Who Is the Greatest - Part 1

How do you define greatness? Fame?

Power? Award-winning skill as an actor or an athlete? Now Jesus has a very different definition of greatness as Dr Jeremiah shares today on Turning Point. The kind of greatness defined and demonstrated by Jesus is in short supply in today's world, but with his help, you can achieve it. From In Search of the Savior is David to introduce his message, Who is the Greatest? Well, you know, if you were to ask that question today in the environment of our business culture, you would find someone describing greatness as moving to the top, taking control, amassing fortunes, accomplishing great things, but Jesus had a different perspective. Jesus actually one time said this.

He said that the way up is the way down. If you want to be great in my eyes, you have to be a servant. Servant leadership actually is rooted in the Scripture. It's become sort of a popular discussion these days because in the business world, in the popular motivational world, servant leadership comes up. Hardly ever gets attributed to Jesus, but that's where it started. Jesus is the one who said that if you want to be first, you've got to be last. And we're going to learn about that as we talk about who is the greatest today on Turning Point.

Now let's get started with part one of Who is the Greatest? Well, I have a little story to tell you. Today we're going to talk about the power of service, and I thought I would just begin with this story. A woman took her husband to the doctor's office after his checkup. The doctor said, your husband is suffering from a very serious infection. Well, the husband was hard of hearing, and he said, what did he say? And his wife said, he says, you're sick.

And the doctor went on, but there's some hope. And he said, ma'am, I just need to help you understand what you can do for your husband. You need to reduce his stress. Each morning, give him a healthy breakfast.

Be pleasant and nice and kind. And for lunch and dinner, make him his favorite meal. And don't discuss your problems with him. It will only make his stress worse. Don't yell at him. Don't argue with him. And most importantly, just cater to your husband's every whim.

And if you do that, your husband, for the next six months to a year, if you do that during that period of time, I think your husband has an opportunity for complete recovery. And the husband said, what did he say? And she said, he said, you're going to die. Some people will do anything to avoid serving, won't they? As we've studied the book of Mark, we have learned together that one of the hardest things for any of us to face are the shortcomings or flaws in our lives. I think maybe it's been a shock to all of us, and even to me somewhat having studied this many times before, that the disciples were far from perfect people. Oftentimes, we think, oh, he's a disciple. He must have it all together. And we even think about that today. Oh, he's a disciple, which means he's closer to God.

He's got it together. But how many of you have discovered with us so far the disciples don't have it all together? They're facing one flaw after another. In one place, it's their lack of prayer. Remember, they couldn't cast out a demon, and they couldn't figure it out. And Jesus said, well, you can't figure it out because this kind of demon only comes out through prayer.

They couldn't figure out what to do with their fear, and they just seemed to be so dull of hearing when it came to the things Jesus was trying to communicate to them. And this particular story that is in the progress of his journey to the cross is told not only by Mark, but it's also in the book of Matthew and in the book of Luke. As Mark tells this story, he shows us how Jesus was trying to teach his disciples. And I'd like to tell the story sort of in the same vein in which I see the Lord Jesus walking through this with his men.

There are four characteristics of this. First, there's some information. Then there's an interrogation.

And then there's some instruction. And Jesus finishes with an illustration. So with our Bibles open to Mark in the ninth chapter, we begin our reading today at the 30th verse with some information. The Bible says, they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know it. Jesus and his disciples have gone now from the northern part of Israel, and they're going through Galilee. And Jesus is determined that he's going to reach his destination, which is Jerusalem, and ultimately his destination, which is the cross. And the Bible says that he didn't want anybody to know where he was going, and we don't know why he doesn't want anybody to know until we read the next verse. Verse 31 says, for he taught his disciples and said to them, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him.

