The Greatest in the Kingdom (Luke 22:25-27)

Big Idea: The path to true greatness involves service and trials and follows the example set by Jesus.

For our twentieth anniversary, we traveled to a resort in Jamaica. A limo picked us up at the airport. Upon check-in, we were served champagne, our preferences were noted, and we were informed that our butler would arrive shortly.

Butler. I like the sound of that. I didn’t know what we would do with a butler, but I thought I might enjoy having one.

We did. The butlers — we had two, working in shifts — made reservations for us at the resort’s restaurants. They anticipated when we might be thirsty, and brought us drinks. They even offered to iron our clothes, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I enjoyed having butlers.

When we left, I signed up for the loyalty club, hoping to return. We never have. I’ll probably never have a butler again.

Whenever I stay in a nice hotel, dine at a fancy restaurant, or rent an upscale car, I quickly become accustomed to the luxury. I sometimes joke with Char that we could use some household staff.

I enjoy being served. It comes naturally to me.

Here’s the reality: There’s something about us that likes being a big deal. Even in ministry, part of us wants to be a big deal. The path to true greatness involves service and trials and follows the example set by Jesus.

The Path to Greatness

According to Jesus, there are two ways to live.

One Way Looks Good but Is a Dead End

The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors” (Luke 22:25).

I get this. I’ve lived this. The recipe: Gain power and use it. Wake up in the morning. Look out for your own interests. Try to get others to serve you. Leverage what you have to make friends with the right people. Build a platform. Gain recognition and influence. Look out for yourself. Nothing’s changed in two thousand years.

The reason Jesus described this way of living is that it’s how his disciples acted. “A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest” (Luke 22:24). Following Jesus doesn’t exempt us from this struggle. We may learn to hide it better than the disciples, but we all do this. Establish your place in the pecking order, and make sure you’re not at the bottom.

Robert Greene offers some suggestions on how to live this way:

The key to power, then, is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations. Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent … Never trust anyone completely and study everyone, including friends and loved ones.

Greene’s advice may seem extreme, but it accurately describes this first way of living. When we live to advance our own interests, we start to measure others based on how well they serve our interests. Those who can help are prioritized. Those who can’t help become expendable. Even our service to others becomes strategic: we help others when it will help us to get ahead, and when it puts people in our debt.

But, according to Jesus, this looks like the path to greatness, but it’s a dead end. This won’t get us to true greatness. This path will make our names great, but it will leave us unsatisfied and empty. This is not the path to greatness. “Ambition in this life for greatness in this life will end up stealing your life” (Marshall Segal).

The Other Way is to Live as One Who Serves

In contrast, Jesus describes a second way to live: to embrace a life of service. “But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves” (Luke 22:26).

Jesus isn’t against greatness. Instead, he redefines it. He teaches that the greatest — those in positions of leadership and influence — should become like the youngest. The youngest normally serve those with greatest seniority. Servants usually serve those who are great. Jesus flips how the world operates. Greatness isn’t measured by how others serve us. Instead, it’s measured by how we serve others.

As one commentator (David Garland) writes:

Honor is due God alone, so disciples must give up their fantasies of grandeur. They must also reappraise their ideas about power and greatness according to the pattern set by Jesus. Jesus’ model upends the norm.
Jesus sets up a series of contrasts and inverts the normal rankings:

• we like the greatest; Jesus elevates the youngest (26b)
• we like the leader; Jesus elevates the servant (26c)
• we want to be the diner; Jesus elevates the table servant (27a)
• in fact, Jesus makes himself the table servant (27b–c)

Jesus flips the ladder of success. The one who serves is greatest… The disciples are interested in titles; Jesus offers them towels instead. Greatness is not determined by how many serve you, but how you serve others.

This involves suffering! You see this in verse 28. There will be trials. The path to true greatness involves service and trials and follows the example set by Jesus.

What does this mean in ministry?

It means that the world needs more ordinary, faithful pastors. The world doesn’t need more big deals. It needs more men and women who are trustworthy, who are safe, and who love God and others well. The famous may get all the press, but it’s the unknown parent, the faithful pastor, the obscure church, the unheralded shift worker, and the praying senior who makes all the difference.

As Charles Spurgeon notes, we face lots of competition when trying to advance ourselves, but we will face no competition in trying to live the way that Jesus describes:

There will not be much competition for the lowest place. If you become a candidate for that position, you will get it. There are not likely to be too many applicants for the post, and by degrees one and another will edge out; so I recommend you, if you really want the place that Christ would have you take, that is, the very lowest position in the Church of God, to go in for it, for you will get it.

