In your Bible, if you join me in Matthew chapter number 20, Matthew chapter 20 today. We have so much to give thanks for, don't we? God has been so good to us. So if you're down about Ohio State's loss, don't worry about it, all right?
I have friends in Michigan I haven't talked to for six months that were texting me yesterday. I said, I'm glad you're still alive. I'm glad. Amen. But aren't you thankful that we have eternal purposes in life that transcend all the things this world deals with? And what a blessing to come and worship Christ. Thank you for that song, Matthew 20. Let's read verse 17 down to 28.
It says, In Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart in the way and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him, and the third day he shall rise again. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children, with her sons, worshipping him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou?
she saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on thy left and thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask? Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
When the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto him, and he said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister or servant. Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your slave or servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Father, your word is our joy. To it we come this morning with hearts opened and desiring to be filled.
We thank you, God, for the many blessings. And as we read such texts that you came as a ransom for many, that you would save us, that you would make us your own, that you would call us out of this world, out of a kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of your dear Son. We stand as your children. We belong to you.
We are not of this world. We are of Christ, and we look forward to that day when we can gather around the throne of heaven and sing in exaltation to the King who alone is worthy. And I pray that you would capture our hearts today.
Our allegiance would be to you above all else. May if anyone today doesn't know Christ, today may it be the day of their salvation. We ask these things in Christ's name, and God's people said, Amen.
You may be seated today. Well, for the last couple of weeks, we have discussed what I have referred to as the inverted kingdom and the truths that Jesus taught. And what I mean by that is that we really live in a world where truth is turned on its head. Lies are promoted, false things are the narrative of the world system, and Jesus came into the world bringing right side up truth in an upside down world.
And the Jesus of the Bible does not make sense to the world because their view of greatness is much different than what the world would create and define as being great. I was thinking that if the world could have created Jesus as the Savior of the world, they would have had him born in a hospital that was especially built just for his birth. They would have given Mary everything she ever needed during her pregnancy. She would have been interviewed and publicized by all the major networks. Joseph would have been the envy of all who had the opportunity to be the stepdad of Jesus. There would have been a worldwide countdown to the magnificent birth of Jesus, the Son of God. Millions from all over the world would have brought gifts and for weeks would have worshipped outside the hospital where Jesus would have been born. Songs would have been written. Books would have been written.
Shows and movies created to exemplify the great Messiah that would come and save the world from its sins. Jesus would have been born in luxury. There would have been the greatest doctors around him.
Every medical staff, everything would have been exactly as the world could have produced it to elevate such of an entry. But instead of a royal birth, he is born in a manger. His birth was worse than all of ours. Instead of his birth being pronounced to the famous and those in authority, the angels of heaven came down to lowly shepherds on a Judean hillside in Bethlehem. Shepherds in that culture were kind of the lowest of the totem pole in the economic and societal world.
And so everything about his birth was literally clothed in unimaginable humility. In his ministry, Jesus didn't call the powerful and influential in society to be his disciples. Rather, he was calling the lowly, the humble.
He called fishermen, blue-collared workers, and even tax collectors. 1 Corinthians 127, Paul states, God has chosen, he has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. In his first major sermon, Jesus declared the ones who are blessed are the ones who are the poor in spirit. He said the ones who are blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Jesus proclaimed that the exalted would be humbled and the humbled would be the ones who were exalted.
And this was so paradoxical to them. He would say things like the blind are the ones who see and the seeing are the ones who are blind. And though the Jews of that day had the Word of God, they had the illusion that they could fulfill the law and in doing so they claimed that their own righteousness could make them acceptable with God and they were the blind ones and Jesus rebukes them for that.
You know, pride is the worst infection a man can get. When people are proud, what it does is it cuts them off from spiritual understanding. You literally put up a block in your mind so that God will not give you the truth. It makes people the judge of God and his Word.
You stand as the final authority. People with pride put faith in themselves. They become the critic, even of God.
You trust in your own heart and thoughts. And Judaism was completely infected with pride in the days of Jesus as they stood as the judge over Jesus and his Word. Jesus' message of humility was appalling to them. His life of humility was appalling. People would say, oh, let me follow you.
And he says, birds of the air have nests and foxes have holes, but I don't even have a place to lay my head and you don't hear of people following him after he would say things like that. The message of Christ was a message with a cross. And in that day, the cross was a different symbol than many times it's thought of in our day. It was a symbol of absolute humility, suffering and shame.
A person would be stripped of their clothing, beaten and then nailed to a cross. A cross to die upon, not to be exalted by. That message was appalling to the people of Jesus' day.
In fact, to even use the word crucifixion in public society was not polite. It is why in 1 Corinthians 1.18 it says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. It is such a foolish idea that you would elevate someone with a cross, that the cross would be a sign of something that you would be excited about.
