Introduction

Luke 22:21-30 ESV  But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.  (22)  For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”  (23)  And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.  (24)  A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.  (25)  And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.  (26)  But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.  (27)  For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.  (28)  “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials,  (29)  and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom,  (30)  that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

• You know I could write a whole sermon on the fickleness of man’s heart…
  • The ugly, sick, wicked nature of it’s blatant hypocrisy.
  • Even the most godly men fall to it’s tricks from time to time…
    • Just think about this section of scripture that we just read…
  • Jesus is eating the last supper, He has just commissioned communion, a holy sacrament that will remain until He get’s back.
  • Then Jesus drops this truth bomb:

Luke 22:21-22 ESV  But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.  (22)  For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”

• Woah, that’s some heavy stuff…
  • In a holy moment, during a holy feast, directly after the first holy communion… Jesus reveals that there is a traitor at the table… natural this revelation brings the drama of “WHO?! WHICH ONE OF US WILL BETRAY JESUS?!”

Luke 22:23 ESV  And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.

• All right, so far so good… they are partaking in one of the holiest moments in history, this incredibly big and dramatic truth get’s dropped, they are told one of them is a traitor and they talk about who it could be…
  • What is desperately wicked and disgustingly hypocritical about that pastor?
    • WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!
• Directly after the conversation of “Which one of us is going to kill our Lord” comes this conversation… not even a conversation… an argument!

Luke 22:24 ESV  A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

• Wait, what?! How is this a good time to talk about that? Not that any time is a good time to talk about such a prideful thing… but here, at the holy dinner, after finding out someone is going to kill Jesus… how did that transition?
  • “Bro, are you going to kill Jesus?”
    • “No way, not me, I mean I am the greatest disciple, so it can’t be me”
  • “Your not the greatest disciple, I am!”
  • “No your both wrong, I AM THE GREATEST, everyone knows it!”
    • In my mind I see this big cartoon argument erupting and Judas just quietly slipping out the door.
• But what is beautiful in all of this is our Savior’s response.
  • What you might expect from Jesus is that He would rebuke them, scold the, get upset with them.
    • “QUITE YOU NIMCOMPOOPS! I AM FIXING TO BE CRUCIFIED! ARE YOU NOT LISTENING TO ME?!”
  • But that’s not what Jesus does, instead He uses this as yet another opportunity to teach the truths of the Kingdom of God.
  • Jesus, before His betrayal, in the midst of petty squabiling, teaches His disciples exactly what they need to do to be great.

• Today we are going to talk about exactly what we need to do to be Great.
  • How to be great! This is a legitimate self-help sermon! I really am going to show you how Jesus taught us how to be great, so if you want to be GREAT then listen up, Jesus has it all lined out for us.

Point One – To Do Good is Better than To Look Great

Point one this morning is “To do good is better than to look great”.

• Let me say that again, in case anyone missed it…
  • To do good is better than to look great.

Luke 22:25-27 ESV  And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.  (26)  But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.  (27)  For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

• Let me just break this section of scripture down in plan English, because I had to read it and study it for a while to understand just the basics of what Jesus was saying…
  • Jesus is basically saying “Guys, you are arguing about who is the greatest… who has the highest position… but you are acting like the world!”
    • “The world cares greatly about things like titles and authority, but they do things backwards!
    • “The world thinks that they need to hold their power over people… rulers and kings try to look as powerful and important as possible…
    • “They show off their authority “LOOK HOW GREAT I AM! PRINCE ALI WORTHY IS ME! ALI ABABWA!”
  • “But this is not how things really work! In reality it is those who serve who are the greatest!”
  • “Look at me” Jesus says “Do I recline at the table or do I serve?
    • “The world would say that because I serve that I am less then those who recline…”
    • “But you know that I am God, and I am by far the greatest! Therefore ignore what the world thinks about greatness and instead be like me… SERVE!
• Church, honestly, I hope that each an every sermon that is preached here at CLC can be summed up in just four simple words:
  • Be more like Jesus
  • BE MORE LIKE JESUS
    • You want to be great? Be more like Jesus!
    • What did Jesus do? He humbled himself and served!
• This is why at CLC we honor the Biblical position of deacon and deaconess… because they are servants!
  • And our deacons definitely serve! One of the first things you learn in deacon training is that if you want to be a deacon you are going to have to SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE!
    • Cleaning toilets
    • Shoveling snow
    • Vacuuming floors
    • Being on greeting team when greeters don’t show up.
    • Being on ushering team when an usher is sick…
    • Whatever is needed, deacons serve… and the result of that, in God’s kingdom, is HONOR!
    • OUR DEACONS ARE GREAT!
• Let me show you the most extreme version of this…
  • Being a slave must be the lowest position of them all… yet you can be a slave and still be the greatest person in the room.

