Illustration:
A Sunday School Teacher was trying to train her kids. She had told them how to behave, and especially since she was teaching at the Sunday school, she wanted to make sure her kids were behaving properly. To make sure that they understood, she asked, "Now why is it that we do not make noise in the church?" There was a long pause, and then her daughter said, "Because, some people are sleeping!"
READ Matthew 19:28-20:28
These passages are all connected even though it is a long passage.
In the Kingdom of God there are rewards built in to obeying God. The life of the Spirit is the spiritual life of servanthood. Sometimes it is sacrifice, sometimes you have to give things up or live an austere life -- give up comforts and pleasures that you might otherwise embrace, except that you are living your life for Jesus. Sometimes it is an abundant life, you have more than you need, and sometimes you end up in prison. But whatever God has chosen for your life, we obey that choice that He has made for us. We bring ourselves into alignment with His purposes for our lives. As we do that whenever we give up fathers, mothers, sisters, children, spouses, because we are serving God, we find that God will bring into our lives mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, relationships of the Spirit, so that wherever we go, we will find brothers and sisters.
ILLUSTRATION
When we left the United States to live here, we may have had the feeling that we were giving some things up...We had a nice place to live, good jobs, and we were in a very beautiful place in Southern California, and we came to India and Bangalore was a lot simpler earlier.
I left my parents and family -- cousins, brothers and came to India. But I think that something that we experienced a few years ago gives an illustration of what Jesus explains in this passage.
In 2004, I felt that God was asking us to take a journey in US. We were there for a couple of years when my wife was finishing her music degree program. After that, I wanted to fly out from the other side of the country and drive the whole way. We did not have a vehicle to drive across the country. I tried different options. But I was praying -- where God guides, He provides. So I called some friends to say that we were driving across and asked them if they wanted us to do some music we were available.
One of those couples that invited us was the American CEO for India, for Etan. They had over 80,000 employees worldwide. They called us and said, "We heard that you are here. We are in San Diego. We want to come over and have dinner." So they literally invited themselves over for dinner. They asked us about our plans and I told them about our plan to travel across the country, although we did not have a car. They said, "We have a car here (it was one of those Ford explorers) and we have airplane tickets to go home. Would you do us a favor, and drive our car across the country?" And they lived on the other side of the country, from where we were planning to fly out. I said, "Sure!!" So they were treating us like family.
We travelled 30 days through California, about 10,000 KMS. In those 30 days, there was just one night we stayed in a hotel, because we were tired of staying with friends and family.
In other words, we always had a place to stay. Not that cousins and brothers by blood relations, but in the Kingdom of God, people who opened their doors and gave us a place to stay. We had houses, vehicles, family, relations, who opened their doors for us. Yes we gave up something, I guess, but what we gave up was not nearly as valuable as what God had given us in return.
Now Jesus is talking about eternal life, He is saying, some who are first will be last, and some who are last will be first. Then He gives a parable of a landowner who is inviting workers to come. We will talk about that in a moment.
In all these stories - of who is great in the Kingdom, the rewards of the Kingdom, then Jesus telling us about His crucifixion, followed by Mrs. Zebedee coming and asking for his boys to have a special place in His kingdom, all these are linked showing us the economy of the Kingdom of God.
A central message to all of these passages:
God's system of reward and values-His economy-is different from ours.
1. The disciples ask what they're going to get and Jesus tells them all kinds of good things-homes, families-in this life, and in the coming kingdom, eternal life. And the 12 will sit on thrones (Rev. 4 & 5 etc.). In Revelation we see 24 thrones. We know that Judas does not get that throne, and another apostle who is going to get that spot. The disciples decided it was Matthais, but I think Jesus had chosen Paul. Probably when we get to heaven we can be surer on that. 12 of those were reserved for the 12 disciples of Jesus.
2. But, some who are first will be last and the last will be first. . .
3. The first shall be last principle is illustrated by a vineyard owner who hires people throughout the day, but pays all the same at the end of the day--the earliest ones first--to make a point.
All receive salvation based on faith and response, and work in the Kingdom.
Some of us might feel, I have dedicated my life to serve God and I deserve salvation. The truth is when it comes to salvation, it does not matter how long you have been serving. You are accepted by faith and by grace, just like everybody else. Salvation is free to all. The person who is saved in the death bed and is dying, and they pray and receive Christ into their heart, and dies, that person will receive the same gift of salvation as the person who has been serving the Lord in ministry for 70 years or so.
It seems to be implied that people who've worked longer deserve better and the others do not deserve the same way. But salvation is a gift.
We see the vignette with Mrs. Zebedee and her two sons. . . she wants her kids sitting in places of authority. She has this request, and Jesus corrects her perspective. She is a good mom and she is not asking for health, wealth or prosperity here on earth. She is asking for them to have the position of authority in the Kingdom of God, and that is a good thing. Her focus, motivation and attitude are right, but her understanding is wrong.