And after he is killed, he will rise the third day. Jesus didn't want to be interrupted in his opportunity to mentor his disciples and tell them what was going to happen in a few days, because he is going to the cross. He's going to be buried and resurrected, and the disciples, if they don't get this information, are going to be caught off guard. So Jesus didn't want anybody to know where he was going, because he wanted uninterrupted time to teach his disciples. Now Mark often portrays Jesus as a teacher. You see this throughout the entire gospel. But most often, he doesn't tell us what Jesus is teaching. In this text, he tells us what the subject was of their discussion as they moved along the way that day. Jesus is teaching about his death, burial, and resurrection.

That's the subject matter. He's trying to explain to his disciples that though they wanted a king with a crown, they got a king with a cross, and their king was headed toward the cross, and they needed to be prepared for it. And this is the second of three times that Jesus actually explains this.

In the book of Mark, I won't read them, but one is in the 31st verse of Mark 8, and in the 33rd verse of Mark 10, Jesus is telling his disciples what is to happen. And every once in a while, I run into somebody who talks about the crucifixion as if Jesus was taken off guard. They got him without his notice, and they swiftly moved him to Calvary and killed him without his permission. What a silly thing for anybody to say, especially anybody who purports to have read the Bible. Because throughout this journey with his disciples, the Lord Jesus is gradually unfolding the plan of redemption for them so that they have no reason not to know.

They understood. Jesus wasn't taken by surprise. Jesus knew that he was born to die.

He came not to be ministered on it, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Now he's coaching his disciples ahead of time so that they will know what to do. Now it's interesting that as he goes along the way and he's teaching them, obviously the disciples are also having their own discussion. They were talking about something that they shouldn't have been talking about, and as Jesus is involving himself with them and explaining to them what's going to happen to him, he overhears them having a discussion. Now let's notice after the information, the interrogation, Jesus questioning his disciples, verse 33. The Bible says that when they came to Capernaum and they stopped over there, obviously they were going to stop in the house of Peter where they had their headquarters up until this time, Jesus brought his disciples into the house and he asked them a question. He says, if I were to put it in the language today, he probably said, what were you guys talking about on the road as we got here?

Now you have to get this picture in your mind because this is kind of what happened. Jesus is walking along the road and his disciples are walking apart from him, probably in front of him. As Jesus is walking along the road and he's been teaching them about his coming death, burial, and resurrection, mostly after that, he notices that the disciples are in a discussion.

Literally, the word is pretty strong. It means they were arguing with one another. As they walked along the road, Jesus could see them in this intense argument, the disciples arguing with one another. When they get to Capernaum and they go into Peter's house, Jesus gets them in a circle and he says, what were you guys talking about on the road? Now I don't think Jesus was in doubt about what they were talking about. He knew what they were talking about, but he was trying to draw them out. He said, tell me what you were talking about. Now notice the questioning of Jesus is met by the quietness of the disciples, and they kept silent. They wouldn't answer his question. For on the road, they had been disputing among themselves who would be the greatest. How embarrassing. Jesus is telling them about his death, and they're arguing with each other about who gets to be the greatest.

Now a couple of things are going on here. Obviously they still haven't figured out the difference between a king with a cross and a king with a crown because their greatness was all about hopefully serving in the kingdom with the Lord in a place of prominence. Somehow Jesus' teaching about suffering and death got them into this debate over who was going to be the greatest. In fact, I've noticed in the New Testament that quite often when Jesus talks about his death, burial, and resurrection, the disciples talk about who's going to be the greatest. So Jesus asks them, what were you talking about? Obviously they didn't want to answer that question.

They would not answer because they were ashamed, and should they not have been ashamed for doing that on that particular day in that particular situation. The Bible says they were arguing about greatness, and it wasn't about being great as a disciple. It was about greatness in essence. Who's the most important among the disciples? I can just hear Peter say, oh, I was standing closest to him when he transfigured on the mountain.

It has to be me. John probably said, well, you know what he calls me. I'm the disciple Jesus loved, you know. Each of them probably had their own argument about who was the greatest. They were comparing and ranking their accomplishments, their skills, and their gifts. They weren't talking so much about greatness in the kingdom of God as they were just talking about who was the greatest man among them. In just a few chapters, we will learn that James and John and their mother have a similar discussion where she wants to promote her boys so that they get a place of prominence in the kingdom. You can read about that in Mark chapter 10.

