Disciple=Deacon

April 26, 2015

Deacons, Pt. 1:  Disciple=Deacon      NOTES NOT EDITED

Matthew 20:20-29

SIS—Every disciple is called to be a deacon and to serve others.

VIDEO:  CHRISTIANS IN A BUBBLE

Far too many Christians live out their faith in sort of a bubble—completely insulated from spiritual involvement with non-believers.  It is almost as if most Christians actually try to avoid the non-believing world because it is . . . well, so “non-believing.”  The world is actually getting more and more hostile to Christianity.  Yet, we cannot be effective followers of Jesus Christ unless we “burst out of our bubble and serve others in the Name of Christ.”  Every disciple is called to be a deacon and serve others.

READ: Matthew 20:20-29

1.  Great Ambition (20-21)

²⁰ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached Him with her sons.  She knelt down to ask Him for something.  ²¹ “What do you want?” He asked her. “Promise,” she said to Him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and the other on Your left, in Your kingdom.”

Mark in his account points out that James and John approached Jesus about “special places” in the Kingdom.  The likely scenario is that the boys and mother approached Jesus together.  Verse 22 gives us the conversation in which Jesus addresses the brothers, along with the other 10 disciples, as well as their mother and anyone else listening. 

This whole incident is prompted by the earlier conversation Jesus had with Peter where Peter points out all that they had sacrificed to follow Jesus.  In chapter 19, verses 28-29, Jesus replies,

“I assure you: In the Messianic Age,  ^d when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne,  you who have followed Me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. ²⁹ And everyone who has left houses, brothers or sisters, father or mother,  children, or fields because of My name will receive 100 times more and will inherit eternal life.

This raises the whole issue of “ambition” in the Christian life.  Should a Christian be ambitious?  Is there a place for a “competitive” spirit in the life of a believer?  Males are naturally competitive it seems to me.  If you take a group of toddler and throw a ball in the midst of them, pretty soon they will develop a “competition” of some sort.  Nearly every activity little boys engage in involves keeping score in some way or another.  Ambition, machismo, or an attitude of competitiveness is not always a virtue.  Listen to this exchange with Peter not long before this incidence with James and John.  The context is a teaching moment in which Jesus is describing God’s plan for Him to go to Jerusalem and die on the cross.

^{Mt.16:  21} From  then on Jesus began to point out to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.  ²² Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, “Oh no,  Lord! This will never happen to You!” ²³ But He turned and told Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s.”

There’s the answer to whether ambition is or is not a Christian virtue.  Ambition is defined as, “a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.”  The problem is not attitude of ambition, but the goal for one’s ambition.  Jesus rebuked Peter because Peter had “worldly goals and not Godly goals.”  When we get to the incident with James and John, Jesus calls on the brothers to “assess” their attitude.  Are they willing to pursue the same goals as the Lord, or are they simply seeking worldly success?  Look again at verse 22 of chapter 20:

“You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup  that I am about to drink?”

I believe there is nothing more important in life than having ambition, but it must be a “holy ambition” that seeks to fulfill God’s plan and purpose for our lives and not a worldly ambition that seeks to fulfill worldly lusts for fame and fortune and the comfort they bring.  If ambition is directed into passionate, sacrificial service for others then that is a “great ambition,” a holy ambition. 

When we examine the common practice of deacons in a church, far too often it becomes an opportunity to gain power and prestige, rather than an opportunity to pour out oneself in the service of others as Jesus did.  If we are going to be ambitious, let us seek success as the Bible defines it, not as the world defines it.

Remember the definition of ambition--“a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.”  Great men (and women) all have ambition.  It is a common thread in the fabric of heroism.  One such man is Charles Boswell.  Charley, as he was known, excelled as a football player at the U. of Alabama.  In 1941 he was drafted into the Army.  While trying to rescue a friend from a tank under enemy fire, Charley was permanently blinded.   He lost his sight, but not his ambition.  He was a great athlete before his accident and his ambition drove him to try a brand new sport, a sport he never imagined playing, even with his eyesight .  .  .  golf!  Now, that exemplifies the idea of “blind ambition” (pun fully intended).  Through determination and a deep love for the game he became the National Blind Golf Champion!  He won that honor 13 times.  One of his heroes was the great golfer Ben Hogan, so it truly was an honor for Charlie to win the Ben Hogan Award in 1958.  Upon meeting Ben Hogan, Charlie was awestruck and stated that he had one wish and it was to have one round of golf with the great Ben Hogan.  Mr. Hogan agreed that playing a round together would be an honor for him as well, as he had heard about all of Charlie's accomplishments and truly admired his skills.  "Would you like to play for money, Mr.  Hogan?" blurted out Charlie.

