Wednesday, August 3, 2022 PM

All right, if anybody was wondering, yes, I eat that well every day. Praise the

Lord. Thank you, honey. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner,

Tex -Mex, the whole time. It's wonderful. All right, well, let's start with a word of prayer, and then we're going to do our

Bible study. Luke chapter 22, verses 24 through 46. Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time together tonight, that we were able to feast together, to rejoice in your goodness and your provision, the abundance of your mercy and goodness.

We pray now that you would help us as we read your word. We ask that you would help us to understand and to rejoice in your truth, that you would give us wisdom to know how to apply in our lives.

And we pray that you would guide us in our time of supplication and intercession, as we pray for one another and for others.

Lord, that you would give us the grace to pray according to your will and pray in faith. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. All right, Luke chapter 22. Luke 22, beginning in verse 24.

Good to remember that there's a plot to kill Jesus.

Jesus has warned his disciples that it's going to happen.

They are taking the Passover together. And in the context of all of this,

Jesus must address some issues in the hearts of his disciples. And at this moment, right before Christ's arrest at the eleventh hour, he's still discipling his followers.

So this is eleventh hour discipleship. Verse 24. Now there was also a dispute among them as to which of them would be considered the greatest.

And he said to them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors.

But not so among you. On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.

For who is greater, he who sits at the table or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table?

Yet I am among you as the one who serves. But you are those who have continued with me in my trials, and I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as my father bestowed one upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.

But he said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Then he said,

I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day, before you will deny me three times, deny three times that you know me.

And he said to them, When I sent you without money, bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?

So they said, Nothing. Then he said to them, But now he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack, and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.

For I say to you, that this which is written must still be accomplished in me. And he was numbered with the transgressors, for the things concerning me have an end.

So they said, Lord, look, here are two swords. And he said to them, It is enough. Coming out, he went to the

Mount of Olives as he was accustomed, and his disciples also followed him. When he came to the place, he said to them,

Pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and prayed, saying,

Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

Then an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly.

Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When he rose up from prayer and had come to his disciples, he found them sleeping from sorrow.

Then he said to them, Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.

So in this 11th hour discipleship, there are four things that Jesus addresses with Peter, James, and John, and the rest of them, minus Judas Iscariot.

And the first issue is that of position, about them arguing who would have the greatest position, the honor, the authority, the recognition.

Verse 24 says, There was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest. Now, as often as this is mentioned in the

Gospels, we know this was an ongoing thing. This was an ongoing argument, discussion, disagreement.

Why were they talking about it here? Well, Jesus is talking about himself being the son of man.

He's talking about the eminence of the kingdom of God. He has talked about someone among them betraying him.

And of course, in the context of, well, it could never be me. There could also be the opportunity of talking about, you know, it could never be me because I'm, you know,

I'm slated for this kind of position. I'm worth this much.

Look at my track record. How could I ever betray Christ? Look at all my evidence. So they're arguing who's going to be the greatest.

And Jesus takes this opportunity at the 11th hour to have them think about hierarchy, to have them think about authority, responsibility, stewardship in his kingdom.

And he does so in light of himself, in light of his example, and in light of his coming suffering upon the cross.

And he built a contrast. He builds it out. And we see that he does not, he does not, as is fashionable today, he does not criticize hierarchy per se.

But he does say the pagans, the Gentiles, the nations, doing things the way of the world, that system of rebellion against God, doing things in the way of the flesh, that's wrong.

He says the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. And those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors.

Now that is not something that was unique to Christ's time. We can see that in history much more ancient than this.

And we see it commonly today, that it is the pagan way of exercising authority in the state that one would take control of the entirety of somebody's life.

And should they resent that, the one who has taken full dominion over somebody else's life says, oh,

I'm your benefactor. Right? The best expression of the state in the scriptures is as a well -trained savage dog.

There to be set loose upon the wicked, to be set loose upon the evildoer. But if the beast should be fed and fed and fed and fed, it can take over somebody's life.

It takes over the lives of those that it supposedly defends. And this is the way of all pagan forms of the state, wherein the

Gentiles, the pagans, it's a pagan way of exercising lordship. Not merely exercising authority, but exercising lordship over saying

I am your benefactor. You cannot think for yourself. You cannot worship for yourself. You cannot pursue your own health care for yourself.

