In his sermon 'What Kind of Kingdom?', Jason Dohm examines Matthew 20, highlighting Jesus' teachings on the nature of His kingdom. Jesus predicts His betrayal and crucifixion, emphasizing His mission to serve and not be served, contrasting His kingdom with earthly ones. The request of Zebedee's sons to sit beside Jesus in His kingdom prompts a lesson on true greatness through service and sacrifice. Jesus' kingdom is depicted as one where leaders serve their subjects and God’s love is practical and tangible. The narrative further explores the disciples' misunderstanding of Jesus' mission and their subsequent growth in faith. Through various scriptural references, Dohm underscores the divine design of a kingdom where Jesus, the King, willingly sacrifices Himself for His subjects, embodying the ultimate act of love and service. He concludes with the healing of blind men, illustrating the kingdom's accessibility and the compassion of its King.

As we prepare for the sermon today, for the teaching today, Matthew 20 starting in verse 17, going to the end of the chapter. On the road and said to them, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify and the third day he will rise again. Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from him. And he said to her, what do you wish? She said to him, grant that these two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand and the other on the left in your kingdom.

But Jesus answered and said, you do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am about to be baptized with, they said to him, we are able. So he said to them, you will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my Father." And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. But Jesus called them to himself and said, You know that the rulers of Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.

Yet it shall not be so among you, But whoever desires to become great among you let him be your servant and whoever desires to be first among you Let him be your slave Just as the son of man did did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Lord, we thank you for these words that you give us. Lord, you reveal yourself. You revealed yourself to the disciples and you reveal yourself even today. Lord, we ask as we go through this teaching as Jason brings us This to us Lord that our hearts will be open our minds will be open to hear your word and that you will be revealed to us Lord that you will Call those that you call Lord choose those that you choose Lord help us to take these words apply them to our hearts and to our daily lives, Lord, so that we may glorify you.

In Jesus' name, Amen. The title of the sermon is What Kind of Kingdom? We've been seeing since the very first verses of Matthew what kind of kingdom it is. Jesus keeps talking about the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven. And He keeps talking about what it's like.

We just got out of a parable that talks about what the kingdom of heaven is like. And Jesus keeps coming back and He's teaching us what kind of kingdom He's bringing. He's instituting and inaugurating. And as we've seen what kind of a kingdom it is, is Jesus is persistently teaching us about this kingdom of His. We keep bumping up against something, and that's this.

We wouldn't have designed this kingdom. We wouldn't have done it. It doesn't look like the other kingdoms. It's not a match with what we know about kingdoms. If we'd been given a blank sheet of paper and told to design our kingdom, it would have looked a lot different than what we keep seeing Jesus describe His kingdom to be in Matthew.

But I want to turn the question for this sermon. And instead of asking, is it what we would have designed, instead ask this question. What kind of kingdom would we want to be the subject of? In other words, it's not a kingdom unless they're subjects. Somebody has to live in a kingdom, be part of the kingdom, be under the laws of the kingdom, be under the governance of the kingdom.

If we are going to be in a kingdom, and we could design that knowing that we are going to be subjects of it, then what would we do? And I think as we look at the Gospel, though we might not have designed it on our blank sheet of paper, if we were going to be the subjects of it, it would look a lot like this kingdom. It would be a kingdom where you're not just a cog in the wheel, and you're not just there to serve the state, but that you're actually cared for. That the state in some sense is serving you. Those who are most advanced and raised to leadership, raised to authority, aren't lording it over and aren't entering into a life of leisure, a life of ease.

But they're actually the ones getting up the earliest. And they're the ones going to bed the latest. And they're spending those long days in service of the subjects of the kingdom. That's the kind of kingdom you would want to be the subject of. And I think what we're seeing as Jesus is teaching about His kingdom, we're seeing that God's love isn't merely mystical.

In other words, God's love isn't just pixie dust that is released and falls upon you, and you get warm feelings of being loved by God. Now I'm not discounting that God's love shines forth in our heart. And there is an emotional element of comfort that comes from the ministry of the Holy Spirit, a voice inside of you calling out Abba Father. I'm not denying that at all. I'm just suggesting that in the kingdom that is set before us by Jesus Christ, that there's a lot more to it than pixie dust and good feelings.

There's actually a structure in place where the subjects of this kingdom get cared for with such tenderness that it's practical love. It's a worked out love where somebody who's been raised up in authority and leadership actually is poured out like a drink offering for you. That's what Paul says in one of his epistles. I'm being poured out as a drink offering for you. I am willing to spend and be spent for your sake, Paul says.

