Kingdom-Oriented Living (2)

Matthew 20:20–28 ESV

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 him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 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.” 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 to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it 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 as a ransom for many.”

Scripture: Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon Title: Kingdom-Oriented Living

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have you ever wanted something so bad you would do just about anything for it? Maybe for some of us it’s the latest Apple products, a great looking house, a promotion at work, or here in Michigan a new boat or cottage. Maybe for others, we feel we are lacking in a certain quality. We think, “If only I had more confidence or more intelligence, greater fitness or more athleticism.” In all of these, we are comparing ourselves to somebody else. We find what they have to be appealing, and we covet them. Or maybe it’s that we get pulled in by the advertising of our culture that if we had a certain gadget or a certain designer’s clothes, our lives would be so much better. It is easy to get our heads and our hearts wrapped around pursuing things when we think that having them will put us in a better position than where we are right now. 

There is nothing inherently wrong about wanting to use the resources available to us or to develop certain areas of our lives. We trust that God has given each of us talents and different blessings, and he calls us to use them in excellent ways. However, there are times when our pursuit for what is perceived to give us more or make us better can sidetrack our methods and our motives. This can swing our life orientation from doing things to delight and bring glory to God to instead serve and glorify ourselves. That’s the problem in our text and in our world still today. As we go forward this morning, I hope we will see how Jesus came and lived his life as an example of kingdom-oriented living for his followers.

We begin by taking a closer look at what unfolds in Matthew 20. In these eight short verses, we find two connected events with Jesus and his disciples. The first began with a mother’s request on behalf of her sons, two of Jesus’s disciples.  If you know the disciples well or have a Study Bible, you might recognize that it’s not just any two of the disciples, but her sons are James and John, two of Jesus’ closest disciples. Matthew does not tell us who was all around, but likely they were in a private setting. When she came, she knelt down showing respect and reverence for the Teacher, and Jesus asked her, “What is it you want?” She responds by asking for her sons to be able to sit at his right and at his left in his coming kingdom.

At first glance, this request seems very strange and out of nowhere. But it is not that strange when we consider what Matthew had described in Jesus’ interaction with a rich young man in chapter 19. In chapter 19, we find this man had asked how he might inherit eternal life, and he had to walk away in disappointment when Jesus told him that entering the kingdom meant giving away all he had.  But Peter spoke up and asked, “What about us who have left everything behind?” Jesus explained to him and the rest of his disciples that “when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, [they] who have followed [Jesus] will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” When we come to our text in chapter 20, this family had taken Jesus at his word, but having thrones promised was not enough, they want to reserve the best seats, the ones closest to the head ruler.

So this mom has a conference with her sons’ teacher; but most of us would probably say it is unusual for that to happen when her sons are grown men. There are three main ideas about what is happening here. One possibility is that the sons have put her up to this; they themselves are too timid or maybe they are not timid, but would have better luck with Jesus granting the request if mom is the one talking to him. Another possibility is that we have an extremely proud mother on our hands who has always and will always want the absolute best for her boys no matter how they old are. The third possibility, and what I think is probably the most likely, is she comes to him with their family connection in mind. This is Jesus’ aunt making a request of him, and surely he would not turn down the idea of keeping the places of honor and authority in the family—not to mention she could benefit from this.

The request has been made and Jesus responds, “You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” Here, he uses the plural form of “you,” and Matthew points out that he said to “them.” At first, Jesus was talking only to the mother, but now he brings her sons into the conversation as well.  They give their word; whatever their Teacher can do, surely they can and will follow. Jesus agrees that they will drink the same cup, the cup of suffering that would lead one to be exiled and the other was killed for the faith. But Jesus also tells them that the seating arrangement is not his to decide; those seats belong “to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

The scene should draw to a close here, the conversation should be done, but somehow word traveled to the other 10 disciples, and tensions rose toward this pair of brothers. We find in the second part of our passage that Jesus mediates for them, he has to calm them down. In doing so he sheds light on what is at the heart of what James, John, and their mother wanted. They wanted to rule and judge, but they misunderstood what that meant in God’s kingdom. They were interpreting those duties according to how they saw the thrones and rulers of earthly kingdoms. The kingdoms of this world were about ruling over others with authority, having dominion, and oppressing the weak. The disciples saw ruling from thrones as all about position and power, basking in glory over others. They had pictured ruling in Christ’s kingdom to be similar to what they saw around them. They got hungry for that power.

But Jesus came and proclaimed that this is not how it will be with his kingdom nor with his disciples who may be seeking importance and greatness. Jesus says, “If you really want to be great and important in my kingdom, then you need to be a servant, or as we find in the Greek, a diakonos.” The greatest in the kingdom of God are those who serve the needs of others. This is the Greek word that also gets applied to the office of the church that Paul gives us instructions for, but Jesus is teaching his followers that this is the calling of everyone who follows him. All who want to be seen as important in his kingdom must be willing to wait on and care for others without seeking any praise or reward.  He doesn’t stop there though, he also tells them that if they want to be first, if they want to be at the front, if they want to be at the left and the right, then they must become slaves. That meant they must give up their entire self to what others desired and commanded them to do. The most honored positions in the kingdom of God belong to those who will are willing to deny all luxuries and comforts, who stop seeking others obedience to themselves, and who in turn seek the welfare of others, even by being obedient to them. Jesus’ teaching to his disciples allowed room for them to pursue what they wanted, but it meant a drastic change in what they understood they must do.