You cannot have family of yourself. You cannot educate your children yourself. There's nothing that you can do that is good.

I am your benefactor. The state saying we are the benefactors for you. We're taking care of everything in your life.

Cradle to grave is nothing new. It's nothing new. Scripture says that's not the role of the state.

Well, Jesus says, not so among you. On the contrary, he was greatest among you.

He was greatest among you, meaning there is a distinction. There is a difference. There will be a hierarchy.

There will be distinctions and differences. Let him be as the younger.

Thinking of the ancient Near East, with an older age came status and respect.

But even the one who is an elder, let him serve as if he were the younger. Let him humble himself.

This is the model that Christ gives. And he says a very, very obvious rhetorical question.

Who is greater, the one sitting at the table or the one serving? Well, obviously the one sitting at the table is the greater.

And the servants over here in the background hovering around and serving. And obviously we know that the master at the table is greater than the servant.

Jesus is using a very rhetorical device here. And it's clear the one who sits at the table is the greater.

And he says, yet I am among you as the one who serves. John's account tells us what had already happened.

Jesus had gird himself like a servant and he had taken water and he had washed his disciples' feet and greatly ruffling their feathers.

Don't be doing that. That's not your role. It really disturbed them.

But he's given them an example. I'm among you as the one who serves. And he's about to quote a passage from the servant songs in Isaiah.

I'm the servant, he's saying. I am the one who is the servant. And then a little bit later on, he quotes from Isaiah 53 from the servant songs.

He's a servant who gives himself up and bears our transgressions. So he says, follow my example.

If you want to be a leader, be the one who serves. Follow my example.

He says, but you are those who have continued with me in my trials. He's reminding them what it's like to follow him from one incident, from one difficulty to the next.

And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as my father bestowed one upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

He's just giving them a table to eat at. He's just giving them a table to eat at.

He breaks the bread and says, this is my body. Do this in remembrance of me. He gives them the wine and the cup.

He says, drink this in remembrance of me. Okay. And so he's saying, you should not be thinking of the kingdom.

You should not be thinking of the kingdom in terms of what kind of position

I can get, what kind of authority I can wield. How does my reputation compare with somebody else's reputation?

How does my resume compare to somebody else's? What should I, what kind of respect and honor should be accorded to me based upon my identifiers and my resume and so on?

Look at me, look at me, look at me. We should be looking at Christ, looking at Christ, looking at Christ.

He said, consider me. I'm the one who serves among you. Here is my table.

You're gonna sit at my table. What table is that? A table that we sit down time and time and time again is a table where we are reminded of the broken body of Christ and the shed blood of Christ.

We're reminded of him as the one who serves among us. The greatest of all of us is Christ who served and gave himself for us.

Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And so we are called to follow by example.

And every time we come to the table again, there's the broken body and the shed blood of Christ, the reminders of what he has done for us.

And so we are reminded yet again of our need for forgiveness, of our need for salvation.

And this is the table that we sit at. It is a humbling table. It is not a table that exalts us.

It is a table that exalts Christ. It is not a table that elevates us. It's a table that elevates Christ.

And this is the table that we sit at in his kingdom for he has been given authority in heaven and on earth, all authority in heaven and on earth.

And he's been given a name which is above every name. And so when we sit at the table of Christ in his kingdom, we are reminded of who he is and his greatness.

Now notice as well that our status is entirely dependent upon him.

I bestow upon you a kingdom just as my father bestowed one upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.

We are very much without status. We are very much in the same situation as Mephibosheth.

We are like the grandson of the man who desired to kill

David. Mephibosheth is the grandson of insane evil king Saul and yet David brings

Mephibosheth to the table. The cripple brings him to the table, feeds him as a royal member of the household.

We're not here based on our status. We're here on Christ's status. That's why we're here. And he says that he will have his apostles to sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

Now when we read the rest of the New Testament and we consider how the

New Testament interprets the Old and the fulfillment of this, let's think about that because I don't want to leave this odd, weird little half of a verse alone.

So if we go back to Matthew chapter 8, Matthew chapter 8 and verse 11 and then we're going to skip ahead a little bit to Matthew 19.

