I’m just wondering, has anybody noticed the discrepancy between today’s Sermon Title and today’s worship THEME? Our celebration worship theme for today is SERVANTHOOD. But the Sermon title is about GREATNESS. It seems obvious that somebody made a really HUGE mistake don’t you think? Well, maybe they did, and maybe they didn’t! Let’s look at the scriptures. According to this passage of scripture, GREATNESS IN THE KINGDOM of God is found in SERVICE TO CHRIST AND OTHERS IN THIS WORLD. What lessons can we learn from God’s Word about GREATNESS through SERVICE.
1. GREATNESS in the eyes of the world - is found in POWER.
In the kingdom of the world the standard of greatness has always been power. The test is: How many people does a man control? How great a body of employees can he be Boss of? On how many people can he impose his will? How many millions does the CEO make? How big are his stock options? How many toys does he own? How much property does he possess? How large and numerous are his homes and how lavishly are they arrayed? How many diamonds and jewels has he given his wife? Which Ivy League schools do his children attend? Not very much later than this, Galba was to sum up the heathen idea of kingship and greatness when he said "now that he was emperor he could do what he liked and do it to anyone he wanted."
When James and John came to Jesus, they loved Him, but they simply didn’t understand. The disciples, like most Jews of that day, had the wrong idea of the Messiah’s kingdom as predicted by the prophets of the Old Testament. They thought Jesus would establish an earthly kingdom that would FREE Israel from Rome’s oppression, and James and John wanted honored places in it.
Maybe you’ve seen a glimpse of your own life already this morning. What are your personal goals in life? What are your dreams? What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? How do you personally measure GREATNESS? How much POWER do you possess, and how do you use that power? GREATNESS in this world is found in POWER. Not so with Jesus!
2. The way to GREATNESS for Jesus was the way of SUFFERING SERVICE and ultimately the CROSS.
Jesus’ standard of greatness was in suffering and the Cross. He asked, "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" There are two important phrases here.
A. It was the custom at a royal banquet for the king to hand the cup to his guests. The cup represents the life and experience that God handed out to men. In Psalm 23:5, David says "My cup overflows," speaking of the life and experience of JOY given to him by God.
B. The other phrase which Jesus uses is actually misleading in the literal English version. He speaks of the baptism with which he was baptized. The past participle of the Greek verb baptizein is (bebaptismenos, which means to be submerged, and it is regularly used of being submerged in any experience. For instance, a spendthrift is said to be submerged in debt. A drunk man is submerged in drink. A grief-stricken person is submerged in sorrow. The word is regularly used for a ship that has been wrecked and submerged beneath the waves. The expression, as Jesus used it here, had nothing to do with technical baptism. What he is saying is, "Can you bear to go through the terrible experience I have to go through? Can you face being submerged in hatred and pain and death, as I have to be?" He was telling these two disciples, and us, that without a cross there can never be a crown. The standard of greatness in the Kingdom is the standard of suffering service and the Cross. It was true that in the days to come they did go through the experience of their Master, for James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa (Ac 12:2), and, though John was probably not martyred, he suffered much for Christ. They accepted the challenge of their Master--even if they did so blindly.
What is SUFFERING? Agony, affliction, or distress; intense pain or sorrow. Suffering has been part of the human experience since Adam & Eve fell from Grace in Genesis 3. Fully one third of the Psalms are laments, and include graphic descriptions of suffering. Psalm 22 is a perfect example. The theme of the Book of Job is the problem of suffering and why God permits the righteous to suffer.
The Bible makes it clear that SOME suffering is the result of evil action or SIN in the world. This type of suffering came upon man after the FALL in the Garden of Eden. But SOME suffering is NOT related to the past. It is forward-looking in that it serves to shape and refine God’s children LIKE Gold is refined in the fire. Hebrews declares that Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered, and that He was perfected through suffering. Suffering has the potential of demonstrating God’s power (2 Cor. 12:7). Those who suffer are in a position to comfort others (2 Cor. 1:3-6).
To clinch His words to His disciples, Jesus pointed to His own example, in vs. 45. Jesus had the power to arrange His life entirely to suit Himself, but instead He spent Himself and all His powers in the service of others. He had come, He said, to give his life a ransom for many. This is one of the great phrases of the Gospels, and it is the Theme of Mark’s Gospel.
Verse 45 reveals not only the motive for Jesus’ ministry, but also the basis for our salvation. A ransom was the price paid to release a slave. Jesus paid a ransom for us because we could not pay it ourselves. His death released all of us from our slavery to sin. The disciples thought Jesus’ life and power would save them from Rome; Jesus said his death would save them from sin, an even greater slavery than Rome’s.
Jesus willingly sacrificed His own life on the Cross to provide a way for men to come back from their sin into the love of God. The bottom line is this: - our salvation was the Cross of Jesus Christ. God required the blood sacrifice of a lamb without blemish or spot for the remission of sin - and Jesus became the ULTIMATE Lamb of God - so that YOU could be rescued from your sin. QUESTION? Have you personally accepted the FREE GIFT of God - eternal life through Jesus Christ? If you were to die today, do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you would spend eternity with God in heaven? If not, will you repent of your sin and ask Jesus into your heart today? His DEATH was for your LIFE - will you allow that death to be wasted on you? The way to GREATNESS for Jesus was the way of SUFFERING SERVICE and ultimately the CROSS.
3. For the BELIEVER, the way to the Greatness of the CROSS is the way of SUFFERING and SERVICE for Christ and others.
Most businesses, organizations, and institutions measure greatness by high personal achievement. In Christ’s kingdom, however, suffering and service are the way to get ahead. The desire to be on top will hinder, not help. Rather than seeking to have your needs met, look for ways that you can minister to the needs of others.
