“And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, what was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”

If the question were asked of you “What is greatness”, how would you define the term? Would you say greatness is accomplished through one possessing “worldly power” and/or prestige? Or one who may be considered highly “knowledgeable” (according to the worlds standard of knowledge), or one who possess great wealth (according to the worlds standard of wealth). Would greatness mean to you one who has made a great name for his/herself, or is greatness determined by how others view you?  

The world has its own idea of what constitutes greatness and sadly, their ideas have managed to creep into the church where many have adapted to the worlds standards. The world may see a rich man and label him as “great”, a man full of wisdom and knowledge as he has the ability (according to man) to obtain what many may consider “wealth”. The church sees the same “rich man” and labels him as “blessed”, highly favored of the Lord. Both are in error as “material gain” does NOT in the eyes of The Lord, constitute greatness. Greatness is not the man who clings to his worldly goods and seek to obtain more, Greatness IS the man who has very little, but the little he has he joyfully shares with his fellow brothers counting it a blessing to give what many who are “rich” in this world would consider “worthless”. Greatness is being loving, kind, gentle towards one another, seeking opportunities to be a blessing rather than to be blessed. Therefore, if the question were asked of ME “What is Greatness”, my reply would be: Greatness is found through SERVING! 

In the above scripture passage, the disciples of The Lord were traveling on the road disputing amongst themselves as to which of them would be the “greatest”. They were obviously ashamed of this dispute (indicating they knew in their hearts it was wrong), for when the question was addressed to them by The Lord as to what they were disputing about, ALL remained silent. But, the Lord knowing their thoughts, and the desire of the heart answered the question they were murmuring about by declaring: “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all.”  

This same sort of behavior is active in the church today, sadly. As brothers are competing against brothers, seeking to have the largest ministry, the greatest building, the greatest name, AND the greatest wealth and this should not be so as this is of the world, and not of God. Ministry is NOT about competition, but about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord and declaring the truth in ALL things according to the scriptures. It doesn’t matter if your congregation consists of ten or ten thousand, if you meet under a tent or in a marble building NONE OF THIS constitutes greatness, it is of no importance if you are not preaching/teaching the truth, and have learned servanthood. We are to be ONE in Christ, working together for the SAME purpose and that purpose is NOT about us, but about HIM, serving Him and one another in LOVE.  

Thus, if you are one who’s seeking “greatness”, you had better learn to become a servant for there’s a well of greatness through serving. Many seem to be confused on this issue for they believe the one whose being “served” is great, when truly it is the one who’s doing the SERVING who hold’s the title of greatness in the eyes of the Lord. It is not the one who’s being “served” who has the greater blessing as the world teach, but the one who SERVES has the greater reward. For it is MORE of a spiritual blessing and reward to give of oneself, than it is receive. Now, your flesh may desire to be “served”, however we are not to walk according to the “flesh”, but according to the Spirit, and if we walk according to the Spirit, our desire will be to SERVE.  

If I were to take a survey of believers all over the world posing the question “who would you consider the greatest of ALL”, almost everyone would say JESUS. But, now let’s look at the life of our Lord for HE is indeed the best and most powerful example of GREATNESS. While he physically walked this earth, was he “served” by man, or did he become a “servant” to man? Did he care for the needs of the brethren and the multitudes that came to hear His Word, or did he put his needs first before theirs? Did he feed the people when they became hungry, or did he command that he FIRST be fed? Did he utilize every opportunity to be a blessing in feeding the hungry, healing the sick, preaching the gospel to the poor, or did he seek for others to be a blessing to him? The Lord himself through demonstration taught us the heart of greatness which is in serving, and yet we seem to reject this lesson and go after the ideology of greatness as taught and demonstrated by the world. That greatness is through one’s accomplishments and goal achievements, through obtaining riches and wealth, or a great name, successful business, and how others may receive you. This is the exact opposite of what was taught by our Lord. One great lesson as demonstrated by our Lord of serving is found in the book of John. This is just one of many lessons, but in chapter 13, after the Passover meal, The Lord rises up, removes his outer garments, places a towel about him and begin washing the feet of his disciples. Now, this act was usually done by servants who would wash the feet of guest when they arrived, before they would sit down to eat. The “master of the house” would not wash the feet of his guests, but his servants would do so as it was customary. Here, we have THE MASTER, LORD of lords and KING of kings doing that which would be considered “servants” work. As His disciples look upon him completely dumbfounded it what he’s doing, after he completed this task he says to them: “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for SO I AM. If I then, YOUR Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye ALSO ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, Verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent is greater than he that sent him.” (John 13:13-16) These are extremely powerful words for His disciples considered Him their Master which made them HIS servants and yet here was The Master, washing the feet of those who are to be serving Him. Through this example the Lord is demonstrating that if HE being Lord and Master of All can perform the work of a servant, SURELY we can do the same and even more so. He being MASTER could have demanded they should wash HIS feet, but instead he became as THEY and washed their feet demonstrating that greatness is NOT in what you have, or who you are, but rather your ABILITY to SERVE.