Sermon (October 31) by Rev. Robert McDowell

     One of the things I learned early on in my pastoral ministry was the importance of the church I was serving to have a concise and memorable mission statement and discipleship strategy. The business world uses this strategy as well.

     Here are some examples…

     Tesla’s mission is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

     LinkIn’s mission is “to  connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.”

     PayPal’s mission is “to build the web’s most convenient, secure, cost-effective payment solution.”

     Nike’s mission statement is to “bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”

     Nordstram’s mission is “to give customers the most compelling shopping experience possible.”

     And Facebook’s mission is evidently to spread misinformation and extremist views. They have some PR work to do.

     What is the mission and discipleship strategy of Athens First United Methodist Church? Here it is… “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and world.” And our discipleship strategy to fulfill that mission is to provide ministries that help each person “to have a loving faith, a learning faith, and a living faith.”

     It is so tempting to make a mission statement longer than it really needs to be. Sure, we could replace our fourteen word mission statement with a ten page single spaced document detailing all of our ministries and programs, but how would that be inspiring and memorable?

     Today’s scripture readings from Deuteronomy and the Gospel of Mark offer us a concise and memorable way of living out our faith every single day. 

     In our Gospel reading, one of the scribes… Scribes. Who were the scribes? They were legal experts. Lawyers. They were a group of Jewish people in Jesus’ day who studied the laws found in the scriptures and would then draft lengthy legal documents that were used for people getting married, people getting divorced, loans, inheritance contracts, sales of land, etc.

     In other words, they were wordy type people. If you count them all of the laws that are in the Old Testament, there are 613 laws of them. 

     613 laws! We often only think of the Ten Commandments, but there’s 603 other laws that we find in the Old Testament. And there was a belief in Jesus’ day by some Jewish people, that if every single Jewish person would obey all 613 laws for an entire day, that this would usher in God’s kingdom here on earth. 

     And of course, these 613 laws have a lot of gray areas to consider. Like, what does it means to do no work on the Sabbath? Does that include only work in which you make money? What about chores? The Rabbis of Jesus’ day debated questions like this on what is considered work and what is not considered work on the Sabbath. And this is just one of the 613 commandments that lead to all of these questions.

     Back to our Gospel reading. One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all, the one that is most central to who we are as God’s people?” 

     Now, Jesus could have said that all 613 of the laws are tied for first because they’re all important, but he doesn’t. He refers to one law in particular which is at the heart of what it means to to live out our faith.  

     It’s known as the Shema which is from our Old Testament reading for today. The reason it is given the name, “Shema” is because the Hebrew word for listen is “Shema.”  And that is how this commandment begins. “Hear, O Israel… You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

      So why does Jesus say this is the most important of all the 613 commandments? Why would this one best reflect what it means to be God’s people?

     New Testament scholar, Tom Wright answers that question this way… “The Jewish law begins with worship, with the love of God, because if it’s true that we’re made in God’s image we will find our fullest meaning, our true selves, the more we learn to love and worship the one we are designed to reflect. No half measures: heart, soul, mind and strength – that is every aspect of human life is to be poured out gladly in worship of the one true God.”

     And even though Jesus wasn’t asked about what he thought was the 2^nd most important commandment, he offers it anyway. He says, “the second is this, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” which is a commandment that we find in the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament.

     So this is what Jesus wants us to remember by summing up the 613 commandments in this concise and memorable way. Don’t worry about trying to memorize all of those commandments. Just remember and live out this in your daily lives…

     “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

     This summary of our faith has become known as the Great Commandment. The Great Commandment. It’s what I want everyone who is part of the church to know. So if someone would say, “what is the Great Commandment,” without even thinking, we would say, “to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves.”

     As a pastor, if I don’t emphasize this in my preaching and my teaching, then I feel like I have failed in my duty as your pastor. It’s that important.

     Which leads me to this story of my dear friend, Keith Wasserman of Good Works here in Athens. Keith and I have been friends over the years. I’ve had him preach in my churches including here at Athens First. 

    For one of my churches I was serving, I had Keith preach on a Sunday morning and I also invited him to come and  share with our Junior High confirmation class which was meeting that same morning during Sunday School. I was thinking that this would be a great opportunity for our young people to hear Keith share his faith and his ministry with Good Works. 

