The Commands of
Christ
Sermon # 28
“Be A
Servant”
Matthew 20:20-28
“Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him
with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. (21) And He said to her,
"What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Grant that these two sons of mine may
sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom." (22) But
Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup
that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"
They said to Him, "We are able."
(23) So He said to them, "You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the
baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to
give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father." (24) And when the
ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. (25) But Jesus called
them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over
them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. (26) Yet it shall not be so
among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. (27)
And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—(28) just as the Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for
many."
There are two commands
(Imperatives) found in this passage and they are found in verses twenty six and
twenty-seven. Where it says, “… but whoever desires
to become great among you, let him be your servant. (27) And whoever desires to be
first among you, let him be your slave.”
The Imperatives is found in the word (e?t?)
translated “let him be” – your servant (v. 26), your slave (v.27).
First, A True Servant Must Be Careful Of Their Motives. (v.
20)
1. Are You Looking For Special Treatment?
We need to consider for just a
moment, Who Is the mother of James and John? Other Scripture tell us that her name was Solome (Mark 15:40,
16:1) and there is some suggestion that she was the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus,
which would have made her Jesus’ Aunt. So Solome came to Jesus seeking preferential
treatment on the basis of her relationship to Jesus.
2. Is Our Worship Genuine?
In the
King James Version verse twenty reads, “Then came to him the mother of Zebedees children with her sons, worshipping
him, and desiring a certain thing of him.” Though the text says that
she came worshipping Jesus that does not seem to be the only thing on her mind for it says
“worshipping AND…” This brings up an interesting point, do we with our
worship ever try to manipulate God. If so we need to understand something, WORSHIP DOES MOVE GOD, BUT IT DOEN NOT MANIPULATE GOD!
I think there is a prime example of attempting to manipulate God in the life of Jacob as
revealed in Genesis 28:20-21. Here we
read, “Then Jacob made
a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and
give me bread to eat and clothing to put on. (21) so that I come back to my father's house in
peace, then the LORD shall be my God.” Jacob
made a promise to God with stipulations. I want you to underline two words in this verse,
the word “if” and the word “then”. Jacob said,
“IF you will be with me and keep me in this way (support me in my plans
and agenda) and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on (meet
all my needs and desire) so that I come again to my Father’s
house in peace (get me where I want to go) THEN the
will recognize you as my God!” That
is an astounding bit of attempted manipulation.
Verse
twenty-four tells us of the reaction of the disciples.
“And when
the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.”
This verse says that the disciples were “displeased” or as some verses
have it “indignant.” The reaction of the disciples reminds me of a story
of a newlywed couple who were given a homemade cherry pie by another couple in their
church. The husband couldn’t wait to come and get a piece of this pie. But his wife
had decided to take the pie with her to work. She shared with her co-workers and every
piece was gone. When the husband came home and found out what his wife had done, he said,
“I’ll have you know what you did was greedy, selfish, rude and inconsiderate.
But do you know what really makes me mad,” he added? “What” she bounced
back. He said, “That I did not think of
it first.” In the same fashion the other disciples were angry because
they believed that James and John were using a special relationship with Jesus to get
special treatment and they were not going to give up the top spots with out a fight. They
were not appalled by James and John’s lack of understanding of true servant hood,
they were mad that these two had gotten to Jesus first.
A True Servant Must Be Careful Of Their Motives
And…
Second, A True Servant Discovers Real Greatness Is Found In
Serving Christ (vv. 25-27)
What does Jesus do now, verse twenty-five says that Jesus called them
together. Before things go out of hand, he
called them together and began to teach them the difference between the world’s
standard of greatness and God’s standard of greatness. “But Jesus called them to
Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and
those who are great exercise authority over them. (26) Yet it shall not be so among you;
but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. (27) And whoever
desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.”
Jesus pointed out that according to the world greatness is exercising authority. It
means being in power. It means having power answerable to you. To the world, greatness is
an office with a view. It means having a team of subordinates who answer your every whim.
It means dozens of people who do what you say, cling to your every decision, and inwardly
wish to be where you are. It means having the biggest house and the sportiest car and the
smartest kids in the best schools and every advantage that life has to offer. The world
says that greatness means doing whatever you have to do, to whomever you have to do it to,
in order to claw your way to the top and stay on the top. We see this perpetuated in
Television shows like “The Apprentice” were the young up and coming
junior executives get to try to out do each other in the corporate art of backstabbing.
But the truth is that the world’s standard of greatness or success only leads
to emptiness. “One
of the most common refrains we hear from those who have reached the pinnacle of success is
that of the emptiness that still stalks their lives, all their successes notwithstanding.
