August 11, 2025 • 17 mins
Jesus fundamentally redefines leadership in God's Kingdom, turning worldly authority structures upside down by establishing service as the true measure of greatness.
• Kingdom leadership contrasts sharply with worldly leadership where authorities "lord it over" those beneath them
• The parable of vineyard workers reveals God's right to be generous as He chooses
• Jesus provides his third and most detailed prediction of his coming suffering and death
• James and John's mother requests positions of honor for her sons in Christ's kingdom
• Jesus uses the disciples' power struggle to teach that true greatness comes through service
• Leadership in God's Kingdom means becoming a servant first
• Jesus presents himself as the ultimate example: "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve"
• Two blind men recognize Jesus as "Son of David" and follow him after being healed
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible
Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today.
Matthew, chapter 20, andtoday's title is Kingdom
Leadership, kingdom Leadership.
A couple of days ago we weretalking about the idea of being
the greatest in the kingdom andwe were saying that in a lot of
different avenues, a lot ofdifferent situations,
(00:22):
circumstances like sports andbusiness, all that kind of stuff
.
There is this phrase calledbeing the GOAT, and that is the
greatest of all time and it's alot of fun to be able to look
through that, especially in thesports world, especially when it
comes to who's the bestquarterback or who's the best
basketball player.
And it really comes down to Iheard Larry Bird say one time it
comes down to the generation.
People who grew up in a certaingeneration are always going to
(00:44):
think that that generation'smain star was the best right.
But the goal for that is youknow how many accolades did you
win?
How many scoring titles did youget?
You know all that kind of stuff.
Well, today we're going to talkabout what is the greatest type
of leader in the kingdom of God.
Is it the person who builds thegreatest buildings, writes the
most books, wins the most peopleto Christ.
(01:06):
What does the greatest leaderin the kingdom of God look like?
We're going to get into allthat in just a moment and you
probably, if you've been readingwith us long enough, you kind
of know where that's going.
So, if you have your Bibles,I'm going to open up with me to
Matthew, chapter 20.
While you're doing that, asalways, make sure you take just
a moment like share, subscribeto the YouTube channel and the
podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
(01:27):
Make sure you're going to theFacebook discussion group.
There's an amazing group ofpeople doing a wonderful job
over there.
The more we dig, the more wefind, and you can find the links
to all of these things atthebiblebreakdowncom.
I want to say another wordabout that real quick, and that
is this we are on the slow path,the very, very slow path, of
trying to get everything we dointo kind of a hub where we can
(01:52):
have all this together.
We're still going to have theFacebook discussion group over
there.
It's doing a wonderful job.
We also want to take all theseother things and want to put
them into this hub atthebiblebreakdowncom, which, for
what it's worth, I'm going tobe putting out a video before
long to answer some questions,because I've been getting a lot
of very good questions, and oneof them that's been coming up a
(02:14):
lot is this Pastor Brandon.
For those of us who have beenwith the podcast in the very
beginning, I'm noticing that weare about to lap the New
Testament.
What do we do once we finishthe whole Bible?
Well, here's the first thing wedo we're going to keep reading,
because the more we dig, themore we find.
I'm going to tell you, the bestthing that happens when you
(02:34):
read the Bible is when you readit again, because you start to
very slowly see how thingsconnect.
It is beautiful treasure.
I cannot tell you how amazingit is to read through the Bible
over and over, because the moreyou dig, the more you find.
However, for the podcast forthose of us who are creating it
we've got a lot of ideas that wewant to do after we have
finished creating the firstround.
(02:54):
I want to tell you about all ofthem, because some of them are
going to take years to makehappen, but one of the things
we're going to do is we're goingto start taking a lot more
attention, or putting a lot moreattention on
thebiblebreakdowncom.
I have a long-term, lifetimegoal I want to create a
commentary on the entire Bible,but instead of publishing it as
standalone books, I want to putit for free online, and
(03:16):
thebiblebreakdowncom is one ofthe steps in that process.
You can also go to a websitecalled publictheologiannet and
you can see where I call it adigital garden.
