Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:05] To all of you, if I haven't met you yet. My name is Eric Bolling. I'm part of the preaching team here. And I wanted to start this morning by talking about a common narrative that we have called the empire builder.
[00:00:23] Empire builders are people that build literally these empires, and. And then, unfortunately, they often end in tragedy for them. And you'll see this played out through, like, fictional characters. Think of like, Charles Foster Kane and Citizen Kane or Don Corleone and the Godfather.
[00:00:41] There's some historical figures think of like Alexander the Great, who conquered the entire known world by the age of 30, and then he was dead at the age of 32, Napoleon. But I want to focus on a story that's a little closer to home.
[00:00:57] I don't know if you've ever been to the Pullman neighborhood in Chicago, but it has a really fascinating history tied to this empire builder.
[00:01:07] So in 19th century Chicago, a guy named George Pullman, he revolutionized rail travel by developing these luxurious sleeping cars. So what that enabled people to do was to be able to travel in comfort everywhere the railroad went.
[00:01:24] In addition to this, he actually built Pullman, Illinois, which was a private town south of the city.
[00:01:31] Now, what a private town means is that the people who live there work for the Pullman Company.
[00:01:38] He controls the rents, he controls the stores, he controls the churches. He controls everything.
[00:01:46] In 1893, there's a economic crisis that happens.
[00:01:52] What Pullman does is he cuts his workers wages by about 30%.
[00:01:58] He unfortunately doesn't lower the cost of, you probably can guess, his rent, taxes, etc. He keeps those at the same levels.
[00:02:09] In 1894, there's what's known as the Pullman strike, where the workers rioted. There were multiple deaths. There's public outrage.
[00:02:19] So it all begins to implode, this empire he built.
[00:02:25] The Illinois Supreme Court then ruled private towns such as Pullman were unconstitutional. And Pullman loses everything.
[00:02:34] In 1897, he died of a heart attack.
[00:02:37] Before he died, he was so paranoid that union workers, these disgruntled workers, would find his body and. And desecrate it. So here was how he demanded to be to be buried. He demanded to be buried 8ft deep, encased in a steel cage under tons of concrete in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.
[00:03:03] Now that's a tragic story, is it not? A guy who literally had everything, who loses it. But maybe the greatest tragedy is this. It's a tragedy to get everything, only to realize it's going to cost you everything.
[00:03:19] See, when we look at life, there's really two ways to live. One is serving ourselves, the other is serving Jesus. And there's really nothing in between.
[00:03:28] So today we are going to be in our series of the questions of Jesus. We're going to be in Matthew chapter 20, verses 20 to 28. So if you want to go and turn there, if you've got your Bibles, I hope you do, go ahead and turn there.
[00:03:43] We're really going to work through this almost verse by verse because there's a lot in these short eight verses that applies directly to what we just talked about, building kingdoms. Here's the big idea we're going to try to get at today. It's this self built kingdoms must die at the cross before his kingdom Jesus kingdom can reign in our hearts.
[00:04:09] Before we get into our text for the day, I want to put some context around it. At this time in Jesus's ministry, he's been talking about, he's given three what's called Passion predictions. This is Jesus talking about his upcoming death. I want to look at three. They're going to be on the screen just to give us an idea of what's happening. The first one is from Matthew, chapter 16, verse 21.
[00:04:34] It says this. From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed. And on the third day he would be raised. Matthew 17:22, 23. It's another of these passion predictions. He says this as they were gathering in Galilee, so the disciples in Jesus were gathered, gathering in Galilee. Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day. And they were greatly distressed.
[00:05:13] Last one is from Matthew 20:17 to 19, right before what we're going to look at today. Jesus says this as they were going up to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside and on the way he said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified and he will be raised on the third day.
[00:05:43] It's important to get this understanding that up until this time that we're going to look at in 20 through 28, Jesus has been pretty openly talking about his upcoming crucifixion like it's no secret what's going to happen. Notice he says I'm going to die at the hands of the scribes and the elders. Those are Jewish people. I'm going to die at the hands of the gentiles, Roman people. Like, he's being very open, which, having that context makes what we're going to read today all the more interesting because we're going to see that the disciples completely missed the point and they went a different direction. So let's go to our text.
