Following Jesus - Week 3: The King Leads Us to True Greatness | Philippians 2:6-

I hope you'll join us on this journey as we follow Del toward the empty.

So during March Madness, Coca-Cola uh debuted a brand new commercial.

It's part of a global ad campaign that's attempting to answer the question uh best Coke ever?

And if you watch the Razorbacks make their run to the Elite Eight, you no doubt saw this commercial dozens and dozens and dozens of time.

So in the ad, Joel Embiid, he's the all-MBA center for the Philadelphia 76ers, approaches a vending machine.

And this vending machine only has two options.

He can either choose uh Coke Classic or Coke Zero.

And in the commercial, you see Joelle Embiid press a button, take out the can, crack it open, and take a swig.

But it never tells you which option that he chose.

Did he choose Coke Zero or did he choose Coke Classic?

Instead, um the commercial ends this way.

It ends with these words on the screen.

It says, debate the GOAT-ness.

Do y'all remember that commercial?

Anybody remember seeing that commercial?

Until the hogs got beat by Duke, right?

You watched it, you saw it.

Debate the GOATness.

GOAT, it's an acronym that stands for greatest of all time.

And so Coca-Cola wants you, the consumer, decide of all of the lineup of our Coke products, which one for you is the greatest of all time?

Is it Coke classic?

You know that, the standard bear, the iconic flavor.

You grew up drinking Coke.

But just so you know, if you're watching your waistline, Coke may not be your favorite, right?

Every 12-ounce can, 140 calories, and something like 40 grams of sugar in just a single 12-ounce can of Coke.

Or maybe now your uh favorite in the Coke lineup is Coke Zero.

You're watching your waistline, you're you're trying to stay fit and trim.

It's it's soon gonna be lake season and beach season.

Um and so you drink Coke Zero, zero calories, zero sugar, and they tell me that the flavor of Coke Zero is um almost the exact same as the original form.

Brad disagrees.

Not the same.

You're tricking yourself if you believe it tastes the same.

Um and then really the third option, it because it's the option, it wasn't in that uh vending machine, but it's the option we keep in our refrigerator at home because it's what Lauren drinks.

Diet Coke.

Again, uh zero calories, zero sugar, but it has kind of a lighter uh flavor.

And and those are kind of the big three options of Coke to debate the goatness, which one of those, the classic, the the Coke Zero, or the Diet Coke, are the greatest of all time.

And I'm curious by a show of hands, who thinks Coke Classic is the greatest of all time?

Okay, good.

I appreciate that.

Uh to be honest, I haven't had a Coke, and Lauren can attest to this.

I have not probably drank a Coke since we have dated.

Like before we started dating, I stopped drinking Coke.

Um, I had to watch my waistline in college a little bit, okay?

So um I just cut it out altogether and went to water.

But if I ever had to choose, it would be Coke Classic because that's what my granddad would bring to me uh every day after school.

Not only did he bring me Coke, it was this can of Coke and he put it in the freezer for about 45 minutes before he came to pick me up, so it had slivers of ice in it.

It was amazing.

Okay, so enough about that.

Is anybody uh among the Coke products, the greatest of all time is Coke Zero?

Anybody think Coke Zero is the greatest of all time?

We got a couple, yeah.

Uh we got a couple who are willing to admit it that they're settling for a lesser flavor.

Good for you.

Great.

Um is anybody, anybody, according uh to your perspective, Diet Coke is the greatest of all time?

Greatest of all time?

My wife, you have to raise your hand.

You have to testify that it's the greatest of all time this morning.

So we got a few more.

So actually, Coke Zero was coming in last place.

It went Coke Classic for us, Diet Coke, and then uh Coke Zero.

And you know, kind of what uh Coca-Cola masterfully has done by asking that question and giving us that command to debate the goatness, their marketing department, I think, is actually tapped into uh a deeply entrenched cultural conviction that we have.

And here it is, that we possess a drive for greatness.

That we in our culture are obsessed with greatness.

Earlier this year, Tom Brady's retirement from the NFL, it dominated the news cycle.

His retirement and then his unretirement, his change of heart, because why?

He's the GOAT, he's the greatest of all time, he's won seven Super Bowls.

Or in our culture, we memorialize the great ones.

You can think about the faces emblazoned on the side of Mount Rushmore.

Or think about our love of competition.

We love competition because it separates those who are excellent from those who are average.

We love cooking competitions and we love singing competitions, we love sports competitions, or in your own life, it's that drive for greatness that uh led you to take every single AP class that you could take because you want to be the valedictorian in your high school class.

