Theme: KEY PRINCIPLES TO KINGDOM GREATNESS
Text: Matt.20: 20-28
Intro.
A. The principles of growth that we learned in our last message:
1. We should not stop aspiring what’s best, but being faithful in our mission, task, or ministry no matter how small or big it is.
2. We should be in good relationship with other people.
3. We should be content, happy and thankful with what God has blessed us with.
4. We should be willing to go through the sacrifice of sowing. We should do investment. We should be doing something that creates growth and progress.
B. Our message this morning is about how to become great in God’s kingdom. Well, I guess, all of us want to become great in God’s kingdom. The disciples liked too. A parallel passage of this incident tells us that the disciples were in argument as to who would be the greatest among them.
1. Maybe Peter had been proud of his outspoken personality; Matthew of his accounting capacity; Philip of his contemplative and evangelistic nature; John and James of their strength and bravery, etc.
2. But at the height of their argument, the Lord called them and said: “If anyone wants to be great, he must be the servant of all.” Jesus taught them the principles for kingdom greatness.
C. I have several observations of the incident:
1. v.25-26 –The fact that our Lord did not rebuke them, instead he just called them and corrected their misconception about greatness. He emphasized that greatness in the kingdom of God is different from worldly greatness. Kingdom greatness is about serving, while worldly greatness is about ruling. Kingdom greatness focuses on the people, while worldly greatness on the self. Then he gave a stern warning: “It should not be among you.”
2. v.26b –“Whoever desires…or if anyone wants…” This statement implies that the Lord promotes kingdom greatness. He wants that everybody (His disciple) would become great in the kingdom of God. Jesus might be saying it this way: “If you want to be great…ok…this is the way: serve.” Wow! God wants every member of His family, everyone of the household of faith, to be great in His kingdom.
3. It was true with everyone whom God called to do kingdom work. Take Abraham for example. God called Him to become the Father of Faith. Abraham responded and obeyed the call of God. His obedient faith made him great in God’s kingdom.
4. Another example is Moses. A fugitive to Median who met God and became the great leader of Israel. Another is David. He was the youngest or the least son of Jesse but chosen to be the great king of Israel and the royal ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Well, the thing is, both of them responded the call of God. They obeyed the voice and word of God. Many a times we ignored God’s call –promptings and convictions – so we missed many growth opportunities to become great in His kingdom.
6. The beautiful message in song this morning is giving us the picture of the Potter molding the clay into a wonderful vessel. In like manner, God desires to mold our life into something honorable and great in His kingdom. He wants us to be great in his kingdom. That’s wonderful! But what would amaze us about this greatness is the way to attain it. Jesus said: “If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all.” It means “greatness through servant-hood.”
7. To make His point clear he said: “For the Son of Man came not be served, but to serve, and gives His life a ransom for many” (v.28). The Lord outlined the key principles to kingdom greatness in this verse.
I.Q: What are these key principles to kingdom greatness?
A. KINGDOM GREATNESS REQUIRES HUMILITY.
1. Worldly greatness is about popularity; kingdom greatness is about humility. We are in a world that everyone wanted to be known believing that popularity is the key to greatness. But in God’s kingdom, the key principle to greatness is humility.
2. Our key verse says, “For the Son of Man came”.
He came –just another simple statement. But you know, herein lies the epitome of humility. The Lord of glory deigned himself by coming to flesh. And he must have given up something. He never gave up being God, but he gave up many rights –the right to comfort, acceptance, the full exercise of His deity, to call his angels and destroy his enemies, the right to save himself from the hands of his executioners, to leave men alone in their wickedness, and the right to back out of His redemptive plan. What would have happened if Jesus upheld those rights to himself? It would be devastation to us! He gave up those rights for our salvation. That was His primary concern. And that’s what humility is. It is “the willingness to giving up some of your own rights” for the right cause. And when we say “right cause” we mean the salvation of men and the kingdom of God. Jesus humbled himself for that cause. So the question then is: “Is the salvation of men and the advancement of God’s kingdom our primary concern?” Have we given up some of our own rights because of the Gospel of Jesus? Making the Gospel your primary concern makes you great in God’s kingdom. This is the reason why we should aggressively support the work of Gospel-proclamation.