Well that isn't just Paul being a good idea. He's been set on that mission by God. He's been raised up as maybe the chief apostle in the early church and yet it's not a calling into a life of leisure or ease but it's a man being put in place to spend and be spent, to be poured out as a drink offering. So the love of God isn't just a mystical love, though there is emotion and comfort and feeling that comes from it. It's a practical love that actually flows out of real arms and legs, real people who live real lives, and lay down those lives for their brothers and their sisters.

And they're put on that mission by God. The glory of the gospel is on display in this text because the glory of the King is on display in this text. I hope we'll see that. We're going to split this text into three parts. The first section is verses 17, 18, and 19.

These first three verses, Jesus speaks to his disciples about his impending death and resurrection. He's about to die and to be raised from the dead. And he's speaking to his disciples about it. Now, he began doing this very intentionally in Matthew 16. So just a couple of chapters ago, Jesus started doing this in earnest.

And this is a continuation of that. Prior to chapter 16 there's a couple of somewhat obscure references to him suffering and dying, but nothing like chapter 16 and then what follows that. Listen to Jesus in Matthew 16 verses 21 and 22. This is Matthew chapter 16 verses 21 and 22. From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised the third day." Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "'Far be it from you, Lord.

This shall not happen to you." So it's almost exactly the same words as Jesus is saying in our text. We saw several chapters ago in 16, Jesus said almost exactly the same words. And It was so contrary to what the disciples were thinking that Peter actually rebukes Jesus and says, far be it from you, this will not happen to you. And we know what flowed from that interchange. But the point is, Jesus started this in chapter 16.

He was speaking very specifically about what was going to happen when he went up to Jerusalem. And it was such a shock to the system of the disciples that Peter actually rebukes Jesus. Now we see it again in chapter 17 verses 21 and 22. And I won't read the words because they are almost exactly the same words as we saw in 16. And as we are seeing in chapter 20, almost exactly the same words.

And in chapter 17 verse 23 it says, And they, the disciples, were exceedingly sorrowful. Jesus said it in chapter 16. He says it again in chapter 17. And this time the response that's elicited from the disciples is, they're really sorrowful. They're sad to hear Jesus say these words.

So the first time there's pushback, because it's a shock to their system, and the second time they respond a little bit differently, there's a lot of sorrow to hear Jesus say, He is going to suffer and die. And now Jesus does the same thing again and He takes them aside. Look at the words of the text. He takes them aside. This is not a chat as they are walking.

This is Jesus saying, hey guys, come here. And he pulls them aside for a very specific purpose and it's to say these words. And He's telling them exactly, exactly what's going to happen when they go up to Jerusalem. When they go up to the lion's den. Jesus has been, there's been heat.

There's been opposition. But those who oppose are consolidated in Jerusalem. That's where they are. Thick as thieves, literally, is in Jerusalem. And he's been saying that they're going there.

And in the parallel text in Mark 10, it says that the disciples were amazed that they were going up to Jerusalem and that they were terrified. Jesus is going resolutely, but the disciples have been hearing what Jesus has been saying is going to happen in Jerusalem, and they're not so resolute. They're actually terrified. And then on the heels of that, it's saying that they were amazed that they're going to Jerusalem, that they're terrified. Jesus says this in Matthew 10.

He speaks very specifically that he is going to be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes. He says very specifically that he is going to be given a death sentence by the Gentiles. He is going to be handed over to pagan people who will give him a death sentence. He says very specifically that he's going to suffer, that he's going to be mocked, that he's going to be whipped, he's going to be scourged. In Mark 10 and in Luke 18, our parallel texts in the other gospels that record the same account, in Mark 10 and Luke 18, it says that he's going to be spit on.

Matthew doesn't record that, but Mark and Luke say that's going to be part of the suffering. Not just mocking, not just scourging, but that he's going to be spit on. And here he introduces something new. He's going to be crucified. He's said He's going to die before, but he hasn't said the method.

Here in Matthew, he says exactly how he's going to die when he goes up to Jerusalem. He's going to be crucified. He's going to be treated as the worst kind of criminal, and then he's going to rise from the dead. And by the way, when we get to Matthew chapter 26 and Matthew chapter 27, we are going to see exactly these things that Jesus has been described, played out in greater detail. But nothing is missing from what Jesus is saying here.

