WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.919 Okay, you know how it is, don't you, with an old friend? 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:08.519 When you've known some for a long time, you kind of know what they think. 00:00:08.519 --> 00:00:12.800 You know what's important to them, you know what matters in their lives. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:17.240 And you can sometimes second guess what they're going to say. 00:00:17.240 --> 00:00:21.640 And I think, and I recognize there's some people here for the first time, and for that 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:23.519 I apologize for what I'm going to say. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:27.800 But for those of us who've been in church right from the beginning of this series of 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:28.800 Matthew. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:32.439 I think we're beginning, I hope we're beginning to feel a little bit like Matthew's an old 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:34.200 friend. 00:00:34.200 --> 00:00:38.679 And that we should be really beginning to get the message that the Holy Spirit and God 00:00:38.679 --> 00:00:43.159 through the Holy Spirit and through Matthew is giving to us. 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:46.760 There's a real thread, there's a theme. 00:00:46.760 --> 00:00:55.040 And the emphasis that God has through Matthew, both for Matthew's original audience, mainly 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:59.439 Jewish audience who had become Christians, and also for us. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:06.560 And if we, we tend to make it quite plain, but it's pretty explosive really what Jesus 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:08.680 is always saying. 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:12.480 And we've looked at Matthew and we've seen that there's different blocks, there's different 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:18.560 teaching blocks that Matthew, it's a beautiful literary piece, beautiful teaching series, 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:23.759 and also parables and works, and it all blends together. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:30.120 And this chapter, chapter 20, I think is very much part of a section that starts from chapter 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:36.439 18, okay, which is, starts with who is the greatest in the kingdom? 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:41.640 And really find that this whole section, both his teaching and his parables and his actions 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:46.480 are unfolding that whole emphasis. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:50.080 And what he speaks about, what Matthew speaks about a great deal, and he speaks about it 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:53.879 a lot in this chapter, okay, is the kingdom of heaven. 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:57.679 I'm going to look at that generally, and then we're going to look at something more specific 00:01:57.679 --> 00:02:00.599 about what it means for us today. 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:05.359 So the kingdom of heaven, let's see a little bit of a word count for the moment. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:13.759 There's 31 times that Jesus is quoted, or Matthew is quoted, as using that phrase, the 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:15.079 kingdom of heaven. 00:02:15.079 --> 00:02:18.319 And that's unique to Matthew, so that already makes it stand out. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:22.280 It's only used three times in the rest of the whole New Testament, so it's very much 00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:25.159 an emphasis of Matthew. 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:30.639 And it's kingdom itself, the idea of the kingdom is used 55 times. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:35.039 Ten times, we'll do a little bit of Matthew, ten times the kingdom of heaven is used with 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:40.799 the words after it, the kingdom of heaven is like, and then he goes on to tell a parable. 00:02:40.799 --> 00:02:46.199 So ten times Jesus wants to explain even more with a picture what the kingdom of heaven 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:55.959 is like, and that reminds us that the theme of Matthew is very much on the kingdom of 00:02:55.959 --> 00:02:57.119 heaven. 00:02:57.119 --> 00:03:01.399 And he wants Christians to understand, and God wants us to understand as Christians, 00:03:01.399 --> 00:03:09.359 that our primary identity as believers is that we are citizens of a kingdom, a different 00:03:09.359 --> 00:03:11.359 kingdom to the world in which we live. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:17.520 We're citizens of a heavenly kingdom, of a spiritual kingdom, here on earth we belong 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:19.120 to another kingdom. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:24.600 And that's really what Matthew and Jesus is teaching about so much here. 00:03:24.600 --> 00:03:30.480 Jesus is king of this kingdom, and remember the whole idea of a spiritual kingdom was 00:03:30.480 --> 00:03:35.560 very different from the original readers and listeners to Jesus, who thought Jesus was 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:42.280 going to be an earthly king and usurp the Roman Empire. 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:49.439 And interestingly, Jesus, when he talks about the kingdom, often talks about God as Father 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:50.439 in this kingdom. 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:56.640 So there's a mixture of this fatherly picture of God who is divine and good and loving and 00:03:56.640 --> 00:04:03.640 perfect and holy, and he is the Father that we are to look to in the kingdom where Jesus 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:11.319 is the king and where we are citizens. 00:04:11.319 --> 00:04:16.339 And so what often we find that Jesus is speaking about here is two different worlds, and he 00:04:16.339 --> 00:04:20.039 recognizes that as God the Son. 00:04:20.039 --> 00:04:24.639 The world we live in now, the earth it's often referred to as the kingdom of heaven, and 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:28.000 there's the earth in which we live. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:34.600 So we're living on the earth, but we're part of a kingdom, and very often it's contrasted 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:36.439 in Matthew here. 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:42.480 They're polar opposites, and Jesus is redefining that for the disciples and for us, for the 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:45.319 church that is starting. 00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:48.879 He's reminding us as believers, and we recognize it just now, don't we? 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:55.160 We're living in both worlds, but one is going to be destroyed. 00:04:55.160 --> 00:05:01.000 The world that we can feel and touch and see, which we often feel is the realest world, 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:07.440 that's going to ultimately be destroyed and renewed in the new heavens and the new earth. 00:05:07.440 --> 00:05:12.040 And so what's clear from Matthew's teaching and from the reaction of the disciples, and 00:05:12.040 --> 00:05:17.720 often from our reaction when we read the Bible, is there's great tension between the world 00:05:17.720 --> 00:05:27.160 we live in and being the principles and following Jesus and being citizens of His kingdom. 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:33.080 And so Jesus is always provoking His disciples and us to say, who governs your thinking? 00:05:33.080 --> 00:05:36.320 Who is Lord of your life? 00:05:36.320 --> 00:05:42.440 He's calling us constantly to align with Himself, and that's...and we've tamed it terribly. 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:48.879 It's very often shocking and unexpected and radical, and He's saying, look, you know, 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:52.000 what are your life choices as a believer? 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:56.079 Have your values been turned upside down by following Jesus? 00:05:56.079 --> 00:06:02.000 Because it's not what we often think, and Jesus repeats it again and again in His teaching, 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:05.240 as He walks, as He talks, as He tells parables. 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:11.159 He's provoking us to think about who we are, our whole mindset. 00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:12.800 So what's a Christian? 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:15.400 Someone will ask you that tomorrow. 00:06:15.400 --> 00:06:16.400 What is a Christian? 00:06:16.400 --> 00:06:17.400 What are you as a Christian? 00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:20.439 He'll say, well, I believe in God. 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:22.280 Or is that what we say? 00:06:22.280 --> 00:06:23.600 I believe in God? 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:25.720 Is that the extent of being a Christian? 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:30.440 Well, the Bible tells even the devils believe and shudder. 00:06:30.440 --> 00:06:38.280 Now, 1988, no, 1998, still a long time ago. 00:06:38.280 --> 00:06:40.800 Probably some of you weren't born. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:44.240 I was asked to go and teach in a Bible school in Serbia. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:51.920 It was just after the Balkan War, and it was in a very rural place, this Bible school. 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:55.040 And my whole world was turned upside down when I was there. 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:59.240 I'd never been in that kind of culture, never been in that scenario. 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:01.720 I hadn't eaten the kind of food they ate. 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:03.400 I didn't speak the language. 00:07:03.400 --> 00:07:04.400 Nobody spoke English. 00:07:04.400 --> 00:07:05.400 There was no supermarkets. 00:07:05.400 --> 00:07:06.400 There was no food. 00:07:06.400 --> 00:07:07.519 There was nothing that I was used to. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:09.480 My whole life was turned upside down. 00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:14.680 It was a real challenge to know that my thinking and my culture wasn't the only one in the 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:15.680 world. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:23.520 And you know, I think Jesus is trying to teach that sometimes with us, our lives as Christians. 00:07:23.520 --> 00:07:30.280 Is that it's a whole new reality that we come into when we follow Jesus. 00:07:30.280 --> 00:07:36.759 And we're changing our lives from thinking, not my will be done, but yours, God's. 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:41.279 And that our default thinking is being challenged by Jesus. 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:46.360 Now that for Matthew and for the people we listened to was really significant. 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:49.639 It had both theological and pastoral implications. 00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:54.599 You know that taking Jesus as Lord meant that they needed to think what it meant to live 00:07:54.599 --> 00:07:58.120 as a Christian, as a Jewish Christian in a Roman world. 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:01.439 It was very different from what they'd been led to believe. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:04.639 But it was also for their encouragement and challenge as it is for us. 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:09.439 You know, what is it for us to live in a 21st century pandemic world? 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:11.399 What does it mean for us as Christians? 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:16.199 How do we respond on social media to all the conspiracy theories and everything that's 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:18.800 going on in the world in which we live? 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:27.759 Do we realize as believers we're part of something bigger than even the most twisted even conspiracy 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:30.240 theory that there might be around? 