Remember who you are! (Luke 9.46-48)
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Remember who you are
Remember who you are
An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest.
But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side,
and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.”
Intro:
I can remember being at a restaraunt as a little child with my grandfather at one of the National Freewill Baptist Conventions in Dallas Texas with other Bishops and leaders of the Church.....
.......and one of the other Bishops asked me as a little fella
“Do you know who your grandaddy is?”
And he went on to say......
“Your grandaddy is what a Bishop is supposed to look like!”
(slight pause)
That conversation was over 30 years ago.....
......but I’ll never forget it
(pause)
Because I didn’t need that man to tell me my grandaddy was great as a Bishop!
Because in my mind......
......My grandaddy was GREAT with or without his approval just because he was my grandaddy!
(pause)
And watch this.....
because I do not believe that position increases our size.
You can hold a position and not experience any growth.
Great positions don’t increase our size! (myth)
(pause)
Most people determine how great they are based on position.....
......and the position is considered valuable based on how high you are
.....and the position is also considered valuable based on what’s under you
But.....
Real positioning is only powerful when the value is based on what is being supported around you!
Because....
If you are moved out of position and no value is lost by those around you.....
than your position does not really matter, because it lacks support!
(pause)
In the book “Rooted” that we are reading in CFG last week, we dealt with the Soil of Serving...
.....and one of the things the author shares that I thought was radically important is that we must grow in the revelation of who Christ is, and who we are in Christ!
And I believe that usually when we think about Greatness
......we dissassociate it from a position of Serving
But if we are in Christ......
......that means that our position is to see our Greatness in our Serving just like Christ did.
(pause)
Look at it now....
An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest.
According to the text....
An argument broke out among the disciples......
......and they began to disagree concerning which one of them was the greatest.
(pause)
Freedom,
It’s amazing what can start an argument!
(pause)
And Freedom,
may I suggest that a large percentage of what we are arguing about makes absolutely no sense.....
(pause and smile)
Now....
......there are some things that are worth intentional and passionate reasoning, and discussion...
But.....
.......most of the time just like the disciples here in this verse.
.......we are arguing to prove a point that is not even a point worth making!
(pause)
The bible says that the disciples are arguing concerning the thought of who is the greatest out of them.
Meaning.....
.....when it comes to ranking, prestige, or position, which one of them would be chosen as the most valuable?
......who is the most important, or most favored by God?
And so......
......instead of seeing how important they all are to God
......they are trying to outrank one another in terms of their value to God!
(pause)
And whenever we start using language that decreases the value of others we are already proving our lack of growth!
(pause)
Freedom family,
A good argument should never be about how we take away value.....
But a good argument should always be about how we add value!
(pause)
Freedom.......
....can I ask you a question,
When was the last time your argument increased the value of everything around you?
(pause)
Now....
The root meaning of this word argument (dialogosmos) in the greek is described as “reasoning”
(pause)
And so in my spiritual imagination.....
.......as Jesus is watching the disciples give reasons why each one of them is greater than the other one.
....he has to be saying to himself,
“If you’re going to give reasons....
.....at least be Reasonable”
(pause)
And church family,
I don’t think Jesus has a problem with an argument
.....But I do think Jesus becomes concerned when we are reasoning amongst ourselves about something that is unreasonable!”
In other words.......
......what happens to the value
Because.........
........greatness increases the value!
(pause and expound)
Expound - I wonder if God ever listens to our arguments and says.....
“Now that just don’t make good sense!”
(pause)
Look at it now......
......because according to verse 47 and 48 Jesus joins their discussion....
But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.”
The text says....
Jesus is aware of their inner thoughts!
And the reason that is so impactful to me is because......
Anytime growth happens.....
it always happens in an authentic way....
And so......
when the bible says that Jesus understands their inner thoughts that means that Jesus is getting ready to come after them for the sake of growing them
Because......
Jesus is not just dealing with the argument in terms of what’s coming out of their mouths....
Jesus is dealing with it in terms of what’s coming out of ther hearts and their minds......
(pause and expound)
And that’s signficant because.....
even before we get to what Jesus does next in the text we realize that....
