The Servant's Way

people! Amen? Amen. This morning we are looking toward Easter, the day of Christ’s glorious resurrection from the dead and the road Jesus and His disciples took to get to Jerusalem on that triumphant morning. When I say Jesus and His disciples, it’s with Him in mind, knowing that he prepared them, led them, coached them, rebuked them and encouraged them for the day of His sacrifice on the cross. He is getting close to that day. These 12 followers are getting ready in mere days for Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The master is fully aware of what is to come. He knows that the crowds who love and proclaim His name on the roads and in the public squares will soon turn on Him. Jesus knows that He will suffer shame and indignity and death in a way no man should and no perfectly righteous Son of God ever should.

Jesus disciples understand what he has told them in their limited way. The

disciples and the people who are so excited to see Jesus entering the city understand the coming of the Messiah, the promised one of God as much as their minds and their teaching allow them to. Satan has hardened the hearts of those who follow Jesus to only see Him as someone who will solve their immediate problems and not their eternal ones. The Jews desperately want Jesus to be the Messiah the Scribes and Pharisees have taught them about. The one who will use force to overthrow the Romans and all who would oppress Israel and return Zion to the glory they only know from their ancestors. When the people don’t see that immediate result, they’ll turn on Jesus and send him up to be crucified in place of a hardened murderer. The perfect Son of God who has never sinned will die in the place of an unrepentant murderer because He is not the fiery Messiah of the stories of old, but the humble servant who came to free men and women from eternal fire in damnation.

To say the disciples don’t yet understand Jesus true purpose is an

understatement. They know he’s set to die, but they’ve taken the news of our Lord’s impending death as something that will have an earthly consequence rather than an eternal impact. The men are planning who will be the glorious earthly leader of the teacher’s movement and who will be honored by Jesus in the afterlife. In a way, the disciples are like naive businessmen, trying to step into sandal’s they are not able to carry. They’re measuring for office furniture and drapes before their leader has died. Jesus has been trying with heavenly patience and fortitude to teach these young men humility. In Matthew 19:28 we see Jesus having just taught the disciples the lesson of the rich man trying to get to heaven and walking away discouraged. Peter pipes up boldly, “Master, we gave up everything to follow you. Are we guaranteed a place in eternity at your side.” Jesus assures impetuous Peter that those who follow Him will indeed be at His side forever, but those who are humble and those who serve the servants will be the ones who know this peaceful reign with Christ. That’s where the disciples get stuck. They can’t grasp what Jesus has constantly been teaching them. It’s not the leader who runs around with fireworks, proclaiming their own goodness that makes the grade. Those who will glorify Christ for all of eternity are those who not only give all they have to offer the Lord, but humble themselves before God are those who will reign with Christ. Those who give God the glory and suffer the humiliation and difficulties of being faithful to Christ are the ones who will inherit the Kingdom of God. Those who pray in the square and those who give their wealth in a way that everyone can see will have already had their glory. Those who are rich and have enjoyed every pleasure in this life without giving a thought to the Lord will have already enjoyed all the glory that is going to come their way. Lo and behold, Jesus is still butting heads with His disciples as they continue their way toward Jerusalem. That is how we come to witness this conversation between the disciples, Salome the mother of John and James and Jesus the teacher.

Jesus had just finished His powerful parable of the workers in the

vineyard, telling those willing to pay attention that the harvest of souls in need of the gospel is plentiful, but the workers-those who would proclaim the gospel of salvation-are few. He ended that parable with the reminder that those who think they are righteous, those people who believe they will be the first let into heaven and the most prominent will be far behind those who humble themselves and serve the Lord God rather than being expected to be served and glorified themselves. Then, in verses 17-19 of chapter 20, Jesus does some teaching. “Fellas, we’re going to Jerusalem where I’m going to be put to death. This is no victory tour, no celebration of ourselves. The religious leaders we’ve put our faith in are going to turn me over to be beaten and whipped and crucified, because they’re too weak and self-righteous to do it themselves. Then, I’ll return-rising from the dead in three days time.” Naturally, you think when you read this passage and the same telling in in Mark and Luke’s gospel accounts, that the disciples would have been bowled over in anguish. You, as a Christ-believing person yourself, would imagine that the 12 would have been upset to the point of mourning. “NO, not you teacher! How can we save from this? Let us take your place! Let us plead to the authorities to spare you, rabbi!” No…instead, John and James, the sons of Zebedee, go to their mother and ask her to ensure them a good place in eternity, ruling over humanity. Can’t you just see how this must have played out? “Ma? Psst…Ma! Tell the master that we want to be at His right and left hand, seated for eternity!”

