I have met people in ministry who plainly told me that they wanted to do great things for God.  None has done great things for God, in fact, some’ve done great damage to the name and the work of God.  I suspect the problem lies not in their desire to do great things for God, but in their desire to be great.  They missed the whole point of serving God: to be the least, not to be great, much less the greatest.

In his book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard J. Foster shares his observation that no one wanted to be considered the least.  Even the disciples of Jesus, who lived with Him and watched Him live and do His work, did not want to be the least; they, in fact, fought to be the greatest. It’s therefore imperative that before He left them, He showed them the way of service: do the things that no one wanted to.  In the last supper before His arrest, while everyone was looking around as to who would wash each other’s feet since there was no servant available to wash their feet, Jesus stood up, picked a towel and a basin, and started washing the disciples’ feet, one by one.  There, in the words of Richard Foster, Jesus “redefined greatness.”

I am glad to say, and very thankful to God, that here among us, no one is seeking greatness.  You all understand what greatness is, not lording over someone, but rather serving under someone.  Quietly you try to be of service, in fact, you’d rather be “invisible” than be noticeable.  You know that what matters is that the work gets done, it doesn't matter who gets the credit. As a result, a lot of things get done; God’s work continues and multiplies; His Name is glorified.

Foster concludes, “Therefore the spiritual authority of which Jesus spoke was an authority not found in a position or a title but in a towel.”  Come to think about it, all ministries are the ministry of towel, isn’t it?  We clean after someone else; we wash their feet.

Pastor Paul