Lost in the Circles of Selfish Ambition

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrook.

The Gospel Reading from Mark 9:30-37

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the 9th chapter. The disciples went on from there and they passed through Galilee and Jesus did not want anyone to know, for He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.

And when He is killed, after three days He will rise. But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask Him. And they came to Capernaum, and when He was in the house, He asked them, What were you discussing on the way?

But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And He sat down and called the twelve, and He said to them, If anyone would be first, he must be last of all, and the servant of all.

And He 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.

This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Alright, so I grew up in the 70s and 80s. One of those guys who watched The Land of the Lost, remember The Land of the Lost with Sid and Marty Croft?

The Slee Stacks, right? They were terrifying. You remember those things? But there was this thing that happened in the 70s and 80s, because the television shows all were recorded on sound stages in Hollywood.

And if you ever had to have the people in the show, out and about traveling, or maybe hiking or something like that, and they get lost, how would they depict, using such small space, right? You only have so many camera angles to work with, that these people are lost.

Well the way Hollywood would tell the story, you'd have these guys basically out on a hike, and they hike past the camera angle, and then they come back around again, and it looks like they're hiking in circles, right?

Have you ever been in the wilderness and lost, and were wandering around in circles? Well, here's the thing. I used to think that was just like a camera thing, like a Hollywood thing. But roughly 10-ish years ago, some scientists thought they would test this out.

And so they found some human guinea pigs, people willing to be lost. They put some of them in forests in Germany, others they took to the Sahara Desert. And always during weather conditions, when you couldn't use the sun to guide you, and guess what?

They got lost. And they wandered in circles. It's true. It happens. And so I want you to note this. In our Gospel text today, we see an example of the disciples wandering and being lost in the circles of sin, of conceit, selfish ambition.

And the juxtaposition is so bizarre. I mean, consider the Gospel text. Here's what it says. They went on from there. The disciples, they passed through Galilee, so they were out on some kind of a trip, a little bit of a vacation, not really a working vacation for Christ.

He leaves Judea and then comes back. And they didn't want anyone to know. Jesus, at this point, is going to get really specific about what's coming next. You see, the disciples at this time, they were under the false impression, because they were taught by the Pharisees and others, that when Messiah shows up, oh, yeah, he's going to do battle with the Romans.

He's going to defeat them. He's going to set up the Davidic kingdom again. And it's going to be glorious. All the sinners are going to be expelled from Israel. And the disciples, we learn from some of the cross references, it's during this time they're starting to jockey for, like, you know, cabinet positions.

You know, who's going to be chief of state? You know, who's going to? It's crazy, all right? But here's what happens. Jesus tells them these words. The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.

They will kill him. When he is killed, after three days he will rise. Now, 21st century, well catechized, people can see what's going on here. Jesus is letting them know he's getting ready to go to the cross.

And this is a good thing. But I want you to also consider this. Who's the one speaking these words? It's their God. The one who said, let there be light, and there was light. The one who spoke the universe and everything that you see, smell, taste, touch, everything into existence, even the things you cannot see, the visible and the invisible.

And he's the one who breathed into the nostrils of the, well, the body, newly constructed body of Adam, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And the first thing that Adam sees is the face of Jesus.

Jesus is king of kings. He's lord of lords. He's God of God, light of light, very God of very God. We're going to confess that shortly, right? That's who's speaking these words. And the disciples, they didn't understand.

So they were afraid to ask him anything. You can just see them kind of looking at each other. What does he mean he's going to die and rise again on the third day? What's he talking about? I don't know.

You ask him. I'm not going to ask him. You ask him, right? Hey, Mikey. Let's ask Mikey. Mikey will ask. Mikey will do anything, right? Right? Well, those words are quickly left their mind. And so as they're still traveling, they came to Capernaum.

And when they were in the house, Jesus asked them, what were you discussing on the way? And listen to the words. They kept silent. For on the way, they had, listen to the word, argued. Argued with one another about who was the greatest.

How did that go down? All right? So they're on the way, and maybe Jesus is in the lead. I don't know where Jesus is as they're walking on their journeys. And then somebody belts out, you know, I'm Jesus' favorite.

