The Wrong Way to Be Great (and What Jesus Said Instead)

What We Didn’t Say on Sunday

Westside Gainesville •
April 30, 2026

4 Minute Read

In this episode of What We Didn’t Say on Sunday, Pastor Richie Baldwin is joined by Westside’s Ministries and Administration Pastor Zach Allen to dig deep into Mark 10:32–45: the disciples’ wrong view of greatness, the historical context that explains their confusion, and the verse that Jesus lands the entire conversation on.

Why james and john got greatness wrong

The disciples were measuring greatness by the wrong standard, the same one the world still uses. Championships. Status. Position. Who’s in the cabinet when the new king takes over?

But their confusion wasn’t random. It was historically grounded. Richie and Zach walk through the story of Judas Maccabeus — the Jewish military hero who, around 165 BC, led a revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes, retook the temple, and became the greatest figure in recent Jewish memory. Maccabeus means “hammer.” He was the closest thing the Jewish people had seen to a conquering deliverer. And so when Jesus began talking about the Kingdom of God, the disciples layered that Maccabean framework over everything He said. They were waiting for Jesus to do what Maccabeus did, only bigger.

Jesus had already told them three times that He was going to be handed over, crucified, and rise on the third day. They weren’t ignoring Him. They just couldn’t make it fit the framework they had. A kingdom doesn’t start with the king’s execution.

The Cup, the Baptism, and the Cost They Didn’t Understand

When Jesus asks James and John if they can drink the cup He’s about to drink and be baptized with the baptism He’s about to undergo, they answer immediately: “We are able.” They had no idea what they were agreeing to.

Zach unpacks the depth of that exchange: suffering is built into the call. Not always martyrdom, sometimes it’s getting up early, clearing your calendar, showing up when it’s inconvenient. But kingdom service was never designed to be comfortable. It is always connected to the cross.

And then there’s the haunting detail in Mark 10:40, “to sit at my right or my left is not mine to grant.” The commentaries are divided: Is Jesus submitting to the Father’s authority in the roles of the Trinity? Or is this foreshadowing? Because when the crucifixion comes, Mark records that Jesus hung on the cross with criminals at His right and His left. John was standing there. The same John who had asked for that seat.

WHAT KINGDOM GREATNESS ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE

Jesus lands the entire passage on one verse: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The Greek word for ransom is lytron, a price paid to purchase someone out of slavery. Jesus wasn’t just modeling servant leadership. He was purchasing people out of sin and death.

Kingdom greatness is never demanded. It’s never self-declared. It’s not measured by followers, titles, or platforms. It’s measured by how willing you are to take the lowest seat and serve the person in front of you from a motivation rooted entirely in the gospel. Not self-bragging power, but self-sacrificial empowerment.

What does the bible say about greatness?

According to Jesus in Mark 10:42–45, the world measures greatness through power, authority, and status — but kingdom greatness works in reverse. Jesus told His disciples that whoever wants to be great must be a servant, and whoever wants to be first must be a slave of all. He grounded this in His own example: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Biblical greatness is never self-declared or demanded. It is expressed through servant leadership, motivated by the gospel, and measured by willingness to take the lowest seat.

Watch the Full Episode

Take Your Next Step

Stay connected by subscribing below so you never miss an update.

Subscribe to What We Didn't Say on Sunday Show Notes Updates

Up Next

From this Collection: What We Didn't Say on Sunday Show Notes

June 25, 2026 • 5 Minute Read

What Does the Bible Say About Christian Unity?

