Jesus: the Gift-Giving Servant

 

Luke-Acts, vol. I: The King of Jubilee

Jesus: The Gift-giving Servant

Scripture Readings

OT: Isaiah 49:1–7

Ps: 149

NT: 1 Corinthians 4:7-17

Gospel (and Communion): Luke 22:24-30

OT Lesson - Isaiah 49:1–7

[1] Listen to me, O coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples from afar.

The LORD called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name.

[2] He made my mouth like a sharp sword;

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow;

in his quiver he hid me away.

[3] And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

[4] But I said, “I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my right is with the LORD,

and my recompense with my God.”

[5] And now the LORD says,

he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him;

and that Israel might be gathered to him—

for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,

and my God has become my strength—

[6] he says:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

I will make you as a light for the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

[7] Thus says the LORD,

the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,

the servant of rulers:

“Kings shall see and arise;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;

because of the LORD, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

 

Psalm 149 - Chanted

NT Lesson - 1 Corinthians 4:7–17

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

[8] Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! [9] For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. [10] We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. [11] To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, [12] and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; [13] when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

[14] I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. [15] For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. [16] I urge you, then, be imitators of me. [17] That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

Gospel Lesson - Luke 22:14–27

[14] And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. [15] And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. [16] For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” [17] And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. [18] For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” [19] And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [20] And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. [21] But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. [22] For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” [23] And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.

[24] A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. [25] And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. [26] But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. [27] For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. (ESV)

Prayer for Illumination

Guide us, O God, by your Word and Spirit, so that in your light we may see light, in your truth find wisdom, and in your will discover peace. Add Your blessing to the reading, the hearing, and the preaching of Your Word, and grant us all the grace to trust and obey You, and all God’s people said, “Amen.”

For the Kids

Well, it is good to be back with you all. I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas! I say “having a Merry Christmas” instead of “had a Merry Christmas” because we are Christians, and according to the Christian Calendar, it is still Christmas. I think you kids know this without needing to be taught, and you actually do a better job of celebrating the Christmas season than most adults.

Most grownups treat the four weeks of Advent sort of like a drawn out, extended pre-Christmas, so we spend four weeks singing Christmas songs, four weeks feasting, four weeks rushing around and getting ready for the one Day, so by the time that Day comes and goes, the grownups are ready to clean everything up and get started on our New Year’s resolutions, but that’s because most of us grownups have been shaped more by the American Calendar than the Christian one.

The Christian Calendar actually sees the four weeks leading up to Christmas as a season of preparation, of acknowledging that things aren’t how they should be, and of contemplating how God not only makes but keeps promises, even if it seems to us like it takes a long time for Him to do so.

If Christians prepared for Christmas like that, then when Christmas Day finally comes, they would be better able to find themselves like eager children, ready to celebrate and enjoy God’s gifts to us, starting with the gift of His Son, our Lord, Jesus, the Christ for more than just one day. So for you kids that are still celebrating, still excited about that new bike or new baby doll or new game you got on the day you celebrated Jesus’s birthday, good job!  

Keep enjoying your gifts, keep thanking God and your family for loving and serving you this Christmas, and when you finally calm down at the end of the day, slow down just a bit and think about how cool it is that God would give you parents who, like God, are eager to use what they’ve been given to give gifts to you.

After all, you weren't given your gifts because you deserved them.

One of the quickest ways to ruin the joy of Christmas is to act like you deserve your gifts, ask about the next gift, and then hold onto all of them really tightly rather than share them with others.

Kids who think about and treat gifts like that grow up to be more like Ebenezer Scrooge and Mr. Potter than Jesus, and God doesn’t give you or any of His children gifts so that they would grow up to be like those guys.

God wants you and all of His children to grow up and be like Him, and one of the reasons God the Father sent His Son into the world was to show His children what He is like, an eager and sacrificial gift-giver, and as His children who have received that greatest gift, we too should be eager to be sacrificial gift givers too.

Introduction

In our story today, the disciples, yet again, had forgotten this most basic fact, a fact that Jesus had been trying to teach them for the last three years.

It’s been a couple of busy weeks, so I can’t imagine anyone remembering what we talked about two weeks ago, but when we just heard that the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest, it’s important to remember they’re doing so immediately after Jesus had instituted the New Covenant memorial which we call the Lord’s Supper.

With the words of the sinless Son of God echoing in their ears, “This is my body, which is given for you,” and “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood,” these guys have the audacity to begin arguing about which of them would be regarded as the greatest in Christ’s kingdom.

Right after their Lord and Master had so plainly identified Himself as the Passover Lamb, the True Sin and Greater Tribute Offerings, these guys start bickering about who's going to be the most highly thought of person in Jesus’s Kingdom.

Now, maybe it was the wine talking; after all, they were probably on their third or fourth cup by now, but these guys were acting more like spoiled children who unwrap one gift and then toss it aside to see what they’re getting next than like men who understand the implications of what Jesus has just said and done.

Before we’re too hard on them though, let’s stop and think about why they might have jumped straight to glory without stopping to think about the sacrifice it would take to get there.

Instruction

Remember, they are a part of a group of people who have been waiting for God to send a man, who among other things, would fulfill the prophecy we heard in our OT lesson.

In Isaiah’s second of four Servant Songs, we heard what the true King of Israel was going to come and do. Isaiah prophesied that the Lord would call this promised One from the womb, and from the body of His mother He would be given a name.

His mouth would be like a two edged sword, and He would glorify God with His life.

The Promised One would come to work and labor for His people, come to bring Jacob and Israel back to their God; He would raise up the 12 tribes of Jacob and become a light for the nations so that God’s salvation would reach the ends of the earth.

He would be the servant of rulers; and yet kings would arise and come to Him, and princes would bow before Him.

For about 750 years, God’s people were waiting for that man to come, and the ones who were paying attention knew He was coming in their lifetime because of some other prophecies in Daniel.

And from the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, we’ve seen this is exactly the kind of man God’s faithful expected Jesus to be. After the angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that she had found favor with God and would conceive and have a son bearing God’s name from the womb, a boy who would grow up being called the Son of the Most High, a young man who would eventually reign over the house of Jacob forever, and who would become the kind of King whose kingdom would have no end, Mary went and told her cousin Elizabeth the good news, and then sang these words:

Luke 1:46–55

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

[47]         and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

[48] for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

[49] for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

[50] And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

[51] He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

[52] he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;

[53] he has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

[54] He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

[55] as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

Turns out Mary did know about her baby boy. Then, after her cousin Elizabeth gave birth to Jesus’s forerunner, his father Zechariah, the priest sang, prophesying about his son and the One coming after him:

Luke 1:68–79

[68] “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

for he has visited and redeemed his people

[69] and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David,

[70] as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

[71] that we should be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us;

[72] to show the mercy promised to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant,

[73] the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

[74]         that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him without fear,

[75]         in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

[76] And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

[77] to give knowledge of salvation to his people

in the forgiveness of their sins,

[78] because of the tender mercy of our God,

whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

[79] to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

This is what Zechariah expected of Jesus before He was even born.

After Jesus was born, even the angels sang.

When the angel of the Lord that appeared to the shepherds at night and declared to them,

Luke 2:10–14

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. [11] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” [13] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

[14] “Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

So, even angels and shepherds had these lofty expectations for Jesus in his first moments on the earth.

And yet there was still another faithful, old man who had been patiently waiting on the promised King to come, Simeon, and when He saw Jesus, like Jesus would do, he took the little baby in his arms and blessed Him and rejoicing:

Luke 2:29–33

[29] “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,

according to your word;

[30] for my eyes have seen your salvation

[31]         that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

[32] a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to your people Israel.”