Or it's that drive for greatness that leads you to work too much so that you can always meet and surpass your goals at the office.

You want to be great.

You're convinced that if you meet those goals, it opens up new doors, new opportunities, right?

Rise through the ranks.

All of us, listen, we all enjoy marveling at the greatness we see in other people.

That's why we watch the sp watch sporting events, it's why you watch a singing competition.

But all of us as well, we want to be great at something ourselves.

There's this drive of greatness within each of us that is oh so strong.

So kind of here's the question right now.

Um, how do you know if you're on your way to greatness?

How do you know if you're not only do you have a drive for greatness, but that maybe you're destined for greatness?

Well, according to our culture, um one of the signposts that tells you you're not only have a drive, but you're destined for greatness is a signpost that reach uh reads climb higher.

Climb higher.

Um you could climb higher in this way.

It could just be like um you've climbed higher at school and you're you've got a huge group of friends, and people kind of think that you're popular, right?

Everybody wants to be with you and everyone wants to be like you.

Um it could be that um you climb higher and you got into the college that you wanted to get into and none of your friends got into it, and you feel like you've climbed higher, you've climbed above them.

Um it could be climbing higher is that now you have that corner office with a view, or that as you enter into retirement, you can live a comfortable life.

You feel like you've achieved some level of greatness.

Um but but that's not the only signpost.

There's also a signpost that says this it says gain more.

So climb higher, gain more, and it could just be that you uh gain more possessions and you gain more power, uh more influence, more authority, more opportunities.

Again, according to our culture, those are the two signposts, climb higher and gain more, that tell you not only do you have a drive for greatness, but if you pass those two signposts, then most likely you are destined for greatness.

And listen up, um, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with climbing higher or gaining more.

There's nothing intrinsically evil about those two signs.

Here's what I know is true in our world.

Every organization and every corporation is gonna have a CEO.

It's gonna have a boss, right?

And I think those organizations and those corporations in our world benefit when a Christian is the CEO who is faithful to Jesus Christ.

That they benefit because a Christian is in that position of power.

Or think of it this way: listen, colleges across our country will have students on their campus.

They will.

Every single fall, there'll be a new freshman class that arrives.

And they are training on that college campus, they are training the next generation of what?

Doctors and lawyers and teachers and engineers and architects.

They're training that next generation.

And I believe that, listen, we need Christians in each and every one of those vocations.

It's okay to want to achieve and climb higher and achieve and reach your goals.

But listen, while there's nothing intrinsically wrong with climbing higher or gaining more, it doesn't necessarily make you great.

But just because you climb higher than anybody else and you have that uh the job you always wanted, or you attend the college you dreamed of, or just because you gain more power and more influence and more authority, just because you do those two things, that doesn't make you great.

Not necessarily wrong, but it doesn't make you great.

But they don't make you great in the eyes of Christ.

All that to say, you and I, we still have this drive for greatness within us.

And if we're not gonna define greatness as climbing higher and gaining more, then what we really need is a new definition for what it means to be great in this world.

What it means to achieve that greatness that is within all of us that we want to see fulfilled and happen.

So today we're continuing our current series, Following Jesus.

In the weeks leading up to Easter, we're trying to get up close and personal with Jesus.

Um, because in week one, we reminded ourselves of that childhood lesson: be careful who you follow.

Um we know that if we follow the wrong leader in this world, we'll end up in the wrong place.

And we want to follow Jesus because our life depends on him.

He's not just our leader, he's our Lord.

That's what we talked about in week one.

We follow our Lord, so we choose not the wide road that leads to destruction, but we choose the narrow road that leads to life.

And then in week two, as we again got up close and personal with Jesus, uh, we looked at Jesus through the lens of him fulfilling the Old Testament office of the prophet.

We said last week, remember, Jesus is not just a prophet, but he does fulfill the role of a prophet.

And a prophet is one who speaks for God, and because a prophet speaks for God, the prophet speaks truth.

And the truth that Jesus spoke to us last week was a hard truth, a hard truth that called us to repent, but it was also a hope-filled truth, a truth that did what?

That pointed us to his cross and to his resurrection.

And now in week three, as we once again we want to get up close and we want to get personal with Jesus, we're gonna look at his life through the lens, through the office in the Old Testament of the King.

Psalms tells us that the Lord is our great King.

Psalms tells us, God's word tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is our what?

Great King.

And if we are people who follow the Lord, then we need our great King to define greatness and what it means to be great in this world for us.

