The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1940-01-18
a NEW STANDARD OF
GREATNESS

LESSON TEXT-Matthew 2O:l7-28.
GOLDEN TEXT-While we were vet sin.
ners. Christ died for us.-ROmans So.
The nations of the earth and their
leaders are engaged in a struggle
to determine which land and which
leader is to be the greatest. They
may attempt to conceal their real
motive under a cloak of high-mind-
ed and well-sounding detectives, but
essentially the reason for their
struggle is the desire to be great.
To them greatness means size,
strength, wealth, and position. 1t
means that also to the average man
on the street. What a pity it is that
such is the case and that such a
vicious and erroneous philosophy of
life has been permitted to make its
way even into the Church.
The worlds ideas of greatness are
entirely opposite to Gods standards.
Gods people ought to learn what
His ideals of life are and to live in
accordance with them even in an
unbelieving world. Both they and
the world would be astonished at the
result.
/. Dying for Others wv. 17-19).
With surprising clarity and de
tail the Lord Jesus once more re-
vealed to His disciples that He was
on His way to jerusalem to die and
to arise again 1t is we'll worth
while to note that apart from divine
foreknowledge and inspiration it
would have been utterly impossible
for Him to give these facts in such
exact detail.
The point we wish to stress is
that the Son of God was steadfastly
approaching the death of Calvary.
He had no desire to live for self,
to crafty His own wishes, to prolong
His life, or to improve His position
in the world. He had come to do
but one thing, the will of God, even
to the shameful death of the cross,
there to bear your sins and mine.
Let us give ourselves in loyal de-
votion to our dying and risen Lord.
III. Living for Self wv. 2O-24).
We're it not written for us to read,
we could hardly believe that the
two disciples, James and John, who
were so very near to our Lord, and
their mother, who was a woman of
earnest faith and sacrifcial service
to God, would be guilty of such an
expression of selfiShneSS, especially
in that sacred hour when He had
spoken of His approaching death.
Disregarding what Jesus had said
about His sufferings, they apparent
ly could think only of His coming
glory, and in thinking of that they
could only covet for themselves the
chief places. What strange mix
ture of faith in Christ and an over
whelming desire for self-glory!
Perchance some of us have served
Christ with a selfish desire for per-
sonal glory and position putting it.
self forward to influence our think
ing and acting. Perhaps we do not
see it in ourselves, but are like the
other disciples who, seeing this hate
full thing in John and James, were
repealed by it, even as we despise it
in others. 1t may be that the dis
ciples were only angry because they
had not thought to make the request
for themselves.
HI. Finding True Greatness (vv
1929.
Rulers" greatness" exercise
authority" - how modern these
words from verse 25 sound! They
epitOmize the ambitions of the great
majority of mankind today. Few
indeed are those in the world who
see the way to true greatness as
that of the lowly Jesus. In every in
stance where they do rightly ap-
prehend and live out this truth, one
is satisfied that somewhere in their
experience they have come to know
His principles of life even though
they do not know Him. Only in Him
is such an attitude toward life to
be found.
To be great one is to serve in the
spirit of humility and self-sacrifce.
This is the command of Christ. Even
in the Church there are not too many
who have needed that word. If
there were more of this spirit we
would have less church quarrels,
for essentially they root back to the
desire for greatness. We may not
admit that fact, but it is none the
less true.
One wonders how great some of
the pillars of the Church would look
measured against the standard of
verses rs to 49, One wonders too
how many of the humble workers of
the Church realize their true great
ness. Such greatness of heart is
great simply because it does not so
regard itself