 Organizations take on the characteristics of the leadership, and Chuck Smith is a servant leader. If you walk across the grounds of Calvary with Chuck, he'll stop and pick up a gum wrapper, throw it in the trash. He'll notice things like, well, look at that up there. That needs to be cleaned up. He'll walk over to one of the guys and say, you know, we need to work on this. He's very aware of little things, you know. Instead of walking around with his head in the clouds, sort of these spiritual thoughts, he would be a very practical kind of a guy. I mean, I watched Chuck Smith one time when there was a gutter that was filled with water. And there were about three or four pastors, you know, watching. And Chuck was going to do a few, not a few, but a wedding. And he had his suit on and everything, and what he did is these guys are looking at the drain. And Chuck Smith took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, got on his knees, stuck his hand in the drain and pulled all the trash out, got up, went to the bathroom, washed himself down, rolled on his sleeve, put his coat back on and went into the wedding. That's the kind of a person that he is. He's a sir. He teaches by example. I would watch him at the door on Sundays be exhausted after preaching three, four times. And yet he would stand there when there would be no cars in the parking lot, but maybe one person still standing at the door with a big, big problem. And he'd be very, very patient with them. And that taught me, as I observed him on his staff for five years, that really taught me to look at people from their heart and not from what I see them as dressed or how long or short their hair is, if they're overweight or underweight, if they're cool looking or not, but just to love every human being that would come across your path. He'll never allow you to follow him, which is another way of explaining how we function, is that he will never allow you to follow him so much as if you go into his office and you ask him questions that you're looking for him to give you answers on, he'll always redirect you back to the Lord. Chuck always gives people an opportunity to grow and he realizes it's in your mistakes that you learn to grow. Another thing I learned from Chuck's ministry is the capacity to be patient with people's weaknesses and to just give people a chance with their weaknesses to watch the Holy Spirit change their lives. He tries to stay out of the way where God's concerned. He doesn't mind backing up when he's gone forward and find something fails. He's perfectly willing to let it fail if God's not in it and it doesn't go. He'll let it fail. That's radio, TV. He's not married any of those and we'll tell you so. So as near as he can as a senior pastor, he wants what God wants. As near as he can get to it and to that end to be, well the best word I can think of is flexible or open or pliable. His major contribution he's often said is to stay out of the way and let God do what he's trying to do. Whether it's the hippie thing of the late 60s or whatever, it's leaving room for God to move and the way God wants to move and not imposing our plans and schemes and second guessing on what God is really all about. I find him an unusual discipler. He does not fit the mode that we teach. In other words, he's more standoffish than he is personal in his relationship with these men that are in the harvest. When I dialogue with them, the discipleship was that they observed him and saw that the way he lived his life personally, the way he ministered, the way he dealt with people, and then they went and modeled that. One might expect someone who would be financially very conservative to perhaps be authoritarian in his leadership. And my observation so far is that that's not the case, that he gives a tremendous degree of freedom and of latitude to all of the pastors and people that work for him. But whatever he wants to do, that's what we do. I don't argue with him. I'm not supposed to. He gives me great deference. He lets me say anything I want, take an objection with anything I want. But after I get done with that, I've had my say that I'm supposed to be off and running as the number two man to go get done whatever he wants done. But it doesn't work out. I don't care. He's responsible to God, not to me. So if it works out, praise God. If it doesn't work out, then either I did it wrong or didn't listen or didn't do my part or something, or just the I did didn't work out. When I came here, one of the things that the Lord spoke to me on, I asked him, when Chuck asked me to come on the staff here, for a verse. And he took me to Joshua that he was a servant unto Moses. And the Lord just defined to me my role that I'm here to serve Chuck Smith. And therefore I found myself wanting to be insistent to him. And I found myself determined, well, I'll get here before he gets here. I won't leave till after he leaves. And whenever he's on a property, I want to be here. And before service is available to him, after service is available. And then of course throughout the day, throughout the week, what things does he specifically want me to do that will help him go on with what he's called to do? Remember Moses when he was, they were fighting against the enemy. As long as his arms were up, they would win. And then when his arms went down, they'd lose. So a bunch of guys gathered around him and held up his arms so that the battle would go good. And I think that's what all these assistant pastors are here for. So you try to continually remind them what they're here for. They're hired full time to take care of these people. Not just studying under someone to take care of the people, whatever their needs are, as much as you can meet them. My sense is that he is this very interesting blend of at some level