Spiritual GREATNESS

Spiritual Greatness

“…Call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father which is in Heaven. Neither be called masters, for one is your Master even Christ but he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted….”

Matthew 23:9-12

 I am sure that you would agree that the measure of “greatness” is a measurement that has heightened relevance to “positional power”, material gain and socio-economic status. The humanistic position of greatness has a very large following, in that; many envision greatness to be something that places you in a self-promotional place of exalted prominence.

The notion of this kind of “greatness” communicates a position of pride, ownership, and self-righteousness to so many others (including ourselves), and creates a kind of dominance over others that is NOT in the image of God whatsoever. If we notice in the Matthew passage, Jesus dealt with three structural & authoritative positions of both the Scribe and Pharisee: Rabbi, Father and Master. The Scribes and Pharisees were seen as religious leaders, as well as religious “authorities.” However, they were also groups who greatly oppressed the people with their positional and self-exalted dominance.

The way these groups attain much of their status was by being seen as the largest, heard as the loudest and feared as the greatest. They demanded that others called them by their positional expletives. Therefore, Jesus was really teaching his disciples to NOT accept this example, but to follow HIS living example of true greatness.

“…One is your Teacher [Rabbi}…One is your Father…One is your Master even Christ….”

 Greatness, in this passage, is defined (from the original language) as large, strong, eminent, virtuous, highly esteemed and splendid. It comes from two Greek and Aramaic words: “Meizon” & “Megas” (where the English word “Mega” is derived).

So then, for a person to become large, strong, eminent, virtuous, highly esteemed and splendid, the quest for material gain is not the answer. Positional prominence is not the way to achieve true greatness, nor is any kind of self-promotion. Jesus said that we MUST become servants! What a striking contrast. While the “common” notion is to attain greatness by trying to exalt myself, the Righteous notion is to bring ourselves to the lowest point – to do what the so called “large” people are unwilling to do because it is to “little” for them.

In this Righteous way, we therein become LARGE to God, and highly esteemed: He exalts us! Time does not permit me to teach on the purpose of being exalted, but I’ll say this: Divine Exaltation is NOT merely a reward for service, but an opportunity for God to be seen through what we do for HIM - to attain GLORY for himself. Being Divinely Exalted is an act of trust placed upon the life of the Servant of God to accomplish for God what other people what to accomplish proudly and selfishly. Therefore, true GREATNESS is when we serve other people to the point of becoming as nothing that Glory and Honor would be ascribed to our God! This is GREATNESS!

Grace & Peace,

Roc