We will get to it later. And later on, just before Jesus went to the cross, the disciples are in the room, and they are arguing with one another, again, over who was the greatest in the kingdom. And Jesus Christ walked into the room knowing what they had been talking about. The Bible tells us in John chapter 13 that he took off his outer garment, and he donned the clothing of a servant, and he got down on his knees and washed the feet of the disciples.

Whoa. He talks about his death, burial, and resurrection. They talk about who's the greatest.

They talk about who's the greatest. He washes their feet. And Jesus is then going to explain to them why what they're talking about is so absurd and off base.

From the information, we have the interrogation and now the instruction. Notice verse 35, and Jesus sat down, and he called the twelve, and he said to them, "'If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.'" Now, doesn't that sound like a disconnect? How do you get to be first by being last? Jesus does not tell his disciples to cease trying to be great. Instead, he redefines the meaning of greatness. He doesn't implore us to stop pursuing greatness. He demands that we pursue a specific form of greatness. He is encouraging us to desire, to pursue, to crave a certain kind of greatness that serves all. This is Jesus' definition of greatness.

And of course, it's not an isolated thing in the text. I remember going through the Scripture and being reminded of how many times this principle is recorded in the Bible. It's almost like Jesus wants to make sure we don't forget this. This is not only the key to what it means to follow the Lord, but as you're going to see in a moment, it may be one of the missing ingredients in our culture today. So let me just run through these Scriptures quickly.

If I were you and I'm taking notes, just write down the address and you can look them up and fill them in later. But here's just a sampling of where this is in the Bible. Matthew 2016, so the last will be first, and the first last, many are called, few are chosen. Matthew 20, 26 and 27, whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. Matthew 23, 11, but he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. Mark 10, 43 and 44, you shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. Luke 9, 48, whoever receives this little child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me, for he who is least among you all will be great. Luke 13, 30, and indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last. Luke 22, 26, but not so among you.

On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. That's a sampling. That's not all. That's a sampling of the many times when Jesus taught this core basic principle of the Christian life. Isn't it interesting?

We hear almost nothing about it in our culture today. Most people are quite surprised when they hear this, that the principles of leadership for believers is exactly the opposite of that for those who live in the culture. The basic concept of serving is found over 300 times in the New Testament, 130 times in the Gospels, and 170 times in the Epistles, so the Lord did not save us to be sensations. He saved us to be servants, and he's giving us this principle so we will know how to function not only in the church but in our culture so that we can know the joy of Christ's likeness. Here's the difference between what Jesus is saying here and where most people are in their understanding of leadership today.

Let's just start with the triangle. If you start out in the business world today, men, women, graduate from college, maybe grad school, and you get a degree and you're ready to go, you enter into the company at the lower level. Nobody starts up here. You start down here, and at the lower level of your company are the most people. There are more people down here on this level than anyplace else, the entry level. If you stay there and you progress in your career, little by little, you move up, and at every level where you move up, there are fewer people. The next level, fewer people. All of a sudden if you work hard and you know the boss's family, you get to the top.

Amen? You get to the top, and all of a sudden you're at the top of the triangle, and then you hear people say, it's such a good thing to be able to serve under him. That's what we say, isn't it, in the world today? I serve under, in the military, I serve under, we serve under people. That's the way the world views leadership. We're the triangle, and the one at the top, at the pinnacle, looks out at his world, and he makes this observation. Look at all the people who are serving me. Jesus says, well, that's all right if you want to live that way in your culture, but that's not my way.

Jesus says, you have to turn the triangle upside down. Jesus says, he who will be the greatest among you, let him be the least. That doesn't mean the least in dignity, the least in popularity, the least in ability. It means you understand that in the biblical sense of leadership, it's not how many people are serving you, it's how many people you are serving. That is servant leadership. That's biblical leadership.