[00:06:24] Let's look at verse 20 again. We're going to, we're going to go slowly through this. We're going to kind of walk through it. Let's start with this. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons.
[00:06:38] Let's set the stage here. So who are the sons of Zebedee? These are the disciples, James and John.
[00:06:45] They come up with their mother.
[00:06:48] Now some historians speculate that this mother is actually the sister of Jesus's mother, Mary. So is his. It's his aunt, which means James and John are his first cousins. It's not completely clear if that's the case. But regardless, these are very close people to Jesus.
[00:07:10] Matter of fact, we know that they're present at things like the transfiguration, his crucifix, upcoming crucifixion. Like, these are close people to him.
[00:07:20] Now it sounds a little strange to us that these full grown adult male sons come with their mother and they go, ma, ask Jesus for this. Right?
[00:07:30] It's fascinating. When I was reading this, that was not uncommon in this world to have like a matriarchal intermediary who could kind of go on your behalf, Right. I don't know why that sticks to me and just being so funny. Can you imagine going to ask your boss for a raise and hearing, here's your mother, right? Like, but that's the setting. So we have this mother of James and John and she comes up to Jesus. Let's go on. In the text, it says this. And kneeling before him, she asked him for something.
[00:08:02] Now we don't know what she asked for at this point. We just see again, the mother comes up, she has her two sons. I often pictured them behind her. And she kneels before Jesus and she asks him something.
[00:08:17] What's fascinating about her actual posture is this kneeling looks like it's worship. Like it looks like she's kneeling before Jesus as a savior. But what's happening is actually a little more complex in terms of this political interchange between this matriarchal mediator and a leader.
[00:08:35] So she's showing Deference to him. Again, not as worship as the Savior, but because he's the leader.
[00:08:42] So her posture is really going to hide this power play for advancement for her sons, which we're going to see by what she actually asks him.
[00:08:52] I think the first thing we can learn from this is that proximity to Jesus doesn't always equal spiritual alignment with Jesus.
[00:09:00] Like, these are people who walked with him, who were close to him, who spent a lot of time with him, and yet they were completely, completely misaligned with what Jesus wanted and what he was going to accomplish.
[00:09:14] So again, the setting is the mother with James. And John comes up, she kneels, she asks him for something. Then Jesus asks her the question that's the focus of today's sermon. In verse 21, he says, what do you want?
[00:09:32] What do you want?
[00:09:34] Now, it's easy to read that question and read some different inflections, right? I don't think Jesus said, like, what do you want? Right. He's not exact. He's not exasperated by her maybe, but I doubt it. I don't think he was like, hey, what do you want? Like, I'm here to grant your. I don't think that's the case. I think Jesus asked that question knowing what her motives were, knowing what was happening. And I think he asks it to be. To be more of a diagnostic question.
[00:10:07] Okay, like, what do you really want? Like, I see you kneeling. You've asked me something.
[00:10:12] Let's get to it. Like, what's the heart of the matter? It's a brilliant question because it forces the true agenda into the light.
[00:10:21] When Jesus says, what do you want? He's exposing that. She doesn't really necessarily want to follow him as Lord and Savior. She wants authority and privilege to be given to her two baby boys.
[00:10:37] Because here's what she said. Let's go on the text. She said to him, say that these two sons of mine are to sit one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.
[00:10:50] Now, that's an interesting phrase. When she says, say that.
[00:10:54] What she's asking Jesus to do is he's. She's asking him to make a verbally binding declaration.
[00:11:03] Because if Jesus, as the leader of these disciples, says, james, you're on my right, John, you're on my left, or whatever, doesn't matter if he says it, it's binding, it's sealed, it's happening.
[00:11:19] And so she's asking him to basically, jesus, take care of my boys by putting them in positions of power. Now, that right hand, left hand idea Again, we have some of these cultural notions, but here's what it meant. At the time, the right hand was the position of maximum honor, authority and executive power.
