Greatness is Serving

If you want to know how I come up with the topics for our messages, I’ll show you. I extract them from the next passage of Scripture in the book we are studying. I study the passage to determine what Jesus is teaching, and then I explain it as best I can to you. And I like to preach straight through books because that takes my opinion out of what needs to be preached, and allows God’s Word to speak.

Last week we talked about how Jesus rewards those who labor for Him. Today, Jesus will teach us a lesson about what it means to be a servant.

Serving is essential to being a disciple. It is impossible to be a disciple, and to not be a servant.

Does anyone remember what a disciple is? He is a follower of Jesus. He is one who learns from and becomes like Jesus. In the book of Acts, they called the disciples of Jesus…..Christians.

All Christians serve, because Jesus served. And I do not mean Jesus served by washing the disciples feet…his entire ministry was about serving humanity…..in fact if we were to sum up His entire life as a servant.

This is what God calls Him in Isaiah 53.

And Jesus says in verse 28, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve”.

Being in the Kingdom of God is about serving, and all who are in the Kingdom of God are servants from the least of them to the greatest, all serve.

And we as a church need this message because service goes directly against our nature. We want to be served rather than to be servants.

Look with me in Matthew 20:17

Jesus predicts His immediate future for the third time (17-19)

Matthew 20:17–19 NASB95

As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”

Explanation

He will mocked

Jesus did not only suffer physical pain, but He suffered phycological pain as well.

He would be ridiculed, looked down upon, spit upon, and humiliated by an entire city of people Whom He came to save.

And sometimes this kind of abuse is worse than physical abuse.

And even worse, He suffered all of this unjustly. He did nothing wrong, nor did He ever open His mouth in protest (Isa. 53:7)

He will be scourged

This is a Beating with leather straps or rods as a form of punishment.

There was also the use of a special whip, probably with bone or rock on the ends of the thongs, called the “scorpion” due to its potential to inflict a painful sting.

The OT law set the limit at forty stripes to spare the culprit unnecessary humiliation. Most scholars agree that Jesus received much more than what the Law allowed.

He will be crucified on the cross

The victim of any crucifixion carried his own cross-beam to the place of execution, where the upright stake had already been erected.

Then on the ground he was fastened to the beam with arms outspread, usually by ropes, and sometimes by nails.

The beam and body were then lifted into place on the upright. A small wooden block was positioned midway where the body rested to support the body weight and keep the nails from ripping through the flesh.

The criminal was left alone, unable to attend to bodily functions, unprotected from inclement weather or flies, and, because the place of execution was usually some public street or prominent place, subjected to abusive words and mockery from passersby.

And on the third day He will be raised

The raising of Jesus refers to his resurrection. It speaks of His glorification. Jesus was raised from the dead in triumph over sin and death, He then ascended to the right hand of the Father where He rules from heaven today.

Why do I give these details?

Because this is the Jesus that we follow.

And this is the Jesus that we are called to look like and reflect to the world.

This is the pathway to throne. This was the pathway to greatness!

This was the pathway to honor, and glory, and exaltation!

Notice Jesus says “we are going up to Jerusalem”

The disciples must go through this too

They would accompany Jesus and witness his suffering.

They would see Him carry His cross, and eventually give their own lives for His sake.

We need to be reminded….THIS IS OUR CALLING TOO.

We are called to go up to Jerusalem

we are called to carry our cross daily

we are called not to suffer before we are called to glory

A Common attitude toward Christianity (v 20-23)

Matthew 20:20–23 NASB95

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.” He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

Here is the mother of James and John (sons of Zebedee) and she has a request for Jesus: she would like for her two sons to sit on Jesus’ left and right.

To sit on the right or the left implies honor or status. It implies exaltation and glorification.

She wanted her sons to be somebody! She wanted them to be honored and glorified in the same way Jesus would be honored and glorified.

Now I’m not a mother but its understandable why she wanted her children to be honored.

But her request suggests she does not understand the Kingdom of God.

And unfortunately it seems that majority of the church today often has this same kind of flawed thinking.

We have come to believe that the good stuff is honor and glory.

We think about Christianity in terms of how others will view us.

We find ourselves seeking authority and position in our church, in our homes, in our marriages and in our families.

We have this desire to show everyone that we are great and Jesus would say we have it all backwards!

Application

One of the greatest things the church needs today is to get over themselves and get kingdom minded.

So many churches are longing for some kind of position, some glory or recognition about how great they are that keeps them from true greatness!

The whole idea of church growth flows from this flawed thinking of glorification

A church should never be all about numbers. Numbers are important (don’t get me wrong), but when numbers are more important than worship or conversions there is a problem.

And if we want to be a great church, we must not fall into this flawed way of thinking.

The what is Greatness? (v 24-28)

Matthew 20:24–28 NASB95

And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

“It is not this way among you”

This is the way the world operates!

The word “gentiles” is just another word for those who do not follow the Lord

Gentiles desire to rule over others, to have power and position, and glory, and to “lord it over someone else”

God’s people are to operate by the philosophies of this world

If we have a desire to rule over other people, we are thinking like the world!