"I can't play you for money, it wouldn't be fair!" said Mr.  Hogan.

"Aw, come on, Mr.  Hogan...$1,000 per hole!"  "I can't, what would people think of me, taking advantage of you and your circumstance," replied the sighted golfer.  "Chicken, Mr.  Hogan,” Charley taunted?

"Okay," blurted a frustrated Hogan, "but I am going to play my best!"

"I wouldn't expect anything else," said the confident Boswell. "You're on Mr.  Boswell, you name the time and the place!"  A very self-assured Boswell responded "Right here, 10 o'clock .  .  .  tonight!"

Ambition is a worthy virtue when we direct that ambition in the right direction and for the right purpose.  Jesus would go on to teach James and John (and every disciple since them) what goal a disciple should press toward.  Great ambition should be directed toward:

2.  Great Service, and Greater Sacrifice (25-28)

The Lord had some guidelines for the ambitious disciples.  Look at verses 25-28:

⁵ But Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and the men of high position exercise power over them. ²⁶ It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,  ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,  and to give His life—a ransom for many.”

Jesus contrasts the “way of the World,” with the “Way of God.”  They are not just different, they are diametrically opposed to each other.  Jesus describes how worldly men lust after positions and power, “and the men of high position exercise power.”  We see this in our world, especially in the halls of our Congress where senators and representatives live like American royalty, dishing out crumbs to the populace while they feast on government provided banquets.  Notice what Jesus says about that in way of life in verse 26.  Jesus contrasts the worldly way with the words, “It must not be among you.”  Matthew uses the future tense but in the context it carries the force of the “imperative mood,” or the mood of a verb expressing a command.  One commentator calls it the “quasi-imperatival use of the future tense” for those of you that like that kind of thing (New International Greek Testament.”  The point is that the contrast Jesus is making is a “strong and forceful one.”  The HCSB, the version we read from, expresses this strong contrast by translating the next clause as, “on the contrary.”  There is a way of the world and a Way of the Lord, and the two are polar opposites.  We err greatly as the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ when we take our cues from the world for what we teach or how we conduct our services.  This has been the great heresy and damaging error coming out of the “church marketing movement” and “seeker-driven ministry movement.”  The ways of the world are NOT the ways of the Lord.  Isaiah points this out in no uncertain terms (Isaiah 55:7-8):

⁷ Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts;let him return to the Lord . . . . ⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.”

The way of the world, represented in our text by the use of the term “Gentiles” (v25), is to seek “position and power” (v25).  We often refer to this in the common idiom, “climbing the ladder of success.”  The problem is, according to Jesus, the “the way up is down.”  Look at the “way of the Lord” as described by the Lord, Himself (26-27):

²⁶ It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, [diakonos]  ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave [doulos]; ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served [fr. diakoneō], but to serve [fr. diakoneō],  and to give His life—a ransom for many.”

Three times in this verse Jesus uses the word, diakonos (noun) or diakoneo (verb) from which we get the English word, “deacon,” meaning servant, or to serve.  It can also be translated, “minister, or to minister (KJV).  One other time Jesus uses the word, doulos, which means, “slave,” which is an extreme expression of servanthood.

Ambition is great, but only when it is pointed in the right direction.  That direction is service to others.  Every disciple of Jesus Christ is to be a “deacon” or a “servant” to others, even to the point of giving one’s very life in service to others.  Discipleship is equivalent to service and service is equivalent to sacrifice.  Great ambition must lead to great service which leads to great sacrifice.  Our Lord not only teaches us the proper way to express ambition, but He modeled it as well.  Look again at verse 28:

²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served [fr. diakoneō], but to serve [fr. diakoneō],  and to give His life—a ransom for many.” 

The measure of our service is the “ultimate” sacrifice of our lives.  As long as we continue to hold on to this world as if we have some claim to it—or as if it has some claim to us—we cannot fulfill our roles as disciples of Jesus Christ.  Paul expresses the matter in this way:

Galatians 2  ¹⁹. . . .I have been crucified with Christ 

²⁰ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Dead men hold onto nothing in this world.  Disciples are to be dead to this world and expend “everything”—say that with me, “everything”—in service to others.  Discipleship equals service, and service equals total sacrifice.