And Paul came and said, I boast in the cross of Christ. Today we live in a world where the teachings of Christ are not only counter-cultural to our society, but it has now become counter-cultural to the Christian society as well. People will decorate their lives with a cross, but very few are willing to die on a cross.
What I mean by that is giving up their life for the cause of Christ. Tozer wisely wrote, the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. The old cross slew men, the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned, the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in your flesh. The new cross encourages you to be confident in your flesh. The old cross brought tears and blood, the new cross brings laughter. Which cross are you carrying today?
Which Christ are you following? I don't know if there's a better passage in the Bible that captures this, and we're not talking about unbelievers' wrong views of this, I'm talking about Christians' wrong view of this, because that's who got it wrong in Matthew 20. These are the disciples who get it wrong. And I don't know if there's a better passage that really captures the cross and how men just get it wrong. Here Jesus is talking about his crucifixion, and they're talking about a crown that they want.
This is the false ideology that so often can come into even the hearts of men. And what is so fascinating to me is Jesus had 12 disciples, and he ranked them. The three closest to him were Peter, James, and John. They were in the inner three circle. And guess who the three were that asked him about rewards and exaltation?
Peter in chapter 19, and now James and John in chapter 20. The cream of the crop are the ones literally asking this for special recognition, for special reward, for elevation for their service. And if these guys struggled with pride and a self-focus, do you think we will? You think the infection — the endemic infection of pride doesn't run down through the veins of humanity, the depraved desires of our heart longing for being noticed, being applauded? You know, man cannot handle it.
We can't handle applause. That's why, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord. If you ever see something good in your pastor, praise God for it and not the man, because it's only God's glory that creates any good in a man. If you see something great in some spiritual leader in your life, if you see something great in yourself or anyone else, give glory to God for that, because it is God who does good things. We offer the bad, He offers the good.
He's the only one that's deserving of praise. And so we must remember the way God sees greatness is really the opposite of what the world views it as. The world sees titles, it sees, you know, those who are rulers, those who have been given positions, as Jesus speaks of down in verse number 25, as those who have really, really made it.
But according to Jesus, the economy is reversed. The way up is down. The way of exaltation is humility.
The greatest are the least of these. That's why the first will be last and the last will be first, the inverted principle that He lays out in an inverted parable that we just talked about last week. And so today, three major thoughts that we're going to look at to capture this is the death of Christ, then the desire of man in verse 20, down to verse 24, and then finally the design of God in verse 25-28. And so the death of Christ we see here is in verse 17 and 18.
This would be the third time that Jesus pronounces a major pronouncement of His coming crucifixion, His coming death. In verse number 17, Jesus and Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way. You know, the Bible always talks about going up to Jerusalem. It was the chief city. It was the city of God. And so no matter what direction you were at, you always went up. Now, it was elevated. I think it was like 1500 feet in elevation above Jericho, for example.
But it was always the exalted city. So He goes up to Jerusalem. He took the twelve disciples apart in the way and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death.
This is the last time He would journey to Jerusalem, His short 33-year life. Who's older than 33? Raise your hand.
Okay. Sometimes we say things like this. I can't believe God would allow them to die so young. I think probably every one of us have said that, right? Can't believe God allowed them to die so young.
It's not that we're always angry with God. It just seems like, man, that's a young age. And Jesus is 33.
He's younger than, I would say, probably close to the majority of the people in here. 33 years, He's coming to an end. His three-year public ministry is now coming to an end. This is His final journey. The King would go to Jerusalem, where He would receive a crown, but not a crown that you would desire. He was going to receive a crown of thorns, not a crown of glory.
He would be mocked, and instead of exalted, He would be humbled before the people. And I think it's such a powerful statement to say that we go up to Jerusalem. I've talked to many people through the years who had surgeries that did not end up as well as they hoped it would, or the recovery process took longer, was more painful. I've had many people tell me through the years, if I knew it was going to be this bad, I never would have had it done.
Anybody like that, raise your hand. Okay. You've probably told me that if I was at your surgery or praying for you afterwards. You're like, man, this recovery has been so long.
If I knew it was this bad, I never would have had the operation. In other words, I don't go into pain intentionally when it's that bad. Jesus is like, I know it's only pain in front of me, and let's go. He pursues the pain. He goes there. It's an incredible thing.
Most people avoid it. Jesus lived out the inverted principle. The exalted Son of Man must first become God's suffering servant.
You know, the rich man would walk away holding his treasure to forsake the treasures of Christ, and here Jesus, who was rich, became poor so that we through his poverty might be rich, according to 2 Corinthians 8.9. So this is the third time he announces his arrest and crucifixion. The first time he speaks of his coming death, he does so after the glorious pronouncement in Matthew 16. He says, I will build my church.
