Don't ask what Jesus can do for you, ask Jesus what you can do for him.
48 Then he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me also welcomes my Father who sent me. Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.”
49 John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn’t in our group.”
50 But Jesus said, “Don’t stop him! Anyone who is not against you is for you.”
The disciples knew that every earthly organization has it's hierarchy, whether its the courthouse the temple or the government offices, they all had leadership that let you know where you stand. No doubt they had all been mistreated by the religious leaders and the Roman government officials, every established authority that they knew of was corrupt, but this wasn't an earthly organization and Jesus wasn't looking for people to fill management positions (Matthew 20:25-28).
Two lessons are in this scripture on how Jesus views an individuals status in the kingdom:
Lesson number one, this organization has it upside down, somehow the least will be the greatest. Jesus set the standard high when he modeled servant leadership, he is the greatest and yet he made himself to be the very least, allowing himself to be mistreated and taking every sin as his own.
Lesson number two, the disciples were not in an elite group that had the right to work in Jesus name. The disciples saw someone that wasn't a part of their circle that was doing God's work and they told him to stop, they didn't realize that Jesus was all inclusive.
God's work isn't dependent on an organization chart and it doesn't care what your rank is, the greatest will always be God and if we forget that then we are out of line and even though we may be doing a lot of good we will not be pleasing him.
Thank you Lord, for your example of servant leadership, although you are the greatest you allowed yourself to become the least. Help me to serve you with humility.
You might like to read:
Greatness Redefined // Jesus Disciples Are Servants // God Will Lift Up Your Head
