What the First President Can Teach Us About Greatness

A message for America’s 250th anniversary — The Woodlands First Baptist Church

There is an old story about a very patriotic woman who had grown concerned about a religious group known for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Determined to be ready, she mounted a six-foot American flag on her living room wall and waited. One day the doorbell rang. A middle-aged woman stood on the porch with a stack of magazines. Before the visitor could speak, she was pulled inside, positioned in front of the flag, and told to put her hand over her heart and repeat each line of the pledge. When they finished, the patriotic woman turned and asked triumphantly: “Now, what do you think about that?” The visitor paused and replied: “Well, I’ve been an Avon lady for twenty years, and that is the strangest thing I have ever experienced.”

Dr. Bruce Webb opened this message at The Woodlands First Baptist Church in The Woodlands, TX with that story, followed quickly by a genuine word of caution: it is entirely possible to go overboard with patriotism, especially in the church where our ultimate allegiance belongs to Jesus Christ. Keeping that priority straight is, in fact, the best thing we can do for the nation we love.

However, on the occasion of America’s 250th anniversary, it is worth asking what has made this country remarkable. One answer that runs through our history from the very beginning is the ideal of public service: the conviction that real greatness is demonstrated through humility and serving others rather than through the accumulation of power and privilege. Furthermore, that ideal did not arise in a vacuum. It came, in large measure, from the teachings of Jesus Christ.

What Jesus Said About Greatness

In Matthew 20:20-28, the mother of James and John approaches Jesus with a request: could her sons have the two seats of highest honor in his kingdom? The other ten disciples, when they hear about this, are indignant. Jesus gathers them all and reframes everything they think they know about power.

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them,” he says. “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus did not merely teach this principle; he embodied it. In John 13, on the night before the crucifixion, he wrapped a towel around his waist, knelt down, and washed his disciples’ feet. In the ancient world, foot-washing was the task assigned to the lowest servant in a household. Roads were dusty, sandals were open, and the job was genuinely unpleasant. Jesus never considered himself above it. When he finished, he told his disciples: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

This teaching had a profound effect on the character of the man who would become the central figure of America’s founding.

Was George Washington a Christian?

Some modern historians argue Washington was a Deist, a man who believed in a Creator but not one personally involved in the world. They point to the relative privacy of his personal faith in his writings. Dr. Webb offers a different interpretation: Washington’s 18th-century Anglicanism was simply uncomfortable with making oneself the center of attention rather than God, and reducing Christianity to personal experience was, in the view of many in that tradition, a form of spiritual pride.

What the Historical Record Shows

The historical record, however, is quite concrete. Washington served as a lay leader in two Virginia parishes, managing church finances, overseeing conduct, supporting the pastor, and caring for the poor. He was

Senior Pastor Dr. Bruce Webb explores the faith and character of George Washington on America’s 250th anniversary, connecting Washington’s servant leadership to the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 20.

raised by devout Christian parents, attended church regularly throughout his life, and was known to attend services frequently in New York and Philadelphia during his presidency.

His nephew George Lewis reported witnessing Washington’s private devotions both morning and evening, kneeling with an open Bible. His adopted daughter Nelly Custis-Lewis said she would have considered it heresy to doubt his Christianity, noting he traveled two to three hours by horse or carriage to attend church services. She added that questioning his faith would be as absurd as questioning his patriotism, which no one did.

In his farewell address, Washington was explicit: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. We should be very cautious about believing that people can remain truly moral without religion.” He was careful not to name Christianity specifically, as he sought to include citizens of all denominations and faiths. Nevertheless, his own life and practice made his convictions unmistakable.

A Faith That Shaped His Character

Those who chose Washington as Commander of the Continental Army, and later as the first President, did so in large part because of his moral character. The new film Young Washington, currently in theaters, explores his formative years and the character that emerged from them. You can watch the Young Washington official trailer here. What the film and history alike confirm is that his humility was not a personality quirk. It was a conviction rooted in his faith.

A Man Who Surrendered Power Three Times

The clearest evidence of Washington’s character is not what he said but what he did, specifically what he chose not to keep.

Refusing the Rewards of Command

When Washington accepted command of the Continental Army, he refused a salary, requesting only reimbursement of expenses. He was risking his life, his reputation, and his estate against the most powerful kingdom in the world. Religious freedom, he believed, was worth the risk, and he would not profit from the cause.

As president, he initially refused his salary again, though he ultimately accepted it to avoid setting a precedent future office holders could not uphold. Even then, he declined expense reimbursement and frequently used his own money to cover official duties that exceeded his salary. The pattern was consistent: Washington refused to treat public office as a vehicle for personal gain.

Choosing a Title That Fit the Job

When Washington became president, serious discussion arose about how he should be addressed. Proposals included titles like His Excellency and His Highness. Washington insisted on a single simple designation: Mr. President. That decision was not trivial. It established from the very beginning that the highest office in the land was one of service, not sovereignty. Dr. Webb notes he met the U.S. Ambassador to Jordan just the week before this sermon, and she is formally addressed as Her Excellency. Washington deliberately chose a different path.

