Who s the Greatest April 29 2018 Luke 22:24-30 Intro: Former world heavyweight boxing champ, Muhammad Ali, was known for often bragging, I m the greatest. Just before take-off on an airline flight, the flight attendant reminded Ali to fasten his seatbelt. Superman don t need no seatbelt, Ali told her. The flight attendant retorted, Superman don t need no airplane, either. Ali fastened his seatbelt. (The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, ed. by Clifton Fadimon [Little, Brown] p. 14.) No one would mistake Muhammad Ali s boasting as a Christian virtue. Humility and selflessness are to mark the believer in Jesus Christ. Since we all know this, it seems incredible that the apostles would get into this silly debate over which of them was the greatest, especially when you consider the setting: the Last Supper, the night before Jesus would go to the cross. The Lord had just announced that one of the twelve would betray Him. The disciples had responded by discussing who would do such a thing, and with each one asking, Surely, not I? (Mark 14:19). It couldn t be me? From there, things heated up quickly. This wasn t the first time that the twelve had got into this sort of silly debate. They had argued about the same matter before, thinking that He couldn t hear what they were discussing (Mark 9:33-37). But He did know what they were discussing and used the occasion to teach them about childlike humility. On another occasion, the mother of James and John had come to Jesus to ask that her sons could sit on His right and left in the kingdom. The other disciples were indignant (Mark 10:35-45). What right had these two brothers to claim the top spots in the kingdom? Jesus taught them that the greatest should become Page 1 of 9
the servant and the one who wished to be first should be the slave of all, adding, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. But in spite of these repeated lessons, here they were again, right on the eve of the Lord s death, arguing over which of them was the greatest! This shows us that although we can have this lesson in our heads; it takes a while to put it into practice. We can imagine we ve learned it once and for all until someone does something to bug us, and we think, I m a better servant of Christ than he is! Although we may not get into a verbal debate, the thought of our heart is, I m greater than he is! So we all have to keep coming back to this fundamental lesson: The greatest in God s sight are those who humbly serve. This is a lesson that all who are actively serving Christ must continually apply From the very earliest times of life people fight for a position of significance. You see it even sometimes when a new baby enters a home. The former baby in the home often feels pushed aside and doesn t like it. You can sometimes observe two children who both are competing for mum s attention. We see this same competition in the Bible. We read of the competitions between Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Aaron and the family of Korah, Saul and David, and Daniel and the other members of the King s administration. This morning we look at a passage where we see this kind of childish dispute going on with the disciples. 24 A dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Page 2 of 9
We don t know when in the evening this conflict takes place because Luke says, a dispute arose. It s certainly possible that the dispute had something to do with seating arrangements for the Passover meal. It was traditional to have the host (Jesus) in the position of honour. Those on his right and left would be in the most honoured positions and that would continue down from there. We already know that Peter, James, and John seemed to be specially favoured by Jesus. Perhaps some of the other disciples resented this fact. We are struck however by the timing of this dispute. On this night when Jesus talked about dying and being betrayed, the disciples were arguing about who was the most significant follower. It s a common human weakness. We re always ranking each other Who is the smartest? Who is the most attractive? Who has the most talent? Who is most valuable (measured by title, influence, or job)? Who is most successful (measured by money, acreage, home, or size of the crowd)? This is the curse of our society. We feel like we never measure up. We re always behind someone on some list somewhere, or we view everyone (and everyone else s kids) as the competition. Because of this our society has tended to turn arrogance and pettiness from a vice into a virtue. We re so paranoid about hurting the ego of someone we love that we sometimes withhold the truth from them. Page 3 of 9
Jesus Shows Us There Are Two Ways of Defining Greatness He addressed the conflict with these words, Jesus told them, In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called friends of the people. 26 But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. 27 Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course! But not here! For I am among you as one who serves. Jesus tells his disciples that they re defining success and value the wrong way. They re looking at things from the world s perspective rather than from the perspective of Heaven. According to the world the most important people are the ones who have the most money, the most influence, and the most education. The important people have the nicest cars, the biggest offices, the biggest salaries, the most degrees, and the nicest homes. And this is why people who have lots of these things want even more... it s because they want to be seen as more successful than others. Think about what the world tells us; Promote Yourself Assert Yourself Indulge Yourself Pamper Yourself Page 4 of 9
Stand up for your own rights Feel good about yourself Don t let anyone push you around Contrast this with what Jesus told us, Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me Luke 9:23. J.B. Phillips once changed the Beatitudes so they reflected the heart of contemporary society, Happy are the pushers : for they get on in the world. Happy are the hard-boiled: for they never let life hurt them. Happy are they who complain: for they get their own way in the end. Happy are the blasé for they never worry about their sins. Happy are the slave drivers: for they get results. Happy are the knowledgeable men of the world: for they know their way around. Happy are the troublemakers: for they make people take notice of them. Jesus points out His way is different and gives us another alternative. He points out that though the world sees the teacher as the one who should be served, Jesus (the greatest of all teachers and men) took the role of a servant. Jesus washed their feet (the job of the lowest person). Jesus, the one who should have been fed by others was the one doing the feeding. Jesus the One who deserved to have people give up their lives for Him chose instead to give up His life for others. Jesus says the truly significant person is the one who s a servant of God and likewise a servant of others. The terms serves, servant and service occur over ninety times in the NT. It s a reminder that the chief role for spiritual leaders is to be servants. To be a servant leader means to be genuine and vulnerable to others. Page 5 of 9