It's where I'm slowly growing alot of my thoughts about the
Bible.
You can go there, and my goalis just to provide a biblical
perspective from a localpastor's biblical perspective on
(03:36):
the Bible, and so that's areason why you want to go ahead
and kind of tabthebiblebreakdowncom, because as
we continue this journeytogether, that is going to be
the hub of where you're going tofind everything.
Okay, all right, that was areally long explanation.
Let's get into Matthew chapter20.
And if you've been with us overthe past several days, the
overall goal of Matthew chapter20 is that Jesus is the king and
(04:01):
Matthew just comes out swingingLike he'll mess around.
He just comes out from the verybeginning and he just says
Jesus is the rightful king ofthis planet.
He's like I got the receipts toprove it, and that's what
Matthew chapter one is all about.
He settles the debate at thevery beginning that he's the
rightful king of Israel, butthen he spends two through 28
saying but he's also the king ofeverything else.
(04:22):
And as we've been walkingthrough this, we have been
seeing how Jesus is doing allthese things.
In the past several chapterswe've been talking about how
kingdom faith, the foundation ofthe kingdom, a glimpse of the
kingdom, the kingdom right sideup, and today it's going to be
about kingdom leadership.
And one of the things aboutkingdom leadership is it is not
at all what we think it is Manytimes and in many other areas.
(04:47):
And here's the thing, thecontroversial statement, I don't
know.
There is nothing wrong withwanting to get to the top of
your industry.
There's nothing wrong withapplying for jobs and doing good
in the business world.
There's nothing wrong with thatat all.
But the important thing toremember is is we can't always
bring that same type of strivinginto the kingdom of God,
(05:09):
because the kingdom of God iscompletely upside down from what
we would expect.
That's why, you know I lovethere's an author I love called
John C Maxwell.
Love John Maxwell so much.
He has so many great things tosay and he actually started off
as a pastor of a local churchand what he did is he took
business principles and he putit into the church to help us
organize ourselves.
The problem with that is, a lotof people have taken the things
(05:32):
that John Maxwell has done andthey turned the church world
into a corporation.
Well, that doesn't work,because the kingdom of God is
not a corporation, it's a livingorganism.
We are the kingdom of God andso we have to be careful that we
conduct ourselves according tothe rules of the kingdom.
And that's what this chapter isall about.
So, if you're ready, matthew,chapter 20, verse 1 says this
(05:54):
For the kingdom of heaven islike.
So he's saying this is what thekingdom of heaven is like.
A landowner who went out earlyone morning to hire workers for
his vineyard.
He agreed to pay the normaldaily wage and sent them out to
work.
At nine o'clock in the morninghe was passing through the
marketplace and saw some peoplestanding around doing nothing.
(06:14):
So he hired them, telling themhe would pay them whatever was
right at the end of the day.
So they went to work in thevineyard and at noon and again
at three o'clock he did the samething.
At five o'clock in theafternoon he went in the
vineyard, and at noon and againat three o'clock he did the same
thing.
At five o'clock in theafternoon he went into the town
again and saw more peoplestanding around, and so we asked
them why haven't you beenworking today?
They replied because no onehired us.
(06:36):
The landowner told them Go outand join the others in my
vineyard, and that evening hetold the foreman to call all the
workers in to pay them.
But then he began with the lastworkers first.
When the one who had been hiredfive o'clock were paid, each
one was paid a full day's wage.
When those who were hired firstcame to get their pay, they
(06:56):
assumed they would receive more,but they too were given a day's
wage.
When they received their pay,they protested to the owner,
those people who worked for onlyone hour, yet they were paid as
much as you paid us, who workedall day in the scorching Middle
Eastern heat.
Then he answered them friend, Ihaven't been unfair, didn't you
(07:19):
agree to work all day for theusual wage?
Take your money and go.
I wanted to pay this lastworker the same as you.
Now.
Pause.
Now what does Jesus say?
He is using a parable.
(07:42):
Remember a parable, remember.
A parable is a story with ahidden, deep spiritual principle
.
