Too Good To Miss, Part 4 | “Be Great”

Today is the fourth and final part of this series that we've been in for the past few weeks called Two Good to Miss. And the subtitle is Three Things, Three Things You Can't Afford to Miss and How to Ensure You Won't.

And the premise of this whole series is, I believe that most of you have so much to look forward to in life. And even though we don't know each other, I don't want you to miss it. I don't want you not only to miss, I don't want you miss out on the good things in life and the things that God has for you in life, all the good that you have the potential to miss out on because either you were misled or maybe you got distracted.

And the good news, if there's some good news is most misses in life are inconsequential. You know, they're small things. You know there's gonna be another opportunity. You're gonna get more offers. You're going to get another, you get to go to the game again. There's gonna another game. There's other tickets, there's more invitations coming, there's another opportunity.

But some misses in life are very consequential. You get one chance at it, you get one shot at it. You get opportunity to, you can get one season. And if you miss one of those, that's rough. Because there's no going back. And you've seen that play out in the lives of friends. You've seen play out perhaps in the life of a family member. Perhaps there was a season you look back on and you're like, I just missed it. My priorities were wrong.

So you understand the gravity of this topic. But when you think about friends or family members as you stood back and watched it played out, you had this thought looking back at their lives, especially if it's somebody that you loved. You just thought all they had to do was All they had to do was, but they didn't. All they have to do is just go to class, you know? All he had to was prioritize his marriage. All she needed to do, was just go counseling. Just go to counseling. All they needed to was, you now, take better care of their health, pay more attention to their kids, travel less. I mean, it wasn't complicated and they missed it.

So again, the premise of the series is there's three things I'm convinced, this is just my opinion, that you just can't afford to miss in life. We talked about the first thing we said, first thing you don't wanna miss is Jesus.The second one we said was don't Miss family. That's last time we were together.

And today. I wanna give you the final thing that I'm just convinced you just can't afford to miss. And here's why this one's important. This potential miss determines how people experience you right now, and it will determine what they say about you later. So the third thing you can't afford to miss, don't miss great.

Not famous, great. Great is not the same as famous. In fact, you may know some famous people and they're not really all that great. In fact, you kind of wish you'd never met them. You like the idea of them and then you got close to them and you thought, okay, they're a famous person, they're influential person, but I don't think they're great.

Because great, as you're gonna see today, great is greater. Great is greater than famous. So here's my point today, in case you missed it. Here's, just wanna make it super clear. Here's the point today. You have an opportunity to be great every single day. And, and here's the point, the cumulative value, that's the key, the cumulative value of opting for great day after day is something you don't want to. Miss, but if you're not looking for it, and if I'm not looking for that opportunity day after day and every day, if you not looking for it and I'm looking for, we will miss it.

So I wanna invite all of us, whether you're a religious person or not, maybe you come from a different faith tradition, maybe you used to be a Christian, you're so sure anymore, wherever you are, I wanna challenge you to begin asking what I think is a great question. And then we're gonna define great. But you don't even need my definition for great. Again, you know great when you see it, and you know when you experience it.

So here's the question I wanna challenge you to ask. Maybe write it down somewhere, put it on a mirror, you can abbreviate it if you don't want people to know what's on your dashboard or wherever you're looking at stuff, but here's a question I would love for us to all ask, maybe every day for the rest of our lives. What would great? To What would great do? If I were really trying to be great, if I was really trying, what would great to do?

And to change the emphasis, what great would do? Because it's doing that makes the difference. Our internal motivation, our interior selves that nobody sees, it's important. But it's what we do that makes a difference. What would greater do? What would choosing great look like in your life? What would choosing great look like in this particular situation?

Now, If you're not a Jesus follower, again, you're a not a Christian, not a religious person, okay, this is a big, wide question. Here's what I would suggest. You should define great for yourself. Because again, when you see it, you know it when you experience it. You should decide what is a great person? What is the essence of greatness? And you should write that down. And then you should aim for it every single day of your life, in every arena of life. It'll make you a better husband and father, employer, employee, a better student. It'll make you a better everything.

So just decide what is great and shoot for great, but don't miss great because it defines how people experience you every day and it defines what people will say about you. Eventually.