Life is not about becoming great or making a name for ourselves. It’s about becoming a servant.

The Greatest Example

The greatest example of this is Jesus himself. “I am among you as the one who serves,” he says (Luke 22:27). Jesus’ ultimate act of service was still to come: offering his life for others. But already he had lived a life of service. He didn’t live to please himself. He lived to please his Father, and he came to serve humanity. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

I can’t get my head around this. Jesus, God himself, is the one person in history who was above serving others. The fact that Jesus came as a servant tells us something about God’s nature. God deserves our worship and service, and yet he chooses to serve us too. “Our God is a servant God,” wrote Henri Nouwen. “It is difficult for us to comprehend that we are liberated by someone who became powerless, that we are being strengthened by someone who became weak, that we find new hope in someone who divested himself… we find a leader in someone who became a servant.”

Just in case we conclude that Jesus’ call to service will be unrewarded, Jesus reminds us where this kind of life leads. “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:28-30). Jesus promised his disciples that their faithfulness would be rewarded in the age to come. The disciples longed for greatness; Jesus told them that they would get it not by striving for greatness, but by striving for servanthood. We lose nothing by giving our lives away in service, but we gain everything. As Marshall Segal writes, “Servants in this life will rule the next. Slaves in this life will be kings forever.”

The night before he died, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, a task that was usually left to servants. “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet,” he says. “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15). We’re meant to serve just as Jesus served. Jesus’ act was an illustration of the greatest act of service that was to follow: giving his life away for us. In the same way, we’re meant to follow his example, giving our lives away to serve others. We serve others in the same way that he served us.

The Path to Greatness

The pathway to what we long for is in the exact opposite direction we think. It’s not in pursuing greatness; it’s in laying aside our privilege and serving others. It makes no sense according to worldly standards, but neither did the cross. It turns out that life in God’s kingdom is the exact opposite of how we normally think.

Jesus doesn’t say that we should abdicate leadership roles, or that we shouldn’t use the power that we have. Our culture tends to distrust those who have authority; Scripture teaches that authority can be a good gift when exercised appropriately (2 Samuel 23:3-4). Our problem isn’t power. Our problem is when we use power to serve ourselves. According to Jesus, our lives should be characterized by humility, using our lives to serve others. We’re meant to not further our own interests, but to look for ways to advance others.

Who is the greatest pastor? We don’t know. The greatest pastor is probably someone who is serving faithfully in a small, rural church, completely unknown to anyone but the few people entrusted to his care.

My struggle with what the Bible teaches about servanthood is, in a word, selfishness. I want to be served. I want to receive; I’m hesitant to lay down my life to serve others.

What a horrible way to live. I’ve seen others who want to be served, and it’s ugly. Sin always promises more than it can deliver. Choose to live a life in which you are god, and you will lead a very small life, condemned to a cycle of self-absorption and despair.

The opposite is true. Jesus promised that we would find our lives by giving them away. I’ve known people who’ve lived this way. They don’t seem to be sad. The more they give, the more they tend to receive. We shouldn’t be surprised, since Scripture teaches this principle repeatedly. Sometimes I think we shy away from believing this truth because of its abuses. Skip the abuses, but cling to the underlying principle. “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great… give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:35, 38).

I’m trying to overcome my addiction to being served. I want to live the way that Jesus describes: giving and serving others with abandon, trusting that this is the wisest and best way to live. When we live this way, after all, we’re reflecting the nature of God who has given so much so extravagantly to us.

On September 8, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II died. Queen Elizabeth lived a life of extraordinary privilege. She lived in palaces and had servants to assist her with anything she needed.

On her 21st birthday in 1947, before she became queen, Princess Elizabeth gave a speech that was broadcast throughout the Commonwealth.

There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors - a noble motto, "I serve". Those words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the Throne when they made their knightly dedication as they came to manhood. I cannot do quite as they did.
But through the inventions of science I can do what was not possible for any of them. I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now. It is very simple.
I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.

On the day Queen Elizabeth celebrated 70 years on the throne, she released a message to the public. “As we mark this anniversary, it gives me pleasure to renew to you the pledge I gave in 1947 that my life will always be devoted to your service.” She signed the message, “Your servant, Elizabeth R.”

Queen Elizabeth may have enjoyed more privilege than we do, but she understood the purpose of the privileges we get to enjoy. God has granted us life and its blessings in order to serve. The true mark of greatness is not what we receive, but what we give. Living as a servant is the true mark of greatness. “The call to live and be great is a call to serve and even die” (Marshall Segal).

The path to true greatness involves service and trials and follows the example set by Jesus.