His Majesty

Sermon Transcript

The non-athletic coaching industry in the United States, which covers life, corporate, executive, career, and health coaching, is currently valued at about 16 billion dollars. Why is it so successful? Because if there’s one thing people generally want, it’s to improve, and coaches offer to help you do just that. One popular book in a related field on improving a business is called Good to Great, which is about improving your business from good to great. It’s what we all want, and people will often want a coach or consultant to help them get there if they see that the coach or consultant has themselves gone from good to great, or has helped someone else go from good to great.

 

In the passage of Luke on which we are focusing today, we see something of Jesus’ greatness, or what verse 43 calls the majesty of God revealed in him. The revelation of Christ is what the whole Gospel of Luke is really about, and we’re right at a significant turning point in the book in chapter 9. Peter has just become the first human to confess aloud that Jesus is the Christ, the one savior God had long promised to send. Then in the passage just before this one, on the mount of transfiguration, Jesus gave a visible revelation of his glory to three of his disciples. Jesus is being revealed as one who is truly great, truly majestic, and we all also want to be greater. So Jesus reveals here not only his own greatness, but the path on which he was travelling, the path we too must travel if we are to be truly great. If you see the greatness of a business leader, you’ll pursue your own greatness on a similar path. But the more clearly you see the greatness of Jesus, the more humbly you’ll pursue your own. Last week we saw the more clearly you see the glory of Jesus, the better you’ll listen to him. This week we’ll see that the more clearly you see the greatness of Jesus, the more humbly you’ll pursue your own. So we’ll look first at seeing the greatness of Jesus clearly, and then at humbly pursuing your own.

 

Seeing the greatness of Jesus clearly (v. 37-45)

 

Our passage today begins the day after the transfiguration, when Jesus revealed his glory to three of his disciples. We read in verse 37 that the next day after that, when they came down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Though Peter had suggested that they build tents on the mountain so that the glorified Jesus could remain there along with Elijah and Moses, Jesus came back down the mountain to the crowds. Though rest with the glorified Jesus in glorified bodies is our final destination, we are not there yet. There are still crowds of people to whom to minister, and so Jesus ministers to them.

 

In this crowd, one man cried out and begged Jesus to look at his son, his only son, because he was afflicted with a demonic spirit that caused him to go into painful seizures. From the description of the symptoms, we’d probably diagnose this today as epilepsy, and the Bible recognized as well that there was a difference between demonic affliction and disease (Matt 4:24). What is likely happening here, then, is that the demon is using the epilepsy and exacerbating it in order to afflict this child. Listen to the painful description of the child’s condition: A spirit seizes him, he suddenly cries out, it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, it shatters him, and will hardly leave him. This event literally happened; Luke writes of it as part of what he told us was an “orderly account” of real things that really happened in the real world. But the authors of scripture also write these stories down to illustrate spiritual truths. This boy’s condition illustrates what Satan does to people, and Ephesians 2 says that all of us, when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, were following him  (Eph 2:1-3). Though he makes sin appear pleasant, this is what he’s actually doing to the souls of those under his sway: Seizing, convulsing, shattering. May the Lord give us eyes to see such spiritual realities, and may they drive us to cry out to the Lord in prayer, just as his son’s condition drove this man to cry out to the Lord that day.

 

On top of the pain this man saw in his son, though, the man’s situation was even more desperate because he had already begged Jesus’ disciples to cast out the demon, and they could not. Recall that at the beginning of chapter 9 Jesus gave his apostles power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and this man went to them for help, but they could not cast out this demon, or cure this disease. Though we may and should thank God for the gift of ministers, our faith cannot ultimately rest in them. Sometimes they fail.

 

So now the man comes to Jesus himself, and Jesus responds to the man at first in verse 41 with a lament: “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you?” What did Jesus hear that caused him to reflect on the faithlessness and twistedness of that generation? The ancient church fathers suggest the man was being rude or proud, essentially, in crying out and pressing his own needs on Jesus amid the crowd. I’m not sure that’s right, but perhaps there is something blameworthy in the man’s conduct. Jesus never affirms or encourages his faith, as he so often does in his other miracles, and in Mark’s account of this story, Jesus even seems to challenge the man’s lack of faith (Mark 9:23). In that account the man says to Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief,” thus admitting that his faith was mixed with unbelief. 