Jesus understands us even when we don’t have a good argument!
Jesus understands us even when we don’t make any sense!
Now let me help you right here.....
Just because God understands our argument, does not mean God is in agreement with our argument!
And I hear God saying....
“It’s because I understand your argument that I need to CLARIFY something in your life”
(pause)
And according to the text.......
Jesus uses a child to clarify to the disciples what greatness truly looks like.
(pause)
And he pulls this child close to him and says....
“Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me”
And....
“Whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me”
Because....
“the one who is least among all of you, is the greatest”
(pause)
Now here’s the power in Jesus using this child as an example.....
....because Jesus is using this child to represent unimportant people
(pause)
The Unimportant people Jesus is talking about
those of lowest social status
the poor
and even this child
And so in my spiritual imagination Jesus is saying......
When you are kind to others regardless of their status, you are being kind to me.
Watch this.....
Because at the root of the disciples discussion they were trying to determine who gets the most honor...
But Jesus is introducing them to someone who represents those who don’t have any honor
.....and calls him the greatest!
Now.......
I believe that the reason Jesus shares this with the disciples is because he needs for them to understand that how you treat people should not be based on their position.
And....
a life that is prepared to serve, and help, and love people who the world calls unimportant are great in the eyes of God!
(pause)
You See.....
....we think greatness can only sit above us
....but greatness can sit everywhere!
(pause and expound)
And....
I also believe that the reason Jesus shares this with the disciples is because he needs them to understand that unimportant people in man’s eyes belong to Gods family.
And so when we receive so called Unimporant people.....
....we are receiving Jesus.
And what I hear Jesus saying is......
When you really get to a point where you can see “ME”
......you will automatically change how you value other people
(pause)
And what Jesus understands is that.....
......when people think they are above others
.......they lose value in themselves!
But when they are able to find the greatness in others.....
......they increase value in themselves!
(pause)
And so he tells the disciples....
“The one who is least among all of you....
.....is the one who is greatest!”
(pause)
Freedom....
I looked up this word “Least” in the greek word Micro-teros
And it means......
Little or small
(slight pause)
And then I looked up this word “Greatest” in the greek word Megas
Great or loud
And then I thought about the fact that Jesus has a small child standing next to him as he is explaining to the disciples what greatness looks like......
And that’s when it all came together..........
Because what Jesus is really saying is that.......
“Size really don’t matter!”
(pause and expound)
Because........
......if you really want to talk about Greatness
Instead of talking about Size......
Let’s talk about Serving!
(pause and expound)
And so.......
If you really want to be great......
Stop arguing over position......
And start figuring out a way to SERVE!
(pause)
And what I have discovered is that Serving........
......is how we increase in Greatness!
Church family....
Every Great story I have ever read........
includes a servant!
(pause)
And......
You don’t get to be GREAT because of your SIZE
But....
We get to be GREAT because of our SERVICE!
And I see Jesus using this little child standing next to him to tell the disciples.....
“Remember who you are!”
And....
......the reason I’m standing next to this child is so that you can get a good look at greatness
Because......
1. Greatness can stand anywhere!
2. Greatness is not determined by size!
3. Greatness does not desire position!
4. Greatness is determined by what’s happening to those around you!
And I hear Jesus saying......
I want you to be GREAT......
so let me help you
Remember who you are! (REPEAT)
And when you.....
Put your roots in the Serving SOIL!!!
That’s when I start growing you!
That’s when I start increasing your GREATNESS!
Because now you know who you are....
.....IN My greatness!
(pause)
And I don’t know about you......
…but I’m glad Jesus cleared this up!
Because......
this way NOBODY has to wait on promotion
(pause)
But for those who want to be GREAT.......
Jesus says.......
Put your roots in some SERVING SOIL!!
If you really want to GROW........
Start adding VALUE to OTHERS!!!
(pause)
That’s what I learned on that farm in Lawtey!!
I learned how to be GREAT!!!!
SERVING SOIL!!!!!!! (REPEAT!)
.............CLOSE and CONCLUSION/ /.....................