Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2003 : October 12, 2003
Dare To Be Different! Be Great in God's Eyes
Pentecost 18
Someone coined the phrase, "Some achieve greatness, but for others, greatness is thrust upon them." My kids were just watching one of those Veggie Tales videos -- this one was the story of Esther in the Old Testament -- and that was how the video started: "Some achieve greatness, but for others, greatness is thrust upon them." Esther was a case in point. Nowhere in the book of Esther is there any explicit reference to God. But the way that God is able to use ordinary people to achieve his purpose shows that God was in control of the events in Esther's life to save his people. Esther became queen of the Persian Empire, not because of who she was or what she did, but because God had a plan for her life. Esther wasn't great in and of herself; God was the one who made her great by what he did for her and through her.
Christians are great in that sense, too, not because of what they do to achieve greatness, but because of what happened to them, all by God's grace. As a result, Christians are different from those who don't know Jesus. So, since we are different, Jesus says, 'Dare To Be Different! Be Great in God's Eyes.' You find that you are great in God's eyes by following Christ to the cross and tomb, and then you can show that greatness by following Christ in your life.
We find Jesus at a crossroads in his ministry. With only six months before his crucifixion, he wanted to withdraw from the crowds for a time. He wanted to teach his disciples. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to do what he had come to do, but he also knew how difficult it would be on his disciples to see him suffer and die. So he taught them in-depth regarding those events to prepare them for it. So He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise."
Christ was going to the cross. We know what would happen there, but his disciples didn't -- even when Jesus specifically told them. The reason lies in their idea of what the Savior of the world would do. They remembered all the prophecies about the Messiah being a mighty king. They certainly would have remembered Psalm 2:6,9: "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." He "will rule [his enemies] with an iron scepter;" he "will dash them to pieces like pottery." The disciples and the Jews loved to hear that kind of talk because they hadn't been a great nation in the eyes of the world since the time of kings David and Solomon, a thousand years earlier. They wanted Jesus to be great because they wanted to be great. That shows in what they were arguing about as they walked along with Jesus: "They had argued about who was the greatest." We hear about this argument a number of times occurring among the disciples. They wanted to be great in the eyes of the world.
Many of us can remember Muhammad Ali saying, "I am the greatest!" because he was the heavyweight boxing champion for so many years. I always thought he was such a pompous fool for saying such a thing. We would never be so arrogant. But then Jesus' words to his disciples' sober us up: "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." How did the disciples react to Jesus' words? They kept quiet; they were embarrassed. Why? Because Jesus had just told them how he would suffer and die for them, and all they could think about was who was the most powerful and prestigious among themselves. They had a good reason to be embarrassed.
I hope we are embarrassed as well because of how we have served ourselves instead of Christ. We might not say we are the greatest, but do we think we are so busy in our lives that we don't have time for serving others? Are we ready to set aside our own ambitions and desires in life and serve Jesus who so completely served us? Jesus showed us what service was all about. Yes, he would eventually show himself to be the mighty King that the Old Testament foretold. But first he would have to suffer so horribly, serve so completely, that you and I can't even fully appreciate it. Isaiah gave us a hint of what Jesus suffered for us: "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering...He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:3-5) In order to be able to see who Jesus really was, the disciples would first have to follow Christ to the cross where he would pour out his innocent, perfect lifeblood as the supreme sacrifice for sinful mankind. Then, after three days of seeming defeat, Jesus would rise from his tomb as the victorious Lord. When the disciples saw that, their lives changed. They were different. They were ready to serve.
When we follow Christ to the cross, we also see our lives changed. The disciples at this time didn't understand what Jesus' death and resurrection meant for them. But we do. When Jesus said, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men," we know that we are just as guilty of betraying our Savior as Judas was because our horrible, life-destroying sins that separated us from our God sent Jesus to the cross. Jesus had to be killed because of us. Let that sink in, and don't ever forget it. No, we didn't physically drive the nails into his hands and feet, but we drove our semi-load truck full of sins, backed it up to the cross and heaped them all on Jesus. We killed the Lord of Life with our sins. One sin that we think of today is how often we have tried to be the greatest in our lives, instead of serving our God as our greatest treasure.
But Jesus not only suffered hell because of us; he suffered hell for us. That was part of God's plan. When the Son of Man suffered for our sins and died in our place, God's righteous judgment and hatred against sin was met. Through faith, Jesus' life of perfection becomes mine. The resurrection proves it. Listen to the Apostle Paul: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." (Romans 6:4,5) Through the work of the Holy Spirit, you understand not only what Christ did for you, but also how it will impact the rest of your life.
Because of Christ, we are great in God's eyes -- he proclaims that you are perfect through faith in Jesus. So after following Christ to the cross and empty tomb, you can now follow Christ in your life. You are different; you are great in God's eyes through faith! So now dare to be different and great in God's eyes by following Christ in your life.
Jesus didn't say, "You will be the salt of the earth and the light of the world." He didn't say, "You might be the salt of the earth and the light of the world." Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world." You are different. You are a blood-bought saint of God, perfect in God's eyes and great in God's eyes. So as a result, you realize that your greatness doesn't come from the world. Last night I stood outside as the full moon was sailing through the heavens. As I looked at the moon, I noticed that clouds were racing by in front of it, and others, higher up, were being blown by a different wind in a different direction. But time after time, the moon broke free of the clouds to shine in the dark night. That got me thinking of how this world wants to obscure Christ. Instead of pointing to him as the Savior of the world full of sinners, the world would say, at most, that Jesus was great teacher, a good moral example, but nothing more. In fact, the world would have you believe that you are a fool for following him. And that rubs off on us. It affects every facet of our lives.
Jesus focuses on just one of those facets. "He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 'Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.' " For those of us who are parents, welcoming our own children isn't that hard. We care for them, we feed them, we try to raise them right. But as often as we show our love for them, don't we also show how we fail to love and care for them? Do our children always see us serving Jesus with joy, or do they hear us complaining about what we have to do for church once again? Do our children hear only wholesome and God-pleasing words coming out of our mouths, or do they hear us use God's name inappropriately? The most important thing we can do for our children is show them how important Jesus is. Do we do that all the time, or do we show them by our church and Bible class attendance that we think other things are more important at times? And as often as we've failed to serve our own children, just think how often we've failed with other children. Just like those clouds flying across the sky to obscure the light of the moon, our lives have often obscured Jesus to others, even children. Jesus used that example of children because children can't pay you back with much of anything. So what you do for a child, or for anyone, who can't pay you back, shows how much you want to serve your Savior.
But then we go back to cross, follow Christ there to see just how low he had to get to serve us, to declare us perfect in God's eyes, to make us different and great to God. Then we live differently. We will go out of our way to make sure our children are hearing God's Word on a regular basis. We will discipline them when they need it, even though it pains us more than it does them. And we won't be content to serve just our own children but other children by being a Sunday school teacher or getting involved with teen ministry, or just being there to show them we care. We will want to serve everyone, because Jesus served us so completely. That makes you different. That's not greatness in the eyes of the world -- that's being great in God's eyes. Dare to be different. You are different through faith in Jesus. The cross and tomb show you how much Jesus served you. Now follow Jesus as you live for him and others. That's what God calls great. Amen.
