Servanthood
The anti-pyramid scheme
===
The greatest among you will be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Matthew 23:11-12 (NET)
===
Back when I was in college I was introduced to a radical idea:
The Upside-down Kingdom.
The basis was that Jesus taught a lot about flipping the ideas we have of life, advancement, success, etc. on its head. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus does this while teaching the crowds.
“You’ve heard it said … but I say to you…”
Here we have another entry in the teachings of Jesus on this Upside-down Kingdom.
The greatest among you will be your servant.
A lot of people will take that to mean some sort of woo-woo success mindset idea (if they’re thinking that Jesus was just some sort of good teacher, which He’s much more than that). They think that one of the keys to finding success is in the servant attitude rather than lording over others.
They’re half right, but they’re missing the whole point.
Earthly success counts for little without eternal life.
That’s part of what makes this teaching so radical, that this Kingdom is not of this world.
It’s a heavenly Kingdom…
God’s Kingdom.
Jesus set the example by humbling himself into a servant of humanity, allowing himself to die a painful & humiliating death — in our place — so that we could have eternal life.
Yes, even the king of this Upside-down Kingdom was a servant.
We’d do well to follow His example.
I’m glad that I’ve got the Holy Spirit helping me to do just that.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.