Luke 9:43 B to 50 let's hear God's word this morning but while they were all marveling at everything he was doing Jesus said to his disciples let these words sink into your ears the son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men but they do not understand this saying and it was concealed from them so they might not perceive it and they were afraid to ask him about this saying an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest but Jesus knowing the reasoning of their hearts took a child and put him by his side and said and said to them whoever receives his child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me for he who is least among you all is the one who is great John answered Master we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he did not follow with us but Jesus said to him do not stop him for the one who is not against you is for you this is the word of the Lord thanks be to God let's pray father uh please help us now give me clarity as I preach and help all of us to hear and understand what you got for us today uh we ask for your grace now and we pray in Jesus name amen when I was in seminary I worked for the campus maintenance and grounds Department along with a bunch of other students uh now a few of the guys on our team had backgrounds in construction uh and in landscaping but most of us were not what you would call rock stars in those particular Industries uh and and that meant we had a lot a lot to learn and that also meant that we messed some things up uh here and there uh thankfully we had a very very patient boss his name was Robert Robert was this tall kind of lanky guy you know I man my own heart there uh he and he he had spent years in the Navy before he came to take over uh the maintenance department at the school and Robert was a natural leader and it seemed like this guy could do anything I mean I I hate people like that I shouldn't say that church but I I don't like people like that who can just do anything and he could I mean that his family had this magnif beautiful house had a missionary apartment built into it for missionaries when they wanted to come to town stay he built this house like practically like just these two hands uh it was crazy like how how into things uh he was and he was committed uh to teaching us to do our jobs the right way even if we didn't have the talent level or the skill level that he had and even though a lot of us like I said we're pretty slow on the uptake uh he told us one day he said I will never fire you for an honest mistake that's good because he would have had to fire all of us he said because now that you know what not to do I can't pay for that kind of training gu this is this is Mission critical kind of information you have because he was so patient with us uh Robert really came away as the hero in our little Merry band of fixer uppers and we all learned skills we would have never gotten otherwise be able to do the task that we've been assigned to do now we're current going through Luke's gospel where he shows us how all God's plans to save Humanity come together in the person and work of Jesus and as we've seen throughout our time Jesus carries out his ministry with a group of men right the the disciples also called The Apostles as they were going to soon be known and for several chapters we read about them learning things from Jesus so he's teaching he's healing he's casting out demons he's doing all of these different things and then at the beginning of chapter nine if you remember he flips the script on everybody he sends them out to do the teaching and the healing and the Deliverance now at this point you would think that these men these men who were so close to Jesus who knew him so well would about have this whole thing nailed down right I mean you'd think they'd be like a list disciples and if this was any other religious text at this point you would expect the author to venerate these figures who are so critical to the founding of this Faith but that's not the case uh this is the Bible and the Bible is unflinchingly honest about the faults and failures of key figures throughout and the disciples the apostles are no exception so if you remember last week if you're with us uh we saw their failure to cast out a demon that was in this little boy it was due to their lack of faith and this week well this week we're going to see them fail to grasp one key lesson after another uh lessons that you would think they would have already again either nailed down or would not have been conceptually difficult for them to pick up but in those very failures Jesus sees Prime opportunities to teach them once again he's not going to stop until they get the message he is after all he's the hero of the story he's the patient Savior and he's intent on getting these men the skills they need for the task that they've been assigned both during his ministry and that would really get ramped up after his resurrection and Ascension uh and as we listen on these conversations these little clips that Luke Stacks together back to back to back to prove the point we're going to learn those same lessons so we're going to look at the text this way today all right three failures that we see among the disciples in these accounts so first the disciples failed to approach Jesus with their questions okay the disciples failed to approach Jesus with their questions next the disciples fail to understand what true greatness looks like and finally the disciples fail to welcome others all right so they fail to approach Jesus with their questions they fail to understand what true greatness looks like and they fail to welcome others so let's look more closely each one of these and see how Jesus responds so first the disciples fail to approach Jesus with their questions if you watch TV shows on Netflix or Hulu or or on K I don't know if anybody watches shows on cable anymore but on cable whatever the case may be if you watch a show a series uh often those shows will start off with previously on fill in the blank and then it gives you a recap you know what happened the previous week to really help you understand what's going to happen that you're going to see tonight uh in that episode well that's we need to do that same thing here so in last week's passage we look at Jesus healing this boy who had been afflicted by a demon a demon who had not budged when the disciples had attempted to cast it out afterward at the beginning of verse 43 so look back up so 43a now 943a uh