Here's what we know about the king we're gonna meet, King Jesus, this morning in terms of greatness.

Here it is the king leads us to true greatness.

The king leads us to true greatness.

So the nation of Israel first requested that God would give them a king in the book of 1 Samuel.

It's in chapter 8.

Um, and one day the elders, um, the leaders of Israel, they approach Samuel.

Um in the tooth, um, and they don't really respect his two sons.

They're a handful, let's put it that way.

Um, and so the elders of Israel they approach Samuel and they just say, Hey, Samuel, appoint a king to rule us just like everybody else.

Appoint a king to rule us just like everybody else.

So, one of the reasons that the people make this request of Samuel to have a king is because a king would indicate to the world around you that you were a great and a powerful nation.

You needed a king who would lead you out into battle.

A king that would tell everyone that you had it pulled together, you were not to be trifled with, you should not be attacked.

We want to be great in the eyes of the world.

But hold on, look at that last phrase.

Just like everybody else.

Just like, and this is a freebie that doesn't really fit with this sermon, it just fits with all of life.

Okay?

Just like everybody else.

Whenever that's what you tell somebody, or you tell yourself, or you tell your spouse, or you tell your parents, I just want to be like everybody else, you're on thin ice.

Okay?

We just want to be like everybody else.

We just want to be like all the other nations, God.

Can't you just give us that one small favor?

Samuel is literally crushed by this request.

He's not sure what to do.

He goes to God, he prays to God, he he lays it out at the feet of God, and God says, just give them what they want.

They don't listen to anybody.

I've been trying to tell them.

And listen, don't take it too hard, Samuel.

Like sometimes when people say things to us, don't we take everything personally, right?

And God's like, don't take it personal, Samuel.

It's not about you, it's about me.

They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me because they want to be like everybody else.

They've defined greatness according to the ways of the world.

But then God, he he gives Samuel, Samuel's a prophet, right?

That's one of his offices.

He fulfills the role of a prophet.

And so God gives Samuel a word to speak to Israel.

They've requested a king, and God says, Well, just give them this word of warning about their desire for a great king.

Tell them what's going to happen.

1 Samuel chapter 8, starting in verse 10, says this.

1 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

It says, This is the way the kind of king you're talking about operates.

He'll take your sons and make soldiers of them.

He'll put some to force labor on his farms.

He'll put your daughters to work.

He'll conscript your best fields, vineyards, and orchards, and hand them over to his special friends.

He'll tax your harvest and vintage to support his extensive bureaucracy.

Your prize workers and best animals.

He'll take for his own use.

He'll lay a tax on your flocks, and you'll end up no better than slaves.

I know you guys really well.

That is not the kind of leader y'all want, is it?

Y'all don't, you're not jiving with that, right?

And God gives them fair warning.

Fair warning.

If you want a king who's gonna see greatness like everybody else sees greatness, be wary.

Because according to God, when Israel is great according to the standards of the world and have this king, that means this king is gonna climb higher than anybody else.

He's gonna be untouchable, and no one can hold him accountable.

And not only is he gonna climb higher than everyone else, he's gonna gain more.

He's gonna gain more because he's gonna take from you and he's gonna tax you.

He's gonna make life easier for himself and for his friends, and he's gonna make your life harder.

If that's the greatness you want, I'll give it to you.

Latent within um the world's definition of greatness of climbing higher and gaining more, latent within it is this idea that greatness always has this temptation and often will result in the one who is thought to be great, the leader, stepping on people and stepping over them.

That the leader who is thought to be great is gonna demoralize the people he's in charge of.

That the leader who the world says is great, he's gonna take advantage of every opportunity and make sure that it benefits him.

Unspoken, listen, in the world's definition of greatness is this is that this world is dog eat dog, it is survival of the fittest.

And there is always just gonna be a place for those who have and those who have not, and there's always gonna need to be someone who's in charge and at the top who has all of their needs met and is above everyone else, and then everybody else is a slave at a slave and a servant.

If greatness is all about climbing higher and gaining more, and I would even venture to say this that definition of greatness, it is teetering on the edge.

When greatness is climbing higher and gaining more, it's teetering on the edge of aligning itself with the mission of Satan himself.

Satan comes to steal and kill and destroy.

And a greatness that just is all about climbing higher and gaining more.

What God describes is someone who steals and kills and destroys, right?

He's saying, I'm gonna give you a king, and you're gonna think that he's great, but I want you to know he's aligned with the one who is opposed to me and wants to defeat me and he wants to take everything from you.

