In a book titled Irrepressible Churchill, Kay Halle told the story of a little boy who lived near Chartwell, England. It was at Chartwell Manor that Winston Churchill lived after his retirement as prime minister in 1955. This little boy was taken to Chartwell by the woman who cared for him each day. She told the little boy that he was going to see "the greatest man in the whole, wide world." When this woman and the boy in her charge arrived at Chartwell Manor, they learned that Sir Winston had retired for his afternoon nap. While the woman was having tea, the little boy slipped away from the adults, climbed the stairs, and started to explore the house. He pushed open the door to one of the bedrooms and saw Winston Churchill curled up in bed, ready for one of his famous naps. The little boy crept to the bed and asked, "Are you the greatest man in the whole wide world?" Sir Winston fixed his eye on him for a moment, then replied, "Of course, I’m the greatest man in the whole wide world. Now buzz off."

What makes people great? By the standards of our society, greatness appears to be based on four possible foundations: wealth, honors, fame, or power. The power may be physical, as in the agility and stamina of an athlete. The power may also be financial or political. In contrast to these sources of greatness, the author of the Second Book of Samuel traces greatness to God. In speaking about King David, the author wrote: "David son of Jesse was the man whom God made great, whom the God of Jacob chose to be king, and who was the composer of beautiful songs for Israel" (2 Samuel 23:1-2, TEV). The same God who inspired greatness in his servant David is the God who inspires greatness in you. "I am sure," wrote Saint Paul, "that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns" (Philippians 1:6, LB). There are four qualities to this divinely inspired greatness: humility, helpfulness, hopefulness, heroism.

I

First, a person is made great by being humble. When King David was a boy, he lived as a shepherd on the hills of Judea. Under the black sky, David saw the stars and realized how small human beings are. In a psalm ascribed to David are these words:

When I look at the sky, which
you have made,
at the moon and the stars
which you set in their places -
what is man, that you think of him;
mere man, that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4, TEV)

It is only by recognizing our littleness that we ever discover anything big. Childhood is the time of physical littleness. To a child, everything is big. To a child, the world is filled with wonders, As G. K. Chesterton said: "The world will never starve for wonders; but only for want of wonders." The mental equivalent to the physical littleness of childhood is humility. That is why the scriptures say: "Jesus called a child, had him stand in front of them, and said, ‘I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven. The greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child’ " (Matthew 18:2-4, TEV).

Sir Isaac Newton, the British scientist and mathematician, lived from 1642 to 1727. He gave the world three things: a new mathematics; a new insight into the nature of light; and a new understanding of the force which holds the universe together. Alexander Pope recognized his greatness when he wrote:

Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in Night:
God said, Let Newton be! And all was light.

Newton has been called "one of the greatest names in the history of human thought" because of his contributions to mathematics, physics, and astronomy. Yet, listen to Newton, in the closing years of his life, as he described himself: "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seemed to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." First of all, a person is made great when God inspires within him the virtue of humility.

II

Secondly, a person is made great by being helpful. When David was a boy, he was taken to the palace of King Saul. David’s musical talents proved most helpful to the king. Scripture says: "Whenever the evil spirit came upon Saul, David would get his harp and play it. The evil spirit would leave and Saul would feel better again and be all right" (1 Samuel 16:23, TEV). The music of David helped Saul to get over his black moods. Furthermore, the boy David was helpful to Saul in another way. While he was taking food to his brothers who were serving on the front lines in Israel’s battle against the Philistines, David saw the Philistine giant, Goliath, and heard him taunt the army of Israel. David volunteered to fight the giant. King Saul offered David his royal armor, but after trying it on, David said, "I can’t fight with all this. I’m not used to it" (1 Samuel 17:39, TEV). Instead, David used the most effective weapon he had. It was his shepherd’s sling, a long, thin piece of cloth into which a stone was placed, swung around the head, and then one end released, hurling the stone at its target. Jewish shepherds were famous for their accuracy with a sling. "Everyone of them," says the author of the Book of Judges, "could sling a stone at a strand of hair and never miss" (Judges 20:16, TEV). By killing the Philistine giant, David proved most helpful to King Saul.

When Jesus spoke about greatness, he said, "If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest" (Mark 10:43, TEV). Far from being an other-worldly platitude removed from our daily lives, our Lord’s words underline a principle of all effective living: The person or the institution which serves most, is most helpful, is most useful, is the one that will survive and be counted great! Bruce Barton, the American advertising executive, reminded people that the basis on which the executives of an automobile agency will claim the financial support of its customers is that they will crawl under your car oftener and get themselves dirtier than any of their competitors. That company is willing to give more service. If it does, people will patronize it and it will be great. On the other hand, any company or institution which does not serve and, prove useful to the public will fail.

