Chapter 35: True Greatness
(John 13:2-17)

A great king died on September the 1, 1715. His name was King Louis XIV, and he was the king of France. He reigned for 72 years in his dazzling royal court and referred to himself as “the great ruler over all”. So of course he would have a great funeral. Of course it would take place at the greatest cathedral, of course everybody would attend, of course his coffin would be solid gold, of course on top of it would be very expensive jewels, of course in the center would stand a single candle whose flame represented his life, and of course the place was kept very dark so as to better direct everyone’s attention to this great man. What nobody expected though was what the preacher did when he came up to speak. He leaned down from the pulpit and with his thumb and finger extinguished the flame. All of the people gasped! Then out of the darkness and silence that followed they all heard the preachers voice. This is what he said “Only God is Great!” The message to the people was clear, there is such a thing as true and false greatness, and what this man had was not true greatness but false greatness. Only God is truly great.

The way to tell the difference between true and false greatness is easy with John 13:2-17 in front of us. For here in this story we see Jesus who is the ruler of all bending all the way down to wash his disciples feet; which was a picture of washing the dirt of their sins away at the cross. Then Jesus tells them they should act like this towards one another. So what we see in this story is this, true greatness is not measured by how tall you stand up over others, but by how far you bend down to help others. True greatness is not measured from bottom to top, but from top to bottom. So if last time we said because of the cross Jesus not only loved you very much but thiiiiis much, this time we need to turn that sideways and see that the measure of how much was from the top to the bottom! Because He has loved you in this way you should trust Him and then go love others in this same way.

Lesson Plan
Main Idea: True Greatness
Elaborated Idea: is not about how tall you stand up above others but how far you bend down to
help others.
Purpose: to teach children true greatness
Doctrine: the greatness of Jesus Christ
Story: the false greatness of King Louis XIV of France illustrated in his funeral service.

Discussion Questions
1. What did the preacher do and say at the funeral of King Louis XIV?
The preacher snuffed out the candle with his thumb and finger and the preacher said “Only God is
great"!

2. How does this story of Jesus show us the difference between true and false greatness? How do
we measure true greatness? (hint there were two descriptions at the very end of the story)
True greatness is measured not by how tall you stand up over others, but by how far you bend
down to help others. Or, to say it a little different, true greatness is measured not from bottom to
top but from top to bottom.

3. If last time we said because of the cross Jesus not only loved us very much but thiiiiis much, this
time we learned we need to turn our hands which way to show how much He loved us?
Sideways to show the measure of how much was from top to bottom.