So, as you can see, the expectations for Jesus to be great had been following Him since before He was born, and since He’d been baptized and ordained by the Holy Spirit, those expectations had only grown.

Jesus Himself set the bar pretty high when He declared

Luke 4:18–19

[18] “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

[19] to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 

After that first sermon when Jesus talked the talk, He proceeded to walk the walk and do the things everyone expected the Promised One to do and so much more.

He displayed power over Satan and demons when He cast a demon out of a man who had come into the synagogue in Capernaum.

He healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever, which was a much bigger deal back then than we normally think of in our wonderful ibuprofen-rich world.

Jesus made a leper clean, gave a paralytic the ability to leap, and rolled back death’s door in raising a widow’s son.

He proved Himself a great Physician by healing the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and by bringing Jairus’s 12 year old daughter back to life.

He healed another boy with an unclean spirit, a woman who had been crippled for 18 years, a man with liver, heart, or kidney failure, cleansed 10 lepers, and restored the sight of a blind man.

And those were just some of His displays of greatness in performing miracles of healing on people.

Jesus also displayed greatness over creation in filling Peter’s nets with so many fish, James and John had to come help bring them in; He calmed a raging storm, and multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish such that His disciples were able to feed 5,000 men, not to mention their wives and children.

The people in Jesus’ day were seeing all those songs about bringing God’s enemies down and restoring Israel’s glory and establishing a kingdom that would rule over the nations of the earth coming true with their own eyes, and what’s more, these 12 men at the Table had even gotten a little taste of kingdom greatness themselves.

Jesus had given them a preview of kingdom power when He gave not only the 12 but the 70 (or 72) His Spirit, and they had gone out and done the same kinds of things Jesus had been doing, healing people and casting out demons, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and exercising authority on behalf of their King.

So, when these guys are gathered around the table that night, and when Jesus gives them a few cups of wine and tells them that He’s not going to drink again until He ushers in His kingdom, they know that they’re on the brink of world changing history, and they trust their King can make quick work of all His and their enemies.

When Jesus took the bread and cup and said He was going to give His life for them, they couldn’t have begun to grasp the true magnitude of what He was saying. Jesus was the Promised Savior that they’d all been waiting for; they’d all left everything and everyone to follow Him, and they’d been through so much together in the last three years, so when Jesus says one of them was going betray Him, you can imagine how the argument might have gotten started.

In verse 23, Luke writes that first they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.

Matthew and Mark give us a little better picture of the Apostles by informing us that they at least started the discussion out on the right foot, asking, “Is it I, Lord,” but Luke leaves that part out.

He simply goes straight from the questioning into the bickering about who was going to be regarded as the greatest.

Could I betray Jesus? Could it be me, Lord? Fellas, do you think I could do something like that?

Perhaps, like bad Calvinists they started telling each other, surely not - once saved, always saved man, think about all the meaningful experiences you’ve had with your personal Lord and Savior.

Apparently that worked, and perhaps went something like.

Yeah, you’re right.

I have been with Jesus since the beginning; I committed my life to Christ; I was baptized; I have sat in on hundreds of His sermons; I’ve prayed prayers that God answered and I’ve performed miracles; I’ve been an officer of the court and even cast out demons.

There’s no way I would betray Jesus.  

You know, and come to think of it, I’ve done such a good job being a follower of Jesus that when He takes His glorious throne, He’s probably going to give me a special place at the Table.

I mean, look around, we’re already a part of His inner circle; we’re all going to be great, and now that I think about it, not only am I not going to betray Jesuus, I’m probably going to be the one who everyone thinks of as being so great because I’ve actually sacrificed more and done more for Jesus than you.

And just like that, a fight breaks out, with each guy pointing out how much he has sacrificed and how hard he has worked and how many great things he has done for Jesus.

Now, this has never happened to me, so I’m relying on some of y’all’s stories for insight, but I’ve heard this kind of escalation can still happen to Christians in conflict today.

