Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): Jesus explains to his disciples what true greatness is all about next on Light on the Hill.

James Kaddis: Jesus is rewriting the world's value system to his value system. He's teaching them that you are not putting into priority the things that you need to put into priority, and he's saying the kids are one of them.

You want to be great in the kingdom? Understand greatness in my kingdom is defined as being a servant. If you want an example of what that kind of greatness looks like, look at children. Minister to them. Those of you in children's ministry, you're on pretty good grounds at this point.

Guest (Male): In Mark chapter 9, the disciples are arguing about who was the greatest. Jesus has a conversation with them defining what true greatness is in the kingdom of God, and it wasn't what they were expecting to hear.

Today on Light on the Hill, we'll learn to value what God values and see that greatness is found in the one that humbles themselves and serves others. Understanding this can impact our lives and the world around us in a great way. Here's Pastor James Kaddis starting us off at verse 35.

James Kaddis: So he sits them down and he says something profound here. Look 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 the servant of all." You know, this is really interesting. 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 I'm hearing my daughters having with one another. "I'm going to be first, so I'm going to just get behind you," and 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, to discern and understand what the real meaning of that is.

You see, 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. 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, right? 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 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. I've been there. I've done that. I've sat at tables that are often 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. 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. There are three of these VIP tables. Guess what? 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.

Quite frankly, 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. That's what God is trying to explain to them right now. It's a very, very critical understanding.

Jesus, of course, as he's telling them this, recognizes the fact that they don't completely understand what he's saying. So he's going to take it a step further. Look at this in verse 36. "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, or 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. What I define as greatness are the things that you value the least. By the way, 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." Because 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.

Most of us don't think that way. Most of us will spend 45 minutes clipping coupons to save $25 or $30 or $40, which means 45 minutes of our time in our mind is actually worth less than $25. Think about that for a second. Some people might go, "James, that's kind of ridiculous. That's a wasteful mindset and that's an absurd thing to say." Let's take it a step further for just a moment or two. Maybe somebody might look at me and say, "James, you're kind of reckless if you hire somebody to wash your car or you hire somebody to mow your lawn."

Well, let's do some math for just a second, can we? Let's assume that I hire somebody every week to wash my car and mow my lawn. Let's pretend every week I’m giving them $100. That means it’s $10,500 a year. That’s just a general estimate. Let’s say that buys me 104 hours every year. 104 hours are free every year. So let’s do a little bit of math. Let’s just say 10 years down the line, you now have utilized 2,400 hours that you’ve given back to yourself, even though you’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Can somebody do me a favor? Somebody just let's do rough math. Somebody take 2,400 hours and divide by 24. Can anybody do that for me? What is it? Quick math. 100. Thank you. You guys got it. You had some time to think about it. 100 days. 100 days is three months. Let’s just assume right now, think about somebody right now that you love more than anybody. Think of it. Spouse, child, whatever. If you’re at the end of your life right now and you have a million dollars, how much would you spend to be able to buy three months with them, knowing that you’re going to die tomorrow? Would you spend half a million knowing that you would die tomorrow to get another three months with your children? Yeah, if you had it. Most people would.

You were designed by God to value time more than you were designed to value money. I can prove that. Let's just say right now I was able to write a check, and I was good for the check, and I said, "Here's a check for a million dollars. It's free for anybody that wants it." Most of you would come up and take it. No strings attached except one thing. You have to die tomorrow. How many of you would take the million dollars? Nobody would. Why? Because you value your life more than you value your money.

My point behind it is this. Jesus is making it clear that what he wants us to value is very different than what we've been trained to value. What we have been given to. We don't value children, not even close to the way we used to. Why? Because back in the day we were closer to God. As we were closer to God, we valued children a lot more. Now we're living in a time where we kill children and nobody even thinks about it. Abortion is such a common thing.