Nothing is missing. Everything that is going to happen in Matthew 26 and 27, Jesus has been saying in advance in chapter 16, in chapter 17, and now here again in chapter 20. Now Luke, our account in Luke of these same events, Luke records this in Luke 18 verse 31. Jesus says, all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. So Luke says the same things are going to, Luke records Jesus saying the same things are going to happen in Jerusalem.

But Luke goes on to record that Jesus says it's because the prophets have foretold it. He links all these specific things that are happening to the things that God has been saying for hundreds of years. They are going to be part of the mission and the ministry of the Messiah. And is this true? Man, is it ever true?

Go read Psalm 22 and tell me that's not Jesus on the cross. It's so explicit, it's so clear when you read Psalm 22 that hundreds of years earlier, the psalmist knew a lot about the suffering and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Go look at Isaiah 53. You probably practically know it by heart. It describes the suffering and the death and the glorification of the Messiah.

The prophets have been saying this, and Jesus in Luke's account is saying, all these things are going to happen in Jerusalem, and by the way, the prophets have been saying so. Now listen to this in Luke 18 verse 34 Luke says this, but they the disciples understood none of these things the disciples didn't understand these things. This saying was hidden from them and they did not know the things which were spoken. So they didn't understand, and the reason they didn't understand wasn't because they were just dull. They might be just dull, but that wasn't it.

Luke gives us the specific reason which is it was hidden from them. Now why in the world would Jesus proactively, intentionally bring them aside to say, we're going to Jerusalem and this list of things is going to happen if God was going to hide it from them and they weren't going to understand this doesn't make sense. Why would He pull them aside to tell them things that God would hide from them? Two reasons. Here's the first one.

Jesus' life is not being taken from Him. He's laying it down. And Jesus says this explicitly in John chapter 10 verses 17 and 18. Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself.

I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my Father." Jesus has a command from the Father to lay down His life. And that is the reason, the only reason that He is going to suffer and die in Jerusalem. Jesus doesn't have to suffer. Jesus doesn't have to die.

No man is going to take his life from him, but he is going to lay it down because he has a deal with the Father. He is obeying his Father and he is laying down his life. Now, speaking of fulfilling all that the prophets foretold, listen to this. This is from Isaiah 50, so just place that in your mind, knowing what Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 54 and Isaiah 55 says. It's this rich section of scripture about the Messiah and what He'll be doing.

So that's the section. This is Isaiah 50 verse 6. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who plucked the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. Hundreds of years earlier, this is Isaiah 50 verse 6, And Jesus says, I gave my back to that.

I gave my beard to that. I let them spit in my face. None of this was done without the consent of Jesus. He knew it was coming, and no one was taking anything from him. No one was imposing anything on Jesus Christ.

He went because it was his mission to die and purchase a people. In Matthew 26, the mob has come for Jesus. Peter has drawn his sword. Peter is ready. And Jesus says, Peter put away your sword.

And then he says this, Or do you think that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus? So the picture that Jesus gives us in Matthew 26 when the mob is there is a picture of 12, 000 angels being restrained by heaven so that Jesus can fulfill his mission. One word from Jesus Christ would have had 12, 000 angels on the spot to deliver him. No man took his life from him.

He laid it down. So this is the first reason. His life wasn't taken from him. He laid it down. Here's the second reason.

Jesus is setting it up so these events that will happen in Jerusalem, His suffering and His death, will confirm not shake their faith. You get that? Jesus is saying this set of things is going to happen to me again and again and again in these late chapters of Matthew, so that when they happen, the disciples instead of having their faith eroding, diminished, it will actually strengthen the faith of these men. Here's the account of Luke 24. There's an empty grave, but nobody knows it yet.

And these women are on the way to the grave. By the way, probably One of them is James and John's mother. She's probably in this group that's headed to the grave. And they encounter angels there outside the empty grave. They find the stone has been rolled away and there's an empty grave and they encounter these angels.

Here is what the angels say. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words.

And then it says they went back and they told the disciples all these things. And so now Jesus, their Lord, their teacher, has been taken from them, has been murdered, has been buried, and they don't know where he is, but these things are not things to erode their faith. It's actually things to build their faith because he's been saying since back in Chapter 16 when he was in Galilee, we're going here, this is going to happen, this is going to happen, this is going to happen. And so instead of these events causing these men to say, it's over now, the angels say, remember when he said that? A couple of final comments on this section.

