Tag: Being great

How to Be Great

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Today we are kicking off a brand-new teaching series called, Leverage. Over the next four weeks we are going to be working through Matthew 18 where we find Jesus giving a lot of focused attention to how life in the kingdom of God should work. He starts here at the beginning of the chapter with a discussion on what it looks like to be great in the ways that matter most. Let’s tune in together and see what He has to say.

How to Be Great

How do you move something heavy? Well, nowadays, if it’s big enough, you get a big piece of machinery and use that. For smaller things that don’t merit heavy equipment, you call some friends to help. A couple of years ago we got a new TV stand from Sam’s. Seeing it in the context of the enormous store did not give me a proper appreciation for how big it really was. After we bought it, I drove the family home so I could drive back to Sam’s with all of the seats down in the van and pick it up. I should have known what I was really in for when they loaded it into the van directly off of the forklift they were using to carry it…so that they didn’t have to carry it. It fit…barely. Once I got it home, and went around to the back and started pulling at the box to get a sense of what I was in for. I couldn’t budge it. So, I got on the phone and called TJ and Kevin who, much to their credit but as no surprise at all, came right over to help. The three of us did a further assessment of the box. Then they each got on the phone to call for more backup. I think we finally managed to get it into the house with four of us working together with lots of grunting and sweating. I don’t think it has moved much from the place we set it down since that day. 

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Digging in Deeper: Mark 9:33-35

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“They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest. Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Is there anything you do that you can say you’re the best in the world at doing? If you’re like me, while you may be good – even really good – at a few things, to say you’re the best in the world is probably not something you can claim honestly. Perhaps, though, you hold a Guinness World Record for doing something. You can search their archives for really obscure records and get them to come and watch you do it in order to claim the title. That would technically make you the best in the world until someone breaks your record. In spite of knowing we’re not the best in the world, though, most of us still want to be the best. We simply opt for a different level of greatness. If we can’t reach the pinnacle of world domination, then we’ll settle for being better than the people around us. This is a natural human tendency. It is a natural human tendency that Jesus here wanted the disciples to understand works very differently in the kingdom of God than it does in this world.

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Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 22:36

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“You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great.” (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

Sometimes when you’re reading through the Scriptures a particular verse catches your eye. Have you had that happen to you before? The reasons it does are manifold, but one of them is that it says something in a way you weren’t expecting. That’s what happened to me with this verse. 

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Digging in Deeper: John 10:41

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“And many came to him.  And they said, ‘John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Do you want to be great?  Most of us yearn for that.  I heard about another pastor a few weeks ago who does a blog too.  He has 200,000 followers.  My carnal first thought was, “I want 250,000.”  That’s inside of all of us.  We want greatness.  We want to be not just recognized, but recognized more than everybody else for what we have done.  Our culture encourages this too.  Our heroes are not great statesmen and scientists and public servants anymore.  Our heroes are sports stars and movie stars and social media stars.  It’s a great rat race whose catch is that there isn’t any cheese waiting at the end of the path. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: 1 Chronicles 11:9

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“And David became greater and greater, for the Lord of hosts was with him.”  (ESV)

If we want to be great, this is how it’s done.  There are other ways to be called great by the world.  Amass enough money and you’ll be called great.  Attain to a certain media status and you’ll have followers.  Acquire sufficient power and your name will be celebrated in the streets.  But that greatness won’t last.  Lose the money, the followers, or the power and you’ll be nothing.  As Coldplay sings in their hit “Viva la Vida,” you’ll sweep the streets you used to own.   Read the rest…