 

Perhaps more so than the man, though, Jesus saw a lack of faith in his disciples, who were not able to cast out the demon or heal the disease, though Jesus had given them authority to do so. In Matthew’s account of the story, Jesus explains their inability in terms of their “little faith” (Matt 17:20). Yet he laments here the whole generation; why? He seems to be seeing that even when it comes to this man who is appealing to him for the healing of his son, and among his own disciples, the prevailing unbelief of that generation affected them. I once heard Tim Keller explain the culture’s influence on Christians in this way: If you’re a Christian, it’s like you’re in a rainstorm, but you have an umbrella. You know Christ, you believe his word, you’re rooted in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church that transcends the present moment–that’s the umbrella that keeps you from being just swept away with the tide of your generation. And yet, you know what happens when you’re in a rainstorm even with an umbrella: Your feet, maybe the bottom half of your legs, still get wet. So Jesus looks at this man, he looks at his disciples, he sees their wet feet, and it causes him to say, “Wow; we really are in a downpour of unbelief.”

 

Now Jesus was speaking of that generation, the generation living 2000 years ago when he was on earth, but we can also recognize and lament ways in which the unbelief of our generation gets our feet wet. Phillip Rieff was a sociologist here at Penn in the 1900s who wrote a book assessing the majority culture of America by the title The Triumph of the Therapeutic. In a therapeutic age, a concern for God and his glory is displaced by a concern for an internal sense of psychological well-being. And so today we can see people who call Jesus Christ Lord still acting in ways contrary to his glory and thinking that’s ok because it feels necessary for the sake of their mental health, and then we can find ostensibly Christian books, leaders, and counselors encouraging them in that very direction! Or in a different cultural register, we can find Christians who seem more animated by the cause of America than the cause of Christ. We can find Christians who are sheepish about the Bible’s teaching on marriage, gender, and sexuality rather than boldly proclaiming it as good news. When we see these things in ourselves and other believers, we should recognize it as the unbelief of our world hitting our feet, and we should lament. That’s what it led Jesus to do in his day.

 

But neither the recognition of the unbelief of his day, nor a recognition of the unbelief of ours, ultimately prevents Jesus from being gracious to us. The grace of Jesus originates from himself, not from us. After his lament, he says in verse 41: Bring your son here. Despite the faithlessness and twistedness of the generation he saw that day, Jesus still intended to heal this boy! Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the presence of remaining unbelief in you prevents Jesus from working for your good. Don’t add to the sin of unbelief the sin of despair or worldly sorrow. What if this man had heard Jesus’ lament and said, “You’re right Jesus; I’m such an awful unbeliever. Instead of bringing my son to you, we’ll just wallow in despair together; that’s what we deserve, after all”? First of all, it would have been disobedient to Jesus, who said, “Bring your son here,” and it’s no less disobedient on our part when we distance ourselves from the Lord and his people when he says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden” (Matt 11:28). But furthermore, the man would have been preventing an opportunity for the majesty of God to be revealed, and we too prevent an opportunity for God’s grace to be glorified when we refuse to confess our sin and receive his forgiveness. 

 

Instead, the father apparently did bring his son, and as the son was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. Satan doesn’t let his own go easily, and so many do find that when they take steps toward Christ, the devil lies close at hand. The temptation to sin may intensify, the opposition from others may increase, circumstances in life may start to get harder. The great pastor Charles Spurgeon recounts how at the time of his conversion, as he was coming to Christ, the most blasphemous thoughts occurred to him, even including questions of whether God, Jesus, heaven, or hell existed at all, though to that point in his life he’d never questioned such things. It’s often when we are about to make our greatest advances toward Christ that Satan comes in and insinuates such lies. Perhaps Satan is doing that to some of you today. Don’t let that stop you from coming to Christ.