First, Jesus knew. Jesus knew. He always knew that he was going to the cross. From the earliest days of his ministry, He always knew that this is how it would end. That he would go.

That he would be given a death sentence by God haters. That he would be mocked. That he would be scourged. That he would be spit on. And that he would be crucified as a common criminal.

He always knew. He always knew. Think of the love of Christ. Think of the love of Christ. All that time, all those years, he knew what was going to happen, but he did it anyway.

Finally, Jesus' mission is the cross. The focus of His mission is the cross. We've seen such wonderful preaching. Praise God for the sermons that Jesus preached and they are given to us in the gospels. Praise God for that.

But that is not the primary part of Jesus' ministry, mission. I'm So thankful for these sermons, but they are nothing to the cross. Praise God for the miracles that we have seen Him do, that we know that Our King can do anything at any time and He has proved it over and over and over again. There are blind people who see now. There are mute people who talk now.

There are deaf people who hear now. There are dead people who live now. And as glorious as that is, his ministry and his mission was not that. It was the cross. Praise God for the example of Jesus Christ that we know now how a Christian ought to live.

What it means to be righteous, what it means to say the right thing, to think the right thing, to do the right thing at the right time. Praise God for that. But that is not the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ. Not the primary focus of it. It was the cross.

This is the kind of kingdom we want. If you are going to be a subject in a kingdom, you want this to be the kingdom where The king submits himself to death and the death of a cross. The shameful, disgraceful death on the cross. This is the kingdom you want. Where the king isn't above suffering, above sacrificing, above bleeding, but he is willing on behalf of his subjects to come and lay down his life.

This is the kingdom that you want. The next section starts in verse 20. Let's read 20 through 28. Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from him. And Jesus said to her, what do you wish?

She said to him, grant that these two sons of mine may sit one in your right hand and the other on your left in your kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, you do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They said to him, we are able. So he said to them, You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.

But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my father. And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

And whoever desires to be first among you, Let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." Three people come to Jesus. The sons of thunder, that's the name he gave them in Mark 3, and their mother. So the sons of thunder are mama's boys. There's a lot of irony in that. But here they come, and mom is with them, and she has a request.

She wants them to sit next to Jesus in His kingdom. In Luke, It says, excuse me, in Mark 10, our parallel text in Mark, it says, in your glory, instead of in your kingdom. So in his kingdom, in his glory, she wants her sons seated right next to Jesus. Now this has to stem from what Jesus said just a chapter earlier in Matthew 19 verse 28. So Jesus said to them, Assuredly I say to you that in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." So Jesus, just the chapter before, has described the coming of His Kingdom, the coming of His glory.

He's going to be on the throne of His glory and these 12 disciples are going to be on thrones too. And so the mother, having heard this, comes with James and John. And by the way, in the parallel texts in Mark 10, it doesn't talk about their mother, it just talks about James and John coming with this request. So they're coming together. It's a common request.

And they want the places of prominence in the kingdom. They want to be right next to Jesus, right on the right side of him, and right on the next of him. Now, There's a lot not to like about this request. But there's a few things to actually commend. First of all, this mother of James and John comes and in humility kneels down before Jesus.

So she's coming with a request that's pretty audacious, but she is coming in humility. She's not coming and making demands of Jesus. The text says that she kneels down before Jesus. And secondly, she believes in His Kingdom. Now, there's no guarantee of a Kingdom here other than Jesus has said it.

There's been lots of opposition. In fact, the people in power are not the ones who love Jesus. Jesus is drawing crowds, but when the movers and shakers come to Jesus, it's not because they love Him. It's because they want to test him. It's because they want to bring him down.

But this mother of James and John's believes in a kingdom. When Jesus says, I'll be on the throne of my glory and you'll have twelve thrones, She believes Jesus. And she believes Him so much so that she is thinking about seating arrangements. Jesus has said He is going to have a kingdom and that is good enough for the mother of James and John. Praise God.

Jesus responds, you don't know what you are asking. You do not know what you ask. I have a cup that I am getting ready to drink. Can you drink that cup? I have a baptism of which I'm getting ready to be baptized.

Can you be baptized that way? Now, what are these? Well, the cup is well established in the Old Testament. And it just means your portion from the Lord. It's what God gives you to drink.

