Worship Helps for Pentecost 22

Artwork: Jesus Meeting Mother of James and John

Worship Theme: “I am the greatest,” shouted Muhammad Ali after one of his more famous boxing victories. “I am,” he later added, “the greatest heavy weight of all time.” How would you define greatness? Is it power? Wealth? Fame? In our readings for this Lord’s Day, the Greatest who ever lived, he who died for us all and rose again, shows us that true greatness comes through humble service.

Old Testament: 2 Chronicles 26:16-23

¹⁶But when he had grown powerful, the pride in his heart led to his destruction. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God. He entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

¹⁷Azariah the priest went in after him. He was followed by eighty priests of the Lord, brave men. ¹⁸They confronted King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, because you have been unfaithful. This action will not result in any praise for you from the Lord God.”

¹⁹Uzziah became angry. He had a censer for burning incense in his hand. When he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests, beside the altar of incense in the House of the Lord. ²⁰When Azariah, the head priest, and all the other priests looked at him, they immediately realized he had leprosy on his forehead. They rushed him out of there. He himself also was in a hurry to leave because the Lord had struck him.

²¹King Uzziah remained a leper until the day of his death. He lived in a quarantined house because he was a leper. He was excluded from the House of the Lord. Jotham his son was in charge of the palace of the king and administered justice for the people of the land.

²²The rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, were recorded by Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet.

²³Uzziah rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the burial field that belonged to the kings, because they said, “He is a leper.” His son Jotham ruled as king in his place.

1. What did King Uzziah do wrong that caused God to afflict him with leprosy?

2. Therefore, what couldn’t Uzziah do for the rest of his life? (See 26:21.)

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 9:7–12, 19–23  

⁷What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat some of its fruit? Or who takes care of a flock and does not drink milk from the flock? ⁸Am I saying this just from a human point of view? Doesn’t the law also say this? ⁹Yes, it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out grain.” Is God really concerned about oxen, ¹⁰or does he say this entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher ought to thresh in hope of getting a share. ¹¹If we sowed spiritual seed for your good, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? ¹²If others have some right to make this claim on you, don’t we even more? But we did not use this right. Instead, we endure everything so as not to cause any hindrance for the gospel of Christ.

¹⁹In fact, although I am free from all, I enslaved myself to all so that I might gain many more. ²⁰To the Jews, I became like a Jew so that I might gain Jews. To those who are under the law, I became like a person under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those who are under the law. ²¹To those who are without the law, I became like a person without the law (though I am not without God’s law but am within the law of Christ) so that I might gain those who are without the law. ²²To the weak, I became weak so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people so that I may save at least some. ²³And I do everything for the sake of the gospel so that I may share in it along with others.

3. Did Paul and Barnabas have a right to be paid for the labors among the Corinthians?

4. Why didn’t Paul and Barnabas make use of this right? (See 9:12.)

5. Why was Paul so adaptable and flexible in his ministry methods? What was his goal?

Gospel: Mark 10:35–45  

³⁵James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, “Teacher, we wish that you would do for us whatever we ask.”

³⁶He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”

³⁷They said to him, “Promise that we may sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your glory.”

³⁸But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am going to be baptized with?”

³⁹“We can,” they replied.

Jesus told them, “You will drink the cup that I am going to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am going to be baptized with. ⁴⁰But to sit at my right or at my left is not for me to give; rather, these places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

⁴¹When the ten heard this, they were angry with James and John.

⁴²Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³But that is not the way it is to be among you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave of all. ⁴⁵For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

6. How did the disciples define greatness?

7. According to Jesus, how should we define greatness?

Answers:

1. In his pride, Uzziah went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the golden incense altar inside the holy place. Only priests were allowed there.

2. For the rest of his life, due to his skin disease, Uzziah could not enter even the outdoor courts of the LORD’S temple where other Jewish people could go.

3. Yes, Paul and Barnabas had a right to be paid for their gospel work. Both logic (Paul cites soldiers, vineyard owners and shepherds in 9:7, and plowmen and threshers in 9:10) and the Old Testament (Paul cites Deuteronomy 25:4 in 9:9) show that Paul and Barnabas had a right to be paid. Pastors and other hard-working servants of the gospel today have the same right.

4. Paul and Barnabas did not make use of their right, so as not to hinder the gospel of Christ when they were in Corinth.

5. Paul was so adaptable and flexible in his ministry methods so that all in all, he might save some people (9:22) and that he might share in the gospel’s benefits himself (9:23).

6. Jesus’ disciples considered greatness to be a position of honor among themselves. They considered greatness to be having a seat right next to Jesus when he came into his glory.

7. Jesus, the Great One, gave us the greatest example of greatness. He humbly offered his life to pay for the freedom of all mankind from eternal death. True greatness comes through humble service. May we follow Christ’s example of humble service, not out of selfish ambition, but out of thanks and love to him who loved us first.

Putting your faith into action

How easily we forget that there is no place in the kingdom for lording it over those around us!  Again and again Jesus teaches us that we are called to serve, imitating his loving service. May this portion of God’s Word serve as a reminder for us to humbly acknowledge the gifts he’s given us and to use them in the service of others.

A reading from the Book of Concord for the 22^nd Sunday after Pentecost

The adversaries not only require invocation in worshiping the saints, but also apply the merits of the saints to others.  They make the saints not only intercessors, but also people who make atonement.  This cannot be tolerated. Here honor that belongs to Christ alone is completely transferred to the saints.  The adversaries make them mediators and atonement makers.  Although they distinguish between mediators of intercession and mediators of redemption, they plainly make the saints mediators of redemption.  Without the testimony of Scripture, they declare that the saints are mediators of intercession.  This, be it said ever so reverently, still clouds over Christ’s office and transfers to the saints the confidence of mercy belonging to Christ.  People imagine that Christ is stricter and the saints more easily appeased. They trust the saints’ mercy rather than Christ’s mercy.  They flee from Christ and seek the saints.  So they actually make the saints mediators of redemption.

By the Word of God we certainly know that God wants to listen to those calling upon Christ, “Whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you” (John 16:23).  We also have the command to call upon Christ:

“Come to Me, all who labor.” (Matthew 11:28) – Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XXI, Saints, paragraphs 14-15, 17-18