Now if you would take a copy of God’s holy Word in your hands and turn with me to Matthew’s gospel. If you’re using one of our church Bibles, you can find it on page 825. We’re going to be looking together at Matthew chapter 20, verses 20 through 28.
Tonight, as you already heard, we have the great blessing of ordaining and installing new deacons. And whenever we have a service like this, with all its solemnity and its gravity – vows are made, elders will lay their hands upon the men whom Christ has called and you have chosen – whenever we have a service like this, it is, I think, easy to misunderstand what is happening. It is easy to think that we are promoting these men to privilege. We might imagine that this church thinks these twenty brothers are a cut above, they are better than the rest, they are the cream of the crop, and now finally they are getting the recognition they deserve. But these men are not tonight being initiated into an exclusive fraternity. They have not beaten the competition to secure their place in an elite society. The laying on of the hands of the elders is not an ecclesiastical pat on the back. This is not about prestige or power or privilege. In the New Testament, deacons are called by Christ into a ministry of service. That’s what tonight is about. It is about the solemn setting apart of these our brothers for a life of service to the cause of Jesus Christ in this place and in our midst. You probably know the Greek word “diakonos.” Deacon actually means “servant.” And that is what characterizes all genuine leadership in the New Testament. Elders and deacons, in different ways, are both nothing other than servants of Christ, servants of Christ’s church, in imitation of Christ Himself who is the great paradigmatic servant of the Lord.
And the passage we are considering tonight, Matthew 20:20-28, is one important place where Jesus teaches us about the significance of service and servant heartedness in His kingdom. I want to look at it with you under three headings. First, in verses 20 through 23, there is no crown without a cross. No crown without a cross. Then 24 through 27, no success without service. No success without service. And then finally in verse 28, no Savior who does not suffer. No Savior without suffering. No crown without a cross. No success without service. No Savior without suffering. Now before we read the passage, let’s bow our heads together and ask for the Lord’s gracious help. Let us all pray.
Lord our God, as we come to You, we know that there is a sense in which our King and Savior the Lord Jesus asks of us tonight the same question He asked the mother of the sons of Zebedee in our passage – “What do you want? What do you want?” As we bow before You, we want the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We want to hear our Redeemer’s voice speaking in holy Scripture. So send us the Spirit of Christ we pray, illuminate our sin-benighted understanding, grant that we may meekly receive the engrafted Word, and may all glory and praise be Yours, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Matthew chapter 20 at the twentieth verse. This is the Word of God:
“Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him,” that is, to Jesus, “with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, ‘What do you want?’ 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.’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We are able.’ 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.’ And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among 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.’”
Amen, and we praise God that He has spoken in His holy, inerrant Word.
Let’s look at verses 20 through 23 first of all. There is no crown without a cross. I found an article as I was considering the topics here, looking for illustrative material, I came across an article in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology – it sounds like a dreadfully boring journal I have to say, but the article caught my eye. It has the modest title, “My Child is God’s Gift to Humanity.” The article actually looks at the phenomenon of proud parents who simply cannot accept that their little darling is not a star in the making, a cut above the rest, something special. And at first glance at least, when the mother of the sons of Zebedee comes to Jesus with her request that her two boys get special treatment, we might reasonably wonder if perhaps she was a case study for that article.
Now if you read Mark’s account of the same event, Mark tells us that the two sons in question are James and John. And while we might roll our eyes at their mother’s obvious overestimation of her sons’ importance, a closer look reveals that it’s actually they who are the ones who have a question for Jesus. You’ll notice when Jesus responds in verse 22 He addresses the sons, not the mother. The questions are in the plural not the singular and it is the sons who answer. And when they find out about the exchange, the ten remaining disciples are spitting mad, not at the mother who asks the question, but at James and John who put her up to it. And so now we get to see what’s really going on. It’s the two boys who have put mom up to all of this. It is actually possible, scholars speculate, that this woman is the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus, which would mean that cousin James and John thought that coming from His auntie, the request might be harder for Jesus to refuse. And if that’s right, it means that right out of the gate these two disciples are trying to manipulate, they’re trying to leverage family ties to secure their desires from Jesus. As we are going to see, they have completely misunderstood the power dynamics of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
And look at their request. What is it that they want? It is extraordinary in its audacity, isn’t it? Mom comes to Jesus and asks Him to guarantee that her two boys would sit at His right hand and on His left when He enters into His kingdom. Back in chapter 19, if you look back at 19 verse 28, you’ll see that Jesus actually told the twelve disciples that on the day that He returns to judge the world from His glorious throne, they would also get to sit on a throne each, right along with Him. But for James and John, apparently that’s not good enough. They want positions of special prestige. You know, “Lord, let the other ten be down on sort of the ground level so that we can have a couple of thrones up a step or two and nearer to You. That would be perfect.” But notice how Jesus responds in verse 22. “You do not know what you are asking.” He immediately exposes their fundamental ignorance, their lack of understanding.
