THE HUMBLE WAY TO GREATNESS

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on August 5, 2020 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: August 5, 2020 from Luke 9:43b-48

Theme: We become great in Jesus’ kingdom by serving—in Jesus’ name—those who are least.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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I confess a failing in my character. I love to be thought of as ‘important’; and I often seek to seem important by hanging around with people that the world thinks of as important. I try to obtain importance through association. I often fall into thinking that that’s the way to greatness—that it’s who you know, and who you’re known to be known by.

And what’s more, I confess that that’s not God’s way to greatness. It is the world’s way. And the world’s way to greatness—if it is pursued long enough—leads eventually to bitterness, envy, division, and loss. It seems like the way to greatness; but it ends up leading to true smallness.

It may be that that’s not your particular failing. It may be that you seek greatness in this world in a different way. But whether it is my wrong way or your wrong way, this morning’s passage from Luke 9 has something to teach us. In it, the Lord Jesus teaches us the true way to greatness. He doesn’t teach us not to pursue greatness. Rather, He teaches how to achieve true greatness in the right way. It’s a surprising way. It’s an unexpected way. But it’s the way that He Himself followed.

We find this taught to us in what happened right after the Lord had healed a boy who had been tormented by an evil spirit. People watched with amazement; and after it happened, we’re told in verse 43, “And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.” Their amazement centered upon Jesus. He was proving Himself to be the Son of God in human flesh. And some of the disciples, as they watched it, had remembered that they had just seen Jesus’ majesty on display upon the mountain-top—in what we call His ‘transfiguration’.

The disciples saw all of this, and they began to realize who it was that they were associated with. They saw their own greatness rising like the sun over the horizon. They were associated with marvelous greatness—and thought themselves well on the way to greatness as a result. But it was at this teachable moment that the Lord made a remarkable announcement:

But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, “Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying (Luke 9:43b-45).

And though the next passage is sometimes thought of as a separate story, I believe that it is meant to go along with the previous three verses. We go on to read;

Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, “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” (vv. 46-48).

In verses 43-45, we see the dangerous temptation of following the wrong path to greatness; and then, in verses 46-48, the Lord Jesus Himself illustrates the right path. And at the end of it all—in verse 48—we’re given the basic principle of greatness in Jesus’ kingdom: That he who is least is the greatest.

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Now; I am guilty of being tempted by the wrong path. But it seems to be a temptation that catches many of us in one way or another. This is especially true in God’s church. Pastor James explained it to us this way in James 2;

My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4).

You can see that the temptation is to try to ‘serve’ those who are important in the eyes of this world and thus obtain ‘greatness’ by association; but to thus disregard those who the world does not consider important. And James declares the truth to the whole matter when he calls it ‘holding the faith of Jesus—the Lord of glory—with partiality’; and says that it makes us into ‘judges with evil thoughts’. The world’s way to greatness causes us to serve people according to what esteem we might be able to get out of it. What a dreadful way to treat faith in Jesus, who is the Savior of all who come to Him—whether they are great or small.

Instead, we should be willing to give ourselves in service and fellowship to those who can—in no way in this world—give anything back to us. In Romans 12:16, we’re told, “Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble.” To forsake the pursuit of greatness by only associating with the ‘greats’ of this world would show that we truly trust our Father in heaven to reward us, and that we wish to follow the path of sacrificial love that our Lord took.

Look first, then, at this passage from Luke 9 and notice …

1. THE ERROR OF FOLLOWING THE WRONG WAY (vv. 43b-45).

It’s a very easy thing to fall into. Jesus had just demonstrated His own greatness by healing the demon-possessed boy. And it must be that He knew the temptation that might have been taking hold of the hearts of His disciples; because Luke tells us, “But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, ‘Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men’ (vv. 43b-44).

When Jesus said to let these words sink down into their ears, it’s probably because they needed to store them there for later. The fact is that they almost immediately forgot them in practical application. He had to tell His disciples repeatedly that He would be betrayed and then crucified. And when it finally happened—when Jesus was actually betrayed into the hands of those who arrested Him and mistreated Him and crucified Him—they seemed surprised by it all. It was as if He at least wanted them to remember the words, so that later on they could grasp the significance of the thing those words described.