The basic trouble in the human situation is that men wish to DO as LITTLE as possible and to GET as MUCH as possible. It is only when they are filled with the desire to put into life more than they take out, that life for them and for others will be joyful, happy and prosperous.
For Jesus, Greatness consisted, not in reducing other men to His service, but in reducing Himself to their service. The test was not, What service can I extract, but, What service can I give?
Allow to share a couple of very interesting paraphrases of vs. 43-44.
"It shall not be so among you; those that shall be put under your charge, must be as sheep under the charge of the shepherd, who is to tend them and feed them, and be a servant to them, NOT as horses under the command of the driver, that works them and beats them, and gets his penny’s worth out of them. He that affects to be great and chief, must thrust himself away from secular dignity and dominion, he must be servant of all, and he will be contemptible in the eyes of all that are wise and good in this world; for he that exalts himself will be abased.’’ Or another, "He that would be truly great and chief, he must lay out himself to do good to all, must stoop to the lowest services, and labor in the hardest ministries. Those not only will be most honored in the hereafter, but those are most honorable now, who are most useful.’’
James and John said they were willing to face any trial for Christ. Both did suffer: James died as a martyr (Acts 12:2), and John was forced to live in exile (Revelation 1:9). It is easy to say we will endure anything for Christ, and yet most of us complain over the most minor problems and irritations. If we say we are willing to suffer on a large scale for Christ, we must also be willing to suffer the irritations, and fusses, and problems that come with serving others.
Suffering not only endears you to those you serve, it also helps you IDENTIFY with Christ, which is MORE than suffering for Christ. Through persecution and tortures, people have suffered for the sake of Christ and His kingdom (Phil. 1:29; 2 Thes. 1:5; 2 Tim. 3:12). To suffer with Christ, however, is another matter. Paul speaks of the "fellowship of His [Christ’s] sufferings" (Phil. 3:10). Believers share in the suffering of Christ in the sense that through suffering they identify with Christ. To be a disciple involves suffering like the Master. Christ as Lord and His believers as disciples are bonded even further through the experience of suffering. Suffering is a vital aspect of service. The Scriptures say that if you LOVE Jesus, you WILL SUFFER at the hands of the world. If you LOVE Jesus, the WORLD will HATE you. QUESTION? Whose eyes would you prefer to be GREAT in? The world’s eyes, or the Lord’s eyes?
If you want to be GREAT in they eyes of JESUS - you must be a servant to others.
If you want to be great, volunteer for Martha’s meals - be a servant.
If you want to be great, be a SS teacher - be a servant.
If you want to be great, consent to be trained in the first semester of FAITH training - be a servant.
If you want to be great, start TITHING (giving ten percent of your income to God through the church. - be a servant. If you already tithe - that’s fantastic - but that’s your requirement - if want to be TRULY GREAT - INCREASE your giving to the Lord through the church - those sacrificial offerings above the tithe is where TRUE GREATNESS lies.
If you want to be great, shovel your neighbor’s drive or mow his yard - be a servant.
If you want to be great, visit a lonely widow or a nursing home - be a servant.
If you want to be great, buy a bag of groceries and leave them on the doorstep of someone who is out of work - be a servant.
If you want to be great, send one of the church’s college kids a Thinking of You card with $20 in it - be a servant.
If you want to be great, adopt someone who is here without family and invite them into your home for Thanksgiving or Christmas - be a servant.
If you want to be great, look past the faults of others and always find something good to say TO them and ABOUT them - learn to have thick skin in relationship with others and STOP bad-mouthing others who are doing ministry for the church and the Lord - ENCOURAGE EVERYONE you know - be a servant.
If you want to be great, babysit a single mother’s children or a young couple’s infant for an afternoon - be a servant.
If you want to be great, support the leadership of your church and pray for them daily - REJOICE with those in the church who are performing various ministries for Jesus - volunteer to serve as a ministry team member or even a ministry team leader - be a servant.
If you want to be great, take an older person or a non-driver to the Doctor or the store- be a servant.
If you want to be great, invite a non - Christian couple into your home for a wonderful meal, then tell them about Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life - be a servant.
I could probably go on for another hour giving you examples - but I think you’ve got the message - If you want to be Great - be a Servant. If you want to be Great - be a servant. Finish this statement - If you want to be Great…!
Now, with ENTHUSIASM - repeat it after me - "If you want to be Great, be a Servant!"
Follow the example of Jesus - be a servant. Christ’s sacrifice for the salvation of mankind, was, is, and always will be, the CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT and the DEFINING MOMENT in ALL of history. Worldly POWER is fleeting, and worldly honor is a glittering thing, and even the eyes of Christ’s own disciples were dazzled by it.
Our prayer and commitment must be, that we may have wisdom and grace to know how to suffer with Him; and we may trust Him to provide what our glory and our reward will be. Christ shows them that dominion was generally abused in the world. If Jesus gratified all our desires, soon we would desire fame, power, or authority, and we would be unwilling to taste of His cup, or to have His baptism, or to share in His sufferings. But he loves us, and will only give his people what is good for them.
GREATNESS in the eyes of the world - is found in POWER.
The way to GREATNESS for Jesus was the way of SUFFERING SERVICE and ultimately the CROSS.
For the BELIEVER, the way to the Greatness of the CROSS is the way of SUFFERING and SERVICE for Christ and others.
QUESTION? Whose eyes would you prefer to be GREAT in? The world’s eyes, or the Lord’s eyes? I want to be great in the Lord’s eyes. My life verse is 2 Corinthians 4:5 "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake."
If you need Jesus, open your heart to Him today. If you want to be Great in His eyes, commit yourself to His service.
