Speaker 1: The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky.
Speaker 1: We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message from Pastor Chris May.
Speaker 2: Matthew, chapter 20, beginning in verse 17.
Speaker 2: And Jesus was going to Jerusalem and he took the twelve 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 priest 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.
Speaker 2: And then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to Him with her sons and, dealing before Him, she asked Him for something.
Speaker 2: She said to her what do you want?
Speaker 2: And 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 the kingdom.
Speaker 2: And Jesus answered you do not know what you are asking.
Speaker 2: Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?
Speaker 2: And they said to Him we are able.
Speaker 2: And he said to them you will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.
Speaker 2: And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers, but Jesus called them to Himself and he said you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them.
Speaker 2: It shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you, you must be great, you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Speaker 2: It's the word of the Lord and you can be seated Well.
Speaker 2: Last night, Nikki and I just returned from Asheville, North Carolina.
Speaker 2: We took a little mini trip.
Speaker 2: One of the highlights lights of our trip was touring the beautiful and magnificent Biltmore estate.
Speaker 2: Who's been to the Biltmore and if you haven't been, you need to go.
Speaker 2: So in 1889, George Vanderbilt commissioned the building of this 250 room mansion.
Speaker 2: Listen to this.
Speaker 2: It has almost four acres of not land floor space, living space.
Speaker 2: Four acres of living space.
Speaker 2: I figured it up.
Speaker 2: You could fit well over a hundred houses of.
Speaker 2: My house is in the Biltmore.
Speaker 2: It's massive, and so we got to tour this beautiful estate and it's just full of exquisite art and it even had this is what I mean built it in late night in the late 19th 1800s, has an indoor swimming pool, Unbelievable and beautiful tapestries all over and, my favorite, a two story library.
Speaker 2: Deena the librarian, would you like that in your home?
Speaker 2: Two story library?
Speaker 2: I mean, I was just blown away.
Speaker 2: It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2: So George Vanderbilt he was a multi-millionaire and today he would be worth billions.
Speaker 2: And he built this mansion that to this day listen, it's the still the largest privately owned estate in the US.
Speaker 2: He spoke eight languages.
Speaker 2: He was said to be one of the most well read men in the US at that time, so that tells me we ought to maybe turn off Netflix and consider, every once in a while, opening a book.
Speaker 2: Come on, somebody.
Speaker 2: He built and funded an entire church.
Speaker 2: What is it All?
Speaker 2: Souls Cathedral Church.
Speaker 2: He paid for it, he built it.
Speaker 2: It was adjacent to his property.
Speaker 2: I need somebody like this in this church because we need a new building.
Speaker 2: I just I was dreaming as I, as I read this, I was like man, just imagine somebody showing up this morning and said, hey, I got some property out here.
Speaker 2: We want to build you a new church where you can grow a little bit more, have more parking and, by the way.
Speaker 2: I paid for it and I'm going to fund the complete building project.
Speaker 2: How many?
Speaker 2: Would that be all right with some of you?
Speaker 2: Come on, let's, let's just pray that way.
Speaker 2: How about that?
Speaker 2: Between the ages of 12 and 51, Vanderbilt read Listen to this, these are all recorded in his journal 3159 books Throughout his life, George.
Speaker 2: He chose to be to share his wealth with, with the poor and and start kind of these literacy initiatives.
Speaker 2: So he helped out a lot of people.
Speaker 2: I didn't read about any controversy or anything like that, but he was very charitable.
Speaker 2: And all of that to say that Vanderbilt achieved a monumental amount of success and his success in this lifetime.
Speaker 2: He could be seen as one of the greatest and most accomplished man of his day.
Speaker 2: Today, about 1.4 million people every year visit his home and celebrate his legacy.
Speaker 2: You know, I was thinking about Vanderbilt and all the great things he accomplished, and I thought you know what I think in every one of us, or most of us at least, is this desire to be great.
Speaker 2: Does that, does that resonate with you, this desire to be great?
Speaker 2: We all want to leave our mark on this world, so to speak, and I would say this I was thinking about that.
Speaker 2: I was thinking, you know, is that?
Speaker 2: Is that a bad thing or an unspiritual thing?
Speaker 2: I really don't think it is.
Speaker 2: I think God is his.
Speaker 2: Put this desire in us to be great, and we are not the first generation to want to be great.
