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[0:00] Please take your Bibles. Yes, that would be wonderful, thank you. Please take your Bibles and go to Matthew, Matthew's Gospel, Matthew chapter 20.

[0:14] If you're visiting with us or left your cell phone at home, go, pull that black Bible out in the chair in front of you, pull that black Bible out, go to the back of that black Bible and find page 17, page 17 in that black Bible, Matthew chapter 20.

[0:34] 20 verse 17 is where we will begin. 20, 17. Matthew 20 verse 17, we'll go to verse 28. 17 through 28 this morning.

[0:51] I will read the passage first. Chapter 20 of Matthew's Gospel, verse 17. Oh, yes.

[1:03] Excuse me one moment. Thank you, Travis. And going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the 12 aside by themselves, and on the way he said to them, Look, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked, and to be scourged, and to be crucified, and on the third day he will be raised.

[1:46] Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons came to him, bowing down and making requests of him, and he said to her, What do you want? She said to him, Command that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and one on your left, in your kingdom.

[2:02] But answering, Jesus said, You do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink? They said to him, We are able. I just think that's funny.

[2:15] I'll tell you why in a little bit. He said to them, My cup you will drink. But to sit on my right and on my left, this is not mine to give, but to the ones who have been prepared by my father.

[2:30] While hearing this, the ten became angry with the two brothers. But calling them to himself, Jesus said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord over them, and great men exercise authority over them.

[2:44] Not so among you. Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

[3:05] Quote, No, humble narcissism is not an oxymoron.

[3:16] It's a combination of qualities that the best leaders and companies have. Organizational psychologist Adam Grant explains why. Well, if it's an organizational psychologist, it's got to be true.

[3:30] That's sarcasm. Humble narcissism. The title of the article was, Tapping into the Power of Humble Narcissism. Yes, that's right. You heard me right.

[3:41] Humble narcissism. A definition of narcissism. The pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one's idealized self-image and attributes, self-flattery, perfectionism, and arrogance.

[3:56] It actually comes from the Greek word from the Greek god, narcissist who is enamored with himself when he would look at himself. That's where the word comes from, narcissism. So anyways, this is an article.

[4:08] If you type in, I think, what did I type in on the Google search? Maybe humility or humility or something like that. And this article came up. I was laughing. This goes on.

[4:19] How can you be narcissistic and humble at the same time? The two qualities sound like opposites. But they go hand in hand. I'm not joking.

[4:32] It's really here. Narcissists believe they're special and superior. Oh, really? Humble leaders know they're fallible and flawed. Humble narcissists bring the best of both worlds.

[4:44] They have bold visions, but they're also willing to acknowledge their weaknesses and learn from their mistakes. So don't you want to be a humble narcissist now? For example, hey, did you know I'm so awesome, but I'm humble about it?

[5:01] See? I'm a humble narcissist. Perfect! Right? I know. I'm being facetious. I just think this isn't funny.

[5:11] But anyways, there's a point to why I'm saying this. Our world will do anything but uphold humility even though they actually crave it from people. They look down upon people who are humble even though they actually crave it and actually they honor it.

[5:28] And you definitely don't want to be humble because you're not supposed to. You're supposed to, what do they say? Sell yourself. Sell yourself. And yet humility is truly the essence of Christianity.

[5:42] It's actually the first step to becoming a Christian. You humble yourself like a child. Remember chapter 18? To be a follower of Jesus.

[5:58] You humble yourself. And we do that as a response to the gospel because that's what our king did for us.

[6:12] Matthew's driving home theme, bow down and worship Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel, and yet there's the, the spin on it is this.

[6:26] He's the king who came to serve. What king do you know serves his subjects? That's an oxymoron.

[6:42] That doesn't go together. A king serves? No, no, no. A king is served. Not so with our king.

[6:58] He's the king who came to serve us by saving us from our lack of servanthood and for our selfishness. He paid the ransom for our sin.

[7:10] We are called to trust him and to emulate this kingdom value. What's the kingdom value? To be great, we're called to serve. To be first, we're called to slavery.

