Sunday Message – Today Jesus 113

04/03/07
<Matthew 20:17-28>

CAN YOU DRINK THE CUP I AM GOING TO DRINK?

• We, Christians, should enjoy the greatest peace and be victorious over all hardships
• Who can enjoy all the grace? It does not depend on our conditions or our education
level. It only depends on who is walking with God and who has God in his heart
• It is those people whose thoughts and direction correspond to God’s
• We must restore God’s desire and purpose
• However, each of us will have different level of restoration. Thus, some are at the front
and some are at the back
• Some Believers really have their hearts rooted in God. Their hearts will not be moved if
God’s heart is not moved

Read <Matthew 20:17-28>

1. Christians “Having different dreams on the same bed” <v17-21>

• A lot of Christians are behaving the same as the Apostles. Although, they were
walking side by side with the Lord, their concerns and desires were different from the
Lord
1) Though Jesus Christ was heading for Jerusalem to be nailed on the Cross, but His
disciples were asking who could get the first seat
• It was actually James and John’s idea, not their mother’s, to ask who could sit at
the left and right side of the Lord
• To sit at the right and left hand of the Lord means to become the greatest. The
other apostles were angry because they thought their qualities were just as good
• The Lord was saddened. While He was about to be nailed on the Cross, His
disciples were only thinking of who was the greatest. Thus, the Lord knows that
even His apostles did not have their concerns placed on Him, let alone others
• Lord Jesus Christ had praised Peter in <Matthew 16> while Peter didn’t really
understand what he was saying
• Thus, Peter tried to stop the Lord when the Lord told them about His crucification
• It is Satan’s doing that men chose their personal desires and not God’s desire.
Therefore, the Lord rebuked Peter and ordered Satan to leave him.
• The apostles were sleeping while Jesus Christ prayed earnestly at Gethsemane!
• The Believers today are just like them. They do not know what God’s concerns
are. Thus, they are always thinking about their own problems and desires
• Peter had just woken up from his sleep when Jesus Christ was captured by the
soldiers. While in his daze, Peter drew a knife and cut the ears of the soldiers .
The Lord rebuked Peter for that
• In the end, Peter did what the Lord had predicted, which was to deny the Lord
three times. A person who does not have the same thoughts as the Lord will
definitely deny the Lord

2) The Lord says “You do not know what you are asking”
• We are just like the Apostles, in the Lord’s sight in that we do not know what we
are asking. Very often, we ask in the same way as the Gentiles
• Some Believers had even became ‘strange creatures’ because their speech and
action within and outside the Church are completely different
 • There were even preachers who would ask everyone to bless one and other,
when he is preaching on the pulpit. However, they tend to judge and speak ill of
others when they are outside the Church. This is how the people whom had yet
to receive healings behave
• We were all like that before our eyes were really opened
• The things we asked God for where completely opposite to His concern
• Some Believers will do concentration prayers. However, a person who goes into
concentration prayers without first knowing God’s perfect will is actually
worshipping idols
• It is because, even if they’d received answers after the concentration prayers, the
things they do, thereafter, would be opposing God’s perfect will. They will walk
their own ways, just like those who do not have a Master
• Do we actually know what God’s concerns are?
• The Bible tells us that everyone who belongs to the world will behave the same.
Thus, though we might not pray in the same way as the Gentiles, our concerns
do not differ much from theirs
• We really ought to know what God’s concerns are

3) Do we know what God’s concerns really are?

