Sermon Tone Analysis

Announcements

November 20th 5:00 we will join our sending church Living Hope for a Thanksgiving dinner.

There will be no Wednesday Bible study Thanksgiving week.

INTRODUCTION

Our message today is on serving.

If you want to know how I come up with the topics for our messages, I’ll show you.

I extract them from the next passage of Scripture in the book we are studying.

I study the passage to determine what Jesus is teaching, and then I explain it as best I can to you.

And I like to preach straight through books because that takes my opinion out of what needs to be preached, and allows God’s Word to speak.

Last week we talked about how Jesus rewards those who labor for Him.

Today, Jesus will teach us a lesson about what it means to be a servant.

Serving is essential to being a disciple.

It is impossible to be a disciple, and to not be a servant.

Does anyone remember what a disciple is?

He is a follower of Jesus.

He is one who learns from and becomes like Jesus.

In the book of Acts, they called the disciples of Jesus…..Christians.

All Christians serve, because Jesus served.

And I do not mean Jesus served by washing the disciples feet…his entire ministry was about serving humanity…..in fact if we were to sum up His entire life as a servant.

This is what God calls Him in Isaiah 53.

And Jesus says in verse 28, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve”.

Being in the Kingdom of God is about serving, and all who are in the Kingdom of God are servants from the least of them to the greatest, all serve.

And we as a church need this message because service goes directly against our nature.

We want to be served rather than to be servants.

Look with me in Matthew 20:17

Jesus predicts His immediate future for the third time (17-19)

Explanation

He will mocked

Jesus did not only suffer physical pain, but He suffered phycological pain as well.

He would be ridiculed, looked down upon, spit upon, and humiliated by an entire city of people Whom He came to save.

And sometimes this kind of abuse is worse than physical abuse.

And even worse, He suffered all of this unjustly.

He did nothing wrong, nor did He ever open His mouth in protest (Isa.

53:7)

He will be scourged

This is a Beating with leather straps or rods as a form of punishment.

There was also the use of a special whip, probably with bone or rock on the ends of the thongs, called the “scorpion” due to its potential to inflict a painful sting.

The OT law set the limit at forty stripes to spare the culprit unnecessary humiliation.

Most scholars agree that Jesus received much more than what the Law allowed.

He will be crucified on the cross

The victim of any crucifixion carried his own cross-beam to the place of execution, where the upright stake had already been erected.

Then on the ground he was fastened to the beam with arms outspread, usually by ropes, and sometimes by nails.

The beam and body were then lifted into place on the upright.

A small wooden block was positioned midway where the body rested to support the body weight and keep the nails from ripping through the flesh.

The criminal was left alone, unable to attend to bodily functions, unprotected from inclement weather or flies, and, because the place of execution was usually some public street or prominent place, subjected to abusive words and mockery from passersby.

And on the third day He will be raised

The raising of Jesus refers to his resurrection.

It speaks of His glorification.

Jesus was raised from the dead in triumph over sin and death, He then ascended to the right hand of the Father where He rules from heaven today.

Why do I give these details?

Because this is the Jesus that we follow.

And this is the Jesus that we are called to look like and reflect to the world.

This is the pathway to throne.

This was the pathway to greatness!

This was the pathway to honor, and glory, and exaltation!

Notice Jesus says “we are going up to Jerusalem”

The disciples must go through this too

They would accompany Jesus and witness his suffering.

They would see Him carry His cross, and eventually give their own lives for His sake.

We need to be reminded….THIS IS OUR CALLING TOO.

We are called to go up to Jerusalem

we are called to carry our cross daily

we are called not to suffer before we are called to glory

A Common attitude toward Christianity (v 20-23)

Here is the mother of James and John (sons of Zebedee) and she has a request for Jesus: she would like for her two sons to sit on Jesus’ left and right.

To sit on the right or the left implies honor or status.

It implies exaltation and glorification.

She wanted her sons to be somebody!

She wanted them to be honored and glorified in the same way Jesus would be honored and glorified.

Now I’m not a mother but its understandable why she wanted her children to be honored.

But her request suggests she does not understand the Kingdom of God.

And unfortunately it seems that majority of the church today often has this same kind of flawed thinking.

We have come to believe that the good stuff is honor and glory.

We think about Christianity in terms of how others will view us.

We find ourselves seeking authority and position in our church, in our homes, in our marriages and in our families.

We have this desire to show everyone that we are great and Jesus would say we have it all backwards!

Application

One of the greatest things the church needs today is to get over themselves and get kingdom minded.

So many churches are longing for some kind of position, some glory or recognition about how great they are that keeps them from true greatness!

The whole idea of church growth flows from this flawed thinking of glorification

A church should never be all about numbers.

Numbers are important (don’t get me wrong), but when numbers are more important than worship or conversions there is a problem.

And if we want to be a great church, we must not fall into this flawed way of thinking.

The what is Greatness?

(v 24-28)

“It is not this way among you”

This is the way the world operates!

The word “gentiles” is just another word for those who do not follow the Lord

Gentiles desire to rule over others, to have power and position, and glory, and to “lord it over someone else”

God’s people are to operate by the philosophies of this world

If we have a desire to rule over other people, we are thinking like the world!

“whoever wishes to become great among you, shall be your servant”

Greatness is determined by one’s willingness to serve others

No one in God’s Kingdom is great whom does not serve

A true leader places his or her needs last and serving others first

Instead of using people, we are to serve them

Two words Jesus uses to describe what Kingdom greatness is

servant (διάκονος)

What does that sound like to you? DEACON!

This is the same word that refers to a deacon in Scripture.

And if you want to know the what the office of deacon is in Scripture, it is a SERVANT!