Pride in the Church.

Opening:

Good-morning again connection church. I am so glad that you have come together to worship God on the Lord’s Day. Gathering together with the church is essential on the Lord’s Day. I say things like this every week, but sometimes I like to remind you what I mean. What I mean is that it is vital, essential, of highest priority. When the church comes together, we are entering into worship of our King. We are doing as Israel did at Mount Sinai. This is what the author of Hebrews says.

Hebrews 12:18-24 “18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

This is speaking of the Church. THE CHURCH. That word church is “Ekklesia.” It means the assembly. The assembly of what? It is the assembly of believers. In our modern age, something has happened that is of great benefit and frightening terror. The Church has recognized that “The church” is not a building. We are not the building. This is good. Being a mobile church plant is the perfect example of this. We are meeting in the Opera House. The Opera House is not the church. Sadly, many had come to think of “the church” as the church building. I believe this has been corrected. However, as with many things, the pendulum of change has swung too far the other way.

The church is not the building, it is the people. However, the temptation that many have given into is to say that the church is each individual person. This is vastly untrue. Each person in the true church is a member of the church, but is not the church. That word church means “assembly.” By the very definition of the word, one cannot have church by themselves. As a pastor, one is met often with people who claim to be able to have better church in the woods by themselves. I have lost count of the times I have heard the phrase, “That is my church” in regards to some private activity. However, this cannot be true. One can worship God in the woods. However, this is not church. A single Christian is unable to have church by themselves for one cannot have the assembly by themselves. That is like saying “I went to the AA meeting… by myself, in the pub.” it simply cannot be.

Gathering together on the Lord’s day is essential because it is THE CHURCH. It is the Ekklesia. It is the gathering of the called out ones. It is the gathering of the faithful to worship God together. It is when we collectively enter into the heavenly places to worship God. We worship Him through singing, through giving, through the learning of truths, the the reading and preaching of His Word. We come before God in the holy gathering to hear from Him, then we enter back into the world to take the truth of God there. What could be more essential? What could be more important? During times of crisis, we should long to enter into the throne room of God and hear from Him.

Why do I bring this up? Partially because there is much talk nowadays about what is and is not essential. The Church is by nature essential. But I also bring this up because we all of us struggle with one great sin. We all of us struggle with pride. Pride is the great unifying sin. It is in essence, self idolatry. We are self centered, self focused sinners. We are, in our sin nature, prideful. Gathering together on the Lord’s Day is a great blow to that pride within each of us. When we come together, we humble ourselves before our king. We do not sing the songs we love or personally enjoy most. We sing as an offering, as a service to our king. We do not come to learn and study the subject we love most. We come to learn and study our Lord and His Word. We do not come to simply benefit ourselves. We come to worship (to serve) our great God. We hear from Him. We humble ourselves on this day and worship God.

Introduction of the Text:

Pride lurks in the hearts of all sinful mankind. We sinners are filled with pride. We see in our text today the pride of the disciples on full display. So let us humble our prideful hearts and hear what the Word of God says. Open with me to Matthew 20:17-28. In this text we see Jesus again foretell His death and resurrection, and we see the pride of the disciples. One of the amazing things about Scripture is the honest nature of it. I know that may seem redundant, but it is true. Scripture does not sugar coat the nature of people. The disciples are portrayed in an honest light. These leaders of the church are shown to have clear flaws. We see their sin. We see how they fought and how they were filled with pride. Remember, the disciples wrote much of the Scriptures. They did not attempt to make themselves look good. They wrote the truth of the Word of God.

Specifically, remember, Matthew was present for all of this. When he writes of the disciples, he is writing of himself. It is honest and earthy. It is not watered down or sugar coated. Matthew writes the truth.

With this in mind, I would ask the congregation to stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.

Reading of the Text:

Matthew 20:17-28 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.”

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.”

The Word of God, Let’s pray.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for who you are. You are worthy of worship. You are good. Lord, we come before you and we humble ourselves. We come before you knowing we have nothing worthy to bring you. You deserve all our worship. You deserve so much more than we can bring.