And the parable is saying thatthere was a rich landowner who
went out, needed some folks towork, and so he hired some of
these people at the beginning ofthe day, some people at the
middle of the day, some peopleat the end of the day, but then
he paid them all equally.
They all got the same reward.
And it was the people who hadbeen working hard all day long
(08:02):
that thought it was unfair.
And the landowner was like waita minute, it's not unfair.
I told you you were going toget paid this certain amount.
What happens to everybody elseis none of your business.
Don't be evil because I am, ordon't have an evil eye because I
am kind.
Well, the spiritual principleto us is what God does in the
lives of other people is not ourbusiness.
(08:23):
If God chooses to blesssomebody else when we have a
harder road, well, good for them.
God is still going to bless us.
And so the spiritual principleis let God do what he wants to
do with everybody else.
Focus on your relationship withhim.
Verse 17 says this as Jesus wasgoing up to Jerusalem, he took
the 12 aside and privately toldthem what was going to happen.
(08:45):
Listen, he said you know, itreminds me of that old video.
Listen, linda, listen.
At this point Jesus has toldthem several times what is about
to happen.
We are going to Jerusalem wherethe Son of man, speaking of
himself, will be betrayed to theleading priest and the teachers
of religious law.
They will sentence him to die.
They will hand him over to theRomans to be mocked, flogged
(09:06):
with a whip and crucified, buton the third day they will be
raised from the dead.
Pause, I can't help it.
So when Jesus first startedtalking to him about this, he
told them I'm going to bebetrayed and I'm going to die.
The second time is I'm going tobe betrayed by the religious
leaders and I'm going to bebetrayed by the religious
leaders and I'm going to die.
I'm going to rise again.
(09:26):
Now he is even saying likeevery time he adds a little bit
more.
He's saying this time they'regoing to hand me over to the
Romans.
The Romans are going to beat mehalf to death, then they're
going to crucify me, but I'mgoing to raise up.
I'm going to raise from thedead on the third day.
And you can see that they'restill going.
Huh, I wonder what Jesus means.
And you can't get mad at them,because don't we do the same
(09:46):
thing when Jesus says to loveyour neighbor, we go.
Huh, I wonder what he means.
He means to love your neighbor,and so they are just not
getting it.
They are not getting it at all,but he keeps telling them
anyway, I love this.
All right, here we go, verse 20.
This is where we hear aboutwhat true leadership is.
Then the mother of James andJohn, the sons of Zebedee, came
to Jesus with her sons and kneltrespectfully to ask a favor.
(10:08):
What is your request, he asked?
In your kingdom?
She replied Please, let my twosons sit in the place of honor
next to you, one on your rightand the other on your left.
But Jesus answered and said tothem so you don't know what you
are asking.
Are you able to drink thebitter cup of suffering that I'm
able to drink?
Oh, yes, they replied we'reable.
(10:30):
And Jesus told them you willindeed drink from my bitter cup,
but I have no right to say whowill sit on my right and on my
left.
My father has prepared that forthose whom he has chosen.
When the other 10 disciplesheard what James and John had
asked, they were indignant.
In other words, that's theBible way of saying he's mad.
(10:51):
And you think about it?
I mean, pause for just a second.
You imagine how awkward thatmoment is.
James and John's mama comes upand she says hey Jesus, hey baby
, what's up?
Hey, james.
And John's mama comes up andshe says hey Jesus, hey baby,
what's up?
Hey, sweetheart, what's up whatyou got?
Hey, I need to ask yousomething, anything you want.
Can we just imagine?
Just Jesus, jesus, I want mytwo boys to sit at your right
(11:16):
hand, on your left.
Other words, I like them awhole lot.
I think they should be honored.
I want them to have by as muchglory as you do.
Say what?
And Jesus is like are youserious?
But you know he says that tothem.
Other words, james and John areright there, going uh-huh,
uh-huh, uh-huh, and he's like no, no, no, no.
You don't understand.
You don't understand.
(11:37):
This is so much bigger than youcan imagine.
