Luke 22:24-30 "Who Is the Greatest?"

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There's accolades, there's attention, there's status, there's popularity, greatness.

Maybe you can see it in the desire for your college team to win the national championship.

You want them to be great.

Maybe you can see it in the desire for your pro football team to win the Super Bowl.

Maybe you can see it in your kids' education, right?

They have to be the best and go to the best so that later they can get all those great things.

Kids, teenagers, maybe you can see it in your desire to be number one,

that pressure at everything you do where you've got to have the best friends,

you've got to have the best reputation so that everybody realizes that you're the coolest,

you're the prettiest, you're the smartest, you're the greatest.

Perhaps it's seen in the need to broadcast your life and your feelings on social media,

only posting pictures that really make you look good and fun and happy,

like your life is the greatest, but you crop out the rest of your life that's probably the most part.

Or maybe you're too good for that, so you only post the pictures of the bad parts of life

because you're too good to post the superficial ones, but you're still wanting those likes.

Perhaps it's your desire to be right all the time and for everyone else to know that you're right too.

Or maybe it's that job that you just haven't gotten yet,

that one that's going to give you everything you ever wanted,

and the company car, and the expense account, and that house with that white picket fence.

And once you get it, once you get that job, everything's okay.

Whatever it is, we have a culture that strives for accolades and things in a way that is sometimes just overwhelming,

and just a lot of noise.

But if we had all these things, would we really be happy?

Would we really be fulfilled?

Would we really be complete?

Well, let's ask Tom Brady.

Tom Brady.

Tom Brady, the quarterback of the New England Patriots, is not only one of the NFL's best players,

he's one of the NFL's great stories.

At the tender age of 30, he has already won three Super Bowls,

an accomplishment that ranks him with some of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game.

And he's having one of the greatest seasons in pro football history.

When we first reported on him back in 2005, he seemed underrated and almost overlooked.

He doesn't have the arm of Peyton Manning, and he doesn't have tattoos, and he doesn't take steroids.

And he's never held out for more money.

All he knows how to do is win.

It's what you always wanted.

You're right.

You're right.

It has.

And I didn't think it came with all the other baggage, though.

In addition to his success on the field and his sex appeal off it,

there is also the $60 million 10-year contract to play with the Patriots.

I mean, I'm making more money now than I ever thought I could ever make playing football.

But with all that money, fame, and career accomplishments, we were surprised to hear this from it.

Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me?

I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey, man, this is what it is.

I reached my goal, my dream, my life is...

Me, I thank God.

It's got to be more than this.

What's the answer?

I wish I knew.

I wish I knew.

There's got to be more than this.

All right, and that was three Super Bowl titles ago.

I'm not trying to pick on Tom, but I would think most of us would say that's probably the greatest thing you could ever achieve.

And here's a guy having that and saying there's got to be more.

Or comedian actor Jim Carrey says this,

I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.

If we're longing for something that this world can never give us, then we are made for another world, is what C.S. Lewis says.

John Calvin describes us as perpetual idol factories where we're always putting other things in the places that are really meant for God.

But Derek, if I could just walk around with Jesus and see him face to face, just like the disciples did, then it would be different.

It'd be easier.

Or would it?

And that's what our passage today gives us an opportunity to see.

So let's look at this together.

Luke chapter 22, verses 24 through 30.

Luke 22:24–30

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 assign 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.

Father, let your word penetrate our hearts.

May it change us.

May it fall on fertile soil, and may it sprout to eternal life in us today, I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You see, you're not alone in the struggle for greatness.

And if you were near Jesus, walking around with him, you would have been doing the same thing that disciples are doing.

If not, then why is it in the Bible?

It's there so that we know that we're not so different.

And here Jesus, the maker of all things, he's giving us the words of life.

The lamp for our feet, right?

That's his lamp.

The light for our path.

And in doing so, he answers three important questions as we talk about this.

The first is, what is the posture of paradise?

If you're going to be there, what do you got to be like?

What's the proper understanding of greatest, and what's the purpose of it all?

First, what's the posture of paradise?

In verses 24 through 26,

So Jesus, remember, we heard last week, he's just finished the Passover meal,

and in another account, he's just washed the disciples' feet.

He's saying his temporary goodbyes to his beloved disciples.

And remember, he just told them that one of them would betray him, and they started arguing about him.

But as the dispute arose, it led to a quarrel.

And this shouldn't surprise us, because I can't confirm what Jesus felt, but I bet it didn't feel good,

but he had seen this before.

Okay, it shouldn't surprise us.

