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
Somebody has said that when climbing the ladder of success you had better stop and check every once in a while just to make sure that when you get to the top you don’t discover that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.
It is possible for a person to be so busy seeking success that they miss what real success is all about. It is possible that we shall be so in pursuit of greatness that we fail to achieve true greatness. There are some people who spend so much time thinking of themselves that they never think of anybody else. And consequently whatever else they may achieve or may accumulate amounts to nothing so far as God as concerned. It is possible that we can miss what real greatness and real success is all about in the pursuit of those very things. Jesus recognized that and he taught us about real success and real greatness in the book of Mark in chapter 10.
Jesus had just been teaching his disciples about his coming crucifixion and resurrection. In fact three times in the book of Mark Jesus pauses to remind his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and there he will be betrayed into the hands of sinful men. He will be falsely accused, greatly mistreated, finally crucified, and then on the third day be raised from the dead.
The disciples do not seem to understand the suffering and the agony that Jesus will go through on the cross. They think of his kingdom only in terms of earthly power, glory, majesty, wealth, and splendor. And so, as they proceed on their journey to Jerusalem, James and John come to Jesus with a question: “Lord, we want you to grant a request that we are going to make to you. Whatever we ask of you, Lord, we want you to do it.”
Have you ever had anybody come to you and say, “I want you to do something for me. Will you do it?” And they ask you if you will do it and they want your consent before they tell you what they want. That’s what these disciples were doing. Lord, we want you to grant whatever we will ask of you.
Jesus said, “You tell me what you want and then I’ll tell you if I’m going to do it.” They said, “Lord, grant when you come to your kingdom, that we sit one on your right hand and the other on your left hand.” They were saying, “We want position of prominence. We want places of power and authority. We want to be in positions of influence when you come to your glorious powerful kingdom.”
They did not understand the kingdom at all. And Jesus said to them, “Can you drink the cup that I shall drink? Or can you be baptized with the baptism that I shall be baptized with?”
The cup and the baptism that Jesus referred to are symbols of the experience that he is going to have in the next few days. That cup is the same cup he referred to in the Garden of Gethsemane when he knelt there in agony struggling with the cross. He said, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” It represented the bitter dose of Calvary as he would die for the sins of the whole world. As he would drink of the suffering and the agony and the sin of all of humanity. And he said to his disciples, “Can you drink the cup I shall drink? You want to wear the crown. Are you willing to bear the cross? You are interested in a place of prominence. Are you willing to pay the price? Can you drink the cup that I shall drink?” Then he asked, “Can you be baptized with the baptism that I shall be baptized with?”
The Greek word for baptize is “baptizo.” It literally means “submerge.” It means to put under. And that’s why when we baptize we put them under the water. We completely immerse them in water.
And Jesus said to those disciples, “Can you be baptized with the baptism that I can be baptized with?” He was referencing his coming trial and crucifixion and his death upon the cross. And he recognized that he would literally be submerged, engulfed in the suffering and the agony of the cross. And he was saying to them, “Can you go through that experience? You want to be ministers of state in my kingdom. You want places of prominence and power and prestige. But I want to know, ‘Are you willing to pay the price? You can’t wear the crown unless you bear the cross.’”
And thoughtlessly they said, “Why yes we can.” They didn’t even know they were talking about. Jesus said, “Well, it is not mine to give. God is the one who will decide who sits on my right hand and on my left hand. God is the one who will decide who is most prominent in my kingdom.”
As Jesus talked with these disciples about their places in the kingdom, the other 10 overheard the conversation. And the Bible says that they were indignant. They were jealous and resentful of James and John for trying to find places of prominence in the kingdom of the Lord. You know why they were jealous? Do you know why they were resentful? It was because they wanted places of prominence also.
You see we never get jealous of another person trying to promote himself unless we want that position ourselves. We never resent another person trying to be first unless we would like to be first. And jealously and resentment in your heart toward other people is a dead giveaway of your own feelings about certain things. And they were jealous and resentful of James and John for trying to be first in the kingdom because they all wanted to be first. And Jesus sees this whole experience to teach his disciples about true greatness.