being conservative in terms of his financial management. But at another level, he is a visionary who sets the large vision, but he gives tremendous freedom to those who are on the pastoral staff to be innovative in terms of their own area of ministry. We never were duplicated. We believe in individual personalities. You know, that's what's so neat about it. Everybody has to be unique. It's like Greg or Jeff or Mike or myself or anybody else. You know, God has anointed us and it's like, you know, Chuck also believes that they got anointed a person at the right time, at the right place for the right city. For the people that need ministry in there, and then God will do the work to that person. Chuck always let me be me. I was always a little bit crazy, and he allowed me to be a little bit crazy, but to have my personality and not have to be like him or anybody else. At some level, I think that they do have charisma, but it's a kind of interesting charisma. It's a sort of soft charisma in my view. So it's not the charisma that is sometimes associated with the televangelist. There's not a lot of shouting. There are not a lot of exclamation points. I think the charisma comes out of the fact that the members of these churches can see the integrity, the depth of spiritual commitment, and the fact that the message does not rely upon their power as individuals, but these leaders in a sense are simply hoping to mediate the power of God and the power of the Holy Spirit within their congregations. Many times I've found that pastors, they take themselves too seriously. And Chuck taught me not to take myself too seriously. It's God doing the work, and if I'll just stay open to God, He'll do a great work. These men have integrity. They don't try to be something they're not. They're honest when they make mistakes, they're all open about this, and there's no ministerial facade, and that is so refreshing to me because teaching at a religious school, you see so much facade, and it sort of sickens me to be honest with you, and to come here and to be with these guys and to laugh with them or to cut up with them, and then to see the deep drive they have to help people and the willingness they have to sacrifice to do that. It's very, very encouraging to me. As you look at the complexion of the leadership, it is so diverse that you really recognize God's dealing, also God's sense of humor. One of the things I like about the Calvary Chapel movement is it gives real meaning to the priesthood of all believers. So many of the Calvary Chapel pastors are men who are not degreed, but men who are specifically called to ministry. And the reason that we know they're called is they're doing the work of ministry. They're out doing the work of ministry when they're called to full-time ministry. Now I do think we ruin a lot of people who are called to ministry. We certainly recognize that calling, and then we send them out to be ministers. And we send them into seminary and they come back like the frozen chosen. They're really not demonstrating the same principles that they originally demonstrated. The point here is simply this. I believe in the priesthood of all believers, I believe that Calvary Chapel pastors by and large are men who come from the trenches. They have been doing the work of evangelism and that's why they're effective. I don't think you need an education to be in the ministry. I mean, I think the ministry is an education. You will get a personal education. The problem with seminary sometimes is that we go to seminary and we get all the knowledge, but we don't have the experience. You know, that's a real problem because what happens is that here's a seminary and trying to graduate and going to go plant churches or be a pastor, but he doesn't know anything about church planting or how to be a pastor. So again, I strongly affirm the priesthood of all believers, which I think is a major tenant of the Calvary Chapel movement. I mean, look at the people that are leading these massive movements, churches that have 10,000 or more members in many cases. They're people who have no degrees whatsoever. Their degrees come not in an ivory tower, but on a grassroots level. They're equipped in the trenches. Their message is relevant. Their message is biblical and their message is timely. Yeah, we're not educated. You know, a couple of observations. One is a lot of people who knew Pastor Chuck from him coming in speaking here, perhaps wherever you came from, you saw Pastor Chuck and all. And he would refuse. He had this personality from the pulpit that, you know, you just felt you could go and hold on to him and love him and all. But that's because you didn't know him. When you got to know him, he was very private. He was a very private person. I can still remember, Marie and I, he asked us to go with him on an Alaskan cruise. He asked us to go. I was going to teach along with several of the other Calvary pastors and Chuck wanted us to go with him. And so he and I were sitting at the same table. And I knew him, obviously, but I'd never spent a lot of time yet at that point. And I still remember being seated with him at a table and turning to talk to him. And he was more interested in his meal than he was in conversing, you know? So I learned right from the beginning to just kind of give him his space. So he was, you know, over time, he became somebody that was very dear to me and I had access to him in a deeper level. But that's one thing as I was listening. He was very distant in many ways. And I think leaders very often are. His mind wasn't on something over here. It just was on what it was on at that moment. And I had to learn how to deal with that. That's one of the things that kind of gripped me as I was listening and I was remembering that. Another thing is I went to and did