True Greatness

and dismiss our kids to little district and for the rest of us it's a joy to be with you this morning to worship Jesus uh we want to go ahead and open up our Bibles um if you didn't know opening your Bibles is worshiping Jesus because the Bible is all about him and so we want to learn from him we want to grow in what his word is providing for us this morning um if you're uh joining us for for the first time this is um we're preaching through the Book of Luke and so we're in Luke luk 22 the final three chapters which is

really just kind of the final week of Jesus's life before he um goes on trial gets beaten bruised battered tortured uh crucified on our behalf and so we're going to be looking at that over the next couple of months actually and so it's more of a real deep dive into these final days in the life of Jesus and so Luke 22 is where we find ourselves we're going to be looking at verses 21 through 30 21 through 30 and really for today's uh talk it is a Tale As Old As Time literally going all the way back to our first parents Adam and Eve what

they were tempted with was simply one thing they were tempted with greatness the only reason why eve took the fruit from Satan and gave it to Adam was because they desired to be God that's what the Temptation was like what Satan said was if you eat of this fruit you will be like God you will be equal with God you'll be able to sit on the same Throne as God and so discontent with their current status they wanted to be greater and so as we continue walking through the Book of Luke we come to the tail end of the Passover meal where Jesus initiates and

he institutes the Lord's supper and at the table are his disciples and just like any group of people when they get around the table for sure there are going to be great conversations but at the same time when you get around a group of people sometimes there might be disputes or arguments among them and this is one of those times where the disciples get into a bit of an argument Luke does not record all of the conversations that we see actually if you were to look at the greatest detail of the conversations that go on at the Last Supper is actually the Book of John

John chapter 1314 15 16 and 17 all those chapters have to deal with this one meal that Jesus has with his disciples before he is betrayed by Judas but what Luke does record is very important for us this morning because it's of Eternal significance at the end of last week's sermon Luke 2221 through 23 tells us this but behold the hand of him who betrays me is is with me on the table for the son of man goes as it has been determined but woe to the Man by whom he is betrayed and they began to question one another which of them it could be

who was going to do this so a couple of things real quick before we dive into the kind of meat of our passage because again that passage was covered last week but as Jesus is sitting at this table he's basically telling them everything that's already been determined is about to take place so nothing that's about to take place is a shock to God he knows Judas is going to betray Jesus but in Judas betraying Jesus God is also saying this has been determined beforehand God knows exactly how he is going to bring about the sacrifice of Jesus but one thing to note here is the

disciples start asking this question who's going to be the one to betray him they're not able to see who it is yet they're not able like which also just shows that even though they're friends they're not that great of friends because they don't know like if you were to sit around your community group and someone say one of you is going to betray me I would dare say in our Humanity we all have someone in mind right like we're all it's probably going to be so and so like now I'm not saying that I would think that in my community group but um but we

would probably start pointing some fingers on who we would think it would be there's probably some conjecture going on here of the disciples thinking who is it that would do such a terrible thing now writing the coattails of that conversation as they are kind of disputing and arguing with one another or kind of just having conversation who is it that would betray him maybe it starts also then thinking hey which one of us is the Great greatest here which one of us is actually the best like we're not going to betray Jesus but we're all for Jesus so much so that they start arguing amongst

one another as we'll see here in a moment that they're actually arguing for the greatest now the disciples are about to have that argument and we'll get to sit or the argument of really who's getting to sit at the right hand of Jesus but as we saw a couple of weeks ago Judas has already determined in his heart and mind who he believes to be the greatest among them judas's sin is that he believed he was the greatest that he believed he deserved everything he's about to betray Jesus to the Jewish Chief priests and the Roman officials for 30 pieces of silver which is about

a month's wage the sin of Judas is immediate gratification found in creation and not Eternal satisfaction found in our creator that was the sin of Judas that eventually led to him hanging himself so it's safe to say that that didn't work out for him what he thought would make himself instantly great ended in his instant destruction he thought he would be satisfied with the Commendation of the people the chief priest Maybe become buddy buddy with the Roman officials because after all the number one wanted person was Jesus they're trying to devise plans on how to catch him and kill him and get rid of him

in order to preserve their way of life and their way of doing things and Judas was their ticket to that Judas was going to be the one who would help them and they were very excited about it and so Judas sells Jesus for his own greatness of bringing or maybe climbing the ladder of the people's Commendation but not realizing that in his satisfaction with the Commendation from the people it would instead be his receiving condemnation from God now in addition to that where Judas was guilty of seeking immediate greatness we enter into this passage and start to see that the disciples are straddling the line