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:32.080 Are we defeatist? 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.159 Are we parochial in our thinking? 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:38.279 Is it just about my own understanding of Christians will be in heaven? 00:08:38.279 --> 00:08:39.279 Are we materialistic? 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:40.279 Are we enslaved? 00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:42.000 Are we selfish? 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:50.679 Do we recognize Jesus as the answer to our deepest longings rather than just that someone 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:54.799 on the edges of our lives who we say that we believe in but doesn't really change our 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:55.919 thinking or lives? 00:08:55.919 --> 00:09:00.159 So Jesus speaks all the time about the kingdom of heaven. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:04.439 And Matthew records that in the gospel. 00:09:04.439 --> 00:09:12.600 But specifically in this chapter especially, and in, well really from chapter 18 onwards, 00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:16.319 he's making something, he's making a very specific claim about belonging to the kingdom 00:09:16.319 --> 00:09:17.319 of heaven. 00:09:17.319 --> 00:09:18.319 I'm being a Christian. 00:09:18.319 --> 00:09:20.079 And we're going to look at that for a minute. 00:09:20.079 --> 00:09:24.679 And it's that the first, very often, the first will be last. 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:31.000 Now could I just, if you've got a Bible, just follow with, if not just follow with me. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:37.120 Chapter 18 in this section, verse 4, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:38.719 in the kingdom of heaven. 00:09:38.719 --> 00:09:41.919 So he's saying something there about what it is to be a Christian. 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:49.039 In chapter 19 and verse 30, the last verse, but many who are first will be last and the 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:50.799 last first. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:57.240 And then chapter 20 where we read, and Rachel read, this is the last verse she read. 00:09:57.240 --> 00:10:00.919 So the last will be first, and the first will be last. 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:02.479 That's the third time. 00:10:02.479 --> 00:10:11.839 And then the fourth time in verse 27 where Israel read, it said, Jesus said, and whoever 00:10:11.839 --> 00:10:15.839 will be first among you must be your slave. 00:10:15.839 --> 00:10:17.839 So Jesus is repeating these things a lot of times. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:25.120 We know it's important, and he's reemphasizing this principle of belonging to Jesus Christ. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:27.440 The last will be first, and the first will be last. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.560 And it's kind of uncomfortable, isn't it, for us? 00:10:30.560 --> 00:10:34.160 But we'll find it throughout Matthew's gospel, you know, if you go to the Sermon and the 00:10:34.160 --> 00:10:39.080 Mount, the teaching of the Sermon and the Mount is not what we would expect. 00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:45.240 It's saying the kind of people that are significant as followers of Jesus are those who are meek 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:53.080 and who are humble and who are not pushing always to be first and to be important. 00:10:53.080 --> 00:10:58.240 But even thinking back on the chapters that Thomas preached on a couple of weeks, the 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:04.120 last, or I preached on 18 and then in 19, we find Jesus saying the same thing. 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:08.200 Christians he said, he likes Christians, Jesus said he likes Christians to the attitude 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:11.680 of little children and the humility that they have. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:16.079 He says that he is a significant care for the drifters, for the people who are struggling 00:11:16.079 --> 00:11:20.959 in the Christian faith who are wandering away, for the one as opposed to the 99. 00:11:20.959 --> 00:11:23.359 He talks about having mercy for failures. 00:11:23.359 --> 00:11:28.759 He talks about forgiveness for others who have sinned against you. 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:32.239 This wouldn't make much of an agenda for a political party today. 00:11:32.239 --> 00:11:36.919 He blasts, remember we saw it last week, he blasts against misogyny and against a terrible 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:40.639 attitude towards women and marriage and the way we think about it. 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:47.600 He spoke about being sensitive to those who didn't fit the mold of what we think are husband 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:51.439 and wife and 2.4 kids in the unix of the day. 00:11:51.439 --> 00:11:55.539 He talked again about the priorities of children and the importance of children. 00:11:55.539 --> 00:12:00.000 He emphasized beggars not billionaires as being important in the Kingdom in that last 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:01.000 chapter. 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:06.439 And it's important for us to let that sink in in our thinking about the Kingdom and 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:14.240 to live under His kingship, whether our primary roots. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:15.240 Who do we follow? 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:16.640 What is our thinking? 00:12:16.640 --> 00:12:20.000 What is our philosophy of mind as we live our lives? 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:27.840 When we follow Christ, we may have to admit that we will be last in line, that we have 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:39.280 to get rid of the principles, this world's principles about coming first and being significant 00:12:39.280 --> 00:12:45.240 and important, even in church, being significant and important and better. 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:47.120 So he takes us to this parable. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:52.200 We're going to briefly look at the sections, very briefly. 00:12:52.200 --> 00:13:00.840 He talks about this parable in chapter 20, the first 16 verses, and it's about an employer, 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:06.240 a business owner who's looking for our laborers, and he takes on people at the beginning of 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:09.160 the day and he promises them a day's wage. 00:13:09.160 --> 00:13:12.160 And throughout the day, he takes on people all day. 00:13:12.160 --> 00:13:17.360 And at the end of the day, he pays the ones that only worked one hour or worked five hours 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:22.360 or worked 12 hours the same salary. 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:27.560 And the ones who worked for 12 hours grumbled, oh, what is he doing? 00:13:27.560 --> 00:13:30.080 That's grossly unfair. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:32.800 And if you read that, if you listened to what you were reading, you probably thought the 00:13:32.800 --> 00:13:37.720 same one, it seems a bit unfair, Jesus, it's a bit mean to those who worked all day, that 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:41.399 they just get the same as the guy who worked at the end. 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:45.159 But then the landowner says, well, you agreed to work for that? 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:46.399 It was a good living wage. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:47.720 It was proper pay. 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:50.679 And are you angry about my generosity? 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:53.840 No, it's quite a difficult parable, isn't it? 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:58.159 Because we naturally, and I think that's why Jesus told it, because we naturally kind of, 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:01.360 we take offense a little bit, oh, it seems a bit unjust. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:05.319 It's not a parable here about fair pay. 00:14:05.319 --> 00:14:07.959 He's not speaking about fair pay or social justice. 00:14:07.959 --> 00:14:11.000 It's not a commentary on these things that Jesus is making. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:16.919 He's making a spiritual point, and it's in the context of the disciples that we have 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:21.000 in the end of the previous chapter saying, you know, we've given up everything. 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:22.480 What's in it for us? 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.320 You know, what are we going to get because we've given up everything unlike the rich 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:28.879 man who walked away sad? 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:33.960 And it's in that context that Jesus is wanting to remold their thinking about what it means 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:38.240 to be a Christian. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:41.720 And he's saying, it's not about what you've given up. 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:45.879 It's not about that God owes you a favor. 00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:50.480 It's not about having a pecking order that I'm worth more than other people in the kingdom 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:51.919 of God. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:56.680 It's not about being self-important as individuals, being more gifted, therefore more important 00:14:56.680 --> 00:14:57.680 than other people. 00:14:57.680 --> 00:15:00.840 It's not about status or position. 00:15:00.840 --> 00:15:03.600 It's about his generosity. 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:07.639 And that we're all levelled by his generosity, by his grace. 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:11.919 That nobody is worthy of his grace. 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:16.960 And nobody can earn his favor is what really the point of this parable is. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:23.039 He's wanting to get across that in the kingdom, we're absolutely equal, and we're all dependent 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:24.679 on his grace. 00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:28.840 And nobody can knock on God's door and say, take me first. 00:15:28.840 --> 00:15:29.840 I'm worth it. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.399 Look at what I've given up. 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:35.159 Look at who I am and recognize that I am worthy. 00:15:35.159 --> 00:15:39.879 So we need to let that parable speak into our lives. 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:46.759 In God's kingdom, in the church, if we narrow it down to the local church or to the church 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:51.639 in Scotland, for example, we are one in Christ. 00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:55.000 We're united in Christ because of his grace and his generosity. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.559 We've all been recipients of that. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:00.839 We're all different. 00:16:00.839 --> 00:16:02.799 Different roles to play. 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:10.439 But the shelf stacker and the company director, the janitor and the head teacher, the apprentice 00:16:10.439 --> 00:16:16.599 and the pastor, the old and the young, the forgiven and the forgiving, the strong in 00:16:16.599 --> 00:16:21.599 faith and the gifted, the weakened faith, we are all objects of God's grace and nobody 00:16:21.599 --> 00:16:25.000 is more worthy than anybody else. 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:30.519 Whether we become a Christian, nailed to a tree beside Jesus at the very last moment 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:37.679 of our life, having lived a wretched life of depravity and sin, or whether we've been 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:45.759 a Christian since the day we were conscious and even set aside in our mother's womb, 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:50.519 we're recipients of the generosity of our Father. 