We know we are sinners. We come before you, not because we are great or have it all together. We come before you because we are so low. We come before you because we are sinners in need of grace. We are not great. We are not mighty. we are not magnificent. We are lowly sinners in need of hearing from you.

Lord, We ask that you would speak to us through your word. Help us to humble ourselves and listen to you. May we come before you in need and may you fill us up. Convict us of our sins and help us to grow in righteousness. May we honor you in all we do today, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Transition:

As we open this text, we see Christ again foretells His death and resurrection.

Christ Again Foretells His Death And Resurrection.

Explanation:

Look with me again at verses 17-19. 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.”

Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. Remember, the Pharisees are already plotting His death and Jesus has shown that He knows all that will happen. He is heading right for the end. He is heading up to Jerusalem. On the way, He takes the twelve aside and begins to teach them again. He tells them of what is coming. He says, “See we are going up to Jerusalem.” The obvious statement. But if the disciples had gotten anything from Jesus, it would be that He has said bad things would happen there. We know they did not grasp all of what was coming, but they may have gotten that much.

Jesus then goes into incredible detail about what is coming. He says that He will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes. After this, they will condemn Him to death. They will deliver Him to the gentiles. He will then be mocked and flogged. Then He will be crucified. Then on the third day, He will be raised from the dead.

Argumentation:

This is incredible detail. This is exactly what happens. Jesus predicted exactly what was awaiting Him. This is incredible because it speaks to the divine plan of God. He was handed over according the plan of God. The cross was not a surprise.

I love how John MacArthur puts it in his commentary. “Throughout history, some people have portrayed Jesus as a well-meaning, loving, gentle, peaceful, but naive visionary who somehow got caught in a hostile world and accidentally wound up being crucified. Others have less generously pictured Him as a self-styled, would-be conqueror who tried to pull off a coup of sorts and became a victim of His own ambition. But such views do not reflect at all the biblical record. The suffering and death of Christ were no miscalculation or accident. They were not the least surprising to Jesus. On the contrary, He knew about them even before His murderers had thought of their evil plans. The Messiah’s suffering and death were planned by our holy God ages before they were plotted in the minds of evil men. Jesus’ first recorded words were, “I must be about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:49, KJV), and among His last words before His death were, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Jesus knew why He was on earth, including every detail of His life and ministry. And because He had that divine foreknowledge, He must have endured many sufferings a thousand times in His mind before they transpired in His life.”

Make no mistake, the cross was no accident. It is the perfect sacrifice of atonement. It is the winding together of God’s perfect plan from before time began. God set all in motion toward the cross. How many things must have come together for Christ to go to the cross. Pilate was born by the will of God to be there to judge Christ. The scribes were set to be born to be in their places. All was as God had planned. Think of the character of God. Think of God who sees the sparrows in their nests. Think of God who takes notice when one of them falls. Think of God who works the plants to grow seed. Think of those original trees. Think of the trees that grew up from seeds God planted at creation. Think of the fact that those trees were the fore fathers of the trees that continued to grow. Each tree producing seed after it’s kind. Think of the seed of the tree falling to the ground, and God almighty sending rain to water it. Think of the hand of God almighty guiding that tree to grow. Think of God protecting the life of the child who would grow up to cut that tree down. Think of God protecting the life of the blacksmith who forged the spikes that drove into our Lord’s hands and feet.

God Almighty nurtured from youth the tree that became the cross. He protected the men that cut that tree down and fashioned it into a cross. He protected to smith who forged the nails. The cross was no accident. The cross was the deliberate, intricate plan of God from before time began. Imagine the comfort Christ’s foreknowledge of God’s plan brought to Matthew as he was penning this account. Matthew was there. He heard Jesus say this. He did not understand, but He heard Jesus say this. Just picture being part of the early church. Imagine the awe they must have felt at hearing these words for the first time. “Jesus knew He was going to die. Jesus came on purpose to die for me!”