But if you're a Christian or you're attempting to be a Jesus follower, we don't get to define it. It comes predefined. Jesus left us with a recipe for greatness. Here's what happened. Toward the end of his ministry, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover with his apostles. He's on the road. People are streaming in from all over the place. The roads are packed. And he knows this is his date with fate. He will not emerge from the city alive.

So as he's going along, he calls his 12 apostles in close as they walk, and he begins to tell them what to expect, because they're expecting him to rip off his rabbi robe and claim himself king. In fact, that's the rumor.

So as they're going along, Jesus begins to set the expectations for his apostles. And he says, guys, it's not what you think. When we get there, I'm gonna be arrested. I'm going to be arrested by the chief priest and his henchmen. And I'm gonna be mishandled. I'm going to be condemned to death, but because they can't put me to death they're gonna hand me over to the Romans. The Romans are going to humiliate me. He tells them, spit on me, flog me, and then they're going to execute me. Any questions? You guys still want to go? And they're like. Oh yeah.

And then it's the only time I have found in the gospels where it looks like Jesus is in a hurry. He gets like, he's walking so fast, he's out ahead of the pack as they make their way to Jerusalem. And the very next statement, because what he has just said and what happens next are connected. The very next is this. And coming up to him, because they had to walk kinda quick to catch up to Him, and coming up James and John, these are some of the original men that Jesus called to be his apostles. Peter, Andrew, James, and John. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come up to Jesus and they say to him, they look back over their shoulder to make sure the other guys can't hear him.

They say, teacher. Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. Okay, this sounds like one of your kids, right? It's like, will you do me if you do? Will you do whatever? It's just like, and Jesus says what a good parent says. He says, okay, you're gonna have to give me a little bit more information, okay? Before I just say yes, I'll do whatever you ask. What is it you want, and they look at each other like, you ask him, no, you asked him, do you ask, and eventually one says, okay, hey, would you let one of us sit on your right and the other on your left?

Asking for positions of authority and power. The right and the left of the king, those are positions and they recognize he's a king and they think when we get to Jerusalem, this is gonna be amazing. But then they're real specific. Let one of us sit at your right and one at your left in your glory, in other words, after you terminate your enemies. And we would prefer to skip the spitting and torture part, whatever that was about, like after all that, when you're in your glory, when everybody recognizes you as your King, could we be on your left and your right, positions of honor and authority?

Well, the other 10 guys hear about this conversation somehow, and Mark tells us that they were indignant. When the 10 heard about this, they became indignant with James and John, and they weren't offended on Jesus' behalf.

I mean, what they should have said is, guys, he just told us he's gonna be arrested and crucified, and all you care about is yourself. That's not their concern. Their concern was that these two guys were gonna get ahead of the rest of them, and next thing you know, they're having a kingdom of God org chart argument. Like, who's gonna answer to who and who's going to report to who and who is going to be, how far down are we gonna be? And Jesus is like. We've been together three years, three and a half years, and you still don't get it. So Jesus pulls them off the side of the road. You guys, everybody else, go ahead, go head. Gets them alone, sits them down, and says, okay. Let's go over this one more time. You know. That those who are regarded as rulers, kings, governors, you know how those who were regarded as ruler of the Gentiles lord it over them.

And the apostles are like. Yeah, we know how it works. And then Jesus doubles down, and their high officials, their kings and governors, and their higher officials exercise authority over them. In other words, they use their authority, they use the authority to force their will on the people that they rule.

The apostles are like, yeah, we, I mean, that's how the world works. And it's our turn. I mean Jesus. Why do you think we're following you into Jerusalem? You're the king, and we're gonna be close to the king. And we wanna be as close to the king as we can possibly be.

So Jesus pauses, you know how the world works, yeah? You know how their rulers rule, yeah. You know, how they prioritize what they need over everybody else. Yes, he looks at each one of them and he says. Not so with you. Not in my kingdom, not my followers. I'm flipping the script. I'm introducing a kingdom with a new power paradigm. And you guys should have picked up on this by now.

And then he says this, instead, not so with you, instead. And he uses a Greek term that is the strongest term of contrast in the Greek language. It's like the word but in capital letters with exclamation marks, but, or instead of, or on the contrary, or just the opposite is the idea.

