SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/5/2023 10:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Self-Serving Ambition”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
20:22-24
Message of the verses: “22 But Jesus
answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the
cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able." 23
He said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My
left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been
prepared by My Father." 24 And hearing this, the ten became
indignant with the two brothers.”
The verses that we are beginning to look at this morning
reflect a second wrong way to spiritual greatness, that of self-serving ambition. The request that came from James and John,
and their mother not only was brash, but it was foolish. Jesus did not answer the mother but He did
answer the brothers, directly "You do not know what you are asking. Are
you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" The three had absolutely no idea of what the
full implications of their request were.
Jesus
had just talked about what He was about to go through in verses 18-19 “18
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of
Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn
Him to death, 19 and will hand Him over
to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third
day He will be raised up.’” MacArthur writes “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 about the persecuted being blessed and about
taking up your own crosses and following Me?’”
Let
us now look at an example from the apostle Paul as he learned that the way to
great glory is through great affliction for the sake of Christ. Paul suffered extreme hardship, persecution,
and suffering, he considered those things to be insignificant compared to what
awaited him in heaven. Paul told the
self-serving, pleasure-loving Corinthians, “For momentary, light afflictions is
producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor.
4:17). Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12 “11
"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely
say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in
heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were
before you.”
I want to talk about what those light momentary
afflictions that Paul went through were which are found in 2 Corinthians 10:22-32
as he was defending his apostleship. “22
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants
of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? — I speak as if
insane — I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments,
beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received
from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods,
once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have
spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from
rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from
the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the
sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship,
through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in
cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the
daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak
without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? 30 If I
have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. 31 The God and
Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
32 In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes
in order to seize me, 33 and I was let down in a basket through a window in the
wall, and so escaped his hands.” Paul calls what he is describing here “light
momentary afflictions.” He then goes on
to talk about being caught up into heaven and because of that experience, in
order to keep him from boasting he was given a thorn in the flesh to keep him
humble. Perhaps we all have what could
be described as a thorn in the flesh.
Lord
willing we will continue to look at our verses from Matthew 20 in our next SD.
5/5/2023 10:59 AM
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