Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing—a biblical, faith-filled vision for your life. When Daniel was deported to Babylon, the pagan empire tried to rename him Belteshazzar, Lady Protect the King, a reference to a pagan goddess. But the voice of Scripture never calls him such. He's always called Daniel, or he's called Daniel called Belteshazzar. There's a battle.
Which empire gets to name the man of God? And the word makes it clear: the Lord God alone names His servants. He is Daniel. It means God is my judge. There's a battle for your name too.
The kingdom of this world may dub you with dishonor, but only the one who made you can name you. Only the one who sees into your deepest essence can call you who you are.
So I bless you, child of God, to hear Him call you by name. Royal priest, co-heir with Christ, beloved, forever beloved. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Allen Wright. It means that everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't need to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics and physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant.
That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series "Gateways to Grace" as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now, which can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.
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Here is Allen Wright.
Okay, church, are you ready for some good news? Yes. Jesus said that servants are the greatest, and what's so wonderful about that is that anyone can be a servant, so anyone can be great. I think it was Scott Peck, the famous psychiatrist, who talked about a patient who was battling depression. And they tried various therapeutic interventions, and she didn't seem to be getting any better.
And one week, he said, "I'd like you this week to go down to the local skilled nursing facility, go to nursing home, and just visit one afternoon. Just go. You could just sit with elderly patients there and give them company, and maybe you could go read to them, or just be one. It'll be a blessing to those." Residents and patients there, and so she said, "Okay." Next appointment, she came in. Her countenance looked different.
She looked, she looked better. And and and the doctor said, "Well, you you look. Your countenance looks better. How? Tell me about it." And she said, "Well, I did as you said.
I went down there and I visited." And she said, "You know, it was." It was a nice thing. I think I was able to encourage some of them, and when I left, I, I myself felt a little bit better. and And he said, "Well, you do seem better." She said, "I think I am." And the doctor said, "Well, isn't this wonderful? We've now found out something that could really help lift your depression." And true story, she said, "What? You don't expect me to do this every week, do you?" The fact of the matter is, we've been just conditioned in our world to think that you know, to be great, to have great things in your life, means other people are serving you.
And Jesus comes and turns this whole thing upside down. We are in a long season now of talking about what I call the gateways of grace. And this is a way of terming the spiritual disciplines. You might think of them as habits or rhythms in your life. The way that you make up, make the structures and the space in your life to be able to open the gateways of God's grace into your life.
So, all the spiritual disciplines they're not they're not laws. They're not merit badges, and they're not the thing themselves, but they are the opening or a pathway towards it. And so, you can think of you know we've talked about rest and Sabbath, and we're going to be talking about meditation and scripture and worship and praise and prayer and all of these. But you might not usually think of it, but for most of those who've written about the classic spiritual disciplines, include service. And that's what I'll talk to you about.
About serving. Serving is different than what people think, but for Jesus, it's the great key. Here's what we read in Matthew 20, verse 20. Matthew 20, verse 20. The mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and that would have been James and John.
And kneeling before him, she asked him for something. He said to her, "What do you want?" She said. To him, say that these two sons of mine are to sit one at your right and one at your left in your kingdom.
So she's thinking, as the disciples thought, that Jesus was the Messiah who was going to restore the political empire of Israel and was going to have a throne and a kingdom that would be set up here on the earth in that way, and they wanted to be. You know, great in that and prominent in that. And Jesus answered, verse twenty-two: "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am able to drink?" And now he's turned his attention to James and John, and he asks the question. And to drink the cup was symbolic language.
Could you take on the kind of challenges and hardships and things that I'm going to face? And they said to him, "We're able." He said to him, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and my left is not mine to grant, but it's for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers.
So now the other disciples have heard that they're asking for these positions of greatness, and they're all mad about it. But Jesus called them to him, verse twenty-five, and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them." And their great ones exercise authority over them, shall not be so among you. But whoever be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. This is a surprising statement from the Savior of the world that would have shocked them all.
And what's interesting to me is that Jesus does not rebuke the mother or her sons for asking, and he doesn't say to them, "How dare you ask such a selfish question." And when the other ten disciples become indignant, he doesn't really rebuke them either. He doesn't say, "Well, I'm indignant too," and and and I can. Instead, he calls them unto himself and uses it as a teachable moment. This text reminds me of the 52nd Super Bowl. It was a high flying showdown between the Eagles and the Patriots, and the Eagles took home the Lombardi Trophy that year.
