[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the way community church podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our mission is to show people the way to life with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name's Ahmed Gordon, I'm the podcast producer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you want to join us, need prayer or worship through giving, you can find the links in the transcript of this podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: This service came from our church wide sabbatical, our day of rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our guest pastor, Dr. William Seth Martin, came from the book of Matthew, chapter 20, verses 20 to 28.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he gave us a story about serving.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be your Bibles, and let's join our service.
[SPEAKER_01]: Matthew chapter 20, verse 20, I want to read a few verses into your hearing, and then I want to seek to explain what the word of the Lord has to say to us today.
[SPEAKER_01]: He reads like this in my Bible, says, at the end, the mother of Zabadi Suns approached him, him being Jesus with her sons, and she now down to ask him for something.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you want, he asked her?
[SPEAKER_01]: promise she said to him that these two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in your kingdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus answered, you don't know what you're asking.
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?
[SPEAKER_01]: We are able, they said to him and he told him, you will indeed drink my cup.
[SPEAKER_01]: but to sit at my right hand and the left is not mind to give.
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my father.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when the 10 disciples heard this, they became indignant, y'all they got mad.
[SPEAKER_01]: With the two brothers, and Jesus called them over and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lured it over them and those in high positions act as tyrants over them.
[SPEAKER_01]: It must not be like that among you.
[SPEAKER_01]: But on the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave, and just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but too serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I want to preach today with the Lord's help in your prayers from this thought, this, the matter does.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to tell you a story about serving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, man, you may be seated now, even in the presence of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: You may snuggle up a bunch of blanket, even in the presence of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Friends, my brother and I, we traveled to Baltimore a couple of years ago to attend a conference.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was being held by a pastor, friend of mine.
[SPEAKER_01]: And because my youngest son is sentenced to be attached to our hip in this season, he's about four now.
[SPEAKER_01]: He would have been about two at the time and was very much attached to our hip at the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: We decided that we would let him tag along with us to this conference.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our youngest son came with us to Baltimore to this conference, y'all, and the conference hosts with very kind.
[SPEAKER_01]: They put us up in a very nice hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, a real nice hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was excellent.
[SPEAKER_01]: It really was.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was an excellent hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was so excellent.
[SPEAKER_01]: We poured up into the driveway of the hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had some kind of opening door for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And welcome us to the hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was excellent show.
[SPEAKER_01]: We then go into the lobby and before we can even get to the front desk somebody grabs Our luggage for us and I'm like brother where you going with my stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just
[SPEAKER_01]: I just met you but he hands us a ticket y'all and he takes our luggage.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was excellent and we get to the counter and we get to the hotel clerk and I give her my name.
[SPEAKER_01]: She said, well, I'm Seth Martin.
[SPEAKER_01]: She looks up my reservation.
[SPEAKER_01]: She says, oh, no, welcome, Dr. Martin.
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, oh, my God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was...
[SPEAKER_01]: I felt official in that moment, Charlie.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was excellent.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was, as I say, well, was supposed to somebody took my luggage for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: She said, don't worry about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're gonna bring it up to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just give me the ticket and when they get your room number, they'll bring it up to you for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, it was an excellent hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a beautiful, wonderful hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, we get upstairs too, our room.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Y'all, let me tell you how excellent this hotel was.
[SPEAKER_01]: How nice this room was.
[SPEAKER_01]: When we walk into the room, my two-year-old walks in,
[SPEAKER_01]: It's so fancy, and he, I didn't even know he knew the word fancy, y'all, but he understood that we were in an excellent kind of hotel, y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess was so kind.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was so excellent that it impacted inspired me to go home and read a book by a man, by the name, of Hortz Schultz called,
[SPEAKER_01]: excellence wins.
[SPEAKER_01]: Horseshult, he was the former president and CEO of the company that oversaw all of the hotels for the four seasons and other types of high-end hotels.
[SPEAKER_01]: Horseshult, right this book called Excellence Wheels, and in his book, he talks about the day that he knew he wanted to go into the hospitality, the hotel industry.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the problem was that horse was from this small little German town, and in his family in that culture in the towns that he grew up being going into a hotel or hospitality industry was not considered a high or highly looked upon type of profession.
[SPEAKER_01]: He remembers and recounts in his book the day that he told his parents that he wanted to go into the hospitality industry and how disappointed they were.