This past week, one of my FaceBook friends posted a memorial for a soldier killed in the Korean War.  Marine Private First Class Herbert A. Littleton, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division won the Medal of Honor.  64 years ago, April 22, 1951, in Chungchon, Korea, Littleton purposely fell on a grenade to save the lives of the men he was serving with. He was 20 years old.  His life story was frozen at the age of 20.  When I saw that picture I was reminded of what “real service, really costs!”  I thought to myself, “Am I willing to throw myself on the grenade of service so others can have eternal life?”

Great ambition when directed in the direction of great service with great sacrifice accomplishes:

3.  Great Results  (v29)

Most Bibles, perhaps all the ones that use section titles, place verse 29 with the following story about the healing of blind men (including Bartimaeus).  The chapter numbers were added in the 13^th century and the verse numbers came in the 16^th century to make the study and teaching of the Bible easier.  But, with chapter and verse divisions we sometimes lose the flow, or the connectivity of the narrative.  Suppose, however, we connect verse 29 with the Lord’s teaching on being a “deacon” or a servant.  The formula would look something like this: 

GREAT AMBITION + GREAT SERVICE = GREAT RESULTS

The passage would read like this, ²⁸the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,  and to give His life—a ransom for many.” ²⁹ As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.

All throughout the story of the life of Jesus we see one constant:  a crowd was always following (except that it thinned out greatly at the end of the road where an Old Rugged Cross was standing).  What was it that drew the great crowds to the Lord.  There is no doubt that people were drawn to the preaching of the Lord Jesus.  On one occasion, the Temple Police were expected to apprehend Jesus and deliver Him to the chief priests and Pharisees because His teaching was arousing the crowds.  The Temple Police, when questioned by the Jewish leaders as to why they did not apprehend Jesus, they replied (Jn. 7:46):  “No man ever spoke like this!”

Yet, the Bible shows that it was not the preaching of Jesus alone, or even primarily, that drew large crowds.  The overwhelming success of the ministry of Jesus came from “what He did, not what He said.”  John tells us (Jn. 6:2):

² And a huge crowd was following Him because they saw the signs that He was performing by healing the sick.

Great ambition focused in the direction of great service with great sacrifice will always lead to great results.  That’s the power of the gospel.  If a church is lacking in growth, it is because it is lacking in great ambition focused in the direction of great service with great sacrifice.  You might summarize the matter like this:

No service—no results.  Little service—little results. 

Great service—great results!

The Church is exploding all over the world—except in America.  There has to be a reason.  Roughly speaking, in the last 30 years the adult population in the U.S. has increased about 15%.  However, the population of “unsaved (unchurched)” adults has increased over 90% (quoted from memory from a book on church growth, Dying for Change).  Men, women, and children are drawn to those that serve them—that help meet there physical, emotional, social, and most importantly, spiritual needs.  Great ambition focused in the direction of great service with great sacrifice leads to great results.  For a disciple, great results in building the Kingdom is our greatest reward.

Thursday, Diane Sawyer got the interview of a life-time (at least according to popular, liberal media).  She was able to interview Bruce Jenner—our neighbor over in Malibu and the famous father of the dysfunctional family known as the Kardasians.  You may have heard:  Bruce Jenner is becoming a woman.  He is taking hormones and the millions of dollars he has made from the Kardasian Car Crash Reality Show, (no pun intended if you know of Bruce’s wreck on the Pacific Coast Highway), has provided him with the money for the best sex-change surgery available.  It was an interview so sad and so troubling to me that I turned away. 

But, the headline on my MSN Newsfeed the next day really made my heart hurt:  “Why Bruce Jenner’s Big Interview Will In Fact Change the World.”  He is having surgery to become a she—and this will change the world!  No, folks, men having surgery and hormones to look like women, or women doing the same to look like men will not change the world—at least not for the better.  What will change the world is a church full of people with great ambition directed toward great service and great sacrifice—this will change the world.

Jesus teaches us that a disciple equals a deacon.  A deacon is a follower of Christ with a great ambition to serve others, even to the point of great sacrifice.  This will always lead to the great result of many souls being added to the Kingdom of God.

So, I guess we are left with one question:  who among us will become deacons?  The answer should be:  every one of us!

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