The gates of hell will not prevail against it. Then he rolls into the crucifixion, the first pronouncement in Matthew 16. He begins to show to his disciples how he would go up to Jerusalem, suffer many things of the elders and chief priests, be killed.
But he doesn't say how he's going to be killed. In their mind, they probably thought he would be stoned to death because Jews did not have the authority to put people to death, but they would stone them. And that's how they killed people. They didn't crucify people, Jews didn't.
They would stone you to death and be raised again the third day. And remember, Peter took him in verse 22, began to rebuke him, saying, Be far from thee, Lord, this shall not be done unto thee. It was so impossible for them to think, like, this could not happen.
This is impossible. It was against the idea of what they expected a Savior to come and do. The second full pronouncement that he gives is in Matthew 17, 22, which is after the glorious transfiguration on the mountain in Matthew 17. And after he tells them he's going to Jerusalem, he'll suffer, he'll be killed, doesn't say exactly how, he doesn't mention the crucifixion. It says, They were exceedingly sorrowful. The third major pronouncement is here in chapter 20. And he wants them to know what is coming.
It comes on the heels of giving the inverted principle that the first would be last and the last first. And the last thing that they thought the Messiah would do would be to die. They expected him to set up a kingdom on earth. They expected a deliverer to remove Roman oppression.
Rome had dominated the world at that time. And they wanted that deliverer to come and set up his kingdom. In their mind was the last 200 years, the Maccabean revolt that came and Judas Maccabees and his brothers and all the things that went on there and these priests that removed a lot of the evils that came against them.
And they're looking for a man to set up a kingdom and to be like the new David, the new Moses and come in and set the kingdom up, bring the law of God and establish these things and set Israel free. But Jesus had a much greater enemy to conquer than that of Rome. He had an eternal enemy that no one can conquer and no one has ever conquered and that all men are conquered by. Jesus came to defeat sin, Satan and death. No man has ever defeated sin.
No man can overcome death and nobody's ever been able to defeat Satan. Jesus came to do literally more for them than they realized. What he was giving them was greater than a temporary physical victory over some temporary kingdom of Rome. It was an eternal kingdom that he would set up but it first took him to go into the realm of death to set the captives free.
He had to taste death, the Bible says, for every man. It is that Jesus did more for them than they could realize and they couldn't imagine him dying. It was so inverted.
It was so flipped on its head. They couldn't get their minds around it. And even the third time that he tells them he would die, Luke's account of this says in Luke 18, 34, it says, and they understood none of these things. And the saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. It doesn't mean God was hiding it from them. It means that it was just kept from them, that they just couldn't get it. What he would tell them, they were blinded to. And one reason they were blinded to it was because pride doesn't get it.
Even as his disciples. And you can have an expectation that blinds you to reality. If you're married, you know that can happen. If you have children, you know that can happen. If you're a human being, you know that can happen. Like yesterday, there was like 30 seconds left. I'm like there's no way Michigan can beat Ohio State.
This is an impossibility right here. But you can believe things, but sometimes people get so stuck in their ways that no matter what you say to them, I'm sure you have some friends in your life that you may share truth with and it's like they just don't accept it. They won't believe it.
They reject it, especially around the things of God. And so I do think it's interesting to know that Jesus brings these truths to his disciples. He wants them to know it. It says back in verse 17 that he pulled the 12 disciples aside.
He wanted them to have this information. He wanted them to know that when I'm going to Jerusalem here, there is a death that awaits. And so we see here the death of Christ. And what is also interesting is this is the first time he adds the extra details of verse 19. And he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles.
That was new. And what are they going to do? To mock him and to scourge him. And then it says, and to crucify him. And the third day he shall rise again. They kept missing the resurrection portion because they were so consumed with the death portion.
They're like, this is just so tragic. And they would be exceedingly sorry, as the record says again and again. Now, again, the Jews could not put him to death by crucifixion.
The Romans had to do that. And so with his added detail there, they would understand that reality. But again, they just couldn't get their minds around it. It was just too confusing for them.
So just know this. You can be a disciple of Jesus, and there can still be some truths of God that transcend our understanding. You know why? They couldn't understand the suffering of Christ because suffering is so confusing to understand. Anybody ever gone through suffering and you just don't understand it? Suffering is extremely confusing. It's I don't know why.
I can't understand this. And it seems as though the truth of it is sometimes hidden from us. Even though God tells us again and again, trials come, hardships come, they that are God and Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution. I mean, just on and on it is given unto you on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.
Jesus said, if they persecuted me, they'll persecute you. The list goes on and on. We read it, but we don't understand it always. When it happens to us, it confuses us. It confuses us. And so just understand, they are like we are and we are like they are.
