Great People Do 4 Others
In last years NCAA basketball Final Four playoffs, I was interested in the statement made the coach from Kentucky prior to the game. He was asked, "Why has your team done so well? What is it about this team that has made it come as far as it has, because everybody wants to know about success?"
He said, "We have a motto on our team, and the motto is this:
'Good people do for themselves;
great people do for others.' "
Obviously, in basketball with his kind of team, what he was saying was this:
We don't have anyone who selfishly thinks he has to do everything; he doesn't try to make the basket every time he comes down the court, as some people do. We have a team that says,
"Great people do for others."
That is, "Let's get everybody involved;
Let's do something for somebody else."
When I heard that statement, it was familiar to me, because it's exactly what Jesus taught as the foundation, of what it means to be a Christian.
For instance, listen to Mark, chapter 9, beginning with verse 33. The Bible says, "They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, 'What were you arguing about on the road?' But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest."
Obviously, when Jesus said to his disciples, "What are you arguing about?" they were a little embarrassed.
Well, the disciples were embarrassed. They knew this had no place in the life and ministry of Jesus, so the Bible says they kept quiet.
But listen: "Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve" these were the ones who would do ministry, and he wanted them to get it straight just like he wants us to get it straight today.
"He called the Twelve and said,
'If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.'
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.' "
Great People Put Others First
Let me say three things briefly about this.
Jesus teaches here that good people do for themselves, but great people do for others.
First he said this:
"Great people put others first.
If you want to be great, you must be last."
If you want to be great, you must be last that means I'm going to put other people first.
Now how does that fit into our schedule?
I'll tell you quite frankly it doesn't fit very well in mine, most of the time.
If I'm approaching a red light, and there's a line with nobody in it, do you think I'm going to let the guy coming up on my left get that place?
I'm going to change real quick.
He can hit his breaks and stop, because obviously I need that light much more than he does. It just becomes kind of a habit that I focus all of my attention on myself.
How about you? Do you do that?
Well, that's good folks do
but not great folks.
That's America, but it's not the kingdom of God, because putting other people first is the very essence of the nature of Christ. Philippians, chapter 2, says that he didn't count himself equal with God he was equal with God, but he didn't count that as something to brag about he just lowered himself and became a servant, took upon himself the form of a man that he might serve.
Salvation would never have been accomplished if Jesus hadn't put others first. You and I would not have forgiveness if he were not a great person.
Great People Serve All
Now the next thing he says in this passage of Scripture is this:
Great people serve all.
He said, "and become the servant of all."
That means that we do not discriminate.
We do not discriminate our service toward other people.
Now, obviously, we have learned a lesson, and we have learned it well:
If I want to serve anyone, then let me serve someone who can do something for me. That’s the way most of us work.
Let me be a servant of those who can advance my career.
We find it very easy to be a servant to someone who can turn around and serve us in some capacity, but we don't find it very easy to serve everyone.
Great People Serve
With No Thought Of Reward
And then the third thing he says is this: great people serve with no thought of reward.
He brought this little child, he stood him there, and he said, "Anyone who does something for this little child does it for me, and not really for me, but he does it for God."
He was saving to his disciples,
and to us today:
"You are going to come to the time in your life when a little child like this is going to need your help, and there are going to be a lot of other pressing demands around you and more people, and you're going to probably neglect the need of this little one because he can't do anything for you."
Let me tell you something: he said if Christian faith is really taking hold in your life,
you're going to be able to serve that little one just as you would serve anyone else, and the thought of What's going to be repaid to me - will not override the faith you have in Jesus Christ.
Great people depend on God to give them what they need to serve him
It's not easy to be a great person, not in the kingdom of God. It's a lot easier to be great in national eyes and become a great public figure than it is to be great in the kingdom of God,
because to be great in the kingdom of God means that I must draw upon the spiritual resources that only God can give.
You may be saying right now and thinking to yourself, Boy, Preacher, that's wonderful. That ten minutes was great; wonderful lessons there.
But now let me ask you this, Preacher: How do you do it?