We'll begin in Matthew 8. This is in the context of Jesus has healed a leper.

You know, in the Old Covenant, anybody in Israel touches a leper, they become unclean.

Right? Big problem. Cast out of the camp. Did you contract it or not?

Go show yourself to the priest. Big issue. When Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant comes, he touches the leper and the leper gets clean.

Right? Everything's in reverse. And then he heals the servant of a centurion, a centurion who is definitely in need and he's certainly one who believes that Jesus can help him.

He has great faith. He says, Lord, you don't have to come to my roof. You don't have to come to my house. I know you have authority.

You just speak the word and I know that my servant is going to be healed. And Jesus was amazed at verse 10.

When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, Surely I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.

And I say to you that many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

Sit. Sit down. Where? There's a table. Sit down at a table.

And he said, the centurion, he's not from around these parts, but he has faith.

Look, he's going to come. He's going to sit down at the same table along with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Many are going to do that.

But verse 12, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. Who are the sons of the kingdom?

The current stewards of the old covenant with whom Jesus has so many issues. Pharisees, scribes, chief priests,

Sadducees. So they're going to be cast into outer darkness. Outside the camp, you know, where the lepers were.

They're going to be cast outside the camp. But those who have faith in Christ and come to Christ, they get to sit at the table.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Outside of Christ, there's only hell. Then Jesus said to the centurion,

Go your way, and as you have believed, so let it be done for you. And his servant was healed that same hour. Jesus talks about this in more than one way, but this is a good example where he says, people are going to come and sit down at the table in my kingdom.

It will be surprising who shows up, which is a good thing. We've already gone through the parable of those who were brought in from the highways and the byways after the first group failed to show up for the wedding invitation, they got rejected, their city was destroyed, and then bring them in, whoever they are, bring them in, highways and byways.

Let's move forward to Matthew chapter 19. Matthew 19.

And we're going to look at verses 28 through 30. Jesus has also, in this context, been talking about a surprise who comes into the kingdom.

He blesses the little children and says, this is just the kind of way you enter in the kingdom, like a little child, nothing to offer.

And the rich young ruler who thought he had something to offer, Jesus said, you're lacking one thing, you're lacking me.

He says how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, easier for the largest moving thing you've ever seen to go through the smallest opening you've ever seen, a camel through the eye of a needle.

Easier for that to happen than for than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And of course, the cultural assumptions of his audience was that the rich were closest to God.

We don't believe that today. We just think that the rich are gods. So it's different.

Now, so Peter, Peter wants to point out and says, well, see, we've left all and followed you. Therefore, what shall we have?

Right? So Peter's like, oh, well, then obviously the answer to salvation is to take a vow of poverty.

Right? And Jesus pulls the rug out from under him too. Right? As Martin Luther talked about that, you know, it's like a sinful man is like a drunk on a donkey.

You know, he gets up onto the donkey and falls off this side, and then he gets back up and tries to compensate so he falls off of this side.

Right? So it's like, you know, you know, well, if the rich are going to hell, then poverty is the way.

No. Okay. So Jesus corrects, you know, both directions. And he says this.

Assuredly, I say to you that in the regeneration, which is another way of talking about resurrection and talking about new creation, when the

Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last and the last first. So the question, of course, that we're asking and that Christians have asked for a long time is, is the regeneration both now and not yet?

Or is it only not yet? Right? When is it that the apostles had authority and when was it that Jesus sat on his throne?

Right? We have to ask those questions and then answer them as best we can from the scriptures.

Comparison passage in Luke 18. Luke 18. We've already gone over this one, but we'll look at it again.

Luke 18. Same situation, but a little bit extra detail.

You know, Peter again says, I see we have left all and followed you. Verse 28. But verse 29 of Luke 18. So it sounds like it's, you know, now and not yet.

Because Christ reigns now. And the Hebrew says, we don't see everybody yet submitted to Christ.

But that doesn't mean it's not going to happen. Right? Because in all things, he has the preeminence and all things will be reconciled by the blood of his cross, either in salvation or in judgment.

So everything is going to turn out the way that God desires in the exaltation of his son.

So when we think about those things and we come back to our passage, I would have us pay attention to this and say,

Jesus is King of Kings. He is Lord of Lords. He has given us a table. We are sitting at his table.