That's the definition of greatness you're choosing.

And here's my fear that we like Israel are okay being like everybody else, especially when it comes to greatness.

And we see the consequences of that decision in our marriages, in our homes, in our businesses, and in the witness that we offer to this world.

And by witness, I mean that our lives don't line up with Jesus Christ.

Because we've decided we're gonna be like everybody else when it comes to how we understand and how we live out this idea of greatness.

Yeah, all of us, listen, we all have a drive to be great, and that's okay.

The drive, again, was put in you by God.

He is a great God, and you are fearfully and wonderfully made by the great God of this universe.

We all just need a new definition.

We need to get, again, up close and personal with King Jesus so that he can tell us that greatness is not climbing higher and getting more.

Because remember what we said about Jesus.

So in the Old Testament, these kings are humans and they are fallen and they are broken and they are wicked and they are corrupt.

They are kings, but Jesus is our true and better King.

Which is why we can know this: that King Jesus, our King, leads us to true greatness in this world.

What it means to be truly great.

I don't know what I just did.

I kicked this thing.

I try not to kick things just so you know, Trey.

Get out of my way.

Hey, but let's listen to what Jesus says about greatness, okay?

This is what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 20.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

We're gonna start with just one phrase out of verse 25.

Jesus called them together and said, Let me tell you why Jesus called them together.

So Jesus and his disciples are traveling on this road to Jerusalem, and um he gathers together the disciples for uh this very specific conversation because a request had just been made of him by the mother of James and John.

Her request of Jesus is really straightforward.

She just says, Hey Jesus, my boys, I see a lot of potential in them.

I see the greatness that's latent in them.

Jesus, can you just let them sit at the left and the right when your kingdom comes?

I just need my boys.

Like I see it all in them.

I've raised them right.

They're good boys.

I need them to have a little bit more power and a little bit more authority.

They've earned it, they deserve it.

They have this opportunity, and she just thinks that they have to be destined for greatness.

And that request, I think, catches Jesus and his attention because this well-intentioned mother is talking about greatness through the eyes of the world and not through the eyes of Christ.

So, Jesus, what's he do?

He gathers them all together and he said this.

He said this.

He said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their high officials exercise authority over them.

The disciples knew this.

They knew all too well how Rome ruled the world.

To demonstrate their power and their greatness, Rome took and put their thumb and took the life out of people.

The Romans, listen, they stepped on, they demoralized, and they took advantage of every situation.

And so when Jesus says, You know, I can just see them all going, we do know.

We've seen it, we've heard about it, we've lived it.

And then Jesus says these really four powerful words.

He says, Not so with you.

Not so with you.

Kind of countering that desire in 1 Samuel 8, we just want to be like everybody else.

What does Jesus say?

No, you don't.

You're not gonna live like everybody else, not so with you.

That might be how the world sees greatness, but that's not how I define greatness.

And then Jesus says this.

Whoever wants to become great among you, notice that Jesus in that moment, he doesn't squelch the drive to be great.

He assumes that because you are created in the image of God, a great God, there is a sense in which you are wired for greatness in the world.

Nor does Jesus assume this, and I think this is especially important in our culture.

Jesus does not assume that greatness is for just a few.

Jesus says, whoever.

Jesus offers an open invitation for you to be great.

And that's so revolutionary, isn't it?

Because some of us have heard people in our life over and over and over say you're never gonna amount to anything.

You're you're average, you're mediocre.

You're never gonna rise through the ranks, you're never gonna be good enough.

You're never gonna be great in the classroom, you're never gonna be great in the boardroom, you're never gonna be great on the ball field.

That's for just a few select people.

That's the world's perception of greatness, right?

The world's perception of greatness is that greatness is for just a few at the top, and everybody else serves them at the bottom, meets their needs at the bottom.

But listen carefully this morning.

In the eyes of Christ, in the eyes of the one that truly matter, the invitation to be great is for anyone and everyone, because the king leads us to true greatness.

The next thing Jesus says is this Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.

With those few words, Jesus tells us, He redefines what true greatness actually is.

According to the world, greatness is what?

Climbing higher.

But Jesus says, no, no, no, true greatness is going lower.

True greatness is going lower, it's being a servant.

According to the world, in the eyes of the world, uh the signpost that says you are driven towards greatness, that you are destined to be great, says you're gonna gain and you're gonna gain and you're gonna gain.

And Jesus says, No, no, no, no, no, that's not true greatness.

True greatness is giving more.

It's giving more to people.

It's being a slave.