I'm the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And you just see something. No, you're not. I am. I'm Jesus' favorite. I'm the greatest. No. What is going on here? Okay? They're lost, going in sinful circles, and don't even know it.

They don't even know how lost they are. Jesus just told them, he's going to the cross. We don't get it. Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. I'm the greatest. This doesn't make any sense. At least it shouldn't.

But here's the thing. If you're honest with yourself, it actually does make sense. Because each and every one of us knows full well that we were born under the dominion of darkness, and that our sinful passions have us well catechized in the ways of the devil.

The devil's all about the devil. And guess what? You're all about you. I'm all about me. You see, Scripture calls this what? Selfish ambition. And Christ is not about selfish ambition. In fact, we'll look at another juxtaposition here.

But here's where James is going to help us out here. And don't let anyone tell you those Lutherans never preached from James. It's a lie. Let's take a look at what James does here because the theme works perfectly with our Gospel text.

James, writing to Christians, he writes, Who is wise and understanding among you, you Christians, right? You folks from Kongsvinger and Emmanuel, you guests who are visiting here. Who's wise and understanding among you?

Well then, by his good conduct, let him show his works, and watch the words, in the meekness of wisdom. Meekness. What good is meekness? Meekness doesn't get anything done. I've got plans for my life.

God whispered into my ears that he has a purpose for me. He wants me to change the world. I have to get other people to join in with following behind my vision that God has given me for my life. I need to exert power, authority, right?

Or how about in the corporate world? Is meekness rewarded in the corporate world? When they give you your annual evaluation, is meekness one of the boxes? Right? No, it's not. And I hate to say this, but in so many institutions, and sadly sometimes church ones, ambition is rewarded.

Ah, I've always wanted to be, and then fill in the blank, right? Oh, that person's ambitious. Beware. Beware. James here is saying, by his good conduct, let him show his good works, in the meekness of wisdom.

Here it comes. If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast, do not be false to the truth. See, that's the thing. You'll note that those people who are ambitious, and it's bad, it's terrible when the ambitious ones are the ones who are pastors, right?

What is the thing that suffers for the agenda of the selfish, ambitious pastor? The truth, sound doctrine, the gospel, the sheep whom Christ has sent him to serve. They're the ones who suffer, right? You can always tell a wolf by their diet, by the way.

Let me explain. Wolves eat sheep. They don't serve them. They serve them for dinner. Big difference. Selfish ambition is a bad thing. So, if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, don't boast.

Don't be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above. Let that sink in. Well, where did it come from then? It's earthly. It's unspiritual. It's demonic. Wait, what? I thought I'm super important.

No, see, that's the problem. You think you're super important. Scripture warns us in the last days that in the church, the doctrines of demons would be preached from the pulpit. I cannot think of a more demonic thing to preach than to fill people's vain, glorious, selfish ambitions and tell them that God is all for that because he's not.

Selfish ambition is demonic. You're most like the devil in that way. Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, James says, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above, listen to the list.

It's a wonderful list. The wisdom from above that comes from God, that comes from Christ, that is exemplified in Christ. Remember who was talking to the disciples, who were arguing. It was Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords.

The wisdom from above is first pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason. I feel like I can preach a whole sermon on that one right there. Open to reason. Have you noticed when you are your most vain, glorious, when you are your most ambitious and the most self-centered, are you open to reason?

No, the exact opposite. You don't like to be questioned. You don't like to be challenged. You just want to silence people and get them in line. Get behind me, Satan, you say to the person who wants to speak reason to you.

Right? It's nonsense. Wisdom from above is open to reason. It's full of mercy and good fruits. It is impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. And now here comes Don Matson's famous text, right?

One that we've heard a lot from him over the past few years, and rightfully so. Listen to the question. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Who's he writing to? Christians. So let's just be blunt here.

What causes church fights? Isn't that the question on the table, right? Have you ever been involved in a church fight? They're the worst, by the way. Absolutely the worst. What's the root of all of that?

Well, here's what Scripture says. Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? What causes church fights is sinful natures. Run amuck. Not restrained. Not put off. Ah, but letting them go to seed.