participate in a pastors conference. As I mentioned for those of you who are with us on Sunday, I left on, Marie and I left on Sunday and arrived Sunday evening and then the conference went from Monday through Wednesday. And so I taught on Tuesday and we're teaching out of 1st Timothy and they're going into 2nd Timothy. And as we were teaching, and I'll just say this very briefly, one of the things that we as pastors right now are dealing with is the idea that young people don't want to listen to old people speak. And one of the teachers that preceded me is 43 years old and he made that point and I was coming up two speakers later. And in this particular church, there were nine steps that lead up to the platform. And so, you know, as you can see, this is three steps. There were nine steps so the platform is up there. And so this guy is saying something, well, you know, let's face it, he said. And I was sitting right there, I mean right there. And he goes, you know, you're just old. You know, and making the point, get out of the way, let the younger people lead. And don't stifle them. And I'm looking at him and so I came walking up the steps when it was my turn to teach. And I said, man, that's like climbing a mountain for an old man like me, you know. And I was sharing in the teaching and I said, you know, a couple of things. I'll share it with you then we'll get into our study. I said, you know, the brother who made that comment, I said, you know, he was 43. So I said, you know, the first time I ever came into contact with Chuck Smith, I said he was 43 years old. I said I was 20 and he to me was an old man. So in essence, I'm telling this 43-year-old, you're old too, so shut up. Go and change your diaper. So I said age is relative. I said young people and I believe this and maybe I'm wrong, but I believe I'm right on this because this is something I actually am interested in and I read about and I think that the trend that many of you are hearing if you follow church news at all, you may be hearing that all the church is losing members and nobody wants to go to church and that's not true. That is statistically incorrect. That is not true. There are mainline denominations that have been bleeding members for years. That's true. But the people who are leaving those churches are finding other churches to go to. So non-denominational churches actually are continuing to grow and increase in attendance. And secondly, I think it's unfair and untrue to say that young people, millennials and all, that they're not interested in the things of God. That is just not true. I think what is happening with many is they're not being told the truth. I think they're going to churches where pastors are afraid to offend sensitive hearers and so they're not telling the truth to the people. And I know that's to be true. And I said, listen, there are people because this one brother had said, oh, we're bleeding young people. I don't believe that at all. I really don't. And so I said, listen, I said, right now I'm mentoring 24 young men, 24 every two weeks. And I could add to that and we'll add to that in the future because there are young men who want to know the things of God. The church isn't dead and the church isn't dying. It's quite alive. It's the press that is against the movement of the spirit that finds various things to try and cause it to look like nobody's interested. And it causes people like you, perhaps, to say, what's the point in telling these people about Jesus? They're not interested. That's a lie. They are interested. Just open your heart. Share with them. Love them. You know, regardless if they're young and regardless of whether they're old, it doesn't matter. Jesus came to save the young and the old alike. And so the gospel appeals to those who are out there lost. We need to remember that. And so that was my message yesterday, you know, because I think that there's a, it's just not true. There are people who want to know Jesus Christ. And yeah, I came from the Jesus movement. And yes, I was a hippie and all of that. That's true. But like I said, I went to Calvary Chapel and I heard Chuck and I heard a young man named Lonnie. And I said, I went there not because I wanted to go to some cool church with fog during worship and lights and some excitable preacher running back and forth on the stage. That would have turned me completely off. I went to Calvary Chapel because Jesus was there. Because I could hear the gospel. I could grow in my faith. I could learn to be a new man. That's what Bible studies are intended to do. Not in entertain, but to transform. And when you're hungry to be transformed listening to the word and putting it into practice, you will be transformed. And that's the bottom line. And so today we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter 20. And we're going to look at the, I got to drink something here because I'm choking myself up. Unique leadership. Matthew chapter 20 verses 20 through 28. I take a medication now that drives my throat and it's a bummer. Okay, here we go. In Matthew chapter 20 verse 20, then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons kneeling down and asking something from him. And he said to her, what do you wish? She said to him, grant that these two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand, the other on the left in your kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, you do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with? They said to him, we're able. So he said to them, you will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my father. And when the 10 heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to himself and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, those who are great exercise authority over them, yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you, let them be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you, let them be your slave. Just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve to give his life a ransom for many. I'm going to share with you in a moment about servant leadership. That's really what this was about. The people's testimony concerning Pastor Chuck, how that he would bend down and pick up a paper or look around and see something that needed to be repaired and very often do it himself. That's all absolutely true. That was one of the things about him. That was his personality. And there are many people who are like that. That is something that was within him. And I'll be honest with you and say that that's one of my personality traits also. I'm the same kind of person. I think that's part of the reason I associated so deeply with him and identified so well with him because I'm the same person. If I come walking out and I see some trash, you know, I see trash. I've been down to pick it up. I'm one of those people too. And so when they said that about him, that's absolutely true. Pastor Chuck was a man who would see something needed to be done and he would do that. He was a servant in every way. He was a man that was asked. He was asked to come to Washington to get to know presidents when he was in his pastoral ministry in the early days. And he never did. He never wanted to go to Washington. And he let us know. He said, listen, why would I want to go and spend time in Washington, D.C. with presidents when I can minister and pastor and bring people to faith in Jesus Christ? So he never got involved in those kinds of things, even though they wanted him to, even though he was asked to be part of those things. That was not something that attracted him because he felt that pastor in a church and caring for people was a greater calling than being an advisor to presidents. That was Pastor Chuck. And so we learned that through observation. We learned that by being around with him. We remember Romain, who was one of the speakers. He was his assistant pastor. He used to call him the little bulldog. And he was. He had Pastor Chuck's back. And he was somebody who would do what needed to be done and all. And Romain was sharing. And he said, one of the things you fellas don't know about your pastor that I'll tell you right now. And I might have shared this with you in the past. He said, and this was obviously years ago. He says, Billy Graham, when he's in town doing ministry, he says Billy Graham has pulled into our parking lot. And he sits in the parking lot. And people have approached him and asked him, Billy, what are you doing? You could come on in. Why? Chuck would love to see you. And he said, Billy Graham would say, I just like to sit here in this parking lot and sense the presence of the Holy Spirit. That was Billy Graham. And he would go to Calvary Chapel Coastal Mesa, went in town just to sit there because he knew the presence of the Lord was upon that place. And that's true. God was moving. But why? Because the attitude Pastor had was one that he was a servant and not some great guy. That's a key. And I'll show you that as we go through this together in just a moment. But let me begin because I want to take you to what is leading to Jesus' comments about the rulers of the Gentiles and all of that. And I'm doing that by taking you from verse 20 to the point that I want to make in verses 26 through 28. But we'll begin again at verse 20 and read it again in verse one. Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with their sons kneeling down asking something from him. So at this point we need to ask a simple question. I'll say it briefly. It simply says the mother of Zebedee's sons. She's unidentified here in the Gospel of Matthew. So who is she? Well, all you need to do, if you take notes, you might want to note this, is compare Matthew 27 verse 56 with Mark chapter 15 verse 40 and John chapter 19 verse 25. Matthew 27 verse 56, Mark 15 verse 40, John 19 verse 25. It tells you who she is. She was a woman named Salome. And she was the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. That's who she is. And John and his brother were cousins to Jesus. And so that gives you an insight into what's taking place here when Ante comes with two cousins for a position basically for her sons. So this reveals something called selfish ambition. Ambition. Let me say something briefly about that. Selfish ambition. It's not necessarily wrong to have ambition, to have a desire to do something for God. Obviously there's nothing wrong with that. I'll illustrate that in a moment. But a selfish ambition, that's something else. A selfish ambition is a desire to be great, to be known, to have some kind of reputation, to gain something by doing something. That's a selfish ambition. And I heard somebody who was an actor who was speaking about a portrayal that he had of an evil guy. This evil guy that this actor was portraying said something like this. And it stuck with me. The evil guy said, I don't worry about the ambitious people. I don't worry about ambitious people because they can be bought off. He said it's the ones who do things out of love that I have concern about. And that made sense to me. Because ambition can be bought. Because an ambition person wants a position. He wants to get something out of doing this. They don't have a heart of love for what they're doing or the people they're ministering to. It's dangerous in ministry to have selfish ambition because people, when you have selfish ambition, simply become numerical units. There are people in what are called church growth seminars who will teach you things related to how to speak of the church and they will speak concerning the church as giving units. You, in other words, would be