And actually I think here’s a point worth lingering over and pressing down into our consciences for a moment. D.A. Carson notes, “It is often ignorance that seeks leadership, power and glory.” “It is often ignorance that seeks leadership, power and glory.” Those who are attracted to office and position and leadership out to take a beat and check their hearts, lest like James and John they rush in thinking only of the glory of it all without adequately counting the cost.
And that is actually the great gap in the thinking of these two brothers, isn’t it? If they want to reign with Jesus on His throne, Jesus tells them they need to drink the cup that has been given to Him to drink. “Are you able to drink the cup I am to drink?” He asks now. The cup in the Old Testament scriptures is a classic image of divine judgment and retribution. That’s what He means by the cup. Isaiah 51:17, “You who have drunk from the hand of the Lord, the cup of His wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.” Or Jeremiah 21:15-16, “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.” The cup is the cup of God’s judgment and wrath appointed for the rebel nations of the world. Astonishingly here in our passage, Jesus says He has come to drink that cup dry Himself.
And what’s particularly amazing about James and John at this moment, given that that’s what Jesus is talking about is their reply, “Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? The cup of the fury of the wrath of a holy God?” “We are able,” they say. Now I don’t think they’re just saying whatever they imagine Jesus wants to hear in order to get His assurance that they will have positions of prominence. They’re not just telling Jesus whatever He will buy. They appear to be earnest and sincere, but they clearly do not understand at all what is entailed in the cup of wrath that Christ will drink to the dregs. But they ought to have known; they ought to have known because He just told them in verses 17 through 19 immediately prior to these verses now before us. Jesus told them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified and He will be raised on the third day.”
Among the various predictions we can find scattered throughout the gospels of Jesus’ sufferings, this may be the most explicit and detailed – delivered to His enemies, condemned to death, handed over to the Gentiles, mocked, flogged, crucified. That’s what the cup contains for Jesus. It is the cup of the judgment of God poured out for sinners and drunk to the dregs by our Savior. It is the cup filled to the brim with the horror of Calvary. And so when Jesus asks them if they can drink that cup, their unhesitating affirmative answer betrays their almost risible naivety. Doesn’t it? How naive they sound. “Oh yes, they are able.” Somehow they seem to have edited out verses 17 to 19 from their memories. Their minds are still enthralled, it seems, by the promise of chapter 19 verse 28 and the idea of twelve thrones that they will all sit on in judgment day. And they seem to have skipped right over the cross and gone straight to the crown.
But Jesus reminds them, and He reminds us, that there is no throne without Calvary. There can be no crown without the cup of suffering. That is the pattern for Jesus Christ and actually it is the pattern for every Christian. As Paul told – you remember – Paul told the believers in the churches in Lystra and Iconium and Antioch in Acts 14, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom.” The chorus, “Do Lord” – do you remember “Do Lord”? – may be the most annoying Christian song ever penned! There is one version of that rather glib little song that is right on point when it sings, “If you will not bear the cross, you can’t wear the crown. If you will not bear the cross, you can’t wear the crown. If you will not bear the cross, you can’t wear the crown, way beyond the blue.”
It’s an elementary truth really, isn’t it, but the disciples here seem to have missed it and we often miss it too. A Christianity that pedals in triumph and riding high on an unending wave of health and wealth and prosperity is not Christianity of the New Testament nor is it the Christianity of Jesus Christ. The call to discipleship and the call to ministry, gentlemen, is a call to pick up your cross in the service of Christ and to follow Him. Jesus’ question in verse 22 is designed to make the point to James and John that to join Him in His glorious future triumph requires that we also walk with Him through present suffering. And in verse 23, He confirms that James and John will actually, they will indeed drink from His cup. James, you may remember, was the first apostolic martyr in Acts chapter 12 verse 2. The apostle John, Revelation 1:9, will endure great tribulation and be exiled to the island prison of Patmos. They were indeed going to suffer and drink the cup of suffering themselves for the sake of the Gospel.
