The Path to Greatness
Caleb Hyers | Mark 9:33-37
In this message on Mark 9:33-37, Caleb Hyers teaches on the path to greatness through servanthood, showing how Jesus redefines what it means to be first in the kingdom of God. Learn what the Greek words for servant and slave reveal about serving from identity instead of striving for status, a core teaching from The Resting Place Apostolic Family in Tampa, FL.
IF ANYONE WOULD BE FIRST, HE MUST BE LAST OF ALL AND SERVANT OF ALL
My title this morning is The Path to Greatness. It comes right out of the reading this week in our 90 Day Word Challenge, Mark 9:33 through 37.
And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
Powerful passage. I love that he asks a question he already knows the answer to. That’s how Jesus is. He asks, and they kept silent the whole way, because they had argued about who was the greatest. Notice they didn’t answer. He already knew.
I love that he doesn’t rebuke the disciples for wanting to be great. He never says that’s messed up, that wanting to be great is wrong. He never does that. He gives them a path toward what being first in the kingdom actually looks like. He leverages their desire to be great, but he reaims it toward servanthood.
Winning is good. I like to win. Does anyone else like to win? I don’t think anyone likes to lose. And if you’re making space for somebody, that’s a win in the kingdom too. There is something in us that is called to be more than overcomers, more than conquerors. We’re on the winning team. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to win. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be great. We just need to let God be the one who defines what greatness looks like, and what winning looks like.
This helps me. I’ll be interceding for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers later, because I want them to beat Carolina. I didn’t wear a jersey today, but that’s fine. We love each other. Winning is good, but winning at what? That’s the question.
I love how Jesus says he must be last of all and servant of all. That makes me think of Matthew 20. In Matthew 20:16, Jesus said the last will be first, and the first will be last. Later in that same chapter, in verses 26 through 28, he returns to the same idea: whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
SERVANT AND SLAVE
Servant and slave. That’s powerful language. Let’s look at it in the Greek, because the Bible was not written in English. Part of my job as a teacher is to help you see that.
The word servant in the Greek is diakonos, and it’s the word we get “deacon” from. That word literally means to thoroughly raise up dust by moving in a hurry, to kick up the dust in order to help. It’s not just “I’m here to help, how can I help?” It’s rushing to the need. That’s what Jesus says. You must be a servant, one who takes up the dust to help others.
The word slave is the Greek word doulos, and that word gets even more intense. It means someone who belongs to another, a bondslave without any ownership rights of their own. But ironically, doulos is used with the highest dignity in the New Testament, describing believers who willingly live under Christ’s authority as his devoted followers.
IN THE KINGDOM, WE GET FIRST PLACE BY RUSHING TO HELP OTHERS WIN THEIR RACE
So this path of greatness doesn’t sound like it’s going to make me very great, at least not in the world’s eyes. But it makes me great in the eyes of the Eternal One. Which one do you want, really? People’s opinions are fleeting. They might think you’re great today and forget you tomorrow. But if you pursue greatness in the eyes of the King, that’s forever.
So, to summarize: in the kingdom, we get first place by rushing to help others win their race. That’s the question. Are you on that race? Are you rushing? Are you looking to help others win?
THE MOST DEPENDENT CAN ALSO BE THE MOST DIFFICULT
But Jesus goes further in that same passage and says, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. That child is a picture of the least of these. It’s the most vulnerable, which can also raise the most hell. It’s the most dependent, and that can also make it the most difficult.
Jamaris and I have a two year old. He just turned two on Thursday, and he is the most difficult, because he’s the most dependent. He needs us for everything. He’s being potty trained, but he still stands in the hallway and shouts, “Pee pee! Pee pee!” He knows how to do it, but he wants us to go with him into the bathroom. He gets up on his little seat, and he still needs us to be there with him while he’s doing it. Mommy, Daddy, this is our life at home. Being the most dependent doesn’t mean he’s bad or that we should look down on him. It just means it’s the most difficult. This is a picture of that. So I want to say we should not only serve when it’s easy, but also when the need is great.
We say we’re not needs-based, we’re passion-based around here, because we want you serving in the place of your passion. A person fully alive glorifies God. That’s really how it works. And yet, we should not only serve when it’s easy or where we happen to be passionate. We should serve wherever the need is greatest. That may mean serving actual dependent children, your own or others. You have to serve your own. But you also get to choose to serve others.
Shameless plug: in TRP Kids next door, those little ones need voices of truth, trusted voices that will form them into God-fearing people. That’s not about checking a box. It’s about raising up the next generation. Someone is discipling our kids. If we don’t kick up the dust to serve our children into the truth, someone else will, the devil and all of his demons. Some of you wish you had a church family to serve you when you were younger. So who are we to sit back and say it’s not our passion? You don’t have to do it every other week. Do it once a quarter, once a month. Look for the need.
There’s a tendency in our culture to misinterpret passion. It should be shaped by what God says and by what he has designed us to be. Our staff has been talking about this. We’ve been discerning it together, and it matters.