[SPEAKER_01]: that the idea that he wanted to serve, that he wanted to be in a hospitality type of industry brothers and sisters.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, they had an issue with this because they could not fathom the idea that their son would spend their life thinking about how to serve other people.
[SPEAKER_01]: They imagine something more for him than a servant.
[SPEAKER_01]: And can I suggest you that perhaps that is the same thing that's going on with this mother in the text here today?
[SPEAKER_01]: Perhaps that is the same thing that's going on for the two men that populate the text today, Brother and sisters, is that in some sense, in some way, they imagine more for themselves in the ideal of being a servant and therefore they miss what Jesus has been trying to teach them all along.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, these two young men in Texas have been walking with Jesus for a while, and their own mother also has been a disciple.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also has been one who has witnessed the miracles of Jesus, has witnessed the faithful service of Jesus and of her sons, and she just wants the best for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Bible says that she goes to Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I had time, I would tell you that the text seems to suggest that she was put up to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: that she didn't go to Jesus on her own accord, but that her sons actually are the ones who kind of nudge her to go and to ask Jesus on their behalf.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so she goes to Jesus and she makes a request of him.
[SPEAKER_01]: She says, let my sons sit one on your right hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: and one on your left hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there's a problem, y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a mother and these are sons that are concerned with their positioning in life more than their service.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, they're concerned with their positioning in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the boys may have put her up to it, but the mother acquiesce because she's just being a mom.
[SPEAKER_01]: She just wants to best for her sons.
[SPEAKER_01]: She just wants to sit them to do well, but if I had time, I'd pull over and talk to some parent in the room and remind you that we've got to be careful, not to unintentionally instill in our kids that sitting in places of significance is more important than being a servant.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I say that again?
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to talk to some parents in the room myself, including we got to be careful, not to unintentionally instill in our children that sitting in places of significance or status or high profiles is what is most important in life, but on the contrary, Jesus is going to remind us that knowing God the Father, being a servant in life, is that which is more important.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I be practical for a second?
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Harvard is cool, but Harvard don't mean nothing if you don't remember that the Lord is holy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can join a Jack in a jail, and that's nice, but it means nothing if you don't remember Jesus is indeed the Messiah y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can teach the next generation how to network in that school, but I wish I had a couple people that could testify that there was some problems you got yourself into.
[SPEAKER_01]: That your networks couldn't get you out of.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your friendships couldn't get you out of people couldn't deliver you from them You needed to know how to call on the name of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we we got to be careful We got to make sure that we keep teach the next generation the right priorities that we don't instill in them That they ought to aspire to significance and status because I like what Jesus gonna raise one day Yo, what does it profit a man?
[SPEAKER_01]: What does it profit a woman?
[SPEAKER_01]: To gain the whole world, but lose their soul.
[SPEAKER_01]: You hear me, friends, brothers and sisters?
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, this is what's going on in this text.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got a mother who just wants the best for a son and you got sons that are aspiring to greatness and significance and status instead of remembering what it means to be a servant.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, here it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've got a clouded perspective about what's important.
[SPEAKER_01]: in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is evidenced by their request, y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Their request, y'all, is, hey, let me sit on your left hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me sit on your right hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, to even understand this request, brothers and sisters, you have to understand the Jewishness of our Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to understand the Jewishness of our Jesus and His disciples to understand this request that they make to let me sit one on your right hand and one on your left hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all,
[SPEAKER_01]: And ethnic Jews at the time who were living under the oppression of the Roman government, they had lived under oppression of many nations at this point in time.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were no longer a ruling superpower.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were no longer the Jews that God had taken into a promise land to conquer, to exile out giants and those who are occupying land that God had decided to give over to them at this time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for ethnic Jews,
[SPEAKER_01]: They were people who were concentrated in the Roman government that were looking forward to the day that they ascended back to power.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were looking forward to the day that they ascended back to power, and they were looking forward to that day understanding that it would come through a Messiah who was going to come.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was going to deliver his people, but in their minds and their estimation what that deliverance looked like was them getting back to a place of power.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, when they raise this question, they believe Jesus, indeed, that Messiah, and they have a twisted view of who Jesus is and what He came to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: They think Jesus came to put them back in a place of power.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, the request is Jesus, we know you're the Messiah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, we know you're the King of kings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, we know you will ascend back to a throne.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's my question for you and Jesus, when you get back on your throne.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me send one at your right hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: and the other at your left hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll see it there in the text, y'all, but here it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a clouded perspective about what liberation even is.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Jews fully anticipated a Messiah that was coming and they felt he would usher in a military victory.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what they saw looking like, but they got clouded eyes.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's a problem y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Clouded eyes make for clawed ears.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've been walking with Jesus, they've seen him move, but clearly they haven't been listening.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they still think Jesus reign is about ushering in a kingdom of power in overthrowing a Roman government.
