Welcome to the Daily Blade . The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit , the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil . Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson , and they stand ready to equip men for the fight . Let's sharpen up .
Speaker 2Alright , welcome back to the Daily Blade . This is day two . We are talking about Matthew , chapter 20 . We're going to talk about what it means to be great . If you desire to be great , that's not a bad thing . God put that in us . There's just a godly way and an ungodly way to be great .
Speaker 2This is not an exhaustive list . All of this comes from Matthew , chapter 20 . So number two is this A great man knows how to suffer , that there is a direct correlation between the amount of suffering that you can endure and the responsibility that God will trust you with . Let me say that again , a great man knows how to endure pain and suffering . There is a direct correlation between the amount of pain and suffering that you can endure and the amount of responsibility that God will trust you with . And you may say well , where in the world do you get that ? Well , first and foremost , I would point you to the cross of Jesus Christ . But let's go back to Matthew 20 , verse 20 . We'll repeat a few things it says . Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons and , kneeling before him , she asked him for something and he said to her what do you want ? 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 your kingdom . And here's how Jesus answers . You do not know what you were asking . Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink Now , the cup that Jesus is talking about ?
Speaker 2He also refers to this later in the gospel of Matthew , when Jesus goes to the garden of Gethsemane . In the garden of Gethsemane , jesus , feeling the weight of the world upon him , he knows that tomorrow he is scheduled by his heavenly father to go to the cross to bear the sins of the entire world . In fact , 1 Corinthians tells us , not only does he bear the sins of the world , but he becomes sin . That God made him , who was without sin , to be sin for us . And the weight upon him is excruciating . In fact , he gathers his disciples and he says would you stay up and watch and pray ? He gets Peter , james and John to come a little further and says boys , will you please just stay up , watch and pray . And then he prays this as he sweats drops of blood Father , if there be any other way , take this cup from me . The cup that he is talking about is the cup of the wrath of God stored up for all eternity against sinners and sin itself . And we know that he finishes that prayer by saying not my will , but thy will be done . And so to the guys that are asking or they actually had their mom , go and ask . And they sit at the right and left , they're right there .
Speaker 2We find out in the next couple of verses and he says you don't know what you're talking about . In order for you to be elevated to where you want to be elevated , you have to be able to suffer , like I am about to suffer . I mean , think about this . Jesus says that to follow him , we must daily take up our cross . That didn't mean put on a piece of jewelry in the first century . That means every single day that you and I are called to suffer , to lose , to take on pain upon ourself in order to follow Jesus . I mean , just think about what a follower is that , ultimately , as disciples , it's a big game of follow the leader . And where did our leader go ? Our leader suffered all the way to the cross . Jesus is going to say hey , this world is going to hate you because this world hated me , so don't be surprised when it hates you . Don't be surprised when this world beats you up a little bit . Don't be surprised when you face ridicule or pain of all kinds , because we are followers of Jesus . Now , if you hadn't gotten a bloody nose from banging against the culture of this world , it could be because you're going with the flow . If you have not been attacked by the enemy lately or beaten up by this world lately , it could be because you're playing for the other team and you're not playing for team Jesus .
Speaker 2Chuck Swindoll , who was an incredible expositor of the word of God , he's got this saying that I love so much . Well , I kind of love it and I kind of hate it , because it's so true . He said when God wants to do an impossible task , he chooses an impossible man and crushes him . Leave room for the crushing . And so Jesus says you don't know what you're asking . Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink , or are you able to suffer what it means to follow after me ?
Speaker 2And they said to him we are able . And he said to them you will drink my cup . And you know what they actually did , that they followed Jesus through the cross to the resurrection . They saw the resurrected Christ have breakfast with the resurrected Christ . They professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior , and in Acts 2 , on the day of Pentecost , they were filled with the Spirit of God , and God gave them the power that they needed to be the witnesses and the followers that they were called to be , and they followed Jesus even unto death . And even these two boys were martyred for their faith . A great man becomes a great man not necessarily by doing great things , but a great man knows how to endure great pain for the cause of Christ and those he has been given dominion over .
Speaker 1Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go . If you want to Over .