Sermon
Text: Mark 9:30 -37
Title: “Me First, Me First!”
I. We have a me
first attitude.
II. Jesus
has a you first attitude.
THROUGH CHRIST,
THOUGH WE ARE LAST
IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD,
WE ARE FIRST IN THE EYES OF THE LORD.
Grace mercy and peace from God our Father, and our LORD and
Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
The sermon text is taken from the Gospel lesson just read, I
would read again a portion of these verses…
And (Jesus) sat down and called the
twelve. And He said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all
and servant of all.”
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It’s all
about whose number one. Sports,
countries, cars cereals, the list goes on and on. Three young boys were standing outside on the
playground at recess and they got to bragging about who was number one among
their dads. The first boy said, “"My
Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, they give
him $50." The second boy says,
"That's nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he
calls it a song, they give him $100." The third boy says, "I got you both beat. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of
paper, he calls it a sermon, and it takes eight people to collect all the
money!" It’s all about whose number
one.
I.
So
it is with us, so it is with the disciples.
In our text today the disciples have been arguing about something. What is it that they are arguing about? Who’s the greatest among the disciples! You can just here them going back and forth
comparing what each has done in order to make him the greatest disciple Jesus
has.
Same
with us too isn’t it? Look at what I’ve
done. I’ve given such and such to the
church, aren’t I great? Oh yeah, well my
great, great, great grandfather was a founding member of this church. Well that’s nothing, that wing of the church
is named after my great, great grandmother.
And the bragging and one-upsmenship goes on and on.
What
is the problem here? Proper
perspective. To the world it is much
better for me to be on top then for you.
My team beat your team, my boat is bigger than your boat, and did you
see the size of the fish I caught. Frank
Sinatra sang, “I find I’m king of the hill, A number one, top of the list, king
of the hill.” And it is in this
attitude, this one that Sinatra sings about, this is the attitude that leads to
our destruction. Remember when you were
little or when your kids were little and the teacher told them to get in line? Oh, the pushing and the shoving that ensued
to be first in line. “Me first, me first!”
This
attitude, this way of thinking is counter to what the Bible teaches. According to the LORD and His Law how should
it be? It should truly be God first, neighbor
second, me last. But often times it is a
reversal of the order God intended and instead is me first and God and neighbor
somewhere way further down. The Marines have
a saying, “God, Country, Corps.” They
actually get it right don’t they? God,
neighbor, me.
So
sin has destroyed our right and holy perspective. It has grasped the worldly view of me
first. Our perspective is in sore need
of fixing, restoring, or better yet, redeeming.
II.
And
we have that in Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
Jesus asks the disciples what they were talking about and is answered
with silence. The disciples are now
ashamed of what they were arguing about because they know that it was
wrong. Jesus tells them to sit down and
He says…
“If anyone would be first, he must
be last of all and servant of all.”
Talk about proper perspective! Instead of having a “me first” attitude like
His disciples, Jesus has a “you first” attitude.
So what does
Jesus do? Lovingly, Jesus shows His
disciples their sin, telling them that they need to become last and not first,
that they need to be a servant.
Then St. Mark
writes…
And (Jesus) took a child and put him
in the midst of them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever
receives one such child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me,
receives not Me but Him Who sent Me.”
Jesus is here
pointing now to the proper relationship that we have in Him. Through Christ and His redemptive work on the
cross we have been fixed, restored, redeemed.
We have been set aright. And now
we can begin to do the good work set before us, to place things in their proper
perspective. We can begin to place God
and neighbor first. But only through the
cross. Try it on our own and we will
always fail. Only Christ has kept the
order straight. Only Christ has placed
God and neighbor above Himself all of the time.
And He proves it by thinking of you and the rest of the world and going
to the cross, to His undeserved death - all for you. Jesus has a “you first” attitude.
And thanks be
to God that we have had that wonderful work of Christ placed on us through the
Word, through Holy Baptism, through the LORD’S Supper and we can now begin to
do the work prepared for us through Christ.
Now, we don’t
need to worry about what the world thinks of us, for the world will scoff at
our insistence that God and neighbor come first. But…
THROUGH CHRIST, THOUGH WE ARE LAST
IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD, WE ARE FIRST IN THE EYES OF THE LORD. Amen.
The peace of the LORD, which surpasses all understanding,
will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ Sola Deo Gloria +
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