Speaker 2: By the way, In the text starting in verse Matthew 18, this section that we are in in the book of Matthew, we have seen that disciples being really concerned about their greatness in the kingdom.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, chapter 18 begins with the disciples arguing about which one of them, which one of the 12, are going to be the greatest.
Speaker 2: They come to Jesus.
Speaker 2: They say pretty much who is your favorite?
Speaker 2: John never got over this.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 2: He wrote the gospel of John and in it he refers to himself as the disciple Jesus loved.
Speaker 2: You know, like, like, they all wanted to be the best, the greatest, the favorite.
Speaker 2: And in today's text we find the disciples again wanting to have positions of greatness.
Speaker 2: You have these two disciples, the sons of Zebedee, which who are James and John, and they want to sit in God's kingdom, one on the right and one on the left.
Speaker 2: And when the other 10 disciples hear this, they're indignant, and not because like, oh, how could you do such a thing?
Speaker 2: They're indignant because they want the positions too.
Speaker 2: And so there's this, there's this desire amongst the 12 disciples to have these positions of greatness Jesus challenged.
Speaker 2: He doesn't, he doesn't flat out say, don't, desire to be great, but what he does is he challenges their perception of what greatness is.
Speaker 2: They see greatness as position and prestige.
Speaker 2: That's not how the kingdom and Jesus Christ sees greatness.
Speaker 2: And so what I want to do through this text today is is point out kind of contrast, the differences between what we might call greatness in the world or worldly greatness, and greatness in the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2: Are you with me?
Speaker 2: So there's a way that the world sees greatness and success, but then Jesus, who has inaugurated this, perhaps we could call it an upside down kingdom.
Speaker 2: It's culturally very different, morally very different from the kingdom of this world, and that kingdom, in that kingdom, greatness is completely different than greatness in this world.
Speaker 2: So so I would say to you today pursue greatness, but the right kind of greatness.
Speaker 2: Pursue kingdom greatness.
Speaker 2: Are you with me?
Speaker 2: So let's dive in.
Speaker 2: So I want to begin by looking at the measure of greatness the measure of greatness in the world and the measure of greatness in the kingdom.
Speaker 2: So in this world, I was thinking how do we measure greatness?
Speaker 2: Well, one way greatness is measured is by being the goat.
Speaker 2: Some of you are looking, some of you, older folks, are like what in the world?
Speaker 2: A young person helped me out.
Speaker 2: What does, what does it mean to be the goat Greatest of all time?
Speaker 2: Greatest of all time?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 2: So we have athletes.
Speaker 2: There's this debate who's better, LeBron or Michael Jordan?
Speaker 2: Neither, Neither, Okay, fair enough, Fair enough.
Speaker 2: And so there's always this desire who's the best quarterback?
Speaker 2: I'm going to count the three and I want you to yell out who is the greatest quarterback of all time?
Speaker 2: One, two, three, oh, who, who?
Speaker 2: Who yelled that out?
Speaker 2: Peyton Manning, All right, I guess you get the win.
Speaker 2: You were the loudest, but there's this desire to be the greatest of all time.
Speaker 2: And here's what's interesting If you go back again to chapter 18 and Matthew, verse one, it says that the disciples came to Jesus saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of God?
Speaker 2: In Hebrew or in Greek or Aramaic, here's what they asked Jesus who's the goat, who's the goat?
Speaker 2: They're not notice what they don't ask.
Speaker 2: They don't say Jesus, how can we become great in the kingdom.
Speaker 2: Who's the greatest Now?
Speaker 2: How many of you grew up with siblings kind of close to your age?
Speaker 2: How many of you all remember sibling rivalries?
Speaker 2: How many of you still are in sibling rivalries?
Speaker 2: See, you didn't just want your parents to love you, you wanted them to love you more than your brother or sister.
Speaker 2: Come on somebody.
Speaker 2: How many of you are just the favorite Parents say I don't have a favorite.
Speaker 2: Come on, yes, you do, Because one of your kids is crazy.
Speaker 2: If you have more than one, at least one of them is crazy.
Speaker 2: You're like both of them are crazy.
Speaker 2: So I love them the same.
Speaker 2: But no, you have these sibling rivalries and it's like man, which one of us can be the greatest, which is the greatest athlete, which gets the best grades?
Speaker 2: And it just goes on and on.
Speaker 2: Who has the prettier girlfriend or boyfriend?
Speaker 2: And on and on and on.
