As a minor speaker at a major happening, I was able to observe a great deal of church business going on. And some of it made me wonder what has happened to the Church.
At one point, a well-known figure appeared with an entourage of four young men. Wherever he went, they followed in his wake. He swept in, spoke, and swept out. They followed attentively, ever vigilant to his needs. He was known, important and they were important by association. Others clearly looked on with envy. They, too, wanted to be part of the inner circle. He was obviously a leader and to be with him meant something of significance. His entourage was there to serve him.
As I watched, I thought of another scenario. In this scene there is also a major church leader and he, too, has an entourage. His is larger—12 to be exact. They follow him wherever he goes. They are attentive, listening and feel important by association. Others are envious and long to be part of his inner circle. Even those in his entourage jostle with one another to be first or closest to him. There is, however, a startling difference
This leader serves his entourage!
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself” (John 13:3,4). In other words, this leader, knowing that everything was His and He was God’s, served His entourage. And not only did this leader serve; He served in a menial, demeaning way. He acted not as an important leader, but rather as an ordinary servant. Ordinary servants washed feet in those days. Today they clean, wash dishes and clothes, tend to infants and the aging, and pick up after the so-called important ones. It appears we have it backwards.
We measure success today by numbers, books, applause, and attending entourages. God measures success by the things we do for others. Importance is given to those who pick up the litter of others’ lives, tend to the dirt of other people, and bend down for the needy, the broken, and the dead. The seat of honor goes to the One who came to seek and to save that which was lost. He, who searched out the lepers among the tombs, gathered in the outcasts from the highways, and sought those who were not beautiful, occupies the first place.
The road to greatness is by way of the least. Do you desire to be spiritually the most conspicuous of the group? Then you must be the most self-forgetting. You must come down to feed the lambs of the flock. It is by way of the burden of humanity, by the bearing of the cross, that greatness is achieved. Greatness is found in loving service delivered to the following entourage. Honor is accorded to the one who bends down to feed the hungry, heal the sick and free the captives.
This truth ought to do two things for us as counselors. First of all, it reminds us of what we as humans so quickly forget. We see the so-called successful ones and aspire to that kind of greatness. When we do so, we are deceived. Fame, success, applause, and importance are not the fruit of greatness. We need continual reminding lest we pursue the things that truly do not matter, and forget the things that bear eternal weight.
The fruit of greatness is love—sacrificial, bending down, getting dirty, serving love. Wherever you see that, you are looking on greatness. Wherever it is absent, no matter the entourage, you are looking on fluff.
Second, this truth ought to be of great encouragement to us who often spend our hours and our days sitting behind closed doors, listening to, and loving, those who suffer. We are not seen. We are not known. We daily pick up the litter of other’s lives; we tend to their dirt and bend down to care for the broken, the needy, and the dead. We are servants to the burdens of humanity.
Our Father calls this greatness. He says we are following the way His Son went and that Son now sits in glory at His right hand, in the place of greatest honor. Do not aspire to an entourage. Do not look for fame or applause. Seek rather to serve the flock God has placed in your life, knowing the Father has given Himself to you in the person of His Son and that you are His own. The Father will be pleased and your life will bear the stamp of greatness—the greatness that is seen in voluntary sacrifice governed by love.
Diane Langberg, Ph.D., chairs AACC’s Executive Board and is a licensed psychologist with Diane Langberg & Associates in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. She is also the author of Counseling Survivors of Sexual Abuse and On the Threshold of Hope.