These things are very hard for us to understand, but you need to know this. The sufferings that Christ went through created glory that is beyond anything they could have imagined. And the sufferings that you and I face in this life for Christ are nothing compared to the blessing and the glory which shall be revealed in us, according to Paul in Romans 8 18, right? So we see here the death of Christ.
Secondly, the desire of man. On the heels of this, on the heels of this statement, on the heels of this major pronouncement comes a lady named Salome. This is the mother of James and John. They were the sons of Zebedee. Zebedee was their father. And they were brothers. They were later referred to as the sons of thunder, the sons of Boanerges, because when they were going through Samaria, one of the Samaritan villages said, oh, you're going up to Jerusalem. We're not going to let you come through our city because the Samaritans and Jews hated each other. And he's like, Jesus, can we like call down fire and just like burn them up like Elijah did? I mean, what a gracious couple of preachers they were, right? Let's kill the people that we're supposed to evangelize here. And Jesus says, you don't know what spirit you are of.
I've not come to destroy men's life but to save it, right? So their father had a fishing business. It would have been somewhat successful because according to Mark 1 20 that he even had hired servants.
So they had a successful business. Jesus comes along one day on the Sea of Galilee as a Capernaum right there where Peter and Andrew worked and calls him to follow him. And they drop their nets, they leave the fishing business, and they go to follow Jesus. They at that time saw Jesus as being more valuable than anything that the world had to offer them. They walked away from the family business for the business of God. They were raised in a spiritual home, James and John were. When Jesus called, they followed.
And you never see their family, their dad or their mom trying to talk them out of it. And their mother's name was Salome who was later a very faithful follower of Jesus Christ. In fact, in Mark 15 40 she was one of the few women that were standing near the cross of Christ at the crucifixion. She was also with the group of ladies who went to anoint the body of Jesus on the resurrection morning and who the angels made pronouncements of the resurrection and they went back to tell the disciples. Now another key element concerning James and John is when you compare the gospel narrative something else comes to light. In reference to one of the ladies standing next to Jesus, we find in Mark 15 verse 40 comparing to Matthew 27 56 that one of the ladies we know was Salome, spelled S-A-L-O-M-E. And when you compare John 19 25 you find out that that woman that was standing next to her that was the unnamed one is actually Salome, which was Mary, the mother of Jesus' sister. So what we find is this James and John they're actually the cousins of Jesus and Salome is his aunt.
So this is a family request elevating this. So these guys are devoted, their mother's devoted, she comes and bows down before him and it says in verse number 20 that she was desiring a certain thing of him. It's interesting when you compare Mark 10 35 it talks about they said they were asking like will you grant us this request and they don't even make the request yet but they were basically saying will you will you please give us the thing that we ask of you and they don't ask him what it is yet. And he's like well what is it in Mark's account.
Our kids do the same thing. If you have kids, I'm sure your kids have come to you at some point and said dad just say yes. Can I? Dad can I please? Just say yes. And I'm like say yes to what?
This is not a just yes guy. I'm the wrong parent for that, right? Mama might say yes but dad is not, right? Or they'll do this to me. They always through the years growing up, mom said yes dad is it okay if I can? I'm like say yes to what?
You know my wife can be tough on him too but now that's what they do. They come to him and he says now what is your request in verse 21 he said to her what wilt thou? What do you desire? And she says grant that these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand the other on the left in thy kingdom. Now you know before we shoot down how off this request is they believed in him enough to know he's the king of the kingdom. Your kingdom's coming.
We have no doubt about it. We're all in on this thing called the kingdom. They knew what he just said back in chapter 19 28. It's good for you to be here every week because I'll make little references to previous weeks and if you're not here for those things you'll not know what I'm talking about but I can't go back and teach it all and it's only your fault if you miss it so you got to go back and listen.
I don't have time to catch it all up again okay. I restrain myself enough from allusions to different texts that don't get confusing but chapter 19 28 where he says to the 12 you will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. So they knew that pronouncement had been given back in chapter 19 and so now they're like well if we're going to sit on 12 thrones we want the seats next to Jesus. We want to be next to him.
I mean we're cousins. We're family and can one sit on your right and one on the left hand. Now the right hand was the privileged hand right? The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand. Psalm 110 verse 1.
That was the privilege of the left hand would be the second tier. Now how does Jesus respond to this in verse 22? But Jesus answered and said you know not what you ask.
You don't know what you're asking here. Are you able to drink the cup that I shall drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? Now the baptism is not water baptism he's talking about suffering. Baptism, baptism carry, baptizo is the original Greek word but it doesn't just mean, it carries the idea theologically of identification. Like you're identifying with a certain group their message and here you're identifying with his suffering. The Old Testament they were baptized it says unto Moses.
