Today on the Verdict with Pastor John Monroe. The teaching to the disciples about humility takes place in the context of the cross. They are learning from Jesus about pride on the way to the cross, and that is so important. Welcome to the Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Success in our culture is defined by money, power, and prestige, and that's how we make our mark.
But today, we're reminded that the kingdom of heaven operates very differently. What does it mean to be great in the eyes of God? And what does true greatness look like for those seeking the kingdom of heaven? Let's join Pastor John Monroe as he continues our study in Matthew. T.
S. Eliot said, "Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important, wanting to be consulted, looking down on others, wanting their views to prevail." We read in Proverbs, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Last time we listened to Jesus instructing his disciples on the way to the cross. He emphasizes that true greatness is not having power and prestige, but is selflessly and sacrificially serving others. And the supreme example of humility is modeled by our Lord Jesus Christ.
So let's humbly follow and learn from our Master, who came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. Matthew chapter twenty. If you've got your Bible there, turn with me. Matthew twenty verse sixteen.
So the last will be first, and the first last. And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, "See, we're going up to Jerusalem." And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. And he will be raised on the third day. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked him for something. And he said to her, "What do you want?" She said to hims, "Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one on your right hand and one at your left in your kingdom." Jesus answered, "You don't you don't know what you're asking.
Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?" They said to him, "We are able." He said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them." And their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
We're going to see. First of all, that true greatness is not having power and prestige, but it is selflessly and sacrificially serving others. Notice that you want to be great in the eyes of heaven. Here it is. It's not found in having power and prestige, but it is found in serving others, selflessly.
And sacrificially, I notice how the Master Teacher now deals with this, in verse twenty-six. Whoever would be great among you, here it is, must be your servant. You want to be great? Here is the way: be a servant. Whoever would be first among you, oh, I want to be first, don't you?
Must be your slave, Dulos, a slave, a slave. I praise God that we have many such servants at church. I know many of you, week after week, month after month, in fact years after years, are serving the Lord in ways that most of us don't even know. And you're doing it not to receive the praise of others that may or may not come. There may be a thank you, or there may not be.
But you're doing it as a slave of Jesus Christ.
Now notice what Jesus says here in verse 28.
Well, verse twenty-seven: Whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. He describes himself here as the Son of Man, as he does in verse eighteen, and he's saying that the Son of Man's selfless and sacrificial service. These are the supreme example of humility. Here is the powerful messianic ruler prophesied in the Old Testament.
Now he comes, and he himself is saying he came to give his life a ransom for others. He comes not to be served, but to Serve. He comes not to be served, he says, but to serve. And so here is the argument. In logic, logic is called an afora argument.
That is, you argue from the stronger to the lesser. And the force of the argument is this, and the logic really is irrefutable. Jesus is saying to these disciples, who are so concerned about who's going to be first and who's going to get the prominent seats in the messianic kingdom and who's number one, he's saying to them, "Listen, I am the Son of Man." They knew what that meant. I'm the Messiah. And when I came, I come not to be served, but to serve, and to give my life a ransom for many.
So if I, the Son of Man, comes to serve, how much more should you, who are my followers, serve? He's arguing from the greater, the stronger position to the lesser. If Jesus served. If Jesus was the one who put the towel round himself and washed the sweaty feet of the disciples, if He, the Lord of Glory, did that, who do you think you are that you will not serve others, or you're only going to choose who you serve? Get the argument?
It's a powerful one, isn't it? It's a humbling one, isn't it? That is when we think. Of being a servant, here is the supreme example in our Lord Jesus Christ, and that motivates us, doesn't it, to serve others? Paul writes in Philippians two verses seven and eight about our Savior; he made himself Nothing, taking the form of a servant, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.
And the teaching to the disciples about humility and what it means to be great takes place in the context of the cross. They are learning from Jesus about pride. They're learning from Jesus about personal greatness on the way to the cross, and that is so important. An understanding of true greatness and an understanding of the cross of Christ are inseparable.