Ephesians 6:5-9 ESV  Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,  (6)  not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,  (7)  rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,  (8)  knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.  (9)  Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

• Here is what this is saying: Slaves, if you serve your master as if unto the Lord, God will repay you and make you great.
  • Masters, stop acting like you are all that and serve your slaves as unto the Lord and God will repay you and make you great.
• Look at the story of Joseph. JOSEPH WAS THE GREATEST MAN IN THE ROOM NO MATTER WHERE HE WENT.
  • When he was the youngest son, he was the greatest… because he served his brothers and his parents as unto the Lord. Thus his father loved him the most.
  • When he was a slave he served his master as unto the Lord, thus his master made him the lord of his house.
  • When he was a prisoner he served the prison as unto the Lord and he was set over the prison.
  • And when he was a politician he served as unto the Lord and he was made the 2^nd in command, seconded only by pharaoh himself.
• What does this tell us? It tells us that your position doesn’t matter, what matter is your heart for Christ and your heart for service! Want to be great?! Serve!
  • Want to be great in the workplace? SERVE YOUR BOSS AND YOUR COMPANY!
  • Want to be great at home? SERVE YOUR SPOUSE AND YOUR CHILDREN!
  • Want to be great at church?! SERVE THE CHURCH!
    • You want to know who I think are the greatest in the church?
      • Not those who come to me with critics and bright ideas… not that those are bad…
      • But it is those who I see constantly serving… they are the ones I ask to be deacons, they are the ones I want to ordain and set over ministries… the ones who serve as unto the Lord! They are the greatest in my eyes…
      • And they are the greatest in God’s eyes!
• And that brings us to point two this morning…

Point Two – The Quickest Way to Destroy Your Greatness is to Flaunt Your Greatness

Luke 22:25 ESV And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 

• That word benefactor means “Someone who helps someone lesser than them”.
  • You see, the rulers of this world love to shout “LOOK HOW I AM HELPING YOU! I AM YOUR BENEFACTOR!”
  • Because they think such talk keeps them in power…
  • But what actually makes you great is not what your words say, but what your actions do…
  • In fact, boasting of your goodness is a sure fire way to lose your greatness….
• You know what, let me let scripture preach the rest of this point…

Proverbs 11:2 ESV  When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 16:18-19 ESV  Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.  (19)  It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Proverbs 29:23 ESV  One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

Proverbs 8:13 ESV  The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

James 4:6 ESV  But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Proverbs 16:5 ESV  Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 18:12 ESV  Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.

Romans 12:16 ESV  Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

James 4:16 ESV  As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Proverbs 27:2 ESV  Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.

Point Three – Your Greatness is Not of This World

• This brings me to my final point, your greatness is not of this world…

Luke 22:28-30 ESV  “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials,  (29)  and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom,  (30)  that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

• Again, going with this line of thinking that he who reclines at the table is greater than he who serves the table…
  • And that the one who sits on the throne is greater still…
  • Jesus tells his disciples YOU WILL BE GREAT!
  • But your greatness is not for this world, this temporary trash heap of sin and corruption….
  • No, you will sit and dine with me at my table in eternity!
  • And you will sit on thrones judging the world…
• Not only that, but did you know that the Bible says we will judge angels?!

1 Corinthians 6:2-3 ESV  Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?  (3)  Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!

• What’s this tell us?
  • If we are to be so GREAT that we are to judge the world and angels… then don’t you think we can stop squabbling over who is the greatest now?
• I mean would you rather be royalty on earth, or royalty in heaven?
  • Would you rather sit on an earthly throne for 50 years, or a heavenly throne for eternity?
• You want to be great? It’s simple!
  • Get your eyes of the here and now, focus on the eternal, serve and love others… BE JESUS TO THEM… and God will bring you greatness.

Conclusion

In conclusion I just want to say this: BE LIKE JESUS!

Luke 22:27 ESV  For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

• Gospel Call