The Upside Down Kingdom | +Quigg Lawrence

So, love that little thing George Bush said, you know, W—because a lot of times words would come out of his mouth and he goes, "Oh, those were inside words, not outside words. Inside, not outside." Sometimes as a preacher, if you break from your manuscript, you will bring things to the table and sometimes they're awesome and funny, and sometimes they're like, "Rut roh, I want to get out of here."

Last week wasn't terrible, but I did take a little knock at gerbils. And kids, I gotta tell you, I had gerbils when I was a kid, and I didn't know if they're male or female. I mean, really, who would know, right? But anyway, I had a traumatic experience that kind of scarred me for life. I won't go into the details, but basically, I came down one morning to feed the gerbils and I saw a little one kind of limping around and I saw the big one in two parts. From there, I just couldn't do gerbils anymore. It just kind of ruined gerbils for me.

But last week, to prove that kids listened to sermons—because a lot of you think, "Oh, my kids don't hear anything. They're so bored in church, whatever"—actually they are listening. And after the service, I had two young ladies come up and they were super polite and super precocious. Google that word. But they said, "Hey, we love gerbils," and kind of the inference was, "Don't bang on gerbils, man. We love gerbils. You wanna see pictures of my gerbils?" And so I sat there for like twenty minutes and they showed me pictures of their gerbils and videos of their gerbils. And I thought we would just share one because we wanna bless these young ladies who will remain nameless.

There's a sermon illustration here. It's not just a cute picture of Alfred running. This is many of your lives. Run, run, run. I don't even know where I'm going, but I'm just running, running, running, and I am so tired. God bless Alfred. And God bless children who listen to sermons. Amen.

Give them a hand. Thank you, girls, for the shout out.

Matthew 20:20-28

We're in Matthew 20:20. Matthew 20:20. Now, it would be really cool if you could hang with the Bible or a Bible app. I know a lot of people don't haul the big family Bible anymore, but an app is cool or you can just Google it. We're Matthew 20, verse 20.

And the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to Jesus with her sons, that's James and John, and kneeling before Jesus, she asked Jesus for something. — Matthew 20:20

Like, I get this. I really do get this. Mothers, you love your children. Men, you love your children, right? You love your children. You understand children are a blessing from God. Not always easy, but they're a blessing.

And guys, here's the thing we don't understand, and I kind of speak like somebody who understands, but actually I don't. I don't know what it's like to be pregnant. I don't know what it's like to carry a baby one, two, three, four, five months. Or when they start elbowing you and kicking you and keeping you awake and you're not sleeping. I don't know what that's like. I don't know what it's like to give birth. I joke with the guys in our church, if we were the ones having babies, there'd be families with only one kid because no man would ever do it again. It's so painful.

I don't understand what y'all go through, but I know it's birth and love. And I know that you wake up in the middle of the night, some of you young mothers, you're so tired. What I would encourage you is, if you're exhausted, just ask somebody for help. Ask a Christian friend, ask a girlfriend, somebody in your life group, ask somebody for help. But you mothers, you pour in, pour in, pour in. It's not like you're getting that much thanks. I mean, one day a year we all blow up Instagram with mother stuff, but you moms, I just want to say God knows. He knows, He knows what you're doing. He's so proud of you. He's so grateful for the way that you're pouring out and giving to your kids and often for zero thanks.

And so we see this mother and she has two sons, James and John. Strangely, the Bible calls them the sons of thunder. So like I'm thinking cage fighters, Mid-Atlantic wrestling kind of guys, burly. They were fishermen, so they had to be strong and burly. And yet here we see the sons of thunder, these burly fishermen, and all of a sudden their mommy's with them. She's a helicopter mother. Do you know that phrase? Like these parents that can't let go of their kids when they go to college and they fly in and fly out and they take care of little Johnny or little Susie and wanna make sure they're being treated fairly by those mean professors, make sure they're eating well and dressing well and doing this and doing that.