     But before he did any of that, Keith began by asking this group of confirmands who at that point had been meeting every single Sunday for the past six months, this very basic question. He asked them, “can any of you tell me what the Greatest Commandment is? 

     I gulped as I heard him ask that question, because I wasn’t sure if any of us who were teaching the class had specifically focused on that phrase, “The Great Commandment.” We had taught them every other possible Christian topic you can think of like how many books are in the Bible, major Christian history events, that John Wesley founded the Methodist Church, all of these things but we never went over The Great Commandment.

     There was this long silence when Keith asked our youth that question. Nobody knew. I shamefully looked the other way to not make eye contact with Keith.

     And without any shaming or judging, Keith simply said that Jesus taught us that there is only really one commandment we need to remember as Christians and it’s to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.”

     Keith went on to talk to them how the Great Commandment is what Good Works is all about. It’s that simple, and it’s all they really need to remember.

     Speaking of Keith, I receive his monthly newsletter and this past summer he had an article that was so powerful that it seems fitting to share it with you here in the context of the Great Commandment.

     Over the past thirty years, Keith has chosen to personally experience homelessness in eleven different cities in order to learn and better understand the people and and situation of being homeless. In his newsletter article, he offers these brief highlights to help remind him to not forget the Great Commandment.

     In Akron, he went to the desk at the shelter to ask if he could use the bathroom. The staff person responded with a dramatic, “I just cleaned it!” He felt degraded by that statement. But then he asked himself, “Have I ever done that to someone at Good Works?”

     In Pittsburgh, he was with a group of other homeless people who were accosted of stealing things from the pockets of the coats in the church foyer during the church service. They were taken aside and asked if they stole the items. On reflecting on that experience, Keith  asks himself, “Have I ever done that to someone?”

     In Charleston, he left the shelter right after breakfast, but the person in charge of his personal items would not give them to him and wouldn’t explain why. Keith continues to ask himself, “Have I ever done something like that to someone?”

     He ended his article with these positive examples of how he was treated. 

     In Tulsa, he said that a man who ran the shelter allowed him to come in and out of the cold and sleep onside on the floor even though there were no beds and lots of people. 

     In Pittsburgh, a man would visit people before sleeping hours to say a prayer for each person and offer a kind word. 

     In Louisville, a resident of the shelter where he was staying worked in the kitchen and when he saw him, asked him if he was hungry and then went into the kitchen and gave Keith some freshly made chicken.

     The point of sharing these experiences is to think about how we love our neighbors and live out our faith each and every day. Maybe this is why Jesus gave us a small business card size summary of all the commandments we find in the Bible.

    Life happens so quickly as we encounter people from moment to moment in our daily lives. We might not be able to recite all of the commandments or even know they exist.

     What if we could just remember this little summary of all of them? Just remember to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

     Jesus says if we can obey this commandment, we are not that far from the kingdom of God. 

Concise & Memorable

Sermon Discussion Questions

Deuteronomy 6:1-9 & Mark 12:28-34

October 31, 2021

Consultants encourage businesses and organizations to have a concise and memorable summary of their main purpose. For example, Tesla’s mission is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Why do you think it can be helpful for a business or organization to have a concise and memorable mission statement?

The purpose of our church is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and world by helping each person to have a loving faith, a learning faith, and a living faith.”

When you think of our mission statement, what stands out for you the most?

Of all of the 613 commandments in the Old Testament, Jesus said that the greatest commandment of all of these is “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.” This has become known as “The Great Commandment.” Jesus actually combined two commandments together but still not bad since there are a total of 613 commandments!

Why do you think that of all the commandments he could have said was the most important that he combined these two commandments as the most important to remember?

Keith Wasserman who started Good Works in Athens is known for focusing on this “Great Commandment.” It helps him to not be in ministry “to” the poor but “with” the poor. 

What is the difference between ministering “to” people vs. “with” people? Why is it more Christlike to be in ministry “with” people?

If you were to write a concise and memorable mission statement for your life, what would it be? “The purpose of my life or my mission is…”

Online Worship (October 31) Athens First UMC

Welcome to our 

October 31

online worship service!