00:16:50.519 --> 00:16:56.840 We are all His children, often forgotten in church, often forgotten in the way we think 00:16:56.840 --> 00:16:59.279 and live our lives as Christians. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:05.279 And in a sense, there's a link, I think there's a link between this parable, I hope, I sense 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:11.920 a link anyway, between this and between the parable of the prodigal son, because it's 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:16.480 the same kind of attitude, isn't it, that the elder brother had. 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:23.480 He was judgmental and he doubted the generosity of his father. 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:26.319 He doubted that his father loved him and cared about him. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:32.519 And we can have that same attitude and Jesus is teaching us to fight against the fact that 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:38.319 He is generous to us and that we don't deserve His grace any more than anybody else. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:42.039 He's arguing against being snooty about grace. 00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:45.480 And it seems strange, doesn't it, but we can be snooty about grace. 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:48.079 We can be grudging believers. 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:53.679 We can be legalists who are judgmental of others who are not like me and who are not 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:58.799 as holy or as far down the road or as knowledgeable of the Bible as me. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:04.120 We can be… we can have a bad attitude towards serving that we're doing God a favour that 00:18:04.120 --> 00:18:06.920 we're grumpy while we're doing it. 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:10.560 And why isn't He rewarding me for what He's doing? 00:18:10.560 --> 00:18:17.880 He wants us to regard ourselves as the lasts, as believers, part of the lasts, part of those 00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:22.920 who don't deserve His grace but have received His grace, every one of us. 00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:28.800 And in an irony, the older we get, the more mature we should become and the more we should 00:18:28.800 --> 00:18:31.360 feel like we're the lasts. 00:18:31.360 --> 00:18:38.039 We're least worthy because we're more aware of His bright, shining eye looking into the 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:42.279 darkness of our own hearts. 00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:47.080 So we grace throughout the gospel here. 00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:53.759 Jesus reminds us that grace teaches us to be spiritually poor in recognizing our need 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:55.559 humble, unworthy. 00:18:55.559 --> 00:19:06.159 We're not really to be go-getters and have priorities that will make us first by the 00:19:06.159 --> 00:19:12.199 world's standards and look for our treasures here in this world. 00:19:12.200 --> 00:19:17.200 And we're to let that soak in, that we're to find our treasures in heaven because we 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:20.279 belong to the kingdom of heaven. 00:19:20.279 --> 00:19:24.759 So that's that part, it's a very radical parable for our thinking because of the riches that 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:26.360 we have in Jesus. 00:19:26.360 --> 00:19:31.240 Because what He offers is so much different from what this world offers, which we sometimes 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:37.080 chase in all the shadows of this world, whether it's companionship or popularity or wealth 00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:42.699 or careers or whatever it might be, He says, we have a different set of priorities. 00:19:42.699 --> 00:19:51.399 So then Jesus asks, and this is the last two sections of the chapter, and again it's beautifully 00:19:51.399 --> 00:19:54.439 set out by Matthew here. 00:19:54.439 --> 00:19:59.919 It's a literary masterpiece because we have a thought provoking contrast after giving 00:19:59.919 --> 00:20:03.319 us all this teaching about the first will be last, the last will be first, and this parable 00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:05.720 that He gives us. 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:09.120 We have two questions. 00:20:09.120 --> 00:20:14.319 Jesus asks the same question of two different peoples, of the disciples or the mother and 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:18.440 the disciples and also of the blind men who come to Him. 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:30.440 In verse 21, the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee come and says, she wants 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:32.000 to ask Jesus a favour. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:34.360 And Jesus says, what do you want? 00:20:34.359 --> 00:20:38.159 And basically, they don't understand the first shall be last. 00:20:38.159 --> 00:20:39.679 They don't understand all the teaching. 00:20:39.679 --> 00:20:47.559 And so they say, well, see when you come in your kingdom and when you serve the Roman 00:20:47.559 --> 00:20:52.279 emperor and you sit in your throne, can my sons sit on either side of you in that place 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.919 of real preeminence and importance? 00:20:55.919 --> 00:20:58.759 They just haven't got it yet. 00:20:58.759 --> 00:20:59.759 What do you want? 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:02.079 What favour is it you want? 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:08.480 And then interestingly as well, in verse 32, Jesus asks the same question of the blind 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:13.519 men, what is it you want from me? 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:21.639 And so we find a parallel in the two responses and the two questions that are being asked. 00:21:21.639 --> 00:21:27.879 And we need to ask ourselves where we come in to the same responses that we're looking 00:21:27.879 --> 00:21:31.960 for to that question that Jesus might be asking you today, what is it you want from me? 