Jesus then by passes the mother and talks to the sons. They say, yes, they can drink the cup. James and John, both were in fact martyrs. James was killed and John was the only one who was not killed. But he was boiled in oil! The soldiers figured that more will come to faith, so they extinguished the fire, pulled the guy out, and said, "If we cannot kill you this way, we will put you in an exile." He was put in an exile of Patmos. But all the disciples suffered. In Jesus' case it was suffering for the sake of the sins of the world.
So Jesus says two things:
1. There is a price to be paid for leadership in the Kingdom-it requires dying to yourself and taking up the cross-the cup here is the cup of suffering-the cup of God's wrath which should have been poured out on sinful humanity was poured out on Jesus.
We are to add to this suffering and participate in the work of redemption of the world through the loss of our lives, our power, our prestige, our position--not by gaining those things.
2. Position in the Kingdom of God comes only by God's will. Even Jesus is not willing to offer positions of leadership in the Kingdom without the Father's clear instructions. When He chose the 12, He spent the entire previous night in prayer.
Leadership in the Kingdom has NOTHING to do with family relationships, fame, money, or any of the other means people use to procure power in the world. It has to do with servanthood (and this, once again, requires obedience).
It is no accident that in the midst of these teaching on the economy of the Kingdom, Jesus announces for the third time His death, and at the end He announces the reason for His coming--to serve, not to be served.
READ Philippians 2:1-15
Pastor Brad Lewis says:
"There's no insignificant service in God's eyes. . . The Bible says that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever without value. When you minister even in the smallest way, you're making an impact for eternity."
The word "minister" means "serve," if it is a verb. The word "minister" means "servant."
I was on my way out of the door and I knew things were slow this morning. I asked John (a friend staying with us) if he could make breakfast. He said, "Sure." And he got up and got busy. I thought there is a person with potential for the Kingdom of God.
It is not your ability to tell people what to do, or your ability to make difficult decisions...it is not what many people exalt as being leadership quality and not even the quality to work with people and overcome conflicts.
Leadership in the Kingdom of God is about service and humility. It is about working at a level where you are equal or even below everybody else.
The minister should not be the one who is served by everybody else. The Christian tradition in India exalts the minister as a position of great respect and honor. You cannot go as a pastor to a meeting without getting some kind of special respect. That is unfortunate. We really are given leadership in the Kingdom, because of our ability to serve. If you are cleaning the toilets, you are doing something of service to God. If you are too good to clean toilets, then you are too good for the Kingdom of God.
ILLUSTRATION:
Pastor Chuck Smith was sitting in his office and he noticed the gardener who volunteers himself to pull the weeds out, to mow the lawn, and the campus was really nice because of him taking care of it.
The pastor is pastoring a people of over 50,000 people, and from that church over 1000 churches have been planted all over the world. This pastor who has made an impact all over the world, is looking at the gardener and thinking, "You know that man is going to be in the front row in heaven; he is going to get greater rewards than me, because he is doing his work quietly. He is serving God without getting any recognition or whatsoever."
I think that pastor is correct. I have sung in front of 1000s of people literally 1000's of time. When you are a performer you get undue attention. And as a minister of the Gospel, you also get inappropriate respect probably. And when we get to heaven, Jesus will go through all the things we did, and He will know where our heart was. He will look at the time when we set up the chairs, whether we had the attitude of servanthood. And I see other people telling other people what to do, and then I think, "Hmm...that person has something to learn."
If you really want to lead in the Kingdom, you have to lead through serving. You lead by serving, through humility, by treating others as better than yourselves. You do not lead by telling everybody what to do.
ILLUSTRATION:
There is a story about a couple that went to heaven and in this life they loved each other, but from a distance. So when they got to heaven, they decided to get married. They said to Peter, "Pete, we want to get married." And Peter says, "You have got eternity, why don't you think of it for 50 years and get back later?" So they come back after 50 years, and they said, "Peter we surely want to get married." And again Peter said, think about it for another 50 years and come back. They said they had already done that and they were very sure that they wanted to get married. (By the way, Jesus said there is no marriage in heaven. This is just a story.) So Peter said, "Hmm...just wait a little while, as soon as we get a pastor, we can get you married."
In other words there were no pastors there to do the weddings, and that is why Peter asked them to wait for 50 years!
I think when we get to heaven we may be surprised who is there and who is not there. And also surprised by who gets extraordinary rewards and very little rewards. In heaven the whole economy is different. I think the people who are quietly praying and quietly seeking the Lord, they are the ones who will get extra-ordinary reception in heaven. It will not be the super-saints, but the people sitting next to us whom we do not even know!