They identified with Moses his teachings and so forth. So now the cup the word term cup here was a common Old Testament expression that carried the connotation of judgment and suffering as you would see in Psalm 75 8, Isaiah 51 17, Jeremiah 25 15 on and on. So the cup refers to active obedience.
You drink the cup. Baptism refers to passive obedience. You received persecution. So he not only took the cup of suffering but he received the baptism of suffering. You think about when somebody's baptized they submit to that.
It's a passive reception. Now how do they respond to Jesus in verse 22? They say unto him, notice it wasn't Salome that responded, they the boys. You can see them that they probably put their mom up to this. They say to him we are able, so it shows that that wasn't just the mom's idea here.
Secondly it shows a total lack of understanding of the weight of the sufferings of Christ. I mean just to blurt that out. We are able. Really?
Really? And then third it shows a very high level of belief in their own ability to be faithful. I mean this is very very similar to when Peter says though all men deny you I would never deny you.
Faithful to the end. I'm willing to do whatever it takes. And these guys are like we're able. They knew they knew the term cup was talking about suffering. They understood the image. We're able to suffer for you.
We can take this. Where were you in the night when Jesus was betrayed and taken away? You fled away, right? So they definitely had too much self confidence, self assurance.
Their self esteem was off the charts, you could say. Now how does Jesus respond in verse 23? He said unto them you shall drink indeed of my cup.
What's that mean? You're going to, you're going to face it. You're going to face persecution. You're going to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.
Not talking about water baptism but baptism of the fire of persecution, of difficulty. He says but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. And he says this, it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
You need to understand that. It doesn't say it will be given to them for who was the most faithful. It will be given to them whom the Father has preordained through his own sovereign choosing to elevate who he wishes.
The Father's prerogative is to exalt who he wants to exalt. He raises up kings and he brings them down. Do you know why Donald Trump won the election? Because God wanted him to win. You know why Biden won? Because God wanted him to win and allowed him.
He said but he was, there was some immorality in different leaderships of our country. Yeah and he set up Nebuchadnezzar, right? And Pilate who said I have power to condemn you, Jesus says you would have no power over me if it were not given you from heaven. God sets up, does that, now we still pray, we still vote, we still do those things just like we still evangelize as God's sovereign over salvation but at the same time we can trust in the sovereign hand of God to do what he wills in the kingdom of men.
Does that relieve some pressure? Instead of holding life with white knuckles saying oh but what if, what if, let go of the will child, talking to all of us here, God's in control. If he wasn't in control we'd have done destroyed it all, right?
It's a mess. So now a word about James and John's life and death. This is not the same James who wrote the book of James but this James very likely is known as the first pastor of the church at Jerusalem.
This James did not write any scripture. He never appears in scripture apart from his brother John, they were very close together but he was a very passionate man, a zealous man. He had a great zeal for God and he was extremely influential and so much so that according to Acts 12 when King Herod began to persecute the church, the Bible says that he killed James the brother of John with the sword. James becomes the first martyr of the church, the first of the 12 to die I should say. Stephen was the first martyr but this is the first of the 12 to die as a martyr. And what's interesting, it doesn't say that he, and then it says in verse 3 of Acts 12 that he went on and took Peter also and then God allowed him to get out of the prison. But instead of killing Peter first, Herod saw James as the first guy he needs to eliminate. That just shows you the amount of influence that James had. He's the first apostle to be martyred and he had a fiery passionate zeal for God.
I mean he's the son of broanerges, the son of thunder. He's like burn him up Lord and he would have been a preacher that would have brought some fire. James would not have been a Joel Osteen type of guy.
I mean he was a in-your-face, preach the word of God to the point where it's like we need to kill that guy. Now John on the other hand was known as the beloved disciple. He authored the Gospel of John. He wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd John and he wrote the book of Revelation.
He never did die according to history and tradition but he was exiled to the island of Patmos as Revelation says where he authored the book of Revelation. James and John were faithful. They did face great persecution but here we see a youthful, prideful request coming from him. We see here the desire of man, a desire for recognition, to gain status, to be elevated. And I want to point some things out on this. First of all, one thing that self-recognition and elevation and pride will do, it will always make you an insensitive person to the needs and trials of others. It's an amazing thing.
Show me an insensitive person and I'll show you someone focused on themself. How on earth can you just hear about Jesus talking about the incredible suffering and death at Jerusalem and then you want to talk about your exaltation? Nowhere perhaps is this more clearly seen than in the upper room in Luke chapter 22. This is the night before his crucifixion, such a solemn time. Jesus is instituting the Lord's Supper which we'll be partaking of at the end of service. He sits down with the twelve and he says in Luke 22 15, he said, with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
Like who would you want to be with right before you died? And he's like, I want to be with you 12. Verse 16, for I say unto you, I will not eat any more thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and he gave thanks and said, take this, divide it among yourself. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took the bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them saying, this is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. The bread that you will break is a picture of my body that's broken for you.
