Luke, The Orderly Account of Truth - Something About Serving - Luke 22:24-30

Awesome. We are in a series called Luke The Orderly

Account of Truth. Luke the Orderly Account of Truth, and

we're going verse by verse through the whole Gospel of Luke.

A physician named Luke did a careful investigation of who

Jesus is and what he taught, and he put all

of his what he's learned from this investigation together in

an orderly account. And it's through this orderly account that

we can have certainty or know with certainty the truth

about who Jesus is and what he taught. And last

week we got to learn about communion, which I thought

was pretty awesome. Lord's Supper Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper.

Jesus told his disciples whenever they take communion, they're to

do it in remembrance of him, to remember his body

that was given for them, the death that he experienced,

that death was for them, and his blood that was spilt.

There was the new Covenant in his blood, just like

the sacrificial lamb, and that they remember during past that

they look to the blood of the lamb to save

them from the wrath of God. That Jesus is the

better lamb. He is the better lamb who takes away

the sin of the world, and so now we look

to his blood to save us from the wrath of God.

And this meal and this conversation that Jesus is having

with his disciples, it's all happening on the last week

of his life on earth. It's the night before he's

going to be arrested. And at this meal, Jesus tells

the disciples that the one who's going to betray him

is at the table with them, sitting at the table

with him. So the disciples start talking together and they're

trying to figure out who. Okay, so who's it going

to be, Who's the one who's going to betray Jesus?

And that leads us to the text that we're going

to be going through today. The conversation between the disciples

goes from wondering who's going to betray Jesus and it

digresses into who they think is the greatest among them.

That's a weird turn, a weird switch of a conversation,

but I can totally see how that could have happened,

because conversations among dudes happen like this all the time.

Tell me, if this sounds familiar, you have a group

of guys playing basketball. Someone makes a shot and misses it.

Another guy steps up and says, dude, you miss that shot.

You are the literally the worst basketball player on the

face of the planet. And then the guy claps back

and he's like, no, I'm at least I'm better than you.

And then eventually the conversation turns into well, who's the

best out of all of us? And just like that,

the conversation goes from who's the worst to who's the best.

So I wonder if the disciples conversation might have gone

with something a little bit like that, conversations among guys

going from who's the worst to who's the best. But

it's in this moment where the Disciples are arguing over

who's the best, that Jesus has to stop them and

he has to drop some knowledge on them. He has

to show them the error of their way of thinking.

So grab your bibles. Start turning to Luke chapter twenty two.

And if you need a Bible, we have a bunch

of them at the desk at the resource desk in

the lobby, and we'd love for you to go grab

one today. We're in Luke chapter twenty two, verses twenty

four through thirty. And I'd like to read our texts

and then see what Jesus says, and then will pray

guys ready Verse twenty four. A dispute also arose among

them as to which of them was to be regarded

as the greatest. And he said to them, the kings

of the gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in

authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather,

let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and

the leader as the one who serves. 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. You

are those who have stayed with me in my trials.

And I assigned to you, as my father assigned to

me a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at

my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging

the twelve tribes of Israel. Let's pray, got we thank

you for this moment. We set aside all distractions out

of our head. As best we can. We open up

our hearts to receive from your word, God, let us

hear what you'd have us here today. Let us understand

the things you'd have us understand and apply what we

need to apply to our lives. But God, as you

did with your disciples, please open up our minds to

understand your scriptures today. Let these words jump off the

page and go right into our hearts. It's not about

the book, it's about the words you spoke. And so God,

let these your words do their work in our hearts today.

In Jesus name, everybody said amen. Well, if you're taking notes,

the title of today's message is something about serving, something

about serving, because they're just something about serving other people.

There's just something about it when you see someone help

an old lady cross the street, or when a man

holds open a door for a lady. How about when

the kids carry in the groceries, or when someone offers

their seat to someone who's standing. We look at all

of these different things in the same way. We think

they're awesome, that these things are something that's worthy of honor.