James and John once asked Jesus for the two best seats in the kingdom. A few decades later, John sits down to write his gospel and includes a prayer where Jesus asks the Father for something else entirely on behalf of people James and John would never meet. Us, two thousand years later, in Gainesville. This episode was recorded on Father’s Day, and it shows. Pastor David Chauncey and Pastor Richie Baldwin spend most of it on John 17:20–26 — the part of the prayer where Jesus shifts from praying for the eleven disciples in the room to praying for everyone who’d believe because of them. A PRAYER FOR GRANDCHILDREN Pastor David frames the shift simply: in verses 6–19, Jesus prays for his children — the eleven disciples. In verses 20–26, his attention turns to the grandchildren — everyone who would believe through the disciples’ testimony. That includes every believer who has ever lived since. What does Jesus pray for this future family? Not health, happiness, or a good job — the things most fathers instinctively pray for their kids. He prays for unity (“that they may be one”, repeated several times) and proximity (“that they also may be with me where I am” — John 17:24). One in unity here on earth. One with him in eternity forever. How can we pray for you? Let us know by clicking the button below.I need prayer THREE REASONS WE OVER ME MATTERS Pastor David draws three threads out of the passage. First, unity reflects the divine — when believers surrender their own desires for the good of others, they put God’s relational, self-giving nature on display. Second, unity reaches the world: “Make them one, Father, so that the world will know that you love me and that you sent me” (John 17:21,23). Disunity actively undercuts the testimony believers are trying to give. Third, unity recognizes our future — because we are guaranteed an eternal home with the Father, it becomes easier to sacrifice now, knowing the outcome is already secure. He illustrates the power of unified testimony with the World Cup: stadiums full of fans from Mexico, Scotland, and beyond singing their national anthems with total, unembarrassed unity — a single voice, completely given over to one allegiance. That, he says, is the kind of undivided allegiance God wants from the people he has called out for himself. TRANSFORMATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP IS RELATIONAL, NOT DIGITAL Richie’s sermon at Southwest leaned into discipleship as the practical outworking of we over me. His foundation: Romans 12:2 — don’t be conformed to the world, but transformed. Conformity is easy. Transformation is impossible apart from the power of God working through discipleship — and discipleship, he insists, has to be relational. You can’t get it from YouTube. He quotes Robert Coleman’s The Master Plan of Evangelism: God’s plan A was for the gospel to spread through ordinary people. There is no plan B. Jesus modeled this by narrowing his focus — from thousands, to twelve, to three, to one beloved disciple. Real discipleship happens life-on-life, shoulder-to-shoulder, one-on-one. Richie cites Brett McCracken’s Scrolling Ourselves to Death: the suicide rate among kids ages 10–24 has risen 62% since 2007 — the same year the iPhone debuted. His point isn’t that phones are evil, but that the digital age is actively pulling people away from the relational discipleship Jesus modeled and commanded.Connect in a Life Group A MISSION STATEMENT FOR FATHERS David highlights John 17:26 as a mission statement for dads: “I have made known your name to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them.” His hope for his own kids: to make God known to them through Christ so that the love he has experienced with God becomes the love they experience too. It is not a task to complete. It is a desire to be lived. Think of David, Solomon, and Rehoboam — a father trusting an imperfect son with everything, generation after generation. In John 17, God the Father entrusts everything to God the Son, who entrusts it to us. The trust runs all the way down to Gainesville, Florida, today. Theological Triage | What We Have to Agree On If unity matters so much, why are there so many denominations? Richie introduces Albert Mohler’s concept of theological triage — like a medical triage, doctrines are sorted by urgency. Primary doctrines are life-or-death: salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone, the deity of Christ, the resurrection. Pull out those pillars and the faith collapses entirely — it isn’t Christianity anymore. Secondary doctrines — like the mode of baptism — shape which church you join and disciple within, but don’t determine whether someone is a Christian. Tertiary doctrines, like views on the millennium, are things believers can disagree on while still worshipping together on a Sunday morning. Pastor David notes that in decades of ministry, he has rarely counseled anyone who struggled to become a Christian because of denominational differences — but he has met many who struggle because Christians don’t look different from the world.Watch the Full EpisodeTake Your Next Step

Westside Gainesville

May 14, 2026 • 4 Minute Read

What Does It Mean to Have the Mind of Christ?