Athens First UMC

2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701

[Live-Stream Begins @ 10:25 AM]

Holy Hump Day (October 27) with Pastor Robert

Today’s Focus:

Reformation Day with

Martin Luther & John Wesley

Sermon (October 24) by Rev. Robert McDowell

     A church, known for their high expectations when hiring a pastor, was interviewing for a new pastor. They had interviewed several well qualified candidates, but were still not satisfied in their search.

     During one of their interviews, they asked a very promising candidate, “So, tell us what your preaching is like.”

     And the candidate said that she takes sermon preparation very seriously and how her well crafted and Holy Spirit led sermons had helped her previous congregations to grow in their faith.

     The interview team, still not convinced if this was the right person, then asked the candidate, “But what about your pastoral care and visitation ministry?” 

     The candidate proceeded to tell them that this was another area of her ministry which she had been known to make a priority and had received positive feedback from her previous churches. She said that she had even helped organize a lay visitation team so that the whole church was involved in checking on the members.

     The interview team, not satisfied with her answer next asked the candidate about her administrative skills.

     The candidate, without any hesitation, shared how she was known for completing church reports in a timely fashion and was always prompt in returning phone calls and responding to messages.

     After answering all of these interview questions in a way that most churches would find very impressive, the candidate decided to try one last attempt to convince this committee that she was an excellent pastor. She invited the interview team to go outside the church and down to a pond that was nearby. They all made their way down to the water.

     The interview team, now standing there by the pond asked what she was going to do. She said to them, “Just watch. I think you’re going to be amazed at what I can do.”

     She then did the unthinkable. She proceeded to actually walk on the water like Jesus did. She walked to the one side of the pond and then back to where the interview team was standing.

     Thinking that this would convince them to hire her as their new pastor, she asked them, “So, what do you think?”

     With arms folded, one of the committee members said, “Do you mean to tell us that you don’t even know how to swim?”

     This fun little story reminds us that finding the perfect pastor is a futile search. We pastors have our strengths and our weaknesses. Sometimes you will hear us preach eloquent and inspiring sermons. Other times they are barely adequate, but God can use those sermons as well.

     Sometimes we make brilliant decisions, and other times, not so brilliant. Sometimes we know just the right words to share with someone who is going through a difficult time in their life, and other times, we stumble in trying to offer the right words.

     Which brings me to our Hebrews scripture reading for today. The Book of Hebrews is actually a letter that emphasizes how Jesus is our perfect high priest. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus was able to be the perfect, final, and effective sacrifice for the sins that keep us from being who God has called us to be. 

     This letter is saying that priests come and go. Pastors come and go. But Jesus is the only high priest who lives forever. And this leads the author of Hebrews to say in our scripture reading for today, “Consequently, he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

     And just to emphasize his point, the writer of Hebrews says, “Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself.”

     Priests come and go, but Jesus lives forever.

     Several years ago, I served as an associate pastor of a large church in northwest Ohio. This church had a hallway that was dedicated to all the pastors who had served the church over their very long history dating back to the early 1800s. They had portraits of each pastor on the wall of that hallway with their names and dates that they had served. 

     One of those pastors was Norman Vincent Peale’s father. Another pastor was Clyde Pinnell who was also the pastor here back in the late 1960s and early 70s. 

     It was an impressive display of the many pastors who had served that church over its long history. I always found it interesting that it wasn’t until around the 1950s, that pastors began to smile when their picture was taken. One pastor from the early 1900s looked so grumpy and stern in his portrait, that I wondered who would want him to be their pastor. 

     It’s not that the author of Hebrews is downplaying the role of priests. They served an important purpose in making sacrifices for the sins of the people. This sacrificial system was how the people received atonement for their sins. And this process required a high priest who was the only person allowed to enter into the holy of holies in the Temple to make this sacrifice once a year on behalf of the people.

     These high priests served a very important role, but Jesus has become the only high priest we will ever need because of his life, death, and resurrection. By dying on the cross and raising to new life, our sins are forgiven and we can receive the gift of salvation. This is why Jesus is the only perfect High Priest. He did for us what no other high priest could ever do by offering himself as the perfect sacrifice by dying on the cross for our sins. 