These are honorable things to do. Think about the movies

that we watch. I love the movie three hundred. Anybody

else like that movie? All the guys are like yeah,

leaders like come on, get rid of it. Leonidas. He's

the king. He's not hiding in the back. What's he doing.

He's serving on the front lines of battle. We see

that as an honorable thing. Think of our own military.

Why do we celebrate Veterans Day Memorial Day. It's to

honor those who have served our country. All we look

at people who humbly serve others, or who humble themselves

and serve others as worthy of honor. And as these

disciples get into this argument over who's the greatest among them,

Jesus makes the point that you should definitely write this

down because this is the main main idea today makes

the point that the greatest in the Kingdom of God

are those who humbly serve others. That the greatest in

the Kingdom of God are those who humbly serve others.

This's the main idea want us to understand from today

that the Kingdom of God doesn't work the same way

the world does. It's very different in some ways. It's

the exact opposite of what the world would tell you

to do. It's not those who put themselves on top

or those who exalt themselves that are the greatest in

the Kingdom of God. Who is it. It's the lowly,

it's the humble, it's the one who serves other people.

And this is what Jesus taught. And this is definitely

what Jesus modeled. You guys, ready to get into this

text and break it down. Let's hear the disciples argue

verse twenty four. That dispute also arose among them, among

them being the disciples, as to which of them was

to be regarded as the greatest. Who's number one? That's

their question. And he Jesus said to them, the kings

of the gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in

authority over them are called benefactors. So the kings of

the gentiles are the kings of the world. That's what

Jesus means. Here. There's the Jews and there's the Gentiles.

There's the people of God and the people who are

not of God. There's the only two categories. You're either

of God or you're of the world. Only two categories.

That tracking that makes sense, guys, tracking with that. So,

but you guys know what I mean by the word world,

and I mean it in the same way as it

says in first John, so keep your place in Luke.

I'm gonna put the verses on the screen. But in

firs John Chapter two, the verses fifteen and sixteen says,

do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father

is not in him. So we see something in contrast

here verse sixteen. For all that is in the world,

the desires of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes,

and the pride of life, is not from the Father,

but is from the world. Now when I say world,

that's what I mean. That's what I mean by the

word world. It's everything contrary to God and his kingdom.

All these things. Verse sixteen ends with is not from

the Father, but is from the world. And the Greek

word for world used here in its context. Listen to

this definition. It's worldly affairs, the aggregate of things earthly,

the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments, riches, advantages, pleasures, etc. Which,

although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God,

and are obstacles to the cause of Christ. How's that

for a definition. That's blue letter Bible, that's the Greek

definition of the word used for world. So these kings

are the gentiles. What Jesus is saying here the way

the world does things is this. The kings of the

gentiles exercise lordship over the people. They place themselves above

everybody else, and they make it so people serve who them.

They make it so people serve them. And in return,

these kings, who are in authority over the people, they're

called benefactors. They're given a title of honor as someone

who is serving their country, when in reality their country

is serving them. Now Jesus explains how the Kingdom of

God does things differently. Let's look at the next verse,

verse twenty six. But not so with you, saysn't how

you're supposed to do it. Rather, let the greatest among

you become as the youngest and the leader as one

who serves. So don't be like the kings of the gentiles,

like the kings of the world, do the opposite of

what they do. Let the greatest become like the youngest.

And I feel like we've got to pause. There's like,

what does that, as a factly mean by the youngest. Well,

in Jewish custom and culture, with age came respect and

honor as you grew older. It wasn't that the youth

reviewed as bad or as a negative thing, still viewed

as a gift from God, but they were viewed as

lower when it came to social standing. They're the most vulnerable,

the most dependent. They didn't have authority of their in

and of themselves or any rights of their own. No,

they're subject to the head of the household. But in reality,

like we view the same way today, it just might

play out a little bit different in our specific context.