As always, that year in the 2018 Super Bowl, a lot of attention given to the commercials, and commercials that year were about five million dollars for a 32nd spot.
So they they want to get it right at at one hundred seventy thousand dollars a second. The advertisers want to get it right, and isn't it amazing that they don't? They oftentimes they don't. And one that got really criticized that year was from Chrysler, and they were advertising a Dodge truck because the motto was "Built to Serve," and to emphasize this idea of "Built to Serve." They played in the commercial a voiceover clip of Martin Luther King Jr. preaching a sermon that he had preached exactly fifty years earlier at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist Church, in Atlanta.
It was really criticized because people were like, "How dare you use Dr. King's sermon to sell trucks?" And it is interesting, by the way, if you go back and you look at that whole sermon. It was called the Drum Major Instinct, and if you go back and you you you listen to the whole sermon, in an earlier part of the sermon, he actually criticizes the advertising industry. But anyway, so it was the kind of irony.
So they got a lot of criticism about it. But for me. When I remember sitting there, you know, listening, and all of a sudden the commercial comes on, and it took my breath away. To in the middle of the Super Bowl to hear Martin Luther King's familiar cadence of that of that preacher's voice that comes, and then to hear him quoting the text that we're talking about today, and I'm like, "Who cares about trucks?" Jesus is being talked about on the Super on Super Bowl Sunday in front of a hundred million people, and I'm like, "Okay, this is good." And the other thing that happens: a lot of people went back and Googled his original sermon.
Well, that was good too. And this is the this is the text. This is the context of what part of this was clipped out for the commercial. And I love this sermon. The words of Martin Luther King Jr.
And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important, wonderful. If you want to be recognized, wonderful. If you want to be great, wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.
That's a new definition of greatness. And this morning he preached the thing that I like about it by giving the definition of greatness. It means that everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.
You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't need to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics and physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant. A new definition of greatness.
That's what Jesus did. He didn't criticize them for asking. He just said, "Okay, let me tell you what greatness looks like." It reminds me of the other instance where he called people up to himself, but this time he brought little child up. Matthew eighteen, the disciples said to him, "Who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Again, he didn't rebuke them. He just called a little child, put him in the midst of them, and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." So this is the same theme. He's pointing to something here. If you want to have a great life and you want to be great, this is what it looks like. This is the Savior of the world, God Himself, telling us exactly what greatness really is. Wow!
I want to just say also that I think a lot of times, even in the church, you know, we need people to serve. We always somebody needs to be served.
Somebody needs to be, somebody needs to be ushering.
Somebody needs to be watching the kids.
Somebody, you know, and so it can kind of become this thing like, oh yeah, everybody's got to serve. But it's misunderstood, and I want I want to clarify that serving. Is something that's altogether different than what service is different than what I would call subservience. This is a whole new motivation that Jesus is talking about.
So let me give you a definition. My definition of serving is to graciously, voluntarily, intentionally helping another or a group for their good and the good of others. It's it's it's motivated by grace. It's utterly voluntary. It is intentional, and you are helping somebody.
That's what it is. But the close cousin of this that can be confusing to us—well, maybe I'll call it subservience—is complying with others' wishes or demands because one feels inwardly obligated, outwardly coerced, or stuck in an inferior position. In other words, if you feel like you have to do it or else.
Well, whatever you're doing, it's not really the biblical view of servanthood. And Jesus Himself modeled this because He He took on the form of a servant. This is what Paul says in Philippians chapter two, verse five: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God. Did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
So, the incarnation of Jesus, the God of the universe becoming flesh, was an emptying of self while maintaining His godness.
So, what we're learning from that is that Jesus served not because He was forced to serve, and when the scripture says he did not think of his equality, his standing as God, a thing to be grasped like, I have to have this. Instead, he remained Jesus, fully God, but was fully human. And so, even in Jesus himself, what you see is not someone who gave anything because it was taken from him, but he gave it. Even when they thought they were crucifying him, he had come by God's own set purpose to give his life up as a ransom for many.
So, let's really be clear about the difference between service and subservience. Service is rooted in a deep sense of self-worth. But subservience is rooted in a false sense of low worth, and this is a really important distinction. And it and it has this all has to do with what's going on in someone's heart. I was so touched one evening we were having a vision gathering about our for the good campaign, and as we were talking about our dreams and the vision of what we could do for the kingdom of God, and we said, you know, five million dollar goals is a high goal, and I just said, as I did so often with you.
Said, you know, to reach that, it's going to take a lot of people participating, and it's also going to take some special gifts, and that's the way we talk. Like we're not going to talk about anybody's.
Well, here's what you ought to do, or make somebody feel bad they don't do it, or manipulate or anything. Just talk like that. And afterwards, a woman came into me, and it just touched me so much. Just the way she said it. She said, while you were speaking, I just think it was from the Holy Spirit.
She said, I just had this thought. I'd like to be able to make one of those special gifts. And and she she she has, but you hear that? I'd like to do that. I'd like to do that.
This is this is a this is a way servant heart feels.
So, if you don't have a sense that I have a gift to give, then there's some other motivation that's going on inside of you. But service feels like there's there's something of worth in me that can be given. Subservience is like I feel inferior in value, and I am having to prove something or or get the guilt off of me. That's not the biblical view of service. The other thing is the difference is service is motivated by grace, whereas subservience is motivated by shame.
So, service is saying, "I'd like to help." That's that's what grace is, and I have a gift to bring. Subservience says, "I feel like I have to, or else." I won't feel as good about myself. Also, service I would say similarly is fueled by faith. Subservience is fueled by fear.
So, service is saying. If I can give of my time or energy, I believe I can make a difference for good. See, that's the way faith look. Faith is looking with a vision of what can be and believes that it can be. And I have something to give towards that.
I can help. I can help make that happen. Whereas subservience is is fueled by a kind of fear that maybe fears a deflated ego or rejection or something else. If I don't serve, and and one more distinct. Serving is self-humbling, but subservience is self-abasing, and and by this I mean that we're going to talk a little bit more about this.
But Jesus is saying, here's one of the giant secrets: is the self-humbling is opening up a gateway of grace to you. But self-abasing isn't humbling; it's humiliating oneself. It is, it is, it is abasing oneself for the as if you deserve to be, to be abased or punished, as if you're not worth much.
So keep in mind those distinctions at all time, because you know it just life is coming at us, and and at times you know we can lose that lose the distinction. And God's just saying, greatness is in serving. But it's not a kind of codependent, I better or else kind of thing. Subservience.
So, what what is so great about serving?
Well, in the first place, this is Jesus giving a whole new paradigm for success. In the broadest sense of of what it means to prosper in this world, to be fruitful in this world, to have success in this world. A whole new paradigm is what he's given here. I'm so thankful that very early in ministry I got introduced to the servant leadership model. The servant leadership model essentially turns upside down the traditional pyramid that we think of.
Pastor Alan Wright, our good news message. What's so great about serving? It's from the series Gateways of Grace. Please stay with us. Pastor Alan is back, joining me in the studio, sharing his parting good news thought for the day.
Here in just a moment. What if growing closer to God isn't about trying harder?
So often we approach spiritual growth with a list of things we need to do. Pray more, read more, be better, but what if the secret to spiritual transformation isn't found in greater effort, but in experiencing more of God's grace? In his book *The Gateways of Grace*, Pastor Alan Wright invites you to discover a fresh perspective on spiritual growth through timeless practices like Scripture, prayer, meditation, wonder, and rest. You'll discover how to create space for the Holy Spirit to work in your life. These spiritual disciplines aren't obligations that earn God's favor; they're gateways that open our hearts to experience more of God's goodness, peace, and transforming grace.
When you give to Allenwright Ministries, you help share the gospel with listeners around the world. And when you give today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's book, The Gateways of Grace, as our thanks to discover these aren't just disciplines; they're gateways. Step through them and discover the grace that's been waiting for you. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. Or come to our website, PastorAllen dot org.
Back here in the studio, sharing Pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day. It's a reminder that this series is about the spiritual disciplines and in serving. What's so great about serving, Pastor Alan? If you can change the way that you view serving, according to the way Jesus speaks about this—that the servant is the greatest—well, it means. Anyone can be great because anyone can serve.
If you can have a revelation about what makes serving life-giving and joy-producing, it will change your whole attitude, not only about the ways that you serve, but about every relationship in your life. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching.
Delivered right to your email inbox, free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen dot org. That's pastorallen dot o r g. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.