 

Because look at what happens next in verse 42: Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. Jesus simply spoke, and the boy was healed. We don’t know what all his disciples tried; all we know is that they couldn’t heal the boy. Jesus tried one thing, and the boy was healed. There are stories in the Bible of Jesus’ disciples trying and failing, and don’t we know that to be true from our own experience too? There is no story in all the Bible of Jesus trying and failing. He does whatever he pleases (Psalm 135:6), and so when people saw this, we read in verse 43 that all were astonished at the majesty of God. No more seizures, no more sudden crying out, no more convulsions, no more foaming at the mouth, no more shattering. Don’t you know this is what the word of Christ has the power to do in a sinner’s life? Don’t we hear something similar every time someone is baptized and they tell of how the word of Christ brought them spiritual life? Suddenly they didn’t just hear the same words they’d heard before; it was Jesus speaking, rebuking the devil who held them captive, and setting them free.

 

Are you astonished at the majesty of God revealed in Christ? I remember seeing the massive rock cliff faces on the west coast of Ireland as the Atlantic Ocean hit them; I was astonished at the majesty of these cliffs that God made. As majestic as those cliffs are, though, how much more majestic is the one who made them? I was astonished by the majesty of God’s creation, but the people who saw Jesus rebuke the unclean spirit that day were astonished at the majesty of God himself, because Jesus did what not even his disciples could do. Jesus did what only the power of God could do, because Jesus is the true God, one in being with the Father, the one through whom the cliffs were made, and on that day, he exercised his power to heal this boy. Every time a sinner repents, it’s because Jesus has exercised his power to free them from their slavery to Satan and return them to their heavenly Father. Who is the ultimate Father whose children are in bondage to Satan, after all? Is it not our heavenly Father, who with the love of a Father sent his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to set us free?

 

But to really free us from our captivity to Satan, Jesus makes clear next that he would have to be taken captive. So we read in verse 43 that 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.” Right after Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ, Jesus said he was going to suffer many things, be rejected, and be killed. When his glory was revealed on the mount of transfiguration, Moses and Elijah spoke of his exodus, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem, which included his death on the cross. Now here, while people are marveling at the majesty of God revealed in him, Jesus is careful to clarify that he is about to be delivered into the hands of men.

 

We don’t see the greatness of Jesus clearly unless we also see this. We see his greatness clearly when we see his power–he is the one through whom cliffs and galaxies and all things were made. He is the one who upholds all things now. He is the one who sets captives to sin free by the power of his word. We see his greatness clearly when we see his goodness–he uses his power to set captives free, rather than to oppress. He laments our unbelief, but he’s also gracious toward it, and heals in spite of it. But we only see his greatness clearly if we also see his humility. Though he is the Son of Man, who the Bible tells us will be given “dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him” (Dan 7:14), though he’s just demonstrated the majesty of his power, instead of insisting on the use of that power, he allows himself to be delivered into the hands of men.

 

At that time Luke tells us his disciples did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, whether by their own prejudice, their own unbelief, or just God’s sovereignty–we don’t know. But now it has been revealed to us that Jesus let himself be delivered into the hands of man precisely because he knew they would crucify him, and through his death on the cross he would set us free from sin, Satan, and death. You see, Satan only has power over those who are separated from God, and it is our sin that separated us from God. So when Jesus was nailed to the cross, God transferred our sins from our account into Christ’s, and he died for them, the demand of God’s justice against our sins was satisfied, and the claim of Satan over us was broken. We can see the majesty of God once again in this–not only in his death on our behalf, but in that even when Satan threw Jesus to the ground, Jesus took up his own life again, and rose victorious on the third day. 

 

Consider the greatness of Jesus, then: Not only is he the one of infinite power, goodness, and humility, who came with the power of God to rebuke this unclean spirit, so this boy could be healed, but he’s the one who came with the power of God to be delivered into the hands of men, to die, and to rise again, so that Satan would be defeated, and all who come to him would be set free.

 

When that really astonishes us, what will be the effect? The more clearly you see the greatness of Jesus, the more humbly you will pursue your own. So let’s talk next about that.

 

More humbly pursuing your own (v. 46-50)

 

So we read next in verse 46 that an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. It’s easy to read that today and think, “Come on guys,” but remember that they didn’t understand the saying of Jesus that he was about to be delivered into the hands of men. They were astonished at the majesty of God revealed in Jesus, but they didn’t see it clearly. Imagine you’re working on a presidential campaign, and your candidate’s poll numbers are surging. Might you not start to wonder what position you’ll get in his administration? Might you not even feel some kind of way about it if someone you thought wasn’t as deserving as you got a higher position than you?