You desire and you do not have. So you murder. Let that one sink in, all right? I want blue carpet at church. No, I want red carpet. No, I want blue carpet. I kill you. Right? It really gets that bad.

And then if they're afraid to actually get out a knife and stick it in the back of the person who wants the carpet colored different than they do, they do the next best thing. They take their name and they kill it.

Destroy their reputation through slander and gossip. Did you hear that that lady who wants the blue carpet, oh my goodness, she's a drunk. Did you know that? And this is how the people behave. Can't murder them.

Don't want to go to jail, so we'll just kill their reputation. Cannot obtain, so you fight and you quarrel. You do not have because you do not listen to the word. Ask. How many people nowadays think they're praying to God and they're not even asking him for a single thing?

Salient example. Ida was coming towards Louisiana, all right? We have people that we serve down in New Orleans and join us for church. And as Ida was getting ready to strike, I was in contact with our people, praying with them, pleading with God, asking that God would have mercy on them, right?

And then they got word that they had to leave. They ended up being evacuated, headed off to Houston to ride out the storm. Took them 11 hours to get there. And the whole time, what were we doing? We were asking God to protect them, to give them strength, to give them peace, to not let their property destroyed.

While this was going on, Kat Kerr of the New Apostolic Reformation, she took to the interwebs and she put a video together where she claimed that she has authority over hurricanes. And what did she do?

She says, I refuse to tolerate Ida to destroy anything or to kill anybody. So I decree, I declare, I command, I control. How'd that work out? It didn't, okay? Saw the destruction firsthand. But I can say this, that the people that we serve, that God heard our humble petitions, and they were.

We were totally at the mercy of God. We asked God to protect them and their property. And when I called them after the storm had dissipated to find out if their neighborhood had been flooded, they were happy to report that God had mercy, that the only damage was a tree.

It had fallen over and was leaning against their house, and unlike when Katrina hit, their neighborhood was not flooded. And what did we do? We dropped to our knees, and we thanked God that he had mercy.

Don't think for a second that prayer isn't important. We're going to hear next week that the prayer of a righteous man availeth much, and you as that righteous man or woman, because you're clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

God doesn't will for us to command or control or decree or declare. He wills for us to ask. Humbly ask him for things. But note here in the context then of our text, you don't have because you do not ask, and I would point that out to the decreers and declarers out there.

You're not asking God for anything. But this is the context of selfish ambition. And then you ask and you don't receive because you ask wrongly in order to spend it on your passions. Lord, don't you think it would be a really good idea if I had an Aston Martin?

World's most beautiful car, right? It's gorgeous. It's like a Michelangelo on tires, right? The Lord wants me to have an Aston Martin. No, he doesn't. Really, he doesn't. What's the purpose of an Aston Martin?

To let everybody know how wealthy and rich you are. It's a status symbol, isn't it? Yeah, that's exactly what it is. So you ask, you don't receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.

You adulterous people. Uh-oh, James is about to get canceled. You talk like this, okay? You adulterous people. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? And note the context here.

The context isn't merely talking about bringing the world's trappings into the church. You know, I'm so thankful that I'm not required to wear skinny jeans. Very thankful about this, all right? But all of that being said, this is in the context of the world's values, selfish ambition, vain conceit, people stepping over others, not being meek or humble or serving, instead being, well, tyrannical, oppressive, abusive, controlling, bringing the world's values in, and then slapping Jesus' name on it as if somehow he's all for it.

You say to the pastor, you say, you know, pastor, you're twisting up that scripture. He says, touch not God's anointed. It's an example of this. Really, you think God is gonna justify and defend you when you're teaching falsely and messing up his word?

It's the same system. It's the same values. It's the demonic values of self-exaltation, self-glory. But in this context, then, consider the antidote, the antidote. You know, you get what I'm saying, the anti-venom to this poisonous doctrine that runs through each and every one of us, me and you included, that Jesus was the one in our gospel text saying to the disciples, I'm going to be killed.

I'm going to die, rise again on the third day. Why is this important? Because that's the gospel. Why is he going to be killed? He's gonna be killed and he's going to die so that those yahoos who were just arguing with themselves about who was the greatest can be forgiven for that utter blasphemy and idolatry because they need it in the worst way.