Speaker 2: And so we have this desire, and I think this perhaps is when this desire for greatness becomes maybe sinful, is when we just want to be better than everybody else.
Speaker 2: Now there are times where I don't think that's a bad thing, with, like last night, EKU played Kentucky and man, they hung.
Speaker 2: What was it?
Speaker 2: 27 to 17?
Speaker 2: Jeremy's not here this morning, is he Jeremy?
Speaker 2: You know we have in our church.
Speaker 2: He's the punter and man.
Speaker 2: He did great.
Speaker 2: What do you do for punts?
Speaker 2: He started last night and, yeah, just unbelievable, tied at half time.
Speaker 2: And you know, in sports it's not.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't think we have to take what I'm saying into the sports world.
Speaker 2: It's like, you know, UK gets ahead by a touchdown and it's like here, you all, it's your turn.
Speaker 2: We don't want to be the greatest.
Speaker 2: You know, give it over to EKU or whatever Like.
Speaker 2: So we don't want to take this too far.
Speaker 2: But generally I'm talking about our competitive spirit, where we want to be likes more.
Speaker 2: We want to be seen as greater than somebody else, because that is how the world measures success and greatness.
Speaker 2: It's also measured in the world by being known.
Speaker 2: We want to be seen right.
Speaker 2: I'm great when I know I've reached this level of greatness, when people know me, when I walk around town and people call me by name.
Speaker 2: See people in the world.
Speaker 2: You know what they're worried about.
Speaker 2: They want to make their name great.
Speaker 2: They want greatness associated with their name.
Speaker 2: It's about being listed in the Hall of Fame or winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker 2: It's about applause and accolades in hearing oh, you are great, you know that you've arrived.
Speaker 2: When your bio appears on Wikipedia, Some of you look confused.
Speaker 2: Again, Worldly greatness is measured by our name being known, and then it's measured by power and influence, and you could say money as well.
Speaker 2: We look at people who are in power and you can think, yeah, President, Governor.
Speaker 2: But then you can think, even on a smaller level the CEO of your organization, your manager, this is why people want to climb the corporate ladder.
Speaker 2: I mean, sometimes it's because they want to make a company better, but a lot of times it's money and power.
Speaker 2: Am I preaching this morning?
Speaker 2: Money and power.
Speaker 2: And so in verses 20 and 21, it says this the mothers of the son of Zebedee again James and John came up to Jesus with their sons and kneeling here's what she asked Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.
Speaker 2: Jesus has come and he has inaugurated the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2: When we talk about the kingdom, we're talking about God's rule in rain, and there are two kingdoms in this world kind of growing together.
Speaker 2: You have the kingdom of the devil or the kingdom of the world or the kingdom of darkness, and you have many people, the majority of people, who are part of that kingdom.
Speaker 2: But then Jesus has inaugurated this kingdom of God upon the earth where he reigns as king, and you and I, if we are in the Lord Jesus Christ, he brings us by grace, through faith.
Speaker 2: He brings us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light.
Speaker 2: He brings us out of the kingdom of death and into the kingdom of life.
Speaker 2: He brings us out of the kingdom of the devil and into the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2: And so the kingdom right now you've heard me say this, if you've been here any time, you've heard me say it over and over the kingdom of God is already, but not yet.
Speaker 2: The kingdom of God has been inaugurated through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
Speaker 2: You and I are part of the kingdom now.
Speaker 2: We're part of the family of God now.
Speaker 2: Do you believe that You're quiet this morning?
Speaker 2: We're part of the kingdom of God now, but we still have to wrestle with some things in this world, Because there's still a devil who goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he made a vow, and we have many wicked people and we have much wickedness and evil that's just pervasive in our world.
Speaker 2: So we're having to deal with these two kingdoms together.
Speaker 2: But how many know that Jesus is coming again?
Speaker 2: And when he does, he will consummate his kingdom and his rule will be established on this earth completely and totally, and the wickedness will one day be completely taken care of, abolished.
Speaker 2: It will completely dissipate.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine this world, the new earth, not tainted by sin and evil?
Speaker 2: Can you imagine Satan fully and wholly and totally being bound Never to mess with us again?
Speaker 2: Can you imagine that world with no more sickness and no more pain?
Speaker 2: And so God is creating, he's going to renew the earth and we will all be raised bodily one day and we will dwell in the new heavens and the new earth.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a beautiful place.
Speaker 2: Well, the disciples want to rule in that kingdom, and James and John, their mother.
