"In my nineteenth year, on my own initiative and at my own expense, I raised an army with which I set free the state, which was oppressed by the domination of a faction."

"I drove the men who slaughtered my father into exile with a legal order, punishing their crime, and afterwards, when they waged war on the state, I conquered them in two battles."

"I often waged war, civil and foreign, on the earth and sea, in the whole wide world, and as victor I spared all the citizens who sought pardon. As for foreign nations, those which I was able to safely forgive, I preferred to preserve than to destroy."

"When I administered my thirteenth consulate, the senate and Equestrian order and Roman people all called me father of the country, and voted that the same be inscribed in the vestibule of my temple, in the Julian senate-house, and in the forum of Augustus under the chariot which had been placed there for me by a decision of the senate. When I wrote this I was seventy-six years old."

Contrast that to our scripture lesson this morning from the Gospel According to Mark, chapter ten, beginning with the thirty-fifth verse.

   James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
   And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?"
   And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
   But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"
   They replied, "We are able."
   Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."
   When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.
   So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

To understand Jesus idea of true greatness, I believe we must learn about Servants, Sovereigns, and Saints.

Let's talk about SERVANTS.
Jesus said, "Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant." What makes a good servant?

My daughter-in-law Annie and my daughter Amy have both spent time waiting tables, Annie while working her way through college, and Amy while auditioning in New York. I learned from them what it takes to be a truly great servant.
First, you have to understand what people want and need. There is a little Mexican Restaurant in Richardson my wife and I go to frequently. The waiters there know us well enough to know what our drink order is before we make it. Understanding people's wants and needs - in other words a good servant is compassionate. Second, you have to actually provide what they want and need. It's the way you get the big tips, especially up North where many folks seemed astonished by Amy actually caring what they wanted. - A good servant is caring. Finally, you offer the people you serve something better, maybe it's a dish they haven't tried or a new wine or a spectacular dessert. But a good servant shows you possibilities you hadn't thought of. A good servant is creative. Compassionate, caring, creative - that sounds a lot like the New Testament definition of agape - love like God's love!

But the question is which form of greatness do we seek - that of Christ or Caesar?

My wife Carolyn and her friend Helen had to work to be able to attend SMU. But they wanted to go skiing in Colorado like so many other students they knew. Their solution was to get jobs over Christmas break as maids cleaning cabins at a ski resort. Then on their time off, they could learn to ski. They learned something besides skiing, however. They learned that the people vacationing at the resort looked down on servants. Those folks didn't see two college girls. They saw people to be bossed around or, even worse, ignored.
Our society tends to be like that. Instead of prizing servants, we do the opposite. People who find legal ways of duping others out of large sums of money get huge bonuses, while teachers, firefighters, policemen, and soldiers who serve at the risk of their lives are paid poorly. We seem to be confused about the nature of greatness.

When we think of greatness we think of SOVEREIGNS.
Sovereigns, kings, are what we want to imitate. But, evidently God doesn't think that's a very good idea.
Listen to what God told Samuel to tell Israel when they wanted a king. Listen to 1 Samuel 8 beginning with verse 11.

"Samuel said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.
He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers.
He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers.
He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work.
He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.
And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves;
but the LORD will not answer you in that day."

But wait a minute. As the Muslim call to prayer says, "Allah u Akbar" - God is Great! THAT'S RIGHT! But is God a King?

The disciples certainly thought so, and they thought Jesus should be the sovereign/soldier kind of Messiah.
That?s how they got into that argument about who was the greatest, who should sit at Jesus? right and left hand. But Jesus was all about being a servant. Think about it. If Jesus demonstrates what God is like, then what do we make of Jesus washing disciple's feet. Think about what this tells us about the nature of God:
God is Compassionate - God knows us intimately. God is Caring - God provides us with everything we need. God is Creative - God offers us new hope, new possibilities, new life.