Did you notice, by the way, how Jesus describes the cup from which they will drink? Whose cup is it? What does the text say? “You will drink My cup.” It is His cup. Christians who are suffering in the service of Christ drink from His cup. They are partakers, 2 Corinthians 1:5, “of the sufferings of Christ.” They share, Philippians 3:10, “in the fellowship of His sufferings.” Union with Jesus Christ brings not only the glorious blessings of the Gospel but the painful rejection of the world. Are you ready for that? The glorious blessings sound marvelous, but you can’t have them without understanding that they come with a cost. Have you counted the cost? Union with Christ involves not just the thrill of communion with God but the sorrow of our neighbor’s contempt. “You believe what? He rose from the dead? How stupid do you have to be?” Brothers and sisters make no mistake, the path of discipleship, while full of the wonders of forgiveness and sustaining grace and intimate fellowship with the risen and reigning Christ, the path of discipleship is nevertheless also always a cross-bearing path. It is the path to crucifixion. Are you ready to take up your cross? Gentlemen, are you ready? That is the question. Are you willing to drink down the cup of suffering in your Savior’s service? If you will not bear the cross, you can’t wear the crown. So first, this passage teaches us there is no crown without a cross.
Secondly, look down at verses 24 through 27. If it’s true in terms of eternal reward that there is no crown without a cross, the same pattern applies in earthly life and in Christian ministry. And so Jesus explains to His disciples there can be no success in His service without true service from the heart. No success in His kingdom without servant-heartedness. The remaining disciples, Matthew says, are indignant at James and John when they find out about this conversation. And the question of which of the group of twelve disciples was actually the greatest was something of an ongoing debate amongst them. Mark 9:33, Jesus finds His disciples locked in a heated exchange and He asks them what they were talking about. Mark says, “They kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.” And now it seems since they couldn’t settle the matter among themselves, James and John have sent their mother to Jesus to try and manipulate Him into taking their side and get Jesus to settle the dispute by naming them top-dog. Somehow the others find out about their scheme and they’re pretty mad about it. “Who do they think they are? They’re not any better than the rest of us! How dare they go to Jesus behind our backs!” They’re like bickering children, some of whom have tried to manipulate dad into taking their side.
And so Jesus calls the whole group together and explains the true nature of the power dynamics of the kingdom of God. First notice, however, the way He characterizes the leadership patterns of the world. Verse 25, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them.” That phrase, “lord it over,” actually sounds more critical than the Greek can really bear. The point isn’t to highlight the abusive power so much as the nature of power itself, the way it ordinarily works in secular, social structures. It’s based on military might or administrative sophistication. It is a meritocracy or perhaps an aristocracy. It’s about privilege and position and personal charisma and ability. This is simply the way people rise to the top of the ladder in business, in politics, in government, in society. It was that way in Jesus’ day; it’s that way in our day too, isn’t it? You just beat the competition.
But look at verses 26 and 27. “It shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave.” Jesus isn’t repudiating the idea of leadership altogether, but He is showing us the way to identify real leaders in His kingdom. Who are they? Are they the powerful of society? Are they the ones who can leverage family ties and personal connections to get ahead like James and John seem to be doing here, sending Jesus’ auntie in to do their dirty work? What is the mark of greatness in the kingdom of Jesus Christ? “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant. Whoever would be first among you must be your slave.” The word “servant,” remember, from our opening remarks is the Greek term “diakonos,” sometimes translated “servant,” sometimes “minister,” sometimes “deacon.” Of course Jesus isn’t talking about official officers in the church here. Sorry to disappoint you, brothers, but Jesus is not saying, “If you want to be great, you must be a deacon.” That’s not His point. But it should be, I think, instructive for us as we are thinking about deacons tonight that their title is the word that Jesus uses here – servant.
And just to make sure He gets the point, He adds another term far more visceral and provocative in verse 27. Not “diakonos” this time, “servant,” but “doulos” – “slave.” A slave is allowed no personal agenda, no rights to go at his own pace or deploy his own resources selectively in pursuit of his own ends. He belongs entirely to someone else. Greatness in the kingdom is service to Christ and His people. It is slavery to the agenda to King Jesus for the welfare and the good of every citizen in His kingdom. Don Carson points out that, “In the pagan world, humility was regarded not so much as a virtue but as a vice.” Imagine a slave being given leadership. Jesus’ ethic of leadership and power in His community of disciples was revolutionary. That’s true, isn’t it? Revolutionary. Servant of all. Slave of all. That’s greatness.