One minute you’re having a calm discussion about something, and then the next minute you’re arguing and each person is telling the other one how much good they do for everyone and if the other person would just acknowledge their greatness, the argument would be over and the pecking order reestablished.

Again, never happened to me, but man, are these guys prideful.

After everything Jesus has done and given them, they do not maintain a disposition of humble gratitude and an honest admission of potential weakness, but instead they begin arguing over who is going to be the greatest when they finally get the gifts they rightfully deserve for their faithfulness.

And so, like the last time they got into this same exact fight, Jesus interrupts to explain, yet again, that they’ve gotten the very nature of Christ and His kingdom upside down.

Like when they tried to keep the babies from being blessed by Jesus, they are once again confusing the kingdom of God with the kingdom of men - Christ’s kingdom is not about getting power and then welding that power like the world does.

Jesus explains that the kings of the Gentiles lord their authority over the people under them, and those in positions of authority press people down in the name of good deeds and so are tongue-in cheek called benefactors.

Now, Jesus isn’t some Marxist Critical Theorist who is denouncing all forms of power and authority.

He’s not a woke, CRT, postmodern, feminist who wants to deconstruct the God ordained structures of the Church and family.

We have to remember, they’re living in a world so different from the one we’re used to.

These people aren’t spoiled brats, living on borrowed Christian capital. They don’t have a voice or a revoice; they don’t get to live their truth; they don’t vote for Caesar and then whine and complain and spread propaganda until they get him and Herod canceled.

The only reason people in our world think they can act like that is because they’ve never actually lived in a time or place where the surrounding culture and its leaders aren’t somewhat still operating with some Christian assumptions.

Truly non-Christian leaders, and especially non-Christian kings and dictators, don't give a rip what people under them think or how they feel. They’re only interested in getting and keeping power, and the best way to stay in power is to squash anything and anyone who would threaten to take it from them.

You don’t like Caesar or Herod, you better keep it to yourself.

You better be thankful for the bone he throws you when his underlings pass out the stale bread; and you better not mention the fact that you’re poor and powerless and barely able to pay your debts because of his oppressive government that has forcefully taxed you into oblivion so that he could finance his lavish lifestyle and fund all his government programs.

You see, in the kingdoms of this world, the rich and powerful stay rich and powerful by using their authority to keep everyone beneath them, but not so with Jesus.

He is the King of Jubilee, come to set people free from their oppressors, but if the disciples keep up this worldly grasp-for-greatness attitude, their kingdom won’t look any different than the kingdom of the Gentiles.

So, Jesus admonishes them and explains that this is not how it’s going to be among His rulers.

If these guys want to be great in His kingdom, that’s fine, well, and good, but anyone can claim a stake to greatness while they have all the power and are ruling from on high. But if these guys want to be great in Jesus’s kingdom, then He tells them they must become like the youngest child; they must think of themselves like a kid who has no rights, no power, no claims of rulership over anyone; that’s how truly great men lead in Christ’s kingdom.

Even though they are great and they do have authority, they do not lord it over the people under them.

And Jesus goes on, if anyone wants to be a leader in His empire, well then they must become table servants, like people waiting and watching for any and every opportunity to bless the dinner guests while having zero expectations of even getting a crumb for themselves.

That’s what greatness and kingdom leadership looks like under the Jubilee King.

It’s so backwards, so upside down, and yet, so…Jesus-like.

Think about all those miracles we listed earlier. Who were the beneficiaries?

Every. Single. Time. Jesus used His power to serve people lower than Himself.

These guys have been waiting on and therefore seeing the powerful King from Isaiah’s prophecy, and that Jesus is, but they’ve been so blinded by the glorious parts of His rule that they’ve forgotten the prophecy was a song about a servant. And that’s what Jesus is trying to drill into them when He asks that rhetorical question, “Who is the greatest? The one who reclines at table or the one who serves tables?”