called by them giving units. And what that means is how do I get them to give? They don't speak of you as sheep. They don't speak of you as having needs. They don't speak of you as being people. They speak of you as giving units. And that's an infection in the church right now. That's going on right now. I get everyday information on a new seminar. Go and find out how to fill your church up with people. And it's always so that I might become more popular, that the church might be numerically larger, that we might have a greater amount of money in our budget. That's always the point that they're making. That is a sickness in the church today. It's a sickness in the church today. This desire for preeminence, not for Christ's sake at all, but in order that you somehow can gain for yourself. It's a illness. It's a sickness. It's a sin. And that's an ambition. That's a selfish ambition. You see, Jesus was teaching them something about leadership. He was telling them that there is a way to have a position in the kingdom of God. And it's a way that they're not really open to learning about yet. They didn't understand that the way to honor was actually on a road of suffering. Again, there's nothing wrong with desiring to be used by God in a mighty way. There was a man by the name of John Knox who ministered in 1514 to 1572. And I still remember his prayer. It's a very simple one. He was there praying, give me Scotland or I'll die. That's ambition. I desire Scotland or I'll die. In his 1859 book, The Soul Winner, Charles Spurgeon said, As Rachel cried, give me children or I die, So may none of you be content to be barren in the household of God. Try and sigh until you have snatched some brand from the burning and have brought at least one sinner to Jesus Christ. Banned from preaching in the early 1700s in the Church of England for his preaching and undiluted gospel, George Whitfield was an eminently useful tool in God's hands. He was said to have preached to the majority of the people in the 13 colonies in the U.S. Whitfield had a constant prayer on his lips. When he souls or I die, Whitfield coupled his prayer with no less than 30 transatlantic voyages, often preached twice a day all week long, traveled on horseback regardless of weather conditions and received rotten eggs and manure as gifts thrown to him by detractors. John Hyde 1865 through 1912 was an American missionary to India desperate to change the face of the country where he lived along with the state of fruitlessness in his ministry. His biographers tell of calloused knees, nights in prayer. They dubbed him praying Hyde. The prayer on his lips was give me souls first one a day, then two, then four, or I die. Again, fervent prayer coupled with sacrifice marked his life. These ministers I just mentioned to you have not yet been forgotten because they sought the kingdom first. Their ambition was for the kingdom and not their own glory. And that's an ambition that God intends for his children to possess. This mindset has to be learned because our tendency is to desire the attention of people. And so they're trying to apply pressure to Christ by virtue of their relationship to him. They want position based on their being his cousins. So it says she came with her sons knelt down before him. And basically is saying, I'm your aunt. These are your cousins. Surely you have a special place for them. And so he says in verse 21, what do you want? And she says, well, I want them to have positions of honor. This is a worldly tactic. It's using pressure to get what you want. She needs to remember what the psalm has said in Psalm 756. Promotion comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. God is the judge. He puts down one, sets up another. In her request, we see both good and bad. We say good in that she trusts that Jesus is able to grant the petition. But we see bad because she's trying to use her influence in a selfish manner. So what does he do? Verse 22, Jesus answered and said, What you, you do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink? Be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said, we are, we're able. You're asking for positions of glory. Are you able to endure what it takes to receive them? You're asking for something you don't understand. You're wanting something, but you don't know the cost. Years ago when Randy Walz, who was my assistant for many years, who's now the pastor of Calvary Chapel of Upland, has been so for 26, 27 years now, but years ago when Randy first sensed a desire to go out and plant a church and he was on staff with me as my assistant, Randy came into my office and he was standing in front of me as I was seated and he said, I feel God has called me to go plant a church. I still remember the conversation. I sensed that God has called me to go plant a church and I looked at him and I teared up. I just started crying because he owed me money. No, I teared up and I said to him, you don't know what you're asking for. Randy, you don't know what you're asking for. And I still remember him looking at me and going, well, and I said, Randy, you don't know what you're asking for because on the outside ministry, pastoral ministry looks easy. It really does, but it's not. And I've said this before and it's true. If you're not called to ministry, you can be, well, I've said it like this. I have to be careful how I say it now, but I've said it like this. If you're not called, it'll kill you. What I mean by that is the pressure of ministry is something you don't understand. And these young men are saying to Jesus, when Jesus says, can you drink of my cup? Can you be baptized with my baptism? Yes, we can. That's the naivete and the innocence of inexperience. And they're thinking they can handle something that will crush them if they're not called to