July 6, 2024

Matthew 23:11-12

¹¹ But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

The way up is down. It is a principle that occurs over and over again in Scripture. But it is not a principle that is normal and natural to pursue. In fact, most people who are pursuing greatness are pursuing it with the intention of getting to a point in their lives where people are serving them, rather than them becoming the servants of others for their benefit.

The word, “servant,” is the Greek word that we get our English word, “deacon,” from. It literally means “a table waiter.” It is someone who is waiting to execute the commands or demands of another.

When I go to a restaurant, the best waiters/waitresses are the ones who anticipate and fulfill my needs. They make suggestions to improve my restaurant experience, And they deliver excellent service at my convenience with little regard for their own agenda.

Sadly, there have been times in my life where I have gotten a waiter/waitress that was distracted and not attentive to my needs. And when the service was bad, it detracted from the entire restaurant experience.

Now it was the table waiter who would make or break the experience of everyone at the table. And if this part of the experience was bad, even food prepared by a wonderful chef could not rescue the experience.

The kingdom of God is not unlike a restaurant experience. We all want to experience greatness. But somehow, we have this vision that greatness is akin to the pursuit of rockstar status, rather than table waiter status. This is an attitude that breaks the experience of greatness for everyone, yourself included.

When a person discovers the greatness that is derived from becoming a table waiter, something truly amazing happens that cannot be attained by rock stars. They enter into the amazing power of humility.

Humility is not weakness or passivity. Rather, it is the state of having great power under great control. It is the only way we can tap into the unlimited authority of God. The way up is down!

People who are looking to be served are short-circuiting the great power that is available to them. But people who are seeking to become the best table waiters are aligning themselves into a place where they can access the full authority of God and become a channel of God’s power into the lives of other people.

No person can ever access the exciting part of Christianity when they are seeking to become a rock star. But for those who will seek to become excellent table waiters, anticipating and meeting the needs of others, the sky is the limit for living in the miraculous.

Why, as a general rule, is modern Christianity so powerless? Too many rock stars. Too few table waiters. And too little understanding of how to obtain greatness in the kingdom of God.

Rock stars rarely heal people or deliver them from torment. But the greatest table waiters are changing people’s lives for good and delivering them from the torments that would hinder them from experiencing the love of God.

My challenge to you: Seek greatness. Be a table waiter in God’s kingdom. It is a career that will take you higher than you can even imagine.