For example, when they are competing desires for what you

want you're going to do as a family, who gets

the last word? Who gets to decide what the family's

actually going to do? It's the parents. The parents get

to make the decision. If I let my boys make

all decisions, they would never go to bed and we'd

have ice cream for dinner every day, which actually doesn't

sound about bad because I'm slightly still a child myself.

But if I let them make decisions, that's what they're

gonna do. That's the kind of decisions they're gonna make.

My point here is that it's a child's responsibility to

what to obey the authority of the parents. It's the

younger person's responsibility to obey the authority of the older person.

So Jesus is saying, here the greatest among you, those

who are the greatest, should be as the least. They

should be as the one who's under authority. That the

one who's in leadership, the one who leads, should be

as the one who serves. And this is just so

backwards from what the world shows us, isn't it. This

is not what the world tells us to do. What

does the world tell you to do? Says climb to

the top, says be your own boss. Don't let anyone

tell you what to do. That's what the world would

tell you to do. And Jesus is saying, it's not

a race to the top, it's a race to the bottom.

It's not a race to the top, it's a race

to the bottom. It's like what Paul says in Romans twelve.

Love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in

showing honor, to outdo one another in showing honor. Who

can honor the other person more? It's not about me.

It's not about me. It's not about elevating myself. It's

not about raising or exalting myself. It's about elevating others

and bringing other people up. The greatest in the Kingdom

of God are those who humbly serve others. And this

is not a new idea. We see this all throughout scripture.

Just a few verses earlier, in Romans chapter twelve, Paul

also says, for the grace given to me, I say

to everyone among you not to think of himself more

highly than he ought to think, but to think with

sober judgment each according to the measure of faith that

God has assigned. You don't think of yourself more highly

than you ought. And in his letter to the Church

in Philippi, Paul says, do nothing from selfish, an ambition,

or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourself.

This is just so backwards. Okay, I have this idea

that I wanted to, like preach a sermon and call

it stranger things, because you guys seeing stranger things. Okay,

it's okay, it's a safe space, you can admit it.

But the whole thing is about there's an upside down

world that's just the opposite of what you see. That's

kind of what Jesus is telling us to do right.

We're doing things that are completely opposite to the way

the world tells you to do things, or the way

the world sees it. In humility, count others more significant

than yourself. Don't look at yourself, look at others. Consider

them as more important than me. Jesus himself said, but

many who are first will be last, and the last first,

meaning that those who elevate themselves will be humbled, and

those who humble themselves at the proper time he will elevate.

And we were just talking about this in our men's

ministry night on Tuesday night. Definitely make it out to

that next month, fellas, if you haven't got to come out,

it's awesome. We're in First Peter in Peter's telling the

exiled believers how to act with one another as they're

suffering for following Jesus. And in one Peter five, this

verse will be on the screen. Five. The second half

of verse four says, clothe yourselves, all of you, with

humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but

gives grace to the humble. God opposes the proud, but

gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the

mighty hand of God. So at the proper time he

may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because

he cares for you. Man. That's if you want a

memory verse for the week, or three of them, that's

not a bad one to memorize. God opposes the the

self EXAs, but he gives grace to the humble, and

at the proper time he will exalt them, he will

lift them up. So what's our job in that it's

race to the bottom is to serve others, to put

others first. That's whose greatest in the kingdom of God,

the one who humbly serves others. But Jesus continues in

the next verse of our text, and luke, and he

asks the rhetorical question. And this rhetorical question is meant

to drive his point home. So look at verse twenty seven,

Or 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. So who do you see as the

greater person? Is it the one being served? Or is

the one who is serving? And Jesus saying, the answer

is obvious. It's the one who's being served is the

greater person. It's the one who's reclining at the table,

who's relaxing. That's what it means, decline at table. It's

like I'm waiting for you to bring me my food

or wait on me. The one who's reclining at table

is the greater one. But then Jesus says, but I'm

serving you now. And what does that say? If we're

saying the greater one is the one who reclines at

the table, yet here I am serving you, what is

Jesus saying? They all understood Jesus to be the greater one,

to be the greatest one. He's the teacher, he's the

rabbi that they've been following. They understand him to be

the greater one. Yet do you know what Jesus was

doing in this exact moment during this meal. For some reason,

I don't know why Luke didn't put it in here,

but John does want you to look at the Gospel

of John. Jesus does something remarkable to help him understand,

and this is in John chapter thirteen. Buckle up, It's

fifteen verses, but I'll read it quickly now. Before the

feasts of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour

had come to depart out of this world to the Father.