it. They're asking for a glory. They're not prepared to be able to receive. And so Jesus is speaking to them and letting them know that the way up is really down and that suffering is part of the call. And have you weighed that cost out? Because it may look easy, but it's not. It isn't the simple life that you think it is yet you want to have positions of glory. And he's letting them know this isn't something that you just ask for and you just get. Because a request for glory is a request for suffering. The world will hate you. And you know that as believers. The world can hate you. Jesus said the world will hate you. And indeed, so much battles that we see today is really a hatred for righteousness. And the church is the bullseye. And people are aiming their arrows at believers. And we know that all you need to do is read your newspaper, watch the news, and it's repeated quite often. The world hates righteousness. And the world is in opposition to Jesus Christ. That's a simple fact. But the other part of it is the church very often is at war with itself. And the church very often is devouring one another. And the church very often is unhealthy. So the pastor, minister deals not only with the world that writes things about him, says things about him, accuses him of things. He is just an evil person. I deal with that all the time. But you also deal with the sheep who can say the meanest things and act in the most difficult ways. And so it's a different kind of life. And so he says, can you drink this cup, the cup of suffering? Can you be baptized in the baptism that I will be baptized with? Will you be willing to be plunged? Even in baptism, you're plunged into the water. Are you willing to be plunged into suffering? Now, obviously again, they don't understand. And so they say, we're able. You see, people have a desire for position. They don't understand the cost. Experience-based character is a prerequisite because when you've gone through the fire, people will respect you because they see that you hold fast to the word. And therefore you're going to be purged of those things that will cause disrespect. And so he says in verse 23, you will indeed drink my cup. You indeed will suffer for my sake. Well, James would be the first apostle to be martyred. It's recorded in Acts 12, 1 and 2. John was exiled to the island of Patmos. You see him in Revelation 1, verse 9. They went through their hardships. But he goes on, and he says in verse 23, as he said, you will indeed drink my cup. Be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those whom it is prepared by my Father. Personal favoritism plays no part in the reception of such honors. You see, when God prepares an office for a man, he prepares the man for that office. Now, as this is taking place, now we'll get to the point that I wanted to make concerning servanthood. This is all taking place, verse 24. When the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. Do you think that's a righteous indignation on their part? No, they wanted those positions. And they're feeling, I'm certain, because they argue, they argue no less than three times in the Gospel who is the greatest. They even are arguing as to who is the greatest when Jesus is on his last night on earth. They're still arguing amongst themselves who is the greatest in the kingdom. That was something that they had on their mind constantly. They were constantly fighting for order, constantly wanting to be the greatest on all of that. So no, it wasn't some noble thing in their heart at all. It's that they believe that James and John, by virtue of the fact that they're related to Christ through Aunt Salome, they feel that they were using a tactic to get ahead of them, and that's why they're upset over this. And so Jesus has to deal with that. He has such patience, doesn't he? Jesus called them to himself and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, those who are great exercise authority over them, yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let them be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you, let them be your slave. Just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. So this is what I want to share with you, and this is the heart of what I wanted to speak on tonight about service to the Lord, servanthood. Jesus corrects this tendency. Instead of selfish ambition, we're to be servant leaders. Selfish ambition, this desire to get somebody out of the way, the ones you throw your elbow and drive someone back so you can get ahead. Selfish ambition always creates division. In Proverbs 13, verse 10, only by pride comes contention. But with the well advised is wisdom. So selfish ambition creates division. That is not to be true for the church. Why? Because greatness is the result of humility. Desiring to be well known and powerful in the body of Christ is sinful. Because selfish ambition runs contrary to humility. Romans 12, 10 says it like this, in honor, preferring one another. Putting somebody else first is actually the way the church is supposed to be. And so many times in leadership, the leader of the church is raised up as some special superstar. One of the pastors at our recent conference was pointing something out. He said we're in the time, this is true, we're in the time of the celebrity pastor. We're in the day of the celebrity pastor where the pastor is not looked upon in the church as being a servant to the body. But the pastor is looked at in the church as being the most important person in the church. We are living in that day. There's no doubt about that. There's no doubt about that. Where churches have superstar pastors. And this pastor, his name is Ed, pastor Ed was sharing and he said nowhere in scripture, which is true, nowhere in scripture can you ever find a celebrity pastor. There