Getting lower and giving more.

Those are the signposts that King Jesus gives us that point us to true greatness.

Um because that is the way that he lived his own life.

And Jesus is truly great.

Amen.

He is.

Are some of y'all questioning the greatness of Jesus this morning?

Are we concerned that he's not as great as he says he is?

That he isn't who he says he is?

No, Jesus is truly great.

And when he says you can be great, and even says in John's gospel, you're gonna do greater works than these.

Greater things than I've done, you can do.

There's greatness that I want to see you fulfill in this world.

But you gotta follow me.

And really, it just lines up perfectly with Jesus' life that Philippians chapter 2 says, though he was God, he did not think equality of with God, uh, of equality with God as something to cling to.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Instead, he gave up his divine privilege.

He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being when he appeared in human form.

Verse 8, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on the cross.

Notice the flow of Philippians 2.

It's called the Christ hymn, the Christ song in Philippians.

It begins with the statement, though he was God, Jesus again is inherently great.

Then following that statement of Jesus' greatness, Jesus demonstrates his greatness not by climbing higher, but by getting lower, getting lower, coming to this earth and playing like a game of limbo here.

Like, how low can you go, Jesus?

How low can you go?

And Jesus says, I can go so low that I'm like a slave.

I'll go lower than anyone else is willing to go.

In the eyes of the world, Jesus says, I'm on the bottom of the social ladder.

In the eyes of the world, no one would think that Jesus is great.

And then Jesus further demonstrates his greatness.

But it's not by gaining, it's by giving.

Hear it again.

The king leads us to true greatness because true greatness is embodied in his life.

It's embodied in his life because what did Jesus do?

He was all about going lower and giving more.

Here's the question that I want to leave us with this morning.

What would our homes be like if fathers and husbands followed Jesus and exhibited that sort of true greatness?

What would our homes be like?

What would our marriages be like?

If husbands and wives met one another and tried to live truly great lives, where they got lower and tried to outserve one another, where they tried to give more of themselves to those God has entrusted to their care?

What would our church be like?

If instead of having power and privilege and position just to think you can make decisions or have influence, you're like, I just want to go serve people.

I want to meet needs.

I want to use my gifts to reveal Jesus to the world.

And maybe the final question is this um what would our community be like?

Like, what would El Dorado be like?

If Christians live truly great lives.

If we live truly great lives of going lower and giving more.

Fewer kids would be looking for mentors.

Organizations like um Hannah, Eagle Foundation, Hope Landing, place like that wouldn't, you know, be scrounging all the time looking for volunteers, more and more volunteers.

I I think sometimes we're we're content to just be like everybody else.

Because it means our lives are comfortable and easy when we live our life according to that definition of greatness.

But Jesus' definition of greatness, listen, that's what the world needs.

That's what our community needs.

Listen, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ this morning, hear this.

Jesus is calling you not to a mediocre life or an average life, a just getting by kind of life.

He's calling you to a great life.

A great life where you just exhibit that by getting lower, going lower, going lower, going lower, serving more, serving more, serving more, and giving more, and giving more and giving more and giving more.

And we do that, listen, because we want to show the world who our Savior is.

Our greatness, any ounce of greatness we can exhibit in our life, is first and foremost a reflection of his greatness.

That he, though he was God, came to this earth.

He got lower, he became a slave.

Though he was God, he gave up his life.

He gave more than we could ever give.

And Jesus, our King, he is truly great.

And now may we honor him and live for him by offering him our lives as living sacrifices, lives that he would say, Yeah, that's a truly great life.

You got it, you got it, you figured it out.

And I promise we follow Jesus in this way.

Our homes will benefit, our kids will benefit, our schools will benefit, our businesses will benefit, our community will benefit, and ultimately the world will benefit.

Let's stand together and pray.

Almighty God, we thank you that you sent your son Jesus so that we could see what true greatness really is, and that our King Jesus He points us and He leads us to living truly great lives.

Truly great lives that are lived for the sake of other people, for the sake of this world.

And Jesus, right now as we sing, I just pray and ask humbly that in your mercy you would allow us to see your face more clearly.

And that we would see you pointing us and leading us to be your servants in this world.

I just want you right now, I want you to think through the definition of greatness that right now is driving your life.

Is it all about climbing higher and gaining more?

If so, repent, confess, and turn to Jesus.

Hear Jesus say, not so with you.

Start getting lower today when you go home.

Start giving more today.

Start today living a truly great life.

Jesus, speak to us at this hour.

In your name we pray.

Amen.