Matthew Chapter 20 Verses 20 – 21a

• Let me encourage you as this so very much encourages me. These folks (James, John and their mother) come to Jesus with a request and what we will see as we continue in a moment is that their request was…well it was just off…some might say foolish, some might say selfish…I don’t think we really know their intent…but what encourages me is that Jesus doesn’t shut them down…He doesn’t turn a deaf ear…He hears them, and that encourages/strengthens/restores/establishes me.

• No matter is too small or too ridiculous to take to the Lord…I want you to know that. And no matter goes unheard when you take it to Him. He will listen. He will counsel you. Sometimes His counsel is silence but isn’t yours too sometimes? I wonder if you even know that it should be? Sometimes I surely don’t…that it’s just best to be there…to listen…because that’s what they need.

• Let me tell you a few things about God…throughout the Word of God…500 times we find the word “love.” It’s almost like He can’t tell you enough and delights in just letting you know that. Do you know how many times we find the word, “disappointment?” Zero times…God knows the end from the beginning…everything and anything and all things…He has perfect knowledge of you and yet, as we cringe, His love remains perfect for us! Unconditionally unfailing…, Is 49:15-16 “I will not forget you, see I have engraved you on the palms of My hands,”

• “God loves you more in a moment than you could anyone in a lifetime,” (author unknown). “Though you have changed a thousand times, He has not changed once,” (Spurgeon). You can give up every theological, doctrinal, eschatological idea you’ve ever heard but two things that cannot be denied even by the devils reserved for hell…God is good…and God is love. And if those two things remain then surely this remains…that good God loves you…and so He says, 500 times, “I love you…talk to Me, I don’t really care what you want to talk about…not interested in the subject, I’m interested in you…what do you wish?” I love this, literally in the Greek, Jesus says to them, “What’s on your mind…?”

Matthew Chapter 20 Verse 21

• You see, what they’re asking for is for honor for themselves. To sit on the right hand or on the left hand of a throne in a kingdom is to sit in a position of high honor, prestige and authority…Psalm 110 verse 1 says, “The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” Here’s the problem though, imagine Jesus calls you to Himself in His Kingdom…there set next to Him is a throne like His…and He signals you to sit…and you ascend the stairs to the King there in the midst of the throne room of all heaven…

• You see Him there, scarred on His brow from the crown of thorns that He took from you…scars on His hands from the nails that pinned Him to the cross for your sin…and as you notice these things, finally on your last step to the throne positioned next to His, you lift your eyes and find Him watching you with a softness of grace, esteem in His eye of devotion and loyalty of love…I wouldn’t be able to take that seat…I would have to kneel in eternal humility and worship…I’m safe because of Him…I’m accepted because of Him…I’m welcomed because of Him…I’m clean and freed because of Him…what honor do I have other than the honor that He has secured for me through His blood?

• But the truth is…this is so often my question…In my prayers, in my decisional contemplations throughout the day, my default, and I know this about myself, is “Lord, which way will bring me to my throne…” My throne of convenience, my throne of comfort, my throne of gratification…In light of who He is and what He has done for you, we ought to seek His glorification, not our gratification…What their question should have been, what my question should be…is, “How can we serve You in Your kingdom.”

• The truth is…and this is true of me but also true of many that claim to love the Lord…and we ought to take this to heart and consider…are we asking to sit next to God in His Kingdom, in His power, in His blessings, in His promises and yet I am not actually honoring Him…? Just like that throne room scene…I want to know…and I’m learning…the way up is down…God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble…humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up…

Matthew Chapter 20 Verses 22 – 23

• Now this is a prophecy of sorts by Jesus because James was actually the first martyr of the twelve in the Book of Acts. He did drink the cup that Jesus was about to drink…and John, although he outlived all of the others, he was baptized…remember…in hot oil…

Matthew Chapter 20 Verses 24 – 28

• Jesus just loves His boys…it’s scriptures like these when I feel such warmth coming from Him…why…because they are being such idiots! HA! Two of them are asking for honor rather than earning honor and the rest of them are hating the two for it when they’d like to do the same thing! HA! So typical of us…this sort of righteous indignation when they themselves were thinking the same thing…HA!

• And so like a loving Father he gives them truth…the path of greatness is through service. And the path of honor in the kingdom of God is service towards others…why? Because when we are serving others, we are actually serving God. Identifying with His heart…this world “slave” is doulos…it means, “devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interest.” Precisely what Jesus put on display on Calvary’s Cross. We have to consider that…we have to get that…and the sooner we do…the sooner joy comes as we empty the trash and visit folks in the hospital and serve at memorial services and teach the kiddos in the nursery and so on….

Matthew Chapter 20 Verses 29 – 34

• I love this scene…Jesus’ fate lays ahead of Him. His death. His murder. His shame. His unfair trial. His abuse. And who is the enemy that brings this horror? Mankind. And yet He stands still, filled with compassion at the persistent call of these enemies…isn’t that just amazing…He is so not like me…so much higher…unconditionally unfailing…
• And watch this…these blind men are exceptionally more wise than the crowds… The multitude tells them to shut it…warning them…telling them to stop being so outrageous for this Jesus…and if they had listened…they’d still be there on the side of the road…I’d still be a drug addict. I’d be divorced. I’d be a dead beat dad…I’d be in prison most likely…but they didn’t listen to the world, they listened to Jesus – MORE SPECIFICALLY – They listened to the Word of God over the word of man...there could be none wiser! In this morning of their sight they understand more than the ancients…they are wiser than their enemies…because knowledge floods their brains? No! Because they simply trust and obey and choose God!!!
• He called them, they chose Him (Mark says they threw aside their beggar’s garments)…and they were healed…and what do healed people do? They follow Jesus…