     It’s like the math equation that I have seen that says, “One cross plus three nails equals forgiven.” “One cross plus three nails equals forgiven.” This is what Jesus, our perfect High Priest has done for us.

     John Newton who wrote the hymn, “Amazing Grace,” was a captain of a slave ship during the 1700s. He accepted Christ and ended up renouncing the slave trade and became an abolitionist, preacher, and hymn writer.

     The first verse of that hymn says, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!” The word, “wretch” is such a strong word but it describes John Newton’s fallenness, his sinfulness, and his brokenness. 

     John Newton once said, “Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly, I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior!”

     The author of Hebrews is right. Jesus, our High Priest is “holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.” He is a great Savior. He is a perfect Savior.

    Dan Kiger who was pastor here several years ago is a good friend of mine. We often say that we are the recipients of pastors who have served ahead of us. As Dan says it so well, “We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us.”

     I think this is why I love to visit our church’s archives room as often as I do. It reminds me of pastors who have served this church over the span of several decades. 

     I think of Rev. James Quinn who in 1800 rode a horse into Athens to help start a new Methodist congregation. 

     I think of Rev. Slutz who sacrificed so much to help raise funds for the new 1908 church building, only to pass away just before it’s completion.  

     I think of Rev. John Versteeg who in 1955 preached a very moving sermon to the congregation in Memorial Auditorium the day after a fire had destroyed our previous church building. That sermon was the first step in the healing process that would lead to the construction of this building which would be completed three years later.

     These pastors didn’t walk on water. They weren’t perfect. They had their strengths and their  weaknesses. But God used them at very critical times in our church’s history. 

     I was talking to a church member who was telling me a story about a pastor who had served as her pastor several years ago. And this person couldn’t remember the name of the pastor so she kept referring to him as, “Pastor What’s His Name.” We laughed together as she just couldn’t remember the pastor’s name.

     It is hard to remember so many names of pastors that come and go. Quinn, Pinnell, Wagner, Kiger…

     But the name that the Book of Hebrews will never let us forget is the one and only perfect high priest, the one who is holy, blameless, undefiled, and exalted in the heavens. This is the only name you really need to remember. 

     A perfect Savior. The name that is above all names, now and forever more. Jesus.

The Perfect Pastor

Sermon Discussion Questions

Hebrews 7:23-28

October 24, 2021

Sometimes our expectations of pastors can be unrealistic. We want pastors that are great preachers, skillful administrators, wise counselors, available for a conversation at any moment, and great at visitations and pastoral care, but we also know there is no such thing as a “perfect pastor.”

What are some qualities that you like to see in a pastor? Name a Pastor from your past who has left a lasting positive impression on your life.

In our Hebrews scripture reading, the author says that unlike the High Priests who have come and gone, Jesus is “holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.”  Jesus He did for us what no other high priest could ever do by offering himself as the perfect sacrifice by dying on the cross for our sins. Verse 28 of our Hebrews reading concludes by saying, “For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.”

How does this description of who Jesus is (a perfect High Priest) make a difference in your life? What makes Jesus unique to you?

Pastor Robert shared a couple of names of pastors who have served at Athens First UMC. Two of those names were Rev. James Quinn who founded our church back in 1800! Another pastor he mentioned was Rev. Slutz who led a campaign for the construction of the 1908 church building. Unfortunately, Rev. Slutz died just before it’s completion. These are just a couple examples of pastors who have faithfully served this congregation. 

Why is it important to know our church’s history? In addition to former pastors, share the name of a church member(s) who was (is?) an important part of your faith journey. 

John Newton lived during the 18th century and was the captain of a slave ship. He experienced a conversion and became an abolitionist, preacher, and hymn writer. He wrote the lyrics for the hymn, “Amazing Grace” which includes the line, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”  Although John Newton saw himself as a wretched sinner, he is also known for this powerful quote later in his life, “Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly. I am a great sinner but I have a great Savior.”

