Recently in the church that I'm a part of we had an interesting experience where there was a sort of competition going on as to who was the best servant of God. It's the first time that I had ever experienced or been in the midst of such a thing going on, but judgeing from many stories I have heard, it seems to be quite a common problem in many places.......and so I decided to write a little article about it. I want to explain the problems that are caused by this taking place in a group of believers and also why it happens. I also want to show what God thinks about such a problem and how to overcome it.

For many years I have been worship leading in the church here and last year a family moved to town who were talented musically. He was good with sound gear and she was a talented singer and when she performed at a function in town we easily recognised that she had an exceptional voice and we all thought (including myself) that she would make a great addition to the worship team. So I decided to let her have a go and she did well and after that I let her lead the worship every second week.

It soon degenerated into a contest over who could lead worship the best.........I must admit that for several months I was drawn into it without realising what was going on. We would choose new songs that were better or brighter and then try things that hadn't been tried before.

After a short while I soon realised that this kind of activity was not worshipping God.......but worshipping the opinion of other people. So I stopped competing against her and starting to help her to do a better job. That part was easy because I'm also a musician and I played for her.........I did my best and tried to support her worship leading and make it even better. I also did the best I could myself, but tried to keep my eyes on the Lord. The answer was to be focused on God and to be a servant to her.

There is a story in the Bible about a similar thing happening. It can be found in Mark 9:33-36

The disciples were in the midst of a big argument about who was the greatest........they were having a spiritual competition between them. Whenever this occurs in any place it is not about pleasing God, but about being recognised by others as being important or good............so it is worshipping the opinion of people. What was Jesus response to them?

They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,

Obviously Jesus was saying that someone who innocently trusts in God and is willing to be small is the greatest in the Kingdom of God. In another place in the Bible........Jesus even washed the feet of the discples and said to them that "the greatest among you.............should be like the one who serves" Luke 22:25-27

When we compete against other people we get into a place where we don't trust them or their motives, and we start to lose our love for them. Then we stop working together and in the end it becomes a useful tool for the evil one to cause disunity in the Kingdom of God.

A spirit of competition causes disunity and disrupts the work of God. It causes love to be lost and it builds the devils kingdom instead.

This "spirit of competition" can be between individual christians.........or be between associate pastors who both want to impress the senior pastor...........or between churches who both want to be the best church in their town..........or be between denominations over who is better............or even be between prominent ministers who want public opinion to be on their side.

No matter what the circumstances are...........every time you find yourself wanting to be better than another christian...........you have stopped worshipping God and are worshipping the opinion of another person. You are also working to cause disunity in God's body and and not building the Kingdom.

Jesus said that the answer was to become like a servant..........and you will then be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Its hard to surrendur, submit and lay down before another believer.........but in doing so you are doing the very thing that Jesus did and you are being true to your faith to love another, serve another, help another, comfort another and you are helping to build the Kingdom of God.

If you are in a competition like this..........it is a sin. You need to seek God's forgiveness and seek restitution with your pastor for causing such a disturbance in the church. If you are a pastor and competing against another church you need to seek restitution with that other minister.

Humble yourself and let the glory of God flood into your life..................don't worry, because that is exactly what will happen. You will find the blessing of God is yours if you do.