were no celebrity pastors. When you look at the great, the greatest apostle was Paul. There's no doubt about it. In terms of magnitude of ministry, in terms of sermons on Sunday, the epistles of Paul are taught more than any other books basically. He wrote almost half of the New Testament. This was a man who had a tremendous ministry worldwide. He went from place to place and he said I wanted to preach the gospel where the name of Christ has never been heard. And he was somebody who was tireless. And this is somebody who did his best. And yet, when you read 2 Corinthians, I've counted out something like 21 accusations in 2 Corinthians that had been lodged against this great man. They said things about him. Let me, I'll take a moment to show you. I'll just read it to you because I listed him for myself so I can do this very quickly. Listen to the things he deals with. These are accusations about the celebrity pastor. He is selfish. He's hypocritical. He uses fleshly wisdom. He uses innuendo. He changes his mind easily. He is self-appointed. He lords it over the church. He dominates people's faith. He's unemotional. He's legalistic. He forces people out of the church. He peddles the word of God for financial gain. He has no letters of commendation. He is self-righteous. He is self-sufficient. He labors in the flesh. He uses deceitful tactics. He twists God's word to ensnare people. He preaches himself, not Jesus. He's a madman. He has wronged, corrupted, defrauded the church. He uses guilt to get money. When he's with the church, he's cowardly. He uses a flesh to perform spiritual works. He is not an outward success. He's untrained in speech. He's unattractive in appearance. He's a spiritual inferior to the super apostles. He's not worthy of support. He has not done anything to establish credentials. He uses deceit and guilt to entrap people. He's not worth loving. He is a spiritual bully. He demeans people. That you find in 2 Corinthians. This was the greatest apostle. But that's how he's looked at by the church. So you have that. There was no celebrity apostles. There were only servants. That's what it's all about. We're to be servants. And yet today, and it sounds like I'm railing against the church. I'm observing what's taking place and concerned about it, is we have a tendency of placing people in a pedestal as if that they walk on water. And when they fall, because pride lifts you up and you do fall. And you're exposed. Everybody's heart is broken because they thought this man was a superstar. It's not their fault. The pastor didn't teach them to keep their eyes on Jesus Christ. And what happens is the pastor begins to take upon himself the glory that belongs only to God. And God said, I'm the Lord that is my name and my glory. I will give to no one else. And neither my praise to graven images. I am not going to allow you to take my place in the hearts of those people that Jesus says, I died on the cross and bought for myself. So we need to understand the key to greatness. The key to greatness is servanthood. And that's why Paul would say that that's how he and Apollo saw themselves. Remember the Corinthians had put Paul and Apollo as well as Cephas, Peter in opposition to one another. And actually some tribes had sprung up in the Corinthian church. I'm of Apollo, I'm of Cephas, I'm of Paul. And then you had the super spiritual ones who said, I'm of Jesus Christ. And the church had been broken into fragmented segments. And that's why Paul said, who is Paul? Who is Apollo? We're servants. You have to see us that way. See, that's the key. That doesn't mean, by the way, that you disrespect your fellow servants. I certainly wouldn't want you to walk up and disrespect me. But that's simply because I think we're to honor one another. We're supposed to respect one another, love one another. I don't like it if somebody comes up and is disrespectful, but neither would you. And it's not because I'm a pastor, it's because I'm a man. It's because I'm a believer in Christ, it's because I'm your brother. I don't like being disrespected, who does? At the same time, I am the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm your brother. And I want to work with you, our church, to do the things that please God. Together. Because we're family. We belong to one another. That's how it works. And that's one of the reasons, and I say this quickly, just so that you'll know. That's one of the reasons why I'm willing to tell you things about, hey, you know, I've gone through this and did that. So that you'll remember, you know, I'm not trying to put myself on some pedestal. Because the higher up you go, the further down you fall. I want you to always keep me in prayer as I pray for you. So Jesus is saying, whoever desires to become great, let him be your servant. Let him be your slave. Instead of seeing the rich and powerful as a model of greatness, look to servants. Because their occupation in life is more humble. You see, the word servant, when he speaks concerning servant, is the Greek word diaconas. Deacon, it's a waiter. It's a person who serves food and drink. The word slave is the word doulos. It's one who gives himself up to another's will. This is the one whose service is used by Jesus to extend and advance his cause. He's a servant. He serves. It's been said, the world is full of willing workers. Some willing to work and others willing to let them work. Well, we're supposed to be willing workers. This has been called the upside down relationship to the values of the world. Because God thinks most of the man who thinks least of himself. And so Jesus used himself as the example. Look at verse 28. The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. His sacrifice was the model of their service. Liver redemptive life. And this model isn't just