst yourselves by the way?" They were probably shocked by the way when Jesus asked that question. "Hey, when we were walking over to Capernaum, what is it you guys were fighting about? What was going on?" They didn't think Jesus was paying attention.

Look at this next verse 34. "But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest." Jesus said it, and they were quiet. "We're not answering that." Why? Because it's embarrassing. If they were to come out with what they were debating, then it would have certainly been an embarrassment. They were fighting over who's going to be in the better position. "No, I get the best position in heaven. No, I do. Jesus loves me more." It was probably something to that effect.

Very interesting, but look at what Jesus says, and what he says is remarkable. He sat down and called the 12 and saith unto them—now mind you this is important to note—Jesus by default is taking the position of seating himself. Sitting down would be the position of the rabbi. It would be the position of the teacher. So he's sitting down and by him sitting down and gathering the men around him, he's saying this is a very serious teaching moment and I need you to pay attention. That's basically what he's doing.

He sits them down and he says something profound here. Look at what it says in verse 35. "He sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all." These men didn't disclose to Jesus what they were arguing about, but Jesus was still able to discern what it was. Can you imagine how they were feeling when they're hearing those words of Jesus saying this?

It's interesting, by the way, this discussion of wanting to be the first, you've got to be the last and the last will be the first. It's one of these discussions that I'm hearing my daughters have with one another. "I'm going to be first so I'm going to just get behind you." They do this talk all the time. "I'm going to be last because I want to be first." It's funny because they're too young, at least at this point. They will get to understand it soon, but they're too young to discern and understand what the real meaning of that is.

Your motivation to want to be first being the thing that makes you go to the end of the line is the exact opposite of what God is trying to teach you. What God is trying to say isn't that God puts people at the front of the line when they choose to go to the back of the line. That's not what he's saying. What he's actually saying here is the people who carry the greatest weight in God's economy are the ones that humble themselves to serve one another. They're the ones that view one another with an understanding and a call that they are supposed to minister to people.

It's funny how you think about this. Jesus by default was in first place. If you really think about it, Jesus will be called by the whole world one day the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We know what the Bible says concerning that very thing. But here's the thing that's really interesting. Jesus throughout the tenure of his life did nothing but give himself of himself to other people. He always pushed himself to the back of the line. He never sat himself in the place of prominence. He always walked in humility, and he always gave to others in a very self-sacrificing way.

One of the things that you'll recognize very quickly and discern very quickly with what Jesus is saying is if you want to be great in the kingdom of God, then you'll understand what the true definition of greatness is. He's not saying if you want to be great in the kingdom of God, then go to the back of the line. He's saying, "Understand what greatness is." Greatness in the kingdom of God is not what you call greatness in this world's economy.

Being in first place is absolutely not defined as greatness, as the world would say it. Being in the front of the room in great prominence is not what it means to be the greatest. Been there, I've done that. I've sat at tables that are oftentimes considered to be reserved for the greatest of all people. I'm going to make something very clear to you. I don't want to be near any of those guys.

I was at a big old conservative event. I've talked about this on multiple occasions where I'm with a thousand plus of the most popular, famous people in the world in the conservative movement and I'm sitting at the front because they're putting me at a pastor VIP table. We're literally at the front. It could be no closer to the stage. Our dinner table is right there, and there's three of these VIP tables. Me and my wife and my children and Greg Denham and his wife are the only ones sitting at these tables that are not inebriated. Not just completely plastered.

I want everybody to recognize something here. Every single one or an overwhelming majority of all of those men and women, for that matter, were recognized by the world to be in some place of prominence, whether it be because of the scope of influence that they carry or whether it be because of the following that they have or any of those types of things. But in reality, the world's definition of what makes a person great cannot be scripted in the kind of nonsense that we were looking at.

God says, "If you want to understand what greatness in the kingdom is, then we're going to have to redefine your vocabulary. We're going to have to teach you that the greatest in my kingdom are the ones that humble themselves to do the work of obedience that God has called them to do." It's a completely different world, and that's what God is trying to explain to them right now. It's a very critical understanding.

"And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me." This is an interesting thing that Jesus would bring the children into the picture because the children, as Jesus brings them into the picture, are inconsequential.

Think of the scenario in your everyday life. You have somebody that comes over that is very important to you. Maybe you're on a phone call that you've been waiting to take for months, or maybe you're having a conversation with somebody that you deem to be very important. The last thing that you want is your children tugging on your leg while you're talking to these people. What's the number one reaction that we give to our kids in their moment of need while we're busy doing other things? "Come back in a few minutes. Shoo, fly."

That's our reaction. That's our response. God says, "Your whole prioritization system is broken. The way that you view things has to change because what you define as greatness is defined as vanity by me. It's defined as superficiality by me. And what I define as greatness are the things that you value the least."

I've talked about this on multiple occasions and I want everybody to understand this. The devil has been phenomenal at teaching people to love things that God values the least. That's why the Bible tells us the love of money is the root of all evil. It's not that money is the root of all evil. I hope every Christian out there has more money than they can imagine, especially if they're going to follow the precepts of God's word.

But it's the love of money. Why? Because the love of money is the one thing that will cause you to deprioritize the very things that God places the greatest premiums on. The love of money will cause people to throw away their time when God says, "I want you to value the time that I've given you more than you value your money." Anybody who values their time more than they value your money will also value what they do with that time. If they value what they do with that time, then they will seek to prioritize the use of their time to get the biggest bang for their buck.

Remember, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.