Jesus is rewriting the world's value system to his value system. He's teaching them that you are not putting into priority the things that you need to put into priority, and he's saying the kids are one of them. You want to be great in the kingdom? Understand greatness in my kingdom is defined as being a servant. If you want an example of what that kind of greatness looks like, look at children. Minister to them. Those of you in children's ministry, you're on pretty good grounds at this point.

Verse 38. This is really good, really, really good. And John answered him, and I'll tell you why, because the message that comes out is interesting. John answered him saying, "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us." Now, I think this is great because this aptly demonstrates the fact that the disciples have zero understanding of what Jesus is saying.

The good news is they're all going to understand it later because they teach us these things in the New Testament. But at this point they have no awareness. So all of a sudden, what are they doing? Bringing up the next subject. By the way, any of you deal with that with your children? The two-year-olds, the three-year-olds, the four-year-olds, and dare I even say the seven-year-olds? You sit down and you have a conversation with them, you tell them about what's important to you, you correct a matter, you say this isn't the thing to do, you need to watch out, and then what do they do? Almost immediately, they change the subject and they start telling you about something that's important to them.

Is it because they're disrespecting you? Is it because they hate you? Is it because they don't want to hear it? No, it's because they have not learned to value the wisdom that you're giving them yet, and eventually they will. But by the time they really do, it will be a much later age because they don't have enough experience to recognize how proven and true your insight is.

So they're changing the subject immediately because they don't understand the gold that's being given to them right now. God is redefining for them how their thought system should be, their priorities. He's teaching them a different way to think. And all of a sudden John jumps back. Or Jesus here, when he responds, is going to bring the focus right back where it needs to be.

Look at what Jesus says. Oh, by the way, and for those of you that might not be catching what John is saying, John is saying, "Hey, we told these people trying to cast out demons that they need to stop because they're not one of us. Stop trying to cast out demons in Jesus' name. You're not one of the twelve." Look what Jesus says. But Jesus said, verse 39, "Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me." No one that is going to do something like this is going to speak evil of me. Let them do what they're going to do. Why? Verse 40. "For he that is not against us is on our part."

Notice what he says next. He's connecting the sentence. He's making it very, very clear. Verse 41. "For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward." Anyone that comes to you in my name is going to be rewarded by me because he's doing as I've asked him to.

But then look at how he reconciles this, verse 42. "And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea." Okay, let's stop here and close on this thought because it's heavy and it's one that I think is really important. Now of course we could spend a lot of time talking about child exploiters and how they're all going to be treated by God because the Bible makes that very clear. But there is a more consequential return that Jesus is providing here for us that we need to pay attention to and one that carries a significant amount of value that is often times ignored.

Think of what's happening here. Jesus is placing an emphasis on changing value systems. Make a priority the things that are valuable to the kingdom and diminish in priority the things that are not valuable in the kingdom. And he gives them the examples of what's valuable and what isn't and all the things that are important, all the things that aren't. He talks about giving priority to the little ones. That was one that he talked about.

And then he gets this question being imposed to him that he manages to turn around to keep on the same subject. And that is what about all these people that are trying to cast demons out? We told them all to stop. And Jesus says, "Don't tell them to stop because they're doing it in my name and they're with us. And by the way, if any one of them comes to you even in my name just to give you a cup of water, they're going to be blessed. So whatever you do, stay away from stopping them. Don't stop them like you said."

"And by the way, going back to the discussion that we had about children, don't even think about stumbling one of these little ones. Don't stop them in their pursuit of me. Don't tell them shoo fly, don't bother me. Don't go back and say check in with me later, I don't have the time for you." Jesus is saying this. Jesus is saying make priority the things that I value and walk away from the things that I deem to be worthless.

Now, this gets interesting because we start talking about the subject of children. Jesus takes it a step further and he says, "Not only am I asking you to value what I recognize as being valuable, but I'm warning you that if you still choose to ignore my counsel and you treat them like throwaways, it'd be better for you to have a millstone tied around your neck and thrown in the bottom of the ocean."

