Leadership in the Kingdom

Good morning. I'm Corey Jackson, guest preaching this morning. It's great to be with all of you and really excited about what the Lord has in store for us this morning. The confession of sin and that new song about how we're called to love one another have really gotten us ready for what God has to say to us.

So we're going to be in Matthew 20:17 through 34. You can find it printed in your bulletins, in your pew bibles, and you can read along with me on the screen as well. As is the custom here at Christ the King, let's read this aloud together starting in verse 17.

While going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the 12 disciples aside privately and said to them on the way, "Listen, we are going up to Jerusalem. The son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death. Then they will hand him over to the gentiles to be mocked, flogged and crucified and he will be resurrected on the third day." She knelt down to ask him for something. "What do you want?" he asked her. "Promise," she said to him, "that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left in your kingdom." Jesus answered, "You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" "We are able," they said to him. He told them, "You will indeed drink my cup but to sit at my right and left is not mine to give. Instead it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my father." When the ten disciples heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them over and said, "You know that the rulers of the gentiles lorded over them and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. Just as the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, son of David." The crowd demanded that they keep quiet but they cried out all the more, "Lord, have mercy on us, son of David." Jesus stopped, called them and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" "Lord," they said to him, "open our eyes." Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they could see and they followed him. This is the word of the Lord.

So today this passage focuses on the gospel for leaders. We're going to look at what leadership looks like through the lens of James and John and their interaction with Jesus, through the lens of Bartimaeus and his friend and their interaction with Jesus, and then mainly and ultimately through the lens of Jesus himself.

Some of you know me. We've been attending church here for about a year. I'm the founder and president of a ministry called Luke Alliance, and you all support the work generously—whether you know it or not, you do it through the general budget and you guys are very generous. One of the first churches to support our ministry.

At Luke Alliance, we have the opportunity to serve persecuted Christians around the world, mainly in China but also in other areas of the world. We have this incredible network that the Lord has built and it's mainly made up of three distinct groups of people.

The first group of people are persecuted brothers and sisters who are in prison right now in China and around the world and their families. The Lord has given us the opportunity to know them and to advocate for them.

The second group of people that we interact with pretty often are politicians in Washington, DC, in Europe, and in other places. We build relationships with these folks who have been put in positions of power, elected to those positions or appointed to those positions, and we help them understand what's going on with persecuted Christians around the world.

The third group of people that we interact with are leaders in China or around the world right now who are currently being persecuted but they're still free enough to operate a ministry. We come alongside them, empower them, encourage them, coach them to lead ministries to persecuted people in those countries.

So of those three groups of people—the prisoners, the politicians, and the pastors who are still free—where do you think I can look to find the best example of gospel leadership in the kingdom? It's a rhetorical question.

I'm not looking for an answer, but I do actually want you to think about it because the real answer to that question is a little bit more complicated than you might imagine. The reality is that sometimes persecution and suffering can make us quite arrogant. I have actually met people who have been released from prison after seven years in China that are some of the most prideful people I've ever met, and it's about them and how much they've suffered for Jesus. It's not even really about Jesus. It's about this badge of suffering that makes them different than other people.

I've also met politicians in Washington who, as we know, sometimes it can make you grandiose and arrogant. But I've met some politicians or some appointees who are so humbled by the responsibilities that they've been given that they have been formed more and more into the image of Jesus and I see it beautifully in them. I see the same examples in pastors in Asia and in The United States.

The point is that suffering or power will not automatically turn you into something. Suffering, your circumstances of suffering will not automatically make you more like Christ. And your position of power that you've been put in, whatever it might be, is not automatically going to corrupt you and make you worse off.

The key is for all of us—whether you're in prison, or you're a politician, you're a pastor, you're on the continuum in between—we all right now are walking through various circumstances in our lives. And the key is this: the key is not to allow the circumstances to form you, but to be formed in those circumstances by Christ. It is key wherever you are, whether in prison or at Christ the King Church in Raleigh today, it is key that you experience and have regular encounters like these folks did with Jesus.