Speaker 2: She wants to know which of these two disciples, which of these sons, will sit on your left and which one on your right.
Speaker 2: And in the ancient world, sitting on the left or the right of a king, it was a position of great power and authority.
Speaker 2: You remember when Jesus ascended?
Speaker 2: Where does the Bible say that he is Sitting at the right hand of the Father.
Speaker 2: That's the place, that's the position, the seat of greatest authority.
Speaker 2: And so what the disciples are asking is hey, when Jesus comes and he consummates his kingdom, and he's on the throne and the kingdom is fully come, would it be okay?
Speaker 2: I mean, we've given up a lot and John's like I'm your favorite, Jesus, I know I'm your favorite, I'm the one you've loved.
Speaker 2: Can we sit on your right and left?
Speaker 2: The disciples are worried about position, because that's the way the world thinks.
Speaker 2: But what about the kingdom?
Speaker 2: How is greatness measured in the kingdom of God?
Speaker 2: Well, it's not about being the goat the greatest of all time.
Speaker 2: It's actually about humility.
Speaker 2: Jesus says in Matthew 2026,.
Speaker 2: He says whoever would be great among you must be your servant.
Speaker 2: It's not the one at the top of the corporate ladder, it's the one at the bottom who's willing to do the job of a servant.
Speaker 2: We've seen this before in chapter 20, verse 16.
Speaker 2: Jesus says the last will be first, the first last.
Speaker 2: In Matthew 19, verse 30, many who are first will be last and the last first.
Speaker 2: So white Moody said these words the beginning of greatness is to be little, not to not one word, be little.
Speaker 2: But the beginning of greatness, let's say, is to be small, the increase of greatness is to be less and the perfection of greatness is to be nothing.
Speaker 2: Can I read that one more time?
Speaker 2: The beginning of greatness is to be little, the increase of greatness is to be less and the perfection of greatness is to be nothing.
Speaker 2: It's to say I've been crucified with Christ.
Speaker 2: It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me In greatness in the kingdom.
Speaker 2: It's not about making much of our name, but it's about making much of the name of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: In Matthew 1929, part of the same section, Jesus says everyone who has left house, houses or brothers or sisters, or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake Did you get that?
Speaker 2: For my name's sake, He'll receive a hundred fold and will inherit eternal life.
Speaker 2: See, friends, if you want to be great, don't buy into the world's desire and pursuit of making your own name great, because greatness in the kingdom doesn't come by putting your name on top.
Speaker 2: Greatness in the kingdom comes when you're constantly pointing people beyond yourselves on to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: So no matter if you're a CEO or if you have the most base job in your company if you want to be great.
Speaker 2: It has nothing to do with your position, but it has to do with making the name of Jesus great, doing all you can to glorify him and to make his name known In the kingdom of greatness.
Speaker 2: It's not about power, it's about serving.
Speaker 2: I'll read this verse again in a moment, but it's verses 26 and 27.
Speaker 2: Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.
Speaker 2: Whoever would be first among you must be your slave.
Speaker 2: You know, we had one of our elders a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 2: We had somebody in our church who was really sick and we have a plurality of elders here, pastors and we had one of the pastors go visit this particular lady and she was so sick, in bed ridden.
Speaker 2: And you know what the pastor did Mopped her floors, Mopped her floors.
Speaker 2: So what Jesus is not saying, listen you should never have a position of influence.
Speaker 2: What he's saying is you ought to use that position of influence to serve other people.
Speaker 2: Remember when Jesus was in the upper room with the disciples and he washed their feet?
Speaker 2: Peter saying no Lord, no Lord, no Lord, like you, shouldn't wash my feet.
Speaker 2: That was, that was the lowest job in that culture to wash the feet of someone.
Speaker 2: And yet Jesus humbled himself to that point and he says as I've done for you, you go do for one another.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't mean that literally, thank God, we have to go around watching each other's feet.
Speaker 2: What it means is that we have to be willing to serve, no matter what our position.
Speaker 2: We're not above doing what people might consider the lowest of jobs.
Speaker 2: You may look at somebody like me up behind a pulpit and go man, he's doing great things and I hope to achieve great things for the kingdom in this life.
Speaker 2: But you know who's doing great things this morning?
Speaker 2: The ones in kids church who aren't seen, who are missing out.
Speaker 2: They want to be in here worshiping too.
Speaker 2: They're tired because we can't get enough people to help, but they do it and they smile when they do it.
Speaker 2: My wife might get to attend a service once every six weeks, but she never complains.
Speaker 2: So when people come up to me and say, oh man, you're doing great things at the church, I want to point to my wife and say God is great as her.
Speaker 2: I mean that what's the method of greatness?
Speaker 2: That's the measure of greatness in the world?
Speaker 2: It's power and influence and being the best and all these things making your name great and the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2: It's about making his name great.
Speaker 2: It's about serving.
Speaker 2: What's the method of greatness, though?
Speaker 2: That's the measurement.
Speaker 2: What's the what's the method?
Speaker 2: In other words, how do we achieve, get to this status of greatness?
Speaker 2: Well, in the kingdom of the world, if I can put it simply, it's the strong eat the weak.
Speaker 2: Is that not true?
Speaker 2: The weak are exploited so that the, the, the powerful can become more powerful.
Speaker 2: That's the way of the world.
Speaker 2: And you know, one of the ways that the world achieves greatness is through manipulation, manipulation.
Speaker 2: I love verse 20 in our text.
Speaker 2: The mother of the sons of Zebedee, again James and John, came up to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling before him, she asked him for something.
Speaker 2: And again it's who's going to be?
Speaker 2: Which of my sons can be on the left, which on the right?
Speaker 2: I love this.
Speaker 2: These are disciples.
Speaker 2: They get their mother to ask Jesus a question.
Speaker 2: He's like you know, he's not going to be happy, he's going to be mad.
Speaker 2: If we ask him mama, would you ask him Mama?
Speaker 2: Your smile, he's not going to say no to you.
Speaker 2: And actually, in the ancient culture I didn't know this.
Speaker 2: Keener points this out, but he says the indirect intercession of a motherly woman was often more effective than a man's direct petition for himself.
Speaker 2: He writes in both Jewish and Roman circles, women could get away with making some requests that men could not.
Speaker 2: I think that's still true today.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're trying to manipulate Jesus.
Speaker 2: Mama, I know what he's going to say to us.
Speaker 2: Would you ask him for us?
Speaker 2: Beloved, this is the disciples, the forefathers of our church, minus Judas, right?
Speaker 2: I mean, this is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: And this is how people get ahead today in the world.
Speaker 2: It's through manipulation.
Speaker 2: You know, we learn manipulation tactics from an early age, don't we?
Speaker 2: If you have kids, you know that man, they can, they.
Speaker 2: It's like they're born with the gift of manipulation.
Speaker 2: My mom recently told me that when my niece was a toddler, she wanted to spend the night with my mom and my mom was really tired and she said you know you better do it another night.
Speaker 2: She burst out my niece into tears, crying her heart out, and my mom then looked at Tim, my stepdad, after looking at my niece, and thought oh, we can't say no.
Speaker 2: And they gave in.
Speaker 2: And here's what happened immediately, my, my niece stopped crying and said there, I feel better now.
Speaker 2: I remember my kids.
Speaker 2: Actually, I used to do this as a kid.
Speaker 2: I would go to the parent who I knew was going to say yes to something and I hope, like if one parent said no, I would think, man, I hope they don't talk.
Speaker 2: I'm going to go to the other one in, ask and see if I can get a yes and then watch them fight it out.
Speaker 2: You know, you know manipulation, taxes.
Speaker 2: They don't leave when we become adults, Don't?
Speaker 2: We all have those people at work who suck up to the boss all the time?
Speaker 2: Can I get you coffee?
Speaker 2: Oh, you're this the best boss ever?
Speaker 2: Am I lying?
Speaker 2: Am I preaching truth this morning?
Speaker 2: What's it about?
Speaker 2: It's about manipulation.
Speaker 2: Politicians, politicians, politicians.
Speaker 2: It blows my mind that that people believe what's coming out of their mouth, like they're for the people.
Speaker 2: You know what they're for themselves power and prestige and you go.
Speaker 2: Well, that's that one party.
Speaker 2: No, it's your party too.
Speaker 2: It's your political party as well.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that that's every single politician, but it's a rare one.
Speaker 2: It's a rare one to find.
Speaker 2: You know the way that we would find someone who is truly about the people, because the way you get to the top, you've got to manipulate.
Speaker 2: There's got to be some level of corruption.
Speaker 2: Remember the days when we could trust journalism.
Speaker 2: You could read the paper and assume what you were reading was true.
Speaker 2: Not anymore.