Having loved his own who were in the world, he

loved them to the end. Verse two, during supper, when

the devil had already put it in the heart of

Judas Scariot, Simon's son, to betray him. Jesus knowing that

the Father had given all things into his hand. That's

a huge line to understand, and that he had come

from God and was going back to God. Verse four.

Rose from supper, he laid aside his outer garment, and

taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he

poured water into a basin and began to wash the

disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that

was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who

said to him, Lord, did he wash my feet? And

Jesus answered him, what I am doing. You do not

understand now, but afterward you will understand. Peter said to him,

you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If

I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Simon.

Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but

also my hands and my head. That's Peter for you

overly eager. Jesus said to him, the one who has

bathed does not need to wash except for his feet,

but is completely clean. And you are clean, But not

every one of you. For he knew who was to

betray him. That's why he said not all of you

were clean Verse twelve. When he had washed their feet,

he put on his outer garment and resumed his place,

and said to them, do you understand what I have

done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and

you are right. For so I am. You call me

the greater one, and that is right. If I, then

your lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also

ought to wash one another's feet, for I've given you

an example that you should do just as I have

done to you. That's all during the Passover meal, that's

what Jesus did. During this meal. He tells the disciples,

the one who's being served is the greater one. But

here I am as the greater one, and I'm washing

your feet. To wash someone's feet is the lowest servants

job in their culture. He is doing the lowest servants

job for these disciples. Everyone walked everywhere and where, wore sandals.

What do you think their feet look like? Just send

your kids out in sandals and look at their feet

when they come home. There's not very many. There's no

paved roads. There might be some cobblestone they're walking on,

but is dirt. Your feet are disgusting. And Jesus here like,

think about that for a second. The savior of the world.

We're talking Jesus, God in the flesh, Emmanuel God with us,

the one whose name is above every other name, the

King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, the

creator of all things. That's who's kneeling down and washing

their feet. That's who's washing their feet, doing the lowest

servants job. There is no one who's more humble than Jesus.

There's no one who went from a higher place to

a lower place than Jesus. And this is the example

he's telling us to follow. That's a pretty big example.

Don't be like the kings of the world, be like

the King of all kings. Humble yourself and serve others.

This is how you lead. This is what you're supposed

to do as God's people. And after Jesus finished telling

the disciples how they're supposed to lead, he tells them

that they're going to be put in a position of authority.

So he's saying, I just told you how to do this.

Now get ready, because I'm putting you in leadership. So

let's look at these last few verses in our text today,

starting in verse twenty eight, You are those who have

stayed with me in my trials, and I assigned to you,

as my father assigned to me a kingdom that you

may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom,

and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

He's saying, you made it, Disciples, you did it. You're

stuck with Jesus. You kept the faith no matter how

hard it got. And Jesus is telling them that they're

going to be signed leadership. They'll be signed a kingdom.

They will get to eat and drink at his table

in his kingdom, and they're going to be judges of

his people in his kingdom. That's what's coming for them

in the future. So this whole thing starts out with

what it starts out with them arguing over who's the greatest,

who's the greatest among us? And then Jesus tells them

how the world leads versus, how that they are supposed

to lead, that the greatest should be, is the least

should be as the one who serves. And then he

tells his disciples, I'm going to put you in some

positions of leadership, So get ready. So my question to

all of you, what are they supposed to do? What

should they do? They should humble themselves and serve others.