One of the most amazing things about Jesus among the millions of things that you could say to me is this: Jesus stops for people. Jesus stops for all kinds of people. We find him here stopping for James and John and their mom who are on the prideful end of the spectrum, a little bit on the arrogant side, not really understanding fully what they're asking for. Jesus loves them and engages with them and stops for them. Jesus stops for Bartimaeus. He stops for you when you're broken. When you realize you have nothing, you feel like you have nothing you can offer, Jesus stops for you. I'm amazed by that fact.

I'm glad that whoever put this series together put it together so that all three of these sections are one united whole. You normally look at them in three sections. You look at Jesus' prediction of his death and resurrection, you look at James and John, or you look at Bartimaeus, but they actually dovetail together really beautifully.

The Three Points

So the first point this morning is that Jesus exposes false leadership in the kingdom. And the second point this morning will be that Jesus explains true leadership in the kingdom, and then finally Jesus is going to demonstrate true leadership in the kingdom.

But before we move on, let's talk about Jesus exposing false leadership in the kingdom, verses 17 through 28. So Jesus had just pulled the disciples aside and said, "Hey listen, this is what's about to happen next week. I'm going to be mocked, I'm going to be beaten, I'm going to be crucified, and I'm going to raise again from the dead." And they thought in some ways rightly that this would be ushering in Christ's rule and reign, his kingdom on earth. Truly he is enthroned on a cross, but they had the timeline all mixed up.

They thought Christ's kingdom was going to come all at once in all of Christ's glory, and so they wanted to get ahead of the game and claim a leadership position. They had read in the Old Testament—Daniel 7:13 and 14—where it predicts that one like a son of man is going to descend from the clouds and ultimately rule over the nations. But they didn't realize that the kingdom was going to come in three phases.

It was going to come in Christ's first coming and his death and resurrection. It was going to come also in the continuation stage of the kingdom which you and I live in today, where we—you and I, the church—we're extending the rule and reign of Christ on earth through our acts of love and mercy and justice. And then finally, there was going to be the consummation of the kingdom when Christ will come in all his glory.

But they, like many, thought when Christ was talking about ruling and reigning and being raised up, they thought it was going to come all at once, and so they wanted to take their position in Christ's kingdom. And so they invoked the help of their mother, which maybe it was her idea. I tend to think it was James and John's idea because there are other selections of this passage in other gospels. But at any rate, Matthew tells us that they got their mom involved. And getting mom involved in an ancient Near Eastern honor-shame culture is a bold power move, frankly.

To have mom come and then mom gets on her knees. Wow. I mean, this is serious business. And she comes to Jesus, gets down on her knees. This is the wife of Zebedee, mom of James and John. And she also is thinking, man, I've given up my sons for this. Right? I've given up my sons to the ministry. It's been three long years. I hope we get a reward for what they've been through. So mom and sons, their motives here are at best mixed.

I'm not gonna throw the disciples under the bus. This is James and John. Along with Peter, these are the inner three. These three guys know Jesus and love Jesus and truly are following him. But like you and I, their motives are mixed. On one hand, worshiping, on the other hand grasping for pleasure and power. And so they go to Jesus. Look at their question in verse 20. Apparently, their mother asked Jesus for some kind of question. In the parallel passage, it tells us in Mark 10:35 that they conveyed together this: we want you to do for us whatever we ask.

And that could sound like faith. That sounds like a bold move, right? It could also sound a little bit controlling. Hey Jesus, it's a week away. We've given up a lot of things here for you. Here's what we want you to do for us. James and John were essentially telling Jesus, we submit to you Jesus, but in the end, we're not looking for a cross. We're looking for power, fame, and glory. And it was obvious that they had missed it.

And then the rest of the ten are indignant with them—not because they asked such a poor theological question, but because they beat them to the punch. They were trying to go for the power before they had been able to request it. And so Jesus stops and engages with them and exposes their pride. And he turns the table on them and he talks about drinking the cup in verses 22 and 23.

Now the disciples would have been well aware of the symbolic nature of the cup from the Old Testament. We are less familiar with it, but it's more like drinking the cup of suffering down to the dregs, down to the very bottom. The cup that they were interested in drinking from was the goblet of greatness. They wanted it to be like a king's cup, but it was gonna be like a carpenter's cup.

