Matthew 20:20-28
Greatness Is Serving
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.
21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?”
She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”
22 But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
They said to Him, “We are able.”
23 So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”
24 And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.
26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Here we notice that there is one man that came to earth and was one of the most well known people that ever stepped here on earth and His name was Jesus. And if we notice at the bottom of these scriptures Jesus said I did not come here to be serviced, but to serve you and give my life for everyone.
To be a servant is important in the Bible and in today's time. If you can't learn to serve then how can you ever learn to be a good leader.
Jesus said in these scriptures that I cannot give you my right hand or my left. Why is that? Because he it is not His to give. I cannot give you my pulpit or my title as Pastor, because you have to serve God and He is the one that will give you the pulpit or the title Pastor.
I saw a video on Facebook of a man that was in a wheel chair and he was vacuuming a large sanctuary. That is what you call servant hood.
I did not start out here behind a pulpit, but I started out helping to clean the church. I graduated from cleaning not just the church, but cleaning the toilets. Then I was able to eventually move up to crawling though the hot attic of the Lighthouse and install the sound systems and almost fell through the roof over the pulpit.
I moved up after near death to being able to learn how to run the soundboard at 10 years old and moved up even more to being able to play instruments on the platform.
There is a point here that I did not start out on the top, but I started out on the bottom. I did not get to start out Pastoring a church, but I start out cleaning the toilets.
John 13:1-20
13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it 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 had come from God and was going to God,
4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.
5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”
7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”
8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”
12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.
17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
18 “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’
19 Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He.
20 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”
God’s people should have a servant’s heart.
My mother spent many years serving the church that my Dad pastored. She moped the floors, cooked for all of the Pot Lucks, taught every Sunday school imaginable, changed kids diaper when they ran a day care, and even cleaned toilets. She was a servant of God.
My Dad pastored for more than 50 years and in that time I have been by his side when he clean the toilets, moped the floors, painted Sunday school class rooms, cleaned out the attic, gave out government cheese, picked people up when their car broke down, bought people groceries when he barely had the money to eat at home, help them move and many other things. He was a servant of God.
My wife has cleaned the toilets, moped the floors, called many of you on the phone when you didn't show up for church, cook for pot lucks, cared for some of you when you where sick, picked up prescriptions for some, spent many days decorating for different events, helped with plays and many other things. She is a servant of God.
I could go on and on, but the point is we must be a servant of God. We must serve those in our family, friend, neighbors, and MTC Family members.
There is a whole message in the verses, however I am only going to touch on a couple of things.
Verse 10
10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
I believe that in a way Jesus is talking about his heart. You can clean the outside of you all you want, but that does not clean the inside. You can serve God with everything you have, but if your heart is not clean it means nothing.
Jesus told him that to serve is to be served. If you don't give of yourself then how do you expect to be a leader. All great leaders in this world learn from the time they are born. If they don't learn to serve then they are not a good leader no matter how much money they have.
Are you a servant of God?