Mark 9:33-37

³³ And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. ³⁵ And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

We have been discussing how Jesus came to earth and started redefining many things from serving, rulership, and leadership. And Jesus had to continually redefine it for the disciples who grew up with a different kind of thinking when it comes to leading and greatness. Jesus knew what they were arguing about and when asked, nobody wanted to answer. But Jesus won’t let go of this topic because this would be a potential threat to the unity of the disciples moving forward.

“If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” It was very simple. Leadership is service. Greatness is servanthood.

It’s very different from the way the world operates. Jesus was changing our minds and our hearts when it comes to greatness. It’s sad how many Christian leaders look at this verse and say the way to go up in your leadership is to serve. That statement did not get the heart of what Jesus was saying. Serving is not another kind of leadership. For Jesus serving is leadership.

Jesus took the child as an example. Children were of little value to many people up until today. Many are being used as human trafficking slaves even in our modern world. Jesus took the child in his arms and told the disciples if you want to be great – serve these children. That’s the real definition of greatness.

It reminds me of how some people also see kids ministry in the church. There was a time we got a complaint that a person who wanted to be part of the music team hesitated to serve in the kid’s ministry worship team because he saw it as a practice to the real thing. He had the thinking that serving in kids ministry is a menial job. Sad to say this person had to learn the meaning of greatness and leadership the hard way. This is a touching story of one of our Kids church volunteer that would make you see serving the kids in a new light. (click here)

To expound more on what I am trying to say, here is the Victory Leadership Podcast with Pastor Kevin York on Servanthood