Luke #49: True Greatness (22:24-30)
Notes
Transcript
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B: Luke 22:24-30
N:
Welcome
Welcome
Bye, kids!
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Opening
Opening
Last week’s focal passage was on the Last Supper, and at the end of that first Lord’s Supper, Jesus foretold that He was going to go away, but He pronounced a woe on the man that would betray Him to the Jewish authorities (verse 22). I didn’t really address that verse last week, nor the verse that follows. In verse 23, the disciples begin to argue about which of them was going to be this worst of the Twelve. The thing that I find funny about this is that their discussion about which of them was the worst led into our focal passage today. You’ve been there: a conversation about one thing turns and suddenly is about the opposite thing. The disciples go from arguing about who was the worst to fighting about who was the greatest.
Our focal passage this morning is Luke 22, verses 24-30. So please stand in honor of God’s Word as you are able to do so and open your Bibles or your Bible apps to Luke 22, as I read this passage:
24 Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest. 25 But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them have themselves called ‘Benefactors.’ 26 It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving. 27 For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves. 28 You are those who stood by me in my trials. 29 I bestow on you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. And you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
PRAYER
We often refer to people as “great:” actors and actresses, musicians, athletes, politicians, and activists all might be given the superlative “great.” Some might even be called the “greatest living” this-or-that. Even more strongly, some might even refer to someone as the GOAT: the Greatest of All Time. Strong praise, indeed.
However, I got to thinking about “greatness” as I was preparing this message, and I wondered: how long do those who are given the title of “greatness” actually stay in our collective cultural memory? Does the world’s idea of “greatness” actually last? So I have a few “great” names to share with you to see if you know who they are. According to the article I found with this information (by Helen Tarver of MSN), each of these people were more famous than presidents in their time. I’ll start with a couple of “easy” ones:
Jenny Lind (1820-1887): The “Swedish Nightingale,” who toured with P.T. Barnum (and who was portrayed in the film The Greatest Showman).
John L. Sullivan (1858-1918): The last bare-knuckle boxing champion, and the first gloved heavyweight champion.
Charles Blondin (1824-1897): First person to cross Niagara Gorge on a tightrope.
Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927): First female stockbroker and brokerage firm owner, newspaper editor, and candidate for President of the United States (before women could even vote, and her nominated running mate was Frederick Douglass, although he never acknowledged his nomination).
Paul Morphy (1837-1884): World’s greatest chess master of his day, considered by some (oddly enough) the first American sports superstar.
Did you know any of these “greats?” Probably Jenny Lind. Maybe John L. Sullivan. I actually knew both of those. I bet there were maybe a couple of you who knew the name Charles Blondin, but I would expect that none of us knew the names Victoria Woodhull and Paul Morphy. They were each considered “great” within the last 150 years or so. But now their greatness has ebbed, been replaced by even greater “greats.” Worldly greatness simply does not last.
In fact, Napoleon Bonaparte is quoted as having said:
"Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him."
— Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
There’s a contrast between greatness in the world and greatness in the kingdom of God. And in our focal passage this morning, Jesus points out three such contrasts between the world’s idea of greatness and His definition of greatness. For the world, the greatest is the one who grasps the most power. In the Kingdom, it’s the one who grasps the least. In the world, the greatest is the one who is served by others, while in the Kingdom, it’s the one who serves. In the world, the greatest is the one who works for their own kingdom. Jesus says that those who are great in His eyes walk faithfully with Him and will be given a kingdom. Let’s unpack these contrasts:
1: The World: POWER; The Kingdom: HUMILITY
1: The World: POWER; The Kingdom: HUMILITY
You have to hand it to the apostles for having the absolute worst timing and missing the point of something. I mean, if I were at the Last Supper, I would at least hope that I would spend some time in reflection afterwards. But instead, they start bickering—first about who was going to betray Jesus, and then about who should be considered the greatest in the Kingdom. It’s almost as if they didn’t really get it (spoiler alert: they didn’t really get it):
NOTE: through 26a!
24 Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest. 25 But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them have themselves called ‘Benefactors.’ 26 It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving.
A fuller picture of the ridiculousness of this argument between the disciples comes from the Gospel of John. You see, Luke and John don’t share the same things that were said in that upper room that night, and Luke’s account is very close to Matthew’s and Mark’s. But John gives us information that none of the other three shared: that Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet when the Supper was over:
4 So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. 5 Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.
The washing of feet was one of the lowest, dirtiest, and most unimpressive tasks that could be done by the lowest of servants. The people who washed feet didn’t have any power, in fact, it was just the opposite. The people who washed feet were the most humiliated and humble of servants. Rather than demand submission to Him, Jesus humbled Himself in the most severe of ways, in order to give His disciples—both them and us—an example to follow:
12 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you. 16 “Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
So think about this for a minute: either Jesus had already given them this teaching and example BEFORE their argument (which would just be sad), or Jesus gave this teaching as a RESULT of the argument in order to hammer His point home. Given what we see in the rest of John 13, I would guess that Jesus had already given this example before they got into the argument, because the discussion about who was the worst doesn’t come up until verses 21-30 of John 13. It has already happened by our focal passage in Luke (verse 23). So likely Jesus has already shown them what Kingdom humility looks like, and still they bicker about who should be see as the greatest in Jesus’s kingdom.
And even more sad than that is the fact that this isn’t the first time we’re hearing this conversation with the disciples. This issue of who is the greatest came up in Luke 9:
46 An argument started among them about who was the greatest of them. 47 But Jesus, knowing their inner thoughts, took a little child and had him stand next to him. 48 He told them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes him who sent me. For whoever is least among you—this one is great.”
Back when I preached on that passage from Luke 9, each of my points talked about greatness: greatness disclosed, displayed, demonstrated, and defined. This morning, we see what it is compared to what the world says. In Luke 22, Jesus said that the greatest should become like the youngest. The youngest are those who have the least ability to “lord” anything over anyone, because they have no standing to do so, just as the lowest of servant had no authority either.
Jesus is reversing the idea of what greatness truly means, just as He has with the idea of what it means to be a kingdom citizen.
The world says that those who have the power are the ones who are the greatest. And they might be in the world’s eyes. But those who are in Christ aren’t to look with the world’s eyes. We’re not supposed to judge with the world’s judgments. We’re called to look at things from the perspective of Jesus’s upside-down (or more accurately, right-side up) Kingdom.
Robert H. Stein, in his excellent commentary on Luke, wrote:
“Even as membership in the kingdom is the reverse of how the world thinks, for the last have become first and the first last (13:30), so too greatness within the kingdom is the reverse of how the world thinks.”
— Robert H. Stein, New American Commentary Series: Luke
Jesus says that the kings of the Gentiles (for the Jews at that point claimed no king) “lord it over” their subjects. The term “lord it over,” is used in a very similar context in Peter’s first epistle, as he wrote to the church elders:
2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
This is not Peter saying that there should be no leaders in the church. Instead, he’s explaining what those who lead in the church should look like. The greatest in the church should not behave like the greatest in the world. Instead, those who lead in the church should be humble as they lead.
But this isn’t to say that Jesus’s message was only for the pastors, the elders, the deacons… Although, I’ll be honest: as a pastor, I needed this message this week. No, all of us are called to this, because we are called to imitate those who lead like Christ:
7 Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith.
He’s saying that humility is right for all who call themselves Christians. Didn’t Paul say in Philippians:
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.
Jesus laid aside some of His Divine prerogatives when He took on our flesh. He was in only one place at a time. He had to eat, and sleep, and breathe. He got tired. He got dehydrated. He felt pain and physical weakness. He condescended to our level. In short, He humbled Himself, which Paul says in verse 8, and which we will see in our next point.
Take a moment and examine your heart, your attitude. Does it look like Christ’s humility, or does it look like the world’s entitlement? Are you desperate to be first, to be large and in charge, to be noticed, celebrated, and applauded? Or are you willing to step back, let others go before you, to celebrate others’ victories and visibility? This is what Christ’s humility looks like.
2: The World: SERVED; The Kingdom: SERVICE
2: The World: SERVED; The Kingdom: SERVICE
A close corollary to our first point about power and humility is the idea of service. In fact, usually one flows out of the other: those in power or authority in the world usually have people who serve them. But again, the Kingdom concept is reversed. Those who are truly great in the Kingdom of God serve instead. Jesus continued:
NOTE: Reread 26a with 26b to keep the sentence in context:
26 It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving. 27 For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
So contrary to how the world does things, in the Kingdom those who are leaders are to be servants. It doesn’t matter how old you are, how rich you are, how famous you are, how educated you are, or whether you are male or female… The calling of the Christian, every Christian, is to serve others. If someone is a “leader” and doesn’t serve others, then that person isn’t a “leader” in the sense Jesus uses it. And again, since we are to imitate the faith of those who lead well, this is for all of us.
Jesus asks two questions about how the world sees things in order to make His point here: Which is greater: The one who is sitting at the table being waited on, or the one doing the waiting? We would assume that it’s the one who is seated that is greater. And that’s the answer that His second question assumes. Yes, the one seated is greater in the eyes of the world.
However, Jesus again flips this idea on its head. Jesus doesn’t do things the way the world does things. Notice what He said in Mark 9:
35 Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.”
But even deeper than that, we see that Jesus says that He, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Maker and Sustainer of heaven and earth, the One who is worthy to receive all glory, honor, praise, and worship, HE came as “the one who serves.” The disciples sat while He washed their feet! The One who truly is the greatest—the One who John the Baptist said he was unworthy to untie the sandal of—the One who commands the seas to be still and the blind to see and the deaf to hear and the demons to flee and the dead to rise—this Jesus, God in the flesh, spiritually perfect, came in order to serve spiritually bankrupt, wretched, rebellious sinners, saying:
43 But it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave to all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
He gave His life as a ransom for us, so that we would not be held captive by sin and by death. The Author of life died so that we could live forever, the One who deserves to be served came to serve us instead:
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.
Jesus died to bring us to God, according to 1 Peter 3:18. God created us to be in fellowship with Him, and we rebelled in our sin and are separated from Him on our own, and there is nothing that we can do to fix our relationship, because God must punish sin. So Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. This is what it says in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
If we believe in Jesus for our salvation, trusting Him as our Savior and submitting to Him as Lord, then His righteousness is our righteousness in God’s eyes. He came and served us so that we could be saved. It is our calling, task, and purpose to serve others in His name, just as He has served us through giving Himself on the cross. Do you believe the Gospel? Will you believe the Gospel?
Instead of being served, Jesus came to serve. For those who are in Christ already, this should drive us to ask the question: does my life match that? Am I willing to serve, to see others as more important than myself, as it says in Philippians 2:3:
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.
Do I exist for the sake of Christ, so that He might bless others through me, or do I exist only to pursue my own desires, my own glory? This brings us to our final point:
3: The World: BUILD YOUR OWN KINGDOM; The Kingdom: GIVEN BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
3: The World: BUILD YOUR OWN KINGDOM; The Kingdom: GIVEN BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
Finally, we see that the Kingdom idea of true greatness doesn’t have anything to do with earning it. Granted, we have responsibility for our obedience to God’s Word and to the movement of His Spirit in our lives. I’m not saying that our walks with Jesus are passive. We are very much to be active in walking with Christ because this is what He has called us to. But rather than us building our own kingdoms, the Kingdom that we will receive in Christ is given to us by grace.
Now, the “world” part of this point isn’t found here in the last few verses of our focal passage. It’s actually back in verse 25. Look at that verse again:
25 But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them have themselves called ‘Benefactors.’
The term “benefactors” literally means, “helpers of the people.” Notice that Jesus says that these wealthy, powerful types would attempt to buy or force their ways into being called “Benefactor.” But they would try to purchase or compel the title, not deserve it. Like gangsters who charge a “protection” fee to a business in order to keep that business from the gang itself, these kings and other people in authority would create the problems that the people needed to be “helped” from, then swoop in to rescue the people temporarily from… those same kings and leaders.
The religious leaders of the day were also trying to build their own kingdoms, perhaps in a slightly different way than the kings and those in authority Jesus mentioned here. We saw back in chapter 20 that they were pursuing a kingdom of respect, admiration, and false piety:
45 While all the people were listening, he said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment.”
All of these were trying to build their own kingdoms, which the world says is just the way to go, no matter who you step on while you’re building it: look out for number one. There’s nothing wrong with having a plan or a goal. There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious, provided we want what God wants.