They should humble themselves, lower themselves, not elevate themselves, and

serve others, not elevating above anybody else and making them

all serve them. They should imitate Jesus and humbly serve others.

And so that's our application today, this exact same thing

that we're supposed to do from this text. And if

I can have the worship team come up, please, we're

supposed to do the exact same thing, to follow the

example of Jesus, to do what he did. We're Christians,

you know what that word means, literally means, christ Like

means christ like. So are we being like Christ? Are

we following his example? Are we imitating him? Are we

humbling ourselves and serving others. Jesus himself said that the

son of man came not to be served, but to serve,

and to give his life as a ransom for many,

to literally lay his own life down for others. There's

no greater form of love. There's no greater form of

love than to lay down your life for somebody else.

There's no greater display of humility. There's no greater act

of service. And this is the example we are supposed

to follow the example of Jesus. He showed a very

simple way to serve others in how he washed the

disciples feet, But he showed the greatest way to humbly

serve others by laying down his own life for us.

That Jesus, the perfect, sinless god man, chose to die,

not just to die. He chose to die of death

that sinners deserve. We just sang about it in the song.

He chose to die a death that sinners deserve. He

was perfect. He didn't even tell a lie. How many

lies have you guys told? And Jesus didn't tell a

single lie? What did he do to deserve death? Nothing?

He did nothing to deserve death, But he willingly chose

to lay down his life, to give his life as

ransom for many. Every single one of us has sin.

In fact, the Bible says, if you say or without sin,

you're a liar, and you call God a liar. Every

single one of us has sin, and because of sin,

we deserve the wrath of God, because we're all breakers

of God's law, of his commands for humanity. So a

payment has to be made. There's something owed. It's a

payment that is owed, and it has to be made.

And God says that the payment is bloodshed. But if

you've put faith in Jesus, if you believe that Jesus

is God in the flesh, if you believe that he

lived a sinless life, that he died on the cross

for your sins, that he rose from the dead, he's

now sitting on the throne in heaven. And you call

Jesus lord. Do you know what Jesus says back? He says,

you can have my blood as payment. You can use

my blood to pay the debt that's owed. That we

don't have to make the payment using our own blood.

Because he laid down his life as ransom for many

who would believe in him. That is incredibly great news.

That is the greatest news we could ever hear, receive, understand,

and believe. Jesus, the one with all authority in heaven

and on earth. He humbled himself even to death on

the cross to serve others. And that is the example

we're supposed to follow. So go and serve somebody. Go

and serve somebody. Humble yourself and serve everywhere you go,

look for opportunities to serve somebody. Just look for those opportunities.

I promise you they're out there, especially in areas where

you have authority, power or influence. And you're like, oh,

who am I? I don't have any influence? Yes you do.

You influence somebody somewhere. So look in these spaces. Where

are opportunities that I can serve somebody? And I think

it's helpful to start from the center and move outward.

And I have a list of some helpful stuff to consider.

The first one is we should serve the Lord. It's

kind of a big one, probably the most important one.

Let's serve the Lord. We bow and obey our King Jesus.

Whenever he tells you to do something, do it. It's a

great way to start. And if you want just a

little insight and read your Bible. It's all in there

tells you to do a lot. Let's just start there,

and if you want something really specific, start with a

great commission. Go tell someone about Jesus. Tell them the gospel,

Tell them the good news that you believe that you've received,

and why you're a new creation. Serve the Lord. How

about serve your spouse? How can you serve your spouse today?

What can you do to make their life better? Husbands?

Can you do some chores? Give your wife a massage

that it might be a little personal, because I hate

giving my wife a massage. My hand's hurt really bad

and I'm doing it. Guys, how about cook a meal,

take her on a date, find her to do list

and help her with it. Every wife's got it to

do list somewhere now, whether or not they think your

help is helpful. Completely different conversation. Wives, Make your husband

a lunch for work. Use your words to encourage him,

be affectionate toward him. Hold the flashlight even if he

says something mean back, just keep holding it. Or hold

the ladder. That's a better one. We always appreciate someone

holding the ladders don't fall off of it, because it's

terrible to fall of the ladder. What about serving your family?