Obviously, the one who reclines at the Table while being served is greater than the one whose job it is to serve, right?

Yes; of course.

Okay then fellas, we’re all reclining at this Table, right?

So we’re all great, sure, and we’re all being served, yes, but who is the greatest recliner at this Table?

Now, as quick as they’d be to argue with each other about who the greatest is compared to each other, none of them would have said they were greater than Jesus, so He points out without saying it explicitly, “And I, being the greatest, what do you see me doing?”

You are all following me because you know I am the greatest, and yet, while I am in your midst; I am down here, I am among you, and I am the one serving you, and surely you don’t think that’s because you’re greater than me, right?

Brothers, the one who would be great in my kingdom must rule how I rule, like a servant.

Jesus makes it abundantly clear that their visions of grandeur have no place at His Table. This King’s Hall will not be filled with young, brash men who seek after fame and power and glory. The King of Jubilee’s kingdom will be filled with men who do not fight their way up to lead from on high but who fight their way down to serve Christ and His people.

Wasn’t this Paul’s point in his letter to the Corinthians we heard in our Epistle reading?

To a church that was eaten up by pride for all the wrong reasons, Paul asked his own set of rhetorical questions:

1 Corinthians 4:7–14

[7] What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

The obvious answer is nothing.

Everything they had, they received as a gift from God, in Christ, through Paul, and yet this entire church was falling into the same trap as the disciples some 20 years earlier, so like Jesus, Paul rebukes them with a bit of sarcasm:

[8] Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!...[10] We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.

Like Jesus’, Paul’s words are dripping with irony.  

That church wasn’t even a church before Paul came to town preaching the gospel, and now here they were acting all high and mighty as though they were a bunch of self-made men. And instead of receiving the greatest gift anyone could ever receive, the good news that Jesus was King of the Jews and Greeks, and that He was willing to sacrificially give His own life to save them, and then responding with the kind of humble gratitude that likewise sacrifices for others, they took the gifts and privileges they’d be given and insisted on trying to hoard more.

Rather than pursue love and unity, they’d begun to give themselves over to factionalism, arguing over whose teacher was the greatest.

Rather than using their God-given gifts to serve the body of Christ, they’d begun to draw unbiblical lines between the spiritual haves and supposedly have nots.

And rather than seeing the Lord’s Table as an open table for weak, sinful, poor, repentant sinners of all ages, stages, races, and walks of life, they’d turned the Lord’s Supper into a place where only the high and mighty and super spiritual could eat and drink.

In short, they’d fallen back into the same upside down way of thinking about the kingdom as the Apostles had all those years before. They’d fallen back into thinking and acting like Gentile kings instead of acting like Jesus, the King of the Gentiles.

Exhortation

Is there any doubt that the same kind of letter with the same kinds of admonishments could be written to our churches today?

We’ve got guys with their own little internet kingdoms jockeying for subscribers, trying to climb over fathers and brothers to get to their position at the top, and they’re succeeding in their attempts to convince Christians all over the internet they must choose sides.

“To make self-ruled men who rule well and win the world,” all in the name of what they think is a postmillennial patriarchy for their version of the New Christendom, they’re acting more like the young, brash disciples before Pentecost than the Spirit-filled men who considered themselves dead-men walking for the sake of their King and His subjects.

If you don’t know who I’m talking about, great! The less internet pastors you’re aware of, in all likelihood the better, but if you’re at all into the world of online church leaders, be careful who you’re listening to.

Yes, Jesus is King, and yes, He is and will eventually bring His heavenly kingdom to bear on the earth as it is in heaven, but He does not bring His kingdom to bear like the kings of this world. His kingdom comes through the preaching of the gospel and through the lives of His subjects who live lives of sacrificial, life-giving service, you know, just like Jesus.

Any version of so-called patriarchy or Christ is King postmillenialism that tells you that won’t work totally misses the whole point of what Jesus was trying to teach His disciples on the very same night that He was going to lay down His life to save them.

