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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text for this morning comes from the Gospel reading. Will you pray with me? When God takes me home to heaven, should this be the day that I die, God will keep my spouse and children as the apple of his eye. Though the road ahead be thorny, though dark clouds all light obscure, Though my cross-shaped path grows steeper, with the Lord I am secure. In the name of Jesus, amen. Be seated. By now in your life you have seen many movies that have this theme running through it. You’ve probably read several books of the same kind of theme, and that theme is the main character is tempted by Satan… Offering him earthly reward and earthly glory now all for the exchange of his soul. Now the theme for such an exchange that Satan wishes to broker with you or with anyone in all these books and movies is this basic question. Does earthly power and earthly glory now outweigh eternal suffering in hell? That’s quite a serious question, isn’t it? And the idea behind the filmmaker or the author to show that to you is to raise that question. But as you know, in so many of the movies and the books, the main character can trick his way out of it and snooker the Satan so that Satan can’t have the last laugh. That’s not how it is in real life. Jesus asked this question for all of us to consider. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? That is a very interesting question indeed. We can answer that quickly, but we’re also reminded of Satan’s interchange with our Lord Jesus during the 40 days of tempting and fasting in the wilderness. Scriptures tell us that the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain From there showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And then Satan asked of Jesus, All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. Jesus responds, For your sake, and says, Be gone, Satan. For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Now even though our dear Lord Jesus Christ defeated Satan, Satan still roams the earth until the end of time, until your death are you’re going to be hassled by Satan. And Satan will seduce you, though maybe not in a glamorous broker type of a deal, as in those movies and books, but he will seduce you to think that things in this world… Earthly fleeting moments of glory and earthly fleeting moments of power are worth it. Now lest you think that you’re alone in that, let’s consider James and John in this morning’s gospel reading. As you look at James and John as one of the twelve or two of the twelve apostles, they’re not on the fringe, are they? They’re actually in that inner sanctum of twelve apostles. And when you consider James and John, not only are they not in the fringe, They are also in the main arena and in a select group of Peter, James, and John. So given them all of that, why? Why would they ask such a preposterous and utterly ridiculous question such as, grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand when you come into glory? If that’s not preposterous enough, notice when they ask this question. In the text, Jesus had just finished discussing and explaining to them extremely serious matters. Immediately following these serious matters did they ask such a question. And what these matters entailed were his impending deliverance over to the chief priests and the scribes and his impending condemnation by the same chief priests and the scribes. And his impending death by the hands of the chief priests and the scribes, turning him over to the Gentiles to be crucified. And his impending mockery and defamation. And his impending resurrection after three days. Immediately following all of that download of information, do they have the audacity, the stupidity, and the brazenness to ask their Lord completely unrelated doctrinal point that they want to ask? Can we sit on your right and on your left? Completely and totally avoiding the very serious nature of what he was about to do for them. So where was their focus? On their Lord Jesus? Their focus was found only upon themselves. What they would get out of it. They took Jesus seriously at his word. If you ask anything in my name, I will grant it. So they took him seriously and asked this great question. Surely you will allow one of us to sit at your right and at your left. Now we would love to distance ourselves from James and John and add a quick, how silly of those apostles they were. Never would do something like that. And you’re right, I don’t think any of you would broker a deal with the devil to give him your soul in exchange for earthly power and earthly glory. But I do know that you, like James and John, and like me, have a mistaken notion of what power and glory and kingdom is according to our Lord as compared to according to the world. Jesus makes that very clear when he tells the disciples, I’m going to drink this cup. Do you think you really can drink this cup? And what is in the cup of which he speaks? The cup is all of the bitter contents containing unjust suffering that he will drink to its dregs for no other reason than to serve you. Again, they have this audacity. Oh, yes, we’re ready to drink that cup, Lord. He goes on about the baptism of blood in which he will be baptized. In other words, a sacrificial death. Are you ready for that? Oh, yeah, we’re ready for that. If you remember right, Peter said, we’re ready to go to the cross with you. And he reminded Peter that he would deny him three times. No, I don’t think you desire to drink from that cup at all. In fact, I think you and I avoid it at all costs. We are very good at maneuvering in this life to avoid conflict when it comes to our faith. Conflict in general, and that’s probably a good thing. None of us want to be cantankerous, but conflict when it