Imagine here, all the people that he spent the past years of his life with,

he's about to give his life for them, he's washed their feet,

and they're bickering about who's going to be the greatest in heaven.

Now, in the Greco-Roman society where they were banquets, okay,

they were all about places of honor, where you sat at the table.

Your seat at the table, right?

Closer to the front kind of mentality.

Closer to the speaker.

And little did the disciples realize that this, where they were sitting,

is actually the most important seat of their lives.

Okay, because they're seated next to the king of all kings.

They're bickering about who's the greatest.

But they wanted more, right?

Just like we would.

And I don't think it would have surprised Jesus,

because, like I said, it's a discussion that they had had before.

Let's look at Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

So, after that, in Luke 18, the disciples again say,

keep the children away from Jesus.

And he says, no, no, no, no.

Let the children come to me.

For to such belongs the kingdom of God.

So, this is a very common theme with the disciples.

Who's the greatest?

So, how does Jesus respond?

Well, if you look at verse 25,

he says right there,

the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them,

and those in authority over them are called benefactors.

What does he mean by that?

Well, he's comparing the disciples' attitudes to that of the Gentile kings.

Okay?

And in the society there, they were called benefactors.

Those were the people that gave.

And they gave to get.

So, if you ruled, you typically had money.

And you got the places of honor.

And you gave money to get those places of honor.

That's how you got to where you were.

And that authority was typically abused

and lorded over all of the people that were in these cities.

And it was only the wealthy who got these spots.

And they got incentives in return for their benevolence.

Okay?

So, Jesus is basically saying,

you're being like them,

but not so with the kingdom of heaven.

See, that's not the posture of paradise.

So, he continues his response

by illustrating the true posture of paradise.

By bringing in the example of children.

And this time, he adds the example of servants.

And we think of servants.

Think in this instance of waitstaff.

But think of those that are serving those

in the places of honor.

Okay?

And those who follow King Jesus

should learn from children and servants.

Children, you're so important.

You hear that?

Jesus says that we got to learn from you.

That's a pretty big deal.

Don't ever underestimate your importance.

Okay?

But these places in society

of children and waitstaff, so to speak,

they were the lowest places of honor.

But Jesus says,

let the greatest among you

become as the youngest

and the leader as the one who serves.

So, what's the posture of paradise?

The posture of paradise

is the same as it was with children

when they came to Jesus.

It's dependence.

It's humility.

Dare I say, in the world's eyes,

it's humiliation.

Where weakness is strength.

Okay?

And life is about giving rather than taking.

Giving without expectation of return.

Serving King Jesus

without a desire to be the greatest in our heart.

But rather a desire to give the greatest.

The love of Christ to those around us.

Why?

Because that's what our King does for us.

So that means leaders.

We must learn to become like those

that serve us.

That means adults.

We must become like children.

How do we do this?

By remembering first

that we are all kids of the King.

No matter how old,

how young,

how successful,

how desperate,

through faith in Jesus Christ,

we are adopted as sons and daughters of God,

which makes us kids of the King.

Yahweh is then our Father who art in heaven.

Jesus is our King and our brother

and our defender and our mediator,

our Lord of Lords and our Messiah.

He's also our brother, right?

And His Holy Spirit then empowers us

to live with the posture of paradise,

dependence,

humility,

which is otherworldly in the world that we live in today.

Where we lay our lives down

as we offer them to live for the sake of another.

Father,

this is what worship is.

And we have to take then our reputations,

we have to take our desires for all of the greatness,

our accolades,

our honors,

our idols,

to Him.

And we have to ask Him to crush them

and replace them with more of Him.

That's the posture of paradise.

But we also get to deal with the question

of what is the proper understanding

of greatest in this passage.

Let's look at verse 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.

Jesus here is teaching us

that the only way to really answer the question

and understand greatest

is to look at Him.

So He asks that rhetorical question about honor.

And the obvious answer is

that in their eyes,

the place of honor

is the person who's seated at the place of the table.

The greatest place of the table.

Not the servant.

Think about it.

In America,

the more money you have,

the closer you sit to the front row,

except in church.

At the Grammys,

the most famous people are up front.

At the Super Bowl,

the wealthiest are in the best seats.

Kids,

teenagers,

the most important and popular people

are the ones who throw the parties at their house

or invite you to the party.

But what about those who aren't wealthy?

What about those who are living

in the parking lot of the stadium?

What about those

who are the hot dog dudes of the world?

Serving those sitting at those places.

Ice cold Dr. Pepper here.

That dude.

Right?

Those are closer

to who Jesus is saying

that we need to understand and be like.

Here's what it looks like.

Let's look at Matthew 15.

And behold,

a Canaanite woman

from that region

came out and was crying,

Have mercy on me,

O Lord,

son of David.

My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

But he did not answer her a word.

And his disciples came

and begged him,

saying,

Send her away,

for she is crying out after us.

She's bothering us.

Get her away.

She's not important.

He answered,

I was sent only to the lost sheep

of the house of Israel.

But she came and knelt before him,

saying,

Lord,

help me.

And he answered,

It's not right to take the children's bread

and throw it to the dogs.

She said,

Yes,

Lord.

Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs

that fall from their master's table.

And then Jesus answered her,

O woman,

great is your faith,

be it done for you as you desire.

And her daughter was healed instantly.

So this woman had such great faith

because she realized

that in relation to Jesus Christ,

we are all dogs

waiting for crumbs.

And he saw that.

And he tested her.

And he acknowledged that she was right.

But crumbs from the table of our king

are more fulfilling than the best meal

that this world has to offer.

But Jesus offers us more than crumbs,

doesn't he?

He offers us a seat at the table

and he offers us a meal,

a feast.

So many times,

our desire for greatness,

it's really founded in good things.

Okay?

You know that idols

is the word used for this.

They're usually good things gone bad.

It's not bad to want your child to do well.

It's not bad to have money.

It's not bad to want a career,

a house,

and a car.

But if it becomes the ultimate place

where you find all of your satisfaction,

it can ruin your life

because you start to live everything

and give everything that you have

to attain that thing.

And it then becomes your identity

and your life.

And in that sense,

you begin worshiping it.

Tim Keller,

who needs a soundbite

every time he's quoted,

Keller, Keller, Keller.

He's going to get two today.

He says that an idol

is anything more fundamental than God

to your happiness,

your meaning in life,

or identity.

Idolatry is the inordinate desire

for anything,

even good things,

especially good things.

Therefore, anything can be an idol.

Career,

family,

achievement,

political cause,

physical attractiveness,

romance,

financial security,

or anything.

But how do you know

what your greatest idol is?

You can ask this question,

where are you desiring

the places of honor

in your own life?

But that's not going to get you too far

because you're probably going to answer

something really good like,

well, my family,

or my friends,

or God.

I just love God too much right now.

Famous Dr. Alfred Adler said this,

that simply asking that question

isn't enough

because we're going to answer

with typically

good sounding things.

He says,

if you really want to identify

your idols,

then look at your nightmares.

What's your worst nightmare?

Tim Keller Keller says again,

what thing,

if it were absent,

might take away

your very desire to live?

That's your idol.

That's where you are living

for the wrong thing.

That's where you're substituting

a thing for God.

That's what you're defining

as greatness.

That's what you have to take

to Jesus

and ask him to replace

with more of him.

To live is Christ

than to die is gain.

If we fill in the blanks

with anything besides Christ,

we get the wrong answer.

And we fill that blank in

with idols.

Jesus says,

I'm among you

as the one who serves,

and there he is

redefining greatness.

And here's what it looks like.

Luke 14 says this,

He said also to the man

who had invited him,

When you give a dinner

or a banquet,

do not invite your friends

or your brothers

or your relatives

or rich neighbors,

lest they also invite you

in return

and you be repaid.

But when you give a feast,

invite the poor,

the crippled,

the lame,

the blind,

and you will be blessed

because they cannot repay you,

for you will be repaid

at the resurrection

of the just.

And when one of those

who reclined at table

with him

heard these things,

he said to him,

Blessed is everyone

who will eat bread

in the kingdom of God.

Luther says this,

Martin Luther,

It's important

that you correctly understand

what Christ is saying here.

If you are in a higher position

or above others

in some way,

realize that God

has given it to you.

Don't make the mistake

of bragging about it

and lording it over others

as if you were better

than them in any way

or in God's sight.

Rather,

God has commanded

that you should

humble yourself

and use your position

to serve your neighbor.

Who's your neighbor?

Anybody that God

puts in your path

in your daily life.

And he's probably

going to call you

to serve where your car

is parked the most.

Okay?

That's going to be

where you spend

the most of your time.

Okay?

What's the proper

understanding of greatest?

Jesus is.

Let's look at him

from Philippians.

Have this mind

among yourselves

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 he emptied himself

by taking the form

of a servant

being born in the likeness

of men

and being found

in human form

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

confess that Jesus Christ

is Lord

to the glory

of God the Father.

We need him

to save us

from us.

We need him

to save us

from our idols.

We need him

to identify

where we are giving

things the glory

that only he deserves.

