Spiritual Leadership (Part 2)

No Compromise Radio. Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroff. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

The Cross Before the Crown in Spiritual Leadership

Mark this congregation, it's always the cross before the crown. We always want it the other way around. But it is built into the fabric of the universe and in the spiritual dimension especially, the cross always comes before the crown.

It's always in that order. They didn't learn that lesson yet. Verse 35, And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said, O Jesus, don't go die. O Jesus, we'll follow you wherever we go, wherever you go.

O Jesus, are you sure this is right? Jesus, do you think we should pray about this a little bit? Jesus, what do you think we should do? Are you sure we're still on target? And what do they do? Jesus is going to be spit upon, mocked, killed, delivered, betrayed.

And they said to him, the exact opposite of spiritual leadership, that's servant leadership. Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.

Glory before the cross, crown before the cross. Now Matthew says just before this verse, then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, bowing down and making request of him. Jesus, you write your name on the check, we'll fill it out, you endorse it.

Now all that death talk, I don't know what they were thinking. Maybe it was just a temporary setback. Maybe he's speaking figuratively. Verse 36, what does he say to the ambitious anti-servant leadership people?

And he said to them, what do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, VIP seats, Jesus, grant to us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory. Glory first, no cross ever.

Now I have to say something positively, the chapter before this in the Matthew account, Jesus said to them, truly I say to you that you who have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man will sit on his glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones.

So they've been told, after everything's been said and done, you get thrones. You get to sit on one of the 12 thrones and now let's use mom to go up and talk a little bit, we want to make sure you get the best thrones.

They knew Jesus was the Messiah, I'll give them that too. They knew he was going to come in messianic glory. And now some of the worst news that these men could ever hear in their lives, and if you're a vain, ambitious, I've got to get to the top of whatever kind of place I'm in, you might hear an echo of yourself in James and John and then listen to these words.

Jesus said to them, you do not know what you're asking, particularly these men here, he says, are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Are to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? Boys, let me remind you of God's program.

You're in over your head. The way to get to the top in God's kingdom is not clutching, grabbing, striving, attacking. The way to get to the top of God's program, are you ready? You want to be a great leader?

Want to be a great Christian? You know how you get there? You suffer. It's through suffering and it's always through suffering. You want glory, boys? Then you're going to get suffering. I'm afraid to pray that God would help me be less anxious because I know God's going to bring circumstances in my life that will work with me and on me to be not so anxious.

God, let me learn contentment and then you think the second that comes out of my mouth, I could just lose everything I have. God, I want to do well for you and your kingdom. I want to matter. I want to do something that will last forever.

And the answer to that is, okay, you're going to suffer. And for these two men, do you see the figures of speech that Jesus uses? These metaphors, these analogies, and the first one is the cup. The first one is the cup.

You're going to get the cup. Are you sure you're able to drink this cup? To drink a cup back in those days meant to get your fill. You ever ran a long distance and then you think, I just need to rehydrate myself and get my fill.

That would be technically, here's the cup. But additionally, this figure of speech meant, this is a lot ordained by God. It's a symbol of something given by God. In the hand of the Lord is the cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices.

He pours it out on all the wickedness of the earth and they drink it down to its very dregs. Judgment. The cup for the Jew was either a cup of joy, here have the cup. Passover cup. Or it was the cup of suffering, wrath, judgment.

By the way, in the old days, in the Eastern days, if you were going to have a banquet and you were a king, you would pass the cup around. And if you got the cup from the king, you would drink the cup.

And you would be drinking the cup and you would be saying, I honor the king. I follow the king. He drank the cup and passed it, I drink it too. I'm in with the king. Jesus fell on his face, Matthew 26, and said, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as thou wilt.

You boys want to get to the top? It's through suffering. And I'm going to drink the cup of God's eternal wrath. You sure you're ready? And then he gives another metaphor for suffering. Different than our baptism today.

But this is a metaphor for baptism in this context. For suffering. It's a metaphor for suffering. Baptism. Plunged into the depths of despair and suffering. Put underwater with some kind of trial. I'm just under.

I'm over my head. This happens to be with God's judgment. MacArthur says, Jesus was saying, don't you realize by now that the way to eternal glory is not through worldly success and honor, but through suffering?

Haven't you heard what I've been teaching you about the persecuted being blessed and taking up your own crosses and following me? And if you think that was shocking, how about verse 39? If this doesn't shock you, you do need an elbow in the ribs to say, wake up.

Listen to this. Verse 39. And they said to him, the eternal cup of the wrath of God and plunged into the sufferings of the Savior. You want to get to the top? Yes, we do. Okay. Do you want the cup? You want to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?

And they said to him, we are able. At least they were loyal. Got to give them that much. Their own ambition, their own self-confidence, their own climbing to the top has blinded them like it's blinded every other generation that wants to get to the top through ambition.

Jesus says, there's going to be no promises for you about glory, but I'll give you a promise. You're going to suffer. Verse 39. Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.