comes to our faith, that’s a different thing, and we avoid it. Why? Because we have a misunderstanding of what it means to be great in the kingdom of God. What it means to have power in the kingdom of God and what it means to have God receive glory in the kingdom of God. The only way to greatness in God’s kingdom is by way of deep humiliation. Now that is something you and I avoid at all costs. None of us want to be humiliated. Who does? And yet, does not God ask us to be humble for him? The only way to great places of which he speaks in this text to James and John and to all the twelve, because the twelve are no better, they scolded James and John for asking such a ridiculous question. When you know, they also scolded them saying, Hey, hey, hey, how did you get to ask him first? We were going to think about asking him the same question. He told all of them, as he tells you, the only way to great places in the kingdom of God, the only way to power and glory in the kingdom, lie along a path… Filled with suffering. And he makes it clear that my kingdom, Jesus says, is not to be equated in any form or fashion to any kingdom or any power or any glory in this world. You and I know, for someone to have worldly power, worldly glory, they have to have control. Well, let’s chuck that out the window, shouldn’t we? How many of us really do control the environment in which we dwell, and yet, boy, do we worry and are anxious about controlling the environment in which we dwell. How can I do everything within my power to avoid suffering, pain, disappointment? Seems almost counterintuitive, but is that not what Jesus is saying? And who do you want to control so that you have worldly power and worldly glory? Because in order for you to control someone, you also must dominate them. That’s how you have worldly glory and worldly power. Who are you going to dominate? Oh, we may all say, I will never dominate anyone. And yet, when we’re on the bottom looking up, by golly, we’re looking for a way to get out from underneath that dominance. We don’t want to drink the cup of unjust suffering. We don’t want to be baptized in the baptism with which our Lord Jesus was baptized in his very blood on that cross. See, in your Lord’s church and in his kingdom, the great man in God’s church and kingdom does not sit atop or stand atop on the lesser man. In God’s kingdom, the greater man bears the lesser man on his back. And even bears him when he is unappreciated for being bore by you, especially then. We’re okay with bearing someone, serving them if we’re appreciated deeply by them. But is that not how the pagan world works? For how many did Jesus bear their sins and they do not believe? Amen. And he lovingly and willingly bore their sins and drank that cup to its dregs for them. Whether we are recognized in our service to others or not is not criteria. It is our Lord’s example to you. Jesus said in this text, I have not come to be served, but to serve you. That turns everything up on its head as well. We scurry about trying to figure out how we can serve Jesus. That’s all well and good, but it’s not what Jesus proclaims here to you, is it? I’ve not come to receive from you, for what can he receive from you that’s of any benefit to him? Nothing. But what he can receive from you that’s of benefit to you is your sin and the unjust suffering and the condemnation by his father on the tree and his damnation to hell. That he will gladly receive from you. That he will gladly bear for you. He is saying to you very clearly, here’s the deal. My life for yours. Period. There are no caveats. There is no fine print. Bottom line, best offer. My soul for yours. My life for you. We confess very clearly that we’ve been purchased and won from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil. Not with gold or silver, but… But we say we have been purchased by his blood. Innocent, suffering, and death. That’s what we confess and believe to be true. And yet, Satan is always trying to get us to think we can, by something within ourselves, serve Jesus. What service can we render that he needs? Really? What service can we offer that he is without? What? He makes it clear, I did not come to be served but to serve you. But that is a very humbling position in which he places us, leaving us very, very overwhelmed, full of gratitude that is so humbling and humiliating that we can barely look up at him. For we know our undeservedness and we know how much we lack. What can one man give for the life of another? The psalmist said it, no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his soul or the ransom of his soul is costly and can never suffice. That’s why Jesus said through the psalmist, it is for your sake that I have borne reproach. It is for your sake that dishonor has covered my face and not yours. It is for your sake that I have become a stranger to my own brother’s And an alien to my mother’s sons. It is for your sake that I may serve you. Receive his service and proclaim joyfully with the psalmist. But God will ransom my soul. He’ll pay for it. God will receive me because he has served me. And when the humble see it, they will be glad. You who seek God, let your heart revive forever. For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners. But he knows, your dear Lord, how hard it is to bear the cross in this life. And he prays for you. Listen to his prayer for you through the words of the psalmist again. Let not those who hope in me be put to shame through me. Let not those who seek me Be brought to dishonor through me. And his father answers his godly prayer for you, that you will not be put to shame through him, that you will be not brought to dishonor through him. Receive his service and be glad. In the name of Jesus, amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting, amen.