And in the end, make no mistake, we will all feast in the house of Zion as we love to celebrate. But the pathway and the road to Zion is full of suffering, and if they thought they had suffered for Christ in the last three years, they needed to prepare themselves. They had not suffered nearly as much as they would in the future. In the end, they would drink of the goblets of the great one, but the great one—Revelation 4 and 5 tells us—is a lamb still looking as though he had been slain.

So we're gonna celebrate the Lord's Supper a little bit later, but realize in the end, this is a foreshadowing of the wedding feast of the lamb, and on that day, the one who presides is the one who has been slain. This is his table, and this is his church.

True Leadership in the Kingdom

And so Jesus exposes this false leadership in the kingdom. And the end of this section is open ended. We don't know yet—we now know in church history what happens with James and John, but we don't know in the narrative what choice they make. Because the momentum of the passage is interrupted by Jesus having a teaching moment for them, where Jesus explains true leadership in the kingdom in verses 25 through 28.

So Jesus then teaches that gospel leadership is not found in the degree to which you are removed from suffering as the Gentiles would have it. The powerful are more comfortable, they're more removed from suffering. They have the lower people do the hard things. But Jesus says power is found in the kingdom in the degree to which you personally embrace Christ and are willing to follow him in service.

Now it's important here to recognize there are some aspects of Christ's greatness that we could never emulate. We can never offer ourselves as the capital R ransom. There's only one—only Jesus is the king. Only he died on the cross to save us from our sins. And gospel leadership and being formed by the gospel starts with embracing Christ on the cross, his sacrifice for you and for me. In this aspect of the cross, in this aspect of Christ being a ransom, we're not called to emulate that. We're simply called to worship Jesus. We need to embrace Christ and understand that our sins are forgiven by him. That's where this all begins.

But Jesus then tells us that gospel leadership is found first in embracing him, but then second, in being transformed by that kind of love, that kind of sacrifice for us. As we internalize Jesus' love for us and are transformed by it, then we find that the cross is also an example for us to follow.

Take up your cross, and follow me. — Jesus

Therefore my brothers, in view of God's mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. — Romans 12:1-2

This is your spiritual act of worship. So there is an element in which we then emulate Christ, but we have to get the order right. You don't get saved, you don't get to heaven by taking up your cross and following Jesus. You get to heaven, you become a Christian because you embrace the free offer of the gospel given to us on the cross, and then that love transforms you and changes you, and then you want to go out and live like Jesus lived.

But Jesus understands that when we first come to him, we need a lot of work. We need a lot of work in our hearts and in our lives. When I was growing up, I loved baseball. I grew up playing baseball. One of the most prized possessions I ever had was my first really nice baseball glove that my dad bought for me. I was an infielder, a shortstop, and it's really crucial to have a good glove. My dad went out and bought me a really nice Rawlings gold glove. Even back then in the eighties, it was over $200. I remember this being like a major event going to the sporting goods store with my dad. We bought the glove, brought it home, and you go out and you play pitch and catch.

The thing about a baseball glove is when you first buy it and first own it, it's actually totally useless. The ball just pops right out of the mitt. It's kind of depressing. You're like, wow, this cost over $200. But the thing about a baseball glove, it's kind of like a ritual for infielders that you start to break that glove in, and the goal is to form that glove around your hand. People get a little bit crazy about what they'll do to baseball gloves. I've heard of people putting it in the oven with some oil on it. I've seen people run over it with their truck. People get it—it's like a ritual. This thing's gonna become like an extension of my own hand so I can use it as well as I can. You get the oil out, you rub it. I remember watching people pounding it over and over again so it can be useful.

And what we learn here is that Christ is looking for people that will be like that broken-in baseball glove. When he takes us, we are rigid. We are not very useful. God can use new Christians, don't get me wrong, he can, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done and Jesus starts working you over. Sometimes it's difficult circumstances in your life that happen. Sometimes it's being put in a position and you're like, I don't even know what I'm doing here. How did I get here? Lord Jesus, I need you. But either way, the Lord starts working you over.

And let me tell you, it's not just a season of your life. It's not just at the very beginning of the Christian life. You need the oil of the Holy Spirit regularly. Because over time, just like a baseball glove frankly, you can still become rigid again. You need to be practiced with. You need to be owned by the hand of the master.

