One day as Christ and His disciples were walking down the road He discerned that there was a rivalry among them. “Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, ‘What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?’ But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest” (Matt. 9:33,34). Deep within the hearts and minds of each of us is the desire to be great. Greatness is what champions are made of and everybody loves a champion. Therefore, we all want to be great at something. Anything. The recognition of being better, faster, stronger, or smarter than anybody else creates in us an emotional high not to be compared with anything else. What a delight it is to watch an Olympic champion stand on the platform in proud splendor as he or she prepares to receive the coveted gold medal. Many dream of being in the same position. To have the eyes of the entire world focused directly on them…oh, what a thrill!!
Ambitions of honor, superiority, and precedence cause those who desire to be great to aim high and nothing will serve them short of being the greatest at what they do. To do what nobody else has ever done before will drive a person to go to great lengths to accomplish their goal of greatness. The compulsion to be the best will cause a champion to train harder, work longer, and sacrifice more than the next person. The desire for greatness compels an individual to reach deep inside themselves for that added burst of energy they never knew they had. Greatness means you give it everything you’ve got and then some. And the rewards are unspeakable. Praise, wealth, and admiration are but a few of the many benefits that accompany greatness, a quality many people would die for. This is greatness as the world sees it but in the kingdom of God greatness is seen in a different light.
In response to the disciple’s dispute about who was the greatest, Jesus “took a little child and set him by Him and said to them, ‘whoever receives this little child in My Name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him Who sent Me. For he who is least among you shall be great. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:47,48; Matt. 18:4). On another occasion the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus asking that her two sons be allowed to sit on either side of Him in His kingdom. The other disciples were angered by this request to which Jesus replied, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave” (Matt. 20:25-27).
Greatness. Humility. Servanthood. These are all synonymous terms because in the kingdom of God they all mean the same thing. Jesus went on to say, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). Nearly two thousand years ago the Son of God left the splendor and majesty of heaven and came to earth to live as a man. Instead of the praise justly due Him He received ridicule and rejection. Instead of being honored as the King of kings and Lord of lords many sought to kill Him and His own twelve companions all ran away and fled at the time of His greatest need. One of them betrayed Him into the hands of those who hated Him most while another openly denied three times that he even knew Him. Soon thereafter, this humble Servant was hanging on a cross between two thieves. Naked, bruised, pierced and bloodied, this Champion, Jesus Christ, hung His head and willfully gave up His life as a ransom for you and me.
This great Man, this great King, the Son of God Himself came to earth to be a servant for all people everywhere. Shortly before His death He set the example by kneeling down in front of His disciples and washed their feet. In love He even washed the feet of the one He knew would betray Him. Afterward, He sat back down and explained the meaning of what had just taken place. “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them” (John 13:12-17).
The happiest people in the world are those who serve. The willingness to lay down one’s life foe the benefit of another is the mark of spiritual greatness. To be a servant Jesus said we must humble ourselves as a little child. To be humble means to be submissive to the wants and needs of someone else besides ourselves. 1 Cor. 10:24 says, “Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well being.” Heb. 10:24 tells us, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” To be humble implies becoming totally obedient to a higher authority. Many people love to hear and speak of privileges and glory and are willing to pass by the thoughts of work and servant hood to others. They look so much at the crown that they forget the yoke and the cross. 1 Peter 5:5,6 says, “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.”
We read in Prov. 16:19, “Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.” A stern warning is given in the verse before this one. “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall” (vs. 18). Pride is the direct opposite of humility. Pride is the act of being self-centered and puffed up with one’s own greatness. Humility, however, is believing that you are “strong in the Lord” (Eph. 6:10) and not in yourself and has an attitude of giving God all the glory. A prideful man has a conceited belief in his superiority over others whereas one who is humble will “esteem others better than himself” (Phil. 2:3). Through pride a person will exalt their plans, purposes, and desires above the will of God but a humble person adopts with all his heart the plans and goals of the one to whom he is submitted. A humble person will faithfully follow the instructions of Phil. 2:4, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others.” Humility, like love, always puts others first, especially their beloved Savior. Paul says in Rom. 14:8, “For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” For sure, humility is a lesson so hardly learned that we have need by all ways and means to be taught it. Greatness comes no other way.