And so I sense a little bit of a helicopter mom thing going on here. Or maybe she just loves her kids and she really wants them spiritually to be in the right place. But so here's what goes down. She comes to Jesus and she says, "Hey, these two sons of mine, James and John, I gotta request Jesus—could like one of them sit at your right hand, like position of honor, and the other one at the left position of honor, in your kingdom? Not just like while we're having dinner tonight, like forever. Could you put my two sons in the highest places of honor?"

Wow, could you imagine going to the Lord with that? So how does Jesus respond? Let's look, it's in verse 22.

So Jesus answers the mother of James and John.

I think while He's answering her, He's kind of looking at the other disciples. I'm reckoning maybe they made a prod at their mother for this. But Jesus speaks, and He goes, "Let me be honest with you: you don't even know what you're asking."

Right? Just like a lot of times with small children, I want—I told my mom, "I want a monkey." Mom, I want a monkey. Some friends in my school had a monkey. I was in like third grade, I want a monkey. I wore her out ten thousand times. "Mom, I want a monkey. You're so unloving, why don't you give me a monkey?" She says, "No, we're not gonna have a monkey. They swing from the chandeliers and the drapes and no, they poop all over the house. No, we're not having a monkey." But I kept asking and asking and asking for a monkey. Did she relent? No, she's too smart for that.

And so sometimes we ask for stuff we don't even know—honestly, don't even know what to ask for. We ask the Lord for all these things. "God, God, give me this." If he gave it to you, sometimes you get it and you're like, "But that didn't change my life at all." But that's the thing I thought I needed. The thing I thought I needed to be complete. To be happy. Sometimes the Lord will give it to you and say, "Are you happier?" Not really, right?

And so here we are. It says Jesus answered, "You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink?"

Jesus isn't talking about taking a swig of water here, friends. When he says, "Are you able to drink from the cup that I'm about to drink?" the cup he's about to drink is a cup of suffering. So they're asking about honor and who's going to sit in the right seat, and Jesus is like, "Do you even know what you're asking? The cup I'm about to drink is death. It's death."

Jesus probably thinking, "Well, hey man, I'm thirty-three, I'm single, I'd like to be married, I'd like to have a family. I'd sure not like the Pharisees to leave me alone. I'd like to have a place to lay my head." The Bible says he had no place to lay his head. He was reviled, he was spit on. See, the cup Jesus was about to take—it was so costly. It was his life. That even Jesus in the garden, he's sitting there and he knows the Father. He knows the Father's will. But he also knows what that cup represents. A brutal, brutal death. For people, honestly, for the most part, who could care less about him.

And so He says, "Are you able to drink this cup?" This cup is a cup of death.

And so strangely enough, like this is such a heavy thing—how do you think the apostles answered? Were they introspective? Did they think about it? They're like, "No problem. We'll drink from the cup. We'll drink from the same cup."

Excuse me. We'll get to this later, but Peter—not only did he not drink from the cup that day, he ran. He denied him three times, right? Where were all the twelve when Jesus was being whipped and beaten and crucified and dying? There's his mother, there's the beloved disciple. Where were the rest of them? And they think they can drink the cup? They can't even watch him drink from the cup. They said, "Yeah, we're able." Uh-huh.

He said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand or my left is not mine to give."

See, what Jesus knew is that almost every one of the disciples would be put to death. They would eventually drink from the cup. James—remember the two sons, James and John? James was killed eleven years later. He was beheaded. Much like that gerbil, he was beheaded.

Do you know almost all the disciples of Jesus were killed? John was not; he lived to an old age, so we're told, but all the rest of them. And they did suffer. Jesus said, "I promise you in this world, if you follow me, you're gonna have trials and you're gonna have tribulations, and they're gonna hand you over in the synagogues and they're gonna put you to death. You wanna follow Jesus?"

See, we don't hear this. You wanna follow Jesus? That's what it looks like. You take up your cross and you follow Him. You're willing to say, "Lord, I know you're the sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice for the whole world. But if we're gonna follow you, we will follow you and we will walk into the way of suffering just as you did."