And A few times In the Old Testament, the cup of the Lord's fury. God puts His wrath, His fury into a cup, and then He hands it to the one judged and makes him drink it down to the drags. It's called the cup of the Lord's fury in the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Habakkuk. So it's all through the prophets as the cup of the fury of God. Now, turn over just a few pages to Matthew 26.

We see the cup again in Matthew 26. Matthew 26 will begin in verse 36 and read through 44. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. He took with them Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then he said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death.

Stay here and watch with me. He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying, "'Oh my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.'" Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, What could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.

Again a second time he went away and prayed saying, oh my father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So he left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Now this is right after the institution of the Lord's Supper. This is hours, minutes After the Last Supper, where Jesus has said, this cup is the blood of the New Covenant, shed for the remission of sins.

And so this is the context of it. Jesus is talking about the cup. He's just had the cup in hand. And he's passed it around. He said, it's my blood of the new covenant.

It represents the remission of sins. It represents atonement. One dying in the place of the other. One taking the cup of the fury of the Lord on behalf of another and drinking it down to the dregs and then drinking the dregs. And now we are in Gethsemane and James and John are there.

So we keep this in mind when we're in chapter 20 and we see the mother of Zebedee's sons coming with James and John. We have to think forward to Matthew 26 and know that they are going to be there. And watch, figuratively speaking, in Gethsemane, Jesus take the cup of the fury of God in His hands. Jesus says He is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. And When you go to Luke's account, it says that He was sweating as big drops of blood.

His sweat was like large drops of blood. And so He is praying one time, two times, three times, if it's possible. Let the cup of your fury pass. Now what is this? It's not the fear of death.

Many martyrs have died bravely. Jesus was not lacking in courage. Jesus is our example in everything. Jesus is more than we can be in every category, including courage. Jesus isn't lacking courage in Gethsemane.

It's the dread of becoming sin and taking the Lord's fury. It's being a co-equal member of the Trinity, God who cannot even look upon sin, and then becoming sin. And then Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, who has always lived in perfect unity, in perfect love with His Father, taking on the fury of that Father. Here's what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.21. Paul says, For He, God the Father, made Him, God the Son, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This was the plan. Jesus was going to be made sin by God the Father. So there's an implication for you. Here's the implication. Imputed righteousness.

He lives righteously and you get to participate in it. You get it imputed to you. Here's the implication for Jesus. Imputed wickedness. Imputed sinfulness.

Not just that He bore sin, but that He became sin. And so Jesus on the cross in Matthew 27 says right out of Psalm 22, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me? Because you became sin. That's why the Father forsook him.

Because he became sin. This is why Jesus is agonizing in Gethsemane. Not because he's afraid of death in no way, but because he's going to be made sin. Sinless God, the spotless Lamb, the one who cannot even look upon sin, made sin so that His righteousness could be imputed to us. This is the cup.

Jesus is talking about the cup in Matthew 20. This is what he means. Then Jesus talks about his baptism, very similar. In Luke 12 verse 50, Jesus has said, but I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished. This is way before the events of Matthew 20.

How distressed I am till I've been baptized this way. We're seeing much the same thing. Paul actually unfolds this for us in Romans 6. We read this at almost every baptism we have. But in Romans 6 verses 3 and 4, Paul says this, Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into what?

Into His death. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." When Paul talks about the baptism of Jesus Christ in Romans 6, he just says the baptism is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. That's the picture. Down, buried and raised to new life. It is His death and His burial and His resurrection.

And when you're baptized, That's what it is. It's participating with Him. It's joining in Him in His death and His burial so that just as Jesus Christ was raised, you can be raised. It's the guarantee of our resurrection in Christ accepted in the beloved. Now James and John say something amazing.

We're able. Yeah, we can do that. Your cup, we can drink that. Your baptism, we can do that. And there is a sense in which this is just radically untrue.

The cup that Jesus drank was an atoning, substitutionary cup. They can't do that. The depth of it, James and John will never know. None of us will ever know. The purpose of it, we'll never be able to die for another.

We couldn't even die for ourselves and pay our own debts. And so there's a sense in which this is radically untrue. Is baptism the same thing? There's a sense of it in which we just can't do that. That's not what Jesus says.

Jesus says, you know what, you're right. You will drink my cup. You will partake in my baptism. And there is a sense in which they indeed did. James, the first apostle who was martyred, this is recorded in Acts 12, he's the first one of the twelve to be killed for his faith.