Deacons elect, let me exhort you in the light of the teaching of our text to understand correctly the office to which you have been called. You will have real authority in the decisions that are entrusted to you. You will have a role of significant influence that can shape the work and the mission of this church in all sorts of important ways. And the temptation will be very real sometimes to revert to the power dynamics of the world. As you go about the work of your office, what rule then should you apply to determine how best to invest your time and your labor and your resources? What standard should you use to help assess whether this course of action is faithful to the call of Jesus Christ in your lives? Jesus is giving it to you here. It is service. Service. You are to be a slave to the highest spiritual welfare of the people of God. And so ask yourself as you go about the work entrusted to you, “Will this serve the will of Christ in the lives of the saints? Am I acting here like a slave of King Jesus for the good of His people, bowing before His manifest will in holy Scripture? Or am I being driven by the desire to be seen and praised and flattered? Am I motivated by getting my own way? Do I enjoy pushing other people around, excluding some, playing favorites?” You are “diakanoi,” servants; that’s what you are, servants. It’s not an opportunity to be made much of. It’s not a venue for you to pursue your own agenda. It is not the fast track to promotion in the church. “Persons truly secure in who they are as servants of Jesus have no need to domineer others,” writes Knox Chamblin. “Embraced by the love of God’s own Son, their self worth does not depend on esteeming themselves superior to others.” That’s really it. Let me say it again. “Persons truly secure in who they are as servants of Jesus have no need to domineer others. Embraced by the love of God’s own Son, their self worth does not depend on esteeming themselves superior to others.” “It shall not be so among you,” Jesus says, “but whoever would be great must be your servant. Whoever would be first must be your slave.” That, brothers, is your calling. No crown without a cost. No success in the kingdom of Christ without service.
And then finally, look at verse 28. There is no Savior without suffering. The perfect pattern for our service of others is supplied by the Lord Jesus Christ, isn’t it? “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 give His life a ransom for many.” Now the Son of Man, that’s a title of greatness and exaltation and glory. It comes from the vision of the prophet Daniel in Daniel chapter 7 in which Daniel sees a divine figure. The Son of Man, he names Him, coming to the Ancient of Days, God the Father. And He is given dominion and authority to rule over the nations. That is who Jesus is. He is the divine Son of Man from Daniel’s vision who comes to rule the world. It was this vision that Jesus was evoking for the disciples back in Matthew 19:28 when He talked about judgment day and reigning from His throne. The Son of Man will appear in splendor to judge the nations.
This is the kind of Savior James and John can really get behind. They really like all this glory and throne stuff. All power, all victory, all glory, all the time. No suffering. But here in verse 28, Jesus says the same Son of Man, before He may enter into the glory of His triumphant reign, must serve sinners and offer His life for the price of our manumission, of our being set free from the bondage of sin. He came, He said, to be our ransom. That was His mission; that’s why He was sent into the world – to pay the slave price that we might go free. And in fulfillment of that mission nothing was held back, was it? Nothing kept in reserve for Himself. He gave all of Himself, the whole of Himself, body and soul, to the hell of Calvary for you, dear believer in Jesus. “The one who was in form God,” as Paul puts it so memorably in Philippians chapter 2, “The one who was in form God, the Son of Man, He emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant.” Literally the word is “doulos,” a slave. “And He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of a cross.” “He was pierced for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with His wounds we are healed.” “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to our own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Jesus gave it all. Held nothing back. He was the slave of God and the slave of sinners. He humbled Himself all the way down into the monstrous sufferings of the cross and secured our salvation, our deliverance by His obedience and blood. There is no Savior without the suffering. That’s what James and John did not fully understand.
And now Jesus says to us here, to you and to me, to all those for whom He died, “Since I have given Myself for you, I want you now to spend the rest of your days learning to imitate Me. I want you to have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. I who am in form God, I humbled Myself and became a slave and I want you now to do the same. Humble yourself. I want you to humble yourself. Climb down from your pedestal. Tip the crown from your head and humble yourself. Wash the disciples’ feet. Just as I have washed the stain of your sin away by My precious lifeblood, so I have left you an example that you should do likewise and give yourself for the good of the people of God.” That is the mindset that we need, all of us, if we are to be faithful followers of King Jesus. This is greatness, this is greatness in His kingdom – a cruciform life. That’s the call of Christ, especially to you, brothers, who are called to serve as deacons in this church. A cruciform life – cross-shaped. Give it all. Give it all for His glory in the service of His cause for the good of His people.
There is no crown without a cross. There is no success in the kingdom without service. And there is no Savior without suffering. Greatness in the kingdom is measured by service. May God make you great. Let’s pray.Father, thank You for the way Your Word strips away our defenses, exposes our pride, shows us what Christ has done for us, for our pardon, and then calls us to mean from the heart what we sing often with our lips – “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all.” Help us, Lord, to be truly great, all of us, to be truly great in Your kingdom by becoming the servant of all, the slave of all, for the honor of the matchless name of Christ in whose name we now pray. Amen.