Now, that's kind of a scary thing because if you've ever gone to see a millstone, and by the way, just so that you know, the setting of this conversation is in Capernaum. Every single person that's gone to Israel with me, every single person that's gone to Israel with me has been taken to that city, to the very place where we believe Peter's mom's house was. And one of the things that we do is we show them what millstones look like because there were plenty of them in Capernaum. And we show them a picture of that millstone and they're all shocked when they see it. When they see it they say, "Oh wow, Jesus was a gangster."

Because a millstone is a piece of stone that literally weighs 600 or 700 pounds. It looks like a big old massive thing. Jesus says it's better that you be tied around a millstone and thrown in the ocean, meaning you're dead. That thing is going to tie you to the bottom of the ocean for you to drown to death. Better for that to be your end than to stumble one of these little ones.

That means something very important because it doesn't just mean to change your value system and it doesn't even just mean to prioritize the things that God wants you to prioritize. God takes it so far as to say, "I want you to also be the protector of that which I have deemed valuable." Now, that is a difficult thing for us to understand. When it comes to children, that's an easy one. We all have something within us to want to protect our children, especially if you're a good mother or father. Instinctually, your pattern is going to be to want to protect children.

But what about protecting things that don't seem to be as tangible? What about protecting time? That's an interesting one. What about that? What about protecting things that God has asked you to make sacred that the world is wanting you to exploit? It's a very difficult thing to do on many levels and by many different people.

You know, when I first started in the ministry, every single time I got an invitation to do anything, I was like Johnny on the spot. I went and I did it. I got to the point where I was doing so much that I was on the very large fast track to just completely wearing myself down and destroying myself. I was very much on that path until recently. In I would probably say in the last 10 years, maybe 15 years or so, God has been very effectively demonstrating to me, maybe it's because I'm getting old, how little time I have left.

I've gotten to the point now where I get asked to do things, even with as controversial as I can be and as polarizing as I can be, I get asked to do things all the time. And almost always I say no. My default position now is no. Why? There better be a super compelling reason for me to do something instead of spending time with my children that God has called me to spend, or developing things that I know will eventually go to building the family enterprise that God wants me to build to be prepared for the future of the many generations that are coming if the Lord so tarries.

I don't want to find myself in a position where I'm at the end of my life and I end up regretting not taking the time to do the things that I needed to do when I had enough time to do it. And more than ever, I think God is constantly molding and shaping me personally, and I think he's doing it to all of you, to realign my value system with his value system and to treat it with the respect that it deserves. Because it's going to be the only way I'm going to have the ability to discern not only his will for my life, but to discern how to execute his purposes. It's a very difficult thing to explain to people, but it only comes from walking in obedience in applying the standards given to us in the word of God. We've got to wake up and recognize it for what it is, folks. It's a critical matter. Amen?

James Kaddis: Father in Heaven, we just thank you Lord for your word, and we are so grateful, Lord, for everything you've put in front of us. Lord, these lessons are valuable and they are important and they involve so much, Lord, for us. Give us your insight, Lord, and your direction, Lord, that we may be people whose hearts and minds are turned towards you, Father. So Lord, we just love you, we thank you, we pray that you would just go before us now, keep us always looking to you and understanding and discerning your purposes for us, Lord, that we may walk faithfully and wholeheartedly. So Lord, we love you, we look to you, we thank you, and we ask these things in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): We have several verses remaining here in Mark chapter 9 and we'll have that for you on our next two programs. Light on the Hill is listener-supported and brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

This is Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis and we're currently going through the gospel of Mark. Listen to this study and more at LightOnTheHillRadio.com. Pastor James' teachings are also available through the Light on the Hill app and at OnePlace.com. You can listen to us wherever you get your podcasts as well.

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We have several verses remaining here in Mark chapter 9 and we'll have that for you on our next two programs. Light on the Hill is listener-supported and brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.