The Cup Of The King (Matthew 20:17-28)

Ten years ago I led our teens on a retreat with a couple other churches to Concord Retreat Center. The Retreat was a bit different than all the other ones I led because we decided to throw everyone off by doing things backwards. So, we started the day with a campfire and s'mores, then had a talent show, which ended with dinner, followed by free time, then lunch, then a morning session, then breakfast, and finally morning exercises. Our speaking theme matched as well, as we highlighted the many ways that Jesus' message was completely upside-down and backwards.

As we move further into Matthew chapter 20 in our sermon series, we're certainly in the middle of a lot of Jesus' "backward" teachings:
-give everything away and you will have treasure in heaven
-the first will be last and the last first
-whoever wishes to be great must be a servant.
Ancient Greek philosophy would definitely argue against that last one! Plato wrote: "How can anyone be happy when he is the slave of anyone at all?" But Plato didn't know the ultimate Servant, the one who calls us to emulate Him. See you Sunday as we call each other to embrace the humility and the foolishness of the kingdom of Christ! -Dave