Ambition! Mark 9:33-37

Text:  When pride cometh, then cometh shame; but with the lowly is wisdom.”

Proverbs 11:2.

Good morning, ambitious Christian!  You aim at success in your service for the Lord; your conscience is clear as to why, and for what reason, you desire the position, the goal, you seek.  Thus, as a consequence, the Lord God gives your ventures His blessing, and you achieve your desired goal.  Praise and thank the Lord for your success!  Amen. 

“I am the Vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do NOTHING.”  (John 15:5)

But not all ambition is worthy ambition - pride lurks at every corner in this fallen life we live.  Beware!  Even the anointed cherub, Lucifer, “...the son of the morning...”, was cast down from God’s Holy Mountain for harbouring proud ambitions in his magnificently created breast. 

Check out God’s Word on the matter: (Proverbs 16:18-19) (Daniel 4:30-33) (Ezekiel 28:11-19) (Isaiah 14:9-19)  

Let we who are called to be Christians beware that we fall not in some similar manner.  May the Lord God keep us from this sin of ambitious pride.

“Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord?  Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the Name of my God in vain.”  (Proverbs 30:8-9)

Our Bible reading for this morning reveals how ashamed the disciples of Christ were after ambition to be greatest was disputed among them. (V.34) When the Lord Jesus inquired about their dispute, the disciples “...held their peace...”.  The Master’s enquiry was enough to bring them to their senses. 

The Lord knows our hearts and minds better than we will ever know ourselves.  He sees what we successfully conceal from each other, and what’s more, He sees what we quite successfully hide from our very selves!  (1 Samuel 16:7b) (Acts 1:24) (Jeremiah 17:9)

My humble dictionary defines ambition as: strong desire to achieve success; the object of such a desire.

Therefore, it is not a sin to be ambitious - not in the least!  But it becomes sin when the success sought is sought at any cost to others, or any detraction from our witness for the Lord Jesus.  If it is not of Christian faith, it is sin. (Romans 14:16-23)

Success, on the other hand, is defined as: the attainment of what is desired; that which succeeds; triumph. 

Right Motivation: Therefore, it follows that, Christian ambition is succeeding in the achievement of some purpose or venture entered into, according to right motives, in the service of the Lord God, and to the greater glory of Christ Jesus our Redeemer king.  As we are taught: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.  Amen!

Such successful goals and achievements should, of course, be every Christian’s chief aim in life, and God blesses all such ventures. 

“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” (Colossians 3:17-23)

In our reading today, Christ taught the disciples that, if a person desired to be first, or best; or most successful - for the wrong motives - then that person would indeed be last of all.  Pride comes before a fall.

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“Let us mark, in the second place, in these verses, the ambition and love of pre-eminence which the apostles exhibited. “By the way they disputed among themselves who should be greatest.”

“How strange this sounds! Who would have thought that a few fishermen and publicans could have been over­come by emulation, and the desire of supremacy? Who would have expected that poor men, who had given up all for Christ’s sake, would have been troubled by strife and dissension, as to the place and precedence which each one deserved? Yet so it is. The fact is recorded for our learning. The Holy Ghost has caused it to be written down for the perpetual use of Christ’s Church. Let us take care that it is not written in vain.

“It is an awful fact, whether we like to allow it or not, that pride is one of the commonest sins which beset human nature. We are all born Pharisees. We all naturally think far better of ourselves than we ought. We all naturally fancy that we deserve something better than we have.”  (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels 1816-1900)

If our motives for achieving success honour God, or provide the necessary resources for our families, our community; our fellowship group; the disadvantaged; or the Church at large, etc. - then we are assured of the success we seek according to God’s own will and Eternal Purpose.  Hallelujah!  What a gracious Lord God!  (Luke 6:38)

Let these ambitions be our primary objective and let our first ambition be to glorify God in obedience to His own revealed Word.  Amen and again, Amen!  Let it be unto us, oh Lord God, for Thy glory.

Thought:  If our ambitions are God-honouring - they shall be forever God-blessed.