of falling into the same sin except they are seeking Eternal greatness let me show you and then give you Jesus's response his example and his charge to us look at verse 24 a dispute also arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest so remember they're trying to figure out who's the worst that would betray Jesus and then it says a dispute also arose so in that same conversation of who's the worst they're now starting to argue who's the best who's the greatest Among Us which can we just think about that for a moment can we picture the audacity

of that for a moment I mean I know these disciples have not been disciples much more than three years okay so they're still like you can know someone for three years but still like be getting to know them like barely scratching the surface they're still new to the way of Jesus but seriously like Jesus is right there like he's at the table with you like you're in the presence of who you believe is the Son of God and you're arguing who you think is the goat among you like who's the greatest among you who's going to be equal with Jesus Jesus again the same sin

that Adam and Eve fell into the same sin that Judas fell into is the same sin that they are currently arguing and trying to determine who is going to be the greatest it just once again gives me so much comfort knowing that Jesus did not pick perfect disciples it just gives me Comfort knowing that he did not pick perfect people progress over Perfection that's what we're after progress over Perfection these men are 100% still a work in progress I can just imagine as they are arguing who is the greatest Jesus is thinking have you lost your mind like are you serious right now or as

Chris Tucker and rush hour once said like do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth the amount of face Palms that Jesus does when the disciples open their mouths has to be a very high number but nonetheless Jesus is the righteous one in this moment he's the righteous one and the totally Sanctified and holy one and so of course he does not enter into the argument with them but uses it as an opportunity to teach them once again the difference in Kingdom economics Jesus could have just even in the moment been like guys like who's the greatest like he could have

just said like laid his his card on the table and said like you know who I am right I'm the greatest you're never even going to come close but that's not what he does he instead again uses Kingdom economics because if you forgot Earthly economics is the one who is on top is the best the one who's on top is the best the one who has it all is the best so climb the ladder conquer kingdoms Rule and Reign it's why men who conquered throughout history have names like Alexander the Great because he conquered in their time what they would consider the known world so

therefore he's the greatest other names like Bruce the Almighty you're thinking no that's a movie you're right I'm catching to see if you're still paying attention here but throughout history our fallen nature is to have it all and to have our name etched in history to seek our own Glory instead of the glory of God and that's the Temptation that they're feeling right now in this moment it reminds me of the movie Troy based on the mythological character Achilles in a conversation with his mother in the movie movie she says if you stay in Lissa which is where they were living you will find peace

you will find a wonderful woman and you will have sons and daughters who will have children and they'll all love you and they'll all remember your name but when your children are dead and their children after them your name will be forgotten but if you go to Troy Glory will be yours they will write stories about your victories and thousands of years and the world will remember your name but if you go to Troy you will never come back for your glory walks hand in hand with your doom and I shall never see you again Achilles was given two options for his life two paths

our fallen nature wants the second one it wants the second one we want Glory we want fame we want to be known for greatness but what Achilles didn't understand understand was that God's design for us is to make much of the name of Jesus to leave a legacy for those after us to know Jesus to treasure him and then after we are dead and gone to be forgotten as we enter into the kingdom of heaven and receive our great reward for believing in Jesus and spreading his glory like that's what God wants for us his glory not ours among the Nations that's the good life

what his mom was telling him that if he stays here the life he'll have is actually the life God wants for us spread his glory and leave a legacy there and be forgotten that's the good life that's the good stuff that's the good portion that's what Jesus is teaching the disciples and I want to show you this look at it in verse 25 he said to them the kings of the Gentiles they exercise lordship over them and those in authority over them are called the benefactors but not so with you rather let the greatest among you be as the youngest and the leader as the

one who serves for who is the greater one who reclines at table or one who serves again him looking at Earthly economics is it not the one who reclines at table and is served they are considered in society the greatest but I am among you as the one who serves so Jesus here is flipping their hierarchy of greatness on its head their culture and I would dare say ours as well is that there are those who are great and everyone else serves them as they recline and relax in their greatness but Jesus shows us a different way he shows us a different way he who

is truly the greatest because he's the son of God does not come to Earth to be served he could have exercised that right at any moment but that's not why he came he will exercise that right when he comes in his second coming but it's because it is deserved to him instead when he comes the truly greatest one ever to have lived Jesus yeah amen Jesus comes not to be served but to serve in other words in Earthly economics those who are great are served by those who aren't in Kingdom economics those who serve are the ones considered truly great because they are modeling the

way of Jesus Jesus here says I am among you as the one who serves now I want to show you something that Luke doesn't point out to us but in this setting in this sitting in at this meal Jesus doesn't only just teach this to them but he shows them by way of example so I want to go to John Chapter 13 you can turn over there with me John Chapter 13 we're going to I'm going to read verses 1 through 17 and this is what we will close out with I know record timing right if I don't elaborate but John 13 1 through 17

