Who are you still hoping will see you win? As kids it was "Dad, watch this" at the park. Now it might be a job title, a number in a bank account, or a follower count, and every time we finally get the thing, it fades and we start chasing the next one. In Part 7 of Unfiltered, Pastor Harman Sharda opens Mark 9:33-37, where the disciples argue on the road about who is the greatest and Jesus answers with five hard words: the first shall be last. It goes straight after the thing many of us build our lives on. And it is exactly what Jesus did, on purpose, every time.
Series: Unfiltered
Scripture: Mark 9:33-37 | Mark 10:42-45 | John 13
Pastor: Harman Sharda
Date: October 25, 2026
Key Takeaways
We all walk through the door hoping someone sees us winning. Pastor Harman's dad captained a tug of war team that won trophies across Canada, and the tallest one in the box is for second place. Harman's own first trophy, from a track race, was second place too, and his dad put it at the very front of the case. That longing never really leaves us. Twelve grown men walked behind the Son of God arguing about who was the greatest, and when Jesus asked what they were talking about, they stared at their sandals. We still rank ourselves: whose idea got picked, whose name was said from the front. Psychologists call the chase the hedonic treadmill, always moving and never arriving. You win second place, so you need first, and then you need a bigger first. And if you are new to faith and feel behind everyone else in the room, hear this: at the foot of the cross there is equality.
Jesus does not kill our ambition. He points it in a new direction. When a rabbi sat down, it meant he was about to teach, and Jesus sits down in Peter's living room in Capernaum to say it plainly: "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, the servant of all." He never says stop wanting to be first. God loves ambition aimed the right way. You want to be first? Go to the back of the line and serve everybody, not just the people who can do something for you. One chapter later James and John are asking for the seats at his right and left, and Jesus says it again, harder. In Mark 9 the word is servant; in Mark 10 it is slave. And the reason is not that it is polite to let people go ahead of you. "Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve." The world says climb, and Jesus says kneel.
Real humility is being able to receive. Pastor Harman grew up in an Indian family, where the youngest serves everyone: the chai, the empty plates, the uncles. When you greet an elder you bow and touch their feet, and blessing flows down, from older to younger, from greater to lesser. Then in John 13 the Master wraps a towel around his waist and gets down at his disciples' feet, and Peter says what any Indian kid would say if his grandmother knelt at his: "You shall never wash my feet." It sounds like humility. But if James had picked up the basin, Peter would have put his feet up. The only one he would not let serve him was the one who came to serve. We do the same when we will not let anyone pray for us or carry something for us. You cannot serve like Jesus until you let Jesus serve you. And the towel never leaves his hand: Hebrews 7 says he still lives to intercede for us.
Only a secure person can go last. Going last does not make you a doormat. Jesus flipped tables and called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs. John 13:3 says Jesus knew the Father had put all things under his power and knew where he came from and where he was going, and then he took the towel. An insecure person fights for the front of the line, and a secure person holds the door open and sets up the spotlight for someone else. In Acts 4 the room shook and the church was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the next thing they did was look around and ask who needed something. Fields and houses were sold and laid at the apostles' feet. An encounter with God turns your heart outward, and mature people are not the ones who have felt the most. They are the ones who have moved the most. Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning. If someone handed you the keys to your dream car, the real thank you would be driving it until the tires are bald. So this week, go to the back of the line on purpose (Philippians 2:3) and let someone else's name go first, and serve someone who cannot pay you back, because serving only the people who can help you is networking.
Put the trophy down. Jesus went last so you could come in first. Peter, the man who argued about greatness, refused the towel, and denied Jesus three times, writes to the churches as an old man: "Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." He finally put the towel on, and God is the one who lifts up. Pastor Harman's son made him a bracelet at school that was supposed to say DAD and came out DDA, and he wears it proudly, because he is not looking for perfection from his son, just time together. The Father is not waiting for your trophy either. You do not need to be first with him. You just need to be his. The door is open, and the one holding it is Jesus, the only person who ever deserved to be served by everyone. He got down on the floor, and he went to the cross for you.
Continue the series. Previous: Unfiltered Part 6 | Take Up Your Cross.