Do this in remembrance of the sacrifice I have made for you. Likewise also the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you. And then Jesus after he talks about the body that would be broken, the blood that would be shed, he makes a an astonishing announcement in verse 21. But he said, behold, the hand of him that betrays me is with me at the table. One of you 12 will betray me.
This was a shocking thing, probably causing them to gasp. 22, and truly the Son of Man goes as it is determined, but woe to that man by whom he's betrayed. So not only would he suffer at the hands of the Jews and the Romans, but one of his own, one of his own familiar friends, as Psalms 41, 9 says.
Verse 23 says, they began to inquire among themselves like who should do this thing? Which one of us is it? You would have thought they'd have been like, I mean, Judas has had black mascara on all this time. Surely it's got to be that guy. I mean, he's got rings around his eyes. He looks evil.
I didn't know why you picked him in the first place. Everybody knew Judas would be a betrayer. They didn't say that, did they? They're like, is it I? Is it I? Judas was so veiled, he was such a good hypocrite. And then notice where the conversation descends. Verse 24, and there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest?
Really? So in response of Jesus saying, I'm going to die and suffer. I'm glad to have this meal.
I would want to be with no one else but you. This bread is a picture of my body broken. This cup is a picture of my bloodshed. One of you will betray me. They're like, which is it? And can you hear it? Well, it's not me.
Well, it could be. I mean, I've done more miracles than you. I've preached here and here.
I've preached more. I think I would be actually the greatest among us. It can't be me. Can you see where it starts descending?
Can you see it? It went from asking is it I to like, there's no way it could be me because I'm the greatest. And that's where this thing came to. It's an amazing thing.
Jesus is at the point of where he's going to just in a few moments would be out in the Garden of Gethsemane, bleeding sweat, hermatidrosis causing his blood pores to literally just burst or his blood vessels to burst into his sweat glands and he begins to perspire blood and in all this pressure that's on him and they're starting to argue over who's the greatest. You talk about insensitivity. You talk about what happens to a person when they focus on themself.
If you are someone who is insensitive to others who doesn't care about the pain and hurts of others, it's because you're too focused on yourself. Consider how our culture has become very insensitive to others and one reason for this is because of the establishment of a lie that began to be permeated in America in the 1970s and 80s. It was the elevation of self, self-esteem and self-love.
John Piper wrote this in 1977. He says, today the first and greatest commandment is thou shalt love thyself and the explanation for almost every interpersonal problem is thought to lie in someone's low self-esteem. Sermons, articles and books have been published, have pushed this idea with the Christian in mind. It's a rare congregation, he says for example, that does not stumble over the vermicular theology of Isaac Watts, the last and did my savior bleed, would he devote the sacred head for such a worm as I. We don't want worm theology, we want exalted theology. People were told the root of the problem in their life is they didn't have enough self-esteem and they would never be able to love others correctly until they loved themselves.
I guarantee that that has been something that many in this room have been subjected to and maybe even promoted and believed. My question is this, show me one place in all of scripture that says that we need to elevate self-esteem. Philippians 2-3 says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than who? It talks about esteeming yourself but not up but de-steeming yourself. We don't need self-esteem, we need self-de-esteem.
It's not a word but it would work. What was the problem with the disciples is they had too much self-esteem, they elevated themselves. There is a difference friends between self-esteem and self-worth. Self-esteem is another name for pride, self-worth and self-value is value that you receive because you are created in the image of God. And our value is not derived from what we think of ourselves, our value is derived from what God says about us. In other words, I am not more valuable because I think better of myself, I am more valuable because of what God my creator says about me because the creator determines the value of the creation. So instead of descending into some false narrative of the need of elevating self-esteem rather focus on what incredible value that you have because you are made in the image of Almighty God and you were purchased not with corruptible things like silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ.
Which one do you think would give you more value? I think I'm valuable or Jesus says I'm created in God's image and He died on the cross to save me. It's insane to me that people would promote the latter which is an illusion. Self-love is another false narrative, you just need to love yourself more I can't tell you how often that's said. Show me one place in the Bible that says that.
I ask this question, if you reject my teaching on this I ask you this question and I with joy would sit down with you and discuss this. But first come back with this, if self-love is such a human problem and need why doesn't God in the Bible say one word about needing to love yourself more anywhere in all of scripture? If it is such a big problem why doesn't God one time if it's such a big human problem why does He say it one time in all of the Bible? You know you guys just need to love yourself more. The answer's never been in loving ourselves more the problem is we love ourselves too much. That is the root of all of our problems. Well the person using drugs or doing self-harm pastor they don't love themselves is the problem. I humbly totally disagree with that.