He said, “You know in the Gentile world, in the unbelieving world, greatness is measured in terms of power and authority.” The more authority a man has, the more power he has. The more people who serve under him, the greater he is considered to be. Greatness is measured in the unforgiving world by authority and power but in God’s kingdom it shall not be.
There is a different standard, a different measurement of greatness in the kingdom of God from the kingdoms of this world. Jesus said, “In my kingdom the one who would be chief among you, greatest among you must become the servant of all.” The measure of greatness in the kingdom of God is not power and authority—the measure of greatness in the kingdom of God is service. And then Jesus used himself as an example. For he said, “The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and give his life as a ransom for all.” Jesus the Son of God came down from heaven not so people could serve him; he came down to serve God and to serve humanity. And he even went so far as to give his very life upon the cross for us. He died that we might have life everlasting and thus Jesus not only became our redeemer, Jesus became our example of true greatness. I don’t think there is any teaching in all the Bible that shows the revolutionary nature of Christianity quite as much as this passage of sculpture. For it challenges us to rethink and redefine what success and what greatness are all about.
In the believing world greatness and success are measured basically by three things: They are measured by the amount of power that we wield. They are measured by the reputation that we build. And they are measured by the wealth that we accumulate. Greatness in this world is measured by those three things. How much power and authority does a person have? What kind of reputation and fame have they gained for themselves? How much money have they accumulated? And money is so important because if you have enough money then you have power and you have prominence. Wealth gives you power and wealth gives you prominence if that is what you want.
So you put those three things together and that’s the way we measure greatness in this world. But Jesus said, “In my kingdom it’s not that way. In the kingdom of heaven, in the eyes of God, and among my people there is to be a different standard of success.” There is to be a different measure of greatness and the measure is this: how much you serve the one who is really great among you. The one who is really successful is the one who serves the most.
And nothing could help us more and nothing would bless the world more than if we should all develop a servant’s heart. If we should become like our Savior, who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. And to give his very life for the ransom, for the redemption, for the salvation of the whole world. If we could learn to serve like Jesus served instead of always trying to promote ourselves. Instead of always trying to have power, authority, wealth, and influence if we would start serving like Jesus did the world and the church would be vastly different.
The challenge then is that we all develop a servant’s heart like Jesus had. If you ever develop a servant’s heart, there are three things that will be true of you. First, no position will be too low for you to occupy. Second, no person will be too small for you to serve. And third, no price will be too high for you to pay.
If you develop a servant’s heart like Jesus, no position will be too low for you to occupy, no person will be too little for you to serve, and no price will be too high for you to pay. And if you study the teachings of Jesus and the life of Jesus in this experience you can see all three of those truths. The first is this:
1. No position is too low for you to occupy.
Greatness in this world is characterized by people seeking high places. The places of prominence. If a man is on a team he wants to be captain of the team. If he is in a club, he wants to be president of the club. If he is on a committee, he wants to be chairman of the committee. We are always seeking after that place of prominence in life because we think that gives us prestige. That it makes us somebody.
That kind of spirit has always existed in the church and out of the church. In fact in John in his third epistle talks about a man by the name of Diotrephes, whom he describes as loving to have preeminence among the brethren and that phrase literally means that Diotrephes was fond of being first. I don’t know how big or how small the church may have been in that day, but no matter how large or how small it is, whenever you get a group of people together, especially if they have missed the spirit of Jesus Christ there is always somebody who wants to be first. There is always somebody who wants to run things.
John understood that because he himself had sought position at one time. It was John who along with James, who came to Jesus and said, “Lord, grant that we may sit one upon your right hand and the other upon your left hand.” They were seeking places of prominence in the kingdom of God and that seeking of position always marks a person who does not understand what the Lord Jesus sets out greatness.
Jesus said, “Greatness does not depend on being first. It does not depend on being the captain of the team, but just a part of the team.” Being president of the club but being a servant in the club. Not being chairman of the club but being a servant in the club. Not being chairman of the committee, but being a servant on the committee. Greatness consists not in ruling but in serving. The one who would be greatest among you becomes the minister, the servant of all.