Paul doesn’t just tell the Philippians to serve. He tells them to think differently first. Because if you get the mind right, the service follows. That’s the spine of Philippians 2 — and it’s the spine of this episode. This week, Pastor David Chauncey and Pastor Richie Baldwin go deep into Philippians 1:27–2:11 — Paul’s call to live as citizens of heaven, the Christ hymn and the kenosis doctrine, and what George Washington crossing the Delaware River has to do with the incarnation. Citizens of heaven | The Foundation The sermon’s launch point is Philippians 1:27 — “Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Paul is writing to a predominantly Roman church. These were Roman citizens. Suffering and humility were not virtues in their world — they were signs of weakness. Paul’s reframe is radical: you have a different citizenship now. And that citizenship comes with a different code. Richie connects it directly to service: the vertical relationship with Christ enables horizontal service to people. If you know the encouragement of Christ, the comfort of His love, the fellowship of the Spirit, then you can have the same mind as Jesus toward others. The vertical affects the horizontal. The Mandate, the Method, and the Models Pastor David structures Philippians 2 around three movements. The mandate: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4). Most problems, he says, are a counting problem — we’re counting abuses to ourselves instead of the needs of others. The method is a transformation of the mind. Paul doesn’t say try harder — he says change what you count. Count others. Die to self. The models are Christ himself, then Timothy (“there is no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare”), and Epaphroditus, who traveled to Philippi simply because he heard they were worried about his health. The key insight: we don’t want people to fill a slot of service. We want people to develop a mind. If you have the mind of Christ, the slots fill themselves. The CHRISt hymn and the kenosis Philippians 2:5–11 is believed by many scholars to be one of the earliest hymns of the Christian church, an oral tradition encapsulated in poetic form before the Gospels were written. It is among the most theologically significant passages in the New Testament. The passage describes three stages of humiliation: Jesus existed in the form (morphē) of God in full equality with the Father. He did not grasp at that equality but voluntarily emptied himself — the Greek word is kenōsis. He took on human form. And then he went further: obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Pastor David notes something critical: the Greek says he emptied himself — not that the Father emptied him. This was a voluntary act of submission between equals. You cannot be coerced into the mind of Christ. It has to come from within. The hymn doesn’t end with the cross. It ends with exaltation: God gives Jesus the name above every name, and at that name every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Suffering unto death — then glory. That’s the pattern. And Paul says, "Have this same mind." What does it mean to have the mind of christ? In Philippians 2:5–11, Paul commands believers to “have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” Having the mind of Christ means adopting his posture of voluntary, selfless humility — counting the needs and interests of others above your own. The passage describes how Jesus, though equal with God in every way, did not grasp at that equality but emptied himself (Greek: kenōsis), took on human form, and became obedient to death on a cross. This was not compelled submission but a voluntary act of love. To have the mind of Christ is to make the same voluntary choice — to lay down status, comfort, and self-interest in service to others — motivated not by obligation but by the same love that sent Jesus from heaven to earth.Watch the Full EpisodeTake Your Next Step

Westside Gainesville

May 7, 2026 • 4 Minute Read

How Do I Find My Spiritual Gift?