Speaker 2: I think one of the greatest examples of manipulation comes from the media.
Speaker 2: We're fed misinformation constantly by media outlets that are controlled by big pharma, by the FDA, and corrupt politicians.
Speaker 2: Listen to this.
Speaker 2: I found this article last night on scientific American website.
Speaker 2: This article says that NPR National Public Radio there was a bargain made between them and the FDA.
Speaker 2: Listen to this and there was a leak about this.
Speaker 2: This is true, I think, if they're telling the truth.
Speaker 2: The article says this NPR, along with a select group of other media outlets all very liberal media outlets.
Speaker 2: Here was the deal made between FDA and NPR and these other groups.
Speaker 2: They would get a briefing about an upcoming announcement in the US Food and Drug Administration a day before anybody else.
Speaker 2: They get the early story.
Speaker 2: But in exchange for the scoop here were the terms NPR would have to abandon its reporting independence.
Speaker 2: The FDA would dictate whom NPR's reporter could and could not interview.
Speaker 2: And they took the deal.
Speaker 2: And the article goes on to say by using these and other methods, the FDA, like other sources of scientific information are gaining control of journalists, who are supposed to keep an eye on these institutions, and I love this line.
Speaker 2: It says the watchdogs are being turned into lap dogs.
Speaker 2: Beloved, we're being manipulated every day.
Speaker 2: Your Facebook feeds are designed to manipulate you by these robust algorithms.
Speaker 2: They know what's going to make you click.
Speaker 2: They know what's going to make your emotions rise up.
Speaker 2: Politicians and governmental institutions all the way down.
Speaker 2: They're using manipulation to gain power because that's the way of the world.
Speaker 2: Listen, I've seen this in the church not this church, thank God, but through the years I've been in ministry at several larger churches and you've had some money people and the money people.
Speaker 2: You know what they do.
Speaker 2: When they don't get their way this has happened many times they say, well, I'll just take my tithe elsewhere and they try to manipulate the pastor.
Speaker 2: I haven't been manipulated here in that way, but early on people try to manipulate me into doing what they wanted, and I just decided early on.
Speaker 2: You know what, if you want me to follow your way rather than what God's laid on my heart the door's right there let me get it for you.
Speaker 2: That's just how I feel, because I'm not going to be manipulated.
Speaker 2: Amen, All right, I need to wrap up.
Speaker 2: Worldly greatness is achieved by manipulation.
Speaker 2: You know how us it's achieved.
Speaker 2: It's achieved by tearing down other people.
Speaker 2: In Luke 18, 10 through 12, Luke writes two men went up to a temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Speaker 2: And the Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed like this God, I thank you that I'm not like other men.
Speaker 2: Extortioners, unjust, adulterers are even like this tax collector.
Speaker 2: I fast twice a week and I give ties of all I get.
Speaker 2: You know there are people all over the world who are like this, that they get ahead by tearing other people down.
Speaker 2: I mean we're enduring this political tension right now.
Speaker 2: I mean we've got a governor election this what November and a presidential election next year.
Speaker 2: And have you noticed the ads that we're already seeing?
Speaker 2: I have no idea what either candidate believes.
Speaker 2: I just know how much they hate the other candidate.
Speaker 2: That's all we hear.
Speaker 2: I watched the debate you know the prime areas of the presidential candidates of our own Republican party and all they did was tear each other down, particularly one making fun of one of the candidates names and silly.
Speaker 2: I'm like goodness gracious, why don't you talk about what you can do for the country, Not what.
Speaker 2: You know how horrible every other candidate is.
Speaker 2: That's the world in which we live.
Speaker 2: So greatness is achieved in the world by those ways, but how's it achieved in the kingdom of God?
Speaker 2: Number one through honesty, not manipulation.
Speaker 2: When Jesus went around to establish his kingdom, did he sugar coat the truth to get followers?
Speaker 2: Did he tell them what they wanted to hear?
Speaker 2: No, he went to the most powerful of the religious leaders and he says repent you, brood of vipers.
Speaker 2: The kingdom of God is at hand.
Speaker 2: He called them white washed tombs.
Speaker 2: They look good and spiritual on the outside, but on the inside they're like a coffin full of dead men's bones.
Speaker 2: They're dead on the inside, far from God.
Speaker 2: Jesus never, ever tried to manipulate to gain followers.
Speaker 2: He told the truth.