And you’ll notice that He did not mention the fact that He would be resurrected. He left that out. This was because, in the context of what was happening—as they were becoming tempted by the prospect of greatness through association with Jesus—He wanted to emphasize to them, not His majesty, but His humility through suffering. As He once told them in Mark 10:45; “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” And you’ll notice that He used the name “the Son of Man” to describe Himself. This was because that was a distinctively Messianic name—one that was taken from out of Daniel 7:13. It emphasizes His true majesty as the Messiah—the Chief of Humanity; and it drew attention to the fact that He—as the Chief of Humanity that everyone was now marveling at, and that the disciples were looking to for their own greatness—was going to be arrested, tried, and brought to a shameful death in order to serve fallen humanity.

Now; Luke goes on to tell us something rather amazing. He said, “But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying” (v. 45). It wasn’t just that they had a hard time grasping it. It was that they were not allowed to grasp it just yet. It may be that Jesus urged them to let the words sink into their ears because it would be kept from sinking into their hearts first. They would only understand what it was that He had done for them later—after they were kept from interfering it with it. They would have wanted to interfere. After all, they expected only greatness—not the suffering and shame of the cross. Peter, you’ll remember, had once rebuked the Lord for talking about dying on the cross; and Jesus had to turn and strongly rebuked him for it—saying, “Get behind Me, Satan!” Perhaps that strong rebuke in the past was why they were afraid to ask about His words now!

All of this, dear brothers and sisters, makes me ashamed of myself. It reveals to me how rarely I have been like my Lord. He took the path of humble service—giving His all for an undeserving sinner like me—in order to save my soul. What a shameful thing it is that I pursue ‘greatness’ by associating with those who this world thinks are great. That’s not in keeping with what my Lord did for me.

And that leads us, then, to …

2. AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE RIGHT WAY (vv. 46-48).

We can see that the disciples were falling into this trap; because Luke tell us, “Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.” What a horrible thing to argue about in the presence of the One who was going to humble Himself upon the cross for them!

But I love how our Lord gently rebuked them by a remarkable and charming illustration. We’re told, “And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him” (v. 47). Jesus often took children to Himself as an illustration to us of an important spiritual principle. There’s another story like this in Matthew 18:1-5;

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:1-5).

Well; once again, He takes a little child to Himself to teach them another lesson—this time not to teach them that they should be like little children, but rather to teach them that they should be ready to make themselves less in this world’s eyes by serving—in Jesus’ name—those who are least in the eyes of this world. Jesus placed this child next to Himself,

and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (v. 48a).

There’s nothing impressive in this world’s eyes about a little child like that. Powerful people don’t scramble over one another do ‘do lunch’ with little children; or try to make sure that they are pictured with them in the news. There’s really nothing a child can do to anyone in return for service. They can’t ‘pay anyone back’. They are, in a sense, the perfect picture of you and me in relation to the service the Lord Jesus has performed for us on the cross.

And whoever receives one of them in Jesus’ name is as much as receiving Him; because He associates Himself with the least. And to receive Jesus is to receive the Father who sent Him. What a remarkable picture this is of the pathway to greatness in Jesus’ kingdom. Jesus sets before us the fundamental principle of it all at the end of verse 48. He says, “For he who is least among you all will be great.” We become great in His kingdom by making ourselves less in the eyes of this world through serving those who are least in it.

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Now; I feel sorry that this is such a hard lesson for me to learn. But it must have been a difficult lesson for the disciples to learn too. Later on in Luke’s Gospel in Chapter 22—not too long before Jesus would die on the cross for them—we read;

Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ 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. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:24-27).

It certainly is a hard lesson to learn. But the more we look at Jesus, the more we learn it. We need to look closely at the way that He condescended Himself to serve us—poor sinners that we are. And then, when we devote ourselves out of the love of Jesus to serve those who are least in this world’s eyes—and even make ourselves less in this world’s eyes by doing so—we are well on the path to greatness in Jesus’ kingdom.

That’s what He did for us.

EA