Jesus warned us about seeking positions in life. When he told the parable about the wedding feast, he said that if you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t go in and immediately head for the head table and a place of prominence above everybody else to be seen by everybody else. When you go in, don’t assume things, rather find the lowest seat, the most inconspicuous place in the house, and be seated there, lest you go to the head table and after a while you discover that all those seats are reserved and the host has to ask you to get up and move to some other place because you have a seat that belongs to another person.
It is far better, said Jesus, to sit at the end of the table, to go to the lowest place and then have somebody come and ask you to move up to the head table than to go immediately to the head table and be asked to leave.
It was within this context that Jesus said that he who humbled himself shall exalted and he who exalted himself shall be abased. He was warning us about always trying to promote ourselves. Always trying to find some place of prominence in life rather than seeking to serve as he did.
The amazing thing about Jesus is that he never promoted himself. He never tried to call attention to himself. He just busied himself serving God and serving mankind. The power and the prominence and the prestige that Jesus has gained down through the years have come because he served, not because he tried to promote himself.
Joseph Parker tells the story of the little watch that was not content to serve in the pocket of his master. It kept watching Big Ben on the tower there in London and thinking, “Boy, how I would like to be the place of prominence. How I would like to be upon that tower. If I were up there, then I could serve all of London. I wouldn’t have to stay here in this little pocket, serving just one man.”
And as chance would have it the watch was promoted to the tower where Big Ben was located. But up there high above the city, on that giant tower, next to Big Ben, nobody ever saw it. And it became inconspicuous and invaluable at this high position above the city. And Joseph Parker said concerning the watch, in its elevation it was annihilated. That’s what happens sometimes to us. We are so busy seeking after high places, prominent positions where we can run things, where we can control things that we lose our usefulness in the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “The one who is greatest among you let him be the servant of all and in his service he achieves true greatness.”
That principle will work where you work. Stop always trying to promote yourself and just do the job effectively and quietly, efficiently. And whatever honor and position ought to come probably will come. And in the kingdom of God, it is that way. True greatness consists of having a servant’s heart and when we have a servant’s heart, there is no position too low for us to occupy.
2. No person is too small to help.
Somebody has said the measure of a great man is how he treats little people. You know every society, every group has little people in it. Lyndon Johnson used to say concerning the Senate that there are some men who are whales and there are some men who are minnows. We all know what Johnson was talking about. Those men who were whales were men who made a big splash. They were men who carried a lot of weight. They were men who had clout. And just as surely as we understand who the whales were, we understand who the minnows are. They little people who just squirt around here and there and are more of an irritation than anything. They don’t count for much.
Let me tell you, there were not only whales and minnows in the Senate in Lyndon Johnson’s eyes, there are whales and minnows in this church and in this community in your eyes. There are some people in town, some people in the church that you consider big and there are some who are little.
You know that is true as well as I do. Why are people big in the church and in the community? Because they run big businesses. Or they have a lot of money. Or they have a reputation. But usually it is by some kind of standard that Jesus never recognizes as being great or important. But in every community and in every organization, and in every movement, on every job, there are whales and there are minnows. And the temptation in life is for us to serve the whales and to ignore the minnows. Why do we cater to people who have money, to people who have position and influence? I’ll tell you why. Because we think that will help us. And in reality when we serve big people we are serving ourselves. We are catering to them because we think it may help us in some way.
Let me tell you, when you have a servant’s heart, there is nobody too small for you to help and be interested in. And the measure of greatness is not how you treat the whales. The measure of greatness is how you treat the minnows in life. How you deal with the little people, people who don’t have any wealth, the people who don’t have any influence, the people who don’t have any power, the people who just don’t count very much. That’s the measure of whether you are great or not in God’s eyes.
If that is what you are interested in, greatness in his eyes, you had better be concerned about everybody. Because in his eyes there are no little people.
Listen to Jesus. He is painting a verbal picture of the Judgment Day. He says when the Son of Man shall come in his glory with all of the holy angels, then shall he sit upon the throne of glory and before him shall be gathered all the nations of the earth. And he shall separate them one from another as the shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. The sheep on his right hand, the goats on his left. Then shall he say to those on his right hand, “Come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world for I was hungry and you gave me meat; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you came unto me; I was a stranger and you ministered unto me; I was in jail and you helped me out.” They shall say, “Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, or in jail and minister unto you?” He shall say unto them, “Much as you did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me.”
