Would you turn your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, verse 24 through 30, and let us give our full attention to the reading of God's Word. Luke, chapter 22, starting from verse 24 to 30. A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. And those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become at the youngest and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater? One who reclines at the table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you. as the one who serves. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials and I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on the thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, it is indeed a privilege for us to hear a living word from you, the living God. This time we come to you, our Heavenly Father, to hear your voice, the heavenly voice, through the preaching and the proclamation of your word. And as we sit under the feet of our Savior Jesus Christ by faith to learn from him, to be instructed by him, we ask you to grant us your Holy Spirit and to take control of our life so that as we hear your word, We might continue promoting our Savior Jesus Christ in our own life and in the life of our study and also the life of your church and the life of our families. Bless the preaching of your word into our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. These days, here in the United States of America, we are witnessing a political campaign for presidency. And as you observe these candidates for presidency running their political campaigns, The one thing that we observe in how they do their campaign and what they expect from everything that they do for their campaign, apart some of them being from one party and then the other group from the other party, the one other thing that they all have in common is this, for all of them, public opinion matters a lot. They think, they anticipate, and they expect that the public opinion to come back to them and say to them and to the public, this man is the greatest. This man is the best. Even when they stand in debates, And they stand before the other candidates. You see, they can boldly say, I'm greater than that man. I'm the man for president. I can do the job. But think about this kind of attitude, self-esteem, and a sense and a desire to promote self. to come to the children of God and entangle them, and it becomes a temptation to the children of God. In our text, we see the same thing taking place in the life of the disciples. We see the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ acting in the same way that people in the world act. And what we see here is the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ disputing among them. There was this strife and conflict among them on which or which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And you see, the gentle and the loving Savior and Master of their life, Jesus Christ, our Savior, steps in and He gives them this guiding principle for the rest of their life. And whenever I read and meditate on this portion of the scripture, the one thing that amazes me is the gentleness and the loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't see him coming to them and slap them on the head. We don't see him putting them down, rebuke them, becoming angry towards them. but take them aside very gently and lovingly and show them the temptation where they dragged themselves into. And you know, from the instruction that Christ gave to his disciples, the one thing that we learn from our text this morning is this. From the instruction that Christ gave to the disciples, we see Jesus Christ being the greatest and perfect example for servanthood. And by the grace of God, I would like to show you this under three headings. The first thing that we will do in order to discover this is we will look into the temptation to which the disciples were attracted. And then we'll look into the antidote or remedy that Jesus Christ gave for the temptation. And then thirdly, we will consider the greatest servant who ever lived in this world. So let's consider the temptation. Verse 24 says, a dispute also arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And my friends, what we see here is a contention, a discord over personal greatness and superiority. What we witness here is a conflict which was not among unbelievers. This conflict, this disagreement was not among unbelievers. It was not among kings and rulers of this world, but this strife, this conflict was among the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was in the hearts of those men who are least suspected to be found in this kind of temptation. And again, the issue was, Who is superior in importance? Now notice, they were not arguing about actual superiority, but they were arguing about perceived superiority. They were concerned about public opinion. They were acting like these presidential candidates. What are the people saying about me? What is the public opinion about me? I am the greatest among all the other disciples. Who is considered by the crowds to be the greatest was the burning issue among them. And this, my friend, is a real temptation, not only to the disciples, but to every Christian, especially the ministers of the gospel, especially students of theology, men who anticipate to go to the ministry. You see, we need to give our full attention to this kind of temptation. And what really makes this strife among the disciples to be peculiar and unseemly is the circumstances under which they were assembled. Notice in verse 22 and 23, for the son of