The Sons of Thunder:

James and his brother John were referred to by Jesus as the Boanerges, the sons of thunder. He calls them this, not only because they were to become fiery proclaimers of the gospel, but because they thundered against each other. Like any brothers, James and John were temperamental with each other and fought like brothers. The two thundered against each other as much as anyone. Yet, these two brothers were among the first to leave their work and follow Jesus. They were the third and fourth of the twelve disciples called by Jesus. Looking at verse 22, Jesus doesn’t rebuke them for asking this place in glory with Him, but He does tell them that they do not know what they are asking: If you were to sit next to me, to drink of my cup of death, you would have to face all of the beating, whipping, humiliation, torture and agony of the cross. The two disciples, in their pride, but also in their thunderous way of loyalty to Christ agree that they are ready to face this shame and pain and death. Jesus, in verse 23, lets them know that they indeed are going to drink of His cup of death to the last drop. When Jesus talks about the cup so often in the gospels, this isn’t a pretty phrase to describe the indignity of His torture and death, but a phrase the prophet Isaiah used when he was sawed in half. Hebrews 11:37 as well as the Jewish Talmud remind us that Isaiah spoke of the cup of death God had prepared for him, sawed in two as an example of righteousness and Godliness for all to see. Jesus tests the young fisherman and they respond that they will share that cup.

Indeed, the two future preachers of the word do share the cup of death

mixed for Christ. John, the younger brother of James, and the one who was known as beloved to Jesus, was integral part of the formation of the church. He and Peter went to Samaria to bless the new converts to Christianity. He was exiled to the island of Patmos, a remote Greek outpost partially submerged under water. It was here that God gave John the revelation of Jesus Christ and the vision of what is to take place to fulfill Christ’s promises to humanity. James, the older brother, was present with his brother for so many of Jesus’ miracles and was witness to the master’s teaching. He was the first disciple to be martyred when Herod cut his head off with his own sword in 44 C.E. Indeed, both brothers shared Jesus cup of death in order to proclaim the message of salvation…but then Jesus reminds them of one other thing again: The first shall be last in the Kingdom of God. He reminds the disciples that the Father alone decided who is fit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and who has a place with His Son Jesus Christ.

The First Shall Be Last.

You’ve probably had a few thousand situations with your kids and

grandkids where you tell them that first shall be last. Maybe you remember it from when you were a kid. My mom and my Sunday School teachers wore out that phrase. “Stop trying to crowd to the front of the line, the first shall be last.” When your name is Thompson, you get used to getting called near the end of the line. Sometimes, when you get to be an adult, that gets to be a blessing. Then some boss, or some wise guy Sargent will say “Today, we’re going to mix things up and start at the end of the alphabet. Thompson, you go first...” The other ten disciples look at James and John in verse 24 and turn up their noses, not even listening to Jesus. “Hey! We want to be first! We want to sit next to the teacher in heaven and rule over the 12 tribes of Israel! What the heck? Should we get our mom’s down here to plead our case?” You can see how Jesus might have felt when He called them over to re-teach them the same lesson over again. He’s got the cup of death mixed for Him on His mind. He’s got the eternal purpose of His earthly mission in mind: to die for all humanity and to rise again, proving that not even death can hold back the power of the Son of God. Yet he’s got to give after-school education to these 12 young followers and one mom who just wants the best for her boys. What does he say to them?

Matthew 20:25–28 ESV

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.”

He reminds them: Followers of Christ don’t play by these earthly rules. Every king, every president, every movie studio, every record company, every soda pop manufacturer wants us to play by an earthly rule that says they are the greatest and to stand among the greatest you’ve got to bow down to their goals and their wishes.

Those Who Follow Christ Serve rather than Demanding to be Served.

What does that mean? That God alone will choose whom He wants to honor and that our job isn’t to worry about it. Our job is to humble ourselves as Christ did and give service and love to our fellow man. Oh, well that’s easy, right? We just humble ourselves and treat everybody with kindness and we’ve got the glory coming our way, right? Oh, but if it were that easy. The disciples couldn’t grasp that. It took Jesus washing their dirty feet for that lesson to even start to kick in. Yet, there it is: Those who would inherit the kingdom of God, those would even begin to understand what it means to be with Christ for eternity, must also understand what it meant for Him to humble himself to misery and an agonizing public torture and death.

Three Things to Take Away:

#1: Jesus Taught that Salvation isn’t a Race to the Bargain Bin!