150% do I disagree with that. Let me ask you a question, when somebody's on drugs are they ministering to their parents? Are they putting their parents first? Are they putting God first?
Are they putting their children first? They're robbing and stealing and taking and doing everything that hurts everyone else including themselves but they're ministering to what their body and their self desires to do. The problem isn't they need to love themselves more, the problem is they need to deny themselves and they need to love God more. Instead of being in control of their life they need to give up control of their life. The person who sins is living in control of their life. That's the facts. So I can tell you this goes against everything the world says and I gladly pronounce it at Lighthouse Baptist Church to be the truth.
If you want truth this is the truth. So instead of preaching self-love Jesus taught self-denial. Listen to what Augustine wrote in the fourth century. Accordingly he says two cities have been formed by two loves. The earthly by the love of self even to the contempt of God and the heavenly by the love of God even to the contempt of self. The former in a word glories in itself the latter glories in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men but the greatest glory is the other of God. The one lifts up its own head in its glory the other says God is the lifter of my head as so wonderfully the song said today. So in contrast to this announcement of suffering and death the request of James and John and their mother Jesus spoke about a cross he didn't speak about them having a crown of blessing here he talks about there's a crown of suffering that awaits them but they weren't interested in the crown of suffering they were interested in the crown of blessing. Now a second thing man's desire for elevation and esteem and self-exaltation produces is division.
It always produces division. Look what happens to the rest of the people in verse 24 the other ten and when the ten heard it they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. I mean it infuriated them. Why were they upset? Were they upset because the other guys were so sinful in their request? No they were upset because they James and John beat them to the punch.
Like out there you guys you're the inner three and now you're wanting to sit on I mean they were it produced jealousy. I just asked the question how do you think Jesus felt here? You just get done talking about the cross. I'm going to go up and suffer.
I'm going to be beaten and I'm going to be scourged and I'm going to be mocked and I'm going to be ridiculed and I'm going to be I'm going to suffer the death the worst death that has ever been made crucifixion. In a couple moments later you have them arguing over which of them is the greatest and they're descending into that prideful disagreement. As a parent have you ever felt unloved by your kids?
How did you feel? And if there's ever a time when you've been so low so down and imagine your kids being so not caring at all the things you're going through and here's Jesus their spiritual father their Lord and Savior talking about his sufferings it's like they could care less. We don't care Jesus. We have more important things to talk about like where we're going to sit. I mean you think Jesus be like I picked the wrong guys here. Isn't it amazing? The insensitivity. Listen if you're an insensitive person if you're divisive it's very likely that you're very self-focused. I bet the disciples were all showing each other at that point like their favorite picture of themself.
Stop taking selfies needs to be a new slogan right? Let's conclude with the design of God in verse 25. How does Jesus respond to this? How does he handle this? What's he do? Verse 25 Jesus called them unto him.
Isn't that good? Come here guys let's talk. You know I want to wrap this up with just a few principles of what biblical leadership is and this involves parents this involves pastors this involves teachers this involves really any Christian because you're a leader over something at some point. God's design for greatness God's designed for what he wants in a leader is this first of all don't avoid problems you confront them. Biblical leadership is is what I would first of all say unifying. Jesus gathers them around himself instead of pushing them away instead of casting them aside he gathers them together. He doesn't ignore the problem he confronts it he places himself at the very center. Biblical leaders are Christ centered and they center on him.
They gather situations around him. Secondly biblical leadership elevates truth over emotions. Jesus could have said James and John you knuckleheads what on earth do you come and ask some stupid requests like this and now look what you've done you've created all this division.
Doesn't that sound like what a parent can say sometimes? Get out of control getting emotional. You know one thing that you don't find Jesus doing you don't find him getting emotional here. You know why? Because he elevates truth over emotions. He lives the inverted principle. So many people try to strong arm people with strong vernacular or strong emotions or strong like I'm going to force you into this by how I converse with you.
Right? You ever been to a church where the pastor just screams at you the whole time? It's so annoying isn't it? And it's you know you and it's like trying to strong arm people and it's like who do you think you are? Let's hold up a mirror and put a microphone and blast it back at you preacher. It's just one thing that we desire to do here is to cause you to think to go down into the word of God and allow the truth of God to transform the inner man. We need to be a thinking people. A biblically reasoning people.