What can you do to serve your family? How about

do well at work so you keep a steady job.

It's kind of important. Take seriously the responsibility to shepherd

your family, to pray over and with them daily. How

about reading your Bible together, serving your church, and just

a reminder the church is not a building, it's a people.

So serving your church when we gather, loving and greeting

each other, holding the door open for someone, helping Lynn

on and off the stage when she's singing, Serve Lynn,

she's great. How about joining a team, loving on the kids,

helping teach them the Bible, helping prepare the food in

the lobby so that others can eat and fellowship, taking

out the trash, wiping down a counter, grabbing a vacuum.

We got kids, they put crumbs everywhere. How about just

praying for somebody and not just saying I will pray

for you, but saying, let me pray for you now,

serving your church, serving your neighbor. It's gould be your friends,

your coworkers, strangers, the lost, it's everybody else. Find a

way to serve them. I remember I was at the

gym recently and it was when it was raining really bad,

just I don't know, like a month ago, and I

go really late at night, so no one is like

non staffed hours. But there's a leak from the ceiling

and it's just tripping all over the floor, and so

somebody who works at the gym but it's not on

the clock. I was like, hey, is there a bucket

around can I? And they're like, yeah, there's a bucket

in the storage room. So I went down, grabbed the bucket,

put it on the floor. This is not a pat

on the back of me. And I'm saying, there's weird

ways to serve people like that. It's everywhere. Find these

reasons and ways and opportunities to serve. This is just

a list of things that I thought of this past week.

But the list of all the ways you can serve

others endless. It's literally endless. How can I humble myself

and do something helpful for you to serve you? Because

the point is, am I always looking for ways to

humble myself and serve? Is that anywhere in the realm

of my thoughts when I'm running through my life to

put others before myself and serve them rather than looking

for ways for them to serve me. And speaking of

the fellows here, husbands, fathers, God calls you to be

leader of the household and calls women to the wives

to submit. Finding that sweet spot where you're not saying

you must submit and serve me. That's a dance. So

just be sensitive the Holy Spirit and be open to

the challenge of a brother saying you're missing a brother.

But all this might feel like just a really tall order,

it's a lot. It's a lot to truly humble yourself

and to live a life that's in service to others.

But I want to give you one more encouragement as

we close here, and it's the encouragement that Paul gives

the brothers and sisters and Philippi. So it's gonna be

Philippians chapter two, and we're just gonna read the first

eleven verses of that. So if you have your Bibles,

you can out in front of you go and turn

to Philippians too. So if there's any encouragement in Christ,

any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any

affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the

same mind, having the same love, being in full accord

and of one mind. Verse three. Do nothing from selfish ambition.

That's the things I want to accomplish. Do nothing from

the selfish ambition or conceit thinking I'm way cooler than

I am. But in humility, count others more significant than yourself.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests,

but also to the interests of others. Have this in

mind among yourself, which is yours. In Christ, Jesus, who

though he was in the form of God, did not

count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but

emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being

born in the likeness of men and being found in

human he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point

of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has

highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that

is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus,

every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and

under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ's Lord,

to the glory of God the Father. When it gets

difficult to humble yourself or when it's hard to serve others,

or you just get tired of it, because that's real.

We sh just get tired of it. When you start

thinking it's all about you, look to Jesus again. You're

a Christian. If you put faith in Jesus, you're a Christian.

That means to be christ Like. So when you start

thinking of yourself, look to Jesus and remember what he

did for you. Remember the humility he showed as he

laid down his own life for us, and imitate it.

To imitate that the greatest in the Kingdom of God,

the one that he sees as truly great, are those

who humbly serve others. So humble yourself and serve everyone everywhere. Amen,

You guys, stand at your feet, please,