[00:11:43] In Jewish belief, to sit at the Messiah's right hand implied sharing in the judgment of nations. It's a big deal.
[00:11:52] This is a huge ask she's making.
[00:11:55] The left hand is second in command.
[00:11:59] So she's saying to Jesus, look, I've got these two sons. Put one on the right, one on the left, and if you say it, Jesus, it's going to happen, it's going to be binding, it's going to be real. She's like, put my sons in positions of authority.
[00:12:18] Give them these seats that they deserve.
[00:12:22] I think we're, we're. If we're not careful, we can do the same thing, right? We can try to build our personal brand, which is kind of a common cultural thing. We can try to like, build our brand kind of underneath. Underneath kind of some, some thinly veiled Christianese, if we can use that term. Examples being, hey, I just want to expand my reach for the kingdom, which is why I need to buy all these TikTok followers. I don't even know if you could do that, but maybe you can, right?
[00:12:50] Or this, I feel called to a platform so I can influence culture.
[00:12:56] Or this I'm praying for a bigger position so I can be a better steward.
[00:13:02] I think sometimes the posture of our hearts is really not all that different from this mother and her sons.
[00:13:09] We just try to hide it a little better maybe.
[00:13:12] But here's what I believe. Spiritual growth starts when we allow Jesus question, what do you want?
[00:13:19] What do you really want?
[00:13:21] To examine our motives.
[00:13:24] It's what I like to call a dangerous prayer. Lord, show me what I really wanting and he will. And he'll expose what needs to be exposed.
[00:13:35] Let's go on to the text.
[00:13:37] Jesus answered, you do not know what you are asking.
[00:13:43] Now, it's fascinating because the mother at this point has been the one having this dialogue with Jesus.
[00:13:50] He does not address her.
[00:13:53] We know that because you do not know and you are both plural.
[00:13:58] So who's he talking to?
[00:14:00] The sons.
[00:14:02] So he says, you, James and John, you don't know what you are asking. See, the left hand, right hand request is really theirs.
[00:14:12] Mom, go ask him for this.
[00:14:15] Now again, they're, they're being smart from a, if I can use the word, political standpoint. Because if James and John go on their own and it's going to cause a bunch of problems with the other disciples and actually we're going to see in the text. It does cause problems, even with mom asking. But if they can send mom, they can be like, wow, what's your mom doing? I don't know. She's talking to Jesus.
[00:14:38] It's crazy, right? What you doing?
[00:14:41] So they're the ones with the request. So Jesus said, hey, you. You guys don't even know what you're asking. He goes on to say this. Are you able to drink the cup? Cup that I am to drink.
[00:14:54] Now, it's fascinating here again, contextually, there were two kind of. Kind of uses of the word cup, okay? Or to drink the cup. The first one was the cup of blessing and joy. This was common at feasts and the Passover. Like, it's a celebratory, drink this cup with me. The second one was the cup of divine wrath and suffering.
[00:15:18] This meant to endure God's judgment against sin. To drink the cup meant fully drinking the weight of that judgment to be under God's wrath.
[00:15:28] And so Jesus says to them this question, are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? Notice their response. They said to him, we are able.
[00:15:41] It's almost like they're not getting it because they're so focused on getting these positions that Jesus said, hey, can you drink the cup that I'm about to drink? Which we know, looking backwards, he's talking about his crucifixion. To be honest, they should have gotten that, too. Correct. We looked at the Passion predictions before. Like, he's been pretty open.
[00:16:01] And they're like, oh, yeah, no, we're good. We can do that.
[00:16:04] Which implies that they were definitely thinking that this was going to be the cup of blessing and cup of joy.
[00:16:14] Both of these guys severely overestimated their ability to drink the cup. Matthew 26:56 says, At Jesus crucifixion, both of them flee.
[00:16:25] They desert him.
[00:16:27] So again, let's. Let's kind of go back to what we've talked about. So we have this mother. She approaches Jesus. She kneels. She makes this request. Jesus says, what do you want? She says, put my son on the right. Put. Put my son on the left. Jesus addresses the two boys.