Speaker 2: And that's how greatness is achieved in the kingdom by the truth.
Speaker 2: And then it's the kingdom.
Speaker 2: Greatness comes by building one another up, not tearing one another down.
Speaker 2: Oh, I can't stand it.
Speaker 2: Everybody who goes around calling themselves a Christian always tearing people down, one person after another, nan, nan, nan.
Speaker 2: They're always offended by everything, always telling you how awful everybody else is and trying to make their selves look super spiritual.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you, I doubt the salvation of that person.
Speaker 2: Because in the kingdom of God, you come in with humility and you realize that you're nothing apart from Christ, that you have no spiritual merit in and of yourself.
Speaker 2: And then you who have received grace you've been saved by grace alone you start to see other people differently.
Speaker 2: You never look at somebody as being below you, because you know now that the ground at the foot of the cross is level ground.
Speaker 2: You know that you got into the kingdom just like the drug addict.
Speaker 2: You know that you got into the kingdom just like the prostitute.
Speaker 2: There's no judgment, there's no, I'm better than you.
Speaker 2: You don't try to tear other people down, but first Thessalonians 5, 11 says build one another up, just as you're doing.
Speaker 2: That's the greatness of the kingdom.
Speaker 2: And so, finally, what is the manifestation of greatness?
Speaker 2: When greatness is achieved, how does it manifest in our lives?
Speaker 2: Well, in the world, in the world.
Speaker 2: I want you to listen to how it manifests in verse 25.
Speaker 2: Jesus called to his disciples and here's what he said.
Speaker 2: You know that the rulers of the Gentiles so think Rome here.
Speaker 2: They lord it over their people and their great ones exercise authority over them.
Speaker 2: How does greatness in the world manifest itself?
Speaker 2: Very simple by strong authority, by tyranny, many times by tyranny.
Speaker 2: We've got people, we've got leaders in this country manipulating right now the people, saying hey, we're on your side, we're on your side, we're all about you.
Speaker 2: But you can see this moving in, because history tends to repeat itself.
Speaker 2: They're wanting tyranny, they're wanting complete power.
Speaker 2: It's unbelievable, but that's how greatness in the world power and influence, how it manifests most of the time.
Speaker 2: Greatness in the world also manifests itself by being served.
Speaker 2: When you're at the top, everybody else serves you, Everybody else serves you.
Speaker 2: But you know, let's talk about the manifestation of greatness in the kingdom, Verses 25 and 26,.
Speaker 2: I'll read this text one more time.
Speaker 2: Jesus called out to his disciples, remember, and he says the rulers of the Gentile.
Speaker 2: They lord it over their people, they exercise authority.
Speaker 2: And here's what he says it shall not be so among you.
Speaker 2: It shall not be so among you.
Speaker 2: Well, how shall it be?
Speaker 2: How shall greatness manifest itself in the life of a believer?
Speaker 2: Well, number one, it manifests itself in serving.
Speaker 2: Verse 26, whoever would be great among you must be your servant.
Speaker 2: J C Riles said the world's idea of greatness is to rule.
Speaker 2: But Christian greatness consists in one thing serving.
Speaker 2: You know, being a pastor in the sense is relatively a position of power and through the years I've seen so many Christians aspire to be pastors, not because they love people and they want to disciple people, because they want to be seen, they want to be up here and they want to control.
Speaker 2: But you know, a position like this, it cannot be about me.
Speaker 2: God has called me and every other pastor to lay down our lives to spend and be spent for the glory of God and the good of you, Because the kingdom of God, greatness, is about serving.
Speaker 2: It's also about suffering.
Speaker 2: There's one more verse I want to point you to verse 22.
Speaker 2: When the disciples are arguing about who's going to be on those right, who's going to be on his left in the kingdom, here's what he asks.
Speaker 2: He says well, he says you do not know what you're asking.
Speaker 2: Are you able to drink the cup that I'm to drink?
Speaker 2: And they answer we're able.
Speaker 2: What cups he talking about?
Speaker 2: Well, in verses 17 through 19,.
Speaker 2: What's he predict?
Speaker 2: Again?
Speaker 2: He foretells of his death and he goes into great detail this time about the torture, the torment that's going to come upon him.
Speaker 2: And here's what he asks his disciples you want to be great, Are you able to drink the cup that I'm drinking from?
Speaker 2: And the disciples?
Speaker 2: They don't get it still.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, we can drink from that cup, but it's not the cup they're expecting, because it's the cup of suffering that Jesus is talking about and Peter's not ready for it.