[SPEAKER_01]: When the preceding patches, in fact, is actually perhaps one of the most explicitly predictive prophecies of Jesus, and that Jesus says he will suffer at the hands of the Roman officials.
[SPEAKER_01]: For the purpose of redeeming God's people, watch this, that the way God overthrows regimes is not through military might, but he does it through the submission of a cross.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that y'all is how he's going to establish his kingdom y'all he's going to usher in a kingdom, but it won't look like how they thought Has God ever done something in your life
[SPEAKER_01]: And it didn't look like you expected.
[SPEAKER_01]: Has God ever asked of you something?
[SPEAKER_01]: And you said, you gave God your yes, only to find out to say, God, this is not what I had in mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not what I expected.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not how I saw this thing going.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what's going on here in this text, y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: You would think, y'all, that the detailed explanation would help the disciples to grab this unique ethic of living that Jesus is offering.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yet it doesn't because here they are still asking where they're going to sit in power.
[SPEAKER_01]: They make this request and watch this Jesus says, you don't even know what you're asking for.
[SPEAKER_01]: and that the question you're asking alone shows me you've got a cloudy perspective about what is important in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And my suggestion brother's sister's that you and I can be tempted to have a cloudy perspective about what is important in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: You and I at times can be tempted to rest two places of power or a whole for places of significance.
[SPEAKER_01]: We do it in culture.
[SPEAKER_01]: You do it on your job.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are just whole hoping for the day that you sit that seat where you are in charge, where you have freedom, where you are in a place of power and position.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we do it in church.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what church folk at crazy sometimes and what church folks are always looking for titles and for status and for Significance because if I can just get decant in front of my name then I'll be important or if I could just get Revenant front of my name then I'll be important or if I can just sit on the front row a little closer to the pastor Then I'll be important y'all we do it in church sometimes where people miss that which is important and look for status and significance
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to suggest when we do that y'all we got a quietly perspective about what's important in life And if we're not careful we will miss that which is most significant which is service in the kingdom
[SPEAKER_01]: Hear me an over-concern with placement will shade your perspective about what's important.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what happens in the text y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need you to know a couple things that will happen when you got a wrong perspective.
[SPEAKER_01]: A cloudy perspective about what is important.
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, you need to understand that a wrong perspective will cloud your view on the real cost of discipleship.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in the text, jeez to go and say in verse 22, jeez sense it, you don't know what you're asking.
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink?
[SPEAKER_01]: They say, yeah, we're able and he told them, you will indeed drink my cup.
[SPEAKER_01]: But to sit in my right hand and left is not even mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: He even said it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my father.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all because Jesus response is not no, rather his response back to their question is a question back to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you able to drink the bitter cup that I'm about to have to drink from?
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you want to be in my glory, but can you go through what I'm going through?
[SPEAKER_01]: You're asking for it, but do you really understand what you're asking for?
[SPEAKER_01]: This is important because to most people, ambition, to most people's ambition, there exists an uneawareness of the real costs.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish I could really just preach to say how I feel it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Most people won't deny it, but they don't know what comes with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: They won't see the position, but they have no idea the burden that comes with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to lead people, but you don't want to have to stay up at night.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thinking about where they're going.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to be in charge of something, but you don't want to put your hands to the plow to have to work for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Most people have an ambition, but they are unaware of the cost.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some people think following him leads to a high seat, and it can.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the truth is, Jesus is going to say that following me, the role to this high seat goes through suffering.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the bitter cup, Jesus is talking about, and I know that's not fun for you and I.
[SPEAKER_01]: And perhaps we haven't taught that reality of following Jesus in church enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: We won't people to get saved, and for some reason, people have this notion that when I get saved, then everything going to be all right.
