SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/7/2023 9:55 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “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.”
It is kind of late Sunday night and because I did
not get up in time to do my Spiritual Diaries this morning I will do this one tonight.
We
have been writing about the things that James and John were saying to Jesus
about being able to drink the cup that Jesus was going to drink, which they
said that they were able to do. Jesus
told them that they would drink the cup, but not the cup that He was about to
drink, a cup of wrath from His Father that would pay for our sins.
It
is not sure or not that perhaps these disciples, James and John, might have
misunderstood what Jesus meant or perhaps because, like Peter promising never
to forsake Christ, they self-confidently thought they could endure anything
required of them. James and John
foolishly declared, “We are able.’” In a
similar way that Peter denied the Lord three times before the rooster crowed,
those two brothers, along with all the other disciples, fled for their lives
when Jesus was arrested as seen in Matthew 26:56.
Jesus,
out of tenderness and compassion, then said to them "My cup you shall
drink.’” However as mentioned it would
not be in their own power but in the power of the Holy Spirit that they would
suffer greatly for their Master’s sake. In Acts 12:2 we read about James
becoming the first disciple to die for the cause of Christ. John would be the
last disciple to die, but I am not sure how much suffering that he did before
through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he wrote the book of
Revelation. I don’t know if this story
is true about him, but I read somewhere that John was boiled in oil in order to
kill him, but because he remained alive he was sent to the island of Patmos
where, as mentioned he would see the Lord and then write the book of
Revelation.
Jesus
tells them that whoever is to sit on His right and left in the Kingdom was not
for Him to chose, but His Father.
MacArthur writes “It would not be on the basis of favoritism or ambition
that those honors would be bestowed, but on the basis of the Father’s sovereign
choice. Personal ambition is not a
factor in the eternal, sovereign plan of God.
It is therefore not only sinful but a foolish and useless waste of
effort.
24
And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers.” I can say that these ten may have been
indignant over James and John, but the truth is that they all were in the same
boat as these two were and probably wanted to ask the same question to
Jesus.
5/7/2023 10:14 PM
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