[7:25] That's the king we worship. That's the king we serve. And yet, he's the one who initiated it.

[7:36] He serves us. He served many. He was our ransom. This is how gospel truth, the Bible, stands out over every religion in the world.

[8:00] Especially Islam. Stark contrast. It's blasphemous to a Muslim to think of God becoming humanity.

[8:12] And yes, that's the very essence of what we believe. It's the very essence of the truth. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

[8:25] Philippians 2. Jesus, the king, came to serve and give his life as a ransom on behalf of us.

[8:36] He is the ultimate servant and the greatest slave, which is the display of the main value of his kingdom. And in our world, in our culture, in our community, we as a church should be known as those who serve each other.

[9:02] We should strive, even fight, to out-serve one another. Although it's not about a territory, this is my territory, this is where I serve.

[9:17] Don't you get involved in this? No, we're serving each other in love. We're serving one another in love. It's so interesting just the stark contrast of what you see here with Jesus and his disciples.

[9:40] Here Jesus and the disciples and even the rich young man, remember that rich young man in chapter 19? Such stark contrast.

[9:55] And Jesus foretold his death for the third time and then teaches, actually reminds his disciples about the values of the kingdom. What are the values of the kingdom?

[10:06] Humility. Loneliness. sacrifice. Sacrifice. Jesus, by his substitutionary, vicarious death is the ultimate example of what God's kingdom is all about and how to get into that kingdom.

[10:23] You trust the one who displayed lowliness, humility, and sacrifice by giving his life as a ransom for many, as a ransom for us.

[10:33] vile sinners, vile rebels. You humble yourself like a child and you come. This is the essence of the gospel.

[10:48] This should be central to everything we do as a church. For you as an individual Christian, the years of values of the kingdom, humility, lowliness, sacrifice displayed in the very Son of God.

[11:05] So let's unpack this, verses 17 to 28. First, first point here, how he served, verses 17 through 19. the third prediction of his death.

[11:21] Going up to Jerusalem, probably a crowd of people with Jesus and his disciples, not just him and his disciples, going. They're making their way to Jerusalem and as they're going about, it says, he pulled the twelve aside by themselves privately to give them a vital truth to remind them of a vital truth.

[11:46] And by the way, this is the lengthiest prediction of Jesus' passion out of the four that he gave. Notice verse 18. Look, or behold, we're going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man, his favorite designation of himself, which actually points to him being the Messiah.

[12:12] He'll be delivered or technically betrayed to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death. Notice how Jesus expressed exact knowledge of what would happen to him.

[12:26] His humility, loneliness, suffering, sacrifice, and horrible death. He knew exactly what was going to happen. They would condemn him to death.

[12:39] This is added, different from the other predictions. The religious authorities of Jerusalem, they would be the ones to condemn him to death, but notice he says, since they can't be the ones to actually kill him, they will, from verse 19, deliver him to the Gentiles.

[12:56] They will carry out the killing of Jesus, again, added from different predictions that he's made, to be mocked, to be scourged, flogged, or whipped, and third, to be crucified, which is only in Matthew's gospel, and the first time Jesus mentioned how he would be killed.

[13:18] Crucifixion was done by the Romans, and for the Jews, if someone was crucified, it indicated that God had cursed that person.

[13:32] Crucifixion was reserved for slaves, for criminals, and others who were despised, so Jesus would truly identify as a criminal or as a sinner.

[13:46] With this kind of humiliation, suffering, earthly glory was gone. It wasn't about earthly glory for Jesus. And yet, notice the very end of verse 19, and on the third day he will be raised.

[13:59] All three passion, the first three passion predictions end with Jesus being raised, an action done to him, notice, he will be raised, someone is going to be doing the raising, which is central to the gospel message, the resurrection of Jesus, this action whereby freedom and liberation is guaranteed because he's resurrected, he would die for sinners, and yet he'd be raised, so the father would vindicate his son, and show that he was satisfied with that atonement.

[14:31] So this, this is how he would serve us. By becoming a sinner himself. Your king serves you by becoming a criminal on behalf of you.