Luke tells us and all were astonished at the Majesty of God so people are excited they're praising God for those who had connected the dots they're probably starting to think the same thing that Jesus had already told the disciples explicitly the Messiah has finally arrived but storm clouds are gathering look at the first phrase of the very next sentence verse 43b but while they were all marveling at everything he was doing stop right there notice that adversity that it begins with but other words like something else is about to happen the crowds are excited and not just at the casting out of the demon notice that what Luke says there at the start of of 43b there's no time stamp there's no location given at the beginning of that section and notice notice that it says they were marveling that's a continuous action uh in the in the Greek at everything he was doing so not just that casting out this is Luke sort of giving us a broader picture of this is Everything Jesus had been doing recently okay everybody's marveling they're excited about it so Luke's giving us this 30,000 ft view he's including what just happened but this is everything that Jesus has been doing Jesus right now is the flavor of the month in Galilee all right folks have Jesus t-shirts I went to see Jesus near the seashore last weekend where were you t-shirts things like that there's Jesus bumper stickers on everybody's carts there's Jesus brands on the backs of people's mules like everybody's excited about Jesus people can't get enough but that's all going to change it's all going to change let's keep reading the rest of verse 43 and all of 44 okay Jesus said to his disciples let these words sink into your ears the son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men let these words sink into your ears I love that word picture y'all some of y'all know me I tend to talk in metaphor and so when Jesus does this eat it up uh I I'll just let it sink into your ears absorb this take it in concentrate on what I'm telling you don't forget this and for the second time he tells them that he the son of man okay would soon be delivered turned over to who men the one who had come to save to rescue will be turned over by and to the very ones he came to save and rescue now verse 46 but they did not understand this saying and it was concealed from them so they might not perceive it now it's important you see what's going on here uh Luke's not saying that they couldn't understand the actual the the words that were coming out of Jesus's mouth as though he had suddenly began to speak a different language it's not they couldn't understand the plain meaning of what he was saying what he just said here is not difficult to decipher uh in fact Matthew and Mark both include a fuller version of what Jesus says where he explicitly speaks of being killed after being delivered into the hands of men and remember that they had just they had heard him speak of his death of his suffering at the hands of men specifically the religious authorities before as we looked at just a few weeks ago all right so it's not like this was something out of the blue they'd never heard instead Luke is saying that they couldn't see how a delivered and then killed Christ could ever be a part of Jesus's mission like how could that ever work let alone be the central part of what Jesus came for see they're still failing to understand what he's about they're still thinking of his work primarily in military or governmental terms now you might be thinking at this point well Brian that's not their fault it it says it says the meaning of of what of what he was saying was hidden from them and that's absolutely right right a spiritual power whether that was Satan or it could have even been God for his own purposes either which are grammatically possible here uh but a spiritual power is keeping them from grasping what it is that Jesus is saying so their failure to understand in the moment in the moment is not the problem the problem comes in that last sentence of verse 46 and they were afraid to ask him about this saying why are they afraid are they embarrassed do do they think that Jesus is going to just go off on them and humiliate them in front of everyone don't they know him better than that by now again he told them essentially the same thing not that long ago but here these empowered men of God are afraid to come to Jesus and that's a star contrast to the Dad we saw in last week's passage right who had no fear of being humiliated who had no fear of looking silly looking dumb who had no fear of being rejected by Jesus but instead throws himself on Jesus Mercy without a care in the world of what might happen therein lies the disciples failure but Jesus is patient he's told him what's about to happen not once and now twice and even though they refuse to approach him he doesn't kick him off the team he doesn't grow disgusted with them despite their failures he stay in the course with these men that he loves so what's the takeaway uh for us from this little snapshot and again the way Luke structures these he back to back to back he is again he's highlighting their failures here there's no getting around it that's what he's trying to do so what's what's the takeaway for us that we should understand what Jesus came to do well that's of course absolutely necessary he's not he's not merely a teacher or a moral example or a good man or a religious expert he is God In the Flesh the Messiah who came to live and die and be raised for sinners now look I know that's not particularly a popular message culturally it wasn't then either right it's it's easy look it's easy for Jesus to be kind of our Cosmic cheerleader and our buddy or just somebody who says piffy religious statements but that's not what the scriptures are telling us about Jesus right he is God incarnate we're called to trust him for who he is and for all he came to do for us that he would die for us so that we could be forgiven that's the gospel it's the good news that the Bible gives us but more to the point our takeaway here for us personally is to trust Jesus enough to go to him with our questions our concerns our doubts our fears now when we do that we may get the answers we're looking for as the spirit gives us wisdom and insight into his word as he brings other believers or resources into your path to help you navigate particular issues he does that a lot praise God or he may not give you the answers you're looking for at least not in the moment not all