Listen to how John begins the book of Revelation. I John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. That's what John was doing when Revelation was given to him. He had been exiled. He was suffering for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

And so there is a sense in which they would become partakers of his sufferings. Paul says that in a number of his letters. He exhorts us to become partakers of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. James and John did that. James is a martyr.

John is one who suffered and was exiled. Even so, Jesus says that those seats on my right hand, on my left hand, are not for me to assign. It's for those for whom they have been prepared by the Father. And this is why Jesus says, you don't know what you're asking. Because crowns are preceded by crosses.

You don't know what you are asking for. You want the greatest honor, then you want the greatest sufferings. She didn't come with that in mind. She wasn't asking for the greatest crosses. She was asking for the greatest crowns.

But Jesus is saying, they go together. They go together. How do we do this? Oh, we do this in a hundred different ways. If you think you're not guilty of this, you haven't thought very deeply about this yet.

I want to be saved. I want to be rescued from my sins. Lay down your life. Take up your cross. This is the life of someone whose sins have been wiped away.

Oh. They didn't tell me that at the camp meeting. I want to be sanctified. Lord, my sanctification is so slow. God, speed up my sanctification.

Do you know what you are asking? This is again where sanctification isn't just come about by pixie dust. It's not how it happens. God actually has means through which He conforms us to the image of His Son and its sufferings. You're praying for speeding up of sanctification.

Well, you're also praying for the speeding up of sufferings. Hardship. Having the things that you love stripped away from you. That doesn't mean we shouldn't pray it. Doesn't mean that we shouldn't pray to be saved.

Doesn't mean that we shouldn't pray to be sanctified and faster. But Jesus here in this text would have us know what we're asking for. You can't just go to God and ask for the crowns. You must understand that it comes with the crosses. That's the uniform testimony of scripture, is that you cannot come to God and just ask for crowns and not understand that it comes with other things.

It's tied, it's married, it's inextricably linked to the things that would take us there, take us to the blessing, Take us to the glory. It comes through hardship and privation and denying yourself and taking up your cross and laying down your life. That's what you're praying for when you're praying for a good seat in the Kingdom of Heaven. And it doesn't mean don't pray that. It just means know what you're asking for.

God, I was praying for blessing and then you did this to me. Oh, so you've had your prayers answered. And now you don't like it and can't even see that God has answered your prayers. The other ten become aware. They are not happy.

It says that they are greatly displeased. The King James says they are moved with indignation against these two brothers. Moved with indignation against. Ticked off at James and John. And having come with their mother to ask Jesus for the places of prominence.

I think this is righteous indignation. Anyone? Anyone want to take righteous indignation? No, me neither. You want to be on his right or his left?

I wanted to be on his right and his left. I'm indignant against you. There's definitely the sense of that in this text. They're mad that they would come and ask Jesus for this because those were the spots that they wanted. They all want the same spots.

They all want the place of prominence in the Kingdom. And Jesus calls them to Himself. He calls for the second huddle of our text. The first one was to tell them what was going to happen in Jerusalem. Now he calls them together to consider what they are thinking like and acting like.

And he says, you are thinking like Gentiles. You are acting like gentiles. People who are still in the futility of their mind, they have darkened thinking, they know nothing about the Kingdom of God, and you're thinking just like them, you're acting just like them. You know how they act? They're seeking prominence, and when they get it, they're lording over.

Man, they're exercising the authority the minute they get it. They are seeking it, and when they get it, why do they know how to exercise it? Promotions look different than that in the Kingdom of Heaven. I want to be promoted. I want to be a leader.

I want authority. Okay, okay. Back to where we were five minutes ago, that looks different than it does among the Gentiles. When your thinking has been changed, And you're not thinking like a Gentile anymore, the promotion looks different. You want to be great?

You're promoted to servant. You want to be first? You're promoted to slave. Different kind of kingdom. Not the kingdom you would design, but man is it the kingdom you want to be a subject in.

Finally, Jesus gives us the punch line. Just do like me. Just do like me. I'm the model. I'm the example.

Think like me. Act like me. Just as the Son of Man, I'm quoting from the text, and Jesus here in the text is using this title that in itself is a massive condescension. Anytime you see the title, Son of Man, you should be thinking, Massive condescension. He's the son of God.

He's the son of David. He'll have an eternal throne. An eternal rule. So anytime we see Son of Man, we're thinking massive condescension. Why in the world would Jesus Christ come and take on the form of a servant and submit himself to death, even the death of a cross?