man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. Jesus just told them, one of you will betray me. And my friends, you would expect these disciples to engage in self-examination. You know, to go to their room and just pray and reflect on their own life. Is it me? But the way they were reacting was, it can't be me. It should be so and so. I'm not the one who's going to betray the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. But not only that, this happened after they partake the Lord's Supper with Jesus Christ. What do we do in the Lord's Supper? We renew our commitment to Jesus Christ. We commit ourselves to a godly life. A life that would put Jesus Christ at the center of our life. And this time was the time that Jesus Christ was about to go to the cross. He was going to die on the cross. He was going to die on behalf of them, on behalf of the elect. This time should have been a time where they would have prayed and reflected on their own spiritual walk. But what we see is strife and conflict and disagreement among the disciples. And my friends, if we just look closely into our own hearts, When we see the disciples reacting in this way and arguing among one another, we might say, how foolish. But remember, if we look into our heart very closely, into the gravity of this temptation in the Christian life, it isn't hard to see ourselves in it. You see, we all struggle with self-promotion. We all struggle with considering ourselves greater than our brothers in the ministry. We always struggle with this temptation. We might not verbalize it. Maybe we will not go to the commons after chapel and argue among one another, I am the greatest, but it's always in here. The temptation is always in our heart. So we need to be instructed by Jesus Christ, our master. So the second thing that we see is, we see our Lord Jesus Christ giving them a guiding principle for their life and their ministry. In verse 25, Jesus said, and he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. Now Jesus is telling his disciples, why are you following the standard of this world? It is a general truth. It is acceptable in the world for rulers and kings to exercise lordship over all the subjects under their rule. The benefactor here is another word for princess. And those rich and wealthy men at that time who gives money to the public But by helping the people, by giving money to the people, they also receive power and glory. And the public opinion always is on their side. And Jesus is telling his disciples, this is common in the world. People and kings and rulers in the world do this, but not in my kingdom, not in the Christian ministry. The exercise of lordship and authority. We see that in the world. You see, Jesus Christ is not against ruling, but he was against the way in which it is done. Do not be like the warlid. That's what Jesus was telling them. The warlid function with power. The warlid is always about how do I promote myself? How do I make myself better and known? That's the pattern of this warlid. That's the standard and the measurement of this warlid. Lording it over subjects. But notice verse 26, Jesus said, but not so with you. And this is what I say, a guiding principle for the rest of their life. Do not be like the world. The first principle, my friends, the instruction that Jesus gives us in the life of humility, in the Christian life, in the area of humbling ourselves before the Lord and the people of God is that we are not supposed to follow the pattern of this world. Jesus said, the greatest among you must become as the youngest. You see, this is a command. Jesus is commanding them to be like the youngest. Another term for deacon, servant, someone who waits on the table. You should be like a slave. You should be like a servant to one another. You remember Jesus bringing the baby. You know, this was not the first time that they argued over this issue. Many times Jesus corrected them. Many times Jesus dealt with this temptation in their life. And one time he brought a child. And he told them, you need to be like a child in order for you to enter the kingdom of God. You see, Jesus was not telling them, you know, throw your knowledge, your adulthood, and just act like a baby, like a child. That's not what Jesus was telling them. But think about children. You see, children depend on their parents. Children learn from their parents. Children copy from their parents. And one of the remarkable titles that the Word of God gives to the people of God is the children of God. We belong to God. God is our Father. And we need to copy from our Father. We need to learn from our Father. You know, sometimes on a Sunday, I preach in the church, and then we come back to the house, and my youngest son, I see him imitating me, preaching, like he's standing in the pulpit and preaching to the congregation. And Jesus is, when he brought the baby, the child before them, he was telling them, if you are my children, imitate my standard, imitate my word, and take my instruction, and don't be like those who are in the world. But not only that, Jesus demonstrated this life of servanthood in John chapter 13, when he washed the feet of the disciples. I believe by washing the feet of the disciples, Jesus did two things. You see, what he did in washing the feet of his disciples was he did the work of a slave. It was not only the work of a servant. You see, a servant was greater than a slave. What Jesus did was the work of a slave. God, very God, God in the flesh. You see, the king of the universe, the entire universe, the eternal son of God. He brought all his attributes. And with all his attributes, he became a