[14:48] Your king serves you by taking on your sin. He puts it upon himself so you can be declared not guilty, no, innocent, righteous.

[15:02] No. Righteous. He's declared righteous in his sight. And then you have verses 20 through 25.

[15:16] Here you see Jesus' action for sinners with his prediction of the great suffering he would face is juxtaposed to the disciples' selfish grab for glory and honor with prideful arrogance.

[15:38] Such stark contrast. Here you have Jesus' knowledge of the future, his determination to do the Father's will, his self-sacrificial humility versus the disciples' ignorance, their arrogant confidence, and their self-seeking pride.

[16:06] We're not like that. Dumb disciples, whatever. They failed to listen to their master.

[16:18] They did not understand. Once again, Jesus needed to teach his disciples about kingdom greatness and kingdom values. He did that in chapter 12, he did that in chapter 15, he did that in chapter 18.

[16:34] Interesting too, the mother of the sons of Zebedee just like what, four chapters ago. Remember the Canaanite mother who asked for Jesus to heal her daughter?

[16:52] Talk about contrast. Even the contrast, Jesus in chapter 18 just taught the disciples to be humble like a child and kind of went right over their heads.

[17:09] Kingdom greatness means we follow our king who gave his life and sacrificial service to save others. The path we walk is a path of sacrificial service for each other just like Christ our Savior.

[17:25] That's what we just sang about. Come behold the wondrous mystery. His mercy is more. So we sing give us clean hands.

[17:38] Give us pure hearts. May we act like you. This is how he served and now we're moving into this is why we need his service.

[17:49] This is why we need him to serve us. Verses 20-25 notice what happens. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons came to him bowing down and making a request of him.

[18:05] Now either she spoke up for her sons or they initiated her to speak on their behalf. Hey ma go talk to Jesus. Either way none of them understood what exactly they were asking for.

[18:22] 21 he said to her what do you want? She said to him command that these two sons of mine may sit one on your right one on your left in your kingdom.

[18:37] Sitting on the right and left denotes proximity to a king's prestige and authority in ruling the kingdom. That's how one writer put it.

[18:50] In other words these were the two highest places of honor next to the ruler of the kingdom. They wanted the highest honor. That's what they wanted.

[19:04] What a contrast to Jesus' suffering and death that he just mentioned in verses 17 through 19. Well let's look on the bright side.

[19:17] At least they believed that Jesus was the Messiah who had reigned in his kingdom. That's good. The bad part is they didn't understand he must suffer first.

[19:30] Unfortunately they were more concerned about their glory than Jesus coming suffering. This is the loneliness of Christ's passion.

[19:43] Jesus would suffer alone because one disciple would betray him and the rest of them would bail on him. You know it's shocking to see their complete insensitivity to their master.

[20:07] Verse 22 but answering Jesus said you don't know what you're asking. now we're unsure if Jesus was addressing just the sons or the mother and the sons but they had no idea what this entailed not to mention the complete inappropriateness of this request.

[20:35] I'm sorry did you not hear what I just said about me predicting my death and my suffering that was going to be mocked scourged and crucified maybe you didn't hear me say that.

[20:52] And then this are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink they said we're able of course we are are you able to suffer in the same way that I'm about to suffer what I just said a minute ago God's kingdom meant suffering lowliness rejection sacrifice in this world not glory gold glamour power prestige or position those are the things that our world glamour rises those are the things that our world makes important if you got the glory you got the gold you got the glamour if you have the power if you have the prestige if you have the position that's what you're supposed to go after they said to him we're able really no clarification no explanation no hesitation no aversion just brash audacity of course we're able don't be stupid

[22:43] Jesus we can drink the cup they truly had no idea what they were saying you know what they probably thought he was saying the cup he owned his kingdom you know the gold cup that has all the rubies around it here James take a drink of this oh thank you Jesus here John take a drink of this oh thank you Jesus of course we can drink that cup that's what they thought probably they thought it was about glory guess what boys he said to them verse 23 oh yeah my cup you will drink you will drink the cup of suffering with me you 12 disciples with Judas you 11 you have no idea what you're going to face you