This is what it means for him to be the son of man. It's to be incarnated. It's to set aside His glory and come live like you and me. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. The death of Jesus Christ was not a simple martyrdom.

It's not dying for a cause. Many people have died for many causes. Some are good causes, some are bad causes, but it's not that unusual for somebody to die for a cause. This wasn't what Jesus did. The death of Jesus Christ was not just an example of self-sacrifice.

Oh look, a picture of self-sacrifice. Well, it is that, but that's only a shade of what the death of Jesus Christ really is. It's that He's a ransom for many. It's a buying an enslaved people. Buying back an enslaved people.

That's what the death of Jesus Christ is. So Jesus says, that's the template. Laying down your life, bleeding, dying for your brethren. That's my kingdom. Now what does that mean for me as an elder?

What does that mean for me as an elder? It means that every day there needs to be less lording it over, and more being poured out as a drink offering. Spending and being spent. If you want to be an elder, and elder like Jesus' elders, that's what it looks like. You better have that in front of you.

You better make a plaque and put it on the wall and see it every day and think about it every day. Because you need to be less of that and more of that. What does that mean for fathers? What does that mean for fathers? Fathers, how are you doing at laying down your life for those that God has entrusted you with, for the wife that God has joined you to, for your children that God has given you.

Fathers, we have to be the first up. We have to be the last in bed. And we need to spend those long days being the slave to the people in our homes. Does that mean there's never a time to make the call and to exercise authority? That's not what Jesus is saying here.

Jesus is the head of the church. There's no need to misunderstand this and completely take authority out of it. I think we know what it means for Jesus to be the head of the church. That it means more than just calling the shots. People who like the spotlight are not in short supply.

They're not. But when it's time to work behind the scenes, are you there? Are you pulling your weight when it's time to work behind the scenes. Jesus is calling us to follow Him, to be like Him. And the more mature you are, the more of a slave you are to your brethren.

Are you comfortable with that idea? Too bad. I'm not either. That's what it means to be promoted in these ranks. There's no other organization like this.

It's different from the other kingdoms. When you're asking for promotions, this is what you're asking for. You want to be great, you're a servant. Congrats on the promotion. You want to be the first, you are a slave.

Congrats on the promotion. Now we have already seen this. Jesus has already said this. Matthew 18. He comes, he sets a little child in the middle of them, and he says, therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is just saying the same thing again. Better humble yourself like this little child if you want to be great. Now listen to this. He is going to say it again. He is going to say almost exactly the same words as he is saying here in chapter 20.

He is going to say it in Luke 22 right after the Lord's Supper. In Luke 22. Almost exactly the same words here. He's saying it, and He's saying it, and He's saying it, and He's saying it. Why is that?

Because it's contrary. It's contrary to the way we think. We have some Gentile thinking left. We have some Gentile acting left. And so Jesus is saying it again and again because he knows it is contrary and he knows we're going to have to hear it one more time.

He's saying it in the last hours that he has with these disciples, these men that he's been investing in. Rather than going over anything new, he comes right back to it. If you want to be the greatest, you'll have to be a servant. If you want to be first, you'll have to be a slave. This is the kind of kingdom that we want to be subjects of, where those who are promoted into authority were given the lead are First up and last to bed and are laying down their lives.

Jesus did it and he's rallying men and women and bringing them to maturity and what that means is there's not more ease, there's less ease, there's not less service, there's more service, there's not more prominence, there's more of being a slave to the other ones that he is also bringing to maturity. How many times have you benefited from that? Think about the people in the kingdom of God who have laid down their lives just because Jesus was Jesus. He was a good example and they wanted to follow Him. He was bringing them to maturity and so they sacrificed for you.

How many times have you been in a very practical way loved by God because He raised up people to love you, to lay down their lives for you? This is the kingdom that you want to be a subject in. Finally, verses 29 through 34. Matthew 20, 29 through 34. Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David. Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet. They cried out all the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord Son of David. So Jesus stood still and called them and said, What do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.

So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight and they followed him. Two persistent blind men received mercy from the son of David. In Mark 10, our parallel text where Mark's recording the same events that we have here, we get a couple of things that Matthew doesn't give to us. The first is this.

There's a name. Mark only talks about one of the blind men, but he calls him by name. This is blind Bartimaeus. This is that one, the son of Timaeus. And Mark also tells us that they're begging.

That's what they're doing by the side of the road. They are not waiting for Jesus. They are begging. They are blind and they can't sustain themselves because of their handicap and they are begging for their sustenance. And they hear that Jesus is coming by and they start yelling.

