Kingdom Greatness - Greatness Defined (Part 2)

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. John 13.3-5

Fill your space

Greatness is a relative term. One can be great in many ways that most people will never observe. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines great as “Of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above average.” We have seen that C. S. Lewis lamented the tendency of most Christians to settle for just being average. And we saw also that Jesus encourages us—indeed, expects us—to rise above average to greatness. We are called to the Kingdom and glory of God (1 Thess. 2.12), and within that calling we must aspire to greatness.

But greatness, as I mentioned, is a relative term. What Jesus did in that upper room was great. As He washed the disciples’ feet then shared His last meal with them, the room was filled with His greatness—humility, courage, generosity, kindness, truth, tenderness, resolve, and love. The only disciple in that room who was not completely in awe of the greatness of Jesus was Judas, and he left as soon as Jesus told him to go.

In his book, The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton presents the enigmatic man called Sunday as a Christ figure. In the climactic scene, Sunday begins to grow and expand until His face fills the entire sky and all the stars. Jesus’ greatness is cosmic because His mission is the entire world. The extent of His greatness is the entire creation; the amount of His greatness is infinite; and the intensity of His greatness is way above average—it is the eternal weight of glory which presses upon us daily and invites us into the joy of the Lord.

The greatness of Jesus fills the entire cosmos because Jesus fills all of time and space, just as He filled that upper room, with the wonders of His greatness. And He has appointed us to fill the all things of our lives with His Presence and greatness (Eph. 4.7-10).

Time and space

Each of us is called to seek greatness in the Kingdom of God, a greatness defined by humility, service, and zeal for the Law of God. We can all be great, and we should aspire to greatness in our own time and space—not so that we might have something to boast about concerning ourselves, but that we might take joy in the face of Jesus, know His pleasure in all we do, and fulfill our calling as agents of grace to our world.

We can only be great, we can only know Kingdom greatness, in the daily moments of our lives and within the space of the active reach of our will (Dallas Willard), that is, our Personal Mission Field. Wherever our influence extends, we can know greatness, and we should aspire to it. Whatever we do can glorify God, every moment of our lives.

What will greatness look like in your Personal Mission Field as you strive to rise above average, increasing the extent and amount of grace that God flows through you?

Grace

Before we can answer that, we need to answer an equally important question: What is grace? For many Christians, grace is a good thing God does for us or grants us, a token of His love for us, and a constant supply of His favor.

And that’s not a bad start. But grace is more. Grace is, indeed, a divine disposition toward us of favor, warmth, delight, and welcome. Grace is how God sees us, how He looks out upon us. But this gracious disposition would be of no benefit to us did not He graciously also communicate His grace to us. That is, God loves us and He tells us that He does. God communicates His grace to us in His Word and supremely in the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The entire creation proclaims the grace of God to us continually. God fairly shouts His grace toward us, calling us to receive His Word and enter His favor and joy.

But, finally, grace is not only a divine disposition and communication; grace is divine working power. For apart from Jesus, we can do nothing, but with Him, nothing will be impossible to us. Grace is the power that moves us beyond who we are to more Christlikeness (2 Cor. 3.12-18). Grace is the power by which we do the good works God has foreordained from of old that we should do (Eph. 2.10). Grace is the Spirit of God, stretching out in us day by day to make us more the people God has called us to be (Eph. 3.20).

So that we can increase each day in Kingdom greatness through humility, service, and obedience to God’s Word because the Spirit of God is at work within us to make it happen (Phil. 2.13).

Grace travels with mercy so that, by the mercy of God, the soul is cleansed and renewed for the next spiritual infusion of grace. And we may daily seek mercy and grace from God for all our times of need, which is to say, every moment of our lives (Heb. 4.16). The more we seek mercy and grace before the throne of King Jesus, the more the moments of our lives will know the power of grace to use us for Kingdom greatness in all the daily details of our lives.

Kingdom greatness comes by increments, every day, every moment, every situation.

Today, who will know the power of God’s grace flowing like rivers of living water through you? And how will you increase in Kingdom greatness?

T. M. Moore