Matthew 20:20-28
20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedees children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. 21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. 22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. 23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. 24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. 25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
The word “greatness” is thrown around a lot in our world today. We talk about the greatest athlete, the greatest scientists, the greatest politician, etc. What makes these people great? How does the world define greatness? Typically, greatness is defined by impact, influence, power, or wealth in our society, or some combination of those things. In all of the discussion about greatness, very rarely do we consider what God considers great. On judgment day, when it’s all said and done, what will God hold in the highest regard. God’s Word tells us. In Matthew 20, Jesus and His disciples are approaching Jerusalem for passion week where He will make the greatest sacrifice for the greatest cause ever. He will secure eternal redemption by dying on a cross for the sin of the world. As they approach the city, Jesus tells His disciples what is going to happen to Him. Something unthinkable is on the horizon. The Son of God, the Messiah, is about to be betrayed, tried by the rulers of Israel, handed over to the Romans, mocked and abused, crucified, and resurrected after three days, all in the week that lay before them. As He tells them this, the unthinkable happens. The conversation shifts among the disciples as the mother of James and John comes asking for them to have the highest places of honor in His kingdom. It’s a conversation about who will be the greatest in God’s kingdom. It is there, in Matthew 20:20-28, that we find two answers to what God considers great.
First, God considers humility great. God wants His children to be humble. Out of all of the ways that Jesus described Himself, He chose to describe Himself as “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:30). Why? It is because humility is the true essence of godliness for mankind. The humble person sees God, themselves, and others correctly and prioritizes accordingly. As the mother of James and John asked for them to be able to sit on Jesus’s right and left hand, His response was a question. He asked them if they were able to “drink the cup” that He was about to drink or “be baptized” with what He was about to baptized in. He spoke of the cup of God’s wrath and His suffering on the cross, the things He had just spoken to them of in the verses prior (Matthew 20:17-19). Their bold response was “We are able.” As Jesus affirmed their commitment to Him, He then reminded them that the highest places of honor in the kingdom would belong to those whom the Father determined. In our service for Christ, we can be very quick to think that our service or sacrifice is greater than anyone else around us. We can think that we are entitled to certain things because of a certain task that we faithfully perform. If we are truly humble, we will be content to allow God to be God and work out the details of what is recognized and rewarded about our service. It must always be enough to know that God sees our service and our hearts and that He is pleased. The moment we allow our motivation to drift toward recognition or advancement, we have pridefully stopped serving God and begun to serve self (Matthew 6:1-4). In Philippians 2:1-4, the Apostle Paul calls the church in Philippi to have unified minds in not doing anything “through strife or vainglory” and instead to adopt the “mind” of Christ (2:5). That mind was that Christ “humbled Himself” in obedience to the Father by suffering and dying on a cross. It was through this humiliation that Jesus would be exalted and given the “name that is above every name,” a name that all will “bow” to one day (Philippians 2:9-11). God considers humility great. We are to be humble.
Second, God considers selflessness great. Humility and selflessness inevitably go together. Selflessness flows out of a humble heart. Jesus demonstrates that by contrasting the way the entire world system and motives of people work with what He was about to do for all of mankind. The world system is very much about getting ahead of everyone else. It’s about pursuing more wealth, a greater promotion, more recognition, more power, and a higher position than others. The great goal is to have more and then use that “more” as leverage over others. The higher up the ladder and “food chain” a person is, the greater they are in the eyes of the world. Self rules. In God’s kingdom the economy is totally backwards to the world. In God’s kingdom, it is about who can be the greatest servant. There are two words used for “minister” and “servant” in verses 26 and 27. The Greek words diakonos and doulos. Diakonos means a table waiter or servant and is where we get our transliterated English word “deacon.” Doulos is the ordinary word for a slave. Both words were used to describe lowly forms of service. Jesus says explicitly that the “great among you” and “chief among you” will be as table waiters and slaves. In other words, the greatest in God’s kingdom is not the one with the most knowledge, not the one with the most gifts or talents, and not the one who gets the most recognition or praise, but it’s the one who you find consistently, faithfully, humbly, and selflessly serving others and trying to make others greater than themselves. How backwards that is from how our minds work? We think that the greatest preachers and pastors are those with the largest churches, the most eloquent sermons, and the most books written, but it’s the ones who are most faithful and most serving their flocks. We think the greatest Sunday School teachers, youth leaders, and children’s workers are the ones with the largest classes or who are entertaining teachers, but it’s the ones who are faithfully there all of the time doing what needs to be done to get God’s Word into the hearts of students of all ages. The list goes on and on in the church. On judgment day, we may think that many of the people we think highly of will receive the greatest rewards in the kingdom, but we will be mistaken. There will be many people there who spent their whole lives using the church to build their own kingdom and following and make their own name great, only to find their work to be “wood, hay, [and] stubble” on that day (1 Corinthians 3:12). On that day, it will not be what man determines to be great, but what God determines to be great. It will be those who have followed in the footsteps of the Savior who “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Jesus laid down His life for us. Who are we selflessly laying down our lives for?
The Lord Jesus Christ modeled both humility and selflessness in an unparalleled way. He condescended as the eternal God to take on humanity, suffer, and die for sin. He laid down His life, which was far more valuable than any life ever, for the lives of undeserving sinners. He took the lowliest form and did it for others rather than Himself. True servants of Jesus Christ model this same humility and selflessness. If we are not humble and not selfless, then we cannot be servants in God’s kingdom, let alone great in God’s kingdom. Are you a true servant of God?