This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back. Today
is Tuesday, March the 10th, and we are reading
today in the book of Luke chapter 22 specifically.
There is a lot of text in Luke 22, so I want
to encourage you, read the whole thing. Read
it slowly today. It's a story. It's the storyline
of Jesus in the last couple of... hours of his
life, literally. It gives us the date at the
beginning of Luke 22. It says it's the time for
Passover is come. Here it is. It's the day. And
there's a plot to kill Jesus. Now, in this text,
I hope and pray you read the whole thing today.
I'm going to bring out just a couple of thoughts,
and then I'm going to tell you where I feel like
the Lord is speaking to me today to challenge
me and to challenge all of our listeners to the
New Mercies podcast. We are jumping in. to a
scene that is taking place. There's a plot to
kill Jesus. So then what happens? It talks about
this man named Judas and how he is in on this
plot. He is going to be the tool used to arrest
Jesus and to have him betrayed. He is the one
that is going to be the betrayer. So here's how
Luke 22, as it flows, begins with this plot to
kill Jesus. It dates it for us. Then the person
of Judas and what he's going to get involved
with. Then he talks to Peter and John, these
two disciples. And he tells them, he says, hey,
I need you to go and prepare the place that we're
going to take Passover together. So he gives
them very unique instructions. Just to kind of
give you a little overview of it, it's verses
7 down through verse number 14 or 13 or 14. And
here's what happens. Jesus says, hey, listen,
I want you to go and find a guy carrying a jar
of water in the city. Follow him to his house.
ask the master of that house, hey, where's the
room that you've prepared for the teacher? And
they're going to lead you to a room. It's an
upper room in this house. You can get it there
from the outside stairs. Most likely, this was
probably the place in the book of Acts where
we see the believers gathering. The church began
probably in this upper room that was prepared
for Jesus. Now, it's kind of strange because
you think, why would they go in and find a guy
with a water jar and what's going on? Well, In
the southeast corner of Jerusalem, the oldest
part of the city was where the original city
of David was. It's where the water supply came
in. The oldest, most ancient water supply came
into Jerusalem in that place. And most of the
time, it was females' jobs. It was the woman's
job to carry the water from one place to another.
So a man carrying a water jar would have been
a signal. That would have been unusual. And so
Jesus says, hey, go find a guy carrying water.
Most of the time when Jesus is doing something,
It's a little bit unusual, right? It's a little
bit unique. And so I read that today and I saw
it and I think, okay, here's what's happening.
He's getting his disciples together, go and prepare
the place for us to meet, to have Passover together,
to have a feast together. Then the Lord calls
his disciples together. They go meet there. They
have the Passover feast. They have the Jewish
Seder, as they will say in our culture today.
So they have Passover together. He institutes
the Passover that we're supposed to take communion.
The Lord's Supper is instituted this moment.
Then we see a couple of things happen. So all
this is happening really at a table, right? This
is him having supper with his disciples, and
he's now saying towards the end of the supper,
there's one of you that's going to betray me.
He's here at this table right now. Can you imagine
everybody, as they're trying to figure out what's
going on, they're saying, who is it that's going
to do this? They're looking around, trying to
find a guilty face, and everybody is trying to
come to their own defense, right? Well, it's
not going to be me. I would never deny Jesus.
I would never betray Jesus. Jesus, what are you
talking about? I would never betray you, Lord.
You're the greatest. Why would I betray you?
I want to read how this scene takes place. So
I kind of categorize this scene as what's happening
at the table. And then there's something that
happens in a garden next. And then if you keep
reading, you can see the progression of the way
it all goes. But I want to read just a couple
of verses to you. found down in Luke 22, beginning
at verse 24. So here's what's happened. They
began to question one another in verse 23. Who
could it be that's going to betray Jesus? Then
in verse 24, it says this, a dispute also arose
among them as to which of them was to be regarded
as the greatest. And he said, the kings of the
Gentiles exercise lordship over them in those
authority over them are called benefactors. but
not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among
you become as the youngest and the leader as
the one who serves. I want to stop right there.
Jesus has already dealt with this before. If
you go back in the book of Luke to chapter 9,
you can see this question gets asked. You can
also see it in the book of Matthew, specifically
in chapter 18. The disciples say, which one of
us is the greatest? Now, here we are again, and
the disciples are asking the same question. It's
a dispute that arises. strife happens at the
table. They've just instituted the Lord's Supper.