So Paul writes, "God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." That's the only thing that Paul's going to boast about. Humanly speaking, he's got his resume would fill a hundred pages and more, very impressive. No, says Paul. The only thing that I'm going to boast about is the cross of Christ, John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, the very forerunner of Christ, the one who's prophesied in the Old Testament. As he looks at Jesus, he says, "He must increase, and I must decrease.
He must become more important, and I must become less important." You ever grasp that? You want to compete with the glory and the majesty of the Lord Jesus? That is this: Christ Cross. Ends our striving for selfish greatness and provides the model and motivation for true humility and service. Let me repeat that: the cross of Christ ends our striving for personal greatness and provides the model and the motivation for humbly serving others.
Got some pride? Of course you do. Of course I have. What's the answer to it? To look at the cross.
That's why the cross is so central to us. That's why we sing about it. That's why we have a cross. That's why we have communion that our focus would be on the cross.
So Isaac Watts writes in that beautiful hymn when I survey the wondrous cross. On which the Prince of Glory died. My richest gain I count, but loss and poor contempt on all my pride. How can you be proud as you stand at the foot of the cross? How can you be proud?
How can you think that you're superior to other people? How can you refuse to serve others as you stand at the foot of the cross and look at the marvelous Christ, the Lord of glory, who pours out His blood so that you and I, sinful men and women and boys and girls, may be redeemed? I know this. As we conclude, something very important. I've called this message on the way to the cross, and I'm saying we are to follow Jesus on the way to the cross.
That the cross is always to be before us; that we never get away from the cross. And I'm asking you to humbly, yes, humbly follow Jesus. That this teaching of of greatness occurs immediately after Jesus predicts his own death.
So, in order to be an authentic follower of Jesus Christ, you have to learn about that on the way to the cross. Jesus is teaching his disciples about his death. What are they doing? Arguing over who is the greatest? Pride dividing the disciples.
That's what pride does, doesn't it? Pride in a marriage, husband and wife, battling. Refusing to compromise, insisting on their ways—it's pride. Pride comes into a business here, business partners. They're doing very well.
Pride comes. I need more than you have. I'm really working harder than you have. Pride. Pride comes into the church, doesn't it?
And when pride comes into the church, there is always division, self-serving. Self-promoting attitudes have no place in those following Jesus. Be willing to be last. Remember, the last will be first. Be willing to be last.
That's true humility. Be willing to serve all. That's true love. Humility and love—two essential virtues for followers of Jesus. How are you doing?
You loving others, serving others, humbly following Jesus. I'm saying, follow Jesus in sacrificial service. And we have, as we conclude, we have an unusual example of authentic followers of Jesus. Verse twenty nine. And they went out, and as they went out of Jericho, and I remember they're going to Jerusalem, a great crowd followed him.
And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside. And when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out. They couldn't see him; they were blind. They hear about it, they cry out. Notice what they say: "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David." The crowd rebuked them, telling him to be silent.
But they cried out all the more: "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David." And here's something incredible. Talk about humility. Here is the Lord of Glory stopping at the cry of two blind beggars. He stops. God stops.
Called them and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" It's really a form of the same question that Jesus asks. The mother in verse twenty one. What do you want? What do you want? They said to him, Lord, let our eyes be opened.
And Jesus, can you see it? Jesus, in pity, touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight. Notice this, and followed him. I'm glad Matthew puts that in, and Followed him. This is the final healing miracle, by the way, by Jesus, as recorded by Matthew.
The events of Palm Sunday, as they're about to begin, his disciples and Jesus come to Jericho, which is one of the oldest continually occupied cities in the world. Jericho lies to the north of the Dead Sea, 825 feet below sea level. I've had the privilege of being at Jericho. It's the last city in the Jordan Valley before going up to Jerusalem, and there these two blind men receive sight. When Jesus leaves Jericho, he's going to make his way up to Jerusalem, a journey of about twenty miles.
He walks, of course. He's going to come into Jerusalem on the donkey, but he's walking with his disciples on the way to the cross. Journey about twenty miles, Jerusalem being three thousand five hundred feet higher than Jericho.
So here it is. Think of the context. Only days before his death on the cross, Jesus has this wonderful encounter with two blind men. They cry out urgently, Lord, and they repeat it. Have mercy on us, Son of David.