Speaker 2: Ultimately, they would all drink of that cup, as we see in the book of Acts, but in the book of, you know, in the gospels, what we see is that Peter denied Jesus when push come to shove, Because when Jesus was arrested, why?
Speaker 2: Because he wasn't able to drink of the cup of suffering.
Speaker 2: Yet I was at a church a few weeks ago I was awful several weeks ago now and I went to church with my brother at a traditional church in Lexington and they actually serve real wine for communion just a little thimble, but they had great juice and communion and wine both, and we sat in the very back and so we couldn't really hear the instructions.
Speaker 2: And so my sister-in-law took her daughter who's in elementary school, took her daughter up through the line and she grabbed a communion cup and they sat down thinking she got great juice.
Speaker 2: You know where this is going and my niece took a swig in her face, she goes.
Speaker 2: She had wine in her mouth and so my sister-in-law had to get a little cup, you know, and she had to spew it out Because it's not the cup she was expecting.
Speaker 2: She was expecting great juice, but she got some bitter wine, Some dry red wine.
Speaker 2: And, you know, sometimes when we become a Christian, we think the cup that we're going to drink from is the cup of comfort, Because Jesus is going to make all of our dreams come true.
Speaker 2: It's the book, your best life now Beloved, the only way that your best life is now is if you're going to hell.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 2: It's a tough life.
Speaker 2: It's full of blessings and joy and peace, All kinds of good things.
Speaker 2: I don't want to make it sound all doom and gloom.
Speaker 2: It's a wonderful life, but not in the way that we think, Not in the way the world thinks.
Speaker 2: Jesus promises his disciples suffering.
Speaker 2: He says you want to be great, you drink from that cup, you serve and you suffer for my name's sake.
Speaker 2: So I want to wrap this up just by saying I think this is really good news for all of us today who want to be great, Because what the text tells me is that you don't have to be a George Vanderbilt to be great.
Speaker 2: You don't have to build a mansion with 250 rooms and 4,000 square or 4,000 acres of living space.
Speaker 2: You don't have to have 125,000 acres of land and many, many acres of beautiful gardens.
Speaker 2: You don't have to be a business tycoon.
Speaker 2: You don't have to have millions and millions of dollars.
Speaker 2: You don't have to be the most well read person in the world.
Speaker 2: You don't have to be the most intelligent See by the world standard of greatness.
Speaker 2: What that means is there's very few of us who can be great, but in the kingdom any of us can serve.
Speaker 2: Any of us can be at the bottom and say my life is going to be spent, and be spent for the glory of God and the good of others.
Speaker 2: That means every one of us can be great.
Speaker 2: So I hope this morning you aspire greatness, and that greatness it begins with the relationship with Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: If you don't know Him this morning, maybe you've played church for a long time, Maybe this is the first time you've been in church and I would invite you to come to Jesus Christ, because there is no greatness apart from Him.
Speaker 2: Here's the thing.
Speaker 2: Jesus ends this text by saying this.
Speaker 2: He says I came to serve, not to be served.
Speaker 2: This is the Son of God, and to give my life is a ransom for many.
Speaker 2: You talk about service.
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ is the apex example of what it means to be great in the kingdom.
Speaker 2: So you want to be great.
Speaker 2: You come to Him first and you follow Him second.
Speaker 2: You follow Him.
Speaker 2: Stand with me, if you would.
Speaker 2: God, in the mighty name of Jesus, thank you that you have called us to greatness and you have given us the ability every one of us who are in you to be great, Not great in the way of the world, but great in the kingdom.
Speaker 2: Let us realize today that the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
Speaker 2: So, whether or not perhaps, we have positions of power this morning, there's some people in here who are business owners or CEOs or managers, and they have some power and influence.
Speaker 2: Let their goal this week be to serve others, Not to just exercise authority.
Speaker 2: And let us, oh God.
Speaker 2: Let us oh God, Even if we're on the bottom as the world sees it.
Speaker 2: Let us realize that we can achieve greatness too.
Speaker 2: Let us just serve with joy and gladness, knowing that that's what Christ came to do, and we love you.
Speaker 2: If there's one here that needs you, Lord, speak to their heart today.
Speaker 2: Call them to you, and may they respond in faith.
Speaker 2: Thank you, God, in Jesus name Amen.
Speaker 2: Visit myrealchurchorg.