Finding True Significance Through Servanthood and Humility

1) "Because you see, if as disciples of Jesus, we would begin to allow Christ to define what it means to be significant, and we start walking that out and living that out in our culture, maybe, just maybe, our world will stop being crazy. You see, when we allow the world to define for us what it means to truly be great, it starts this upheaval. People start climbing ladders. People start crushing others. People grab the rings of power. And they use them as a means to control others. That is not the way of Jesus. When we see Christians trying to wield power as the world wields power, that's not the way of Jesus. If we are truly to understand our worth, we need to let Jesus." [00:00] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "We often search for significance. The hope that our lives matter and that somehow people actually see us. We search for that significance often in the face of other people. Our expectations of ourselves. Or what society says. Or what society says about people like me. We're looking for someone to affirm us. Someone to say that we matter. That we count. That we're significant. But sadly, all of these false mirrors that we turn to to try to gauge our significance and worth in this world, those false mirrors will lead us to incorrect images that will shift with the wind." [04:02] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "The main idea this morning that I think this text puts forward so forcefully is this. Jesus invites you and I to orient our lives around Him. The Godhead, the gospel provides a true understanding of what it means to be great. In other words, we're going to let the Word of God, we're going to let Jesus define for us what it truly means to be great. and we're going to learn how to reject the world's estimation of greatness." [08:55] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "Jesus was not moved or motivated by the crowd or by the need to be popular or affirmed by others. Jesus was not trying to establish His brand. If He was, He could have just set up shop on any corner in Jerusalem, put up a shingle and said, okay, we now have the first church of Jesus and He would have built a great big church. He could have drawn a big crowd. But that's not what Jesus was after. Jesus was not moved or motivated by the expectations of the crowd." [13:01] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "True greatness comes from following Jesus. And to follow Jesus means you take up a cross. It means you identify with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection. It means you be willing to bear the reproach of the cross. It means you're willing to suffer the insults that inevitably come when you follow Jesus. When you go public about following Jesus, it's going to bring some criticism to you. Maybe if you're not experiencing some criticism, it's probably because you're a closet Christian. And it's time for the church to come out. Amen? It's time for the church to embrace the way of the cross." [21:06] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "If we're truly going to be great, the way of Jesus says, stop striving. Be still. And know that He's God. Embrace suffering. Embrace the fact that not everybody is going to like you because of your stand for Christ. Embrace it! And seek to serve Him anyway. You know, I see so many people talking about power these days. Everybody wants to grab the hold of that ring of power. I'm sounding like Lord of the Rings in here. I just told you I was a geek, by the way, because Lord of the Rings reference." [25:26] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "It's not who sits in the hall of power, it's the God who reigns over it all. And I'm tired of Christians acting like there's more power in the state house or the white house to change the world than there is in the church. In the church house! Because you see, there is more power for his people. And if we would just live out the way of Jesus, the world's going to be changed. The world's going to be changed because we're going to be walking for his glory. And not ours." [28:31] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "What is Jesus saying to us about true significance? He's saying that the path to significance is always going to include how we treat other people. I promise you, I'm not going to get passionate and yell at y 'all. Again, maybe. But I do get rather tired of people who name the name of Christ being some of the nastiest people on the planet. Treating people with utter contempt. It's not the way of Jesus, y 'all. It's not the way of Jesus." [31:14] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9) "Let your significance, let that significance be determined by your vertical relationship. Don't let your horizontal relationships become more important to you than your vertical relationship with God. That's the trick right there of living. Always have a vertical orientation. Don't let the horizontal keep you away from the vertical. If you do that, fix your eyes on Him, then you will have a proper understanding of your significance. And the world will no longer have power over you." [44:08] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)