Yeah, there's going to besomebody on my right and my left
, but it's people that my fatherhas chosen, not you fools.
And of course, at that point,the ten others are like you've
got to be kidding me.
But hey, what are you going todo?
It's the mama, verse 25,.
Jesus called them together.
Here it is.
I love this.
(12:04):
It says you know that the rulersof this world lord it over
their people.
The officials flaunt theirauthority over those under them.
But among you it will bedifferent.
It will be different.
Whoever wants to be a leaderamong you must be your servant.
Whoever wants to be first amongyou must be your slave.
For even the Son of man camenot to be served but to serve
others and to give his life as aransom for many.
Let's finish this up.
(12:24):
We're going to come back tothis.
As Jesus and his disciples leftthe town of Jericho, a large
crowd followed behind them.
Two blind men were sittingbeside the road, and when they
heard that Jesus was coming thatway, they began shouting Lord,
son of David, have mercy on us,be quiet.
The crowds yelled at him, butthey shouted even louder Lord,
son of David, have mercy on us.
(12:46):
When Jesus heard them, hestopped and called what do you
want me to do for you, lord?
They said we want to see, andhe felt sorry for them.
And he touched their eyes.
Instantly they could see, andthen they followed him.
Man, that's just powerful.
I mean, we could just spend ourwhole time right there saying
man, when you cry out to God,god sees you and you know what
(13:07):
your response should be I'mgoing to follow you, jesus, all
the days of my life.
I love it.
Let's go back to this, whatJesus calls true leadership, and
then we'll be done for the day.
It says that he looked at hisdisciples and he said in this
world, you have a pattern ofleadership.
That pattern of leadership issomeone is given a title of
authority and then they use thattitle and that authority to
(13:30):
flaunt their authority overothers.
They do Sometimes corrupt.
People do corrupt things.
You ever heard the phraseabsolute power corrupts,
absolutely.
Yeah, when people have norecourse, there's no reason for
them to act.
Nice, eventually it goes totheir head.
That's basically what Jesus issaying.
He's saying, but among you itmust be different.
(13:51):
Whoever wants to be a leadermust be a servant.
Whoever wants to be first mustbe the first in serving others.
And he said you want an example?
I am, for I did not come to beserved, but I came to serve
others in so much as I'm givingmy life as a ransom for many.
(14:11):
So, in other words, what Jesusis saying is is he is saying
there are leaders in the kingdomof heaven, but when you lead,
you're not leading from aposition of I'm in charge and so
I'm going to have my way.
It is I'm in charge and so nowI become the lead servant.
So I'm going to serve people byleading them.
I'm going to be in charge.
I'm going to serve people byleading them.
(14:32):
I'm going to be in charge.
I'm going to call the play.
I'm going to be the one who iscalling the shots here.
I'm going to do that, but I'mnot doing it as a way to control
others.
I'm doing it as a way to serveothers.
I'm going to serve you byleading you.
It's very different than servingsomebody or leading somebody
just because I'm being in charge.
(14:52):
And you know, if you've everbeen under someone who just ate
up authority, ate up control,they just loved it you can tell.
And if you've ever served undersomeone who saw serving as a
way or, excuse me, saw leadingas a way of serving others, you
can tell, because when they makedecisions, they're not making
decisions on what's best forthem, they're making decisions
(15:14):
based on what's best for thegroup you go.
Well, where have I ever seenthat?
I mean, can I tell you?
I've done that before.
I've looked around and I'vebeen like, listen, all the
leaders that I love in my life.
I love them, but I don't thinkthey led like that.
Well, jesus says don't look atthose people.
Look at, because the Son of mandid not come to be served but
to serve others.
(15:36):
What would it look like if welived our life the way Jesus did
and literally lay our livesdown for those we have been
given authority over?
Let's pray together right now,god, thank you so much for today
.
Thank you, god, that you'rewith us and you're for us in all
things.
My prayer today, god, is thatwe will realize that we are part
of the kingdom of heaven.