[23:44] James and John have no idea what you're going to face as a matter of fact in just a few short years James would be beheaded done John he lived until he was 90 something years old and yet he was exiled to the island of Patmos he wasn't a plush in the nice assisted living home getting his food fed and taking care no he was exiled to an island that's what happened to John my cup you will drink but to sit on my right and left this is not mine to give but to those that's been prepared by my father he didn't promise them the best seats in the kingdom because it's not his to give my father has prepared who would take those positions of honorable authority Jesus knew exactly who he was he knew exactly who his father was he knew exactly what was going to happen and yet he said in reference to this position of authority that's not mine to give my father will do this and yet you guys what are you guys thinking well notice what happens verse 24 the 10 got wind of this and they got ticked off hearing this the 10 became angry with the two brothers for asking the question why because they were jealous we wanted to ask

[25:18] Jesus that question you two brothers beat us to it we wanted to do that yeah that's what they were doing that's why they got mad because they wanted to ask the question they wanted to be in those seats you just see Jesus verse 25 calling him to himself pull them aside again for another lesson listen to teacher let me teach you no remind you the kingdom values no first what are not kingdom values notice what are not kingdom values verse 25 you know that the rulers of the gentiles lorded over them and great men exercise over them gentile rulers they lorded over their subjects they exercise it they grab after authoritative positions and then they lorded over their subjects world rulers go after positions of authority to tyrannize their subjects with a rod of iron our culture defines greatness as having prestige power position glamour glory gold you're supposed to sell yourself you're supposed to be on top you're supposed to be the best but make sure it's humble narcissism not full narcissism right make sure you have that adjective there don't be just a narcissist be a humble narcissist but narcissism is okay now not everyone but many who are in power abuse their power that's the great temptation and in our culture it's about positioning yourself this is why we need our king to serve us because this is our bent we're bent towards positioning ourselves we're bent towards seeking out the glamour for ourselves this is what we're bent on but notice what Jesus does here verse 26 and 27 here's the kingdom value the great your servant first be a slave not so among you but whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave whoever

[28:11] Jesus turned everything on its head this is anti-culture Jesus even Christianity turns our culture on its head Jesus and his kingdom does the exact opposite to be great means you're a servant to be first you're a slave we follow the example of Jesus himself by first serving each other that's the main value of the kingdom Jesus followers are the exact opposite to our world Jesus followers live the exact opposite to our world and to its culture to have eminence in God's kingdom is to walk the path of lowliness humility self sacrifice and serve even a slave as one writer said quote to serve is to reign to serve is to reign which in politics is an absolute no-no you don't do that it's a sign of weakness a frailty not greatness but as

[29:47] Christians the way up is down the way forward is lowliness and service and Jesus commands us to follow his very example we serve each other in love we may have all the right truth but if we don't have loving service then merely having just the truth means nothing look at Revelation the seven churches Ephesus had the truth they were rock solid on truth but then Jesus says this but this I have against you you've lost your first love you've lost what it means to be loving you've lost what it means to serve each other in love you've lost it that's why we come as children children have no status they have nothing necessarily to offer especially in the first century we come with humility and we welcome each other ready to serve and then

[31:18] Jesus ends the same way he began this section how he served again how he served or really the kingdom value is shown verse 28 just as in this same way the son of man did not come to be served but to serve the powerful authoritative king the God of heaven who upholds all things by the word of his power Hebrews chapter 1 he came to serve humans to serve his creation to serve us and Jesus not only showed it by his supreme example of sacrificial servanthood his sacrifice would be the very action that would ransom many his people from their sins that's how he served us he paid the price to give his life a ransom for many world rulers flaunt their position

[32:27] Christ who should be served being the perfect righteous just holy God he should be served remember just a few chapter 17 a couple chapters two three chapters before the transfigurationười saw his glory and yet he came to serve us by giving his life as a ransom on behalf of his people for many not for all for his people the word ransom means derived from practices of warfare ransom means there would be a price that would be paid to bring back a prisoner of war, a POW, out of captivity.