And this is very counterintuitive for us. We grow up raising kids. I have four kids myself. And the goal of parenting in this world is to lead my kids in such a way that they will become independent of me. I don't want them forever and ever to be like a little child coming back for all their needs. That's the goal. That's the hope—that we can send off our kids into the world where they're independent of us. But it's the opposite in the kingdom of God. It's counterintuitive. The more we grow as Christians, the more dependent we become on the Lord. The more frequently we go to the Lord with our needs. It's not distance between those interactions with God when we say, God, I need something. No, we come to the Lord regularly.

There are two words in the Greek New Testament for the word poor. This is the word used in Matthew 5 when Jesus says:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. — Matthew 5:3

That word poor—there are two words for poor. One word for poor is poor, but you're still able to get by on your own. You're poor, but you're not that poor. Maybe that's how you feel today. Poor, but I'm getting by. The other word for poor is poor but totally destitute, completely dependent on the compassion and mercy of others to get by. And that is the word for poor in Matthew 5:

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the broken in, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And so Jesus has already exposed false leadership. He's explained true leadership, but he knows we and the disciples still don't get it yet. The disciples are still there, and they need an in-person live lesson. And so here in the third aspect, Jesus demonstrates true leadership in the kingdom. That's in verses 29 through 34, in this interaction with Bartimaeus and his friend.

So I want to put this in context. Jesus is in Jericho. That's the last stop before he gets to Jerusalem. Jericho's about 15 miles from Jerusalem.

Jesus is literally about to perform the greatest, most important action, mission in the history of humanity. He's that close. And so if anybody could rationalize, "I just don't have time to stop right now, I'm actually about to go do something super important," it's Jesus. But Jesus doesn't do what a lot of organizations do, nonprofits like the one I lead, or churches, or companies—we have a difficult time with both continuing on toward our big objectives, what we're trying to accomplish, and caring for our people. It's a constant tension that everyone, all of us regular people live in, but Jesus didn't really have that problem. Jesus could both fulfill the greatest mission in the history of the world and simultaneously recognize when someone was there that needed his help.

And so he stops here for Bartimaeus. When he demonstrates true leadership in the kingdom, the first thing he does is he stops. And I just wanna recognize how incredible that is. Everybody else is getting swept away in the moment. There's this crowd around him, they're kind of ushering him out of town. It's the same crowd that would be there next week in the triumphal entry as Jesus is entering in. There's a lot of momentum. The pace is high. People are really excited. No one thought that Jesus would stop, and the disciples had forgotten that they too were like a blind person and like sheep without a shepherd only three years earlier.

But Jesus knew that the gospel was gonna be proclaimed through these guys. These 11 of these 12 are going to be the apostles. They're gonna start the church and they still don't get his heart. So he's teaching them this fundamental ethic of the kingdom. Jesus stops for Bartimaeus even though on the surface Bartimaeus has nothing to contribute to his cause. You can't put Bartimaeus on your website. You're not gonna make a flyer about Bartimaeus. He doesn't have that kind of social charisma. He doesn't have any money. He doesn't know what it means to lead an organization. He's a blind man on the side of the road who's been begging his whole life. There's no fringe benefit, but Jesus knows that he's the perfect candidate for discipleship. Why? Because as we'll see in Bartimaeus here, he has this attitude. He understands who Jesus is. And so Jesus enters into Bartimaeus' suffering. After stopping, he enters in, engaging himself with Bartimaeus.

Why does Jesus stop for Bartimaeus? Well, I think it's because he hates the misery of this world. Jesus hates the suffering of this world. He hates the pain and the brokenness of this world. He longs for the day when the fullness of the kingdom will come. He knows he's about to make the greatest statement ever in history at the cross and the empty tomb to end suffering in the world. But he realizes that Bartimaeus understands that Jesus is the only one who can see him and respond to him.