That means that we're able toserve, we're able to lead, we're
(15:58):
able to move forward and you'reable to focus on our
relationship with you and trustyou with all the other things
that you're doing.
My prayer today, god, is thatwe will know you more, love you
more and serve you more.
In Jesus' name we pray Amen.
You know what God's word saysin Matthew 28, verse 19, says
all authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and makedisciples of all nations.
(16:20):
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow.
For Matthew, chapter 21.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible
Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today.
Matthew, chapter 20, andtoday's title is Kingdom
Leadership, kingdom Leadership.
A couple of days ago we weretalking about the idea of being
the greatest in the kingdom andwe were saying that in a lot of
different avenues, a lot ofdifferent situations,
(00:22):
circumstances like sports andbusiness, all that kind of stuff
.
There is this phrase calledbeing the GOAT, and that is the
greatest of all time and it's alot of fun to be able to look
through that, especially in thesports world, especially when it
comes to who's the bestquarterback or who's the best
basketball player.
And it really comes down to Iheard Larry Bird say one time it
comes down to the generation.
People who grew up in a certaingeneration are always going to
(00:44):
think that that generation'smain star was the best right.
But the goal for that is youknow how many accolades did you
win?
How many scoring titles did youget?
You know all that kind of stuff.
Well, today we're going to talkabout what is the greatest type
of leader in the kingdom of God.
Is it the person who builds thegreatest buildings, writes the
most books, wins the most peopleto Christ.
(01:06):
What does the greatest leaderin the kingdom of God look like?
We're going to get into allthat in just a moment and you
probably, if you've been readingwith us long enough, you kind
of know where that's going.
So, if you have your Bibles,I'm going to open up with me to
Matthew, chapter 20.
While you're doing that, asalways, make sure you take just
a moment like share, subscribeto the YouTube channel and the
podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
(01:27):
Make sure you're going to theFacebook discussion group.
There's an amazing group ofpeople doing a wonderful job
over there.
The more we dig, the more wefind, and you can find the links
to all of these things atthebiblebreakdowncom.
I want to say another wordabout that real quick, and that
is this we are on the slow path,the very, very slow path, of
trying to get everything we dointo kind of a hub where we can
(01:52):
have all this together.
We're still going to have theFacebook discussion group over
there.
It's doing a wonderful job.
We also want to take all theseother things and want to put
them into this hub atthebiblebreakdowncom, which, for
what it's worth, I'm going tobe putting out a video before
long to answer some questions,because I've been getting a lot
of very good questions, and oneof them that's been coming up a
(02:14):
lot is this Pastor Brandon.
For those of us who have beenwith the podcast in the very
beginning, I'm noticing that weare about to lap the New
Testament.
What do we do once we finishthe whole Bible?
Well, here's the first thing wedo we're going to keep reading,
because the more we dig, themore we find.
I'm going to tell you, the bestthing that happens when you
(02:34):
read the Bible is when you readit again, because you start to
very slowly see how thingsconnect.
It is beautiful treasure.
I cannot tell you how amazingit is to read through the Bible
over and over, because the moreyou dig, the more you find.
However, for the podcast forthose of us who are creating it
we've got a lot of ideas that wewant to do after we have
finished creating the firstround.
(02:54):
I want to tell you about all ofthem, because some of them are
going to take years to makehappen, but one of the things
we're going to do is we're goingto start taking a lot more
attention, or putting a lot moreattention on
thebiblebreakdowncom.
I have a long-term, lifetimegoal I want to create a
commentary on the entire Bible,but instead of publishing it as
standalone books, I want to putit for free online, and
(03:16):
thebiblebreakdowncom is one ofthe steps in that process.
You can also go to a websitecalled publictheologiannet and
you can see where I call it adigital garden.
It's where I'm slowly growing alot of my thoughts about the
Bible.
You can go there, and my goalis just to provide a biblical
perspective from a localpastor's biblical perspective on
(03:36):
the Bible, and so that's areason why you want to go ahead
and kind of tabthebiblebreakdowncom, because as
we continue this journeytogether, that is going to be
the hub of where you're going tofind everything.
