NOTES for Mat 23:11-12
A godless society that has lost every real stimulus for its development has always tried to "morally" motivate people by playing on their vanity. In the community of people Christ offers, everything is different: there is only one contest, a contest in love, where success is rewarded with the opportunity to love still more, that is, to serve other people. For one who loves, the other is always more important than himself, and growth in love means that the other becomes still more important. "This contradicts human nature," we have heard more than once. Yes, fallen nature, but not the nature created by God and revealed in perfect fullness in Jesus Christ.