of them but the very fact that you're trusting him enough to come the very fact that you're trusting him enough to bring those burdens to you brings a smile to his face and joy to his heart and it's building that trust muscle it's building that trust muscle in all of us it's getting us accustomed to going to him instead of boomeranging every question right back around to ourselves and ending up in the same place where we started which is what we naturally do and it does us no lasting good when you're confused run to him not away from him not away and you know what whether we do that though whether we fail to do that even then is not the last word praise God we have a patient savior who's happy to call us his own whose love never wavers Not For a Moment whether we get it right or not now let's see what we can learn from the disciples next failure in 1963 Cashes Clay uh soon to be known as Muhammad Ali that's right he released a comedy album may not have known that I didn't know that uh a comedy album called I am the greatest the first track or round as he called it because using boxing metaphors so the first round of the album uh is the title cut called I am the greatest let me give you a flavor of it this is not the whole thing this is part of it this is the legend of Cashes Clay the most beautiful fighter in the world today he talks a great deal and brags indeedy of a muscular punch that's incredible and Speedy this brass young boxer is something to see and the heavyweight championship is his Destiny this kid fights great he's got speed and endurance but if you sign to fight him and increase your insurance this kid's got a left this kid's got a right if he hits you once you're asleep for the night for I am the man this poem is about the next champ of the world there is no doubt this I predict and I know the score I'll be the champ of the world in 64 I am the greatest that album helps cement Ali's reputation as a World Class Trash talker and as a man who thought a tremendous amount of himself as he did throughout his career uh had he been among the disciples at this point in the story he would have fit right in because their problem was they failed to understand true greatness verse 46 an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest now I want you to think about the irony here the ju position that Luke is setting up for us Jesus has just spoken about how he the Glorious son of man predicted back in the Book of Daniel this this one who is indescribably glorious and beautiful how this son of man would be handed over to men you can't imagine a greater position of humiliation of loneliness and now the disciples who have a long long track record of blowing it who are anything but glorious are busy comparing themselves to one another arguing over which one of them is the greatest they've all written their poems they've all state their claims they're Ali before Ali but hey at least they're honest we do this kind of thing all the time and we're rarely as open about it so Jesus disgusted and fed up explodes on all of them and walks away is that what the text says no it's not what he does in the face of their failure see he's the patient savior he loves these guys too much and too much is at stake for them for the mission he's preparing them for and for the church that he's preparing them to lead verse 47 but Jesus knowing the reasoning of their hearts so in other words he sees what's going on and he's going to provide a remedy Jesus knowing the reasoning of their hearts took a child and put him by his side stop right there all right so Jesus knows what's going on inside him he knows the poison that's working its way through them and he's not going to let it go unchecked in the face of their failure he goes into teaching mode so he takes little boy from the crowd and brings him close now you need to understand something so our society in general when it's functioning properly highly values children again that's in the main uh we appreciate their cuteness and their relative innocence and the funny things that they say sometimes in fact we can go to for and practically worship Little Johnny or Julie and talk about them like they hung the moon and can do no wrong this was not the case in the first century Roman Empire not even among the Jews who had a special appreciation for their kids because rebi tradition uh forbid teaching the Torah so the first five books of the Bible the the the rebid teaching forbade people from teaching the Torah to their children before the age of 12 spending time with children was considered a waste of time okay so for instance mishna abat 3 says this quote morning sleep midday wine chattering with children and carrying in places where men of the Common People assemble destroy a man uh New Testament scholar James Edwards puts it like this quote we are mistaken if we imagine that Greek and Jewish societies extolled the virtues of childhood as is generally true in modern Western Society societies with high infant mortality and high demand for human labor are not not sentimental about infants and youth so right off the bat Jesus is ignoring convention here he's going against the established grain instead of keeping children at arms length as most respectable rabbis would have done Jesus brings one right in the middle of the conversation as he does elsewhere in his ministry and now this walking talking breathing object lesson in place now he's ready to teach there's no better example of lowliness of weakness of seeming insignificance than this child that Jesus disciples are now looking at so Jesus has got the hook set he's going to start reing them in verse 48 he said to them whoever receives this child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me for he who is least among you all is the one who is great you see what Jesus is saying he's telling his disciples that true greatness doesn't come from one-upping one another from comparing resumés doesn't come from having this long list of achievements it comes from being connected so we have to make sure we're seeing this and we're going to kind of Look Backwards here it comes from being connected to him to Jesus and to the God who sent him okay see how how his teaching ends there in verse 48 and the way we do that is not by trying to build our own brand but by laying down our lives by humbling ourselves see the disciples thought that greatness would come through just again piling up their achievements comparing themselves to one another instead now he says this true greatness the true the greatness that that you really need is going to come when you're not worried about yourself when you're not trying to compare egos you see only the humble only the humble would be willing to quote receive a child in this culture especially right to do that would require them not just to visit humility here and there you know do it for like a photo op or whatever but to actually be humble to adopt that kind of a lifestyle to be quote the least among you you see Jesus isn't calling the disciples to be like that child here that's not his point he's calling the disciples to be like him see that in his Incarnation Jesus didn't just visit humility he lived it he made himself the least to quote Paul in Philippians 2 Jesus quote though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but in himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men so the son of man comes as a man right living a life of humility that's what he's calling his friends to the posture he's calling them to adopt but look at where that leads again we want we want to see that again whoever receives this child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives him who who sent me now this makes a lot of sense uh if you think about if you know a little bit and again I didn't know this till I research it about some of the reic tradition so what the rabbis would teach there was a saying among the rabbis that went like this a man's representative is like the man himself and we see that still today right an ambassador to the United States he's in another country he is he is representing like what that foreign government does to that Ambassador is tan mounts doing that to the United States okay so this representative principle not unfamiliar to us but it was very familiar in the first century see when Jesus's disciples follow his command to receive a child the lowly the powerless and again that could have been a child it could have been a leper it could have been any number of people in that culture so we're not just talking about children here when they humble themselves they're actually connecting to Jesus's heart into the very heart of God and that's the best posture they could ever be in that's where true Gra is to be found see with one simple illustration Jesus redirects their hearts their supposed greatness that they're seeking would lead them to ruin if they persisted in it think about it what would have happened I mean we see this actually happened several times in the gospels but what would have happened if those 12 Apostles would have persisted in constantly one up in one another think the church would have ever gotten off the ground you I mean you think they would have been able to do the things they did of course not because everything would have been about building their own brand and not about exalting Jesus you see Jesus in his patient love is pointing them to something better to True lasting greatness y'all that's our call as well a a proud Christian is an oxymoron okay it is but we fail in this way all the time we fall into Pride left and right we compare ourselves to one another we boast about even if only to ourselves our lists of achievements we do things we think will impress God or impress others don't look at me like this is not familiar to y'all it is and not because you've seen me do it because you've seen yourselves do it this is what we do on our own often we look for ways not to love or serve other people that that we don't really like that we think might inconvenience us who people who might not have it all together see we try to make ourselves look great right even if only in our own little worlds and Jesus is calling us to Humble ourselves to do what Paul says in Philippians 2 right before the passage I read a moment ago from Philippians Paul says this have this mind among yourselves that was in Christ Jesus that's we're being called to adopt and the more we do that the more we're going to find ourselves serving and loving people more boldly more sacrificially more wholeheartedly especially those people that we wouldn't naturally gravitate to and those people who can't do anything for us in return that's where true greatness is found so Jesus uh corrects yet another failure of his friends he's patient and that's a good thing because there's one last failure we need to look at the disciples failed to welcome others look at verse 49 with me John answered Master we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us now on one level you can understand this right uh they might be afraid the disciples this guy is going to go Rogue and begin representing Jesus in a way that wouldn't be accurate what if he gets some of Jesus's teachings wrong or some of the facts around him misconstrued that they want a unified message after all but Luke is trying to show us something different something more Insidious again think about what we've just read Jesus is teaching the disciples about humility about laying down their lives for others about welcoming others and no sooner does he say that then John says this this is interesting you almost never see John singled out for a quote anywhere in the gospels I mean on occasion but very very rarely I mean he's always around but he's not usually speaking but here he is now opening mouth and inserting foot like his buddy Peter was so Adept at doing now John was one of Jesus's inner ring of the 12 so he's got the 12 the 12 disciples the 12 apostles and within that he has three others right Peter James and John these are his closest three guys uh they get to see him uh doing things that others don't see he's pouring into them extra uh John was on the mountain that day when Jesus was transfigured as we just recently looked at which should have been a remarkably humbling experience in fact having the kind of repeated intimate access to Jesus that these three had all the time should have made them the most humble of men things don't always work out that way again I'll quote James Edwards here he says this being in Jesus's Inner Circle had at least some delerious so negative effects on John as inner circles often do for his elitist attitude is repeated in yet another context along with his brother James and we'll see that later John regards his call as a disciple not as a call to service but as an entitlement of privilege and exclusion uh in his Masterpiece the weight of Glory CS Lewis has a short essay in that book entitled the inner ring has anybody ever