[SPEAKER_01]: that I'm never going to have a bad day, that I'm never going to have days, I don't want to throw in the towel, that I'm never going to have days.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to cut somebody I'll talk back to me here, that I'm never going to have days, that I don't want to go home, and pour something dark that ain't cooking, some clear that ain't spread yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: We tend to tell people that make people think that everything, unless you follow Jesus, will never have any difficulty, but that's not what the gospel says.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hear me in the gospel seems to suggest that suffering is a part of the journey, which Jesus, in fact, in the kingdom his reality, suffering always precedes glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, what to be clear about this show, that suffering is not the blind acceptance of unjust and unholy behaviors from people and systems in order to be close to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not advocating for a suffering, just a sufferer.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not advocating that you sit except just anything and everything from any old body.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want you to develop a martyrdom complex where you seek out suffering and acceptance
[SPEAKER_01]: of circumstances and treatment that God wants to liberate you from.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying that you should just accept any old thing, but it is knowing that to follow Jesus, that because you are a child of God and you are a follower that unfortunately in this life, you will have some difficulty.
[SPEAKER_01]: I understand that following Jesus comes with some suffering, y'all, it is the acknowledgement that you were encountered difficult days, because you are close to God, because you are a follower of Jesus and live in a fallen world, unfortunately suffering and trials are inevitable, but here is the good news you can get through them and God uses them.
[SPEAKER_01]: for your good.
[SPEAKER_01]: I like what the tech said when Jesus is going to say, in this life, you will have trouble.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will have trials.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will have tribulation.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the bad news, but you can be a good chip.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because Jesus says, he has already overcome the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when you think that life is all about when you sit in the status you have, you will have a cloudy view of the true cost of discipleship, which means to follow Jesus is to have to endure some difficulty some days.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why Paul is going to say, y'all, I reckon that these present sufferings.
[SPEAKER_01]: are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, you got to understand that when you don't see that, when you have a cloudy perspective about what is significant in life, it'll cloud your view on the cost of discipleship.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is what Jesus is trying to make sure that they grasp.
[SPEAKER_01]: He answers their question saying, or he responds to their question with a question letting them know, are you able to drink from the cup I'm going to have to drink from?
[SPEAKER_01]: They say, yes, and Jesus, indeed, you're going to have to, whether your answer was yes or no.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in the text, he says, he says, you won't need drink to cup, but to sit at my right and my left is not mine to give, instead it is for those for whom it has been prepared by the Father.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I like this, y'all, this is interesting to me because positioning in the kingdom, he says, is the divine parakitive of the Father alone.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, this gives us some insight into the distinct roles, even of the Godhead.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have got the Father, the God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this text gives us insight, even into how God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do their triune dance together.
[SPEAKER_01]: They ask Jesus for a place in the kingdom, and Jesus, that they didn't even mind to
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the Father's call.
[SPEAKER_01]: That it is the Father's decision.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is God alone who determines where people are positioned that God calls all of us to serve and He alone decides where any of us sits.
[SPEAKER_01]: I like this Jesus goes, I can guarantee you going to have to deal with some suffering, but I can't guarantee where you're going to sit because that's got the fathers to determine all by himself.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is important for you and I for two reasons.
[SPEAKER_01]: One, it is important for us to remember that it's gots prerogative where any of us sits in life so that you will stop begging other people to put you in places.
[SPEAKER_01]: that only God can lift you to.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's freeing for somebody because if God is the one that determines where somebody sits, then I don't have to worry about what you think.
[SPEAKER_01]: I ain't got to worry about trying to kiss up to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I ain't got to worry about getting in your position or in your face because I'm going to be wherever God wants me to be.
[SPEAKER_01]: God decides where we sit.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's important.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they also ought to be encouraging.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's also why you don't have to hate on nobody else's seat.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to hate or nobody else is sitting.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to have envy about where anybody else is sitting because that's where God decided they would sit.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where God decided they would be placed.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where God decided to lift them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's why you shouldn't worry one other people are hating on you because you didn't ask to sit here in the first place.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are mining your own business just chilling one day
[SPEAKER_01]: That's your house, and all of a sudden, God came here, bothering you, saying, I won't you to lead in my church, and I won't you to serve in this ministry, and I won't you to lead on the job.
[SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever been born in your business, and God bothered you?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, oh yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: God decides where people sit.