And we need

God the Father

to help us

identify those idols

and then crush them.

We must lay them

down before him

and ask him

to replace them

with more of him.

Well how do we do that?

Derek?

Well I can only

speak for me.

And when I speak for me

I use Easter eggs.

So let's start there.

So I asked the Lord

recently to help me

identify my idols.

Probably about three weeks ago.

Small group you were there

is when we talked

about idols.

And I confessed

what I thought

my idol was that night

and I had to go home

and process it.

So they're the things

that if absent in my life

if they were taken away

that I would lose

my very desire to live.

Right?

For me

it is hands down

my wife and my son.

That's where I start.

Underneath that

is another idol

I've found.

It's another idol

to be secure

and safe

and close.

Have them close to me.

Good things gone bad.

Underneath that

is another idol.

Reputation

where I find myself

in them.

Underneath that

has been the greatest

of all.

Pride.

It's underneath every idol.

It's the one

that sent Jesus

to the cross.

It's the one

that caused sin

to come into the world.

Right?

Adam and Eve

thinking they could

be like God.

That pride.

But underneath

every idol

is another idol.

So I asked the Lord

to help me identify them

and I started seeing

these ridiculous things

in my life.

For instance

Pringle cans

at my house.

No Pringle.

I started noticing

that I don't take

the whole top off.

I leave this thing on

and it causes

two major problems.

I think it increases

the freshness

of the Pringle

but it doesn't.

It deceives me

to think that

there's a full can

and then also

if I try to pull this out

it ends up breaking it

and I'm not allowed

to get all the Pringles out.

I've found

that in a very sick

demented way

I'm serving this

idol of security.

I'm creating

these illusions

of things

that create freshness

in my life.

Even in these

little stupid things.

I do it on yogurt

tops too.

And it's ridiculous.

So I'm serving

my idol

if I'm serving it

through a Pringles can

my idol for control

how much worse

when I serve it

through my wife

and my son.

Right?

Anyone here ever

played Donkey Kong?

I know some of you have.

What about

Super Smash Brothers

Ultimate?

Okay that's for

the younger generation.

Well you can get

this hammer in there

and it lights you up

when you get it

and it starts

smashing everything

and it plays

this really fun music.

That's what it's like

when God

smashes our idols.

Okay?

When we ask him

to crush it

he comes in

with that hammer

and it all starts

to go away.

He's going to

take everything down

that you're trusting in

besides him

if you really trust him

but you're not going

to lose your life

in the process.

You're going to gain it.

And as he crushes them

you're going to find

a lot more underneath.

And they're going

to get smaller

and they're going

to get more manageable

because his power

you're going to find

is bigger

and bigger

and bigger.

So strange enough

when I started asking God

to break the idols

in my life

especially my wife

and my son

and I asked permission

to share this story

we get the news

that the doctor

finds a lump

in my wife's body

literally right after

I started praying this

and it needs to be tested

to see if it's cancer.

Boom.

Loss of control.

The thing I love most dear

I have absolutely

no control over.

Right?

They're waiting.

So

you know

it came with that

fear

humility

but a strange peace

because I had no way

to change the situation.

I couldn't control it.

My wife told me

one of the hardest parts

of visiting the doctor

is sitting in the waiting room

after you've had a test

waiting to hear the results.

I'm sure we all know that.

Experience that.

You're helpless.

You're sitting there

with other people

with that helpless look

on their face too

and you're just waiting

to see this doctor

hoping that they will

show you the way.

Thank God for you doctors

in this room.

Thank God for you.

Well that's the posture

of paradise.

That's the dependence

I'm talking about.

That's the humility

I'm talking about.

When we lay our idols

before our Father in heaven

we ask Him to crush them

it leads us to that place.

Jesus though

is the great physician.

Right?

And He's told us

that we're all dead

and that we need life

eternally

and that we need

a relationship

with God

that isn't severed

by sin

and we need forgiveness

and He says

the difference is

here that the great physician

takes our disease

and He dies in our place

on the cross

and then He gives us

His life

and all that's required

to receive this gift

this free gift

is to believe

that it's true.

Offering us

more than crumbs

from His table

but a place of honor

at the table

the great marriage supper

of the Lamb.

And praise the Lord

that what my wife had

was nothing.

But that period

of waiting

I'm thankful for

because it's made me

more thankful for life.

The great marriage supper

of the Lamb

is where God offers us

a place.

Let's look at that

revelation here.