Jesus serves his disciples by washing their feet again this is this is all at the same same meal in the midst of the same conversations that they're having about who's the greatest this is what the greatest does now before the Feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father having loved his own who were in the world he loved them to the end during supper when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas scariot Simon's son to betray him Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands

and that he had come from God and was going back to God so Jesus knowing who he is and what God the authority God has given him knowing that he in the moment is the greatest he rose from supper he laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel tied it around his waist then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him he came to Simon Peter who said to him Lord do you wash my feet Jesus answered him what I am doing you did not understand now but

afterward you will understand Peter said to him you you shall never wash my feet like at least Peter here in a way gets it right like you're the greatest why are you washing my feet we are meant to serve the greatest I should be washing your feet Jesus answered him if if I do not wash you you have no share with me you have no relationship with me Simon Peter said to him Lord I just love Peter Lord not my feet only but also my hands and my head like if that's the case I do want all of you so then wash All of Me

Jesus said to him the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet but is completely clean and you are clean but not every one of you for he knew who was to betray him that was why he said not all of you are clean when he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place he said to them do you understand what I have done to you you call me teacher and Lord and you are right for so I am if I then your lord and teacher his way of saying if I then am the

greatest among you if I've washed your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet for I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you truly truly I say to you a servant is not greater than his master nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him and if you know these things blessed are you if you do them if you do them if you believe Jesus at his word and you follow in in his example he who humbles himself in this life will be exalted in the kingdom of heaven and I think that's

why Jesus finishes in Luke 2228 through3 like this you are those who have stayed with me in my trials which to stay in a trial and not abandoned ship is a humbling in it of itself like if you think you're better than whatever the trial is that you're engaging in in the mission of God and you say no I'm done with this I deserve more I deserve better because I'm greater than this then you'll leave and you'll abandon ship and you'll do What Judas did you'll sell the mission of Jesus for a month's wage and you'll go and seek satisfaction immediate satisfaction or gratification somewhere

else you are those who have stayed with me in my trials and therefore I assigned to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel Jesus is telling the disciples you've been with me and because you have been willing to Humble yourselves and experience the same suffering and go through the same trials that I am going through and also knowing he's kind of more so really prophesying for where they're going in their trials because what they've experienced up to this point with Jesus is

nothing in what they are about to experience after Jesus is gone at this point Jesus is taking the brunt of the suffering but what he tells them is by humbling yourself and not considering yourself to be great but serving others even to the point of your own deaths for the sake of spreading the glory and Renown of Jesus among the Nations there will be a reward for you in heaven there will be an exaltation there will be a ruling and reigning alongside Jesus the difference is are we willing to Humble ourselves here are we willing to um not seek greatness here but rather serve in

order to elevate others to consider the interest of others are we willing to do that here because if we're willing to do that here then there when we get to that Kingdom Jesus tells us you'll Rule and Reign what he inherits as the Son of God becomes an inheritance for us as well now the Telltale sign of whether or not our motive is clear is are we only doing it to get God's stuff are we only doing it to get God's stuff there will be like there you cannot imagine the great inheritance that you will get in heaven you can't imagine it but if that's

why we want to get there then we've missed the whole point we've missed the whole point even though Jesus tells us I'm going to give you a kingdom that you're going to rule and Reign and govern but I think it's still a test that he's giving his disciples because the test is if we seek it now because we know we're going to get it then then we're no different than Judas we're no different than Judas instead what we need to realize is that here if everything was stripped away from us take job for example everything was stripped away from him and in everything being Stripped

Away From Him Satan still could not come between job and his love for God could not come between it if everything was stripped away from you here are you still satisfied in Jesus alone do you still find all of your gratification in Jesus alone no one prays for this no one wants this in their life but if it's all Stripped Away and you're like Paul when he preaching in Philippians and he says like everything that I had I considered it rubbish like I I didn't I didn't need it I longed for it I loved it I wanted it I found so much comfort in it

but it's all rubbish just to replace it with Jesus is the greatest thing ever when we have that mindset that Jesus has become our greatest treasure we'll never ask the question whether or not we are the greatest because we know who is and then we will simply serve the mission of the one who is the greatest we'll devote our entire life we'll devote our time we'll devote our resources we'll devote our relationships we'll devote our proximity we'll devote our location we'll devote all of it to spreading the glory of his name among everything that we touch all the domains of Our Lives because we're not

seeking our Glory anymore we're only seeking his glory and if we're only seeking his glory then you will not give into the Temptation Of Your Glory and the greatness of your name you'll be able to look at and say like Troy's or um Achilles mother is it okay for you to live a peaceful life to have a family to have children who have children who know your name but they know what you stood for and they'll forget your name but your legacy will continue on that's what I hope like the good life would be four generations from now my great great great grandchildren know Jesus