And there are things that you get passionate about and it's okay to be passionate but what you don't want to do is use emotion to control people. And what Jesus does here is he just brings them the truth. He calls them unto himself and he says you know the princes of the Gentiles and he begins to tell them what he tells them here. Now there were times he got emotional. There were times he got passionate and he rebuked like the city of Bethsaida, Chorazin, Tires and Bethsaida and Chorazin and even the Pharisees but it was after they were willfully rejecting him. He rebukes Peter.
Sometimes he had to do that but it was like a last resort for him. A third truth about biblical leadership is it's not simply about a position. The first thing he confronts here in verse 26, look what it says.
Let's start in verse 25. You know the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them but it shall not be so among you. See in the world it was a ranking system and the first thing he does is he has to fix their ranking thinking. He has to change their thought process. It's not about our rank. It's about our humility. It's not about lifting ourself up but to bringing ourself down.
We're still living in the messed up idea of the world systems. Listen, titles may work in military and political places where somebody's a general or they're a lieutenant and you respect them and they've earned those positions and you respect them. You may not know the man but you know what the title means but it doesn't work that way in God's economy. It's a place where you call people ministers not rulers. It's a place of humility of serving one another and that goes into the fourth biblical truth about leadership is biblical leadership is servant leadership. He says in verse 26 and it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your diakonos. It's a Greek word that means servant. It's actually the same word used translated in 1 Timothy 3 is the word deacon.
You're just a servant. Verse 27, who so ever we chief among you whoever is going to be the top let him be your I wish they just translated the word doulos here. It just means slave. It doesn't mean servant. It means slave. It's the strongest Greek word for some it meant somebody who was bought like purchased by another person and owned by them. The word literally means slave and it spoke of one who literally gave up their will to the will of their master. In reference to a Christian it speaks of one who recognizes they have been bought with a price. The blood of Christ is 1 Corinthians 6 19 and 20.
They give up their will to the will of their masters. Now who's the Lord? You know it's interesting when you read through the New Testament Romans 1 1 Paul Paul a doulos of Jesus Christ Jude 1 1 Jude the doulos of Jesus Christ second Peter 1 1 Simon Peter a doulos and apostle of Jesus. They kept calling themselves slaves of God because they recognize that's the highest calling you can have. Moses the servant of the Lord Joshua the servant of Moses who became the servant of the Lord. It just permeates the entire Bible.
Would it be great? God's economy flips it. You start down. You fight for the bottom. You're not seeking some seat next to Christ. You recognize you have no deserve.
You're not deserving of that ever. You humble yourself. The humble are exalted and I would ask you are you a servant to others? Are you a servant to others?
Whose needs are you putting before your own? Also if Jesus served the church with his life how are you serving the church? Where are you serving at? Ask yourself what kind of church would Lighthouse be if everyone served here just like me?
What would happen? What would happen to this church? If Jesus served it with his life we need to do something with our life in it. I'd ask this question what do you think is doing the greatest thing for Xenia Ohio?
Do you think Walmart's doing more for Xenia? Hospitals are wonderful but they help the physical but there is a place where the gospel's preached and it's inside of a faithful church isn't it? If there's anything that you give your service to I would say you need to do something for the body of Christ amen. It's not a building it's the people and so biblical leadership understands ministry is not about self it's about service. Verse 28 Jesus said this even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. You know leadership's not about what you can get out from your position but how you can serve from your position. It's not what people can do for you from where you serve from it's what you can do for them from your position of service. Biblical leadership always places others before itself. Jesus says I gave my life a ransom for many. Biblical leadership is to see yourself as being there to minister to others over yourself. You know I love when we have leadership meetings we'll have some food or something it always takes a long time to get people to go in the line because they're always used to going last. Finally I like sin I'm like alright I'm gonna go first you know let me be the be the most un-humble one here.
But we always try to push each other to get in there. Biblical leaders lead by example Jesus says even as the Son of Man Jesus isn't asking us to do something that he was not doing himself. After he washed the disciples feet in John 13 he says I've given you an example to do as I've done to you.
If people around you live like you did would they be servants? Biblical leadership are Christ exalting they lift up Christ. That's why Paul says unto him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ whether you eat or drink do it all to the glory of God. Paul says God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 10 17 but he that glories let him glory in the Lord just goes on and on and on and on. I can tell you one thing that will keep God from using your life is self glory.
It is to do it for self-promotion. R.A. Torrey said oh how many a man has been full of promise and God has used him and then the man thought that he was the whole thing and God was compelled to set him aside. Do not be one who loves the praise of men more than the praise of God. And so I close in a selfie world Christ has called us to be selfless. In a self-exalting world Christ has called us to deny self. The old cross would slay men the new one entertains them. The old cross condemned the new cross amuses the old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh the new cross encourage it encourages it the old cross brought blood and tears the new cross brings laughter. Which cross and which Christ are you following today. If you would bow your heads with me and stand as we think about these things.