He cries out—this is so important to recognize—he cries out:

Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

He understands Jesus' messianic identity. Somehow he understands more about who Jesus is than perhaps the disciples did. He had eyes of faith even though he was blind, and can see who Jesus really was. You contrast his attitude with the attitude of James and John and their mother, who say, "We want you to do for us." He says, "Jesus, son of David," and his friend says:

Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

And Christ engages Bartimaeus asking him the same question that he asked James and John: "What do you want me to do for you? What do you want me to do for you?" And Bartimaeus was desperate, and he wasn't afraid to tell Jesus the thing that he most needed from Jesus. He got up and then it says he ran out into the road. In the other parallel passages, I was walking my son through this passage when he was about three years old—not Josh, but Jordan, his brother, who's in college now. And I got to this part of the passage. I was walking through it with him, and I was like, "So Jesus is coming through town, he's walking through town, there's these blind men begging on the side of the road, and they know who Jesus is, and they cry out, 'Jesus help me,' and then they run out into the road." And I asked Jordan, "What do you think happens next?" And he said, "Oh no, they got hit by a car." And I was like, "Oh no, cars didn't exist yet." And so we kind of—I was like, "What's your next choice for what happens next?" And he said, "Jesus hit them with his car." And I was like, "You're losing the plot here. Come on back, right?"

So Bartimaeus didn't get hit by a car. Jesus, on the contrary, what does he do? He heals Bartimaeus. He touches Bartimaeus and restores him, not just physically, but I would argue spiritually as well. Christ enters into Bartimaeus' darkness to bring him redemption.

Whenever you see Jesus heal someone in the New Testament, you need to recognize that what's happening is that the creator is now the re-creator. He knows you perfectly. He knows your frame. He knows all the broken places, and he knows how to put you back together even more beautifully than you were before.

Why do I think that this led to not just Bartimaeus' redemption of his physical body, but also his life? I think it's from the final verse, verse 34, where Bartimaeus then follows Jesus on the road. I believe that Bartimaeus was there at the triumphal entry, and he could see Jesus like no one else could see him. He had just started to see. Can you imagine what it was like for him to be there, to see Jesus entering in? He already knew what it was like to cry out:

Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. — Matthew 21:9

He did it the week before. And so he continued that same cry all the way on that fourteen or fifteen mile journey all the way to Jerusalem.

I want to ask you, who do you relate to more today in the story? James and John and their mom, or blind Bartimaeus and his friend? It doesn't do you any good to give the Sunday school answer. It does you good to be honest with Jesus about how you're doing.

Maybe the way to look at it is: Do you spend more of your time trying to control Jesus to doing the things that you would like for him to do? Do you treat Jesus more like a butler than a savior? Or do you come to Jesus humbly and are you crying out for his mercy?

When you're crying out for his mercy, it can feel really messy. It can feel kind of undirected. It can feel like, "Gosh, I feel like I have nothing to offer." Yes. Yes. That's right. You don't. But Jesus sees you and he knows you, and his honest response from you is all he wants to hear from you.

It doesn't matter if you're in a prison in China, if you're in power in Washington, or if you're a Christian leader in a foreign country, you're a member or regular attender right here at CTK—Jesus is stopping for you. And it is so important that you would regularly encounter Jesus and follow him along the road.

You may wonder, "I don't really know what it would look like for me to embrace or encounter Christ for who he is. It's a challenge for me to even know where I'm at right now." I feel like that a lot of times. But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus is after you. You're not just called to pursue him. He is pursuing you, and he's stopping for you, and he's asking you, "What do you want me to do for you?" And your honest answer is all that he is looking for.

Gospel leadership—what is it? Leadership in the kingdom, how do we find it? It's found in being like that broken baseball glove. It's found in being continually broken in, allowing the oil of the Holy Spirit to mold you so you're useful in the hand of the master.

Today, will you follow Jesus? Will you embrace Christ? Will you experience his love for you? Will you allow that love to form you so that you'll follow him to bless those around you?

Let me pray. Father, we thank you that you stop for us. Lord, I am all of the above in this passage. I am James and John. I am Bartimaeus. I am all of the above. I am a mixed bag. You know my heart. You know our hearts today, Father. We need you. You call us to follow you, and sometimes we follow you and sometimes we run out of focus. Sometimes we get quite prideful with you, and other times we're like that broken-in baseball glove.

Lord, we ask for more days when we're following you with eyes of faith. Lord, would today be that day? Lord, would you help us to embrace you for who you are—our savior and the one that we're called to follow on the road of life.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.