Imagine if we actually believed that God knew all and was in full control of all. We have a tendency within the church to portray God as a reactionary force. Something happens and God merely brings His plan back into play. He reacts and tries to figure out how to keep His plan on track. This is absolute nonsense. It’s not even just a heretical view, it is foolish. Jesus knew the cross was coming for it was the determined will of God. It was set for all time. Now imagine the peace the peace this brings. Is life falling apart? God knows all and nothing happens outside of His determined will. Because of this, we can have complete and total confidence in God’s plan. Because of this we can know with utmost confidence that, as Romans 8:28-30 says; “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

How can we know this? Because the God of the universe, who holds all things in His hands and who determines all that happens declares it. The same God who set all things in motion and holds all things together by the power of His great hand has declared it. You see, if we start tearing Scripture to pieces imagining God is only reactionary, then we should have no confidence whatsoever in His promises. But thank God that He is not reactionary! Thank God that He is in full control! Because of this we can have complete humble confidence in Christ our Lord. Amen.

Transition:

This is the beauty of Christ’s exact statements of what was going to happen to Him. The disciples however, missed this completely. Here, we see the pride of the disciples.

The Pride of the Disciples.

Explanation:

Look with me again at verses 20-23. “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.”

This is such an interesting account. Apparently James and John had harangued their mother into helping them. If you will recall a few weeks ago, Jesus promised that the twelve would rule with Him on twelve thrones. However, this was not enough for these two. Likely this was a common sentiment among the disciples, but these two sons of thunder were bold enough to ask what they wanted. Perhaps they had heard Jesus say, “You have not because you ask not.” Well, they asked. However, they misunderstood Jesus’ teaching as many still do. They send their mother hoping Jesus would do what she asks. He asks her what she wants and she makes the request known. Her boys want the seats of highest honor.

Jesus rightly says that they do not know what they are asking. He asks if they are able to drink the cup that He will drink. This is referring to His death that He has just foretold. They boldly say that they are. Jesus then foretells their deaths. He says that they will drink of the cup. They will not drink the cup of God’s wrath that Jesus drank, but they would suffer gruesome fates for their faith in Christ. Jesus tells them that the Father has reserved those seats and that they are not Jesus’ to grant.

Illustration:

The way this account starts is so interesting. The mother of James and John basically plays the game that many toddlers are so familiar. It rings of those times when a child will come up and ask for you to say yes to their request before they even ask. “Just say yes.” Any person knows that they are up to something. Likely the toddler just wants a piece of candy. They know that supper is almost ready and you will say no, so they attempt to secure the yes before they even ask. “Promise you’ll do whatever I ask.”

Argumentation:

This seems to be the tactic employed by James, John, and their mother. Jesus however asks what they want. They then ask for a ridiculous request. They want the seats of highest honor. Likely they still were thinking of their idea that Jesus would overthrow the Roman government and fully establish the kingdom while He was here. They wanted to be His second and Third in command.

Jesus is right when He says they know not what they ask. This is a big request. They do not know what they ask. They want the seats of highest honor in all the kingdom. What pride these two show. This was no more pride than the others have, but they actually express it.

But what of Jesus’ statement that He could not give those positions? He says that they are reserved for the ones the Father prepared them for. Again we see the providence of God. He had those seats set from all time. He had prepared them for the ones who would occupy them. But how can the Father do this and not the Son? Aren’t they equal? Does this destroy the Trinity? Well, some would foolishly say so. However, this is not the case. Here we see an upholding of the doctrine of the Trinity. God the Father and Christ the Son are distinct persons with distinct roles. The Father has prepared those seats and the Son submits willingly to Father. There is no conflict in the persons of the Trinity. This also does not make the Son lesser than the Father. He submits willingly in love. This also plays perfectly into Jesus’ statements in John 17 that He and the Father are one. They are one in nature and substance but yet are distinct persons.

Transition:

But how do the others react to the brash request of James and John? They react exactly how we would expect. But Jesus shows the ordering of the kingdom.

The Ordering of the Kingdom.

Explanation:

Look again with me at verses 24-28. “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.”

The other’s response is one that can be expected. “What! You want to rule over us? You think you’re better than us? Who do you think you are?!” But deep down, I think we have seen from all the disciples that given the chance, they would have done the same. They are so often presented as trying to get a leg up on the others. But Jesus stops them. He then teaches them. He tells them not to be like the Gentiles. The Gentile rulers would attempt to Lord of their subjects. They fought to be above all others. It is important that Jesus tends to use the term “Gentiles” at times as a replacement for the world. Surely the Pharisees were no better. Jesus is saying that the way of the world is to grasp and climb over others in order to lord over them and rule wickedly.