Okay, all right, that was areally long explanation.
Let's get into Matthew chapter20.
And if you've been with us overthe past several days, the
overall goal of Matthew chapter20 is that Jesus is the king and
(04:01):
Matthew just comes out swingingLike he'll mess around.
He just comes out from the verybeginning and he just says
Jesus is the rightful king ofthis planet.
He's like I got the receipts toprove it, and that's what
Matthew chapter one is all about.
He settles the debate at thevery beginning that he's the
rightful king of Israel, butthen he spends two through 28
saying but he's also the king ofeverything else.
(04:22):
And as we've been walkingthrough this, we have been
seeing how Jesus is doing allthese things.
In the past several chapterswe've been talking about how
kingdom faith, the foundation ofthe kingdom, a glimpse of the
kingdom, the kingdom right sideup, and today it's going to be
about kingdom leadership.
And one of the things aboutkingdom leadership is it is not
at all what we think it is Manytimes and in many other areas.
(04:47):
And here's the thing, thecontroversial statement, I don't
know.
There is nothing wrong withwanting to get to the top of
your industry.
There's nothing wrong withapplying for jobs and doing good
in the business world.
There's nothing wrong with thatat all.
But the important thing toremember is is we can't always
bring that same type of strivinginto the kingdom of God,
(05:09):
because the kingdom of God iscompletely upside down from what
we would expect.
That's why, you know I lovethere's an author I love called
John C Maxwell.
Love John Maxwell so much.
He has so many great things tosay and he actually started off
as a pastor of a local churchand what he did is he took
business principles and he putit into the church to help us
organize ourselves.
The problem with that is, a lotof people have taken the things
(05:32):
that John Maxwell has done andthey turned the church world
into a corporation.
Well, that doesn't work,because the kingdom of God is
not a corporation, it's a livingorganism.
We are the kingdom of God andso we have to be careful that we
conduct ourselves according tothe rules of the kingdom.
And that's what this chapter isall about.
So, if you're ready, matthew,chapter 20, verse 1 says this
(05:54):
For the kingdom of heaven islike.
So he's saying this is what thekingdom of heaven is like.
A landowner who went out earlyone morning to hire workers for
his vineyard.
He agreed to pay the normaldaily wage and sent them out to
work.
At nine o'clock in the morninghe was passing through the
marketplace and saw some peoplestanding around doing nothing.
(06:14):
So he hired them, telling themhe would pay them whatever was
right at the end of the day.
So they went to work in thevineyard and at noon and again
at three o'clock he did the samething.
At five o'clock in theafternoon he went in the
vineyard, and at noon and againat three o'clock he did the same
thing.
At five o'clock in theafternoon he went into the town
again and saw more peoplestanding around, and so we asked
them why haven't you beenworking today?
They replied because no onehired us.
(06:36):
The landowner told them Go outand join the others in my
vineyard, and that evening hetold the foreman to call all the
workers in to pay them.
But then he began with the lastworkers first.
When the one who had been hiredfive o'clock were paid, each
one was paid a full day's wage.
When those who were hired firstcame to get their pay, they
(06:56):
assumed they would receive more,but they too were given a day's
wage.
When they received their pay,they protested to the owner,
those people who worked for onlyone hour, yet they were paid as
much as you paid us, who workedall day in the scorching Middle
Eastern heat.
Then he answered them friend, Ihaven't been unfair, didn't you
(07:19):
agree to work all day for theusual wage?
Take your money and go.
I wanted to pay this lastworker the same as you.
Now.
Pause.
Now what does Jesus say?
He is using a parable.
(07:42):
Remember a parable, remember.
A parable is a story with ahidden, deep spiritual principle
.
And the parable is saying thatthere was a rich landowner who
went out, needed some folks towork, and so he hired some of
these people at the beginning ofthe day, some people at the
middle of the day, some peopleat the end of the day, but then
he paid them all equally.
They all got the same reward.
And it was the people who hadbeen working hard all day long
(08:02):
that thought it was unfair.