What helps you to remember that Jesus, our perfect High Priest is our great Savior who is more than able to forgive and redeem us from our sins? Remember this line that Pastor Robert shared in the sermon to help us remember this…

1 Cross + 3 Nails = 4 Given

Online Worship (October 24) Athens First UMC

Welcome to our 

October 24

online worship service!

Athens First UMC

2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701

[Live-Stream Begins @ 10:25 AM]

Holy Hump Day (October 20) with Pastor Robert

Today’s Focus:

Fall Book of James

Bible Study Highlights

Sermon (October 17) by Rev. Robert McDowell

 

    When I was in college, my home church had a summer ultimate frisbee league. If you’ve never heard of ultimate frisbee it’s kind of like soccer only you pass a frisbee instead of kicking a soccer ball. You and your teammates pass the frisbee up the field and you score when someone catches the frisbee in the end zone.

     It’s a very demanding game that can get really competitive. Even though we were a church league, that didn’t mean that some of those games didn’t get overly competitive.

     We had fun names for our teams. The Wompers, The Go-Gos, and The Muppets just to name a few.

     Before each game, and there would be several played every Sunday afternoon, each team would come to mid-field for a prayer. One of the team captains would offer the prayer. For one of those games, the team captain of one of the teams offered this prayer:

     Dear God, thank you for bringing us all together to play frisbee today. Keep us safe. Help us to have fun. And may the Muppets win this game. Amen. 

     And that prayer was given just a couple of hours from getting out of church! The person who prayed it was just having a little fun, but did God really care if the Muppets won or lost a frisbee game?

     I’ve played on church softball teams that were really competitive as well. Several years ago, the church that I was serving participated in a summer league. I love softball and it was a lot of fun, but some of those games could get a little heated between opposing players. No wonder that we have a prayer of confession and words of assurance included as part of worship every Sunday morning! Some of us needed absolution from our softball sins. 

     But heated competition among Christians is nothing new. Just think about today’s Gospel reading. James and John, two of Jesus’ disciples were asking Jesus to appoint them to prominent positions in his kingdom. 

     You see, they still didn’t understand what kind of Kingdom Jesus was trying to build. They thought this would be a kingdom where Jesus would rule over people and form some type of new government. As two of the twelve disciples, they were making their move to secure positions of power.

     Jesus, knowing that their understanding of God’s kingdom was far different from his own, asks them a couple of questions to reveal just how off the mark they really are. 

     Jesus asks them, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Still not getting it, James and John reply, “We are able, Jesus!”

     Of course, they have no clue that the cup of which Jesus was speaking would be the cup of his suffering on the cross. And the baptism of which he was speaking would be a baptism of him dying on the cross. 

     When the rest of the disciples heard what James and John were doing, they became angry, not because James and John were seeking worldly power and fame, but because they wished that they would have asked for those same positions of prominence first! 

     With the disciples angry with one another and competing for the top spots in Jesus’ future political offices, Jesus uses this opportunity to explain to them how his kingdom is very different from the kingdoms of the world.

     “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

     Or to put it another way. Jesus was telling his disciples that God’s kingdom is really a “kin-dom.” A kin-dom that is made up of kinships where we remember that we are all part of the same family, the family of God, and where we seek to serve one other, not compete against each other.

     This isn’t just an important reminder for people who play on church softball teams, but it’s for each one of us. Softball games are meant for competing, but In God’s kingdom, we are here to serve one another. And when the whole church is filled with people serving, loving, encouraging, and supporting one another, we truly do become part of God’s kin-dom. 

     According to the Learner’s Dictionary, the definition of the word, “leader” is “a powerful person who controls or influences what other people do; a person who leads a group, organization, country, etc.”

     The Business Dictionary defines “leader” as “a person or thing that holds a dominant or superior position within its field, and is able to exercise a high degree of control or influence over others.”

     Listen again to Jesus’ definition. Jesus defines leader this way, “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”

     Jesus’ idea of kingdom is one of kinships where we remember that we belong to each other as brothers and sisters not as opposing players on a softball field. We are servants of one another just as Jesus came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

     Psychiatrist and author, Scott Peck defines love as “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” He writes extensively about the importance of self-discipline in being a loving person.

     In one of his books, he shares a personal illustration of how he loved to play chess and so he taught his daughter at an early age to play it so that they could play it together. 