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:34.840 What is it you want from me? 00:21:34.840 --> 00:21:39.680 The disciples and through their mother particularly, and we've seen it with all the disciples earlier 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:40.680 on as well, isn't it? 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:41.920 They don't really understand. 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:45.400 They want to be spoiled by Jesus. 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:47.799 They want to be spoiled by Him. 00:21:47.799 --> 00:21:50.079 You know, they're in it. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:53.759 I don't want to be harsh on them because Jesus is incredibly patient with them. 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:57.200 But they, and I would have been exactly the same as them. 00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:58.200 They didn't get it. 00:21:58.200 --> 00:21:59.200 They were in it to win it. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:02.880 They thought that Jesus was going to usher in this earthly kingdom, and they were going 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:05.440 to be right there at the front of it with them. 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:08.480 Their mindset was still earthly, not heavenly. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:10.400 They didn't get the spiritual kingdom. 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:12.759 They were looking at an earthly kingdom. 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:17.120 They wanted the glory, the reward, the pecking order, the significance. 00:22:17.120 --> 00:22:18.120 We've given up everything. 00:22:18.120 --> 00:22:20.279 What are you going to give us? 00:22:20.279 --> 00:22:26.720 They misunderstood the nature of the kingdom of God and of His grace. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:33.480 And I know that we need to be nuanced in our own thinking about that, but is that how you 00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:34.480 think spiritually? 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:41.640 And is it how I think that we're looking for God to spoil us, to do us a favour because 00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:44.480 we've come to faith in Him, that God owes me. 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:46.039 God owes me a favour. 00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:47.279 He owes me a good life. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.680 He owes me a reward for believing in Him. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:50.680 I've earned it. 00:22:50.680 --> 00:22:53.240 I've given up so much to follow Him. 00:22:53.240 --> 00:22:57.799 I want His blessings, but I want them on my terms. 00:22:57.799 --> 00:23:05.000 We've misunderstood His generosity and His mercy and the equality we have with others. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:10.160 And we've misunderstood sometimes the concept of being last in His kingdom, or the thinking 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:19.240 about what it means not to want that preeminence in that first place and that servant spirit. 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:21.960 They weren't spoiled by Him. 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:29.400 And in contrast, what did the blind man, isn't it interesting that Jesus uses the disciples 00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:33.120 in the blind man, the blind man who nobody had any time for, the children that nobody 00:23:33.120 --> 00:23:34.360 had any time for. 00:23:34.360 --> 00:23:44.039 He uses the blind man to nail home His teaching and remind us all of the inverted nature of 00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:46.240 greatness in the kingdom of God. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:52.279 He takes these blind beggars who nobody had any time for, and He uses them to get across 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:57.160 both a healing but also a spiritual point. 00:23:57.160 --> 00:24:00.440 They wanted to see Him. 00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:03.599 The disciples wanted spoiled by Him. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:08.640 The blind man wanted to see Him. 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.400 Physically, they wanted to see Him. 00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:13.519 They wanted their sight back. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:18.039 But they wanted to see Him because spiritually they knew He was Lord and that He was God. 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:25.160 They understood that He was the Messiah. 00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:29.759 We don't know the level of their understanding, but, you know, they called Him Lord and they 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:34.639 recognized He was their only hope of mercy. 00:24:34.639 --> 00:24:36.839 Their only hope, He was the Son of David. 00:24:36.839 --> 00:24:42.200 They understood there was a connection between the Old Testament and between the great King 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:44.440 David and that He was the Messiah. 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:48.720 We don't know exactly what they understood, but they got it. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:50.640 Jesus said, look, they could see. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:52.799 They recognized their need for mercy. 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:56.799 See, the disciples said, we want to sit at your right hand. 00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:58.279 They said, show me mercy. 00:24:58.279 --> 00:25:05.200 Isn't that the contrast that Jesus wants us to see so much of the time? 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:10.640 And that impossible prayer for physical healing was also answered. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:16.600 But surely there's spiritual truth in what Jesus identifies through that miracle as well. 00:25:16.600 --> 00:25:20.240 It's an inversion of everything that was expected. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:26.280 These poor, blind sinners who were under God's judgment according to the church and everyone 00:25:26.280 --> 00:25:30.200 else around them were the ones that actually could see. 