for leaders and churches. It's for all Christians. Take the lower seat. Taking the lower seat is a way of thinking. And that produces a way of life. It is a voluntary way of humility that produces peace. Ask yourself this question. How many churches split over people wanting to be the greatest servant? Have you ever seen a church divided over that? Somebody saying, I want to be the greatest servant. No, I want to be the greatest servant. No, they don't divide over that. They usually divide over people wanting to be the greatest in the church. And that causes disunity. How many marriages break up when the husband and wife are actually fighting to serve one another? How many children who have a heart of service and have humility end up in trouble? And how many governments of nations are really known for humble leaders? You see, his life was given as the redemption. It was a prize paid. He laid his life down so that he might win us. And Jesus Christ is saying, give up your life for the good of others because that's the highest form of servanthood. If you want to be great in the kingdom, learn to serve other people. That's not a message that goes well for 21st century Americans. And it isn't a message that goes well for Christians in the 21st century. I want you to notice something. The songs that we're singing are throwback songs. And some of you may be saying to yourself, oh, that's an old song. But let me tell you something about the music. We did it on purpose. I wanted just to give you a glimpse of what it was like when we first got saved and everything. But let me share something about that with you and then we'll close. Have you noticed that every one of the songs we sing is focused on one thing, honoring Christ? Have you noticed that? It's focused on one thing, honoring Christ, how great he is, how loving he is, what he's done on the cross for us, how we love him, how we praise him. All the lyrics, have you noticed that? Compare those lyrics with what you hear on Christian radio today. They're different, aren't they? Why is that? Because today we're concentrating on who we are and what we get and how it affects me and how I feel. But when I got saved, we were concentrating on how great he is, what he has done, how he has changed me and what he's making me into. And I thought that this church, we need to come back to those things because we need to remember why we were bought. We were bought to serve the Lord. We were bought to serve one another. We're to be a unique community. The Apostle Peter in the King James uses an interesting word. I think it was Paul. Paul said you are a unique people. He said you are a peculiar people. Well, the word peculiar in the King James means you're unique because your life is one of good works. God intended your life to be known for its good works. And yet today we have people who say, I can remain in sin and be a representative of the kingdom of God. That's not true. What we've done is we've taken away the grace, we've taken grace and we've made it into permission to continue in sin so that we can live the life that we want to live and still think we're going to heaven. And yet the bottom line is you have been touched by the power of the Holy Spirit who transforms lives. And when he transforms your lives, then you become a living witness of the power of God to save man. And so what God wants us to do is to understand that taking the lower seat and being somebody who cares about others is unique because in the world, the kings and the leaders are the ones who dominate, but in the kingdom, the leaders are the one who serve. It's an upside down kingdom. So the pastor is not looked at as being the most important, powerful person in the church. The pastor is looked at as being the chief servant, the one who loves Christ and cares for the people. And that's the way the church is supposed to operate, and that's how the church has operated and was operating for many centuries. In our day, there are celebrities who are acting as if they own everything. They should be giving their, I could tell you stories, give their autographs to the books they just wrote, and they'll say that. You know, the first 50 people who come to my table and buy my book, I will sign, and then you have a line of people waiting to buy a book on servanthood by a guy who's making money on charging and then giving you a sense that he's a celebrity as he signs that book. It's upside down, guys. It's upside down. We have to, as believers, we have to. See, there's only one superstar, and that's Jesus Christ. There's only one savior, that's Jesus Christ. We need to understand that, especially today, because this building south-up is really a sinfulness in the church today. When you have churches that are, when you have people in churches that they're saying, I go to So-and-So's church, one last thought. I go to So-and-So's church. I had a guy tell me one day, he said, you, sir, did not buy the church. Jesus did, and I said to that, amen, because I didn't shed my blood Jesus did. The church belongs to him. It belongs to him. All we are, God help us, all we are are his servants. Why am I showing you, Pastor Chuck? I didn't, no, I don't have his picture at home with the candle in front of it, you know. Why? Because he was my model. And much of what you see in my ministry, I learned from my pastor. And I hope you're seeing those things. I hope you're seeing that that's the way we do things. I hope you see that. Jesus is always first. We want his word. We want every member to be a minister. We want to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. We want to be superstars. We want to be servants. I hope you see that, because that's the heart of this church. And that's why I'm sharing these things with you, just to remind us of who we really are.