• God’s concerns are placed on those people who are dying. Thus, we cannot
delay in reaching out to them anymore. However, a lot of Believers today are only
thinking of how to attract more people to their church by having more programs or
entertainment
• A lot of people do not know what God’s concern actually is because they can only
understand and accept messages that are beneficial to them
• It is all God’s perfect will whether we face with good or bad incidents. However, a
lot of Believers cannot understand this
• God says that men are only concern over their stomachs. It means men are only
concern over things that are beneficial to them. They are only making use of God
• When the Pastor always asks the congregation to restore all the weekly
meetings, some in the congregation will question the Pastor. They think that the
Pastor is too extreme, as they should also place emphasize on their family or
work
• The Lord is saddened by the thoughts of such Believers
• Only the family of Noah was saved when the flood came. The rest of the lives
were all destroyed. This is how God wants to emphasize the importance of
salvation
• How would the family members of a Believer accept the Lord when that Believer
never give in to them, but always quarrel with them?
• We must really grasp hold of God’s greatest concern
• Regardless of their qualities, men will never have real peace if they do not know
the God who created them. E.g. the rich will always be afraid of losing everything
• God had asked Abraham to leave his family, his people. What God really wanted
was to ask Abraham to leave his own desires and enter into God’s desires.
However, Abraham didn’t really understand God’s commandment initially. Thus,
his concern was always placed on having a son, even though he had left his
family
• God’s emphasis to Abraham was actually to bless Abraham beyond what was
physical
• Jacob only realized what God’s concerns were when something terrible
happened at home
 • The best thing that could happen to a Believer is for him to go back to the Lord
• God’s real concerns are things that will make a person be born again, sanctified
and get his inheritance. Things that are not related to these will not be
remembered
• E.g. No matter how loving a couple may be, their love will not be remembered if
it’s not related to any of these

2. The Lord says “You will indeed drink from my cup” <v23>
1) All the people who belong to the Lord must drink from His cup
• The Lord said that we must all drink from His cup
• It does not mean that we must go out to evangelize hastily and fearfully
• To drink from the Lord’s cup means to change our lives’ goal and purpose
• God will give everything we need at the time as we need them, if our goal and
purpose coincide with His
• In other words, we must be sanctified
• The two apostles who asked the Lord and later said that they were able to drink
the Lord’s cup, as written in <Matthew 20:22>, had not understood what they
were taking about. If they knew that the Lord was referring to His crucification,
they would ask the Lord to give them strength to walk the path of the Cross
• God will do His work swiftly when we are willing to die with Him
• Among the Lord’s Apostles, only John had not been through the physical martyr
• However, the physical martyr lasts only for a short while. Martyrs only need to
bear the pains for a short period of time. What John went through was actually
the living martyr, whereby he was being “martyred” throughout his life
• Therefore, all the Apostles had drank from the Lord’s cup
• In fact, all Believers must drink from the Lord’s cup
• We had all drank from His cup before we were called and reborn
• <Romans 6:1-16> We had died, burned and risen with the Lord. Our lives,
purpose, destiny and plans were all burned
• We are not wild anymore since we have a Master
• Thus, we, Christians, need to drink the Lord’s blood and eat the Lord’s flesh

2) How can we drink from the cup? What is my cross?

• The Lord’s cup is the Cross
• We must drink the Lord’s cup using all my qualities
• Are we born handicap? As long as we know the Lord, we know that God has
allowed and can use our handicaps.
• The Bible has given us an example. Somebody asked the Lord if it’s a person’s
sins or the sins of his parents that resulted in that person being a handicap.
However, Jesus told him that the person’s handicap was there to fulfill God’s
perfect will
• Thus, we should seek out God’s perfect will regardless of our qualities
• To drink the Lord’s cup is not to do something once or twice for the Lord, or to
make sacrifices a couple of times
• We need to drink the Lord’s cup throughout our lifetime
• We might be prosecuted, insulted, victimized, or mocked at while we are drinking
the Lord’s cup. All these will become our glories and crowns
• We might also need to make some sacrifices in order fill the imperfections, in the
church
• We are the pioneers of our church. Our hardships and agonies would be used to
bless the Believers to come, after we’d known the reasons for our sufferings
 3) It is not done by our own strength, but by the mightiness of the Holy Spirit
• We cannot sacrifice by using our own efforts. We need to ponder upon the
sacrifices that our Lord Jesus Christ had made for us. Only then, we will realize
that our hardships, or agonies were nothing compared to the Lord’s
• We must be big vessels, just like Peter
• Till now, none of us had fallen because of the hardships we have to bear
• We will definitely stand up as a stronger person after having been through the
hardships because we have an eternal life in us
• Our hardships are related to the vision we have received
• We will definitely see the evidence and results

