What Is Greatness?

I recall a meme I saw online, it had a picture of a janitorial supply cart and it said, "Called to ministry? This will be your first pulpit." Truer words were never spoken. My first five years in ministry I mopped a lot of floors, and believe me, I expect more floors in the future.

Ministry is much more than faith. It's action. If we are Christians, if we have been washed in the blood of Jesus, and our sins have been forgiven, then we will believe certain truths about who God is. We will want to attend church, and learn more and more about Jesus. We will want to seek healing for past hurts and traumas. We will learn to walk by faith, not by sight. We will learn what it means to be redeemed. We will also begin to walk in holiness, and see sins defeated in our lives.

Now, a lot of this is internal isn’t it? What’s going on inside of me? Healing, Redemption, Sin, Faith, etc. Now, we take it from internal to external.

Catherine Booth co-founder of The Salvation Army said, “A salvation that does not lead to service is no salvation at all.”

When we became Christians, we were in essence giving ourselves to God. Saying God I’m yours. We decided to follow Jesus. We made a commitment to obey Him and do His will. That’s all part of the package of being a Christian.

So we’re talking about where the rubber meets the road. Are you serving Christ in your daily life? Are you about your Father’s business? Or are you just living life for yourself, with a Christian sticker slapped on the outside of the bus?

God knows the difference. In fact, it says in the word that not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord’ will inherit the kingdom of God, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven.

Are you one of those "Sunday only" Christians? You come to church but that’s about it? We are called to more than that. We are called to be about our Father’s business. Did you know, everyone you see around you, at the store, in traffic, at work, at home, on the internet, they all need Jesus Christ as their savior? And without Jesus they are in great danger. Time is short.

Jesus came to serve. That’s the example he set. In Matthew 20, we see Jesus explaining to his disciples why he came.

“17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” -Matthew 20:17-19

You might read that and think who would sign up for that job? Jesus would, for the sake of us.

It must’ve been really hard though to know it was coming. Have you ever had something really stressful on the horizon, and you just kept thinking about it and worrying about it? It's so hard. But Jesus signed up for that. We’ve also signed up for difficult service. But it’s so worth it.

Because Jesus also says, three days later I’ll rise to life again. There’s something better waiting on the other side.

Jesus lived with a deep concern for the people around him, for all people in fact. We’re called to something similar.

I think we like to help others. We do. Most of us do. We like to help. We do it if we feel like it. And it feels good.

But the real challenge comes when we don’t feel like it. Will you still serve then? That’s the challenge.

Can we take it from, I like to serve, to, it is the focus of my life to serve?

So we saw the power of that explanation by Jesus of his radical service. Let’s see what happens next. Starting in verse 20…

"Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

“What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” -Matthew 20:20-21

What is it you want? Jesus brilliantly asks. I often scroll social media, and see people at points in their lives that they are proud of, at a wedding in a tuxedo, in a graduation gown from high school or college, on a stage for some reason, receiving some award or recognition.