[33:19] It was how to free a slave. You would pay the ransom. You would pay that price. The word therefore is the Greek word ante, which is a normal word for substitution.

[33:36] So he paid the ransom price as a substitute. This is what we call vicarious substitutionary atonement or vicarious substitutionary redemption.

[33:55] Jesus substituted his own life for his people, for the elect. He would shed his blood to pay the ransom so that we may be set free. Instead of facing God's wrath, which is eternity and hell, we get mercy.

[34:13] Our sins, they are many, but his mercy is more. That's what you receive. Because he pays the ransom.

[34:23] Have you come to the place where you've embraced Jesus as your Savior and Lord? Have you come to the place where you embrace Christ to be your Lord?

[34:38] Or you've turned from your sin, you've trusted Jesus, he's paid the ransom. You must believe that he did that for you. Jesus, I trust that you paid for my sin.

[34:51] So I put all my trust in you and what you've done and that my sin is paid for and until my sins are many, your mercy is more. Save me. And he will. He'll save you. That's the gospel.

[35:06] He would give his life, his soul, as a ransom price in the place of sinners. He freed them from slavery to sin. See, our root problem is not political, not social, not even psychological.

[35:29] Our root problem is spiritual, affecting all the other areas because it's a sin problem. And Jesus not only saves sinners by his very gift of his life, he's also the example of how we're called to interact with each other.

[35:51] As his body, as his church, as his people, Christians, followers of Jesus, should be the most gracious people around because of how much grace God has shown them in his son.

[36:12] People should know that about us. They should sense that from us. As we interact with each other, as we're conversing, as we're communing, when conflict arises, we're ready to show each other mercy and grace.

[36:31] We should be known that way. We should be known that way here in our community, the Verde Valley. Common Bible Church, those people, they're really kind to each other.

[36:45] They're just gracious to each other. They're so gentle with each other. We should be known like that. Jesus, the King, came to serve and give his life as a ransom on behalf of us.

[37:03] He is the ultimate servant and the greatest slave. That's the main value of the kingdom. So we're called to trust him and to emulate this kingdom value.

[37:17] If you want to be great, called to serve. You want to be first, called to slavery. That's the value of the kingdom.

[37:31] That is the main value of the kingdom. Why? Because he's the king who came to serve us by saving us from our lack of servanthood and save us for our selfishness.

[37:47] He paid the ransom for our sin. Because he's the king who came to serve. Not to be served, but to serve you, to save you, and to change you so we can be a people who serve each other.

[38:04] So we're displaying Jesus to the world. Help us, Father, by your Spirit, effect that change in us as a church.

[38:22] That our whole focus and mindset is how we can out-serve each other. Not as a territorial thing, but because we want to serve each other in love and then work together together to be a gospel-centered church.

[38:48] Father, thank you that your mercy is so much more than our sin. I'm reminded of this gospel truth this morning.

[39:02] So that's why we say with humility, that's why we say with such brokenness, take my life. I'm determined to follow you because you, mighty King, you've served me.

[39:27] God, serve me? Aren't we supposed to serve God? Aren't we supposed to serve you, O God? And yet you've served us.

[39:40] Vile rebels. May this gospel truth, O Lord, may it so change us.

[39:54] May it so change us. I want to encourage you at this time we like to take some time just to have a moment of silence.

[40:19] And it's done on purpose so that you can have time where you can just reflect, ponder, think, mull through the truths of God's word.

[40:35] Maybe looking through your notes. Maybe there's a statement in there you wrote down and just, wow, that just, it just nailed you. Whatever. To think, to ponder, to let your heart relish in this gospel truth.

[40:53] In just a few moments and, you know, we worship with our giving, which we should worship in that. We worship singing, praying. We do those things, of course. But also worshiping, pondering, thinking, what's known as meditating.

[41:09] Fill your mind with truth. Take these few moments and do that, please. Thank you. and they're going to take these new moments andingtoub and trans inconsister carrier.