Beloved, as those who have been chosen by God, saved by Him, adopted into His family, and given a place at His Table where we receive gifts from on High, let us always be striving to use whatever power and authority and gift we’ve received, not for our own greatness but for the benefit of others.

We have been announcing our year-long men’s leadership class for a couple of months now, and we just had our first meeting yesterday. I was so encouraged for the future of our church to see how many men are eager to grow in Christ-likeness for their own sake, but also for the sake of their wives and children, and if the Lord sees fit, for you. Over the next year, we’re going to be driving home the need for leaders in Christ’s church to be like Jesus and be eager to love and serve Jesus by loving and serving any and everyone He puts in their lives. It’s not too late to join us!

Beloved, your church officers love you, and I am so thankful for God’s grace in their lives evidenced by how eager they are to sacrificially pour themselves out for your sake, and I am looking forward to having other brothers join us in so doing.

If and when they come alongside you and try to help you or give you counsel; don’t fight them or complain about them or beat them down by being so extremely difficult to serve.

As the writer to the Hebrews says:

Hebrews 13:17

[17] Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Serving like Christ is hard enough without having to wrestle you and resort to sarcastic admonishments.

They could be spending evenings with their wives, drinking wine, playing with their kids, and having a hobby or two, but they believe Christ has called them to lay down their lives for you - follow them as they follow Christ.

Elders, deacons, Sunday School teachers, keep loving and leading like Jesus.

Business owners, bosses, principles, teachers, you have been given authority by Christ to rule on His behalf.

How are you using the authority He has given you for the good of your employees and staff and students?

Employees, staff, students, how are you honoring their authority?

Are you all fighting to serve one another or are you constantly vying for greatness?

Husbands, you have been given the gift of a wife, and God has given you authority over her.

How are you using that authority?

Are you lording your headship over your wife, or are you loving her, leading her, laying down your life for her, and even standing up to her - not for your own sake but for hers.

Wives, how are you honoring their God-given authority? Do you submit to them only when you agree or only after you’ve voiced your opinion on the matter a dozen times, or do you go out of your way to lay down your preferences to serve and submit to them, like the Jesus you profess to submit to lovingly requires?

Parents, you have been given the gift of children.

How are you using the authority God has given you over them?

Are you harsh with them and do you provoke them to anger and discouragement by domineering over them and smothering them with rules, or do you get down on their level, literally, get down, on the ground, and play with them?

Love them, enjoy them, praise them, and yes, discipline them when they need it, not for your sake but for theirs.

Kids, how hard are you making it for your parents to lead you? Do you respond to their authority by honoring them and obeying them right away, all the way, with joy in your heart?

Or do you grumble and mumble and insist on your own way before begrudgingly doing what you’re told?

Christ has given you the gift of parents; imperfect parents, sure, but if and when you don’t honor their authority, you’re not only dishonoring them; you’re dishonoring Jesus who loves you. Learn to see your parents as God’s gift to you and make their job as easy as you can by serving them, like Jesus served you.

Older brothers and sisters, when you get left in charge, don’t act like you’re running a prison and your little siblings are your prisoners. Take good care of them and help them grow up so that they can grow up and help other kids grow up.

As those who have been served by our King, any and every time you find yourself in a place where there’s an opportunity to use whatever gift and whatever level of authority God’s given you, rejoice in that gift, and then ask God and others how you can use your gifts, not to try and get more greatness for yourself but so that you can use whatever greatness you’ve received to serve the people God has placed in your life.

Let our little church be the kind of place who would receive a letter from Jesus or Paul that is filled with praise because we are filled with men, women, and children who receive God’s gifts with glad and thankful hearts and then uses those gifts not for our own interests but for the interest of others.

 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let’s pray.