And the landowner was like waita minute, it's not unfair.
I told you you were going toget paid this certain amount.
What happens to everybody elseis none of your business.
Don't be evil because I am, ordon't have an evil eye because I
am kind.
Well, the spiritual principleto us is what God does in the
lives of other people is not ourbusiness.
(08:23):
If God chooses to blesssomebody else when we have a
harder road, well, good for them.
God is still going to bless us.
And so the spiritual principleis let God do what he wants to
do with everybody else.
Focus on your relationship withhim.
Verse 17 says this as Jesus wasgoing up to Jerusalem, he took
the 12 aside and privately toldthem what was going to happen.
(08:45):
Listen, he said you know, itreminds me of that old video.
Listen, linda, listen.
At this point Jesus has toldthem several times what is about
to happen.
We are going to Jerusalem wherethe Son of man, speaking of
himself, will be betrayed to theleading priest and the teachers
of religious law.
They will sentence him to die.
They will hand him over to theRomans to be mocked, flogged
(09:06):
with a whip and crucified, buton the third day they will be
raised from the dead.
Pause, I can't help it.
So when Jesus first startedtalking to him about this, he
told them I'm going to bebetrayed and I'm going to die.
The second time is I'm going tobe betrayed by the religious
leaders and I'm going to bebetrayed by the religious
leaders and I'm going to die.
I'm going to rise again.
(09:26):
Now he is even saying likeevery time he adds a little bit
more.
He's saying this time they'regoing to hand me over to the
Romans.
The Romans are going to beat mehalf to death, then they're
going to crucify me, but I'mgoing to raise up.
I'm going to raise from thedead on the third day.
And you can see that they'restill going.
Huh, I wonder what Jesus means.
And you can't get mad at them,because don't we do the same
(09:46):
thing when Jesus says to loveyour neighbor, we go.
Huh, I wonder what he means.
He means to love your neighbor,and so they are just not
getting it.
They are not getting it at all,but he keeps telling them
anyway, I love this.
All right, here we go, verse 20.
This is where we hear aboutwhat true leadership is.
Then the mother of James andJohn, the sons of Zebedee, came
to Jesus with her sons and kneltrespectfully to ask a favor.
(10:08):
What is your request, he asked?
In your kingdom?
She replied Please, let my twosons sit in the place of honor
next to you, one on your rightand the other on your left.
But Jesus answered and said tothem so you don't know what you
are asking.
Are you able to drink thebitter cup of suffering that I'm
able to drink?
Oh, yes, they replied we'reable.
(10:30):
And Jesus told them you willindeed drink from my bitter cup,
but I have no right to say whowill sit on my right and on my
left.
My father has prepared that forthose whom he has chosen.
When the other 10 disciplesheard what James and John had
asked, they were indignant.
In other words, that's theBible way of saying he's mad.
(10:51):
And you think about it?
I mean, pause for just a second.
You imagine how awkward thatmoment is.
James and John's mama comes upand she says hey Jesus, hey baby
, what's up?
Hey, james.
And John's mama comes up andshe says hey Jesus, hey baby,
what's up?
Hey, sweetheart, what's up whatyou got?
Hey, I need to ask yousomething, anything you want.
Can we just imagine?
Just Jesus, jesus, I want mytwo boys to sit at your right
(11:16):
hand, on your left.
Other words, I like them awhole lot.
I think they should be honored.
I want them to have by as muchglory as you do.
Say what?
And Jesus is like are youserious?
But you know he says that tothem.
Other words, james and John areright there, going uh-huh,
uh-huh, uh-huh, and he's like no, no, no, no.
You don't understand.
You don't understand.
(11:37):
This is so much bigger than youcan imagine.
Yeah, there's going to besomebody on my right and my left
, but it's people that my fatherhas chosen, not you fools.
And of course, at that point,the ten others are like you've
got to be kidding me.
But hey, what are you going todo?
It's the mama, verse 25,.
Jesus called them together.
Here it is.
I love this.
(12:04):
It says you know that the rulersof this world lord it over
their people.