They're lost and they don't even know it. They're going round in circles talking about delusions of grandeur and Jesus is basically going, I gotta bleed and die for this. Right? So consider that. We noted that Christ is the one who is there.

King of kings, Lord of lords, our God in human flesh. It says, here's what Paul says regarding Jesus in Philippians 2. Do nothing. Let the word nothing roll around there for a second. Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit.

It doesn't say some of that's okay. You're gonna note the way people compromise. It's a little extreme for you, pastor, to say that we should do nothing from selfish ambition. Don't you think that's unrealistic?

Wouldn't it be okay if I just did a few things from selfish ambition? No, the text says nothing. Nothing. Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility, oh, there's that meekness stuff again.

In humility, count others as more significant than yourselves. But if I do that,.

I'm gonna be at the bottom. I'm not gonna be at the top. I'm not gonna be in control. Other people are gonna be in control of me and I'm gonna be taken advantage of and I'm never gonna get what I want.

Good.

Right? Count others as more significant than yourselves. So then let each one of you not look only to his own interests but for the interests of others and have this mind among yourselves which is already yours in Christ Jesus.

And here it comes. Now, before we get to this part of the text, think back to the Garden of Eden. There's Adam and Eve minding their own business, wandering around naked with fruit trees and things like that.

And there's a tree they're not supposed to touch or eat, actually eat of it, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the serpent shows up and he tempts our first parents by basically slandering God which is how the devil operates.

Oh, God doesn't want you to eat of that fruit because he's jealous of you. He's intimidated. He doesn't want you to reach your full potential, dear. So you go right ahead because here's what he said. God knows that the day you eat of that tree, you're gonna be just like God.

Well, you know, I've always wanted to be a deity. You know, okay, all right. So note, watch this. Human beings who were by nature not God thought that equality with God was a thing to be grasped. So what did Eve do?

She grasped the fruit and she ate of it. She didn't become like God, she became like the devil. Her husband did the same, right? Who by nature are not gods thought equality with God was a thing to be grasped.

Now hear it from Philippians. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. Who though he was by nature God, he didn't count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Jesus is the opposite of Adam and Eve, the opposite of you and me.

He didn't think equality with God was a thing to be grasped. Instead, he emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave. King of kings, Lord of lords, the God who spoke the universe into existence. He left his throne and humbled himself and was born to poverty stricken parents in Judea under the boot of the Roman Empire and he came and he did this to be a servant so that you and I can be forgiven.

In other words, when the world tells you to follow after your selfish ambition, you're number one. You need to look out for you, right? Everything's upside down, backwards and inside out. The king of kings and Lord of lords, where did he go?

All the way to the bottom to save us who in our demonic delusions think that we're in the top and we're not. He emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross so that you and I can be forgiven.

Now, we'll come to the next part of this in a minute because I'm trying to work through the text in a way that makes some sense. So note here, James is really going after us hard, calling us adulterous people who follow after our own selfish ambitions and don't think that you're immune from that.

You're just as guilty as the rest of us, just as guilty as Jesus' disciples of this. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Whoever therefore wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

And then he asks these questions. Do you suppose it's for no purpose that the scripture says that God yearns jealously over the Spirit that He has made to dwell in you? He reminds these Christians they are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

What does the Holy Spirit do? Produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Convicts us of our sin through the law of God. And so he's reminding them, you have the Spirit. Listen to what the Spirit says.

The Spirit says you are sinning, that this is demonic, so repent. But God gives more grace. Yeah, you've screwed up badly. This is an example of sins that begin in the heart and the mind then play out in our actions.

But God gives more grace. Therefore it says God opposes the proud. And instead He gives grace to the humble. So submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, he will flee from you. Now we've all heard those words, resist the devil, he will flee from you.

But did you note that resisting the devil and he will flee from you is in the context of humbling yourself, confessing your sins, acknowledging that you have adopted and believed the world's self-ambitious systems.

So resist the devil. How? By confessing your sin. Draw near to God, he will draw near to you. And today you drew near to God and you confessed that you were by nature sinful and unclean. And by doing so you have resisted the devil.