Organizations want their employees to be service oriented. They take a lot of time to educate and train people how to answer the phone, how to respond to customers, and how to handle complaints. But a true servant attitude is not about marketing strategy, it s about the heart. A true servant mentality starts by being willing to do whatever God asks of us. It s that attitude that says, Whatever the Lord wants me to do, I will do. We would be wise to serve and follow Him wherever He leads. Whether it s service in the public eye or service in secret. Whether it calls for suffering or leads to applause. Whether it s convenient or inconvenient. This servant mentality comes from our love for and our trust in Him. This kind of love and devotion comes because we really understand the greatness of God and what God did for us on the cross. We serve the Lord not only because He has authority over us. We serve Him because we know that He loves us. We listen to Him, we follow, we serve, because we know that He loves us with a love that is greater than our minds can fathom. At the cross, God the Father turned His wrath toward God the Son, so that we could be made right with Him. The Lord of the Universe reached out to us so that He could love us and lead us to the life we were created to enjoy. If we are to serve like Jesus we must battle our tendency to look at others in terms of how can they benefit or how will they impact Page 6 of 9
(good or bad) my life. When we do this we aren t really concerned about the other person we are concerned about ourselves! A true servant gives themselves to others because he knows the joy of Heaven most fully when he loves with the heart of God. When we listen to people, when we weep with people, when we celebrate with them, when we help them, and when we enter into their world, we act with God s heart. Jesus gave His followers an incredible promise. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29 And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Since they have stood by Him (this is of course before they all deserted Him) they would achieve greatness. However this greatness would be a heavenly greatness, a reward in Heaven that will demonstrate just how valuable they are to the Lord. It s important to remember. When we feel overlooked by those around us we know that God sees and loves our servant heart. When we feel taken advantage of, God sees the sacrifice and applauds. When we feel cast aside because of the superficial measurements of the world, God looks at our heart. Though you may be passed over for promotions here, the real promotion is something that happens in Heaven. I think Jesus would say to us: you may think that it s a waste of time when you give of yourself to another. But it s not. It s only as Page 7 of 9
you give of yourself that you will truly be able to find yourself. When we serve ourselves the best, all we can hope for is the applause of men. When we truly serve others we will experience the applause of our Heavenly Father. How many of us have grown up longing to hear our dad say, I m proud of you or good job? Some live their whole lives and never hear those words they crave. How much more should we long for the words, Well done, good and faithful servant? Let me share a couple of things in conclusion. First, the first step in the right direction is to acknowledge that you need a Saviour. There seems to be this belief that someday we re going to stand before God in Heaven and then we will present Him with our resume. We will point to all the things we ve done and show God how worthy we are of Heaven. Many people live their lives, it seems, trying to pad this resume. The Bible gives a different picture. The Bible says we all fall short of God s glory. No matter how great our resume, we can never earn God s favour. The first steps to Biblical greatness is to admit our weakness, confess our sin, receive the work of Christ on our behalf and then ask for God s help to think, feel, and live in a new way. Becoming a servant is not one more thing we have to do to get saved. A servant heart comes because we know we are loved by God through Christ. Second, living with a servant heart is not easy because it means moving against the strong current of the world. To live as a servant is going to be a battle. Some will use you. Some will Page 8 of 9
ridicule you. Some will overlook you and call you weak and say you have no ambition. Be prepared. Third, servanthood is not something you learn, it s something you do. In other words it s not about reading more books or taking more classes, it s about relating to others with the heart of Jesus. We become servants when we start to give of ourselves to others. It may start in the home, extend to the church, and then hopefully to the rest of the world. I believe the squabble of the disciples was recorded for us because God knew that this competitive nature is something the church will always struggle to overcome. Trying to gain a position of prominence is our natural instinct. The Lord knows that such an attitude undermines our ability to love and care for others. Having been loved so greatly by the Lord, are we willing to show others that they are loved by God as well? When it comes to the church, rather than asking, How can the church meet my needs? we should be asking, What can I contribute to the body of Christ in this place? A humble and servant heart is beautiful, unique and magnetic. It takes many spokes in a wheel for the tire to be attached to the hub. Everyone of these spokes is crucial for the strength of the wheel. Since Christ is the hub of the Christian faith, all the spokes flow from Him to the tire or the world. If a spoke is missing, it creates a weakness in the wheel. This example shows us that everyone is valuable to the structure of the Church. No one should think that they are more important than someone else. Christ the greatest leader of all demonstrated this Servant Leader quality. He humbled Himself. Page 9 of 9