Matthew 20:20-34
Today's Passage: Matthew 20:20-34
Fewer places emerge from the scriptures of where the Christian worldview and the secular worldview differ than here in Matthew 20:20-28.
The world says, be happy.
God says, be holy.
The world says, take what you can.
The Christian says, I surrender all.
The world says, serve yourself.
Jesus says, serve others.
This is the paradox of focus in today’s reading. Some of the disciples want to know what the reward for their allegiance to Jesus will be, and it so permeated their conversations that their mother is the one to ask Jesus the question they all want to know. After a small ruckus among the disciples, Jesus lays out the humility necessary for the Christian life by saying, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
If Jesus adopted this mentality, should we not? If the actual God in the flesh didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped (Phil. 6) even though he was God (Colossians 1:19), how can we claim such things? Though we may not purposefully say it or act like it, there are inadvertent times in which we forget the necessity of servanthood over being served ourselves.
Think about it for a minute and roll through these questions:
There is enough in these three questions to put us on our faces before Christ, whose gospel is that of serving the least of these and not considering himself as more important.
Today, how can you serve others like Jesus?
How can you surrender wants and wishes for the sake of others?
Will you consider it joy to lay down yourself and put others before you?
Jesus, help us in this difficult command. Empower us with your Spirit to aid us as we seek to emulate your humility and love for others. May I decrease that you may increase; and may this increase go to serve others the way you do.
Written By: Drew Dukes
Fewer places emerge from the scriptures of where the Christian worldview and the secular worldview differ than here in Matthew 20:20-28.
The world says, be happy.
God says, be holy.
The world says, take what you can.
The Christian says, I surrender all.
The world says, serve yourself.
Jesus says, serve others.
This is the paradox of focus in today’s reading. Some of the disciples want to know what the reward for their allegiance to Jesus will be, and it so permeated their conversations that their mother is the one to ask Jesus the question they all want to know. After a small ruckus among the disciples, Jesus lays out the humility necessary for the Christian life by saying, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
If Jesus adopted this mentality, should we not? If the actual God in the flesh didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped (Phil. 6) even though he was God (Colossians 1:19), how can we claim such things? Though we may not purposefully say it or act like it, there are inadvertent times in which we forget the necessity of servanthood over being served ourselves.
Think about it for a minute and roll through these questions:
- Have I put others before me, even today?
- Does selfishness/jealousy arise in me when someone else gets something I want or think I deserve?
- Is there JOY in serving others, or do I do it begrudgingly?
There is enough in these three questions to put us on our faces before Christ, whose gospel is that of serving the least of these and not considering himself as more important.
Today, how can you serve others like Jesus?
How can you surrender wants and wishes for the sake of others?
Will you consider it joy to lay down yourself and put others before you?
Jesus, help us in this difficult command. Empower us with your Spirit to aid us as we seek to emulate your humility and love for others. May I decrease that you may increase; and may this increase go to serve others the way you do.
Written By: Drew Dukes
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