III

Thirdly, a person is made great by being hopeful. When David became the king of God’s people, he had great hopes which guided him like stars guide travelers in a strange land. For instance, David hoped to organize the twelve scattered tribes of Israel into a unity. That was his hope and he accomplished it. Again, he hoped to unite the north and the south into one strong political reality. That was his hope and he realized it by choosing a neutral city, midway between north and south. He captured this Jebusite city and today we know it as Jerusalem. Again, David hoped to capture the Ark from the Philistines, that Covenant Box in which the stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments were kept. He succeeded in capturing that Ark and restoring it to Jerusalem. That Ark of the Covenant became the basis of the great Temple which David planned to build and which his son, Solomon, succeeded in building.

Great hopes make people great! That’s why Alfred, Lord Tennyson spoke of "the mighty hopes that make us men." That’s why Goethe said, "In all things it is better to hope than to despair." That’s why old Samuel Johnson said, "It is worth a thousand pounds a year to have the habit of looking on the bright side of things." The children whom Christ called upon us to emulate know this. A man stopped to watch a Little League baseball game. He asked one of the youngsters what the score was. "We’re behind eighteen to nothing," was the answer. "Well," said the man, "I must say you don’t look discouraged." "Discouraged?" the boy said, puzzled. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t come to bat yet."

IV

Fourthly, a person is made great by being heroic. When David stole Bathsheba from her husband, Uriah, then engineered his death, David entered one of the dark and damaging periods of his life. Maybe David felt that he was above the law, or that his particular affair with Bathsheba was somehow exempt from God’s law. But, as Francis Thompson heard God say to a soul, "All things betray thee, who betrayest Me." David’s conscience and sense of social justice betrayed him. When Nathan the prophet appeared before the king and told a little story about a rich man who stole a poor man’s only lamb, David became angry with the rich man and said, "I swear by the living Lord that the man who did this ought to die!" (2 Samuel 12:5, TEV). Nathan looked steadily at the king and replied, "You are that man" (2 Samuel 12:7, TEV). Although David had fallen far from his high calling and destiny, there was still something heroic about him. He did not try to evade Nathan’s words. He did not offer excuses. "David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan answered him, ‘The Lord has laid on another the consequences of your sin; you shall not die, but ...’ " (2 Samuel 12:13, NEB). David was heroic, not only because he had the courage as a boy to fight a giant, but because he had the courage as a man to wrestle with himself, to admit that he had been wrong, and to make a fresh start in life.

David’s heroism inspired heroism in his soldiers. They seem to fulfill the statement of Thomas Carlyle, "We cannot look, however imperfectly, upon a great man without gaining something from him." The scriptures say, "These are the names of David’s heroes" (2 Samuel 23:8, NEB). and then lists more than thirty heroic soldiers. Heroes affect us in four ways. First, a hero captures our attention. One of those heroes was a man named Benaiah "who went down into a pit and killed a lion on a snowy day" (2 Samuel 23:20, NEB). Because we face problems that stalk us like lions, we admire Benaiah, whose action captures our attention. Secondly, a hero crystallizes our intention. The lion that Benaiah faced strayed up from the area near the Jordan River and was stranded in a snowstorm. The presence of that lion was not under Benaiah’s control. However, what Benaiah could control and what we can control is our reaction to the problems we face. That type of self-control is a personal goal worth developing. Benaiah’s example helps us to crystallize just such an intention. Thirdly, a hero cultivates our retention. Although it was a snowy day and

the lion was in a pit, Benaiah did not run away; he held his ground before the lion. Benaiah’s courage in the face of unfavorable circumstances encourages our retention, our holding on when the going gets tough. As a Norwegian proverb says, "A hero is one who knows how to hold on one minute longer." Fourthly, a hero catalyzes our extension. Just as a certain substance can spark a chemical reaction, so a heroic figure causes us to enlarge our outlook and to expand our efforts toward our goals.

What makes people great? What makes you great? It is the fact that the same God who made David great can make you great. It is the fact that you are related to Jesus Christ, great David’s greater Son. Through that continuing relationship which is at work in the center of your being, you are being given those qualities that make people great - the qualities of being humble, helpful, hopeful, and heroic. "My dear children, your life has its source in God, and yours is the victory ... because the Spirit who is in you is greater than the spirit who is in the world" (1 John 4:4, Barclay).