And by doing so you have heard that God's grace applies even to you and therefore your hands have been cleaned, you sinners. Your hearts have been purified by the blood of Christ, you double-minded. So we are to be daily, humbly confessing our sins to God, considering ourselves to be wretched and mourning and lamenting our sin and letting our laughter be turned to mourning and our joy to gloom and humbling ourselves before our Lord.

And when we do this, you'll note that Scripture says He will exalt you. He will. And Jesus exemplifies this perfectly. But back in our Gospel text, here you've got Jesus, you know, basically saying, what were you guys arguing about?

And they had an argument about who was the greatest. So here's Jesus' solution. He sat down and He called the twelve and then He said to them, alright, listen, if anyone would be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all.

Isn't that Jesus? Wasn't Jesus the last and the servant of all? Yes, He was. And He was for you so that you can be forgiven of your demonic ambitions. He was the servant of all. And so Christ now is trying to get something into their head.

He takes a child and puts the child in the midst of them and taking him by his arms and kind of a tender moment here, Jesus says, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives not me but him who sent me.

And you could see the disciples who had just been arguing, going, no, I'm the greatest. Do you think one of them was saying, no, no, no, Peter really, he's the greatest. No, they were all looking after themselves, right?

Christ says, put it all away. And He points to a child. Why? Well, have you noticed that children have to be taken care of? Did you know that children can only be given to? Children don't have any power.

And don't even get me started about the schoolyard because the schoolyard didn't exist back in the day, right? The play yard, maybe. Play yard politics is one thing, but children have to be given to. They can only receive.

They don't have power over adults. Adults have total control over them. Take out the papers in the trash or you don't get no spending cash, right? Yakety yak, don't talk back. Just saying, okay? Kids have to be taken care of.

And so you'll note then that Christ is telling us to stop being selfishly ambitious because the selfishly ambitious are the ones who care for themselves. Instead, be cared for by God. Trust Christ in this capacity.

Humbling yourself before God is exactly the way then your needs will be met. He'll take care of you. You are His children adopted back into the family of God. So the call then is for us to repent. To repent.

To repent of all the ways in which we have embraced the world and these demonic doctrines of self-ambition and to humble ourselves and to be forgiven and embrace the model that Christ gave us to consider others as more important than ourselves.

I always remind people because we Lutherans get a bad rap. We get a bad rap because the pastor wears a uniform and I wear a dress during the service and stuff like that. But this is kind of an important thing.

There's a reason why. And let me remind you again about the uniform. The black reminds you that I'm a sinner. This is a slave shackle. And every day that I serve here I'm shackled.

I am not. I am not here to rule. There we go. Start over. Mark, you are a sick man. Take two.

There we go. So reminding you again of the uniform. The black is to remind you guys that I'm a sinner. This is a slave shackle. I serve the congregation. The aub is to cover up my sin. And in case you're wondering what this is all about, this, think of like oxen.

This is a yoke. So I am the church's beast of burden. And if you ever get a pastor here who doesn't embrace being a stinky ox, get rid of him. Get another guy. Get the guy who wants to serve from the bottom.

That's the idea. And so Christ then, he is King of kings and Lord of lords, yet he is the one who humbled himself, became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, so that we can be forgiven.

And then here's the resolve. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

You see, the greatest is the servant of all. The greatest is Jesus. And he served every single one of us. And he's the one who leads us out of the lost circles of conceit and vain ambition. And he's the one who is rescuing us and taking us from this valley of the shadow of death, which is really what this is, into his glorious kingdom of light.

He's the only one who can rescue us from the lostness that we are in. And the sad part is, so many of us don't even recognize that we're lost. And yet it's true. So let us rejoice. Jesus has done so well.

He did what the disciples didn't understand. He went to the cross, bled and died for your sins and mine, rose victorious from the grave, and he's ascended to heaven and God has exalted the humblest and the greatest servant of all, so that we can be forgiven and serve each other and him in his here, now, and also then in eternity.

In the name of Jesus. Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax-free donation to.

And again that address is 15950 470th Avenue NW Oslo, MN 56744. We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.

And again, thank you for listening.