read that okay I suggest you read it like today okay you can get it just PDF it's online for free uh in it he discusses the existence of small or exclusive groups which in and of themselves are not necessarily a bad thing after all a marriage is guess what small and exclusive right uh a a nuclear family is relatively small compared to the overall community and exclusive to some extent uh the presidential cabinet is relatively small and exclusive other organizations May limit their membership for any number of reasons which might not be an issue at all so the existence of those kind of groups isn't the problem the problem is the attitude that we sometimes adopt when we are in or when we are trying to get into one of those groups those Rings Pride swells uh we begin judging others who aren't part of this inner ring we end up taking Delight in excluding others while we boast about our own inclusion the inner ring is about how we tend to form ourselves into small groups for the purpose often unconscious of excluding others of making ourselves look better than The Outsiders those who don't know as much or look as cool or have as much access or as much money or as much whatever it is a profound essay again you should read it and one of the essay's most important lines is this quote of all the passions the passion for the inner ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do Very Bad Things notice again how John puts it the disciples see this man casting out demons in jesus' name hey it's a good thing right I mean they're demons are leaving somebody that's something to to to be happy about there's no indication that this person that's doing that is a charlatan or a superstitious rube there's no indication that he isn't truly trusting in what he's heard from Jesus or trusting in Jesus himself his crime John says because he does not follow with us John doesn't say because he does not follow you you notice that Jesus isn't the focal point John and the rest of the disciples are the disciples simply can't imagine that God might be working through somebody who's not a part of their little group beloved that attitude has been the cause of more Church Division and denominational strife and abhorent behavior among Christians than almost anything else throughout our history we're right and every other believer or church is wrong so rather than welcoming and encouraging and working alongside others from other parts of the church we stiff arm them or we launch subtle barbs toward them see it's a battle of inner rings and it's a part of why the world scoffs so often at Christians Jesus recognizes the issue and again he's patient he doesn't put them on blast he simply redirects them verse 50 but Jesus said to him do not stop them for the one who is not against you is for you in other words let him work he's on the same team because he follows me back in the fall of 2020 when we were looking for a place to meet together I don't know if y'all remember there was a thing that happened in 2020 that kind of upset things a little bit you might not have noticed it um but but in 2020 we were looking for a place to meet together we've been uh you know kicked out of the school back in March and for a little while we were just meeting online and then we started meeting outside on the patio over here at Whit Stone Brewery uh in July and it was hot and it was loud and there were lawnmowers everywhere and it was crazy we knew we had to get somewhere and a friend of mine uh Gino a lot of y'all know from High Point we were having lunch one day and he said hey man why don't y'all use our facility up on the hill I mean a long time ago we were part of a church plant that was there so I mean y'all y'all could meet there no problem and so later that day I was on the with uh with their pastor at the time Brandon and he encouraged us to use the space and when I asked him about rent I said look man we're happy to pay whatever we need to pay you guys and I'll never forget he said and I quote you can pay us $0 and zero cents we are on the same team no Strife no territorialism just welcome and by God's grace there's a lot of that kind of cooperation among among Christians and churches in this area when the disciples failed to welcome others Jesus helped them change their stance and he's doing that same thing for us uh how do you feel about Christians who might be different from you other churches how do you speak about them do you look for good things to say or do you look for things to be suspicious or critical of look I'm not saying that we don't have good faith disagree sometimes of course we do uh I'm simply saying that Jesus is calling us to have an attitude of Welcome toward our Brothers and Sisters in Christ and to encourage and to work alongside him when we can and and you know how could he not be telling us that if you think about the heart whole story of scripture it makes perfect sense the whole story of the Bible is the story of a pursuing God a rescuing God a welcoming God Isaiah 1118 God says come now let us reason together did you hear that come now let us reason together though your sins are like Scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they are red like Crimson they shall become like wool Matthew 11:28 Jesus says come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Revelation 22:17 the very end of the Bible I mean right at the end John writes this the Spirit and the bride so the bride the church the spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come let the one who desires take the Water of Life without price you see that the entire Bible is a picture of a welcoming God friends Jesus is the patient savior in fact the picture we get of God all over scriptures is of one who is patient and kind and gracious and forgiving he's the God who loves who loves to welcome people into his family through faith see Jesus came to live and die for us taking the punishment that we deserve for our sins and then he got back up out of the Grave taking all our guilt and shame once and for all and now today he is welcoming you to come and to trust in him for your forgiveness to turn to him in faith and repentance to find eternal life that's the gospel that's our hope that we have a welcoming patient savior who loves us hope in him today amen let me pray for us father we thank you for this time again and ask that you would help us I pray for your Grace today and ask you'd help us as we continue to worship we pray these things in Jesus name amen