Our Father, we have heard wonderful things out of your word. We praise you for revealing Christ by promise and shadow in the OT and for revealing Him as the fulfillment of all of these things in the New. Give us your Spirit that we might understand these words and the fulness of your truth as you have revealed Him to us in the person and work of Jesus, who with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.

Communion

Our communion meditation is picking back up in our story from our sermon text in Luke 22. Hear God’s Word.

Luke 22:28–30

[28] “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, [29] and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, [30] that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Now, we didn’t make it to this part of the conversation during our sermon, but I think this is just wonderful.

Even with how ridiculous these guys have been acting, and even though Jesus has had to rebuke these guys over and over again for their drift into being bad, selfish, glory seeking leaders, He is still willing and eager to dine with them.

He knows they’re still babies, and He knows Pentecost is coming when He will give them the gift of His Spirit that will totally transform them into the kind of men He’s called them to be, but they’re not there yet, and yet, Jesus is so patient with them.

He praises them for staying with him through His trials, and He tells them He is going to assign to them, just like His Father assigned to Him, a kingdom. And the reason He is giving them that kingdom is so that they may eat and drink with Jesus again at His Table in His kingdom, while sitting on thrones as rulers and judges.

These guys. The ones who just totally butchered kingdom leadership are the ones the King is going to love, serve, and save so that they can eat together again.

Beloved, that’s how Jesus rolls - something we’ve seen over and over again, especially in Luke’s Gospel.

Jesus loves to save and eat with repentant tax collectors, Pharisees, prostitutes, and prodigals.

And such were some of you, but every Lord’s Day since Pentecost, God’s people have had the privilege of being drawn up into heaven, of gathering around Christ’s table, and of eating and drinking with Jesus as rulers and judges over the world.

Beloved, that’s what’s happening right now. Because of Christ’s eager willingness to serve God and you by giving His life, you now have the same privileges Jesus promised the Apostles almost 2000 years ago.  

So, as the King’s table servants bring you bread and wine, and as you take that bread and wine and pass it to one another, you’re receiving and giving the greatest gift anyone can receive - fellowship with Christ and one another.

As you receive these gifts, receive them as such and use the strength you receive by faith to go out from here to eagerly and sacrificially serve everyone God has placed in your life, for His glory and the life of the world. Amen?

Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.

Therefore, let us keep the feast! 

1 Corinthians 11:23-24

 “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;

"We do not presume to come to your Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your many and great mercies.  We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your Table.  But you are the same Lord, whose character is to have mercy: Thank you, gracious Lord, that our sinful bodies are made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, so that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen” (BCP – Prayer of Humble Access).

and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat, this is My body, which is for you; do this as my memorial.”

These are the gifts of God for the people of God. Receive them as such.

Take, eat, remember, believe and proclaim that Christ the Lord lived, died, and rose again for you.’

1 Corinthians 11:25-26

 

In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

[Prayer for the wine]

 

We thank you, Oh God, that you sent your Son to sacrificially give His life as a ransom for many. And we thank you now for this cup of the new covenant in His blood which makes glad our hearts to likewise pour out our lives for the sake of others. In His name, we give you thanks now and forever. Amen.  

Take, drink, remember, believe and proclaim that the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was given for a complete remission of all our sins.

Having dined with our God at His Table, let us now rise and give Him thanks.

Almighty God, You gave us the true bread that came down from heaven, Even Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord: Grant that we who have received this sacrament of His Body and Blood May abide in Him, and He in us, That we may be filled with the power of His endless life, And serve Him with gladness and thanksgiving forever. Amen.

As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

Christ has died.

Christ is risen.

Christ is reigning.

And Christ will come again. Amen.

Receive this commission from the Lord.

Philippians 2:1–8

[1] So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, [2] complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. [3] Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [4] Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. [5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Benediction:

  

Hebrews 13:20–21

[20] Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, [21] equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in [you] that which is [beautiful] in his sight, through [this] Jesus Christ, [our Lord], to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

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Jesus: Born to Die