Unless a kernel dies, it will not come to life. There's no greater honor than to serve the king. And so we continue, and it's funny—he says, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand or my left." Strangely, Jesus said, and I think it's strange, he says, "It's not mine to grant, but it is for those whom it has been prepared by my Father."

Friends, the sovereignty of God. God predestined certain things. And I don't understand it all, but do you see? God's already determined who's going to sit in the places of honor. He doesn't need my mommy or your mommy to convince him to put you in a seat. You'll get the seat you deserve. You'll be placed where the Lord wants you.

And so what's really interesting is how the 12 responded. Actually, 10. Look at verse 24:

When the 10 heard it, they were indignant. — Matthew 20:24

Now, who were the 10? Those were the other 12 disciples or apostles. They were indignant. This is crazy. Remind me who's in the 10 that's being all indignant?

Oh, Peter. He's a really shiny example of faithfulness, isn't he? "I swear, I don't know him. I don't know the man." He denied him three times. Peter is indignant about their sin of where they're going to sit, and yet he denied Christ boldly three times.

Who else is in the tent? Thomas. Oh, he's another shining example of a faithful man of God. He says, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hand, I won't believe." Doubting Thomas. So Thomas has no room or right to be indignant at these guys because their mommy came and tried to help them out get a better seat.

Is there one other one? Give me another one that failed miserably. Oh yeah, the treasurer Judas. He denied Jesus for 30 silver coins.

And so, to me, when it says they were indignant by the failings or the sin of James and John, they were indignant. Do you get indignant at other people? See, what I find is it's very easy for me to not be indignant at my own sin, right? Because I have a way of kind of being clever and minimizing that and making excuses for it and not looking at it too much. I look over the fence and other people sin, like on Instagram. That person's messed up.

The Danger of Judging Others

In the church, listen y'all, I'm not saying we bless something that God doesn't bless. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying we move the bull's eye. God's word is His word. It is truth. But there's a virus in many of us where we spend all this time looking at those sinners. "Oh, you're up at Floyd Fest. Somebody wrote, oh, I hope you're gonna wear your collar and give out communion." As if, like, do you think there are worse sinners up on the mountain than down below the mountain? Just because they like the Grateful Dead? No. But that's what we do, friends. We decide in our minds. We lean on our own understanding. We decide that they are way worse sinners than us.

But here's the problem: if you looked at the 10 commandments, if we're so holy, stand right here.

You shall have no other gods before me. — Exodus 20:3

Do you ever put any person, even a good person like a child or spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend, before the Lord? Do you ever put anything before the Lord? If so, you've broken the first commandment. You're not holy.

How about:

Don't take the Lord's name in vain? — Exodus 20:7

I know a lot of you guys have really circumcised your tongue. God's done an amazing work. But very few of us could say that we've never used the Lord's name in a careless manner.

So no other gods, no idols, don't take the Lord's name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. — Exodus 20:8

It's not like "if it fits in with my week." It's like this is our privilege as believers—that we come together and we worship together.

How about this? Children, we got any kids in the late service? I'm gonna give you the secret for being a kid. The Bible says:

Honor your father and mother that it may go well with you and you may live long in the land. — Exodus 20:12

Kids, here's the thing. If you simply give your parents respect and talk politely and don't roll your eye and when they ask you to do something say, "Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir." You're going to be shocked at the new parents you have. Honor.

Don't commit murder. — Exodus 20:13

Again, most of us could say truthfully we've never mowed anybody down, we haven't stabbed them or shot them with a gun. But Jesus says, tell you the truth, if you look on somebody with anger in your heart, you're a murderer.

And I could keep going through all of those, but you get the point. Like there's none righteous, and who are we to be indignant over somebody else's sin? You know what I think?