[SPEAKER_01]: in the kingdom, but if you've got a cloud of perspective about what is important in life, you'll have a cloudy view of the real cost of discipleship and that it has gone through the terms where people say, but I'll get you a second thing, y'all, second thing, y'all, second thing, you have to be mindful of is that a wrong perspective about what's important in life will cause unnecessary tension amongst fellow followers of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in the text verse 24 says that when the disciples heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus caught the moment and said, you know that the rules of the Gentiles loaded over them, those in positions act as tyrants over them, but it must not be like that among you on the contrary, whoever wants to be great among you must be a, sorry, out of Bob's going to say man, on verse 24, that when the other decides the other 10, get word that that these two, the sons of Zabides,
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't put the mama up to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: To go and ask Jesus, let them sit at the right and the left hand, these positions are power and the kingdom of God, y'all the other 10.
[SPEAKER_01]: They feel some type of way about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says that they become indignant.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a real cute way you're saying they was mad.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were hot about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were ticked off about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: They felt some type of how dare you ask Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: to let you sit in this place in position of power and hear me friends, this is what happens when we have a perspective about status and significance that does not match what Jesus has given to us because when any of us start aspiring to go higher and start trying to position ourselves to be higher above other people, you know, it becomes crabs in a barrel.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a crowd's in a barrel kind of mentality.
[SPEAKER_01]: The other 10 feels some type of way because way to many Jesus, I didn't get to put my words on my hand for the position.
[SPEAKER_01]: I way to many Jesus, if I had known that you were taking resumes and request for where other people would sit, I want to told you God, I want to say it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me sit at your left in your right hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: The text, it's not just clear about what's going on, but seemingly all they over here, Jesus saying something he never said to them before about this ideal of someone sitting at the left and the right hand, and Jesus responds to this outbreak.
[SPEAKER_01]: He breaks up the fight before it even begins by reminding them that your concern with power and position cannot look like the worlds.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what Jesus is trying to tell them, you guys are getting ready to be at odds with one another, because you're fighting for status and significance.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is what the world does.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody's going to say he's going to say, you're not like the Gentiles, Gentiles, where anybody that wasn't considered Jewish, it was anybody that was part of any other ethnic group and any other religious group.
[SPEAKER_01]: So to speak, it was a lump sum kind of idea.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to do your Gentile.
[SPEAKER_01]: You were an outsider.
[SPEAKER_01]: You were not a part of a covenant of God, was the idea of the thought process.
[SPEAKER_01]: And nobody says about them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then kind of people
[SPEAKER_01]: positions, high positions, they act this occurrence over them.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he's saying, um, you know, those kind of people, they act like that man that sits at White House.
[SPEAKER_01]: A 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, they, they're concern is about power and status and position, you know, he's saying, I don't want you to be like them, I don't want you to be like those people who are trying to pull other people down to make yourself look taller.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want you to be like those people who will distribute and dispense lies about other people so that you can yourself can get ahead and like he said, that's what they do, that's not what you do as a Christian.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you as a follower of Jesus shouldn't only concern yourself with significance and status because that's not a kingdom ethic, but a kingdom ethic is understanding that greatness in the kingdom isn't about how high you sit, but how low you're willing to serve.
[SPEAKER_01]: That it is not about the titles in front of your name, but it is about the work you're willing to put your hands to.
[SPEAKER_01]: that if you want to be great, you must serve.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you've got a cloud of perspective, you'll miss the true cause of discipleship.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got a cloud of perspective.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll cause unnecessary tension amongst other followers of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you've got a cloud of perspective about what is important in life, what is significant in the Kingdom, it'll cause you to totally miss the example of our Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: Note what the text says verse 28 verse 27 going in 28 he says and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave watch this 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 y'all see it there in the text
[SPEAKER_01]: y'all, here it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus says, if you don't see this thing the right way about what is significant in the kingdom, you're going to miss the example I've been modeling for you all alone.
[SPEAKER_01]: That we have a king who became a servant.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, hear me friends, this question I wanted you to sit with, if we got a king who became a servant, why are you a servant trying to be a king?
[SPEAKER_01]: If we look at Jesus and he is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, who is God incarnate, who stepped out of eternity down into time, who cloaked his divinity in our own humanity, who was born to a virgin, and lived a sinless life.
[SPEAKER_01]: If we have a king who was willing to come now to be a servant, why do we act like, why are we servants who try to act like we're kings?
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus says, you're missing the example, you're missing everything I've taught you along the way in this journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: Here it is, this is where I've been trying to get to.