Is God a servant? What do the scriptures suggest?
First, God is always with us - Psalm 139 says

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me,
and thy right hand shall hold me."

This is not a God of palaces or gated communities.

Second, God does not shame his creatures. Lamentations 3:33 says "God does not willing grieve or afflict the children of earth." Finally, God does not force obedience. Jesus even forgives those torturing him on the cross.

Being obsessed with God's sovereignty gets you into all kinds of crazy ideas like double predestination where God makes all the decisions and we are sent to heaven or hell without making a single meaningful choice of our own.

Ever had a micromanager? - someone who was always watching you and telling you what you were doing wrong and how you could do it better their way. The God of Jesus serves us. This God doesn't manipulate us. The God of Jesus gives us freedom and asks us to love one another as God loves us. Which do you prefer? Sovereign or servant? To be like God is to be a servant!

But some of you are going to say, "Not me! I'm no servant! That's unAmerican!"

The problem is that to get what you want you're going to have to serve somebody. The question is, "Who will you serve??" The poet laureate of my generation, Bob Dylan puts it this way.

"You may be a construction worker working on a home
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome
You might own guns and you might even own tanks
You might be somebody's landlord you might even own banks.
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might be a rock'n' roll adict prancing on the stage
Might have money and drugs at your commands, women in a cage
You may be a business man or some high degree thief
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody?"

Even if you're self-serving you can't provide for yourself everything you want and need. To get it you're going to have to choose whose service to exchange for your well being. And the one who gets first choice on your service is your true lord, your ultimate concern.

That brings us to SAINTS

Who are they? They are not just people declared such by the Catholic church! Look at the beginnings of Paul's letters to Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, they're addressed to the saints. And Paul sounds like they're just regular church members. But they are special in one way. They're the folks who agree with Joshua, "As for me and my family, we will serve the lord."

How do you do that? You serve God by serving your neighbor. Jesus says the first command is to love the lord your God with everything you are. How can you be compassionate, caring and creative towards God? Jesus says the way to do that is to love your neighbor as yourself, to be compassionate, caring and creative with your neighbor is to serve them. That's what saints do. And I've met quite a few.

One of the privileges I have at this church is to celebrate funerals for our members who have passed on. Most of these folks I know by sight and know a little bit about, but often it is not until I hear their obituary or eulogy that I realize who they really are.

Hollis Wise was one of those. I met Hollis when I first started driving the bus for AARP and First Mentors. At first, I was a little nervous around him. He seemed rather gruff and abrupt. But later as I got to know him, I found him gentle, thoughtful and kind. But it wasn't till I read his obituary that I really understood what he was all about. Hollis was a servant to many, many people. Listen to this list of organizations that he was part of:

AARP (Chapter President)
Meals on Wheels
VNA Hospice
Travis School Child Tutor Program,
Barbara Bush Literacy Program
Residence Council of C.C. Young Center
Suicide Prevention of Dallas
Rotary International
Prison Counseling for Restorative Justice

This is the kind of saint Paul talks about - Not perfect people, but people who know what it is to serve.

And there are many more at FirstChurch. There's the First Mentor council member with more volunteer hours than you can count. She says she wants to wear out not rust out. There's the lawyer who was about more than just billable hours who taught my kids in Sunday School. There's the woman working with First Kids and the couples working with our youth - Gretchen and Rocky know if these folks are in charge the event will be a success. There's the man who gives countless hours teaching Disciple Bible Study and working with Emmaus Pilgrims. There are all the members working with CCS Family Gateway, Central Dallas Ministries, and Methodist Hospital. I don't know what kind of cars these folks drive, or whether they have flat screen TVs, or what size their bank accounts are. And I'm pretty sure they're not famous by the world's standards, but they have true greatness because "Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.?

Let us pray,
Help us to be your true saints, by enabling us to give up our claims to sovereignty and empowering us to be true servants to all your children. In the name and way of Jesus we pray, Amen.