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:32.720 They could see their need for mercy. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:35.560 And I think that's hugely significant. 00:25:35.559 --> 00:25:41.399 So as we draw it to a conclusion, the question is, who is Jesus to you and who is Jesus to 00:25:41.399 --> 00:25:43.899 me? 00:25:43.899 --> 00:25:49.319 Is He someone that we want to spoil us or do we simply want to see Him for who He is and 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:52.559 our need of His mercy in our day to day living? 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:55.279 You know, we see Him in these chapters 19 and 20. 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:56.279 He's so patient. 00:25:56.279 --> 00:25:58.639 He's a patient King. 00:25:58.639 --> 00:26:01.119 He doesn't blast the disciples for their misunderstanding. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:02.919 I love that. 00:26:02.920 --> 00:26:07.440 We often, you know, with our, all with our knowledge, 21st century knowledge and everything 00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:09.440 that goes with it about theology and the Bible. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:11.600 It was like, oh, they were so ignorant, these disciples. 00:26:11.600 --> 00:26:13.080 How could they be so ignorant? 00:26:13.080 --> 00:26:15.800 Jesus is so patient with them. 00:26:15.800 --> 00:26:20.279 And even when, you know, the mother speaks in these terms about sitting right hand and 00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:22.560 left, you know, you think they could blast it? 00:26:22.560 --> 00:26:23.560 Don't be ridiculous. 00:26:23.560 --> 00:26:27.240 No, he says, well, that's not for me. 00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:29.759 But he says, remember the way of the Kingdom. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:35.920 He still teaches them, first shall be last, that wanting to be first wasn't the way of 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:37.759 the Kingdom. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:40.960 He re-emphasized that he's a patient King. 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:46.879 He's also, the bit I read, the sacrificial King. 00:26:46.879 --> 00:26:52.279 So in the midst of this great teaching, he again reminds them that he's going to go up 00:26:52.279 --> 00:26:53.279 to Jerusalem. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:57.720 He's going to be condemned to death, delivered to the Gentiles, mocked and flogged and crucified 00:26:57.720 --> 00:26:59.359 in the third day raised. 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:05.879 You lose the importance and significance of that because it happens before he goes up 00:27:05.879 --> 00:27:06.879 to Jerusalem. 00:27:06.879 --> 00:27:10.599 It's the third time now he's taught that to the disciples. 00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:15.799 And he's saying to them, this is the outworking of being last, he says. 00:27:15.799 --> 00:27:17.879 I am the King of kings. 00:27:17.879 --> 00:27:19.759 I am God the Son. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:28.000 And I am going to be led to a hill and nailed to a tree as a condemned criminal to be your 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:29.680 Savior. 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:36.440 Jesus Christ, homeless, rejected, penniless, isolated, condemned, forsaken of God, punished 00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:46.119 as guilty, unprotected from hell, last in the thinking of so many, last in the world, 00:27:46.119 --> 00:27:51.680 walked away from, stood, nailed to the tree, everyone walked away from Him. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:54.960 First Corinthians 15, 23 tells us he's the first roots. 00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:59.279 He's first in the heaven as the Redeemer, as the Lord, as the Savior, as the King of 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:06.319 kings because he was resurrected as victorious over sin and grave, the grave and death and 00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:09.600 hell for us. 00:28:09.600 --> 00:28:18.799 Sacrificial King, he epitomizes what it means to be last by dying in our place, rejected 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:20.240 and ignored. 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:27.120 But also, he reminds himself of the thinking of the Kingdom in verse 28 where he says, 00:28:27.120 --> 00:28:32.519 Even the Son of Man came to serve, came to not to be served but to serve and give His 00:28:32.519 --> 00:28:34.440 life as a ransom for many. 00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:39.319 That's the kind of, that's the kind of king we have, that's the kind of Savior we have, 00:28:39.319 --> 00:28:44.759 a servant king who gave Himself for others. 00:28:44.759 --> 00:28:49.400 And for us as leaders in the church, we are to be servant leaders. 00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:56.640 As Christians we're to be serving Christians, recipients of mercy, doing the unseen stuff, 00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:02.120 self-forgetful, not comparing ourselves to one another, giving for the Kingdom. 00:29:02.120 --> 00:29:05.759 That's what we seek to be in St. Columbus, that kind of church. 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:12.360 That's the emphasis we have, that we are last in the thinking and the working out of what 00:29:12.360 --> 00:29:14.600 it is to be important. 00:29:14.599 --> 00:29:20.480 And we are servants because of our sacrificial king and because he's patient with us. 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:28.719 So I hope that your prayer, certainly my prayer, in the light of what he's teaching is, Show 00:29:28.719 --> 00:29:34.839 me who you are Lord, I want to see. 00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:43.240 It's not that we're saying Lord, spoil me as a Christian, but Lord, I want to see you. 00:29:43.240 --> 00:29:47.799 I want to see you for who you are. 00:29:47.799 --> 00:29:48.799 What's that going to mean? 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:53.240 Well, I think it means that you're probably going to be a loser. 