It's nice to say that this is what great people ought to be and do,
but where do the resources come from to accomplish what you're talking about?
Where do you drum up that spirit of putting other people first?
You know, it might cost me something to do that.
What if I don't have what it costs?
Where do you get the resources to serve everyone?
How can you move forward with confidence and do what God's told you to do?
When you come to that kind of decision, then it must be God's hand at work or it will not be accomplished.
This is where you find out whether or not your faith is real.
In Genesis, chapter 18, verses 10 through 12: "The Lord said, 'I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.' " (He's talking to Abraham.)
"Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing "
That simply means, folks, when God came to her and said, "This is what I want out of your life," she said, "I don't have it; I just don't have it; I can't give it."
"So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, 'After I am worn out and my husband is old, will I now have this pleasure?'"
She just simply said, "If it's going to happen, it's going to be the hand of God."
Have you been to that place in your life at all recently?
“It's going to be the hand of God."
In I Kings, chapter 17, Elijah was prophesying in the days of Ahab, one of the most ungodly kings who ever ruled in Israel.
God pronounced a curse upon the land, and there was a drought, and Elijah came along to prophesy that curse.
The Bible says, in verse 7 of chapter 17 of I Kings, "Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: 'Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.'
So he went to Zarephath.
When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks.
He called to her and asked, 'Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?' As she was going to get it, he called and said, 'Bring me, please, a piece of bread.'
'As surely as the Lord your God lives,' she replied, 'I don't have any bread.' "
Why would God ask me?
I don't have any.
Who is he, and what's he trying to say, and what's he trying to do? "
'Only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.' "
You see, we get to those places in life where we say, "God, all I've got is just enough for me.
Don't ask me to use what I've got left."
"Elijah said to her, 'Don't be afraid.
Go home and do as you have said.
But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and for your son.
For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.'"
The Bible says "For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry in keeping with the word the Lord had spoken through Elijah."
Where's it going to come from?
I don't have it.
Jesus was not content that the Old Testament examples would serve for his disciples, and so in his own ministry in Luke, chapter 9, verse 12the Bible says,
"Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, 'Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.' He replied, 'You give them something to eat.' "
Now, no doubt, they were disciples of his, and they said,
"We don't have anything.
Why would you ask us to give something we don't have?"
"They answered, 'We have only five loaves of bread and two fish unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.'
(About five thousand men were there.)
But he said to his disciples, 'Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.' The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them.
Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over."
Why, why does God ask us to do something we obviously cannot do?
It's so that he can reveal his hand to us clearly and all we can say is,
"It's of God." It’s a God thing!
There are not many ways in free America that people can be driven to their knees, to cry out to God to see his hand work.
But this is one of them. This is one of the places where you and I can determine if we're great people or just good people.
Great People Put others First
Great People Serve All
Great People Serve With no Though of Reward
Great People depend on God to give them what they need to serve others.
Are we just good People?
Or Great People?
Is this just a good church or is it a great church?"
You decide, its up to you!.
It will only be determined as each person says to God,
"You give me the vision,
and then I'll express my faith."
“They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil; and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.”
(Psalm 37:19, AMP)
Are you expecting to see God supernaturally show up in your life?
Are you expecting increase and abundance?
Notice this verse tells us that the righteous, those who follow God’s commands, will be satisfied even in times of famine.
Even when it looks like resources are slim, God has a plan to provide for His people.
God always shows Himself strong on behalf of the people who seek Him first — even during the most difficult times.
No matter what you may be facing today, God wants to show Himself strong for you.
He wants to make a way where there seems to be no way.
He wants to satisfy you and bless you abundantly so that you can reach out and be a blessing so you can serve the people around you.
Take a step of faith today and begin to declare His promises over your life.
Declare that He is the One who satisfies you and expect to see His goodness in your life!
A PRAYER FOR TODAY
Father, thank You for Your faithfulness. You alone can satisfy me. Search my heart today and remove any doubt or uncertainty that would try to hold me back from the wonderful blessings You have in store for me in Jesus’ name. Amen.