A lot of people are waiting for a sign. A burning bush. Some unmistakable confirmation from God before they commit to serving. Pastor David Chauncey has a direct word for that: it doesn’t work that way. This week on What We Didn’t Say on Sunday, Pastor David, freshly back from leading a group through the seven churches of Revelation in Turkey, joins Pastor Richie Baldwin to unpack 1 Corinthians 12 and the question every churchgoer eventually faces: where do I fit, and how do I find out? Why Interdependence Is the Design, Not the Backup Plan Pastor David’s first point from 1 Corinthians 12 goes all the way back to Genesis 2:18 — the first time in the creation narrative that God says something is not good. Not the darkness. Not the chaos. The first “not good” is that man should be alone. Interdependence isn’t a theological footnote. It’s written into the original design. Paul builds on that in 1 Corinthians 12 with the body analogy, using it almost comically. The hand can’t say to the foot, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t tell the feet to leave. Every part is necessary. And no one has been given all the spiritual gifts by design. Because if they had, the body wouldn’t need to be a body. The Danger of the 30% Church In most average Southern Baptist churches, only about 30% of members actively serve. Pastor David puts it plainly: imagine if only 30% of your body worked. You could train and develop that 30% all you want — you’d still exhaust them, and the body still wouldn’t function. This is what the Nicolaitans were pushing in the early church — a heresy called sacerdotalism: the idea that a special class of clergy does the real ministry while everyone else stays passive. Two of the seven churches in Revelation were warned about it. The same dynamic quietly kills the life of churches today. Pastor David’s response after decades in ministry: “You set me apart and financially support me to work this ministry full-time. You didn’t set me apart to give me your job.” How You Actually Find Your Spiritual Gift Pastor David has given spiritual gift tests for 30 years. His honest assessment: they’re barely scientific, much less spiritually authoritative. They’re a starting point, not a destination. God is not going to burn a bush for you in your backyard and announce your spiritual gift. It bubbles up as you obey Scripture — as you love one another, make disciples, and serve. On the team is where it manifests. You try things. You make mistakes. Others in your Life Group see gifts in you before you do. That’s not a bug in the system. That’s the system. The story of John Mark is the clearest biblical example. He failed completely on the first missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas. Paul refused to take him back. But John Mark eventually found his gifting became a close friend of Peter, wrote the first gospel, and later Paul himself says in Colossians: “send John Mark to me, he is of use to me.” You don’t find your gift and then serve. You serve, and the gift finds you. How do I find my spiritual gift? According to 1 Corinthians 12, spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit for the building up of the body of Christ. The Bible does not teach that believers should wait for a supernatural sign before serving. Instead, spiritual gifts are discovered through active participation in the church community — they manifest as believers obey Scripture by loving one another, making disciples, and serving on a team. Others in the community often identify gifts in a person before that person recognizes them in themselves. Spiritual gift inventories and tests can be a helpful starting point but are not spiritually authoritative. The story of John Mark in Acts and Colossians 4:10 illustrates the biblical pattern: he failed on the mission field, found his true gifting through accountability and community, and ultimately became useful to both Paul and Peter.Watch the Full EpisodeTake Your Next Step

Westside Gainesville

Currently Reading

April 30, 2026 • 4 Minute Read

The Wrong Way to Be Great (and What Jesus Said Instead)

James and John pulled Jesus aside and made their request privately: they wanted the two seats of honor in His kingdom. One on the right, one on the left. It’s one of the most awkward moments in the Gospels and one of the most revealing. In this episode of What We Didn’t Say on Sunday, Pastor Richie Baldwin is joined by Westside’s Ministries and Administration Pastor Zach Allen to dig deep into Mark 10:32–45: the disciples’ wrong view of greatness, the historical context that explains their confusion, and the verse that Jesus lands the entire conversation on. Why james and john got greatness wrong The disciples were measuring greatness by the wrong standard, the same one the world still uses. Championships. Status. Position. Who’s in the cabinet when the new king takes over? But their confusion wasn’t random. It was historically grounded. Richie and Zach walk through the story of Judas Maccabeus — the Jewish military hero who, around 165 BC, led a revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes, retook the temple, and became the greatest figure in recent Jewish memory. Maccabeus means “hammer.” He was the closest thing the Jewish people had seen to a conquering deliverer. And so when Jesus began talking about the Kingdom of God, the disciples layered that Maccabean framework over everything He said. They were waiting for Jesus to do what Maccabeus did, only bigger. Jesus had already told them three times that He was going to be handed over, crucified, and rise on the third day. They weren’t ignoring Him. They just couldn’t make it fit the framework they had. A kingdom doesn’t start with the king’s execution. The Cup, the Baptism, and the Cost They Didn’t Understand When Jesus asks James and John if they can drink the cup He’s about to drink and be baptized with the baptism He’s about to undergo, they answer immediately: “We are able.” They had no idea what they were agreeing to. Zach unpacks the depth of that exchange: suffering is built into the call. Not always martyrdom, sometimes it’s getting up early, clearing your calendar, showing up when it’s inconvenient. But kingdom service was never designed to be comfortable. It is always connected to the cross. And then there’s the haunting detail in Mark 10:40, “to sit at my right or my left is not mine to grant.” The commentaries are divided: Is Jesus submitting to the Father’s authority in the roles of the Trinity? Or is this foreshadowing? Because when the crucifixion comes, Mark records that Jesus hung on the cross with criminals at His right and His left. John was standing there. The same John who had asked for that seat. WHAT KINGDOM GREATNESS ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE Jesus lands the entire passage on one verse: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The Greek word for ransom is lytron, a price paid to purchase someone out of slavery. Jesus wasn’t just modeling servant leadership. He was purchasing people out of sin and death. Kingdom greatness is never demanded. It’s never self-declared. It’s not measured by followers, titles, or platforms. It’s measured by how willing you are to take the lowest seat and serve the person in front of you from a motivation rooted entirely in the gospel. Not self-bragging power, but self-sacrificial empowerment. What does the bible say about greatness? According to Jesus in Mark 10:42–45, the world measures greatness through power, authority, and status — but kingdom greatness works in reverse. Jesus told His disciples that whoever wants to be great must be a servant, and whoever wants to be first must be a slave of all. He grounded this in His own example: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Biblical greatness is never self-declared or demanded. It is expressed through servant leadership, motivated by the gospel, and measured by willingness to take the lowest seat.Watch the Full EpisodeTake Your Next Step