The officials flaunt theirauthority over those under them.
But among you it will bedifferent.
It will be different.
Whoever wants to be a leaderamong you must be your servant.
Whoever wants to be first amongyou must be your slave.
For even the Son of man camenot to be served but to serve
others and to give his life as aransom for many.
Let's finish this up.
(12:24):
We're going to come back tothis.
As Jesus and his disciples leftthe town of Jericho, a large
crowd followed behind them.
Two blind men were sittingbeside the road, and when they
heard that Jesus was coming thatway, they began shouting Lord,
son of David, have mercy on us,be quiet.
The crowds yelled at him, butthey shouted even louder Lord,
son of David, have mercy on us.
(12:46):
When Jesus heard them, hestopped and called what do you
want me to do for you, lord?
They said we want to see, andhe felt sorry for them.
And he touched their eyes.
Instantly they could see, andthen they followed him.
Man, that's just powerful.
I mean, we could just spend ourwhole time right there saying
man, when you cry out to God,god sees you and you know what
(13:07):
your response should be I'mgoing to follow you, jesus, all
the days of my life.
I love it.
Let's go back to this, whatJesus calls true leadership, and
then we'll be done for the day.
It says that he looked at hisdisciples and he said in this
world, you have a pattern ofleadership.
That pattern of leadership issomeone is given a title of
authority and then they use thattitle and that authority to
(13:30):
flaunt their authority overothers.
They do Sometimes corrupt.
People do corrupt things.
You ever heard the phraseabsolute power corrupts,
absolutely.
Yeah, when people have norecourse, there's no reason for
them to act.
Nice, eventually it goes totheir head.
That's basically what Jesus issaying.
He's saying, but among you itmust be different.
(13:51):
Whoever wants to be a leadermust be a servant.
Whoever wants to be first mustbe the first in serving others.
And he said you want an example?
I am, for I did not come to beserved, but I came to serve
others in so much as I'm givingmy life as a ransom for many.
(14:11):
So, in other words, what Jesusis saying is is he is saying
there are leaders in the kingdomof heaven, but when you lead,
you're not leading from aposition of I'm in charge and so
I'm going to have my way.
It is I'm in charge and so nowI become the lead servant.
So I'm going to serve people byleading them.
I'm going to be in charge.
I'm going to serve people byleading them.
(14:32):
I'm going to be in charge.
I'm going to call the play.
I'm going to be the one who iscalling the shots here.
I'm going to do that, but I'mnot doing it as a way to control
others.
I'm doing it as a way to serveothers.
I'm going to serve you byleading you.
It's very different than servingsomebody or leading somebody
just because I'm being in charge.
(14:52):
And you know, if you've everbeen under someone who just ate
up authority, ate up control,they just loved it you can tell.
And if you've ever served undersomeone who saw serving as a
way or, excuse me, saw leadingas a way of serving others, you
can tell, because when they makedecisions, they're not making
decisions on what's best forthem, they're making decisions
(15:14):
based on what's best for thegroup you go.
Well, where have I ever seenthat?
I mean, can I tell you?
I've done that before.
I've looked around and I'vebeen like, listen, all the
leaders that I love in my life.
I love them, but I don't thinkthey led like that.
Well, jesus says don't look atthose people.
Look at, because the Son of mandid not come to be served but
to serve others.
(15:36):
What would it look like if welived our life the way Jesus did
and literally lay our livesdown for those we have been
given authority over?
Let's pray together right now,god, thank you so much for today
.
Thank you, god, that you'rewith us and you're for us in all
things.
My prayer today, god, is thatwe will realize that we are part
of the kingdom of heaven.
That means that we're able toserve, we're able to lead, we're
(15:58):
able to move forward and you'reable to focus on our
relationship with you and trustyou with all the other things
that you're doing.
My prayer today, god, is thatwe will know you more, love you
more and serve you more.
In Jesus' name we pray Amen.
You know what God's word saysin Matthew 28, verse 19, says
all authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and makedisciples of all nations.
(16:20):
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow.
For Matthew, chapter 21.
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