[00:16:42] He says, you don't know what you're asking. Can you drink the cup I'm about to drink? And they're like, absolutely, we can.
[00:16:50] We're in. Just put one at the right and one at the left.
[00:16:54] Jesus goes on, and he said to them, you will drink my cup.
[00:17:00] So at some point, he says, you will drink my cup. What's he doing? He's foretelling a future of martyrdom and persecution.
[00:17:07] We know that James in 44 AD is the first apostle to be martyred.
[00:17:12] He's killed by the sword by Herod Agrippa. See, he drank the cup through a swift and violent death.
[00:17:20] John suffered severe persecution. Long term exile on the island of Patmos. He drank the cup through slow, painful endurance.
[00:17:29] And so these guys came to him with this request. Hey, hey. Give us positions of authority. Give us positions of power. Give us positions of influence. And Jesus says, it's going to be a completely different experience than what you even know.
[00:17:46] He goes on. He says, but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to grant. It is for those. It is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.
[00:17:59] This is not a limitation of Jesus's abilities.
[00:18:03] What Jesus is saying is, he's saying, I am in complete functional alignment with submission to the Father.
[00:18:10] James and John were trying to get these positions by simply claiming, no, we're able, we can do it. And Jesus says, no. Kingdom positions are prepared and given by God's eternal election and sovereign plan.
[00:18:25] So just because Peter, I'm sorry. Just because James and John wanted it, because they thought they were able, because they made the request, they thought that was enough. But Jesus is saying no. It's God's decision and sovereignty for who can go where.
[00:18:43] I think for us. We often worry about placement. Where are we at, who notices us, how, how far can we climb?
[00:18:52] But if we're honest, any outcome or recognition belongs entirely to the sovereign of God.
[00:18:58] That's it. Our responsibility is obedience to the cross through our daily death to ourselves. That's really what we're responsible for.
[00:19:07] Anything else is up to the sovereign will of God.
[00:19:13] All right, so we have these two disciples. They've made this request.
[00:19:17] It's sort of hanging out there. Jesus has said, can you drink the cup? We can. You will do it, but it's not mine to determine. What about the other 10?
[00:19:30] Because apparently they were close enough or they figured out what was happening. Let's look at the text. It says this. And when the 10 heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. When's the last time you've word used the word?
[00:19:45] I can't even pronounce it.
[00:19:47] When's the last time you felt indignation? Maybe that's the right way. And we don't use that much. This means they're really ticked. These guys are mad. And they find out, they're like, what's going on? What's happening? They're upset.
[00:20:01] They're upset because despite Jesus's repeated teachings, they're still in this status competition. See, social status was a zero sum game, which is why the mother says, say that. Because if Jesus said, hey, James, John, you're at the right and the left, that meant everybody else was automatically demoted and there was nothing they could do about it. So they're not mad because, hey, quit hassling Jesus about this. He's about to die. They're not mad about, hey, you guys are, are missing the kingdom of God. Oh, they're mad because James and John got there first.
[00:20:40] They're mad because they asked before they could. I can almost picture Peter just being like, man, I knew I should have said something, because he usually was the first to say something. It's like it didn't get there. So they're upset and they're mad. So now you've got all of this happening in this story, and here's how Jesus handles it. He says Jesus called them to him.
[00:21:06] So he brings them all together.
[00:21:08] Okay, it's almost, I picture that kind of coach like, hey, fellas, let's bring it in. Let's take a knee. Let's talk about what's happening here. He has to bring them in because you now have two against 10. It's going to fracture the disciples. He brings them in. He says, you know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them.
[00:21:32] What he's doing is, is he. He's drawing a parallel to the Jewish experience during the first century under the Roman Empire.
[00:21:40] And he's saying, guys, look, the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them. That, that phrase lord it over them can be translated to subjugate, exploit, rule with an iron fist.