Does this mean that everything that Christ has promised has come to pass in its fullness? No. But we have the reality of the new creation.

We are new creations. We are new creatures. Old has passed away. New things have come. We are sitting at his table.

And when we think about the apostles sitting on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel, we just went through chapter 1 in the book of Acts where the number 12 was very important to the early church for good reasons because Jesus had selected 12.

One had betrayed him. And applying the word of God from the book of Psalms, they said we need to appoint a replacement.

And so Matthias was appointed as a replacement. So, the 12 apostles sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

Now, where else in the scriptures do we see together?

Revelation 21. That's right. Wherein the angel says to John, the apostle,

I'm going to show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. So, just cutting loose and letting our imaginations go with the text.

Bride, we immediately think of a woman on her wedding day in the white, glorious in beauty.

Okay? The wife of the Lamb. Now we're thinking of a sheep. Okay, now it's always a sheep.

It's a ewe. I guess. Just cut loose that imagination.

Just go with the text, right? So I've got two images already smashed together. I've got a bride, oh wait, that's the bride of a sheep.

Just going with the text. And then, the angel takes John up a high mountain and says, he says all that, and he says, and then

John turns around and he looks and he sees this bride. He sees the wife of the Lamb and it is a city.

It is a city. We've been told elsewhere in the scriptures that the bride, the wife of the

Lamb, is the church. He gave his life for the church. He shed his blood for the church. He loves the church.

And so, we see the city. Here's the bride. Here's the church. And the church is described as a city that is beautiful, that is glorious, that is adorned, that has 12 gates.

Each of the gates is a single pearl, but each of the gates has a name on it of one of the 12 tribes of Israel.

And then the foundation stones of this city are, on those stones are the names of the 12 apostles.

Foundation stones. The roots. So, this is not the city that we're going to live in.

This is the city of who we are. This is describing who we are.

I don't want you to be disappointed about not walking on streets of gold, but the text says there's only one street.

There's only one street. I know the spirituals, we sing streets of gold, but the text says there's only one street.

And if you follow that street, it becomes a river of the water of life, and it only goes one direction, goes to the throne.

Goes to the throne. And either side of the street, which is also a river, is the tree of life.

And its leaves are for the healing to the nations. And the nations are brought in to this city.

And Christ did give authority to his apostles, didn't he? Didn't he give authority to his apostles?

Didn't they have, didn't they have authority? They sure did. You know, the

Ananias and Sapphira situation comes to mind, as well as other things. But they were given authority, and they did have authority, and they were to convey and mediate the authority of Christ to the people of God.

The people of God who are in Christ, whom the scriptures say

Christ is the substance, Israel is the shadow, Christ is the substance, the true

Israel. So, in this sense, it is true that the apostles, along with a lot of others, and some of them very much a surprise, sit down at his table, and they eat and drink at Christ's table in his kingdom.

We've been doing that for 2 ,000 years now. And it is true that the apostles were given special authority, and they did exercise that authority in and among the people of God.

I think that's the best way to interpret the text. I'll accede to the insights of my betters.

But I think that that's a good way to read this text and to find Jesus' eleventh hour discipleship in terms of position.

We're going to look at the other ones later, but just to recap, when we think about authority in the church,

Jesus, notice, he's talking to his disciples about authority in his kingdom, his authority amongst his people, which of course has an impact over everything.

But he's talking to them about how they're going to function in the life of his church. But he uses an analogy from authority in the state to make his point.

In other places, there's going to be an analogy to authority in the home. We talked about elders in the church compared to their authority in their own homes.

We talked about that Sunday. So what we see here is that whether it's hierarchy in the state, or hierarchy in the church, or hierarchy in the home, leadership, authority, this must be done after the pattern of Christ.

And why is it? And it should be appreciated in light of who Christ is. Why is that? Because he is the son of man.

He is the image of the invisible God. He is the epitome of what it means to be human. So he's the pattern.

He's the light. He reveals what that means. So if we want to know what hierarchy should look like in our lives,

Christ is the standard. It doesn't matter if it's the state, the church, or the home. Alright, we'll close there.

Any brief questions or observations before we move to prayer time?