The Path to Greatness

If you have a bible open it up to Matthew 20. I have titled the message The Path to Greatness. Pray with me. I feel like we have had this idea of greatness come up several times in the gospel of Matthew, and we have seen starting with the beatitudes how God’s perspective is so much different than the world. And how having a perspective that is Godly only comes form being changed by God, and this text is just another example of that.

So with that short introduction being said.. Here is the text this morning…

Matthew 20:17–19 “17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are 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 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.””

Matthew 20:20–28 “20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 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.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, “28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

If you are taking notes today the main idea is thies.

The Path to greatness goes through the cross.

If I asked everyone what greatness looked like I am sure I would get different answers from different people. Most people in our current setting think of greatness in a sporting setting. Especially coming off the Thunder winning an Nba Champtionship, the dominance of Ou Softball, the big 12 championships teams the Ou Sooners football teams have, and even the OSU cowboys winning all those championships in sports no-one cares about.

See Greatness is defined in so many different ways, and in Jesus time greatest was often defined by your position in the culture, and so we see in this text the idea of greatness according to God in a different way.

But that understanding comes from a question asked by the mother of the Sons of Zebedee. And notice the posture of this women she is kneeling and now asking! And Jesus says to her what do you want? He knows But he lets her ask. She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”

Now there are alot of opinions on this mom asking a question in behalf of her sons. But as weird as it sounds in our context that was something that happened in theirs. We even see Bathsheba seek the throne for her son in the book of Kings.

And her asking this question hoping to get it answered the way she wants it to be answered meant that in her eyes that her sons would be in a high place of honor, Now remember Jesus already said to these disciples that they would reign with him forever just a few verses ago, but this mother wants her son’s to have the highest honor. You see biblical historians argue that those next to you are the ones with the greatest honor. King Saul always had his son on one side and his general on the other. And the mom wants her sons to have this sort of honor.

And the question to me from the mom seems a bit cowardly on her sons part, but never-the-less you can’t get caught up in seeing these disciples as little shy boys . or seeing the jealously of the other disciples you must see that Jesus calls the disciples to a different kind of greatness. Which comes through service.

1st point in this sermon is this…

Greatness comes from serving no matter the cost.

verse 28 is one of the most powerful scriptures in the bible and it says. Matthew 20:28 “28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

I started with reading verses 17-19 which sets up the mothers request, but you see that Jesus Christ the Son of man came to serve no matter the cost, and the cost of his service was his life.

And what makes Christianity Christianity is verses like verse 28 where we see God in the flesh coming to serve his own creation in such a way that shows that our God loves and cares for us so much more than we can comprehend.

And while there is arguments about who is the greatest going on amongst themselves Jesus is calling his disciples and us to a different greatness a greatness like him.

Which comes through service, and so he says to them. Matthew 20:25–28 “25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

Don’t just gloss over what He says… Take seriously the context and what is at stake. What do the rulers of that day and really our day do with so called greatness Lord it over them. Make others serve them.

Most people if they are honest would hope to get to a place where they are served and not serve others, but Jesus way to greatness is the exact opposite.

In fact listen to this… Do you want to be "great"? Then you need to be a "servant" (diakonos) that is, wait tables, serve others, Do you want to not just be "great" but to be "first" (the first among the greats)? Then you need to be a "slave" (doulos) that is, someone who has no right or existence on his own, who lives solely for others.?)

All of us are repulsed by the idea of American antebellum slavery (and rightly so), but few of us would mind a maid or butler around the house 24/7. We ring the bell, and Jeeves comes and says, "You rang, sir?" “Yes, Jeeves, fetch me my smoking jacket." “Certainly, sir. I'm at your service." “Very well, Jeeves, thank you. That will be all for now." Jesus says,

"Christian, think Jeeves." That is, there is no need to sacrifice your brain, but there is much need to sacrifice yourself in order to serve others first and even (what Jeeves rarely does in P. G. Wodehouse's novels) consider “others more significant than" yourself. .

Here Jesus is teaching his new community a new paradigm, where "the only valid ambition" is the aspiration to serve.?

< In one of Plato's writing He says , "How can anyone be happy when he is the slave of anyone else at all?" (491E). This characteristically Greek or"Gentile" assumption and ideal Jesus turns on its head. Our Lord states, if you will, "How can anyone be happy [or perhaps at peace with God, others, and self-truly happy] unless one is the slave of everyone else?"