 

We don’t even really need to imagine this, because we do it with the lives God has given us, though we don’t typically argue about it as openly as the disciples apparently did. Ministers do it–we look at the conference at which another pastor got invited to speak, the book he published, how well it’s selling, how many people attend his church gatherings, how big his budget is, how many staff or elders he has, and if we assess that it’s more than ours, we grieve his greatness; if it’s less than ours, we take pride in our own. Christians can do it within a church–who’s serving as an elder or deacon, who’s leading a Citygroup, who’s discipling who, who got invited to what. Christians can do it with other churches, comparing their church to others, trying to convince themselves that theirs is greater or resenting ways other churches are great. C.S. Lewis points out that one of the simplest ways to spot pride in ourselves is by how bothered we are by the pride of others. If we really hate someone else getting the spotlight, whether that someone else is another pastor, another Christian, or another church, it shows just how much we crave the spotlight for ourselves.

 

So here, Jesus’ disciples were arguing over who should be in the spotlight, especially as Jesus’ stock appears to be on the rise. But Jesus knew the reasoning of their hearts, verse 47 tells us, and he knows the reasoning of ours too. In response to the reasoning of his disciples’ hearts, Jesus took a child, put him by his side, and told his disciples that whoever receives this child in his name receives him, and whoever receives him receives him who sent him. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.

 

Notice here, then, that Jesus does not rebuke greatness. He closes by saying that the least among you all is the one who is great, clearly implying that would be a good thing. But the more clearly we see the greatness of Jesus, the more humbly we’ll pursue greatness. The example of humility that Jesus gives here is in receiving a child. 

 

The conventional way of achieving greatness is to figure out how to be received by those you perceive to be great. For kids that means figuring out who the cool kids are, figuring out what they like, and then doing your best to become that in hopes that they will then receive you. For adults it’s basically the same thing, actually, except you’re usually looking for who are the most wealthy, attractive, successful, intelligent, talented people, which now that I mention it, are probably the same things that make kids seem “cool”. C.S. Lewis calls this the “inner ring,” and he contends that “all men’s lives at certain periods, and in many men’s lives at all periods between infancy and extreme old age, one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside.” 

 

So in response to the disciples here, instead of instructing them on how to be received into greatness, he talks to them about how they receive others, and especially how they receive those who would seem to lack any social greatness: A child. Adults will work hard to get an invitation to all sorts of parties, but I’ve never met the adult who was angling to get invited to a child’s birthday party. So, Jesus says, if you really want to be great, don’t worry about being received by the great. Instead, receive this child. Don’t go into a room, find those who seem great, and see if you can measure up to them enough for them to let you into their inner ring. Instead, find the least, and welcome them into yours. The way to be truly great is to forget yourself, and receive those the world forgets.

 

One great way to apply this would be to simply spend time talking to and getting to know kids. Children are a gift from the Lord; kids in the room today, we thank God for your lives and your presence at this church. One obvious way to get to know kids would be serving in our kids ministry. Use the time you have here before and after the services to talk to the kids, ask them what they learned about in kids ministry, what they learned from the sermon if they were in the service. Most families in the church would love to have you over to spend time with them and their kids if you initiate that, and if they invite you, try to say yes. Consider skills you have that could bless kids–I think of Miles coaching Josiah’s tee ball team or Matt giving Mariah piano lessons. 

 

These sorts of things won’t increase your greatness in the world, and that’s exactly the point of them. Jesus says here if you receive children in his name, you’re receiving him. So even the examples I’ve just given aren’t meritorious in themselves; they’re significant only to the degree that they are done in Jesus’ name, which means they proceed from faith in Christ. He’s not even intending to restrict this to children; he’s talking about any who come to us without worldly glory, or the capacity to advance our greatness in the world. If you receive such people out of faith in Christ, you won’t get more worldly glory for it, but you will get more of Jesus himself, and with him, you will get more of God! The one who is least among you is great because it is the one who is least among you who receives God, and to have him, the greatest of all possible beings, is to have true greatness. The way to be truly great is to forget yourself, and receive him. 

 

Here’s how the LORD himself said it through the prophet Jeremiah: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). To understand and know the Lord; that’s true greatness. The more you see the greatness of Jesus clearly, the more you desire him, and the way Jesus says you’ll get to know him better is by receiving those who are least in the world in his name. 