00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:56.440 That's the title of the sermon, are you a loser? 00:29:56.440 --> 00:29:59.319 Well, that's what it means to follow Jesus. 00:29:59.319 --> 00:30:06.279 You're probably going to be a loser here on earth as part of the Kingdom of Heaven. 00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:09.759 You're possibly going to be last in the opinion of other people and in the value of other 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:11.880 people sometimes. 00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:15.960 If we're following Christ's priorities, it means we will be out of step very often with 00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:18.560 the world's priorities and thinking. 00:30:18.560 --> 00:30:25.600 And it might need a realignment in our thinking as to the priority of our career, of our relationships, 00:30:25.600 --> 00:30:30.160 of our wealth, of power advancement. 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:34.440 Our CV might be rubbish in the world's eyes. 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:45.480 It might be a joke because we value different priorities and we put people before ourselves. 00:30:45.480 --> 00:30:51.600 We may be rejected, we may be mocked, we may not get the dream life we hoped for here and 00:30:51.600 --> 00:30:53.400 now on this earth. 00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:56.920 But why does that matter? 00:30:56.920 --> 00:31:01.720 Because it means being first in the Kingdom. 00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:06.079 It means in the day of judgment we will stand. 00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:12.440 It means that one day we will appreciate and recognize that these will be the principles 00:31:12.440 --> 00:31:19.279 by which the King of Kings will reign in the new heavens and the new earth and will reign 00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:23.480 in every heart and in every part of the universe. 00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:29.279 This world's standards, this earth's standards in thinking and what we often have lived with 00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:35.599 in our own hearts and thinking for our lives without Christ will be rejected and judged 00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:40.839 as destructive and cancerous and self-serving. 00:31:40.839 --> 00:31:49.339 It matters because these principles that Jesus gives us are the principles of eternal life 00:31:49.339 --> 00:31:57.119 and can only be ours not by trying to work them out but by pleading His mercy and coming 00:31:57.119 --> 00:32:03.379 to Him as King of Kings and recognizing that we need His mercy and we need Him to change 00:32:03.379 --> 00:32:05.839 our hearts from the inside out. 00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:10.919 But it's a gift and He's generous and He loves to give it and He'll give it to anyone 00:32:10.919 --> 00:32:17.039 who asks Him and He'll be patient with us and it will take a lifetime to change us. 00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:19.959 We'll always be changing but that's fine. 00:32:19.959 --> 00:32:25.159 He'll work at different things in different ways but that's who He wants us to be. 00:32:25.160 --> 00:32:28.960 I just love that quote that was, it's on the print, it's not on it, we don't have a 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:32.400 printed order of service now but it's on the line of an order of service and there's a 00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:34.400 thought each week. 00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:39.000 And it's that famous quote from Jim Elliott, the missionary who was martyred for his faith. 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:45.160 He said, He is no fool who gives what He cannot keep to gain, what He cannot lose. 00:32:45.160 --> 00:32:46.160 Amen. 00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:47.160 Let's pray. 00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:54.480 Father, God help us to be thankful to you for who you are and for your grace and for 00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:56.599 the great level or the graces for us. 00:32:56.599 --> 00:32:57.680 Isn't that great? 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:00.240 We thank you for that Lord God. 00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:10.039 We thank you that we come to you rich or poor, talented or less talented with maybe everything 00:33:10.039 --> 00:33:14.400 going for us in this world's standards or nothing going for us. 00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:20.200 We come as equals and we come needing mercy and we come pleading your grace and we come 00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:29.759 together, we come as one and we thank you that you can help transform our thinking to 00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:39.519 be not people who are shouldering others out of the way, pushing to get to the top, condemning 00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:46.240 and criticizing and brutalizing others with our words or with our actions, not leaving 00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:53.880 you at the sidelines and thinking you're relevant but recognizing you as king of kings and that 00:33:53.880 --> 00:33:59.759 you, we are citizens of your kingdom and we belong not to this world, although we are 00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:05.720 in this world and seek to love and live effectively in this world. 00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:11.599 But we only do that as we are citizens of a heavenly kingdom. 00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:12.599 So help us to do that. 00:34:12.599 --> 00:34:14.239 We pray today. 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:17.559 Give us when we fall short of your glory, we thank you that you were so patient with the 00:34:17.559 --> 00:34:22.159 disciples and in their blindness it took them so long to understand that you would be a 00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:23.519 crucified Savior. 00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:26.799 Remind us that we are often like that too. 00:34:26.799 --> 00:34:29.399 Help us to give thanks today for your patience. 00:34:29.399 --> 00:34:31.559 We ask it in Jesus' name. 00:34:31.559 --> 00:34:48.219 Amen.