I doubt that I have to tell you how radically countercultural Jesus' paradigm shift was then as it is now. Our culture "ceaselessly" directs us up, up, up; we must "pray almost daily for the wisdom and courage" to go down, down, down. And we go down, down, down because Jesus went down, down, down.

He descended into greatness. He went down to go up. I shared this text with you when we were meeting together in the sermon I preached out of acts. Philippians 2:9–11 “9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

But before that happened what did he do. Philippians 2:4–8 “4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

that text reveals the last leg of the journey Matthew 20:28 tells of the first: "even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life.?

" Jesus is the ultimate example of servant and slave made great and first. In his life and death Jesus waited on the world. He came to the table and said to all, "'Im at your service." To prove the point he washed his disciples' unclean feet (John 13)! To prove his point he died for unclean sinners. That's humble service, and that is also sacrificial suffering)

And the reality of this radical service is there is a high cost.

And going back to the question the mother asks, Jesus has a real response, and those two disciples have a questionable answer.

What happens.

English Standard Version Chapter 20

Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 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.”

Really with great ignorance they say we are able to drink this cup.. You read it slow and you think eh maybe we should pause for a moment, but sometimes when you are seeking greatness you don’t think through things. And Jesus clearly says to them the Father makes this decisions about your place at the table not me.

One man said.. We know not what we ask, when we ask for the glory of wearing the crown, and ask not for grace to bear the cross in our way to it” (Henry).

The cup that Jesus is referring to was largely understood in the Old Testament as a sign of judgement suffering I will talk about more in a moment, but these disciples who are talking to Jesus ended up facing their own suffering just like we might, see the cost of service sometimes cost us our lives.

James is the first apostolic martyr In Acts 12:1–2 “1 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword,”

and Revelation 1:9 we learn this about John.. “9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”

John suffered not the same kind of death that his brother but he suffered of the kingdom of God.

and as Augustine said, and what I hope to show you in a moment. In his passion we see what we ought to suffer.

But we learn from Jesus and these two men that Greatness comes from serving no matter the cost.

2nd thing you have to see is this..

Seeing who Jesus is and what he has done is the key to a life of service.

I am convinced that everything you do for the kingdom of God is determined by what you believe about Christ. And we talk about the cross alot and that is going to be one of the themes of our new mission statement that I am proposing to you focuses alot on the cross, and we got the question that culminated in verse 28 makes us think about the cross, and before verse 28 though we we have verses 17-19 let me read them to you again.

Matthew 20:17–19 “17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are 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 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.””

People can say what they want to say 2000 years after the fact that oh they just added those words in later on, but the reality is that is not true. Jesus is predicting the way he would die in just a few weeks time for the third and final time.

And this last prediction is much different from the last two, it includes the specific details of the mocking, and flogging, and the crucifixion.

Even one scholar so perfectly put it this way What is significant here is that Jesus assures his first disciples, and all those since, that his "violent death (was) not a meaningless accident of history" but part of God's predetermined plan and that he was "not a hapless victim but a knowing partner in the divine strategy."

Every possible kind of suffering the world could inflict upon a man—mental, emotional, and physical-flashed before him like a picture.And still Jesus knowingly, willingly, and lovingly headed toward Calvary to gain victory. He gained victory through the full surrender of his life to those who "deliver[ed] him over" (20:19; cf. 27:2)—his earthly enemies but also his holy heavenly Father.

And we must remember that it was Jesus who died for our ransom, not me not you not not some well know pastor or even those disciples this is the Son of Man is who went to the cross. The Son of man who was seen in Daniels vision in chapter 7 of his book the one whom Isaiah spoke about taking the sins of man Isaiah 53, and this is not only the Son of man, but the Son of God.

Whom in Matthew 3:17 “17 The Father says from, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”” and who John writes in John 1:1 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Whom Matthew says is God with us.

See the man who went to the Cross was not just some ordinary man it was God, and the cross is not just some event in time it was the climax of all history, It was the day Adam and Eve longed for after the fall its what the prophets had wished to see with their own eyes. its a day that ever single person must look back to since that historic day because its the day that changed everything in the history of the world.

and looking at verse 28, and part of verse 22 something incredible happened through that day and through the resurrection.

We see clearly through the cross that Jesus Christ came to Save… How he came to save is quite incredible in fact we see the word ransom for many used, and I love that that word is used..Because what had to happen is someone had to come save us.. Why because of our sin. Had to there was no other way because sin separates us from a Holy God. Sin holds us hostage so much so that become slaves to it, and the only thing that can free us from that sin is Christ. See what he did for all those who will ever believe in him is he died in our place. He took the wrath, and we get the glory we get salvation. we get peace with God.

One man put it like this. This is the glory of the gospel: not just that Jesus died for you in order to express a loving sentiment, but that He died instead of you.

One movie gives us a story of a hero who sacrificed himself In the movie Armageddon (1998), the hero is Harry Stamper, a gruff, expert oil driller played by Bruce Willis. When NASA discovers a massive asteroid hurtling toward Earth, they hatch a plan to destroy it by drilling into its surface and planting a nuclear bomb. But drilling in space isn’t something astronauts are trained to do—so NASA recruits Harry and his roughneck crew.

Harry leads the mission aboard the shuttle Freedom, facing intense physical, emotional, and technical challenges in space. When the drilling mission is nearly compromised, Harry pushes through, keeping his team focused. In the film’s emotional climax, the remote detonator for the bomb fails, requiring someone to stay behind and trigger it manually.

Harry sacrifices himself, giving up his life to save the world. In a final goodbye, he tells his daughter Grace he loves her and entrusts her future to his protégé, A.J. (Ben Affleck). Harry dies as the asteroid explodes, ensuring Earth’s survival and cementing his role as a true hero.

Harry did something great for mankind a true hero to not be forgotten,But Harry could not fully drink that cup that we need a true hero to do…neither could James or John. Neither could I or you..See the Cup that Jesus drank could only fully be drank by Christ.

Only Christ could take the full wrath of judgement because he is the sinless Son of God. And he knows he has to drink it.

Even in the garden he says.. Matthew 26:39 “39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.””

We can’t comprehend the weight of that statement. Because the love found in the context of the Trinity is perfect, and for Jesus to take wrath from the Father whom there has only been love for all of eternity would not be an easy task. Even on the Cross he says in Matthew 27:46 “46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?””

Was God the Father forsaking the Son? No He took that wrath to appease God’s wrath, a wrath that who deserves? Me You everyone. And because he took that wrath he provided a ransom for many.

According to one of my commentaries he says.. We still use the word ransom today, usually talking about a hostage situation. Kidnappers demand a ransom of two million dollars for the release of the dignitary's daughter or whatever. In the first century it simply referred to the price paid for the release of slaves. It also could refer to money paid in the place of capital punishment. " Perhaps in the case of Jesus' death it is good to keep both definitions in mind. Jesus' death paid for our sins (our zillion-dollar debt). releasing us from our death sentence because of our sin.

So do you see the picture here? You are slaves to sin. Through his death. Jesus paid to set you free. You are set free from sin and made a slave to righteousness. You have been freed to serve others first. You have been freed to sacrificially live out the gospel.

The answer to the Heidelberg Catechism'S first question provides a good summary of all we've learned from this text:

That I belong— body and soul, in life and in death not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of tie devil..... Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

I could not have said it any better. The Cross, the Man on the Cross, and the Spirit to which we have truly changes everything.. The Path to greatness goes through the cross, and if you want to be truly great in the eyes of our Savior you will serve him and others for all of your days, and if you need a little bit of reminding why to do that look no further than that cross.

If you have never trusted in the Man who went to the cross now is no better time to do so.. See today you can call upon the man who took the wrath of God so you do not have to, and all you have to do in order to be saved is repent ( turn away from your sin acknowledge it before God, and truth that Jesus and Jesus alone can save and you will not have to bear the wrath of God, because you are in Christ.

For those who are believers here me say this to you… Jesus is the greatest example of what it looks like to be a servant, and as his servants we are to trust in him, be obedient to him and know that he will give us everything we need in this life to serve him, and serve others.

John 13:35 “35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”” The world needs to see Christians serving one another and in turn they will glorfiy God because of it.

Let us pray..