That's Jesus' kind of leadership. Jesus says, if you want to be great in the kingdom of God, don't ask the question, how many people are serving me? Ask the question, how many people has Almighty God allowed me to serve? And we began to understand the joy of serving as we began to institute this principle in our lives. Jesus is waiting on believers in the form of common and simple tasks.

The more common and humble the task, the greater the deed. So, Jesus said in Luke 22, 27, I am among you as one who serves. Now, please notice that Jesus is not teaching this principle in classroom. He's teaching it on a road, and where's that road taking him, you guys? It's taking him to Jerusalem. It's taking him to the cross. Jesus is walking out the lesson that he's teaching his disciples. He said, I did not come to be ministered to, but to minister and to give my life a ransom for many.

What is he doing? He's walking toward Jerusalem. He's walking toward the cross. He's saying by his attitude, I'm not going to stay here and be your king with a crown because I understand that before I can be your king with a crown, I have to be your king with a cross. In his servant attitude, he's giving himself up. The Bible says he gave himself up for us so that we might be saved.

That's what service is. Jesus is living it out as he's teaching it to his disciples. Every one of us who are parents, every one of us as we teach our children and our friends about humble service, we should never do it without living it out ourselves, and we should never separate it from the teaching of our Lord. As we teach others about humble service, we should also be modeling it in practicality and tangibly before them. I read a lot of commentaries to prepare these messages, and one of the best historic writers for New Testament literature is a man by the name of William Barclay. There's a bunch of little tiny commentaries, and you have to have good eyes to read his work, but he has a paragraph about this that I think we will all find very interesting today as we look out on a broken world that seems to be getting more broken every day.

Listen to what he wrote. Every economic problem would be solved if men lived for what they could do for others and not what they could get for themselves. Every political problem would be solved if the ambition of men was only to serve others and not to enhance their own prestige.

Can you imagine, my friends, what would happen if Washington could get a hold of that? If they would really understand that we elected them to serve us instead of serve their own political ambition? The divisions he wrote and the disputes which tear the church apart would be for the most part never happening if the only desire of the church was to serve the church and not to care in what position as long as the service was given. Gone would be the phrase, I don't go there because I don't get my needs met.

We would be so busy meeting everybody else's needs, we wouldn't have time to calculate that ourselves. When Jesus spoke of the supreme greatness and value of the man whose ambition was to be a servant, he laid down, said Barkley, one of the greatest practical truths in the world. Dwight O. Moody once said, the measure of a great man is not how many servants he has, but how many men he serves.

There's the instruction. If you want to be great, the question you have to ask is, who am I serving? Let me tell you that that's a principle that would work even if you weren't a Christian. You don't have to be a Christian to put this principle in operation.

There's a whole genre of literature now called servant leadership that's growing up in the business world. Everybody's beginning to understand that this works. You know why it works? Because all truth is God's truth.

If it came from the Bible, even people who are trying to use it who don't know God will find that it works. How do we serve one another? Jesus says if you want to be great, you have to learn to serve.

For greatness in the kingdom is not where you stand on the hierarchy, but it's where you stand in serving other people. And we'll have more about that tomorrow as we come to the Friday edition of Turning Point. We're looking at Mark chapter 9. This is a part of the series we've called In Search of the Savior. It's part three of the exposition of the book of Mark. These are some great passages friends, and I'm glad that you join me as we study together about our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Tomorrow on the Friday edition, Who is the Greatest?

Part Two. And be sure to join us tomorrow right here on this good station for the next edition of Turning Point. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's current teaching series In Search of the Savior, please visit our website where you'll also find two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly magazine Turning Points, and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org. That's davidjeremiah.org. And when you do, be sure to ask for your copy of O. S. Hawkins' new book, The Bible Code, finding Jesus in every book in the Bible.

It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard Version, the New International Version, and the New King James Version, filled with helpful notes and articles by Dr. Jeremiah. Visit davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio for details. I'm Gary Hooke Fleet. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series In Search of the Savior. That's here on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah. Thanks for taking time to listen to this audio on demand from Vision Christian Media. To find out more about us, go to vision.org.au.