Not very much longer after Jesus died, Acts 12, James, the brother of John, was put to death with a sword by Herod the king. And worse than death for John, Patmos. Verse 40. But to sit at my right hand and at my left, you know, those 12 seats by the throne, the two places of highest prominence, right hand being the highest, left hand being the second highest, is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.

And when the 10 heard it, verse 41, he began to say, don't be so ambitious. Don't be so prideful. Come on, guys. Let's restore fallen comrades and tell them, you know, love covers a multitude of sins and you guys are sinning and remember the plan of God.

Suffer, then glory. Suffer, then glory. Suffer, then glory. Come on, guys. You've forgotten that. No. I mean, who could come up with this except the sinful heart of man? Verse 41. And when the 10 heard it, they were mad because somebody beat him to the punch.

And no cutting in the line, in the queue. They began to be indignant at James and John. Why? That's where we want to sit. Jealously. Now they rebuke James and John. And then Jesus says in verse 42, called to them and said, you know that those who are considered rulers of pagans or Gentiles, you want to see ungodly leadership, pagan leadership, opposite of servant leadership, suffering before the crown leadership.

Gentiles lord it over them. Literally, they lord it down. And their great ones exercise authority over them. Dictators. He who's got the biggest military wins. Survival of the fittest. Great men in Greek.

I think you know this word. Megaloi. Megalomaniacs. There's no room in the church for megalomaniac leaders. There's no room in the church for followers who are like that either. It's not true always, but there is a grain of truth to this.

Okay, I'll say it with a little less rub. Often, the best leaders in corporate America are the worst leaders in the church. Just because you're a great leader in the world doesn't have anything to do with the church.

Greatness as Servanthood and Slavery

Jesus says in Mark 10, 43, But it shall not be so among you. No. But whoever would be great among you, are you ready? You want to be great? You want to be great here today? I have a desire in my heart to be great for the Lord.

But whoever would be great, this is not just leaders, this is not just elders. You want to be great for God? Great among you must be your servant. Whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

Who wants to be hired help? Who wants to be that low? Who wants to be a slave you don't even own yourself? It's hard. It's lonely. It's degrading. It's demeaning. It's difficult. You know, we used to have a motto here at the church, Every member of what?

Every church has had the motto. Every member of what? A ministry. Didn't go over too well, but it's going to go over a lot more than what this motto should be. Every member, a slave. I think that'll really go well for our church building that we're trying to buy down the street.

Probably get a lot more people come. Luke 17 talks of these kind of people, talks about these kind of people. So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded, you should say, we are unworthy slaves.

We have done only that which we ought to have done. Want to see the crescendo of this whole thing? Look at verse 45. If you don't have this underlined in your Bible, you should. It is a key verse. It is a crucial verse.

For even, Mark 10, 45, the Son of Man came. The Son of Man, this great designation of Jesus that He loved to call Himself, coming right out of Daniel. Even the Son of Man came not to be served. And He could have come that way, couldn't He have?

Couldn't He have come to say, I'm the King, you serve me, bow down, worship. He could have done that. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. That's greatness in God's eyes. And to give His life as a ransom for many.

You want the greatest illustration of servant leadership that's ever been? It's right here. The King of kings stooping, bending down low to honor the Father. We would think that's groveling service. And the Father would think that would be wonderful obedience.

And what does He do? He gives His life a ransom for many. He gives a price to free slaves in the place of many. There's substitutionary atonement right there. Just wrath against sin. Jesus steps in front of us and takes the bullet for us.

The bullet of God's wrath. The great exchange to satisfy the justice of God. Pays it to God. The price of release is His life. For one, if He would have done it for one, that would have been great. But how many did He do it for?

For many. Rabbis would call them many. Technical term for the elect. Lays His life down. True example of greatness. Servant leadership. But, you know, people forget to keep reading. Look at verse 46. You want to see?

Is anyone too low for Jesus to serve? I have a question for you. Are you too high to do any particular ministry at the church? Is anybody so below Jesus, He won't serve them? He's fixing His eyes towards Jerusalem.

He's got a date with destiny. He has to go die. He's too busy to serve people. Oh, I don't think so. Look at 1046. I just love talking about Jesus because this is awesome. He's awesome. They came to Jericho.

15 miles away and as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples. This is connected with chapter 10, verse 45. Great crowd. Bartimaeus. A blind beggar. The son of Timaeus. Sitting by the roadside. They like to go.

They, meaning blind people, like to go to Jericho. They had some special trees there with some special kind of balsam, kind of oil, ointment they could use for their eyes. There's lots of blind people back then.

Lots of babies come out of the birth canal and they've got some kind of infection and they're blind and it happened all the time. Common diseases of the eyes. One man said, It would be no exaggeration to say that one adult out of every five has his eyes more or less damaged by the consequences of disease in eastern Arabia.

And here's this guy. Jesus has a job to do. He's the exalted king. There's some blind people and, you know, blind beggars. I don't run across beggars that much anymore, but in L .A. they were around everywhere.

I can't even go to the grocery store without having some people beg for money. I'd never beg. I'm too good to beg. I'd never be like that. And here this man did the best begging in his entire life. The blind beggar named Bartimaeus.

Bar means son of. Timaeus is his dad. And it tells us right there, son of Timaeus. And he's begging. Not many healings in Mark. But here this man who's named son of honor is begging. In verse 47, When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he knew who it was.

He began to... Now if I said it in some kind of sophisticated church in New England, I'd say he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. But there's an exclamation point there, and here's the Greek word for cry out.

You ready? You like onomatopoeia? I hope so. Krodzo. It sounds like what it is. You're blind. You're begging. You'd love to have your eyesight back, and you've heard about this miracle worker, and he's got his face set towards Jerusalem.

He's going to go there, and you hear he's walking by. He heals people, and it's krodzomania is what it is. Jesus, son of David, you're the Messiah. Have mercy on me. I'm sinful. I'm unworthy. I'm helpless.

I need your mercy. It's not that we're going to meet halfway. Jesus, son of David, I know you help those who help themselves. I'm helping me. And I don't know about you, but if I was one of the 12, here's exactly what I would do.

Quiet. I would try to... If you meet somebody overseas and they don't understand English, I can't believe all the Germans don't speak English, but you're trying to... Do you speak English? Kind of like if you speak slower, they'll get it.

You can imagine Jesus out front, the disciples behind. Here's this beggar bugging my master. How can I try to get the attention of the beggar without Jesus seeing? But the beggar's blind. So what do you have to do?

Verse 48,. And many rebuke him, telling him to be silent. But he crowds out all the more. Son of David, have mercy on me. Don't bother Jesus. He's the master. He's the Messiah. He doesn't stoop so low to help people like you.

You probably got blind because it was your own sin. Kind of like John 9. Maybe other people were around too. They don't like Jesus to be called the son of David, the Messiah. So you better be quiet because we don't want to have some kind of Jesus worshipped as the Messiah, David's descendant.

Mark 10, verse 49,. And Jesus, the greatest king of all, could not be bothered with the man. Sorry. Verse 49,. And Jesus stopped, said, Call him. Stop and call him. He heard where my voice has stopped moving.

And so now have him come. They call the blind man, saying to him, Take heart. Get up. He is calling you. I would probably be saying, Take heart. Jesus is calling you. Here he goes again. Going to heal somebody else.

I kind of like to get Jerusalem to get this whole Jesus dying on the cross thing over so I could get to that right hand of the throne deal going on. I guess if we have to stop, Take courage, arise. He's calling you.

And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. I'm not big on come-to-Jesus meetings, but right here's a good one. Come-to-Jesus meeting. Throwing off his cloak. You wouldn't do that unless you had faith, because if you throw your cloak off when you're blind, this is valuable.

This is like taking your wallet out and throwing it, because that's the most valuable thing you have, would be your cloak. So much so that in the Old Testament, if you borrow as collateral the cloak of somebody, by the end of the night you pay it back, because that's his blanket, that's his covering, that's everything.

He throws his cloak away because he knows, I'm going to see enough to go back and find it. You're not blind and just go, there goes my cloak, you're never going to get it back. Where's my bedroll? Where's my jacket?

How can I find it? Had faith. Verse 51,. And Jesus said to him, What do you want me to do for you? Say it. The blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. Teacher, Rabboni. And Jesus said to him, Go your way.

Choose your path. Your faith has made you well, physically and spiritually. Your faith has made you well. You looked away from yourself, you looked to me, the Messiah, the forgiver, the ransom who came to give his life, a ransom for many.

You look to me, you're healed. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Go whatever way you want. Healed, okay, I think the way I want to go is following you. How sweet is that?

The text says in Matthew 20, Jesus moved with compassion. He touched their eyes. There were two of them in Matthew. Mark singles out the one. He touched their eyes. Luke 18 records it this way. And immediately he regained his sight and began following him, glorifying God.

And when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God. Servant leadership of Christ Jesus. Thomas Carlyle said in the 1800s, a great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men. Paul knew this.

And Paul said, you want to be great as a leader? You want to have a great leader to follow? What do you do? You imitate and emulate servant leaders who suffer. I love looking at Jesus because he's the great example that draws me in and beckons me to be more like him by the grace of God.

I want to be like that. That's not ambition that's sinful. That's ambition that's humble. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we rejoice that you are a God who is near. And we would all confess, we Christians this morning, that we were less significant than the son of honor, that blind beggar.

We were lower and yet you stooped to save blind Bart. You stooped to give him new eyes to see. And you stooped down low. Your son laid down his life in our place. So father, now let us respond as a church with thankfulness, glorifying you and living in such a way that other people would glorify you based on what you've done in our lives.

Father, make us like Jim Elliot, who by your grace said, I want to live a life in such a way that other people would know there's a benefit eternally and temporally to following Jesus Christ. We want that Lord.

We need your spirit to help us. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.