Then I heard

what seemed to be

the voice of a great multitude

like the roar

of many waters

and like the sound

of mighty peals

of thunder

crying out

Hallelujah

for the Lord

our God

the Almighty reigns

let us rejoice

and exult

and give Him

the glory

for the marriage

of the Lamb

has come

and His bride

has made herself ready.

That's Christians

that's the church.

It was granted her

to clothe herself

with fine linen

bright and pure

for the fine linen

is the righteous deeds

of the saints

and the angel said to me

write this

blessed are those

who are invited

to the marriage supper

of the Lamb

and He said to me

these are the true

words of God

then I fell down

at His feet

to worship Him

but He said to me

you must not do that

I'm a fellow servant

with you

and your brothers

who hold the testimony

of Jesus

worship God.

What's the purpose

of it all?

An invitation

to the marriage supper

of the Lamb.

That is the greatest thing

that this passage

teaches us.

are you

on the invite list?

Blessed is everyone

who will eat bread

in the kingdom

of God.

We must become

like children.

We must become

like servants.

Even the angel said

I'm a fellow servant

with you.

This is an angel

right?

Who's tempted to worship

because that's what we do.

We try to worship

all these things.

But worship

God.

Who is the one

who's like the servant?

Jesus is.

We have to become

like Jesus.

How do we do that?

Well when you put

your faith

in Jesus Christ

you are immediately

forgiven of all your sins

past, present,

and future

and you are immediately

adopted

as a son

and a daughter

of the King.

This is called

justification.

You are justified

through the payment

of Christ's death

on your behalf

mending that broken

relationship

with God the Father

uniting you to Christ

through his spirit

who comes to live

inside you

and nothing can take

that away from you

thereby then

giving you the power

to live

as the least of these

on earth

to care for the least

of these

to say no to sin

yes to Jesus Christ

by the power

that's at work

within you

which is also

the same power

that raised Jesus

from the dead.

The power to proclaim

Christ Jesus

as the Lord

of your life

with your life

as you live

as a citizen

of another world

until you actually

arrive in that world

in glory

which will happen

at the resurrection

of the just.

You see the greatest

things in life

are not what

we think they are.

They are the things

that are yet to come

but knowing this truth

sets us free

eternally

and transforms

our lives

here on earth.

Through faith

in Jesus Christ

you are promised

paradise.

You will be in paradise

and the posture

of paradise

is dependence

upon Jesus.

You will dine

at his table

and on earth

that changes everything.

As we eat

and we drink

of Christ here

we actually are a part

of changing the world

he says.

Our life then

becomes about

the least of these

where we must

first realize

that we are

the least of these.

We are striving

for a seat of greatness

when we have already

been given

the greatest seat

at the marriage supper

of the Lamb

if we have faith

in Christ.

The only way

to change that

is to ask him

to change us.

So where are you

seeking

the greatest seats?

In America

it's been said

that we are born

on third base.

Do we ever think

about those

who were born

in the parking lot?

Perhaps

leaving the stadium

is the beginning

for us.

Realize that we

don't deserve

what we have

and what we have

is meant to be used

to love others

in our life.

To serve them

and to wash their feet

as Jesus did for us

but we must become

like them

we must understand them

because in God's eyes

we are them.

If you're here today

and you're like Tom Brady

and you're thinking

there's got to be

more than this

hear this

there is.

Nancy Guthrie says

here's the supernatural

experience that God's promised.

The power of Christ

coming down

to rest on you

to fill you up

so that you can

trust him

when the worst thing

you can imagine

happens to you

so that you can be

genuinely

if not yet

perfectly content

even if he does not

fill up the empty place

in the way that you've

longed for

at least not yet.

The ability to live life

only for the only idol

Jesus.

He's the only one

that's worthy of worship.

God the Father

God the Son

God the Holy Spirit.

So seeker

would you let Christ

into your heart today?

I'm just going to ask you.

You know who you are

you know where you are

and God wants you

and he loves you.

Quit running.

Would you let him

into your heart?

Will you accept

the invitation

to the marriage supper

of the Lamb?

Christian

will you pray

a dangerous prayer

with me?

Lord

show me my idols

break them

and replace them

with you.

May it be so.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven

save souls

break idols

reign on this earth

through us

as your people

bring light

where there is darkness

bring life

where there is death

only by the power

of your spirit

change us

and use us

to change this world

praise you

Abba Father in heaven

thank you

in the holy name

of your son Jesus Christ

Amen.

For more information

visit us online

at southwood.org

For more information

visit us online

for more information

visit us

at Suga

improve

you

tell us

for more information

and visit us

at Suga

and visit us

visit us

if you fell

after

you

or

has

been

uction

is

忍

a

change

Thank you.