I’ve asked some dumb questions before, none of which I care to recount on this blog, at least not for now. Perhaps you’ve found yourself in the same situation, or even on the other side as you realized that the questions your conversation partner were asking had nothing to do with the answers that he needed. In these awkward moments, most of us try to respond with grace, or perhaps make a graceful exit, as the case would call for. You would think that if there were anyone who would show grace when asked a stupid question, it would be Christ. In this passage though, two disciples came to Christ with a question that brought them no compassion, just an incredulous “what are you thinking?”

Ever since the fall, man has had a crippling bent toward self-promotion. Controlled by his sinful nature, he is continually exploring how he can gain the respect and admiration of others, improve his standing with his peers, and make people think more highly of himself in general. As he looks at other successful people around him, he sees that they are pushing themselves to the max, doing everything they can to put on a good show, and playing everything right with their friends, coworkers, and other resources to position themselves at the front. This isn’t just a game of the unsaved world either, Jesus had to deal with it repeatedly among His own disciples.

In fact, it was this very topic that led Jesus to give His humbling reprimand. In the previous chapter of Mark, Jesus had asked the disciples what they were conversing about on their journey – their lack of a response was telling. Like most Christians today, they knew that there was something spiritually wrong with the desire to be greatest. That doesn’t mean that the desire is not strong and inseparable from our identity though, and it often seems that ignoring that desire is like throwing our lives away, giving up our chance to make something of ourselves and live a life of purpose [1].

To find how best to deal with these desires, we need to consider what Christ told His disciples in Mark 9:35:

“If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”

Have you ever had the hope ripped from your heart? That is basically what Jesus’ response did to the disciples. I can just imagine their thoughts – “So, if trying to be first will make me last, what does make me first? Or do I become last just for asking? Is it all just chance? Should I stop asking questions now? It just seems like I can’t win.” O, what conundrums we face trying to make ourselves first!

So what is the answer? I know you’ve invested a lot into reading this blog post, but I have to admit that I don’t know. More than that, I don’t think there is an answer that is in your control. In fact, I don’t recommend trying to find the answer to that question, for reasons laid out below. Here are a couple thoughts:

1) One sure way to not be first is to try for it. This is the clearest point from Christ’s response – those who seek to be first will be servant of all. I’m sure you’ve met some people who were spending their lives trying to gain influence and impress people. In God’s eyes, they fail by default.

2) Simply desiring to be first is just about as bad as centering your life on it. Those who long for preeminence need to renew their mind, whether they are acting on that desire or not. The damage to your heart is done whether you live it out or not. Wanting greatness but being to lazy to try is hardly a mark of maturity.

3) Forsaking greatness is the minimum eligibility requirement for attaining it. Be willing to start a servant, live a servant, die a servant, and be forgotten. This doesn’t mean that you find your identity or worth in lowliness or sacrifice, or look down on those who are in more public or powerful roles. It just means that your identity is entirely attached to Christ, and what you are doing is very insignificant in comparison to Who you are doing it for. It matters not to you whether you feel a whip on your back or a crown on your brow, as long as Christ says “well done.”

So did the disciples ask a dumb question? Yes, because the question had no chance of getting them what they truly needed. Can you think of what the right question would be?

[1] The desire for greatness is God-given, but man-corrupted. God is the greatest, and so our desire for greatness should rightly lead us to Him. As children of the fall, our blinded minds naturally assume that we can find the greatness we desire within ourselves. The Bible, with all of history as its witness, shows us that that is simply not possible.

“Are you afraid of meeting a bear?”  Like anyone in new surroundings, the couple asking me this question was confused, unsure of themselves, and a little fearful. This was their first time in bona-fide wilderness, far from their city home in Miami, and I had just explained to them that they were mildly lost. To them, a guy hiking by himself with no map on a trail that seemed to be going straight to nowhere didn’t fit into anything that they considered safe. Add to that the natural fear of bears and the sensational warnings in the park newspaper, and you can understand why seeing a bear would probably be the most paralyzing thing they could imagine.

I’ve met a couple of bears in Yosemite. I use to hunt them in Northern Michigan, and even had the opportunity to look one in his glazed-over eyes as he was hibernating in his winter den. This isn’t to dismiss their strength or ability to maim. If you watch a bear through binoculars, you’ll see the muscles ripple across his shoulders while he walks and know immediately that he could destroy you easily enough. However, it’s just not the character of bears to destroy or even to attack humans. When I’m hiking, the couple of granola bars and bag of trail mix in my pack is not worth going for. So if I see a bear, unless he is really close to the trail, I just walk by. I don’t bother him, and he doesn’t bother me. It’s his character to ignore me and so I have no need to fear.

In life, the things that we fear are often far more dangerous than a hungry bear. Our flesh really will destroy us. Other people’s actions and choices can tear at our souls and break our hearts. Physical accidents and long-term ailments can leave us maimed forever, perhaps unable to ever see our dreams come true. Sin kills us, one day at a time, and never gives back. This is real danger – but should we fear?