The crowd says, "Stop! Don't do that!" But they are passionate, and they refer to him very interestingly as the Son of David. Have we heard that before in Matthew? Matthew begins, Matthew one, verse one, the book of the genealogy of. Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.
The Son of David is a messianic term. He is the Son of David. He's David's greater son. He's the root and the offspring of David. And these blind men must have heard about Jesus and understood it.
Perhaps someone had read the Old Testament scriptures to them. And here is the Messiah passing by. And they know, in accordance with the Old Testament prophecies, that one of the things the Messiah can do when he comes in his kingdom is that the blind will be healed. Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David. Notice they ask for mercy.
There is nothing they couldn't do to. Achieve their blindness. There's nothing they can give. They're poor. They have nothing other than their blindness.
And so, what do they need? They need grace. They need mercy. They need love, and they need salvation. James and John, when they're asked the question, "Well, we we want to be these prominent seats in your your kingdom," these men are asking for sight to receive their sight.
And all this—the wonder. Talk about humility. That Jesus stops. I think that's beautiful, isn't it? That we have a Savior who stops.
You may think, "Well, I'm nothing. I've really messed up." Do you know that Jesus, as it were, stops for you? And he hears your cry for mercy, for compassion, for forgiveness. Why don't you ask him? Why don't you ask him to come and to save you and to dispel the darkness of your sin as you come to the cross?
Here, not only is forgiveness here is transformation of life. I think it's wonderful that not only are they healed, they follow. Jesus, see whether you're a rich young ruler, or whether you're a poor blind beggar. The command is the same: follow me. Where are they following Jesus to?
To the cross. Cross. Many people have a very distorted view of the Christian faith. They may talk about. God's love and Jesus' love.
They talk about the golden rule. They talk about tolerance. They talk about acceptance. They talk about helping others. But if you notice, often they fail to refer to the cross.
There is no authentic Christianity without the cross. The central mission of Jesus, as he comes, is to give his life a ransom for many on the cross. And an authentic follower of Jesus is one who's come to the cross. There's no other way. It's not by changing your behavior.
It's coming to the cross. It's being like these blind men, recognizing that you're in the dark spiritually, and you need the light of God. You need a transformation. You need a total makeover. As God, the Holy Spirit comes, and you are cleansed, and your sins are forgiven, and you repent of your sin, and you cry out.
To God to save you, and this savior stops, and he'll stop as it were today, and save you and cleanse you, and you'll have the wonderful joy with us of following Jesus, and to understand that the way up is the way down. And these proud, argumentative disciples are learning the importance of humility, and how wonderful to know just in a matter of days—yes, a month or two—they're going to be the men that God is going to use to turn the world upside down. As they go. After the ascension of Jesus Christ and the descent of the Spirit, these men are changed. Yes, these self-centered men, people like you and me, who can be naturally argumentative and self-seeking, now filled with the Spirit of God, they go to make disciples of all of the nations and turn the world upside down.
Yes, they learned the lesson. Have you? Think of the impact in our homes. Think of the impact at work. Think of the impact in our community.
Think of the impact in the political world. Think of the impact in the church, in the community. If we who are followers of Jesus Christ learn this lesson, that we receive spiritual sight, saved by the grace of God, and now humbly and obediently follow. Jesus on the way to the cross. You ready to do that?
What am I saying today? I'm saying this from this passage: followers of Jesus must be characterized by self-sacrificial service, as exemplified by the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. That's what I'm saying. If you're a follower of Jesus. That you, in your life, in the totality of your life, as you follow Jesus Christ, you must be characterized by self-sacrificial service, serving others.
And as you serve others, you are serving Christ. And the example and the motivation comes from the Son of Man. Who, when he came, came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Have you been to the cross and looked on the Son of God giving His life a ransom for many? How can we be proud at the foot of the cross in a world of hubris, arrogance, and pride? Let's make a difference in our world by sacrificially and selflessly serving others. Don't always be looking for what people can do for you.
Serve others. Be humble. Learn from Jesus. And join me next time as we think of the nature of true worship in a lesson titled "Blessings and Cursings." Thanks for joining us today on the Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies.
Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
