Within the hearts of the disciples of Jesus was the desire to be great, but not great in the way that God defines greatness. They wanted to be great in the way that the world defines greatness. They wanted to be in charge. To run the show. To have the authority. To be the boss. They often fought about who was the greatest among them.
In Matthew 20:26, Jesus responded to them in their wrong way of thinking by saying,
26…whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant;
Jesus was explaining to them that they were completely wrong in their thinking. Not a little bit wrong. Completely wrong.
The world defines personal greatness in many ways, but none of those definitions include basic acts of service. Yet Jesus teaches us that the baseline, the starting point, for personal greatness is doing basic acts of service for others.
And what a great test of faith this teaching is. How so? For one, nobody who doesn’t believe that basic service is the starting point of greatness is going to do it. For another, if you do believe Jesus and commit to living a life defined by acts of basic service to others, the world isn’t going to view you as great and you have to be okay with that.
Basically, in order to be great in the eyes of God, you have to forfeit being great in the eyes of the world. Are you okay with that? If your faith is a real one, you won’t care at all. You will be caught up in what honors God most, not yourself, and what brings Him the most glory, not yourself.
That’s how to be great. And this should be a great encouragement to us! Why? Because we all have it within our power to be great. There are no special abilities required. No talent or training required. Here’s what to do: See a need, do what is required to meet the need.
Train yourself not to think about it, simply to do it, lest you become full of pride for your service and forfeit your blessing. Train yourself to do what needs to be done, think nothing of it, and repeat, all the while praising God for bringing the opportunity to your attention and giving you the opportunity and ability to do it. Don’t try to hide it, but don’t deliberately show it off.
But then Jesus takes it a step farther and in Matthew 20:27 says,
27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave…
Greatness is evaluated by God based upon your basic acts of service for others, but Jesus answers the question his disciples were all really wanting to know: How does a person become first in the kingdom? They weren’t interested in second place. To them, it was about being on top.
Jesus told them the truth. The one who becomes the greatest servant of all is first. The person who sacrifices the most for others. The one who becomes a servant to the point of being a slave. No concern for self. A complete abandonment of identity. Committed to service no matter the price.
And whoever did such a thing? None more so than Jesus himself. Paul’s commentary on this great teaching of Jesus can be found in Philippians 2:3-11, which says:
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Why is Jesus exalted above all else? He was God, with all the rights and privileges and power that belongs to God, yet became a slave. How did Jesus become a slave? By giving up His personal rights and willingly, obediently obeying the command of God to suffer and die on the cross.
And because He gave up the most and made himself the least, God made Him and His name the greatest name above every other name.
I don’t know about you, but the example of service that Jesus set inspires me to serve more, to sacrifice more and to die more to myself and live for Him. He set the standard of greatness. If we are His followers, we will, by the very definition, follow.
Much Love!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