3. In the book of John, Jesus said: “I have come to do My Father’s will.” Jesus came to do God’s will. Humility is about obeying God’s will.
Paul testified that Jesus “humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death” (Phil.2:8). Jesus knows the will of the Father and does it in full obedience and submissiveness. Humility has to do with knowing and doing God’s will. Humility is obeying God. Moses is said to be the greatest leader of God’s people in the Old Testament, but it’s not because he was outspoken and had strong personality, but because he listened to and obeyed the voice of God. As I said in the introduction of this message: we missed many growth opportunities to become great in God’s kingdom because we ignored God’s voice, we did not listen to His promptings and failed to follow his leading.
I think it’s now time to start stepping upward to becoming great in God’s kingdom. Let’s train ourselves to listen God and obey His voice.
B. KINGDOM GREATNESS FOCUSES ON SERVING.
1. Worldly greatness is about who rules; kingdom greatness is about who serves. We are in a world where greatness is measured by the extent of a person’s influence and power, control and command. And we like the idea that we are served and our needs being attended to.
2. But in God’s kingdom, to become great, one must learn and start to serve others. Jesus said: “Whoever wants to be great, he must serve.” True greatness is not how many people serve you, but how many people do you serve.
3. Again, let’s quote our key verse (v.28) it says, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” Our Lord Himself is our greatest example when it comes to serving others. In all His splendor, majesty, honor and glory, yet came He to serve humanity.
4. But sadly, many Christians dislike the idea of serving. They just want to be catered to. They hopped from place to place, churches to churches, looking to get blest. But God wants us to be a blessing. He blest us to be a blessing. If we should find ourselves somewhere, it should be a place where we could be a blessing –in the workplace, in a church/congregation, etc.
5. I hope that as Christians, we already knew that the only divine purpose of spiritual gifts, talents, abilities, knowledge, and material resources that we have is service. Any other purpose is self-centered. Everything we have must be kingdom service related. We are blest to be a blessing! God has equipped us for service! Our life should somehow influence and benefit other’s lives. Our life should not be a dead end, or a blank alley of God’s blessings. It must be like a reservoir that has an outlet. God wants to use our life as channel of His blessings! Let God use you! There’s no wondrous thing in life than that of being used in God’s work. Be GREAT in God’s kingdom. Be an instrument of His glory.
C. KINGDOM GREATNESS DEMANDS DEDICATION.
1. Jesus said: “For the Son of Man came…and gave His life a ransom for many.” The Lord of glory made the greatest act of dedication. He gave Himself. Well, we know the whole story about it; we know the untold suffering and the indescribable agony of Jesus at the cross of Calvary when He offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. And we know that without this Sacrifice, Salvation would be impossible. Thank God for dedication of Jesus. He presented himself without wavering.
2. Now, dedication is all-important to achieving a purpose or goal. It means “devoting oneself to something or someone,” such as work, responsibility, ministry, marriage, etc. It guarantees success.
3. Spiritually, dedication is indispensable to our relationship and experience with God. Therefore, essential to kingdom greatness. That’s why the Lord said: “Whoever wants to be great, he must serve.” Of course service demands dedication if it is to be achieving a purpose or goal.
4. But sadly, many Christians are not dedicated to kingdom service. They are not dedicated to God and his work. Hence they shrink spiritually.
5. Paul outlined in Romans 12 the dedication that we must do:
a. First we need to present our body. It’s about dedicating and giving our selves to God.
b. Second, we must be a “living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” This means, “dedicated to worship.”
c. We need to devote our mind to knowing God’s perfect will.
d. We need to devote our spiritual resources –the spiritual gifts –for the building up of His body.
CONCLUSION:
Want to be great in God’s kingdom?
1. Make the Gospel of Salvation your primary concern.
2. Listen and obey God.
3. Seek to become a blessing to others.
4. Seek to serve God’s purpose.
5. Dedicate yourself to God and His work.
