The Greatest Is Servant

Mark 10:35–45 KJV 1900

35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. 36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? 37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. 38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? 39 And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: 40 But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. 42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: 44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Introduction

We begin a new thought tonight concerning the Principles of the Christian Life, and that is “The Greatest Is Servant”...

In studying for this message, I read a story of a rice farmer who saved an entire village from destruction. From his hilltop farm he felt the earth quake and saw the distant ocean swiftly withdraw from the shore line. He knew that a tidal wave was coming.

In the valley below, he saw his neighbors working low fields that would soon be flooded. They must run quickly to his hilltop or they would all die. His rice barns were dry as tinder.

So with a torch he set fire to his barns and soon the fire gong started ringing. His neighbors saw the smoke and rushed to help him. Then from their safe perch they saw the tidal wave wash over the fields they had just left.

In a flash they knew not only who had saved them but what their salvation had cost their benefactor. They later erected a monument to his memory bearing the motto, “He gave us all he had, and gave gladly.”

This poor farmer finished first in the eyes of his community, but it cost him everything he had.

There are not many people in our world like that farmer. He willingly sacrificed himself that others might succeed. Most people do everything they can to better themselves, and think nothing of the people they step on behind as they climb to the top of the heap.

This text is designed to teach us the truth that not everyone who finishes first is victorious. Sometimes those who take the last seat, those who willingly finish last, are the real winners in the game of life.

It’s pretty clear from reading the Gospels that Jesus’ Disciples were anything but humble men, as a matter and fact, our text for the next couple of weeks finds Jesus’ disciples seeking personal ambition and glory.

Thinking that Christ was going to establish an earthly kingdom, James and John asked Jesus if they could share the limelight by sitting at the left and right sides of Christ’s throne. They sought preeminence and wanted to secure chief positions for themselves. Jesus responded by telling them that their request was not His to give, but at the will of His Father.

James and John’s quest for special privilege angered the other disciples, revealing the selfish nature of their hearts. If top honor was to be given, they wanted it for themselves as well.

Most of us would have reacted the same way, because we, too, tend to desire greatness. And we, too, tend to define it in similar terms as the disciples—position and popularity.

Jesus dealt with a core problem the disciples—and all of us—have: self-centeredness. He did this by pointing out the world’s mistaken idea of greatness and teaching them that His view of greatness is the opposite of ours.

Matthew 23:11–12 KJV 1900

11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Jesus corrected the view that the person who has the servants and maids is the one who is great!

Jesus rebuked the disciples for having the mentality of the world! They were acting like the rulers of the Gentiles who ruled over their subjects. Jesus tells us that true greatness lies in servanthood.

The greatest man is the humblest servant...

One unknown author put it this way:

“The great leaders of men in all fields have not been the arrogant and the greedy, but the servants. The real servants are the true nobility. The greatest of all, the Son of God Himself, declared that He had come not to be served but to be a servant, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Our sinful nature causes us to want things our way - our way or the highway!

We want others to serve us, and we all like to feel important, but if we are going to be great in the way that Jesus defines it, and if we are going to make an impact on others as Christ would enable us to, then we need to learn to serve!

Over the next couple weeks or so, we are going to look at how the greatness of a servant can be reached through four steps:

I-Step One: Make an Individual Choice

I’ve already established that serving others doesn’t come naturally to us, so that means that we must choose this identity.

It’s a personal decision - an individual choice.

Notice, in our text verses 43-44...

Mark 10:43–44 KJV 1900

43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: 44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.

It says, “whosoever will” and “whosoever of you will.” - I would highlight or underline that if I were you.

The use of the word will shows us that we need to make a choice.

When Jesus come to this earth, He did so voluntarily…He didn’t have to, but He chose to! You see? Another way he has set the example for us, just like with giving...

Let’s look at this in the Bible:

John 13:1–5 KJV 1900

1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; 3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

Despite knowing that the hour of His death was near, He chose to continue serving His disciples! He washes their feet in these verses! What humbleness we see from the King of kings and Lord of lords!

Speaking of washing feet, let me give you a story I ran across while studying:

As a young boy, Dr. Henry A. Ironside helped his widowed mother who worked for a Christian cobbler. This cobbler plastered sheets of Bible verses all over the walls of his little shop so that his customers could see and read the Word of God. In every package to his customers, he included a gospel tract, and he would often share with them about salvation.

Young Ironside’s job was to pound water out of the soles the cobbler had soaked. He pounded until they were hard and dry and would then nail them on the shoes. The process was tedious and time consuming and Ironside wished for an easier method. On his way home, he came across a cobbler who fastened the wet soles on the shoes without hammering out the water. The cobbler’s reason for this was, “The customers come back quicker this way.”

Ironside told his boss about this faster method. But his Christian employer took out his Bible and read, “Whatsoever ye do in word or in deed, do all to the glory of God.” He went on to say, “Hammering might be tiresome work, but I will not allow anything to go out of my shop that isn’t well done. God has shown me how to cobble shoes and I want to do it to glorify Him. When I stand at His Judgment Seat one day, I expect him to inspect each pair of shoes I’ve worked on, and I want to hear him say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’!”

Wow! I love that story! It’s something we don’t see anymore, but oh, do we need to see it, especially of Christians!

When I think about this church ya’ll…This is the House of God! Everything we do, ought to be done to the glory of God! Everything we do ought to be done with the thought that God will inspect it…Because He will.

It doesn’t matter what it is, it may seem like nothing to you, but I promise, it’s worth doing with all of your might!

I remember back at Amazing Grace, when my Pastor would ask me to do something, I would go to work and I would get it taken care of, if I didn’t known how, or what I was doing, I figured it out, and I did it with all of my might, because at the end of the day, I wasn’t doing it for my Pastor, I was doing it to the glory of God!

I did everything from run wiring in the ceiling for cameras and internet, to painting, to mowing, to teaching Sunday School, washing vans, and I would go over what was done and I would try and figure out how I could do it better…For example, after getting the livestream up and running, and that was great, I kept thinking, how can it be better? You look at it now and it’s come a long way from an old iPhone 5 that they started with.

We were faithful to church, we both taught Sunday School, if the Pastor preached out somewhere, we did our best to be there, we were there for workdays, we worked in the jail ministry, had an opportunity to go up to West Virginia to help out flood victims and did it…When the Pastor asked, we did all we could to help out to the glory of God.

Even recently, when my Pastor called and asked about doing this podcast with him, I jumped on it - why? Because he asked, and because its another opportunity to do something to the glory of God!

And I’ve approached things here with the same mentality, putting new lights back in the hallways and rooms and making little updates here and there, upgrading from livestreaming with a phone to using the camera in the back with a computer system, putting a fresh coat of paint inside, adding some plants on the outside, we recently got the bank cleared off and I plan to spray it with ground clear to keep it looking nice…always tweaking things, always trying to do better, why? Because:

“Whatsoever ye do in word or in deed, do all to the glory of God.”

When God inspects what I’ve done in His name, I want Him to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Everything we do ought to be top notch! To the best of our ability, to the glory of God!

Conclusion

Here’s the thing, I can’t make you look at things this way, and I can’t make you a servant...

We only become servants when we choose of our own volition to humble ourselves and willingly serve others.

“Whosoever of you will” is what the Bible says - The choice is yours!

Next week, we will look at some next steps in this journey of becoming the greatest servant!