Matthew 20:20 - 23 (NIV) 20Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21“What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” 22“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. 23Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
Mrs. Zebedee came to Jesus to ask a favor. She fell to her knees and requested that her two sons, James and John, be granted the most favorable place with Jesus on His left and right.
Ambition is a wonderful thing. It is a strong desire to achieve something. Maybe to be a good parent; to do well at your job; to accomplish some notable act. Ambition is necessary to success. But it can also be problematic.
Anthony Campolo said, “Success is a shining city. A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We dream of it as children. We strive for it through our adult lives, and we suffer melancholy at old age if we have not reached it. For success is the place of happiness, and the anxieties we suffer at the thought of not arriving there gives us ulcers, heart attacks, and nervous disorders. If our reach exceeds our grasp and we fail to achieve what we want, life seems meaningless and we feel emotionally dead in our culture.”
Through the years many have criticized Mrs. Zebedee for what she did. But she only wants the best for her boys. What mother doesn’t? And in the spiritual sense—she wanted her boys to be as close as possible to Jesus.
The other apostles were angry when they heard about it. Matthew 20:24 (NIV) 24When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Why? Maybe because they didn’t think about it first. Maybe out of self-righteousness that they wouldn’t do something like that.
Whatever, Jesus took the opportunity to explain a surprising truth about following Him.
Here’s how the world operates… Matthew 20:25, 25Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.”
People want to be recognized and are willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top, even if it means walking over others to do so.
I’ve noticed that itles are important to us—Dr., CEO, President, member of the board, owner of the company. We want everyone at our high school reunion to be impressed at our success. We want them to know we made something out of our life.
The world’s way is to be committed only to yourself and your own interests. There is little regard or consideration for co-workers, neighbors, and, all too often, your own families. You push and promote yourself in ways that are embarrassing.
I hate to admit this but even some churches get it wrong. They claim that God’s great plan for us is health, prosperity, success, fulfillment and happiness.
They ignore the clear teaching in the Bible on suffering and cross bearing for Christ’s sake, or they blame it on a lack of faith.
But in the New Testament there is no indication that Christians should expect to be healthy, wealthy, and successful according to the world’s definition of success. Christ never said this.
But He did tell us to expect to have troubles. Our world is not interested in this—it is interested in success, not suffering. Yet, I think most of us can identify with James and John in wanting the choice seats in the kingdom.
Instead, Jesus teaches the way of Christ and what it means to follow Him. Matthew 20:26-27. “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.”
Think of it this way: Let’s say that the current exchange rate between the U. S. dollar and the Italian lira is about 2100 lira to make $1. But you don’t know this—2100 to 1 sounds like a great deal!
Trade your dollars in for lira and have a fortune! So you sell everything you have and do everything you can and become a lira millionaire. But a million lira is only about $500. You gave up everything for almost nothing.
Jesus is saying that the currency of worldly importance is like that Italian lira—it has very little value. The real value is found in service. If you really want to succeed, if you really want to be great—make it your ambition to become a slave.
Sure doesn’t sound right. Who lives by this kind of thinking? You and I are supposed to. Here is a basic spiritual truth—you are strongest spiritually, and your relationship with the Lord is the closest when you are a servant.
This is for us individually and also true for us as a church. We are the strongest when we lay aside our own wisdom and strength, and demands, and rely only on Jesus. When the church exists solely to bring glory to God is when it is at its finest.
When we get ourselves out of the way—our egos, selfish ambitions, and worldly wants—and just live for Jesus—to bring glory to Him and please Him—that’s when we are our spiritual best.
The surprising principle here is that greatness comes through service. But Jesus wasn’t done. I imagine this shocked the disciples to their very core. It went against everything they had ever been taught. But the biggest surprise was still coming. Jesus said, “I’m your example!”
Matthew 20:28. “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The biggest surprise of all is that Jesus gave up the glory of His heavenly home to live with us. He didn’t come to judge or to condemn or to demand. He came to serve. Kings and gods don’t do that.
He washed the feet of his friends. He fed the hungry. He healed the sick. He helped the poor. He forgave sinners. He volunteered to give His life to save others from sin and hell.
Why did Jesus do it? We know why. Because He loves us. The more important question is, “How did Jesus do it?” How did He keep His dignity when He was beaten, mocked and spit upon?
How did He remain holy when Satan himself tempted Him to sin? How has He convinced billions to believe in Him? How did He stay so faithful and favorable to God the Father? Because He knew why He came. HE CAME TO SERVE. And the good news is, you, too, can be a servant.
If you’ve been in church long you have heard preachers tell you to be like Jesus. You agree, yet think, “That’s impossible! Jesus was perfect. I’m not and never will be.” Well, you can serve, can’t you? To be like Jesus simply means to be a servant.
If you want to glorify God and be great in His sight, then adopt Jesus’ attitude—an attitude of service—if you want to be great in the Kingdom of God. This is a good ambition. But how do we do this?
You may have a mindset of service and ministry. But until your mindset becomes acts of service, that’s all it is, in your head. What can you do for others? How can you make someone’s life easier? What can you do to help someone out?
Can you put others ahead of yourself—especially those who are weak, or disadvantaged, disabled, discriminated against, poor, unimportant, hurting?
I read about Morrie Johnson who was a resident of a nursing home. He suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and died at age 81. He had given his life to helping others before he finally had to go into the home because the disease had stolen too much of his memory and life skills.
But his family said that whenever they would visit him they would find him helping others in that home. He would help feed them, clothe them, and serve them. The attitude of service was so central to his being that even with Alzheimer’s he kept serving others no matter what.
We are followers of Jesus Christ. This means service should be at the very core of our being. We follow Him and follow His example. We become do-ers. We delight in turning our attitudes of service into actions of service.
We don’t just think about serving others—we do it! It’s called ministry. There are countless ways that we can minister if we’ll just use our brains.
There are widows and widowers and single moms and dads who could use your help. You could mow lawns and rake leaves, and paint houses, and give rides to doctor’s offices, turn air conditioners off, change oil in their car, and so on.
You can do little things like giving the best parking places to someone else. We have many shut-ins that we provide a wonderful tape ministry to. You could phone them and chat for a spell, see how they are doing and relieve their loneliness.
Have you ever considered tutoring—helping a student with a difficult subject or a recent immigrant learn English? If you are a professional—doctor, lawyer, dentists, nurses, and so on—consider offering your services for free perhaps one afternoon a month to those who normally could not afford it?
There are many opportunities to serve in the church—child-care in the church nursery, teaching Sunday School, helping with the children in a Sunday School class or with the Wednesday evening programs.
You could be an usher or a greeter or help watch over our cars during worship services. Perhaps you could provide Christian financial counsel. You could befriend a newer person, a young couple. Young people, young families, you could adopt someone to be your “away-from-your-real-grandparents” grandparents.
You could offer your computer skills, volunteer for short-term mission projects, be a part of the music program that brings joy to so many every week.
Do I need to go on? The list is endless. Opportunities for service are infinite. There is always more for a servant to do. But listen, here are some characteristics of Christian servants.
Characteristics of Christian servants.
If you want to be great in God’s eyes, listen to Jesus. Do you desire to hear Him say to you some day, “Well done, good and faithful servant”? Then listen to Jesus and follow His example.