The Path to Greatness: The way up is down

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:1-11

The pathway to a place of honor is to become a servant of others. This world doesn’t generally work that way. Acknowledging the way the world works, Jesus said, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.” (Mark 10:42). This world’s system is one of dominance over others, the issue is power. That is prevalent in our current culture in the extreme. Right now, there is a social movement that is wanting to overthrow our current power structures by means of another power and replace it with the new power. It is all about power.

Jesus taught us a different pattern for living, an ethic of anti-power. The rest of the quote above from Mark 10 reads thus:

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶ And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” ³⁷ And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” ³⁸ Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” ⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. ⁴² And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,⁴⁴ and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ 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 10:35-45

Robert K. Greenleaf, a lifelong Quaker and executive for AT&T, started a management movement in 1977 when he published his classic book, “Servant Leadership.” Today others have taken up the banner for a Jesus-style leadership. Ken Blanchard being one such cheerleader. To the extent that organizations follow Servant Leadership principles in the way of Jesus, the Kingdom of God is coming to institutions around the world. Unfortunately, it is not the dominant way of thinking. The world still wants to lord it over others.

I am impressed with the fact that Jesus demonstrates the truth for us. He not only taught the proposition that whoever would be great among the people of the Kingdom must be a servant; he demonstrated the principle.

The pre-incarnate Jesus was in the full glory of God along with the Father. In every sense, he was equal to the Father and shared fully in the glory of being God. But then, according to the eternal plan of the Trinity, the Son of God gave up his position and humbled himself by taking upon himself human flesh and became a man. That is a long way down. He emptied himself of his equality with the Father. Exactly what that “emptying” means is a subject of some dispute among theologians, but at minimum, it means that he accepted to some degree the limitations of being human.

While being here as a human, he had to grow up, learn obedience through suffering, and live in submission to his parents. After entering his public ministry, he traveled without a place to lay his head; despite what some teachers say, he was poor and accepted poverty. He served people around him by teaching them, healing them, freeing them from demonic influences, and on occasion, feeding them miraculously. Most everyone misinterpreted his mission and assumed he would exercise power and become the long-awaited Son of David, Messiah, King who would establish the Kingdom of God and overthrow the Roman occupiers. They, too, were looking for power. Jesus was still focused on coming down. His downward motion was not yet complete. He had to go down and die with the sin of the world on him, go to the grave, descend into hell, and only then could he begin the process of elevation. God then raised Him from the dead, and he ascended to the right hand of the Father, where he was highly exalted and had bestowed on him a name above every name. Every tongue will confess that he is Lord. He only went up after he came down. This is the ethic of Kingdom greatness. The way up is down.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

Philipians 2:3-5

This ethic is to penetrate all areas of our lives if we follow Jesus. Two characteristics that are diametrically opposed to Jesus’ ethic are selfish ambition and conceit. Those two character flaws are not compatible with Jesus’ pattern of being a servant to others, coming down to go up. How do you live with your spouse? Do you follow that pattern of Jesus or the pattern of the world and try to lord it over your spouse? If you have a position in your employment in which you are to lead others (a manager of some sort)? Do you see yourself as leading as a servant to help them, or are you “the boss?”

All of us who are Jesus-followers are in the ministry (check Ephesians 4 if you don’t believe me). Some folks have left the ministry to become a Pastor or Teacher, etc., with the stated mission of equipping everyone else to do the work of the ministry. That is why I say we are all in the ministry. With that said, how do you perform your ministry? Are you a servant to lift others, or do you have to be “in charge” and lord it over other Jesus-followers? If so, you aren’t great in God’s Kingdom.

I love the title of a book by Dave Ferguson and Warren Bird, “Hero Makers.” The book’s essential idea is that to find success in ministry; a leader must make heroes of other members of the Body of Christ rather than themselves being the heroes of the ministry. It is a form of servant leadership.

God’s vision for each of us is that we are conformed to the image of Jesus. Part of that image is to be servants to others. The Holy Spirit is working in the lives of all of us who follow Jesus to make us good servants. It goes against our egos. It goes against how the world operates. It is the way of faith and the way of love. It is also the way of greatness in the Kingdom of God. That is where greatness counts. Greatness in the world is like powder in the wind; it won’t last. Greatness in the Kingdom of God will last forever. That is a much better return on investment.

With all of the rancor around Black Lives Matter and the controversies around COVID-19, I have been asking myself what the solution is to these social ills. Critical Race Theory is offering one solution to the issue of social justice. Unfortunately, it is a power answer. The same is true of the COVID-19 issues. The answer is power. Jesus has taught us an ethic that is diametrically opposed to these power ethics. Believers in Jesus should not be caught up with involvement in the power struggles. Instead, we should be demonstrating the servant ethic and following the Great Commandment, loving God with all of our hearts, minds, souls, and our strength and our neighbors as ourselves. The real victory lies in servant love. That servant love will present the gospel in such a beautiful way that thousands will become Jesus-followers as we demonstrate the Jesus-kind of servant leadership and wait for him to grant greatness.