It must not be so in the kingdom. Jesus says that among the saved, those who wish to be great should be servants to their brothers. This teaching of Jesus is clearly a restatement of “The first shall be last and the last first.” This is obviously an example of the backwards nature of the kingdom of God. It is a different ordering than that of the world. Those who wish to be great must be willing to serve. This is the truth of Christian leadership. Kings are servants to their people. They serve them by protecting them, punishing the wicked, and taxing them fairly. If they do not serve their people in this way, their people must resist these tyrants and obey God. This is the truthful implication of what is proclaimed in Romans 13. Those who are great serve others. They are servants.

Jesus then takes it further. He says that those who would be first must be the slaves of their brothers. This is drastic language. The first must be indentured servants. They must be at the will of their brothers in Christ as a slave is at the will of their master. They are to be slaves to their brothers in Christ. Now, does this mean that if a fellow Christian commands you to sin, you must obey them? By no means. We are subject to God and His standard of righteousness. But this is the picture of our commitment to one another. We are bound to one another as slaves. We are not a law unto ourselves. What we do affects the entire church. What we do directly impacts our brothers in Christ. We are to be bound to one another. We are to be the slaves of one another. What we do must be for the good of our brother. We cannot bind our brother’s or sister’s conscience. We are to serve one another.

Jesus then uses Himself as the example. Surely He is the great example. He is the one we are being conformed to. The Spirit within us is making us more like Christ. This is because He is our great example. He is the one who we emulate. Jesus enforces this here. We are to be like Him. He came as a servant, not a Lord, even though He is the Lord. He came to suffer and die as a ransom for many. He gave His life for many. Notice it is not all. Not all will be saved. Only those who call upon Him. Only those who fall before Christ, repent of their sins and trust in Him will be saved. If you have not repented and trusted in Him, you are not saved. You must repent and trust in Him. Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved! This is the great promise of Scripture. If you turn away from your sins and turn to Jesus, you will be saved. Do not be prideful. Trust is Christ alone for your salvation.

Argumentation:

And this is the central theme of this passage. The death of pride. It was pride that lead the sons of thunder to make this play for power. It was pride that caused the others to react so harshly against them. Yet, there is no place for pride in the church. In the kingdom, there is no place for pride. There is no room for self centered rule. Sadly however, the church is rampant with pride. The church is filled with pastors who are seeking to make their own name great. They desire the seat of power for their own glory. This is evil and wrong. We see the consequences of this. We seem almost constantly berated with accounts of abusive leadership within the church. This is exactly what Jesus is condemning. The rulers of the world lord their power over their subjects. It must not be so in the Church. Leaders and rulers in the church are to serve their brothers and sisters. The elders are to feed the flock and guide them well.

Does this mean that one must never desire leadership? Not at all. 1 Timothy 3:1 says this. “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” This is true. It is a good thing to desire the position of elder, or pastor. But this is only good so long as the person is willing to conform to God’s commands. If they are not, it is an issue of pride. This is why God gave us such clear commands for what the elders must be. “2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.”

Yet we throw these commands out. Why? Because of pride. We think we know better than God. This is prideful blasphemy. We must humble ourselves. But it is not just the leadership in the church that suffers from pride. Every person who draws breath has a tendency to suffer from pride. This is why we reject the Word of God. We seek excuses to not obey God. Our cry is “Those are just commands for those people.” Or “We know so much better now.” Or the age old classic of sticking our fingers in our ears and screaming “La la la” while pretending not to hear what God has said. We are a wicked and prideful people. We must repent of this.

How do we do this? We do what Israel so often had to do. We come before God and cry out for forgiveness. Then we sit under the reading of God’s Law and cry “AMEN.” This is the pattern we are given again and again in Scripture. And we must obey God. “But, Pastor Jonathan, what does obeying Scripture have to do with submitting to one another?” I am so glad you asked. We in the church tend to think that we can achieve a utopian dream of love and submission to each other without having to obey God. We tend to think that we can just love each other and peace will reign and we will all gather around the campfire and sing songs. I believe the church can achieve this unity, but this comes through obedience to God, not just some pipe dream of love for one another.