     The problem was that he loved chess so much that he became overly competitive when playing her. This would often result in the daughter becoming frustrated and leaving their game in tears.

     His strength was being a competitive chess player, but in this situation with his daughter, he  ended up allowing his strength to become his weakness. Instead of extending himself for the sake of his daughter, he was feeding his own desire to win.

     If this can happen to us when we are simply playing a fun little father/daughter chess match, it can also happen between different ministry groups in the church, clergy who inflate their worship attendance numbers, and other types of passive/aggressive behaviors that are done in the name of Jesus. When we remember that God’s kingdom is about kinships and serving one another, it’s amazing what we can do together where we support rather than compete against each other.

     Have you ever noticed that geese understand this concept of kinship and the importance of working with and not against each other? When they fly in the V formation, the lead goose takes the brunt of all the drag and resistance of the air so that the other geese have an easier time flying behind. The leader as defined by Jesus is the one who is willing to do the hard work so that the others are helped.

     I think of all of the ways that I see a spirit of kingship in our church. Often times, these go unnoticed because that is the nature of being servant leaders. This is what makes our church so special. People serving behind the scenes and doing the little and quiet things that make a big difference for the sake of others.

     The audio/visual team setting providing a live-stream of our service every single Sunday so that people who are unable to be here can worship with us. The person who changes out our altar, pulpit, lectern cloths and worship banners so they reflect the new season of the church year. The greeter, the usher, the small group facilitator, the choir member, the refreshment volunteer, the worship reader, the Monday Lunch food preparer and server, the preschool teacher, the nursery worker.

     I recently read a church newsletter where the church was thanking one of their saints for recording the worship attendance every single week for the past ten years! That’s a lot of work that I’m sure went unnoticed by the vast majority of people.

     In God’s kindom, we are all servants who take the brunt and the drag of the resistance to make it easier for other to fly and soar.

     So much of Christianity today is extremely individualistic, rather than communal. It’s focused a lot on “me and Jesus” or “how can I go to heaven when I die.” That’s a “me centered faith,” not a “kin-dom of God centered faith.”

     James and John saw an opportunity to grab the top two positions in Jesus’ kingdom. And actually, we should all ask Jesus for those top positions, but maybe with a little twist to this gospel story. 

     “Jesus, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 

     “And what is it you want me to do for you?”

     And what if our answer would be, “Grant us, not to be seated at your right hand or your left hand in your glory. Instead, grant us to be servants of one another in your kingdom.”

     May it be so.

The Kin-dom of God

Sermon Discussion Questions

Mark 10:35-45

October 17, 2021

In this week’s Gospel reading, two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John, asked Jesus to grant them positions of power in his kingdom. When the other disciples heard they requested this, they became angry toward them. Actually, they were probably just upset that they didn’t ask Jesus for those prominent positions! Before we get too critical of James and John requesting these positions of power, they were simply operating under the assumption that Jesus’ kingdom would be like other earthly kingdoms where power and prominence were highly valued. Instead of Jesus building a kingdom of God, he was really building a kin-dom of God where we serve one another in humility.

Where do you see signs of God’s concept of “the kin-dom of God” vs. “the kingdom of God” at work through the church and in the world? In what ways are these examples of humility and serving others more powerful than kingdoms that promote greed and prominence?

In our Gospel reading, Jesus defines leadership as “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”

How is this definition of being a leader in our world the same or different from the world’s understanding?

The lead goose in the V formation takes the brunt of the air current to allow the other geese to fly more efficiently. 

Share an example of how someone has unselfishly taken the “brunt of the air current” to help you fly more efficiently in your life. How did that display of servanthood make a difference in your life?

Pastor Robert shared a story of psychiatrist and author, Scott Peck who loved to play chess. When teaching his young daughter to play, he became overly competitive in trying to win. Instead of using that time as a way to bond with his daughter, he used it as an opportunity to show how good he was at chess. He allowed his strength (the ability to play chess) to become his weakness (forgetting to be loving toward his daughter.)

In what ways can we use our unique gifts and talents to build up others rather than draw attention to ourselves?

This week, be open to opportunities where God may be calling you to serve, be helpful, and encourage others.