With bears, there is no need for fear because their character is not to harm. In the rest of life, there is no need to fear because it is God’s character to protect, sustain, and give joy to those that seek Him first. Why are you fearful, when God is so great? Can anything really ruin your life? Is it possible that God could be displeased with you for something that was outside of your control? Of course not. God just wants us to be completely consecrated to Him, and we can do that no matter what our situation.

So what causes us to fear? Often it is a lack of faith. We don’t believe that God is as great as He says He is. It could also be that we want something different than what God wants. God’s goodness provides little assurance if you don’t want what God says is good for you. So trust Him. Trust Him to give you the desires of your heart. Let Him throw out everything you value so highly, and then let Him replace it with the things that He values. When your purpose and values are completely aligned with a God so great, there is nothing to fear.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.     Psalm 90:12                                                                                                   

I try to take a day towards the end of each December to go to Yosemite, find a perch overlooking a cascading waterfall or reflecting pool, and write down a couple of thoughts about areas that God wants me to grow in personally. They aren’t hard goals or numbered objectives, just areas in my life that are ready for improvement, always with a spiritual purpose.

I took the same piece of paper that I used last year, and looking over my previous list, realized that a few of the things had been accomplished, a few forgotten, and a few unchanged. While I’m glad for what did get done, it’s true that most of us can’t focus on the same few things for a whole year. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try – I still wrote out the areas of improvement that I am going to work on this year – but there might be a tweak in our style that could help us out.

As was mentioned at the service here at Ambassador this morning, God often speaks of living in days, not years. He renews his mercies every morning, not every year. We are to learn to number our days, not just our years. And so much of life is daily – our daily bread, worrying only for the present day, seeking God early each day, and not letting a day end with anger in your heart. Today is the day for which God has given us grace and strength, and so today should be our focus. Don’t give up on your list for this year, but renew it in prayer each day. It’s not just your list for sometime in the next twelve months, it’s your list for today, and tomorrow, and the day after that.

So it’s New Year’s Day. Is it a new beginning? Yes, but so is tomorrow. Start both of them right.

John 3:16 tells us that God loves the whole world. It is not a shallow love at all, but a deep love that caused Him to sacrifice His only Son on a horrid cross so that rebels like you and I have a chance to become children and heirs. This is the wonderful, world-wide love of God for all men, whether they receive Him or not. It gives us the security of knowing that in any circumstance and at any time, God stands ready to forgive and save.

There is another love though, special and unique, that God has for those that believe in Christ and love him. It is more than the compassionate love of a concerned rescuer –  it is the deep, inherent love of a Father. More than the destiny changing love of salvation, it is a love that drives God to want to know us, protect us, guide us, and sustain us. It is a love that will never hurt, though it may allow hurt to mature us and give us purpose. It is a love that you can trust. And when you’re trying to make sense of your life, it is this love that assures you God is in control, and whatever He asks is best.

Christ is not being manipulative here, trying to use our love for Him to control our actions. Rather, He is just stating an undeniable principle: that love (of the heart type, not the romantic type) is inherently tied to one’s priorities.

How do you know that a person loves sports? It’s because when they have a choice to talk about sports or cars, they’ll talk about sports. When they ought to be working on their to-do list but their favorite team is playing, they’ll be watching the game. While they can’t seem to remember their children’s birthdays, they do know all the latest stats. You know that they love sports because it takes priority over other important things in their life.

In the same way, when we have to choose between doing our will and God’s will, the actions that we take, our works, shows where our true love lies. If we keep His commandments out of a heart of love rather than doing what we would naturally prefer, we show that we truly love God.

The exchanged life is a life of complete dependence, yet special privilege. As part of the world, I lived my own life. I chose my priorities, actions, and attitude. Whatever I wanted to do, whatever expressed who I thought I was, that is what I did. But when I exchanged my life for the life of Christ, I lost control. Now Christ determines my priorities, actions, and attitude. The realities of His character and sovereignty are the guides that I conform to as I live out Christ in me.

While some would think that losing control would make life pointless, it actually does the opposite. I would never be able to find on my own the things that give purpose to life, but Christ has lead me into a life of rich meaning. I realized that losing control was the point of life, that all along Christ gave me a free will so that I could give myself back to Him. By giving up control, I found what I would have never found by being in control. I found out what it is to live by faith, and through faith have seen the miracles of an almighty God at work (vs. 12-13).

Christ promised that “because I live, ye shall live also.” That means that the exchanged life is a secure life. I rarely knew how my decisions would affect me in the long run, but have no such worries now that I’ve exchanged my life for Christ’s. My life is tied up in His, and as long as He lives, and as wonderfully as He lives, so I live. I still struggle to trust Him at times and still get hurt when I go my own way,  but to the extant that I submit my life to Him, I have a life of true significance – not my life, but Christ in me.

