What greatness crown do you really value? If you have been a Christ-follower for some time you know the right answer to that question. “Do you want to stand out?” Jesus asked. “Step down and serve.” (Matthew 23:11). In the economy of God “service” yes, “service,” being a humble servant is the true crown of greatness. You want to be great? Aspire to be a servant.
But be brutally honest, who would you in your weaker moments list as the “greatest among you?” Or putting it another way, “What crown of greatness do you often pursue by the way you actually think, work, and even spend your time being entertained?”
The NFL’s recent $321 million-dollar collision of the Bear’s Kahlil Mack taking aim at the Packer’s Aaron Rodgers resulted in a day after discussion of greatness among many. A leg hopping Rodgers pulled another rabbit out of the hat and so exceptional skill in sports makes one the greatest, right? Or wouldn’t you be the greatest if you got even a quarter of his annual salary? Someone you know I bet would think you were the greatest then! Surely insisting on your “rights” and getting them met would be another way many define greatness in our day.
Each culture defines greatness in different ways and the truth is we can each be drawn to some of those various forms of greatness in sinful ways. We all need Christ’s clarion call to the true greatness crown as he defines it in loving servanthood. “Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave’” (Matt 20:25-27).
Notice how Jesus redefined greatness as servanthood in the context of a scathing rebuke of the leaders of his day. “Godless rulers love to throw their weight around. A little power goes to their head quickly.” This is what Jesus was pointing to when he said to you and me, “Not so with you!” So if we go after the greatness crown of servanthood Christ calls us to, how do we avoid throwing our weight around in whatever sphere of power we have to be a true servant of others as fueled by Christ’s love?
Remembering Christ-like humility and how it’s caught is a good place to start. Prideful people don’t serve. The prideful expect to be served. Humble people serve. But humility is one of those qualities of the Spirit, one of those virtues you cannot acquire by the application of the will power. “Today I will be humble. Look at me being humble.” Approach it that way and what have you lost? It’s valuable to keep in mind that humility often comes as a byproduct of surrender and servanthood. As a gospel energized child of God roll up your sleeves and start serving. Often times status, our rights and complaints, and even our arrogance gets left behind.
A woman named Indra Nooyi was born into a setting that tended to discourage women from realizing their potential. So every night at dinner, in slavish fashion, her mom had Indra and her sister write a speech like they were running to be some particular world leader (president or prime minister). Their mom would tell them who she would vote for based on what they wrote. That daughter signed a paper that she was that world leader for a day. Indra grew up believing she could do great things with great power and she did. She grasped the crown of greatness.
One day, she was voted president of PepsiCo. Recently she retired after a tremendous 12-year run there. She came home that night. As it happens, her mom was visiting from India when she was voted in, and she said, “Mom, I have great news!” Her mom’s response was, “Your news can wait. The house is out of milk. Please go get some.” Indra said, “Why don’t you ask Raj (her husband)?” and her mom said, “I’m not his mother. I’m yours. Plus, he looked tired.”
Indra went out and got the milk. Do you think she served her mother in this way joyfully? She was hotter than a six-dollar pistol. “Well, I hope you’re happy, mom. My news is I was named president of Pepsi today. That’s what I was going to tell you, but, oh no, you needed someone to just go get milk.”
It’s fascinating. You can go online and see Indra tell this story about herself and her own development on any number of links or websites. She tells it with a grateful spirit and a smile on her face. Her mom said to her, “Look Indra. When you come home, you are a mother, wife, and daughter just like your husband is a father, husband, and son. No one else here can take your place. When you come home, leave your crown in the garage.”
Don’t you love that? We all need to hear that. “When you come home, leave your crown in the garage.” Christ would go further, “When you go to church, work in the market place, and yes even and especially when you are at home, ‘Leave your crown in the garage.’” You see, my friend, in serving often time we are humbled. Humility is the gift we actually are given in picking up the towel and seeing to the dirty feet of others. And the fuel for such humble service, for pursing such a crown of strange greatness, the greatness crown of servanthood? Where does this come from?
Paul says to that little church at Philippi, “Jesus did not regard equality with God as something to be used to privilege his own status. He humbled himself” (Philip 2:6). Jesus left his crown in the garage. He became a servant. He got the milk and it cost him everything. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Is 53:5). Luther put it like this, “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness I am your sin. You took on you what was mine; yet set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not.”
Now as justified children of Jesus cleansed and delivered from death, heaven our home as a free gift, and his love to motivate us every day we have all the juice we need to serve him and others for his glory. We too can leave the wrong crown of greatness in the garage and pursue this strange crown of greatness that is service.
Many crowns of greatness will appeal to you in the days ahead. They will shine and glitter and offer you pleasure and satisfaction. But one crown worn by you will especially please your Savior. It’s the one he wore to redeem us all, the greatness crown of service. Go get the milk. Leave the other crowns in the garage. God made you to serve, your Salem family needs you to serve, and really you need you to serve. Jesus told us what his plan was for his family long ago, “If you would be great, be a servant.” So be great – serve.