One Thanksgiving many years ago, my father in law was determined to get my toddler nephew the one thing he wanted from Santa Claus: a big-boy Mickey Mouse bicycle. So, he and I left the family table and went over to Walmart. There we stood forever with our hands on this little bike, crammed in with other people so we could be the first to grab to grab a bike. When 6:59 p.m. ticked over to 7:00, we each picked up an end of the box and and ran. I mean, here’s two middle aged guys sprinting. It was like a scene out of last of the Mohicans. Pops ran forward with the bike and I fell back “Go on without me!” I’ve never lived through the apocalypse, but this was close. I was blocking for pops and throwing elbows while the store was falling down behind us, boxes flying everywhere, dust, screaming. Then we made it up front to the check outs and stood in line. We stood behind the proud and the humble. We were the first to get the bike, we had all the glory and all the triumph and then we waited. In Walmart, as in the Kingdom of Heaven, we do not determine our place or standing, only God does.

The Kingdom of God is not a race to get what we want and only serve

ourselves. Jesus was constantly telling his disciples and those He taught in all the towns and villages that He did not come to this world to be waited upon, to have the best of everything for himself, to place fancy robes on himself and demand service. Jesus tells the disciples in verse 28 that he didn’t come to soak up man’s empty praise and glory, but to die for those who have no hope because of being in bondage to sin. The Lord Jesus is making a point that His hard-headed disciples fail to grasp over and over again. He’s telling them that they’ve thrown their lot in with the one who came to die and that is the humble estate that the Christ follower always lives in.

Christians are not the first, not the greatest. We are born and called to

be servants to God and His people. America wants us to believe that Christians have all the privileges and some modern Christians do take the lions share of wealth and opportunities. The true follower of Christ, the true Christian who follows Jesus is the one who keys into what the teacher pounded home: You are called Christ’s disciples because you put your self aside to serve and love God’s people.

Mark 12:29–31 ESV

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jesus taught that the most important things in the life of the redeemed child of God are obedience to the Lord and loving service to your fellow men and women that puts their needs ahead of your own. This life of service isn’t all a money thing. It’s giving what’s most important things to you. If you’re constantly too busy to love others and help them, you need to slow your own needs and look around at those around you in need. If your constantly collecting things for your own happiness and you can’t figure out why none of them make you happy, maybe it’s time to see who needs those things more than you. The Christian doesn’t live this life to be served, but to serve God and their neighbor.

#2: A Christian is Different

Jesus says all that needs to be said about the world He lived in and

the world in verse 25 when he reminded the disciples that the rulers among us and those who considered themselves to be first among people would lord it over all that they are the first and best. As Christ followers, we know that we are here on earth to lead through service. Christians are leaders in this corrupt, cruel world because those who truly follow Christ with all their hearts lead through example. We help our neighbors in need, we pray for the sick and find out what they need, we give when people reject our offerings. We serve those who hate Christians, those who have nothing to give and those who will never come into our churches. A Christian uses his or her gifts first to help. There’s nothing wrong with having money, or enjoying the things we’re given. Heck, when the Lord God blesses me with some meat, I’m throwing it on the grill. But I also open my home to others first. The world wants poor people to stay poor and immigrants to go on home to wars and drugs and poverty and lack of education. As Jesus people, we see the poor, the immigrants and those who are different and we act like Jesus did. With kindness, generosity and the sharing of our resources and the sharing of the gospel message of Jesus who sent us out.

#3: Easter is time for Renewed Focus.

As we go through Palm Sunday next week and look toward the sacrifice of

Jesus Christ on the cross, it’s good to keep Jesus words and His actions during this time in mind. Jesus knew that He was on his way to a mockery of a trial, shameful torture and death at the hands of the indifferent Romans as well as His own people. He focused on those two things from the prayer of the Shema, and His words recorded in Mark. He worshipped God with all of His being and He served and loved everyone as if they were His neighbor. Easter becomes our time for reducing the message of Jesus down to kid’s stuff. We get the eggs and the bunnies, both of which are reproductive images Christians borrowed from the pagans to signify spring and fertility. The truth of Easter is more than a basket of stuff. It’s a time of looking at the cross Jesus died on as the ultimate act of putting ourselves second, dying to self and serving those in need. This is the message Jesus was trying to get across to the stubborn disciples and even their mothers. Easter is the ultimate act of God sacrificing His Son for mankind. The Son didn’t come here to be served but to be part of the service to man. We, in our life of living by Christ’s example, need to renew our focus on Jesus. Not ,our place in His place of glory but focusing on how we can live more for Him and less for our own own pleasures and want. Many times we speak of the season Lent as one of giving up things, but the truth is this season of Lent as Jesus approaches the cross is one of giving our best to the Lord in service. We can give His people time, His Word a renewed look and time in prayer to Him an ongoing conversation. Jesus, the beloved God, came to serve God and the needs of humanity. The least we can do is live by that example and actively look for ways to humble ourselves in service to the Lord and kindness to our neighbors during this season of remembering Christ.