And they are applying for mercy from the son of David. So far in the text Jesus has been using a title. It's son of man. It's this massive condescension. But these blind men understand the other side of it, that he's the son of David.

And the son of David has always been, throughout scripture, throughout the Old Testament, the one who would come and set his people free, The one who would come and set his people free, the one who would come and set up an everlasting kingdom. And it's just the term for the Messiah that they've been waiting for. Now, don't lose the context here. Jesus has just said, I'm going up to Jerusalem, and I'm going to be betrayed into the hands of the chief priests and to the scribes. So He's going to suffer at the hands of the people who know the most.

Man, they know that Old Testament inside and out. They know all these prophecies about the Messiah that we've been quoting all along. They've mastered it. And yet, they can't see what's right in front of their eyes. They're blind.

And Jesus is going to suffer at their hands. And now, here are two blind men, physically blind, seeing things not even the experts see. And they're applying to the Son of David for mercy, because they think he can do something. They've heard tell that Jesus is actually able to give sight to blind men as the Messiah will be able to do. And they're warned.

New King James says warned. The King James, the ESV, and the NIV render this rebuked. They're rebuked. The NASB renders it sternly told them. They're taken to task.

Stop yelling. Be quiet. And are they quiet? No. They double up.

Instead of stopping, they raise the pitch and they raise the volume level and they repeat. And they're yelling out louder than before, having been told to be quiet. They're twice as loud as they were before and they're saying, Son of David, O Lord, have mercy on us. They're asking, They're seeking, they're knocking, they're not to be denied. And Jesus stops and He calls for them.

And He asks them what they want. And then out of compassion He touches their eyes and heals them. We've seen this so many times already in Matthew. And in Mark 10 and in Luke 18, these parallel texts, it says something that Matthew doesn't record. Jesus says, your faith has made you well.

Men of faith, men who have eyes to see, your faith has made you well and they follow Him. Two minutes ago they couldn't follow Him without somebody to take them by the hand. Now they don't need somebody to take them by the hand. They can just follow him. This is the kind of kingdom that we want.

Maybe not the kind we would have designed, but it's the kind of kingdom where we would want to be a subject where even the least, even the beggar, even the lame can come and apply for mercy. Now a few concluding remarks. There are many religious people who play around the margins of the Kingdom of Heaven. And they know their catechism. And they know their Bibles.

They know their Bibles. They are like the chief priests and the scribes. They have a form of godliness, but they deny its power. And then there are others. They're less impressive.

They may not know as much, But they're aware of their infirmities, so they're crying out to the son of David. They at least know who they're dealing with. And they know enough not to be quieted down when he's passing by. And they'll yell as loud as it'll take to get help, to receive mercy because they know something about him that he is full of compassion. Consider well Consider well what kind of kingdom in which you will be a subject.

This is what we should take away from this text, is an exhortation to consider what kind of kingdom we're going to be a subject in. No kingdom is not an option. You'll be the subject of a kingdom. All of us will be. Jesus in Matthew 20 puts before us a kingdom where the king lays down his life.

He pays a ransom to purchase back slaves, where those that are brought to maturity and are raised up to have authority are actually the ones who are laying down their lives, looking at the king, looking at what he's like, looking at what he does, using him as the template, and then doing likewise. Where beggars gain mercy. Meanwhile, in the other kingdom, the prince of that kingdom, he prowls about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour. He comes to kill and to name and destroy. He promises one thing and then delivers another thing.

Don't you know that you'll be the subject of the kingdom? Jesus is painting in the brightest lines the contrast between these kingdoms. Which kingdom would you be a subject in? What kind of fool would have a king who's prowling around to devour, who wants to kill and maim and destroy, who promises one thing and delivers another, when there's another kingdom where the king lays down his life to purchase back slaves. What kind of fool wouldn't want that kingdom?

Let's pray. Father I thank you for the bright lines in this text. You show us a glorious kingdom. Grant eyes to see and ears to hear that when wisdom cries aloud in the city square that we would hear, that we would hear, that we would hear, that we would be in our right minds as we consider the kingdoms and what it means to be a subject in each of the kingdoms. Oh Father, I thank You for the beauty of the Kingdom of Heaven.

I thank You that week by week we are seeing the glory of Your Kingdom and the glory of the King of it. Help us to rise up in praise to you, O God. In Jesus' name, Amen.