Luke 22:24-30
The twelve disciples at the time of this Passover where Jesus
is giving them the instruction for future actions concerning the Lord’s Supper
are very fleshly men, men whose desires are not to serve but to be served. But before we lambaste them let us examine
the culture we live in and how the enemy of our soul has set us up to put self
as number one.
This is my observation, from the day a child shows up on
planet earth they are told they are the greatest, each act is so cute and at a
very young age we ask a child who has no understanding of what is good or bad
for them, what they want, and if they like or want to eat whatever. As a grandparent, I’ve been part of this
sham, it begins long before they play soccer or T-ball and stand on the field
looking at whatever as the ball they should be focused on goes right by them,
and we tell them they were the best player on the field. When they fail at a subject or make poor
grades it must me a bad teacher, not the most brilliant child that has ever
been on planet earth. So we set them up,
we train them like a bird dog to seek self and put others last, and then as an
adult we detest selfishness in others, never seeing it in ourselves.
So before we condemn these twelve followers of Christ, we
must realize the enemy did a number on them as he has on us, it is his nature,
it was what caused Lucifer to rebel against God, he wanted
to be equal to the Father. And I assume the
dinner is over and they have finished discussing which one of them is the dog
that is going to sell out Jesus, and the conversation goes to who is the
greatest among the twelve.
You can bet the farm on this, as they
were deciding who was going to sell out the Lord; they began, not looking
inwardly but outwardly and their thoughts were on how much they had given to be
with Jesus. When one does this pride is
always at the door, and pride always asks the question, am I not the best am I
not better than ______?
So
you and I who are followers of Christ have our own special kind of flesh and it
is clear in Scripture that it is always present and battling with the Spirit of
Christ who lives in us. My friend Bill
often referred to Romans chapter 7 as the book on the defeated Christian life,
and if the apostle Paul experiences this battle you can bet it is one we also
encounter. It would be wise for each of
us who follower Christ to take these words to heart; “So you also must
consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign
in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do
not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your
members to God as instruments for righteousness. For
sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under
grace.” (Romans 6:11-14)
And Jesus said these words to them; “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and
those in 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
one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who
serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one
who serves.” (Luke
22:25-27 ESV)
If you are a follower of Christ, an ambassador does only
what they are told to do, then do as your Master has stated above.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment