Saved to Serve

Kind of sounds like a random list, but these are the names that were chosen by Time Magazine 4 or more times for the 100 most influential people list through the 2000s.

Presidents, world leaders, business people, entertainers, and sports icons.

It makes sense that they would be on the list right?

They all have made a huge impact on our lives in some way.

In our world, these people are great, right?

Based on the measurements we would use.

Upside Down Kingdom

Greatness has been a steady theme of Jesus in the past few chapters of Matthew, and Jesus isn’t done yet.

Back in chapter 18, the disciples began to argue among themselves who was the greatest in the group.

Jesus uses the example of a child to explain to them the kind of faith and humility it takes to be great in His Kingdom.

He turned the idea of greatness upside down from what is human nature determines to be great.

Then Jesus meets the Rich, Young, Ruler in chapter 19. A wealthy young man with worldly influence who everyone, including himself, considered great because of his wealth and power at such a young age.

But Jesus shows that the world measures of greatness are not the same as God’s measures of greatness.

When the world lives by the philosophy of Ricky Bobby (If you ain’t first your last), Jesus turns that on it’s head as well.

The guiding values of the Kingdom Jesus is introducing and modeling to His disciples through His life is radically different from the systems and structures of their, and our, world.

In His Kingdom, grace is beautifully unfair, as we saw last week in the parable He told.

Many will receive His grace, but none will deserve it.

What does greatness look like for those who follow Jesus?

That’s what we are looking for in this passage.

It ends two blind guys asking for mercy, but we will see that blindness is more prevalent than we might have initially thought.

Matthew 20:17–34 CSB

17 While going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve disciples aside privately and said to them on the way, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death. 19 They will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified, and on the third day he will be raised.” 20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached him with her sons. She knelt down to ask him for something. 21 “What do you want?” he asked her. “Promise,” she said to him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” “We are able,” they said to him. 23 He told them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right and left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24 When the ten disciples heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. 26 It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; 28 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.” 29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd demanded that they keep quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 “Lord,” they said to him, “open our eyes.” 34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they could see, and they followed him.

There are 4 conversations that make of this passage.

Greatness DESCRIBED (17-19)

This is the third time Jesus has pulled His disciples aside to inform them of what is about to happen.

If you remember back to Matthew 16, after Peter’s confession, he then scolds Jesus for saying He is going to die and is then called Satan, quite a chain of events in Peter’s life.

It seems like that interaction caused the disciples to clam up at Jesus’s predictions.

In chapter 17, the disciples are distressed by His words, but it doesn’t seem anyone says anything.

And now in 20, there is no recorded response.

Were they listening, or did they just not know how to respond.

What is clear, as we will see, is that they didn’t really understand what He was saying.

There are 5 predictions Jesus makes about His coming days.

He will be unfairly arrested, unjustly convicted, savagely beaten, callously mocked, and brutally crucified.

It is the most detailed description He has yet given.

And yet, the disciples do not yet see the significance of what Jesus is describing.

But Paul understood in hindsight.

Philippians 2:1–11 CSB

1 If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. 5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus is pointing to His purpose, His mission, and His ultimately ministry.

He didn’t come only to preach and heal, He came to die as a sacrificial offering for the sins of all who would trust in Him.

He came to serve. To serve in a way that no one had ever served before and would ever serve again.

Romans 5:6–8 CSB

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

As we will see in the next verses, the disciples believed Jesus had come as a conquering King.

Come to earth to overthrow their worldly enemies and make Israel a powerful nation once again.

They believed greatness demanded power, prosperity, and superiority.

Not arrest, conviction, beating, mocking, and death, especially death on a cross.

The greatness Jesus shows us and calls us to isn’t what we can learn from a leadership book or from the example of a professional athlete.

Greatness is humility that leads to selfless service and sacrifice.

But that is hard to then, and nothing has changed in 2000 years.

Greatness MISUNDERSTOOD (20-24)

It doesn’t seem like too much time has passed between the end of 19 and the beginning of vs 20, but it is clear the message was not received.

John and James, the sons of thunder, the sons of Zebedee, send their mom to talk to Jesus.

You can’t help but shake your head. How could two big, strong, confident boys like James and John come to the conclusion that sending mom in to talk to Jesus was a good idea?

Her request is for her sons to sit on either side of Jesus.

They had heard Jesus say back in 19:28 that there would be thrones for them in the Kingdom.

She was asking if James and John could have the two highest thrones, places of privileged and prominence…greatness.

We can all understand a mom’s desire for her kids to be successful and important, but she didn’t understand.

James and John didn’t understand.

Jesus’s response seems to point back to what He seemingly just said, which He had said 2 others times as well.

“Did you hear me James and John? Did you hear the road of suffering I just described? That is the road you will follow me down as one of my disciples. Are you willing? Are you really ready?”

Misunderstanding is all over their response.

They thought Jesus was talking about fighting a war, conquering their enemies, and establishing an earthy kingdom.

That is going to be dangerous, it is going to take hard work and pain to accomplish… they were up for that.

But the cup Jesus is talking about is one of suffering in blatant humility, in what looks like defeat.

James and John misunderstood greatness. But before we jump to judgement, we read verse 24.

Matthew 20:24 CSB

24 When the ten disciples heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers.

Their anger didn’t come from James and John’s question, it came from them getting to Jesus first.

They weren’t offended at the brother’s view of greatness, they were jealous they might get it instead of them.

Not much has changed in 2000 years.

Greatness is still misunderstood.

Greatness COMPARED (25-28)

Jesus then makes an important comparison.

His disciples would have known how Gentile (non-Jewish pagan) leaders treated those under them.

They “Lorded” their power over them, domineering and oppressing those under them.

The disciples would have been all too aware of this as they walked the streets of the Roman world, under the constant watch and threat of the Roman military.

This was what they knew of “greatness”, but it was, and is, a broken system.

Jesus then tells of the better way, the way of service.

Don’t miss the nouns He uses to describe greatness in His Kingdom.

First, you have to be a “deacon” if you are going to be great.

He isn’t talking about the “office” of deacon, but uses the same word.

Greatness in the kingdom is defined by service, not position.

Those who will be great aren’t the one’s sitting on high, but the ones down are all fours scrubbing the floors.

Greatness isn’t having people to boss around, but finding people to serve.

The second word He uses is “doulos”, meaning slave.

Whoever would be first must be a slave, the lowest level of prominence in ANY cultural system throughout all of history. (this one translates easily doesn’t it).

Jesus isn’t condoning slavery, He is expressing the kind of humility it takes to be great in His kingdom.

The first will be last, remember, and the last will be first. Those are the slaves.

To be a slave is to become a sacrifice, just like Jesus did.

That is a hard idea isn’t it? To become sacrifice.

But in view of what has been done for us and in us in Christ...

Ephesians 2:4–6 CSB

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,

We who were once DEAD in our sin were made ALIVE in Christ… through His sacrifice.

His loving sacrifice made it possible for us to receive a gift that NONE of us deserve.

But not only are we given the gift of salvation in Christ, Paul says “He also RAISED us up with Him and SEATED us with HIM in the heavens...”

What is it that James and John wanted? A seat right?!?

Servants and slaves get SEATS!!

Listen to the end of Ephesians 2 here

Ephesians 2:7–10 CSB

7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

We are to be samples of God’s kindness, mercy, and grace.

Saved in order than we might SERVE.

That is greatness.

Greatness MODELED (29-34)

Chapter 20 ends with 2 blind men begging for mercy.

They were crying out even though the crowd was trying to shut them up.

And when Jesus asked them “What do you want me to do for you?” they simple said “open our eyes.”

That is what we need brothers and sisters.

We need our eyes opened to the needs of our world and to our role as those who follow Jesus.

Jesus wasn’t too important or too busy to stop and care for two blind beggars on the side of the road.

But we struggle to see the needs of our neighbors and coworkers who are struggling with sickness, who are lonely and depressed, who are overwhelmed with trying to be a good parent.

We struggle to see friends who are struggling with addiction or who are overcome with grief.

What if we embraced the way of Jesus instead of fighting for our place in line.

Serving even if we didn't get any recognition or any rewards

Sacrificing for others without expecting a return favor.

Serving even when it isn't convenient and comfortable.

It would change our world wouldn't it? And isn't that Jesus mission

What does it look like for us to serve?

Who has God place around you that you are not seeing or are struggling to see with His compassion?

What steps do you need to take today to begin to live out the greatness Jesus is calling us to?

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