The Greatest Among You

Posted on 05/04/2018 by goodnewsfromadistantland — Leave a comment

Are you among the Wise Virgins — among those who are the Bride-Candidates, whose foremost desire is to love and honour the Saviour, Yahushua Messiah [the Hebrew name for Jesus Christ]?

Loving and following the Saviour is a great honour, for it is by His choice that we belong to Him (John 15:16).

If we belong to Messiah, then we will naturally desire to be like Him — pure, holy, meek and lowly (Matthew 11:29).

One of the best ways to honour Yahushua [Jesus], and to be like Him, is to learn to imitate His heart attitude of servanthood:

“… I [Yahushua] am among you as He that serves.” (Luke 22:27b)

Notice what Yahushua said. At all times, our Saviour exhibited this heart attitude of serving others! Yahushua served those He was ‘among‘. This is an important example for us!

Yahushua encourages His disciples to follow His example: “do as I have done” (John 13:15).

To be like Yahushua is to be as a servant to those we are ‘among‘.

The Greatest Among You

Some may think that being a servant is a humiliating business. But that is far from the perspective that God has of servanthood. Our heavenly Father considers servanthood a very great occupation!

Yahushua tells us:

“But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11).

Consider this: the great occupation of the Holy Spirit is servanthood!!

The Holy Spirit is given to us to be our constant companion, and our helper. This is a basic description of a servant. (Oh how we need the great work of the Holy Spirit in our life!)

The Holy Spirit helps us and serves us in countless ways, as we saw in The Holy Spirit: Our Amazing Comforter! The Holy Spirit’s primary duty is to glorify Messiah, and to help us to glorify Messiah in all we do!

And how can we glorify Yahushua? By humbly imitating Him and walking as He walked (1John 2:6). This is one significant way that we please the Father.

Pleasing The Father

We know that Yahushua always pleased His Father. He declared, “I do always those things that please Him [the Father]” (John 8:29).

Being “a servant” was a major way that Yahushua pleased His Father, Yahuwah Elohim [the Hebrew name for the LORD God]:

Yahushua made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, … Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him (Philippians 2:7-9).

Because our Saviour accepted the role of a servant, the Father highly exalted Him, and gave Him a name that is above every name!!

Yahushua obeyed His Father’s will by humbling Himself and serving others.

This needs to be our heart attitude as followers of Messiah — serving those we are among.

To be like Yahushua means we will have a servant’s heart on a very personal level, serving those we are in relationship with, serving those we live with and interact with every day. It means having a servant’s heart among our family members, our loved ones, our friends, and our fellow-workers.

We need to see ourselves as a servant, simply because ‘servanthood’ is one of our primary duties as a follower of Messiah (Luke 17:10).

Practice Being A Servant

A servant’s heart is willing to show mercy to those we are ‘among‘, willing to serve them, no matter how menial the task may be.

“The saints who are greatest before God are those who consider themselves the least.” (See Luke 9:46-48) — Thomas, à Kempis

Followers of Messiah make it a practice of serving those we are in relationship with. This is a lifelong practice of being merciful, sensitive, and always seeking to BE a servant.

Serving is our calling — to give of ourselves to those we are ‘among’, as we represent the loving and giving heart of our Saviour.

Being a servant will mean breaking down our own will at times. It will mean turning from our own selfish ways, so that we can follow in Messiah’s footsteps. To do this, we must come to the point that we say, just as Messiah said, “Father. . . Not my will, but Your will, be done.” (Luke 22:42)

Throughout history, all the great men and women of God were great because, first and foremost, they were servants! They denied themselves by loving and serving their Saviour within the calling He gave them, and by serving those they were ‘among‘.

Those who love Messiah will imitate Him by being a servant to others. Such precious servants are called – “the greatest among you!” (See Matthew 23:11)

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