[00:21:52] See, first century Jews living under the Roman occupation experienced this through taxation and military force, public executions. And so when he says, you know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, they all would have gone, yeah, that's a terrible way to live.
[00:22:11] That's an awful thing to go through. That's a, that's a difficult thing to experience.
[00:22:16] And when he says, their great ones exercise authority over them, that phrase exercise authority over them can be translated as tyrannical abuse of arbitrary power built on coercion, social stratification, etc. So he's saying, look, you see the pattern of the world.
[00:22:36] Like, you see it based on hierarchy. You see it based on somebody subjecting somebody else to their Rulership you see through very hard, difficult ruling, like lording over people, exercising authority over them, because that's what the disciples thought they were going to get.
[00:22:58] Like, really that's what they were going for is, I want to be elevated. So you can't be. I want to sit at the right hand, I want to sit at the left hand because I can then rule in a position of authority. Notice what Jesus says, it shall not be so among you.
[00:23:19] Like, he's drawing a absolute non negotiable boundary to delineate his kingdom from the world's kingdom.
[00:23:29] He says, exploitation, coercion, abuse of power have no place in my kingdom.
[00:23:38] Now you got to imagine if you're the disciples hearing this, knowing kind of what's been going on underneath the surface, and even what's explicitly been asked, that's probably a hard thing to hear.
[00:23:51] It shall not be so among you.
[00:23:55] And he goes on then to lay out what the kingdom under Jesus will look like. He says next, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be your slave.
[00:24:11] Now we, we are on the other side of this story and we, we have a concept in our culture called, like, servant leadership. We know service is important, we know it's a big deal. But culturally, to be a servant, to be a slave, was the lowest of the low.
[00:24:30] And our disciples were in that system.
[00:24:33] So they would look at servants, they would look at slaves, and they would know, like, these are people who really didn't have much social importance.
[00:24:40] Matter of fact, the way you had importance was the more people who served you, the more important you were.
[00:24:48] And so here you have Jesus saying, hey, if you want to be great, you must be the. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant. Whoever be first must be your slave. He's saying, the great person serves and surrenders their life for the good of others.
[00:25:05] Now, let's not miss this. He's just said, you know how the Gentiles do it?
[00:25:11] They exploit, they coerce, they subjugate.
[00:25:14] Not in our kingdom, not in my kingdom. Matter of fact, if you want to be great, you need to serve.
[00:25:21] If you want to be first, you must be the slave.
[00:25:26] And then he goes on to apply this to himself. As we begin to wrap up here, he says, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but. But to serve.
[00:25:38] Now, Jesus is using some interesting Old Testament imagery here for himself when he uses that phrase, son of man, he's actually taking a title from Daniel, chapter seven, where the Son of Man is described as this divine ruler who's going to come and empower, and he demands the worship of the nations. And Son of Man, by the way, is one of Jesus's favorite designations for himself.
[00:26:04] And so when he uses this phrase is the Son of Man like they would have known. He's talking about himself because he's used it several times. So he says, even as the Son of Man, this one who could claim divine authority, rulership, to be worshiped by nations, came not to be served, but to serve. What Jesus does is he fuses that Daniel 7, son of man with Isaiah 53, the suffering servant.
[00:26:33] The suffering servant is described as one who is despised and rejected by men, pierced for transgressions, crushed for iniquities. A lamb led to the slaughter, poured out his soul to death. See, what Jesus is doing is he's saying, both of those are me.
[00:26:50] He's saying, guys, this is how my kingdom is. There's no subjugation, there's no coercion. Matter of fact, if you want to be great, you must serve. If you want to be first, you must be a slave, even as I as the Son of Man. And the suffering servant came not to serve. And the last part, he says, is to give his life as a ransom for many.
[00:27:14] So humanity's biggest problem wasn't status. It wasn't where they ranked, it wasn't where they were. It's that they were enslaved to sin and death and unable to pay for freedom.
[00:27:25] What Jesus death does, ransomed and legally bought back that which belonged to him.