It can mean children, but it can also mean grown adults who are in difficult circumstances. The least of these can mean grown people too. There have been times when I was down and out and needed the church to serve me, to help pay my bills. Some of you have been a recipient of that too. Our provision ministry comes into direct contact with those in our community who have the greatest need. It would be a shame to ever lack willing hearts and hands to help those people as they come. It can also mean the people around you every day who do not know the Lord. They need a light, and you may be the only one they have.
What did Jesus do for Peter? He filled Peter’s net to the point of breaking. Peter was a fisherman, and his net was so full he could barely haul it in. It was a huge catch for him as a businessman. What did Peter do then? He fell to his knees and said, “Depart from me, I am a sinful man.” That’s how you bring people into the kingdom. You serve them. You’re overly generous with them. You bless them. What if we stopped complaining about the world and served a lost and dying world into the kingdom instead?
We need to look at how God has designed us as an opportunity to do that. Has he given you time? Use it. Has he given you treasure? Use it. Has he given you talents? Use them. Look at all of it as your opportunity to serve others with passion, rather than an opportunity to serve yourself.
DO YOU WANT TO BE GREAT? RUSH TO SERVE SOMEONE ELSE
Our serve teams here at TRP are a safe place of empowerment for everyday life. We want you to become a better friend, because serving at The Resting Place teaches you interpersonal conflict resolution. We want you to become a better employee, learning how to show up on time. We want you to become a better communicator, learning how to share your thoughts in a healthy manner. Do those three things and you’ll stand out in society today. It isn’t even hard. You can keep eye contact, form a sentence, and show up on time. That alone makes you a winner.
Our serve teams are here to help you do that, and it’s not just about learning a task. It’s about learning to be a disciple of Jesus. You can learn how to serve in a safe environment where you can make mistakes and grow, so that it becomes second nature when you come across real needs in your everyday life. You can grow in your gifting here, and you can be sent out as a more equipped servant for whatever you’re called to. We’re not all called to everything, but we are all called to serve.
Here are a couple of questions for you. Do you want to be a great friend? Help a friend win. Do you want to be a great spouse? Married couples, this is your chance to earn some real credit. Help your spouse win their race. That’s the path to greatness. Do you want to be a great business owner? Help your clients achieve their goals. This is the way of the kingdom. Do you want to be great? Rush to serve someone else.
SERVANTHOOD IS THE PATH TO GREATNESS
We’re here to equip you for your own works of service, according to Ephesians 4:12, which says church leaders are to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. I should not be the only one doing ministry. I’m here to equip you to do the ministry. That’s why about 80 percent of our congregation serves. We’re giving you a space to be equipped.
We don’t serve to become something. We serve because Jesus first served us and showed us the path to greatness. Servanthood is the path to greatness. That’s why we’re doing a serve team rally today, and that’s why we want you to engage with those tables. That’s why we’re going to close a little bit early, so you can actually go do that.
Let’s stand together. We’re going to have a prayer team come forward. If you didn’t get a little map of the path to greatness, some folks are standing by the coffee in the back corner. You can grab one there, and use it to get a free drink from the cafe. Go to every table. I want to encourage you to do that.
I want to close with a benediction. If you’re here and you don’t yet know that God himself became the servant of all, that the God-man, Jesus Christ, put on human flesh and served humanity by paying the price for our sin, becoming obedient to the point of dying a cruel death on the cross so that we could be freed from what was holding us in bondage. Three days later he rose from that grave on his own power, and he ascended into heaven, and he is now seated at the right hand of God until all of his enemies become his footstool.
Friend, let me tell you something. You are not one of his enemies. Someone may have told you otherwise, but they were wrong. I don’t care who they are, what job title they hold, or how closely related to you they are. They were wrong. He’s not mad at you. He’s madly in love with you. Jesus thought you were worth dying for. The only question is whether we believe it.
This team is here to receive anyone who wants to believe on Jesus and make that confession, to say, “I want to give my heart to Jesus. I want to receive his lordship over my life and receive the washing of my sins.” That’s your opportunity. It’s also here if anyone needs prayer for sickness or pain. We want to see you healed, set free, and delivered over anything in your life. Come down and take the opportunity to do that.
We want to close our gatherings with a benediction from scripture, a sending blessing. Put your hands out, close your eyes, or place a hand on your heart, however you receive it best. I’m going to bless you with these verses from 1 Thessalonians 3:12 through 13.
May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Will you receive that blessing? Lord Jesus, we ask you to increase us, make us abound in love, and send us now. Here I am, Lord. Send me to serve somebody. Help me to serve. Put me on the path of greatness. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Bless you. Thanks for coming today. Grab something to eat and stay for the rally. We’ll have connection class in about twenty five minutes.
Transcript of a message delivered at The Resting Place Apostolic Family – Tampa Bay, FL – trpfamily.org
Watch this brief message by clicking here: https://youtu.be/hb7HvVizWuY