SPEAKER_00: John verses chapter 13 verses 1 through 17.
SPEAKER_00: It was just before the Passover festival.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
SPEAKER_00: The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.
SPEAKER_00: So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
SPEAKER_00: After that he poured water in a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
SPEAKER_00: He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus replied, You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.
SPEAKER_00: No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.
SPEAKER_00: Then Lord Simon Peter replied, Not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet, their whole body is clean, and you are clean, though not every one of you.
SPEAKER_00: For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean.
SPEAKER_00: When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand what I've done for you?
SPEAKER_00: he asked them.
SPEAKER_00: You call me teacher and lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am.
SPEAKER_00: Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you should also also wash one another's feet.
SPEAKER_00: I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
SPEAKER_00: Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
SPEAKER_00: Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
SPEAKER_01: For those of you who don't know me, my name is Brian Farone, and I serve as the district superintendent for the Evangelical Free Church here in the North Central District.
SPEAKER_01: Uh put another way, I'm a pastor for men like Dave and John and others.
SPEAKER_01: And uh privileged to be with you today to do two things.
SPEAKER_01: Um even before I jump into that, I'm here with my wife Terry.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and uh she and I would both love to greet you at any time.
SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe not right now, but at any other time.
SPEAKER_01: Uh today, we'd love to connect with you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here to do two things.
SPEAKER_01: Most of what I do today will be to open God's word uh among us for us as we worship today.
SPEAKER_01: And that'll happen in just a minute.
SPEAKER_01: But prior to that, I'm gonna share just a little bit about sabbaticals.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, your pastor John has invited me, and I feel privileged to get to do this, to share a little bit about why we encourage churches like yours to grant sabbaticals to pastors like John and Dave and others.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh let me just take a minute, uh, shouldn't take too long, um, and talk about why sabbaticals are so good, so helpful.
SPEAKER_01: Uh first, I I want to say again, I want to say a genuine word of thanks.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, thank you for granting John and Dina and his family this time.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it is such a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: I've been in vocational ministry a long, long time.
SPEAKER_01: And I've had one time in my ministry uh where I was granted, and it was by the North Central District in 2020 and 2021 and 2022.
SPEAKER_01: I divided my sabbatical out.
SPEAKER_01: It worked a little better for a guy like me.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but the rest I experienced on that sabbatical was such a joy for Terry for me, uh, for us.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to say thank you in advance for this thing you're planning to do next year.
SPEAKER_01: And you may or may not know this thing's happening.
SPEAKER_01: I hope, I hope I'm not the first one bearing this news.
SPEAKER_01: If I am surprised, uh, but I don't think I am.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I want to also share a little bit of a rationale.
SPEAKER_01: Why do why do churches do these things?
SPEAKER_01: And I've given three words uh that I want to kind of hopefully get lodged in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: We believe sabbaticals are really three things.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that they are uh wonderfully kind, that they are very wise, and that they are candidly, they're pretty shrewd, they're quite shrewd as well.
SPEAKER_01: So let me explain that a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: First, they're kind in that you are not required to grant John a sabbatical.
SPEAKER_01: Uh he doesn't deserve it.
SPEAKER_01: You don't owe it to him.
SPEAKER_01: They're not earned, they're not a right.
SPEAKER_01: Um, they are a generous gift.
SPEAKER_01: Um, they're a way to support, encourage, and care for your pastor and his family.
SPEAKER_01: They foster things like rest and restoration.
SPEAKER_01: They're a means to acknowledge the very difficult task of being a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Being a pastor has uh, it is a wonderful calling, but it's not simple or easy.
SPEAKER_01: It's not simple or easy.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it never really stops.
SPEAKER_01: Sort of like parenting.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember that marvelous moment for some of you when you uh when your child was born and you had this simultaneous feeling of this is the most wondrous thing I've ever experienced, and I may never sleep well again?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Being a pastor is kind of like that.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's always there, it's always present.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's filled with burdens, it has a huge load, and sabbaticals are wonderfully kind because they allow you to lighten the load, to give them some space, to ease some of the burdens that are on John.
SPEAKER_01: But more than that, more than being wonderfully kind, they are very wise.
SPEAKER_01: One of the reasons I encourage churches to do sabbaticals is because it is smart for you to do them.
SPEAKER_01: They are very wise for a congregation to do.
SPEAKER_01: Almost all of the outcomes from a typical sabbatical are very good.
SPEAKER_01: And not just for John.
SPEAKER_01: John and his family, in measure, will experience a new kind of rest they haven't experienced for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: It's very good.
SPEAKER_01: Pastors, when they go through sabbatical, are refreshed and encouraged in ways that are hard to duplicate with other means.
SPEAKER_01: That's very good.
