Matthew 20:16-28
April 26, 2026
preached by Chris Audino
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Power is a word, the meaning of which we do not understand.”

~ Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), Russian author

“Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else.”

~ Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007), American writer of young adult fiction

“I really don’t see how any of us are going to be leaders of the sort that Jesus spoke of unless we completely divest ourselves of our popular notions today of self-actualization and self-esteem… The best way to find out whether or not you really have a servant’s heart is to see what your reaction is when somebody treats you like one…. How do we expect to follow one who took up a cross and not encounter suffering? He is not looking for heroics. He’s looking for those who are willing to follow him down that road of sorrows no matter how tiny the form that cross may take.”

~ Elizabeth Elliot (1926-2015), Christian author and speaker, whose husband was killed on the mission field

“For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be.”

~ John Stott (1921-2011), English Christian leader

“I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low for You; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal.”

~ John Wesley (1703-1791), Anglican cleric and theologian

Sermon Passage

Matthew 20:16-28 (ESV)

“…¹⁶ So the last will be first, and the first last.”

¹⁷ And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, ¹⁸ “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death ¹⁹ and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

²⁰ Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. ²¹ And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” ²² Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” ²³ He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” ²⁴ And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. ²⁵ But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ²⁶ It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, ²⁸ even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”