What a sharp contrast that would have been for them to consider in their day! Jesus had told his followers again and again in his ministry that the first would be last and the last would be first. The disciples thought that having already given up their work, their homes, and their time with family to follow Jesus was enough. They felt like they had already done all that was to be expected of them, and now they should start reaping the benefits. If Jesus was really the one prophesied about, God in the flesh, their being with him should have brought them greatness. James, John, and their mother were not the only ones desiring that; all of the disciples wanted greatness. The indignation they showed was likely out of frustration that they did not get to Jesus first to ask about those seats.

The question that needs to be considered today, brothers and sisters, is have things changed? Here in contemporary America, we have a political structure that is different from what existed in Jesus’ day, but there is still quite the sense of authority in those that are elected and appointed into political offices. Many businesses have leadership structures with power coming from above, the most money gets made at the top, the best benefits go to those in the prominent positions. We live in a land that promotes opportunity and being all that we can be; our country is known around the world as a superpower, and many of us, including myself, enjoy the benefits that go with that. Hard work isn’t bad, promotions aren’t bad, positions of authority are not bad in and of themselves, but just like the disciples, we can end up orienting our lives to the kingdoms around us. We can let our systems, markets, and allegiances determine our lives. As 21st century Christians we need to see that our culture is not so different. 

In the same way that culture has not changed much, such is the case with the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God continues to be completely counter-cultural. Jesus called the 12 disciples to this, but he also calls us to orient our lives around what he has taught here.  Rather than simply seeking to accumulate wealth, power, and comforts, he calls us to serve. Giving up focus on what we want for what others need is the core and greatest virtue of his kingdom.  Several theologians describe the teaching we find in this passage as “the most significant instruction…in the New Testament about spiritual leadership.” This is what leaders among God’s people need to understand and put into practice, but we all need this kingdom-orientation to drive how we live our lives.

This kingdom-oriented lifestyle is about what we do and why we do. First, it effects what we do, our methods. As kingdom-oriented believers, we are called to be doers, to be active servants at all times and in all places. This involves everything from the simple acts that each of us can do in our homes and with our families to serve and respect one another. As we saw in 1 John 3 earlier, learning to love comes from knowing God’s love for us. The most basic practice we can get in exercising love is in the home—exercising loving service with our siblings, our parents, and our children. But it cannot stop there, it must extend out to how we live in our communities and our fellowship together. Our methods may bring us to make meals for others, to help with housework and child care, to be willing to lend a hand with school programs or teaching Sunday School, to give rides to those who are not able to transport themselves. It enters into our places of work: our offices, our fields, our classrooms, and even the laundry room. For those that work under someone else, no matter how great or small you might perceive your tasks, recognize your ability to do those tasks comes from God alone. Those who manage or lead, the methods of your kingdom-oriented living mean that you look out for your employees and your customers, you should be seeking to provide fair wages and produce quality products and services at fair prices. 

As much as it is about doing, we also need to take care of our motives. In all of those areas of life we just went through and any others that you might be able to think of, we are called not just to do but to be aware of why we do. Serving others can be done without humility, without joy, and without a generous mind. It is easy for us to only work for things which bring us financial gain or the praise of others—for things that benefit us. But if we truly are about the kingdom of God and the values that the Lord reveals to us, then our hearts need to be transformed. Our attitudes need to change from serving self to using God’s gifts to his glory. 

The disciples wanted greatness, and I would say some of us might also want that for ourselves, but we see that desire gets transformed if Christ is in us. When we want to be most important, love and joy need to shape us to become true servants. As Christians, people following Christ, our lives need to reflect the grace and mercy that he exhibited while he lived among us. We should exemplify, in our motivations, what he has told us about his kingdom.

As we conclude this morning, let’s continue to think about motivations as we look at what we might call “Jesus’ personal purpose statement” in verse 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.” When Jesus spoke these words, he revealed to his disciples his motivations in dwelling with them on this earth. If they had not gotten it yet, he was not going to be the typical ruler; he did not desire to be treated with all the pomp and glory that a ruler would normally be treated with. Jesus wanted to get out and serve! He was their example of a diakonos as well as a slave; he was and is the example of kingdom-oriented living in everyday life, but he also came to give up his own life for the ransom of many. The purest example of one serving others, the purest example of giving rather than receiving, is the Son of Man who is also the Son of God, doing what he alone could do. The clearest example of service and love—living oriented by and to the Kingdom was his dying on the cross to save others.

Brothers and sisters, the service that believers are invited into may lead to harsh sacrifices, even death, but there is only one whose death could bring redemption for our sin. Our Lord and Savior came as servant and slave, bringing with him, in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension the opening ceremonies of a new kingdom. He invites us to orient our lives with him so that we would exhibit the love he has given to us, and to participate in revealing God’s redemption in all areas of our lives and our world. What does it mean to live life oriented to the kingdom, what is our challenge?  The clearest summary is in Paul’s letter to the Philippian church—that we would live, “not out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider other better than [ourselves]... [Looking] not only to [our] own interests but also to the interests of others.”  May we live this life to the glory of God and the furtherance of his kingdom, Amen.