Attempting to love one another without first submitting humbly to God is like trying to be the most humble thief in the community of pirates. We can try to simply submit to one another, but until we come before God and recognize this is His command and we must obey it because He said so, we will drastically fail. I think this is one of the reasons the church is such a mess. We have attempted to submit to one another as servants and slaves while ignoring God. This is where the “be nice” rule comes from. Have you ever noticed this? The greatest heresy in modern evangelicalism is to claim anyone at all is a heretic. The unspoken rule is “Be nice.” Do not at any cost violate this. Why? Because we must love another. We must submit to one another. This is a faulty submission.

Hear me clearly beloved. The only way to be one another’s servants and slaves is to first recognize that we are all the blood bought slaves of Jesus Christ for the purpose of His will. Any attempt to force this type of service and slavery to one another without first submitting to Christ is being just like the Pharisees. The Pharisees constantly did things like this. They ignored the obvious ordering of God and made arbitrary rules. The Pharisees pose the question, “What does being the servant and slave of your brother look like?” Then they give some arbitrary rule that is justified by saying “Love your brother.” That is Pharisaical. First things first, we submit to God and obey Him. This enables us to serve one another correctly. We are to love and serve one another. We are to be slaves to one another. But this can only come when we get the first part right. We are slaves to God. We humble ourselves before God first, then we will find ourselves in the same position. When we are humbled before God, we will all be on even ground kneeling at the cross.

If the disciples had understood the ordering of the kingdom of God, they would not have attempted to lord over one another. If they would have seen that Christ is King and we are equal at the foot of the cross, their pride would have crumbled and they would have began to serve one another. It was their wicked pride that lead them to this evil disorder. They missed everything Jesus was saying in the parable He had most recently given. We are equal before God. All are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. If you remember last week we saw that no one is more saved than anyone else. Because of this, elders cannot Lord over their flocks. Because of this, no one can pretend to be more saved. We are all on level ground at the cross. This means that we serve each other as Christ commanded. The elders are on equal ground. The poor are on equal ground. I cannot say, “I am your pastor, therefore serve me and honor me.” No, I am commanded to be and do certain things by God. This means that I humbly submit to God and then serve you well before Him.

We need this lesson in the church today. Submit to God and serve one another. If we get this ordering, then all will fall into place. This would solve so many fights in the church. A fight starts and the first question is, “Am I obeying God?” Seek out the answer to this. Search out the answer from Scripture. If you are right before God and Scripture, then you will be able to serve to one another well. This may look like enacting church discipline or like taking a plate of food to one of our families.

Transition:

This is the clear application of this text. Be one another’s slaves.

Application:

1. Be One Another’s Slaves.

What does this look like? Matthew 22:37-40 “37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” This may seem basic. This is because it is foundational to the Christian life. Obey God and serve one another. This is the basis of the Christian walk. Is anyone in need? Let the church serve you. Let these brothers and sisters serve you. Let them call you into line with the Word of God and be one another’s slaves before God.

Obey God and be subject to one another. If you desire greatness, it will mean that you serve more. If you desire to grow in Christ, it means that you serve your church more and more, better and better. Help each other. Strengthen each other. When one of your vehicles breaks down, help them fix it. When someone’s kid is sick, take them groceries. When a brother is in need, do not be prideful, aid them. When you are in need, do not be prideful, accept service. This is the Christian walk. Love God, love each other. Love for each other flows from love for God. Service to each other flows from service to God.

Transition:

Beyond this, I pray that you all would have peace in the providence of God.

2. Have Peace in the Providence of God.

Remember, the cross was not an accident. It was the deliberate plan of God. God is in complete control. He is sovereign. Nothing happens outside of His will. You can rest in that. When life is chaotic, He has not lost control. Your life is held in the hand of almighty God. Rest in that.

Prayer:

Closing Hymn:

Closing Benediction:

Galatians 5:13 “13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”