Who’s On The Team?

What does greatness look like?

This is not a bad desire nor wrong in many ways. By greatness I may also mean we want someone to notice us and what we do. Is greatness a stat like in baseball? Who is the greatest baseball player?

This can lead us to comparison.

Once again this is not necessarily a bad thing and we live in a world where this can be helpful to know in order to have an accurate picture of the world we live in.

Being a follower of Jesus means we must live differently.

This is the fundamental call of discipleship—we are to be different than the world around us. At times in history this was more clear to see.

Jesus defines greatness as humble service.

This is a counter-cultural definition of greatness.

Guard against gatekeeping.

Be careful against being the final authority on who is on the team and who is not. Be careful against defining who is in and who is out. Jesus’ statement is not theological but practical. We need to understand the difference at times. Was this person casting out the demon a follower of Jesus, very possible. Was part of the issue because he was doing what they recently could not.

Remember the real enemy—Satan.

There are differences of opinion on some things in the Christian community. However, if we can start fighting ourselves and diving who is “in” and who is “out” we will have no energy or desire to reach out with the Gospel. Salvation is in Christ alone by faith alone by grace alone. Jesus is God and the Messiah! Scripture is the final authority for the follower of Jesus!

The remedy-serve one another.

It is hard to be worried about who is in and out when we serve. It is hard to worry about greatness too much, when you are busy serving. Fathers, how could we change our culture and world if we lovingly served our children and showed them this way of life. I am not saying we don’t do this but sometimes we can be focused on authority and power when it is necessary but not the end.