SPEAKER_01: But even more, you as a congregation will get to grow in Christ as you have a key part of your church absent for a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: You will pick up the burdens he's had, you will exercise the gifts you have, you have, and and even some that John has that are not present at that time.
SPEAKER_01: You will get to learn by experience again the beautiful truth that the body has hands and fingers and noses and ears, and that every single part of the body is important.
SPEAKER_01: And sabbaticals actually, they will do this for you in a way few things can.
SPEAKER_01: So I have witnessed and observed time and again churches, especially church leaders, grow in Christ as they grant sabbatical.
SPEAKER_01: So it's very wise.
SPEAKER_01: And then a final word I want to say before we really do what we're here to do, which is turn our attention toward God's word, is they are wonderfully kind, they are certainly wise, but you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Candidly, they're pretty shrewd.
SPEAKER_01: They're shrewd.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus told us, there's a whole story in the Bible about how shrewd isn't always bad.
SPEAKER_01: It's actually pretty good, and in this case, it is pretty good because sabbaticals will help you avoid some of the things that often happen when churches don't care well for their pastors.
SPEAKER_01: Pastors, we all know, can burn out.
SPEAKER_01: They can.
SPEAKER_01: They do.
SPEAKER_01: Sabbatical will help you avoid that.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a guarantee, but it's good preventative medicine.
SPEAKER_01: Pastors, as you may know, sometimes will experience the hardship of pastoring in their congregation, and then another greener pastor's congregation down the road will appear and they'll think, man, it looks a little easier over there.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: Sabbatical actually will help you avoid your pastor being hired away by a fantasy greener pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Now, my job is giving me so much perspective that I'll just admit there's no easier church out there, right?
SPEAKER_01: You guys are simultaneously the easiest and hardest church that could ever exist for your pastor, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what churches are.
SPEAKER_01: Um they are good preventative medicine.
SPEAKER_01: They're like a little exercise that prevents a major injury.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they're like a little medicine that prevents a full-blown surgery.
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, uh in light of things like burnout, can I just say they this is why they're shrewd.
SPEAKER_01: Like candidly, they're so much cheaper.
SPEAKER_01: So much cheaper than pastoral resignation.
SPEAKER_01: Uh resignation includes things like search, interim, move, installation.
SPEAKER_01: It is painfully expensive.
SPEAKER_01: And anybody who's led through that knows the experience.
SPEAKER_01: And so sabbaticals are a smart way to keep that at bay just a little while longer.
SPEAKER_01: So I hope you I hope you hear me today.
SPEAKER_01: This thing that you're doing uh is clever.
SPEAKER_01: It's clever.
SPEAKER_01: More than that.
SPEAKER_01: It's wise.
SPEAKER_01: Best of all, it's it's wonderfully kind and good.
SPEAKER_01: And your pastor will be blessed and encouraged.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm here today, I'm gonna stick around afterward.
SPEAKER_01: If you have specific questions about sabbatical that you would like to ask me, I'd be happy to answer those.
SPEAKER_01: Um but I hope you hear from me as someone who's been charged uh with the care and encouragement of John, that this thing you're doing is such a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: It will pay such good dividends for you, and the long-term outcomes are such a blessing that in some ways it's, as the kids would say, a cheat code.
SPEAKER_01: It's a cheat code in caring for your pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that's that's our little bonus sermonette that I intentionally didn't put Bible passages next to, because I'm not trying to do that today, but something I do want to put Bible passages next to is our time in God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: So if you would pause with me, we're about to pivot to our time in God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: And if you would pause with me and pray that God would speak to us through this powerful story that is in the ballpark of the thing you're doing for your pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we as a group of people, Lord, as a family in Christ, we pause.
SPEAKER_01: We pray, Lord, in these next moments, we're gonna pay careful attention to your word.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we're gonna see in your word a story of when Jesus exemplified servant leadership.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray, Lord, that our hearts would work.
SPEAKER_01: Not just our minds, I pray our minds would work, but I pray, Lord, our hearts would work.
SPEAKER_01: I pray our ears would work.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, stories like this often bring up all kinds of resistance in me.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, Lord, that I would and we would, as brothers and sisters in Christ, be able to hear this story afresh, see it for what it is, and be moved by you, uh, encouraged by you, and take up your example.
SPEAKER_01: So I pray, Lord, in these moments ahead, that you would use this passage in our lives in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you have a Bible, I'd invite you to turn to John 13.
SPEAKER_01: And to help us get uh sort of in the footwashing spirit, if you will, I want to tell you a story of a time when I experienced genuine service.
SPEAKER_01: I was once upon a time a youth pastor at a church in California on the far coast of California.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, if you were from here, if you were to walk toward the Pacific Ocean, about nine blocks before the Pacific Ocean, you would hit my old church, my old, actually, my old house.