But again, Jesus came so that we would be given a kingdom by faith in Him. We read in the last few verses of our focal passage:
28 You are those who stood by me in my trials. 29 I bestow on you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. And you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Those who “stood by [Him] in [His] trials were the people who were with Jesus during His ministry. The “trials” cannot be just what He was about to face (because He’s speaking in the past tense). They weren’t His temptation in the desert (because then He’s speaking of no one). Instead, the trials were His life of ministry the past three years: the constant travel, the debates and criticism from the Pharisees and religious leaders, the constant glancing attacks of Satan against Him.
These guys had continued to faithfully walk with Jesus through all of it (other than Judas). This is all He says that they did. They just walked with Him. There was coming a time when they would fail in a most spectacular fashion, but for right now, this is who they were: Faithful friends of Jesus.
And Jesus says that they would have a kingdom bestowed upon them—actually, they will be co-heirs with Christ of His kingdom according to Scripture.
16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
This is an act of grace. They didn’t earn it. They just walked with Jesus and would receive an inheritance in His kingdom and fellowship with Him: eating and drinking at HIS table in HIS kingdom. He just spoke about this in the Last Supper.
And WE don’t earn it either. Jesus says that He “bestows” it on His followers, just as His Kingdom has been “bestowed” by the Father. There will come a day that all people will bow in worship to Jesus. He will reign on His throne over all the nations, and He has the authority to share the blessings that belong to that authority.
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.
And finally, in a shocking reversal of what these Jewish disciples might have thought, Jesus tells them that they will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. In this way, every one of the disciples will be “greater” than the rest of Israel, because they will be given their own thrones in which to sit and judge the nation. This is shown to John in the 20th chapter of Revelation:
4 Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
We see that the disciples were still thinking in worldly terms when this argument started. They were wondering who would be the most important, and the fact is that Jesus is the most important. They would each have equal importance—and an incredible importance at that!
But this reality is still coming. It will take place at the end, at the consummation of the Kingdom of God when Jesus returns. Are we ready for that time? Are you? Have you received God’s forgiveness, given by grace, through faith in Christ? This is the only way that we will see that day from the side of hope. This is the only way we will reign with Christ—by walking faithfully with Him in His kingdom, not trying to build or take our own.
Even if we were to be successful in making a name for ourselves in some worldly way, that name will not last forever. According to 1 Corinthians 3, there will come a day when we will stand before the Lord, and all the worldly things that we did will be disclose by fire. Only those things that are eternal will stand. Focus on the Lord’s kingdom, not ours.
Closing
Closing
I close this morning with another person that we would consider “great.” In his book Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness, Eric Metaxas writes about seven men who were “great” in their particular fields during their lives: George Washington, William Wilberforce, Eric Liddell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jackie Robinson, Pope John Paul II, and Chuck Colson. His take in each was not that their particular accomplishments made them great, but that for each, their faith in Christ moved them to do great things. I recommend the book.
I just want to use one of them as an example in closing. William Wilberforce lived from 1759 to 1833 in England. He was a member of Parliament, and through his personal study of Scripture and conviction through the Spirit, he came to the understanding that human chattel slavery as it existed in that time throughout the world was incompatible with the Gospel. Largely through his efforts, slavery was abolished throughout the United Kingdom just three days before his death. Not much later, it was abolished in the United States through the Emancipation Proclamation, made by Abraham Lincoln exactly 163 years ago this past Thursday, on January 1, 1863.
Wilberforce’s greatness was a kingdom greatness. He fought for others, not for his own name. He made a difference in the world not because of his personal ambition or wealth or power. We might not all be William Wilberforce, but we can all strive for the glory of God’s Kingdom, and not our own. We might not all be able to have the impact that Wilberforce did, but we can all have an impact right where we are. True greatness is found in serving the greatest of kingdoms—God’s kingdom.
But it all starts with being a citizen of God’s kingdom first.
Salvation
Baptism
Church membership
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PRAYER
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Bible reading (Gen 4; Mt 4; Ezr 4; Acts 4)
Pastor’s Study tonight: Matthew 5:17-20
Prayer Meeting this week: continuing look at the Divine Names
Instructions for guests
Benediction
Benediction
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