“whoever wishes to become great among you, shall be your servant”

Greatness is determined by one’s willingness to serve others

No one in God’s Kingdom is great whom does not serve

A true leader places his or her needs last and serving others first

Instead of using people, we are to serve them

Two words Jesus uses to describe what Kingdom greatness is

servant (διάκονος)

What does that sound like to you? DEACON!

This is the same word that refers to a deacon in Scripture.

And if you want to know the what the office of deacon is in Scripture, it is a SERVANT!

A servant has a heart that is always willing to help others who are in need

a servant understands they are never above any job and are always willing to help in any way they can

they don’t keep count of what they have done or why they have done it. No one owes them anything, they serve because it is in their way of life.

They are not jealous of others gifts because they have their own and serve out of them

slave (δοῦλος)

Definition: Person owned as property by someone else. That is the concept of slavery. A slave is owned by another.

What do they mean to us?

If we have been purchased by Jesus Christ, what does that make us? (a slave) He owns us. We are His!

This is why Paul introduces Himself to the Romans as a slave of Jesus Christ!

We are slaves to Christ!

We are His property, paid for by the blood of Calvary and to Him we owe our lives to!

Principle

Not every servant is a slave, but every slave is a servant

There are no slaves that are not servants

That means everyone in the Kingdom of God is called to serve!

Jesus sets the example for us all

Jesus who is the greatest of ALL men who ever walked upon earth, came as a _________(servant) why should we ever think we are not called to serve too?

Jesus says, if you want to sum up His entire life, it would be that of a servant!

He came to die!

He gave His life as a ransom for us!

He purchased our lives with His own!

He gave up EVERYTHING for us so that we may live!

And he calls us to model that kind of life in the church!

Application

It is a sad day in the church when there are many attendants and few servants.

Every church I have ever been a part of has had 10% servants and 90% attendants.

And I do not every want this church to be that way

When the church is full of royalty and void of slaves it says to the world we are no different than they

Our calling in this church is to serve one another

What a difference it would make if we all showed up next Sunday looking for some way to serve someone else!

What difference it would make if we came with a desire to put others above our own needs..

The Example Jesus Set (v 29-34)

Matthew 20:29–34 NASB95

As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.

Here are two blind beggars (low life’s in society)

Not much has changed in 2,000 years

Beggars are viewed today about the same way they were back then

And they are crying out to Jesus

The crowd rebukes them

Yet they cry out even louder

I want us to put ourselves in Jesus’ shoes

What is the first thought that comes to mind?

They want something (money, food, a ride a across town)

And what is our temptation?

To ignore them!

To walk on by as if we cannot hear them

How does Jesus respond to them?

He stops, and asks them what they would want Jesus to do for them (v 32)

The question he asks these beggars is almost the exact same question he asks the mother of James and John in v 21!

She makes a request of Jesus (v 21)

He responds with “what do you wish?”

The word “want” and “wish” are the exact same words in the Greek

Do you know what this tells me?

Principle:

We are not just to be servants of the church, but servants of the world

Jesus models what He has just taught His disciples.

He becomes a servant to the two rejected blind beggars

And if Jesus served beggars, then so should we

Now I’m not saying you should stop and give your money to every beggar with his hand out

What I am saying is we are here to serve the outcast and rejected people of this world

Do you know one way we could all serve?

The same way Jesus did, by leading people to the cross

Jesus did not come for the righteous, but for the sinners

How many sinners are within 5 miles of this church?

How many lost people do we have so close to us that need to hear the gospel?

How many are dying and going to hell every day and we have the message of eternal life>?

I cannot think of a greater way to serve our people, than to bring others to Jesus.

And I want you to look what happened

“They regained their sight, and they followed Him”

When it says they followed Him, it speaks of discipleship!

It speaks of conversion, giving their lives to Jesus..

Principle

There is a close connection between servanthood and discipleship

These men had a need, and Jesus took the time to meet that need and they have their lives to Him

Even as important as His own mission was to go to Jerusalem and become a sacrifice for the sins of the world

Yet, because he had compassion, we will meet those two beggars one day

What I am saying is,

We will make more disciples if we become better servants

We need more servant ministries in this church

We need more ways to reach out and meet the needs of others

But servant ministries cannot happen without servants

Would you be willing to serve if there were a place where your gifts could be used?

We need more people who are willing to go out into the harvest and serve others with the gospel!

We need more people with compassion for the beggars and the sinners

CONCLUSION

We were all blind beggars at one time in our lives desperately in need of a miracle. There’s not one of us above those men who were begging on the side of the street

But because of the compassion of Jesus, He gave us our sight and called us to come and follow Him!

And because He served us, and gave us spiritual sight to understand the things of God, we were able to turn from this world and live spiritual lives

Since we have been served, let’s be follow His example and Be servants to each other and this world!

And to the one who is still blind, cry out to Him for mercy! And if nothing happens, cry out to Him even more! And do not stop until He comes and opens your eyes, and gives you a servants heart.