Underscore that word least. In as much as you did unto one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me.” The word least means “those who are smallest” in the estimation of men. Jesus said that when we do things like give food and clothing and water and when we visit and we minister and help the smallest, most insignificant, the least person in the eyes of man, it is accounted as service rendered to God himself. And when we have a servant’s heart we stop seeing people as big people or little people. We reach out and minister to them as God’s people.
Jesus was too busy to turn aside from his work to allow people to crown him as the king. When he fed the multitudes they had to take him by force and make him king. And he would not turn aside from his ministry to be crowned as king, but Jesus did turn aside from his ministry again and again and again to feed the poor and to heal somebody who was sick, and to bless little children. It is because Jesus came not to be ministered unto but to minister. And he came to give his life as a ransom for all and everybody counts with him. And if we want to achieve the kind of greatness he is talking about, they will count with us also.
3. No price is too high to pay.
Jesus said, “I have come to give my life as a ransom for all.” And the price of his ministry was humility and self-sacrifice. And Jesus just kept driving that home to us.
In fact in John 13 he has finished having a meal with his disciples. And when he got through he wrapped a towel around his waist and got a basin of water and he starting going around those disciples and washing their feet, one by one. It startled those disciples so much so that Simon Peter said, “Lord, I’m not going to let you wash my feet.” The reason that startled those disciples was that the washing of feet was the work of a slave.
In the New Testament world they did not have enclosed shoes like we do—they wore sandals. And they didn’t have cement sidewalks and asphalt streets as we do. They walked on dusty roads and so a man walking on a dusty road in a pair of sandals to eat dinner at someone’s house would end up with dirty feet. You wouldn’t want to track the dust in the house, and besides once you got in the house to sit down they didn’t’ have chairs like we have to sit in. You reclined on the floor.
In the process of all of that squirming around on the floor, you would probably get your garments dirty and so they made sure that when you entered the home of a wealthy person, there was a tub outside to wash your feet.
Jesus that day was washing his disciples’ feet like a common slave. And Peter said, “No, Lord, you are not going to wash my feet.” Jesus said, “Oh, yes, if I don’t wash your feet then you are none of mine.” And when he had finished washing their feet, Jesus said, “What I have done, now I want you to go and do.”
Some churches have taken that quite literally and they have the washing of feet as a part of their ritual and their worship. They have a literal pan of water and a towel and they wash people’s feet. It’s to them like the Lord’s Supper and baptism are to us. They add a third thing of washing feet.
Jesus did not intend that we just keep on washing each other’s feet. It was a lesson in symbols. He was saying, “As I have become your slave and your servant, so you are to be slaves and servants of God and of one another. The servant and the slave is not greater than his master and you are not greater than I am. I am not too good to stoop to the level of a foot washer and you are too good for that either. You go and do what I’ve done. You become servants.”
And Jesus as our Master paid the price of humility and self-surrender to be our servant. That’s what we are to do. If we could just stop seeking after high places, trying to throw our weight around, trying to appear big and instead assume the servant’s heart, be willing to take the lowest place, to do whatever we can for the insignificant person and pay the price of humility and self-surrender, then we would be on the road to being what Jesus wants us to be.
Let me come back to where I started. When you are climbing the ladder of success, you do well every once in a while to pause and check on yourself. Lest when you get to the top you find the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. And you have sought power and authority and found out that is not where it is. You have wealth and have found out that is not what counts.
You gained a reputation but the Lord never noticed. For the one who is greatest among you will be the servant of all. And the supreme example is Jesus. The Son of Man came not so we could serve him but so he could serve us. And in his service he gave his life as a ransom, as a payment, as a sacrifice for all of us. And we need to give him our life and our heart. We need to trust him as Lord and Savior and then leave this place to serve God and to serve other people in the same way that Jesus served us. And it is necessary to give our very life for God and for others. That’s the servant’s heart.