 

I mentioned Charles Spurgeon earlier; he pastored a large church in the heart of London that no doubt contained many influential people, but he lamented that “Not a few [in his day] choose [a church] because the church [building] is an imposing structure, and the congregation is composed of “very respectable people.” If they seek society, (Spurgeon said), let them go where the elite may fitly gather, and keep themselves select; but, in the worship of God, ‘the rich and poor meet together, and the Lord is the Maker of them all.’” Let us beware of using people, even God’s people, to level ourselves up in society. If we have seen the greatness of the one who humbled himself to be delivered into the hands of men, let us also humble ourselves and receive even those who are least in the world in Jesus’ name.

 

In response to Jesus’ teaching, we read in verse 49 that 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, instead of the disciples arguing among themselves as to which of them was the greatest, John is looking beyond the disciples to make sure no one besides the disciples becomes great. He says they found someone casting out demons in his name, and they tried to stop him, specifically because he does not follow with us. Notice he didn’t say the problem was that the man didn’t follow Jesus. The focus was on the fact that he didn’t follow with us, that is, the disciples. But Jesus corrected him. He told him not to stop him, because the one who is not against you is for you. 

 

Two chapters later Jesus says in a different context, “Whoever is not with me is against me,” (Luke 11:23), so Jesus is not trying to say here that as long as you don’t oppose him, it’s kind of like you’re for him. He’s more so pointing out that this other guy was driving out demons. Ultimately, when it comes to the spiritual reality, there are only two sides: Jesus’ side, and the devil’s side. The demons are on the devil’s side, and this other guy was casting out those demons in Jesus’ name. So even though he wasn’t part of the same group as Jesus’ disciples, it’s clear whose side he’s on: Jesus’.

 

But, you see, he wasn’t casting out those demons as part of Jesus’ disciples, and therefore it didn’t seem to increase their greatness. Remember the story we looked at first today; what did we learn about Jesus’ disciples there? There was a demon they could not cast out. Now we find out about this guy who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name who wasn’t even one of them. Who looks greater to worldly eyes? The guy who’s successfully casting out the demons! But Jesus says don’t worry about that. He’s on our team in reality, even if he’s not visibly with us.

 

Sometimes Christians get the mistaken idea that for Jesus’ church to be truly unified on earth it all needs to be part of one big institution. That’s essentially the teaching of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, and to a lesser extent even Anglicanism and Presbyterianism. But this text is just one clue, in addition to the clearer New Testament passages on the church, that the Lord never intended for all his people to belong to the same visible institution on earth. The unity of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church is a unity in Christ, a spiritual unity in fighting the forces of evil in the name of the Lord Jesus, and therefore, far from trying to stop those who do so in a different church or communion of churches on earth from our own, we should celebrate anytime Christ is proclaimed (Phil 1:18) and the forces of evil are pushed back in his name.

 

Of course, that does not mean we need to turn a blind eye to error, especially the clearer and more dangerous the error is. When the churches of Galatia were infiltrated by a false gospel, the apostle Paul didn’t say, “Well who am I to judge? If they’re doing it in Jesus’ name, I shouldn’t try to stop them.” No; he said, “As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:9). Nonetheless, we should recognize that not every error in doctrine or practice constitutes a different gospel, we should recognize that we too fall short of what we ought to be as a church of Jesus Christ, and we should recognize that it’s possible for churches to do biblically faithful ministry in ways that look very different from one another. Where the true gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, people are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and people are taught to obey all Jesus commanded, we always have reason to rejoice, even if that church appears greater than our own.

 

Because when you see the greatness of Jesus clearly, you just want more to see that greatness. When you’ve seen a boy like the one in our first story delivered from a demon, you just want to see more delivered, whether it’s through someone in your tribe, or the guy out there doing good ministry in Jesus’ name who you don’t even know. When you’ve seen not only Jesus’ power, but Jesus’ goodness, and Jesus’ humility, you see that the only path to true greatness is through a humility that welcomes and identifies with the least in the world, and a humility that celebrates anytime Jesus’ cause is advanced, whoever it is advanced through. Forget yourself, get astonished with his greatness, and in the end, you’ll have become great.