[SPEAKER_01]: As I just walked you through this little story about serving, y'all, here it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: At the end of the day, this text teaches us that success in the kingdom is not marked by what you sit.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is marked by how you serve.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know I wish I had something way deeper for you, but here it is, here is what we must hold on to as followers of Jesus, that success in the kingdom is not marked by positions of power and influence and titles.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is not marked by where you sit, it is marked by your service.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the question you need to sit with and ask yourself is what perspective on what is important in life is impeding on you serving?
[SPEAKER_01]: What lie have you bought into?
[SPEAKER_01]: that is keeping you from giving more of your hands to the work of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: What perspective about what's important?
[SPEAKER_01]: What status are you chasing?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's keeping you from stewarding your service well.
[SPEAKER_01]: What appalls are you looking for from other people?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's keeping you from saying Lord, however you want to use me.
[SPEAKER_01]: used me Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: It reminds me there was one story of a steward who was entrusted with the care of a great house.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's through it did, so not for recognition but because the house was simply worthy of being kept away.
[SPEAKER_01]: He repaired what was worn in quiet places.
[SPEAKER_01]: He lived the lamps before the day began.
[SPEAKER_01]: I made ready others.
[SPEAKER_01]: He made ready what others would need once the day began.
[SPEAKER_01]: His work was seldom announced, seldom recognized, seldom applause.
[SPEAKER_01]: It simply spoke for itself.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, in time, a new master came to give oversight to the house, one who was wise and discerning.
[SPEAKER_01]: that new owner of the house walked the house and looked around the house with care.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he did not look at only that which was visible, but this new one was able to recognize somebody has been keeping this house well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in that moment, what he announced that he understood somebody had kept this house well, the steward who had gone on scene for years, who had served the house so well, was reminded not only of their assignment,
[SPEAKER_01]: The grace of being seen, not for the sake of acknowledgement, but because it was an affirmation that he was serving in the right place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I tell somebody who wonders about status and wonders about significance?
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I encourage somebody who has been serving faithfully and you sometimes feel unseen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Hear me, brother, hear me, sister, keep on serving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep all not chasing status, but simply serving to be a blessing to the kingdom because the good news is we have a king in a master Who will one day come and will see the work that you have done?
[SPEAKER_01]: It reminds me of what my favorite him says if when you have given the best of y'all Your heart your service tell in the world that the Savior has come be not dismayed When men and women don't believe you because when he comes he'll understand and he'll say well
[SPEAKER_01]: Done.
[SPEAKER_01]: Misunderstood was the savior of sinners born on the cross.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was God's only son.
[SPEAKER_01]: All here him call his father in heaven saying not my will But that will be done.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to tell somebody keep on serving.
[SPEAKER_01]: He put in your hands to the plow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't lose heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't be discouraged You don't have to sit in high places and if nobody ever calls your name if they never
[SPEAKER_01]: Put your name on a building if they never give you a title or a status.
[SPEAKER_01]: If nobody ever gives you a plate, you'll keep on serving because if when you've given the best of your service, tell them the word about the same in a car.
[SPEAKER_01]: You look at you one day and say, well done.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, good and faithful.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on to the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, to the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me pray for you, Father in the name of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, we thank you for your Word, which is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, we thank you for the example of our Savior.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, who was indeed a king who came not to be served, but to be of service, who demonstrated that service lowered all the way up to Calvary's mountain, where he laid down his life in willful submission.
[SPEAKER_01]: so that you and I, Lord could, so that those of us in this room God could be in relationship with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that the blood could redeem us, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so God, we say thank you, Lord, that you've called us to be servants in your house.
[SPEAKER_01]: That God, we get to put our hands to the plow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I pray for my brother, my sister, Lord, in the name of Jesus, who may have been growing weary in their serving.
[SPEAKER_01]: I pray you remind them that you see them when nobody else does.
[SPEAKER_01]: I pray for those Lord who are discouraged at you, would you please encode their hearts, Lord?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I pray for those Lord who are honest enough to admit that maybe they got it twisted in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe they brought into the lie that they need status and significance.
[SPEAKER_01]: I pray that Lord in this moment, that you may prick their hearts to have that he milled you to say, Lord, forgive me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, help me to see it the way you see it.
[SPEAKER_01]: We ask you about faith in Jesus name we do pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: And all of us agreed to get said, Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.