because of what we are instilling in our children today but they don't know my name that's Glory that's the good stuff that's the good stuff and it only comes by way of us laying our lives down and serving those for the Renown of Christ alone as we conclude this morning 1 Corinthians 14 tells us that just through the preaching of God's word like there's conviction apart there's conviction ofart and I'm preaching and I'm feeling conviction right now and people will experience this that his word that it gets in and it divides our hearts it reveals what we're longing for what we're striving after what we

are tempted with it reveals those things it pulls them to the surface and the beauty of how God has has made up all of the church and the structure of the church and the fact that we gather on a weekly basis and that we come to the Lord's table is that he gives us an opportunity to examine our lives with his sacrifice on display like we get to examine our lives and look at the greatest one and what he did to serve us so that we then look at our lives and say okay what are we doing are we serving ourselves in our name to

make ourselves great or are we serving others in order to make his name great and to consider their interest as well and so he institutes this as he's in his Passover meal and as he's serving his disciples he institutes this supper that we call communion Lord's table he institutes it so that we can always have before us the preaching of him sacrificing his body breaking his body and shedding his blood the greatest one laying down his life in the greatest act of service to us so that we don't have to break our body shed our blood experience the same death that he experienced but instead

get then exalted into a place of righteousness as Saints who receive an inheritance that we don't deserve that we don't like there's nothing we can do to earn it and he's telling us I'm going to provide this meal for you as often as you partake of it examine your lives to see whether or not you are going back to what he did with them and serving the disciples and washing their feet are you doing this for others because of what I have done for you so examine yourselves as the band comes up I want us to go ahead and stand I want to read for

us this account in Luke 221 14-23 as Jesus is in this I mean just remember there's so much going on in this one meal they're trying to figure out in their mind who's the idiot here that's about to betray Our Savior and then at the same time they're being idiots thinking which one of us is the greatest who's the best here and meanwhile Jesus is over here doing these side you know gigs where he's like all right I'm going to set these things aside I'm going to come over I'm going to wash your feet while y'all are being tempted with sin and also in all

of that moment Jesus gives them this instruction that when the hour came he reclined at this at this table and the apostles with him and he said to them I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer like he's so looking forward to it because he knows this is what's going to fuel the ab ability for them to lay their lives down and be living sacrifices every day of their life so he earnestly desires to eat this Passover with them before he suffers for I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God and

so he took a cup and when he had given thanks he said take this and divide it among yourselves for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the V Vine until the kingdom of God comes and then he took the bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he gave it to them saying this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me and then likewise the cup after they had eaten saying this cup that is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood I again I

just I I you can picture it and we're going to go back to it we're going to get rid of these cups soon but I could just picture him taking the loaf of bread and just breaking the pieces off and passing it around to the disciples and then having the image of him being bruised and beaten and taking the lashes for us and then being nailed to a cross being pierced for our transgressions having the thorn placed on his head like breaking his body so that we don't receive that wrath that was being poured out on him in that moment and then as he moves

on from the bread he picks up the chalice and he picks up you know what would look like a wine bottle and he starts pouring it into the chalice and passing it around and as he's on that cross every blood that is dropped and poured out is literally being washed over us so that we would be wiped clean as snow as white as snow our sins just removed from our lives he's cleaning them in the moment that they are tempted to sin and let's just be honest is that not every day for us every day for us every conversation you have there's going to be

Temptations for you to sin every Drive there's a temptation to sin everything you read there's a temptation to sin but but because of Jesus's sacrifice for us and what he did for us there's an opportunity to worship There's an opportunity to seek his glory in all things as 1 Corinthians 10:31 says whether you eat whether you drink or whatever you do do it for the glory of God sin is whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do it for the glory of yourself do it for your own greatness well because of what Christ has done for us we have access and opportunity to

live our lives for his glory and not our own that he would increase that we would decrease that he would be known and we would be forgotten in that life there's peace there's peace and that's what we're after that's the good stuff that's the good portion so I want to invite everyone who believes in Jesus even if it's for the first time to come to the Altar and grab the bread and cup while the band leads us in a song of Praise this is a great time if you're wrestling with salvation if you're wrestling with whether or not you believe in Jesus and you're like

I I I think I believe in him for the first time I never really understood what he did for me but I believe and I understand what he did for me I believe the gospel that's the good news then I want you to tell someone that you came with or or tell someone that you know here or I'll be down front to the left while we're coming up to this altar you can come and talk to me let me know I believe in Jesus and at the end of the song I'll come back up and we will then partake and remember together the greatest of

all time and what he did for us in laying his life down so I invite you come and let's continue on in worship