[00:27:33] When we look at this story, Jesus's death as he's been talking about is not merely an inspirational moral example or a tragic martyr's fate is the direct substitute for sin, where he absorbs the judgment that we deserve to set us free.
[00:27:49] All right, some. So what's got three of them?
[00:27:53] First thing we need to understand, God's grace and blessings are not a zero sum game.
[00:27:59] Remember the. The ten disciples were mad because they thought, and if James and John gets it, nobody else will.
[00:28:08] If we're not careful, that same envious spirit has the potential to poison our church today.
[00:28:16] When we get envious, when somebody else's kid does well, gets celebrated, gets a blessing, right?
[00:28:24] We're resentful when someone else gives. When someone else gets the applause, the visibility, the recognition that we want, we keep track.
[00:28:33] Who's getting noticed, who's getting invited, who's getting appreciated, etc. What we learn is that God's grace and blessings are not zero. Sum others blessings don't automatically mean less for us. There's no status to gain or lose because the ransom has already been paid in full.
[00:28:55] The beauty is this. The cross levels everything and liberates us from comparison. Matter of fact, that gives us the freedom to celebrate God's blessings on others. Why? Because all of it builds the kingdom number two.
[00:29:12] Our work then is to step into daily sacrificial obedience right where God has placed us. See, we spend a lot of time worrying about and trying to control the future. And we should be concerned for our futures. Like that's important.
[00:29:27] Like we should have an idea and some planning and some careful thought about where are we going, what are we doing? But what I'm talking about is just obsessing over that Jesus takes it out of our hands because those things belong entirely to God's sovereignty.
[00:29:43] Our job isn't to manage all parts of our life and carefully curate it and put it all together so we end up where we think we want to end up or where we want to end up. No, our job is to be like Jesus when we die, to ourselves. We have the ability to serve friends, our neighbors, our families, our church, quietly. Whether somebody notices or not, it doesn't matter. Matter.
[00:30:08] We have the ability to share our time, our resources when it benefits other people, even if it's at great expense to us.
[00:30:17] We can be obedient when it costs us comfort or popularity or control. The cross dismantles our need to engineer our lives.
[00:30:25] When we know God holds the future, we can serve right where we are.
[00:30:30] And I can tell you, as a younger man, I was always looking for what's next.
[00:30:36] Yeah, this is good, but what's better?
[00:30:39] And if I could go back and talk to that young man, I would say, hey, your job is to be right now, be where you are, fully serving, fully content, fully engaged in what the work God has. I think that would have saved me a lot of potential problems as a young man.
[00:31:01] Last one. We need to rest completely in the finished work of Christ.
[00:31:06] The reason we hustle for recognition or recognition and struggle with comparison is I think deep down sometimes we're terrified that we're not doing enough.
[00:31:16] I'm not perfect enough.
[00:31:18] I'm not bringing enough value to God. Here's the reality.
[00:31:22] We don't need to bring that. It's already been taken care of and settled at the cross.
[00:31:28] The gospel shows us Jesus stepped into our place, took the judgment against sin, paid the full price for redemption. We don't have to earn God's love, we already got it.
[00:31:39] We're fully chosen, fully known, eternally secured. We need to rest in that.
[00:31:46] I think the ultimate irony of the gospel is that the son of man, who had every right to demand absolute service and worship didn't come to be served. He came to serve and to give his life as the ransom for many.
[00:31:59] We'll end with what we talked about at the beginning, that our self built kingdoms must die at the cross before Jesus kingdom can reign in our hearts. Let's pray together.
[00:32:13] Heavenly Father, we just thank you for your word. Jesus. We thank you for the example about serving and how you came not not to be served, but to serve, Lord, may that be true of us.
[00:32:26] Lord, I admit in my own heart, my own life, there are so many things where it might look good on the exterior. But you know my heart.
[00:32:36] You know what's going on inside. You're asking me, hey, what do you want?
[00:32:41] Lord, where there's things that we want, what is antithetical to what you want for us? Lord, allow us to be corrected. Allow us to be guided.
[00:32:53] Thank you again for this privilege of learning from your word and praise your name. Amen.