Stepping Down Voluntarily, Twice Then Three Times

After the revolution, British King George III asked the American-born painter Benjamin West what Washington intended to do now that the war was won. West replied that Washington planned to relinquish command and return to private life. The king reportedly responded: “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.” The reason for the king’s skepticism was straightforward: military leaders who won revolutions did not voluntarily surrender power. They made themselves dictators.

Washington did it anyway. After two terms as president, he stepped down again, though nothing required him to do so. It was not until 1951, after Franklin Roosevelt was elected to four terms, that Congress limited presidents to two. Washington could have served for life. Instead, he went home.

In 1798, he did it a third time. With war against France threatening the young republic, President John Adams asked Washington to return as Commander of the Military. Washington agreed reluctantly, out of duty rather than ambition. When the threat subsided, he surrendered authority once more. Philippians 2:3-5 describes the posture behind each of those decisions: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”

Abigail Adams wrote of Washington that no man ever lived more deservedly beloved and respected, and that despite years of praise and adulation, he never forgot that he was a man subject to human weakness and frailty. He never grew giddy. He never used his power except for the benefit of his country.

The Spectacles Moment: Vulnerability as Leadership

There is a lesser-known moment near the end of the Revolutionary War called the Newburgh Conspiracy. Washington’s officers were furious. They had not been paid. Promises from the Continental Congress had been delayed, and some suspected Washington himself was complicit. There was talk of taking matters into their own hands.

Washington walked into the room. He did not come in offended, asserting authority, or making threats. He spoke to the men about honor, about the cause, about what they had endured together. Then he pulled out a letter from a congressman to read aloud, and he struggled to see it. Rather than hand it off to preserve the appearance of strength, he reached into his pocket, put on a pair of spectacles, and said:

“Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but almost blind in the service of my country.”

The room changed. The men remembered that their commander had suffered alongside them, sacrificed with them, and given everything he had. The conspiracy dissolved.

Dr. Webb reflects that this moment also gives us something important: it allows us to see this near-mythical figure in our history as a fragile, imperfect human being, like us, in need of a Savior. That perspective lets us celebrate his example without worshipping him, and directs our gratitude where it ultimately belongs: to Jesus Christ, whose teaching shaped the humility Washington practiced.

Greatness and Moral Failure Can Coexist

Washington was not without serious flaws. In 1799, 317 enslaved people lived at Mount Vernon. Washington owned 123 of them directly. The remaining 193 were dower slaves belonging to the estate of Martha Washington’s first husband.

Upon his death, Washington freed the 123 enslaved people belonging to him. The hypocrisy of fighting for his own freedom while enslaving others had not been entirely lost on him as the revolution progressed. Even so, the fact that he owned slaves at all and waited until his death to free them is, as Dr. Webb puts it, a stain on his character that is impossible to ignore.

A teenager on a plantation tour in Charleston recently overheard that Washington had owned slaves and remarked: “But if George Washington owned slaves, that must mean there were good slave owners.” The comment is both offensive and naïve, but it illustrates something real: people can possess both genuine goodness and genuine moral failure. Washington did, and so do all of us. Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Acknowledging that is not an excuse; it is the beginning of honesty.

Trying to ignore, hide, or make excuses for sin never leads anywhere good. First John 1:8-9 is direct: if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness. The sins of our own age, Dr. Webb suggests, will one day be as glaringly obvious as slavery appears to us now. Humility about that possibility is its own form of wisdom.

What 250 Years Later Still Requires

On America’s 250th anniversary, there is much to celebrate. However, the character that made this nation worth celebrating did not come from geography, resources, or the inevitable march of progress. It came from men and women shaped by a conviction that greatness is found in service, that leadership is a duty rather than a privilege, and that the measure of a person is not what they accumulate but what they willingly lay down.

George Washington learned that from Jesus. The same Jesus who knelt to wash his disciples’ feet, who said whoever wants to be first must be the servant of all, and who gave his life as a ransom for many. Washington’s willingness to follow that example has been a blessing to the world for 250 years.

As Dr. Webb closed: if we want this nation to remain great, we must recommit ourselves to the same God whose Son modeled the humility that made Washington worth remembering. That recommitment begins not with politics, but with each of us, in the ordinary moments of our ordinary lives, choosing to serve rather than to be served.

If you are searching for a church near me in The Woodlands, TX where these conversations happen honestly and Scripture is taken seriously, we would love for you to join us at The Woodlands First Baptist Church.

Learn More about The Woodlands First

Watch the full sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXXkNH5viso

Plan your visit this Sunday: https://thewoodlandsfirst.org/new/

Learn about our beliefs: https://thewoodlandsfirst.org/beliefs/

First Kids (Children’s Ministry): https://thewoodlandsfirst.org/ministries/first-kids/

Visit The Woodlands First Baptist Church

We offer worship services in traditional, modern, and Spanish-language styles across two campuses in The Woodlands, TX, along with Bible study classes and small groups for all ages.

South Campus: 11801 Grogan’s Mill Rd, The Woodlands, TX 77380

North Campus: 5148 FM 1488, The Woodlands, TX 77354

Phone: (281) 367-4317

Website: thewoodlandsfirst.org

Looking for churches near me in The Woodlands, TX? The Woodlands First Baptist Church has served this community since 1979. Come discover a community that takes Scripture seriously and welcomes everyone who is searching.