3. Whoever wants to be first, must be your slave <v27-28>

Please ponder: How can we really become ‘slaves’, as mentioned by the Lord?
• The Lord says “whoever wants to be first, must be your slave”
• Some Believers had misunderstood this verse. He thought that the Lord wants us to
go around helping others, be humble and be bullied by others
• When the Lord lives among the people, we saw Him having compassion on people.
Yet, there were also times when He rebuked people
• The Lord rebuked so that people will live
• Three areas for us to ponder:
1）Live for others, not for yourself
• We are already at the first place when we do not live for ourselves, but for others.
All our interpersonal conflicts will be gone
• We will have conflicts with people because we always think that we are correct
while others are all in the wrong and whenever there are comparisons
• No matter how innocent we are and yet we have to suffer, it can never be
compared to the sufferings our Lord Jesus Christ had went through. He is sinless,
yet He died for us, the sinners
• No matter how much sacrifices we have made, they are nothing compared to the
Lord’s
• We live for others because of God. All men are not perfect. Thus, we might not be
able to enjoy or accept those people who are not adorable. However, we can love
them out of our love for God
• We must first see how infinite God’s love for us is even though we are so not
adorable

2) We do not help others blindly. We serve with the focus that others can be born again,
sanctified and restore their inheritance
• We must love others with wisdom
• We do not love the physical aspect of a person, blindly. We do not love others
because we have pity on them that they have no food, etc. This is the practice of
the religious people
• Those who love only the physical aspect of a person will also love the physical
aspect of animals. Thus, some people might even ask the Pastor to pray for their
dogs
• Never have we seen Jesus Christ praying for any animal
• We love the eternal life of a person. We love so that others can be reborn,
sanctified and restore their inheritance
• God called us for a purpose
 • We should live to edify people. Sometimes, we will need to rebuke others as we
edify them
• Satan is working hard to make us only love or look at the physical aspect of a
person
• Not everyone will accept our rebukes, especially the things we rebuke clashes
with their desires. All these are the work of Satan

3) Not by our own thoughts, impulsiveness, method, but by examining God’s perfect
will. As we do so, His strength will come upon us timely
• We can never rely on our own impulsiveness, thoughts or favor to serve others
• Sometimes, we will need to rebuke others under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
There were times when the Lord rebuked
• E.g. Jesus rebuked those who wanted to stone the woman who had committed
adultery. Instead of punishing her, Jesus set her free. However, the Lord rebuked
Peter forcefully and ordered Satan to leave Peter
• So, we need to know when to rebuke. We need to rebuke on the things that draw
people’s attention away from the word of God. When a person loses his attention
on the word of God, he will commit worse, bigger and more sins
• If we really want to rely on the Holy Spirit to serve others, we need to know God’s
word because all the answers we need are in His word. Thus, we can never
rebuke or teach others when we haven’t formatted our lives with His world before
• After we’d formatted ourselves, we will teach others with authority. When we do
that, we will leave those who don’t want to listen, to God. Those who listen to us
will receive blessings
• Parents should not continuously nag or beat your children. Our children will
definitely listen to us after we’d restored God’s majesty. Our family members will
place their focus on us after we’d restored our authority

Sharing and Prayer Topics

1. Am I “sleeping on the same bed with the Lord, yet dreaming different dreams”?
Does my concern and perspective coincide with God’s concern and perspective?
Discover: What are God’s greatest area of concern /things in my life now?
2. Am I able to drink the cup that the Lord has prepared for me? What “Lord’s cups”
had I drank before? And what cups am I drinking now? Do I take up the Cross
willingly, or unwillingly? What are the fruits that the Lord has promised me for
drinking His past and current cups?
3. Have I mastered the mystery of “to be first, I must become slave”? Have I ever
experience it in my life before? What are the things I must restore in my current
interpersonal relationships?