THE DETHRONING OF SELF | PASTOR MATTHEW JOHNSON

"If you want to advance the kingdom of God, you must first put to death the kingdom of self." — Pastor Matthew Johnson

On Sunday, March 8, Pastor Matthew Johnson stood before the congregation at The Tree Church and did something unusual. He started a sermon by telling everyone they were falling short. Not to shame them, but to stir them. Because what he was about to say matters too much to soften.

The message was drawn from Matthew 20:20–28 and centered on one of the most countercultural ideas in all of Scripture. Jesus does not call his followers to be served. He calls them to serve.

Before Pastor Matthew opened the text, he laid the groundwork. Every person sitting in that room, he said, has been shaped by a system that runs in the opposite direction of God's kingdom. From childhood, the message has been consistent. You are the goal. Your happiness is the priority. Do what makes you comfortable. Create your own truth.

He pointed to the way culture celebrates the wealthy, the powerful, and the influential — not because of what they give, but because of what they can get. The actor, the athlete, the influencer. They are held up as proof that the best life is the one where you answer to no one and want for nothing.

Even the language parents use with their children carries this assumption. Pastor Matthew laughed as he admitted to telling his own kids: as long as you are in my house, you follow my rules — but when you get out on your own, you can do whatever you want. It sounds like freedom. But he pointed out that at 46 years old, he has never once discovered a life where he gets to do whatever he wants. The promise is an illusion.

The problem, he said, is not just that self-focus leaves people unsatisfied. The deeper damage is relational. When a person makes themselves the center of their own universe, everyone around them pays the price. The worst people to be in a relationship with, he noted, are those who are entirely focused on themselves. And yet that is exactly the pattern every person has been trained in.

Pastor Matthew brought the congregation to a moment recorded in Matthew 20. A mother approaches Jesus with her two sons, James and John. In front of all twelve disciples, she makes her request. She wants Jesus to promise that her sons will sit at his right hand and his left in his kingdom. Second and third in command. Above everyone else.

It is an awkward moment. It lacks self-awareness. It is, in every sense, a self-focused request dressed up as a mother's love. And yet Pastor Matthew asked the congregation not to be too quick to judge her, because what she did is exactly what every person does when they place their own needs above the needs of others.

What makes the moment even more striking is who she is talking to. Pastor Matthew pointed the congregation to Philippians 2, where Paul describes Jesus as the one who, though equal with God, did not see that position as something to hold onto. Instead, he humbled himself, took on human form, and went further still — humbling himself to death on a cross. This is the person standing in front of her. The one who gave up everything to serve. And she is asking him to elevate her children above everybody else.

The tension in that moment, Pastor Matthew said, should be felt in every believer's heart whenever the temptation arises to lift self above others.

Jesus responds to the moment not with anger but with clarity. He gathers his disciples and tells them plainly. He says they know how the world operates. The rulers lord their authority over people. The powerful use their position for personal gain. The higher a person climbs, the more others are expected to serve them.

Then he says: it shall not be so among you.

Pastor Matthew was direct about what that means. Serving is not a personality trait. It is not a spiritual gift distributed to a select few. It is a command for every follower of Jesus, in every relationship, in every environment. The only choice a disciple has when it comes to serving is obedience or disobedience. That is it.

He encouraged the congregation to take stock. To pull out a phone or a piece of paper and start making a list of the relationships in their lives. A spouse. Children. Siblings. Co-workers. Even the co-worker who is hardest to like. Then to honestly ask: am I serving them?

He addressed the most common excuses directly. Too busy? That means there are idols in the way — things that have crowded out the kingdom of God. Feeling unqualified? A prerequisite for serving Jesus has never been talent. He calls people, and then he trains them.

And for anyone tempted to disqualify the people around them as undeserving of service, Pastor Matthew offered this: Jesus came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. How many people in all of human history deserved that? Zero. And yet he came. The call to serve is not based on whether people deserve it. It is based on the nature of Jesus and the calling he has placed on his people.

The second truth Pastor Matthew laid out is that serving does something to the heart. It is not an intellectual exercise. A person does not think their way into a servant's heart. They serve their way into one.

He shared this from his own marriage. His wife Mary's love language is acts of service. For years, he admitted, she had been making the bed, cooking dinner, and doing dishes while he largely did not notice. When he finally started paying attention and stepping in, something shifted. He began to see all that she had quietly been doing. His heart softened toward her. His love for her deepened. Serving opened something in him that nothing else had.

That, he said, is exactly what God is trying to do in every believer's life. God has served his people throughout all of history. He created them, provided for them, protected them, and ultimately came to them in the person of Jesus. Every moment of Jesus's life on earth was an act of service. He could have walked through crowds and kept his distance from broken, sinful people. Instead he stepped toward them — to bring healing, hope, and life.

When his followers begin to serve the people around them, they start to understand the love of God in a way that no sermon alone can teach.

The third truth is that serving is a privilege. Pastor Matthew asked the congregation to consider what it will mean to stand before God one day. No one will impress him with the accumulation of earthly wealth. But to be able to say — I served your children well, I made your kingdom a priority, I loved people the way you loved me — that is a life well lived.

He drew this from his own fifteen years as lead pastor of The Tree Church. As the church has grown from around 400 people to thousands across multiple campuses, he said the most important thing he has learned is this: the greater the authority, the greater the call to serve. He has not tried to build a culture where the staff serves him. He has tried to build a culture where they serve each other. Because when leaders are healthy, the people they lead are healthier too.

He closed with a vivid illustration. Eight hundred Amish men showed up to move a 35,000-pound barn. When they all lifted together, each person carried roughly 44 pounds. It was manageable. It was even beautiful. But remove enough people from that effort and it becomes impossible. At some point, the barn falls.

That, he said, is the picture of the church. The Tree Church has thousands of people. There are enough to carry everything God has called this ministry to do. But right now, there are 155 open volunteer positions in Lancaster and 129 in Logan. Not because there are not enough people — there are. But because not enough people have said yes.

Pastor Matthew made it personal. His goal is not to fill a slot. His goal is for every person who calls The Tree Church home to walk in the obedience they are commanded to walk in — and to discover, in doing so, the life they were actually designed to live.

If you are looking for a church in Lancaster or the surrounding area, The Tree Church meets every Sunday at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM at the Lancaster Campus. We would love to have you join us.

The Tree Church also has a campus in Logan, Ohio, with Sunday services at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM at the Logan Campus. Whether you are searching for a church in Logan or just passing through, you are always welcome here.