Instead, whoever wants to become great among you. You guys want to be great? They're like, yeah, good. Anyone who wants to be great among, and I think he looks at James and John and smiles. You want to be great. You came up to me wanting to be great, you want to be great and then Jesus defines great. Kingdom of God, great.

Here's what he said. Instead. Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first, must become the slave of all. This means one thing to us that meant something entirely different in the first century. But here's his point. Kingdom Great is a race to the back of the line. And. The more influence and resources we have, the faster we should run.

And before they can raise their hand and object, Jesus removes all of their excuses and removes all my excuses. He says, for, I'm not done. He says I'm just not asking you to do this. Even. Even referring to himself, even the son of man, this is a phrase from the book of Daniel where Daniel refers to the son man, the one that God will send to rule and judge over all of man to judge all of mankind in the end. And he takes on this brand, this title over and over.

He says, for even the Son of Man talking about himself, even I did not come to be served. I'm not just saying this is for you guys. Even I didn't come to serve. But, and it's not neutral. It's like, I'm not gonna serve you, but I don't expect you to serve me. He goes, no, it's that. I didn't, not only did I not come to be served, I have come to proactively serve.

And then, I imagine as he's talking to them, he pauses, and he looks down the road to Jerusalem, and he says, and to give his life as a ransom for many. How far are you gonna take this serve other people thing, Jesus, to give my life away as a ransom for many? That is great.

The reason everyone should consider following Jesus even before you consider Jesus to be who Jesus claimed to be is because Jesus who claimed to God's unique son, God in a body, God who came to explain God, get this, never played the God card on his own behalf.

And then He says to you and He says me, follow me. What? Would great do if great was you? What would great due if great with you? Do you wanna be great? Don't miss this part, look up here. Don't this great or you'll regret it and we've all missed it. Look up here, Don't miss great or you'll regret it. Those are our regrets. Your greatest regret is connected to your decision to be less than great.

And I don't know how this works. You know, heaven and Jesus and all those things and you don't wanna hear the preacher say that, but I don't know how all of this works, but I just wonder. And at times, Jesus doesn't look at me or look at us or look Christians in general in the United States and think, wait. Guys, you sing about the cross every Sunday. You're grateful for the cross because you've got forgiveness of sin. A bunch of you wear a cross. But on a daily basis, you won't embrace the cross. You refuse the cross, be great like your king is great. It won't cost you your life. It just costs some time and some pride. And it's perhaps our greatest opportunity in the world to leave a dent on the world.

Fast forwarding, they eventually make it to Jerusalem. They're there about a week. And finally, the gathering, the Passover, time for the Passover meal comes along. They get a room, Jesus gets a room. He's there with just the apostles, the 12 of them and him.

And then this. This remarkable statement by the Gospel writer, John. In fact, the only way John knew this was after the resurrection, Jesus, in a lot of gaps, and this is one of the gaps he must have filled in, because John tells us that while they were gathered for Passover, and you gotta get the picture, they're not sitting around a table. One of the Gospel writers says they were reclining, which means they had a very low table, a short table, and they're on an elbow.

So all of them are facing each other with their bodies kind of sprawled out like a fan all the way around this table. And John tells us this, this is amazing, that while they were having this Passover meal at some point, Jesus, knowing, like it dawns on him in a new and fresh and powerful way, recognizes Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things, that God the Father had given all things into his hands.

And Matthew, at the end of Matthew, when you read about the Great Commission, we call it the Great Commision, Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And apparently, this is the moment when it dawned on Jesus in some new kind of fresh way that all authority, imagine that, all authority has been giving to him. It has been placed in his hands and that he had come forth from God and he was going back to God. All authority over all things.

The picture, it's like God the Father said, here are the keys, and I'm going back inside. Do with them what you will. Here's all power and all authority, hands off. Do with it what you well. And the very next move he makes, it's not even a break in the sentence structure. It's like as soon as that dawned on him. He got up from supper, and he laid aside his rabbinic robe, his outer garments, and he took a towel and he wrapped it around his waist, and they panicked.

It's like, wait, he's about to wash our feet. And then they realized a servant never showed up, a slave never showed to wash feet, and they never considered washing each other's feet. In that culture, a rabbi who had disciples, disciples did a lot of things for the rabbi, they never washed their feet, only a servant or a slave washed anybody's feet, it was as low as you could possibly go, and Jesus is about to wash their feet and they had seen what he had been able to do with those hands, and those hands were gonna touch their dirty feet, and again, they're all fanned out, They are all eye to eye with each other, and Jesus is behind them on his knees. Work in his way around that table.

And then he asks us a question. Of course, the question was to them, but it's a question that leapfrogs into the future, into our world. And here's his question after he washes their feet. Do you understand what I have done for you? Do we? Do I? Do you understand what I have done for you?" He'd wash their feet, and the next day, he was gonna wash their sins away, and my sin away. And you're sent away. Do you understand the level to which I have taken what I've taught you all these years? I was not kidding. It's not an iteration of, it's not a new version of, it's a complete reversal.

And then he says this now. That I, your Lord and teacher, now that I your boss, now that you're king, now I am the person with all power and authority, now that your Lord or teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet and you have no excuse not to. Because I went first.

The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God that is on planet earth because the king came to planet earth is an others first, one another kingdom. And when that saturates the thinking and the behavior of Christians in a community, in a family, in a nation, things changed.

Once upon a time, it changed so much the Roman Empire capitulated and declared Jesus a king. I have, he goes on, he says, I have set for you an example that you should. I have said for you, an example, that you shouldn't. Here it is again, the platinum rule that I talk about all the time. The golden rules, you know, do unto others, you would have others do unto you. Everybody thinks that's what Jesus taught and that was the standard, that's not the standard. He's about to say in a different way, the standard that he repeated over and over. We call it, or Paul, the apostle, Paul said it's the law of Christ. It's our new covenant marching orders.

He says, I have set for you an example that you should do as I have done for you in all things. If I was willing to go this low, everything is on the table. This is the commandment that eliminates the need for all the other commandments. This is pathway to great.

There are no loopholes when there's only one commandment. There's no work around when it is this all encompassing. If you wanna be great, this is what great looks like. This is what Great acts like. This is great does. And then he finishes with this, a promise to you and to me, to us.

He says, now that you know these things, now that's you know, these things you're no better off. But now that you know these things, you will be Makarios. You will be fortunate. You will happier. You will blessed if you do them. Isn't it true the happiest people you know are some of the greatest people you know when you define great according to Jesus? Because they are the most others, first people you know.

Years ago, I read a book, a little book that was good. It was a good book, but there was one part that was life, I don't know if life changing, but it made a big dent. And I've carried these quotes around ever since. The book's called Founding Brothers. It's a book about the founding fathers of our nation by Joseph Ellis. And in the book, he makes an observation about George Washington, our first president.

And I'll close with this, listen to this. He says, first, it is crucial to recognize that Washington's extraordinary reputation rested less on his prudent exercise of power than on his dramatic flair at surrendering it.

And then this, upon learning that Washington intended to reject the mantle of emperor, because the United States are like... Why? We don't need another president. Just listen. And there was, they wanted to use the word emperor. Even though they had left a king, they, let's make him emperor. A dynasty. Upon learning that Washington intended to reject the mantle of emperor, King George III allegedly observed, if he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.

I mean, he's great because he's the president of this new nation. He's great, because he led them to military victory over a world power. I mean he's already great, but if he gives up that position, if he give up that power, if he gave up that authority, this is coming from a king. He says, then, then he will be the greatest man in the world. Here's what the king knew, that you'd have to be a king to fully understand. Greatness, real true greatness doesn't need a title. And true greatness does it need a prop. Greatness just needs an opportunity.

And you will have that opportunity before this day is over. And so will I. Don't miss it. Ask, what would great do? Before I do what I normally do, before I respond like I normally respond, before I react like I normal react, before I pretend like I'd normally pretend. What? What if I was great? What would great do? Don't Miss great. Don't miss the kingdom of God great. Don't miss Jesus.

Imagine. Imagine if we took this literally, seriously in every arena of life. Imagine your marriage. Imagine your home. Imagine our community. Imagine a world of that kind of great. Don't miss great. It is determining how people experience you now and It will determine what people say about you later don't miss it.