Westside Gainesville

April 23, 2026 • 4 Minute Read

What Jesus Did at the Last Supper That Nobody Was Expecting | John 13

It was the night of the Passover meal. Jerusalem was packed. The disciples had found a room and gathered with Jesus for what would become one of the most significant evenings in human history. And then Jesus did something nobody in that room saw coming. He got up from the table, took off his outer robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and started washing his disciples’ feet. In this episode of What We Didn’t Say on Sunday, Beau Martin and Southwest Campus Pastor Richie Baldwin go deep into John 13 — unpacking what that moment meant in its cultural context, what Peter’s refusal reveals about how we misunderstand serving, and why the answer Jesus gave that night changes everything about why we serve today. Why FOOT WASHING WAS SO SHOCKING To understand what Jesus did, you have to understand what foot washing meant in first-century Jewish culture. It was reserved for the lowest servant in a household — almost always a Gentile, never a Jew, and absolutely never a rabbi. Guests would bathe before a Passover meal but their feet would get dirty walking to the house. A servant would be waiting to wash them at the door. Richie also walks through the physical setting most people get wrong. The disciples weren’t sitting at a long table like the Leonardo da Vinci painting. They were reclining on their sides around a Roman triclinium — a low U-shaped table — which is why John 13:23 describes John lying against Jesus. It’s an intimate, close setting. And in the middle of it, the Son of God gets on the floor with a basin of water. John frames the entire moment with one sentence: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” This wasn’t a duty. It was love, all the way down. WHAT PETER GOT WRONG AND WHAT IT REVEALS ABOUT US When Jesus came to Peter, Peter refused. Loudly. In the Greek, his refusal is far stronger than most English translations capture — he says Jesus will never wash his feet “into the eon,” into eternity. It’s a sweeping, absolute rejection. Jesus’ answer is equally direct: “If I don’t wash you, you have no share with me.” Richie unpacks what that exchange reveals: Peter wanted to do something for Jesus. He thought serving Jesus was the point. But Jesus was showing him that everything starts with receiving what Jesus came to do — not the other way around. We don’t serve Christ. Christ serves us. And because He serves us, we obey. That order matters enormously. Are you serving god or serving for god? Beau asks the question that every person in ministry eventually faces: how do you know if your motivation is right? How do you cross from working for God to truly serving for God? Richie’s answer goes straight to 1 John 5:3: “His commandments are not burdensome.” When serving comes from love — from a genuine response to what Christ has already done — it isn’t a burden. The nursery worker holding a crying baby for two hours who says “I love this” isn’t performing. She’s got the motivation right. The practical test: before you serve with your hands and feet, check your heart. If your heart isn’t in it, pray. Ask God to change your motivation. A God who tells you to serve is also generous enough to help you want to. What DID jesus do at the last supper that nobody was expecting? At the Last Supper, Jesus rose from the meal, removed his outer garments, wrapped a towel around his waist, and washed his disciples’ feet — an act so counter-cultural it would have shocked everyone present. In first-century Jewish culture, foot washing was reserved for the lowest servant in a household, never a peer and never a rabbi. Jesus did it anyway, including washing the feet of Judas, who he knew would betray him within hours. John 13:1 frames the entire moment: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” Jesus then commanded his followers to do the same, teaching that greatness in the Kingdom of God is measured by willingness to serve, not by status (John 13:14–17).Watch the Full EpisodeTake Your Next Step

Westside Gainesville