That sort of confession is at least one reason the question of meaning is so central in
life’s pursuit. Although none like to admit it, what brings purpose in life for many,
particularly in countries rich in enterprising opportunities, is a higher standard of
living, even if it means being willing to die for it. Yet, judging by the remarks of some
who have attained those higher standards, there is frequently an admission of
disappointment. After his second Wimbledon victory, Boris Becker surprised the world by
admitting his great struggle with suicide.
Jack Higgins, the renowned author of The Eagle
Has Landed, has said that he had known as a small boy is this: “When you get to
the top, there’s nothing there.” [Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God.
(Dallas: Word, 1994) p. 56]
But as I stated at the beginning Jesus used two words to tells us what greatness is
all about. First he said in verse twenty-six that “whoever wants to be among
you must first be a servant.” Did you know that the word
“servant” here is the Greek word that we translate “deacon.” The word says that greatness is found in being
served and Jesus says that greatness is found in serving others. In verse twenty-sevn he
uses the second key word and the second command, he says that whoever will be first must
become a slave. The Greek word is (doulos) and it means a person whose sole interest is
the will of the one being served.
Third, A True Servant Finds
His Greatest Example in Jesus (v. 28)
“just as the Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Jesus is both our example and our motivation.
Basin Theology
Even at the last
meal that Jesus ha with His disciples it was clear that they still had a lot to learn
about being a servant. In John 13 we see Jesus
and His disciples sharing a Passover meal together when according to verse four,
Jesus “rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel
and girded Himself. (5) After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the
disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. (6) Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to
Him, "Lord, are You washing my feet?” (7) Jesus answered and said to him,
"What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this."
(8) Peter said to Him,
"You shall never wash my
The guests had too travel by foot over the
dusty roads of that day. Their feet would have been very dirty by the time they arrived at
their destination. So the normal practice was for the host to have a servant or slave at
the door to wash the feet of each guest and dry them. It was a disagreeable job but it had
to be done if the guest were to enjoy the meal and the fellowship together. Don’t
forget that they did not sit around a table as we do today, but rather they reclined
around table each person head would be at the feet of the one next to him. Hey if your feet are going to be close to my head I
want them to be clean!
All the disciples knew that their feet
were dirty
After waiting
for some time and seeing that there was no one made an effort to wash their feet, Jesus
took off His outer garments, wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin
and began to wash His disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around
Him.
Peter didn’t like that
Jesus, as the guest of
D.L. Moody once said, “We can easily be too
In fact I don’t think that
Peter ever forgot the image of Jesus taking off his outer garments and replacing them with
a towel to do the work of a slave. I believe that he had this image in his mind when he
wrote in 1 Peter 5:5, “…
and be clothed with humility, for "God resists
the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
The apostle Paul give further instruction in the art of being a servant in Philippians 2:3-9 where he wrote, ”Let nothing be done through
selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than
himself. (4) Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the
interests of others. (5) Let this mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus, (6) who, being in the form of God, did not consider it
robbery to be equal with God, (7) but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a
bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (8) And being found in appearance as a
man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the
cross. (9) Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above
every name”
Note with
me four things that Paul says about servant
hood. First, Servant hood is found in an unselfish attitude – “Look out for the
interest of others” (v. 4) Secondly, Servant hood is not worrying about
what other think – “he
made himself of no reputation.” (v. 7) Third,
Servant hood is being humble – “he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of
death.” (v. 8) True humility
is found in not worrying about who gets the credit for something. Fourth, and finally, servant
hood is giving up your own rights.
Paul’s
own example in this regard is seen 1 Corinthians 9:3-13, “My
defense to those who examine me is this: (4) Do we have no right to eat and drink? (5) Do
we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the
brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? (6) Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to
refrain from working? (7) Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard
and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the
flock? (8) Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? (9)
For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads
out the grain." Is it oxen God is concerned
about? (10) Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is
written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be
partaker of his hope. (11) If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a
great thing if we reap your material things? (12) If others are partakers of
this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but
endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. (13) Do you not know
that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who
serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? (14) Even so the Lord
has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” Paul was willing to sacrifice his rights in order
that the work might not be hindered.
Conclusion
It was stated that Dave Thomas the founder of Wendy’s Hamburger Chain, once appeared o the cover of their annual report dressed in a knee-length work apron holding a mop and a plastic bucket. Here’s how he described the photo; “I got my MBA long before my GED. At Wendy’s MBA does not mean Master of Business Administration. It means Mop Bucket Attitude.” Jesus is still looking of individual who will follow his example and adopt a Basin Theology and a Mop Bucket Attitude.
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