I think there are a lot, especially with sexuality, I think it's very easy for us in the church, who may not struggle with that particular variety of sin, to make that the worst sin, and we feel very good about ourselves, but we don't realize that our sin stinks just as much. We who have been shown mercy should be the most merciful people. How crazy that the 10 were indignant! And then very quickly, almost all of them did even bigger sins, note well.

Let's finish the passage.

Jesus called to them and he said, you know, the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great, in other words, you want a seat of honor? You want to be great? If anybody would wanna be great, they must become your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Even as the son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. — Matthew 20:25-28

And so friends, the thing the Lord is, the punchline today is, it's clear as about. Verse 26: whoever would be great among you must be a servant. So this whole idea, Jesus has an upside down kingdom, an upside down kingdom. If the first will be? If you're sitting in a humble seat, he says, you're probably gonna be called forward. Like don't seek the positions of honor in those seats, because you may get chucked out of them. Rather seek the most humble place, then the master may call you forward.

You know, even Garth Brooks does that. I love, even Garth Brooks, a musician, understands this principle. Do you know what he does when he has a concert? He had one in Salt Lake City, tickets went on sale this week. In thirty minutes they sold 50,000 tickets. You know what he didn't sell? The first two rows. Do you know this? Every city he leaves the first two rows empty. And then when he gets about to the second song, he has his crew, his team, go up in the cheap seats. People like us, who don't want to spend $500. And take selfies and go, "Hey, look at me, I'm at Garth Brooks." He wants to get the people in the back who really have a passion for what he's doing, and who really love it, they just don't have a lot of resources. And they bring them down like in the third song and put them in the first two rows. Isn't that cool? Like he gets the principle.

And Jesus is saying so clearly, whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first must be your slave. The son of man came not to be served, but to serve.

The Power to Be a Servant

Here's the power, here's the power to be a servant. Number one, the Lord has served you. The Lord had a good life, he had a good family, he could have done lots of things. I mean, he's pretty smart, he's kind of the inventor of intelligence, right? The inventor of creativity, the inventor of relationships. Jesus could have done anything, but he chose to obey his father and to be put to death for you to be a ransom. Somebody had to pay for you to be free. Somebody had to pay for you to be forgiven and Jesus joyfully, even though he wanted the cup to pass, he did it. One, because he loves his father, but number two, because he loves you.

Number three, he knew there'd be a day where you're gonna stand before his throne of judgment. And if you're gonna try to present any way for yourself to be righteous, you would have none. And Jesus in love served you.

It's easy to get down and wash people's feet. I've done that. You've done that. What's harder is to serve them, to give yourself, your desires, your control up that they might be served. Jesus has made it plain. If you're gonna be one of his followers, you have to be a servant. This whole thing of trying to be at the top in the places of honor? Forget about it. We don't want honor for men. We want honor from our heavenly father.

The Real Question

And so the closing question is this, can we take some sodium pentothal right now? See, the biochemist got it, nobody else did. Do you know what truth serum is?

I've heard rumor, it might be an old wives' tale, who knows. I've heard rumor that there's a drug called sodium pentothal and they inject you with that, you're just gonna be like Jim Carrey in the movie Liar Liar. You just can't lie, you're just gonna tell the truth. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's a great story.

So right now, we're going to pour sodium pentothal on all y'all. You're now Jim Carrey, you can't tell a lie. Here's the question: Do you like people serving you? Do you like people to bow down and give you honor? That means you're a human, right? We're not gonna beat you up.

But the better question is, have you learned the joy of being a servant? Have you learned the joy of that?

The funny thing we noticed—Barb you noticed this, other clergy, we noticed that those who pour their lives out for Jesus, not to be seen by men but because they love him, when they pour their life out and they make themselves to be servants in his kingdom, those people have joy. And the ones who don't, who put themselves at the center so everyone should serve them, they're the most miserable people we know.

And so the question I want you to chew on, you and the Lord is, are you one who likes people to serve you? Or are you actively, because of the love of Jesus moving in your life, are you serving others, not to be seen, but so that your Father in heaven may be glorified?

Are you a servant or do you like people to serve you? Chew on that.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.