Scripture: Luke 9:46,50 & 54 [p. 669] April 12, 2026

Sermon: “Three Attitudes that Kill Ministry” Pastor John Young

Our focus this morning is on the last few paragraphs of Luke chapter nine. In order to properly understand these few remaining verses, we must look back over this chapter for a short review: It’s been a remarkable chapter! We had Jesus sending out His disciples in vv. 1-6, the feeding of the 5K+ (one of Jesus’ biggest miracles), the Transfiguration in vv. 28-36, where Elijah and Moses appear with Jesus in His glorified body! And then, within 24 hours of this event, Jesus is met be a boy possessed of a devil, that His disciples cannot exorcise! Jesus authoritatively commands the devil to depart and returns the boy to his father, healed of the torture of that devil. V. 43 says the crowd “were all amazed at the mighty power of God!” Following this display of divine power, Jesus reveals the sorrow of His heart to the disciples (vv. 43-45), predicts His death, but v. 45 says, “they perceived it not…”, meaning, they didn’t grasp what He was predicting. And one wonders, how could they miss it! In v. 44, Jesus clearly says, “…the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.” How could they have missed it? Jesus had made similar statements before. One of these statements is found in v. 22, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain…” How could they have missed what He was saying? Well, the answer may be found within the three attitudes revealed in the verses we read this morning. I would suggest to you, the disciples were so consumed with other things, they were tone-deaf (not musically), but they had a total lack of awareness, sensitivity, or understanding regarding sentiment, social situations, or other people’s feelings, especially Jesus’ feelings. Notice how this manifests itself as we consider our text this morning. The first attitude that revealed their tone-deafness was:I. Rivalry – vv. 46-48 [read].A. They are arguing who will be the greatest!1. Rather than focusing on the great things that God has done! Instead of considering the tone and body language of Jesus as He described being delivered “into the hands of men.” Instead of rehearsing with Peter, James and John the event which occurred on the Mt of Transfiguration! These disciples are consumed with self (“Who is Jesus’ favorite?” “Who do you think will be the greatest in His Kingdom?” “Who is the most valuable?”)! They were consumed with ‘self!’2. This is a human malady and it’s easy to get caught up in it!!a. From the days of Snow White and the Magic Mirror (– “mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”), we have been programed to be selfish and self-consumed!3. This attitude has been prevalent throughout the Bible!a. Able and Cain; Esau and Jacob, Isaac and Ishmael, Joab and Abishai, the list is endless! It’s a bigger problem that we might give it credit! The problem is in all of us!April 12, 2026 Page 2 of 4 b. Think of Peter! No one has ever gone through a more humiliating experience than Peter. He boldly and publicly rebukes Jesus when told that he will deny the Lord! Then, he caves to the question of a young girl and begins to cuss and swear in his denial of the Lord. The crowing rooster reminds him of Jesus’ words! Jesus forgives Peter for denying Him and still, according to John 21, Peter gets discouraged, goes back to fishing for fish and takes some of his buddies with him! Jesus greets him from the shore. They all recognize Jesus and row to shore (Peter swam!). Jesus feeds them fish and bread. And immediately after this Jesus asked Peter three times (!), “Lovest thou me?” It was humiliating all over again! Then Jesus tells Peter how he will live and die for the Lord. Peter should have been grateful, honored and humble, but instead, v. 21 tells us that he looked at John, the disciple Jesus loved, and asked Jesus, “…and what shall this man do?” He just can’t shake the rivalry!! He is so consumed with himself! And, it’s in all of us!c. This is one of the attitudes that cause the disciples to be tone-deaf to Jesus’ words that He would be delivered into the hands of men.[A second attitude that distracted the disciples was an incorrect assumption of:]II. Rights – vv. 49-50 [read].A. The disciples felt entitled. They believed they were the only ones with the ‘right’ to be casting out devils! This was their job – exclusively! After all, they were the true followers of Jesus!1. And notice how entitled they were! They became self-appointed policemen, “…we SAW one casting out devils…” So, what did they do? They “forbad him.”2. Isn’t it interesting, John wasn’t casting out devils! In v. 49 he says, “Master, WE saw…” I don’t know how many “we” is (they weren’t casting out devils either), BUT when they saw someone else doing it, they told them to stop!3. I.E., the center of their focus was not on those who were being delivered, but on WHO it was that had the ‘right’ to do so!4. Like little kids in the nursery wanting the toy someone else has, because they have it, not because they want the toy! Rights!! Entitled!!! Self-appointed ‘right’ watchers!5. No wonder they didn’t perceive Jesus’ sorrowing heart! They were consumed with identifying and shutting down anyone who dare take on their exclusive role or their entitled responsibility![Lastly, a third distraction was the attitude of:]III. Revenge – vv. 51-56 [read].A. You may recall, Jesus met a lady of Samaria earlier in His ministry and asked her for a drink (John 4). She was taken back that Jesus, a Jew, would ask her, a Samaritan (a mixed-race individual) to get her a drink. After Jesus talks with her a while, she runsApril 12, 2026 Page 3 of 4 into the city and cries out, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” And because of her testimony, the whole city came out to see Jesus. 1. But on this occasion, the reception was different! Jesus wanted to rest in the city, but they wouldn’t let Him stay! They put out a ‘NOT WELCOMED’ sign!2. This really upset the ‘Sons of thunder’ (Mark 3:17). James and John were known for their hot tempers! They had ‘chips’ on their shoulders and the rejection of the Samaritans was more than they could take! “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?” ‘We’ll get them back! We’ll show them! They won’t get away with this!”B. Revenge is a terrible thing!1. And it’s more than an attitude! Notice v. 55 “Ye know not what manner of SPIRIT ye are of.” Revenge is a spirit! It’s the underlying tone of an evil spirit!2. Everyone’s against me, so I’m against everyone!!!3. It seeks to isolate and injure! And not just a pinch! Look at James and John in v. 54 again, “…command fire to come down from heaven…, even as Elias did?” They wanted to burn the Samaritans up!4. They were preoccupied with the spirit of revenge!5. Jesus had to remind them (v. 56), His ministry was not about destroying men’s lives, but saving them! They were going to damage Jesus’ ministry!6. And because they were so wrapped up by this spirit of revenge, they missed the look of pain on Jesus’ face, the sorrow in His eyes and the distress of His words when He said, “the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.”Conclusion: Jesus confronted the disciple’s jealous rivalry with a child. He made a very clear and bold statement – “Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me…for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.” Ali, Awana workers; Becky, VBS workers; Carla, Sunday school and Junior Church workers; don’t forget Jesus’ words and illustration of this passage! It is a privilege of a lifetime to give yourself for little children! We all owe a great deal to those who endured us at an early age! Nothing will confront the attitude of rivalry (entitlement) more than selflessly sacrificing yourself to give little one’s the gospel! If your heart is really with the children, you will discard the attitude of rights and revenge because you understand these are the tools of the devil to keep you from being sensitive, aware and unified in the ministry of the Lord. All three of these attitudes exist for one purpose, and that is to distract us from the most important aspect of ministry! Jesus said, “receive the child,” “he that is not against us is for us,” and “the Son of man is not come to destroy, but to save.”

Let’s pray!