What is happening? How are they arguing? Well,
they're arguing, if you think it's a natural
progression for us, Jesus has just said, somebody
is going to betray me. And so they're like, well,
it wouldn't be me. Well, I'm not the one. I'm
not going to betray you. I'm not the one. And
they say, you know, I'm the closest to him. whoa,
you're no closer to Jesus than I am. Hang on,
I'm his favorite. I'm the greatest. You know,
he's already kind of talked to me a little bit.
I'm going to be the greatest in the kingdom.
I'm going to be the greatest. Go back and look,
and what Jesus says before, he's already addressed
this once, and he says the greatest, he brings
a little child over the first time this happens.
He says the greatest is like this little one.
Like a childlike faith that just wants to be
there and be around and be present and be whole
and just jump in. This is the greatest. The greatest
are those with this innocent heart, innocent
mind that just want to be around Jesus. That's
who the greatest are. And he says again here.
The greatest of you must be like the youngest.
What's he saying? He's saying again, it's not
about how much power and influence you gain.
It's about your dependency. That's the greatest.
Don't strive to gain more followers and gain
more influence. Strive to be what God's called
you to be. Be humble. And he says the leader
should be the one who serves. And he keeps going.
Listen to the next couple of verses. For who
is the greater? one who reclines at the table
or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines
at the table, but I am among you as the one who
serves? You are those who have stayed with me
in my trials, and I assign to you as my Father
assigned to me a kingdom, that you may eat and
drink at my table in the kingdom and sit on thrones
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Now, we
talked yesterday and this past week about Luke
21 and some end times things. There's a couple
of things that are going on. There are the initial
things that they will experience through trials
and sufferings and the kingdom of Jerusalem.
temple falling and being destroyed. And then
there's some eschatological viewpoints of what
God is pointing to in the future, what Jesus
is talking about that's going to happen thousands
of years later. Hopefully, prayerfully, I believe
in our generation, this is when God's going to
accomplish these things. And as Jesus is telling
them this, he says, listen, who's the greatest
and who's the least? You're going to assume the
one who serves is the lowest, right? Well, I'm
going to tell you, I'm serving you. Jesus is
over here breaking the bread, serving it. Jesus
is pouring the cup and sharing it. Jesus is the
one serving. He's washed feet. He's serving them.
He's saying, you all are fighting over who's
the greatest, and I'm the one serving all of
you. Maybe take a note here because he says there's
something great coming for you. There's something
great that's going to be going on. I've prepared
for you a place in a kingdom. Here's what's happened.
The disciples have got a distorted view of what
the kingdom is. They're assuming Jesus is going
to take over Rome. They're at the peak of their
ministry. Everything's going great right now.
Jesus is having Passover with them, and he's
sharing about this new covenant. I'm confused.
What does that mean? Covenant's in his blood.
There's a lot to happen here. There's some things,
again, that is... It's talking about eschatological
things that are happening. There's also some
soteriological things, meaning like the principles
of the church and salvation and the way that
salvation comes and how the church is to respond
to that. There's a lot that Jesus is unpacking
here. And the disciples are just in the middle
of an argument saying, who's the greatest? Who's
the greatest? My challenge to you today, the
mercy God showed me today. is I'm not sure if
you're a person that tries to leverage influence
or leverage resources or leverage position, but
here's what I will say today. It's time we serve
everyone. I was telling my kids just the other
day, they were talking about what are they supposed
to do when they grow up? And I said, you know,
I don't even know what I'm supposed to do when
I grow up, right? I don't know. None of us really
know. The question we're supposed to ask, though,
is not what am I supposed to do? Maybe it's who
am I supposed to serve? Who am I called to serve?
Am I called to serve a church? Yes, that's what
God's called me to do right now. I am serving
the church body to the best of my abilities and
the best of my understanding. And every day I'm
learning more and more how to do that better
and better. But here's what I believe all of
us should ask the question, who are we called
to serve? That's who the greatest is. It's the
one who serves. Jesus came and served. He's greater
than all of us. So who are we going to serve
today? There's a lot more in Luke chapter 22.
My encouragement to you today, my question to
you today. is who are you going to serve? It
may not look like a lot of power and prestige,
but I promise you this, if God's calling you
to serve somebody, and if that's how you're obedient
to him, there's nothing greater in this world.
Who are you called to serve today?