Be Great: Serve! (Mark 9:30-50)

What is the one issue that divides churches more than any other? What is the one issue that splinters friendships and relationships more than any other? The answer is without question, “pride!” Our natural sinful tendency is to seek our own elevation even at the expense of others. Our natural sinful tendency is to elevate our opinions and thoughts above others. We naturally demand our own way. We naturally seek recognition. In short, we struggle with pride. 

Our society promotes pride, not as a vice, but as a virtue. We label it as confidence, or self-assurance. And we seek leaders whose pride emanates from them. When individuals are struggling with life, our society diagnoses the problem as a lack of pride or self-esteem. Social Media is built on pride. The belief that everyone needs to know what you (or your kids) did today. The belief that everyone needs to know what you think on a subject. Social media is built around love of self. And this love of self, finds its way into the church. The result is a pandemic of churches splitting and failing because of the sinful, selfish pride of its members. Yet nothing could be further from the heart of God. 

At the college I graduated from, each of the graduates received a towel upon graduation. This seemed, even at the time, like a very odd gift. This towel (displayed in my office) has the message on it, “Be Great: Serve!” The longer I have observed churches, the more I am convinced that this message is needed desperately today. In a country built upon the concept of personal pride (Pull yourself up by your own boot straps / You are the only thing that holds you back / you can be whatever you want to be) we need to learn humility.

This is not a new problem. In our text this morning, the disciples illustrate for us the incredible need for humility exemplified by service. And they hear the clarion call of Christ to focus on eternity: humble yourself and serve others.