Hey Clawson Family!

Song:

Scripture:

Matthew 20:20-28 New Living Translation

20 Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. 21 “What is your request?” he asked.

She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”

22 But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”

“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

23 Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”

24 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 25 But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 5:19 New Living Translation

19 So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Devotional:

Characteristics of the G.O.A.T in the earthly sense of the greatest would be the person or people with the most power, influence, and privilege. The richest man in the world is Elon Musk. In 2023, the sexiest man in the world was supposedly Patrick Dempsey. We have competitions for the Strongest men alive.

We don’t have competitions to see who the best servant is, or the most humble man is, or the man who is best at becoming like a child because we would not consider those people to be the G.O.A.T. Jesus Christ was not considered to be the G.O.A.T. He is the real G.O.A.T but people could not see him as the greatest. Do you know why? Because He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. Can anything good come from Bethlehem? He hung out with the least of these. He didn’t demand His disciples to serve Him. Instead, He served them. He dressed down, not up. He came into town riding on a donkey. In our minds, how could this guy be the greatest, the king, the Savior? And Yet, in the eyes of God and in the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus is the greatest, and if we want to be the greatest, we have to take on the characteristics of the Goat.

Jesus tells his disciples whoever wants to lead among you must be your servant. Whoever wants to be first, must become your slave. For even me, the son of man came not to be served but to serve. 

In Matthew 18, the disciples come together to ask who is the greatest. He tells them to be humble, trusting, and forgiving like a child. Then, Matthew 20, and it seems like they haven't learned very much. Two of them ask to be the greatest; the others are mad because they want to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. They still don’t understand. Let's clarify the Characteristics of the Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus brought a small child to him. He says that to be the greatest, we have to become like this child. A child is totally dependent on their parents and can’t do anything on their own. They have no influence, no power, and are probably the weakest person in the crowd. They have no money and no authority. How could someone who wants to be the goat need to be like this child?

This child loves with purity and sincerity. They are trusting, humble, and forgiving.

If we want to be among the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, then we will need to learn how to love with purity and sincerity. We will have to learn to trust in God, no matter what is going on in our lives. We will have to walk in Humility as Jesus did and be forgiving to everyone. We will have to be totally dependent on God our father and not make the mistake of thinking we can get it done on our own.

Then according to those other scriptures the other characteristics of the greatest in the Kingdom is to make myself the least. I have to become the best servant or slave that I can be to God and people. As God raises me up, I have to continue to walk in humility.

We think of God raising us up out of the place of servanthood. Like servanthood is a season that we go through and then we get over on the other side of this season and serving is no longer apart of the job description. That is never the case in the kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus literally said, even the son of man came not to be served but to serve. Here at Clawson we have a value that we say all the time “We get to do this”. This is our attitude towards serving and service to our King. It should never be we have to do this. Serving should never be looked at as an obligation but an honor.

His Kingdom is literally about servanthood so we never get raised up to a place where it is about being served, until we die our lives should be servanthood to Jesus and serving his church. I saw this quote this week and thought it was so good.  

The greatness of a man is understanding the smallness of who he is.

The Last characteristic of the Goat in the Kingdom is found in Matthew 5

Nowadays, people want to make the word of God fit their lives instead of their lives fitting into the word of God and the teachings of Jesus. Jesus says those kinds of people will be the least in the kingdom of Heaven. If they make it to heaven, they will not be great. They will be the least. So, He shows us here that in order to be great in His kingdom, we have to be obedient to his word.

So, if we want to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, we become humble, trusting, and dependent on God like a child. We become the least in our eyes instead of the greatest. We serve and love God and people, and we are obedient to the word of God. According to the bible that is how you become the Goat in the Kingdom.

Journal: 

Write in your journal what radical life changes might help you have the characteristics of the GOAT of the Kingdom. 

Training:

Father, 

Please give me the humbleness of heart that Jesus had. By faith I ask that you will come into my heart and show me how to live a life that follows You completely. I know that I can’t do this through my own will and strength, so I ask that You give me that will and strength. Help my influence to always be in line with Your Will. Check my motives Lord and turn them to You.

Thank you for supplying my salvation. Thank you for covering my sins.

In Jesus Name, Amen