servant. So the first thing he did was he did the work of a slave. He became a servant. He became a slave. The king of the universe. But the second thing that he did was, and he tells us in verse 12 and 13, John chapter 13. He told his disciples, you see the reason why I did this in your presence before your eyes is so that you would do the same to one another. That you become not a lord, but a servant to one another. That you would wash the feet of one another in love and with humility. That's why I did this in your presence. While I'm still on earth, before I go to Calvary, and die and raise and ascend, ascend to my father. I want to leave this example for you. You see, my friends, Jesus left us this remarkable example. by washing the feet of his disciples. Philippians 2, 3, and 4, the word of God says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind among yourselves. which is yours in Christ Jesus. This is available for us, you see, in Christ Jesus. Depending on God's grace, we can be humble, we can be servants of our brothers and sisters in Christ. I remember a Christian prisoner in Eritrea. You can't, you see, possess your Bible in prison. but you can still pray together. You can still visit the restroom, even though it's for a short period of time. But I remember this Christian in prison, washing our feet in prison. He became a servant to his fellow Christians, fellow prisoners in the gospel. Remember John the Baptist, the greatest prophet who ever lived. Jesus came to the scene. And many, many followers of John the Baptist left John the Baptist. And his followers were concerned. And they came to him. Look what's happening. People are leaving him. Your minister is in crisis. This man is drawing many people to himself. And his response was, my joy is completed. Now I must decrease, and he must increase. You see, John the Baptist was saying, now I should be invisible. My name and my ministry should fade away, and he should be visible now. And whoever comes to John the Baptist, John the Baptist was saying, go to him. He's greater than me. He's the King. He's the Lamb of God who will take the sin of this world. So that brings us now to the greatest servant, verse 27. Jesus said this, for who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Of course, by the standard of this world, it is the one who reclines a table. You know, the king, the ruler, the rich man. But I am among you as the one who serves. The question that we need to ask today is this. How did Jesus become the greatest servant who ever lived in this world. Was it by washing the feet of his disciples? Was it by healing the sick? Was it by raising Lazarus from the dead? It was by giving his own life as a ransom for many. You see his service? His service was his life. And he was God in the flesh. He was the son of God, but he became the servant of God's children by giving his own life. Mark 10, 45, for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life at the ransom for many. That's the pattern that we should follow. John Calvin once said, the first step towards serving Christ is to lose sight of ourselves and think only of the Lord's glory and the salvation of man. So the question to all of us is this. We need to look into Jesus Christ. who is the greatest and perfect example for servanthood. The prophet Isaiah. You see, he gives many titles, many names to Jesus Christ. But one of the titles that he gives to Jesus is servant. And he calls him this righteous servant. He's righteous, but he's servant. And the way he served his people was by giving his own life for the sins of God's children. So we started with the dispute, but we end by looking into the greatest servant of all, who is Jesus Christ, our Savior. My dear friends and my professors, this exhortation is to all of us. You see, the number one step for ministry is humility. If we don't exercise humility in our Christian life, if we don't exercise humility with our theological knowledge, if we don't exercise humility among one another, our ministry, our life, will struggle. And we will not edify our own life and the life of the children of God. So Jesus Christ, the head of the church himself, today is calling each and every one of us to follow his example and wash the feet of one another. Because that is what is required in the kingdom of God. And how do we do that? We observe Jesus. Where do we observe Jesus? In his word. When we read and meditate the life, the person, and the work of Jesus Christ, then we can see the servanthood of our Lord Jesus Christ and follow His example and glorify God and His Son Jesus Christ in our life. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, how we bless and magnify Your name for this instruction that we have received from your word through the life, the leadership, and the perfect example of our Lord Jesus Christ. After hearing this word, after receiving this instruction from your word, it is indeed our desire to imitate our Lord Jesus Christ, in the area of humble service to you, our Heavenly Father, and to your Son, Jesus Christ, to your people in the body of Jesus Christ. Make us humble. Help us to love humility and hate pride and self-exaltation among one another before your people, even before unbelievers. Help us to exhibit the kind of humility and servanthood that our Lord Jesus Christ showed us as an example. And we can only do this by your grace and with the aid of your Spirit. So we ask you to grant us your Holy Spirit, that very, very Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, who is able to make us humble. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.