How are you going to express your thanks this year? If I may make a suggestion, I think it is only proper that if God has given you rest from the trials or temptations of life, you should take a moment of that rest to quietly reflect on God’s goodness. Most people will spend the day doing what they enjoy most – watching a football game, being with their family, and feasting on a turkey – but the spiritually discerning will recognize that nothing else is as meaningful as spending part of the day with God. As the song says, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Their would be no reason for Thanksgiving without our great God, so let’s not leave Him out of it.

And a second suggestion – as you silently reflect on God’s goodness, break the silence with a song. You could start with the doxology, or make up your own song of praise (it’s not that hard, just give it a try). However you do it, take time to worship God. Only when your thanks is expressed is Thanksgiving true to its purpose.

It is quite easy to think after salvation that only our enemy has changed, not our methods of battle. In the same way that we lived for Satan, we now fight against him and against the world, our flesh, and the flesh of others. The Holy Spirit in these inspired words is clearly teaching us otherwise though, and we would be wise to consider what He is saying.

In the larger context, Paul is defending his authority and making sure that the Corinthians understand that his words of condemnation are more than just the rantings of an over-sensitive apostle. To help make his point, he uses two different connotations of the word flesh in verse three, first referring to the physical body, and then referring to the old nature of man and the resulting ways of the world. In a sense he is saying “sure I walk around in a weak, physical body, but my body is not my strength. My weapons are spiritual weapons, mighty through God.”

As Christians and spiritual leaders, we have to understand that God has a new set of weapons, or I could use the word methods, for us to use. We don’t take the world’s ideas and adapt them to Christianity, we take the Bible and use its methods, realizing by faith that God can work in ways that do not make sense to us. Why does servant leadership work? It doesn’t on Wall Street or Main Street, but God takes our obedience and does a miracle in our followers. There is no natural reason for it to work because natural refers to our old nature, not our new one, but yet it works in the church. Or take giving, where we have more by giving more away. The method is illogical, but to God it makes perfect sense. And may I also mention influence? The world has its way of influencing people and making friends, but God’s ways are totally different.

The point is this – don’t follow the world just to get a result that you want, follow Christ to get the result that He wants. There is amazing power in God’s methods of battle.

When you preach, be sure that people remember Christ. The illustrations have no value, except they promote the light of Christ. A dynamic style is meaningless unless it conveys the truth of Jesus Christ. True, some audiences will be contented with a sermoner who simply holds their attention or delights their senses, but don’t be content yourself until you have given them Jesus and presented Him to be glorified and worshiped. He is your purpose.

Our preaching style should serve only to magnify Christ. We use style far to often to judge the preacher, and as preachers feel evaluated based on our style. The emotion, the dynamics, the movements of preaching – these are all secondary to the purpose of making every facet of Christ known. The most engaging speakers, without Christ as their message, fail as preachers. The preaching is not about style, it’s about Christ.

Our illustrations are also secondary to Christ. It is not a good thing when people remember your illustration but forget your message. The illustrations are useful only to support the message, not to be the high points for which the message fills in the necessary theological foundation. Does this mean that you make your illustrations less grand? Perhaps. It would definitely rule out the multitude of illustrations used merely to endear the heart of the people to the preacher, often with little effect in advancing the message. If the illustration does not in some way advance Christ, then cut it. The world doesn’t have time for your self-engrossed babbling.

Lastly, we do not preach ourselves. Preaching can be a dangerous thing, for men tend to give more attention to the preacher than he ought to have. I believe that preachers have an important and holy ministry, but they must work continuously to ensure that people do not follow them in place of God. Sure they are an example, and they ought to be, but always an example that is pointing to Christ. No preacher deserves glory. There is a limited amount of respect for the office that is right and proper, but it should be insignificant compared to the absolute loyalty that He engenders to Christ.

Preach Christ. You aren’t worthy of self-exaltation, but you know a God who is. Don’t cheapen your message by putting yourself into it.

Death is always a point of separation, often permanent separation. There is at some point in my future a physical death (unless the Lord returns soon) which will be the permanent separation of my soul and spirit from my body and this earth. For the unsaved, there is coming an eternal death, which will be the permanent separation of their unredeemed souls from their only hope of salvation, Jesus Christ. And each of us was born dead in our sins, as counterintuitive as that may sound, without any strength in ourselves to say “no” to sin.

We still face one type of death or another somewhere in our future, though for the saved, it is a simple physical death that is a part of our passage from earth to heaven. Death is a symbol of all that comes between us and God. It signifies our sin, our unimputed unrighteousness, the darkened glass of our own humanity that even after salvation keep us from seeing the Savior in all His beauty and perfection. But after death is destroyed, the separation is gone! No longer do I have to ponder what my Savior is like, I can look into His very face. There will be no question about his requests or commands, no doubt as to His sustaining power, no forgetfulness of His wondrous presence, because He is visibly present, powerful, and loving.

This thought reminds me of the song “Nothing Between My Soul and My Savior.” O to have unhindered access to Him, to literally be in His presence, rejoicing in the glory of Who He is!