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The Servant King

By Scott Masson/ March 18, 2012

Series  Christian Discipleship

Context  Westminster Chapel Toronto

Topic  Discipleship

Scripture  Mark 9:30-50

In the Church's mission to the world, health, welfare, and education are priorities. Through Christ's power is real service and healing.

Scripture: Mark 9:30-50; Deut. 32:1-5, 15-22, 39-43

Sermon Notes:

  1. Jesus repeats His prediction of His death and resurrection;  the disciples don't get it and are afraid to ask what He means.
  2. Jesus has taught who He is, why He came, and what it means to follow Him: following Him is to repent of your sins, stop trusting self, trust in Him, and take up your cross daily.
  3. On our behalf, Jesus suffers everything we deserve for our sin.
  4. We are now to exhibit God's grace to others by serving humbly (Mark 9:33-37).
  5. The disciples are shocked and talk privately about Jesus' prediction of His death.
  6. The disciples are marked by a desire for godliness, but they lack a clear understanding of what it is.
  7. This desire for godliness but failure to understand is what leads them to compare themselves to others and what they do, but not to Jesus and what He is going to do.
  8. If you regard yourself or others as the standard of comparison, you're in trouble.
  9. Despite His stern rebuke, Jesus sits down authoritatively and confirms the Twelve to fulfill their special role.
  10. God still calls and equips His people for special acts of service.
  11. Not every calling in the body is to be the head, or ruler.
  12. The illustration of the child shows that each member has a God-given dignity. Even the weakest and least able have dignity.
  13. Serving the weakest is as important as serving the strong, but it is more clearly Christian service because we derive no immediate glory from it.
  14. We're to serve others, not because we think more of others, but because we think more of Jesus and less of ourselves.
  15. Serving a little child at his level requires abasing ourselves.  This involves self-sacrifice for the needs of others.
  16. Teaching children to serve the needs of others is basic to Christian eduction and the mission of the church.
  17. The scandal of public education is that it uses children as pawns for indoctrination, for social revolution. Rather than serving children and educating them to be servants, it uses them and makes them dependent on the state.
  18. Christian eduction by contrast is to serve the family by relating every area of learning to God, no matter how trivial.
  19. Self-sacrificing teachers and a Christian community that supports Christian education model for children the kind of living God requires.
  20. It is better to be killed than to cause little ones to sin.
  21. Jesus rebukes egotistical leaders; James says that those who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
  22. You can only act in God's name when you submit to Him (Mark9:38-44).
  23. A person's name represents his person and deserved reputation, based on his actions.
  24. Jesus' name means "The Lord Saves," and what Jesus did in His earthly ministry and death for His people was a true reflection of His character.
  25. When we pray in Jesus' name our prayers must be consistent with His character and position.
  26. We are God's ambassadors;  He makes His appeal through us.
  27. When we do God's work with the poor, sick, and marginalized, it is God who is personally working through us.
  28. Jesus then is encouraging the disciples to take the path of humble service.
  29. God is vindicated by His acts of judgment (Rev 15:3; Deut. 32).
  30. If we conform to the world's standards of compromise, we'll be punished in hell.
  31. Salt symbolizes God's enduring covenant (Lev. 2:13). Though we're tested by fire we're saved by the covenant-keeping God.
  32. In the Church's mission to the world, health, welfare, and education are priorities.
  33. Through Christ's power is real service and healing.

Application Questions:

  1. What are the signs that we're in the church to be served rather than to serve others? How can we grow in the practice of humble Christian service?
  2. What does serving a child require of us? Elaborate on your answer.
  3. What is basic to all Christian education? Why?
  4. As Christian parents, it is easy to fall into the cultural trap of esteeming academics over moral instruction. Which of the two is really more important and how can Christian parents adjust their thinking and their priorities in this area?
  5. What is my part in the Church's mission? 

Sermon Notes