SPEAKER_01: My old church was a little farther off.
SPEAKER_01: And I was brand new in this town.
SPEAKER_01: Terry and I had moved, we were renting a house.
SPEAKER_01: Uh you won't be surprised by this, but houses in California are expensive to rent if you get near the water.
SPEAKER_01: About 20 miles off the water, California is like everywhere else in the world, but but within 20 miles of the water, it's very, very agonizingly expensive.
SPEAKER_01: And we had moved there, our young family, our kids were super tiny, we're going there, we're excited as could be about what the Lord might do in us and through us in this town.
SPEAKER_01: But we were a little uh strapped for cash.
SPEAKER_01: And we moved there with our one car.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, it's pretty hard to do a one-car life in a town like that when I was a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're in this, we're in this house and we're saving up to get a car, and we have our one car, and I'm trying to navigate life.
SPEAKER_01: And I was blessed, uh, in this case, by my senior pastor.
SPEAKER_01: My senior pastor, greatest mentor I've ever had in my life, a man named Joe Bubar, who I who taught me so so much of what we're gonna do today, learn about today, he taught me by example.
SPEAKER_01: And very early on in our time there, we were like looking for a car, trying to navigate.
SPEAKER_01: How do we find a car?
SPEAKER_01: I ended up buying a fun little truck, uh, a Ford Ranger back in the day when they were really tiny.
SPEAKER_01: Remember when trucks were tiny?
SPEAKER_01: I had one of those.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but before I got that truck, Joe looked at me, and Joe had a truck of his own, and he had a scooter, like a little tiny 35 mile an hour scooter.
SPEAKER_01: And Joe comes into the office one day and he said, Hey, hey, I hear you're looking for a truck.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, do you want to just borrow my car for a while?
SPEAKER_01: And I never had anybody do that.
SPEAKER_01: And uh and he said, Yeah, here, and he literally, like the conversation went, do you want to borrow my car for a while?
SPEAKER_01: Here's the keys, give it back when you don't need it anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And it was just, I just couldn't really process that right.
SPEAKER_01: It was this just bizarre, gracious, generous act of kindness that to Joe it didn't seem unusual.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like he thought it was a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: But to me, bridge, we had about two weeks, and we were able to function as a family because of this simple, genuine act of love.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I learned that day, what I would learn later is that that that kind of love was normal for Joe, and it's because of the story that we're gonna look today that it should really be normal for all of us.
SPEAKER_01: And in fact, Joe was living out what I think should be true, and this is the main idea I want to share with you today.
SPEAKER_01: If you hear nothing else, hear this.
SPEAKER_01: From our passage today, from John 13, I think we learn this that all Christians, every single believer, but especially Christian leaders, should follow Jesus' love-based, gospel-shaped pattern of servant leadership.
SPEAKER_01: All Christians, the thing we're looking at today is not extra credit Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: All Christians, every single one, but especially those who step forward in Christian leadership, should follow Jesus love-based, and we'll see that in this passage, gospel-shaped, we'll see that in this passage, pattern for servant leadership.
SPEAKER_01: We'll come back to this idea.
SPEAKER_01: But to begin, before we get there, I want to take just a minute and share a little backstory with you.
SPEAKER_01: You're not in a series on the Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_01: You probably, I mean, show of hands, who's washed another person's feet this week?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody?
SPEAKER_01: No, it's well, a couple people maybe have.
SPEAKER_01: It's not particularly normal.
SPEAKER_01: And actually, in that culture, it had a different meaning, maybe, than it even would have in our culture.
SPEAKER_01: But in New Testament times, foot washing was often done after a long journey.
SPEAKER_01: Uh dusty roads, long walks, simple sandals.
SPEAKER_01: Like raise your hands if you love socks.
SPEAKER_01: I I love socks.
SPEAKER_01: And all that they provide for me.
SPEAKER_01: Socks were not common in the ancient world.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh foot washing was intended to show hospitality.
SPEAKER_01: It was a normal custom.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost like when you invite people into your home and you let them get settled or wash up.
SPEAKER_01: It was it was kind of like that.
SPEAKER_01: It had that function.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's important to note this is a the important detail you need to know about footwashing.
SPEAKER_01: The host would provide water, the welcomer, but the task itself was always carried out, always by those of lower social standing.
SPEAKER_01: It was not an honorable task in that culture to wash somebody's feet.
SPEAKER_01: And you only have to wash people's feet a couple times to know why it was not an honorable task.
SPEAKER_01: And we might look back and think, oh, we don't we don't do social standing in our culture, but we do.
SPEAKER_01: We do.
SPEAKER_01: It's I managed a restaurant for a number of years.
SPEAKER_01: It was not honorable to do the dishes at that restaurant.
SPEAKER_01: Super important, not a high status job in our restaurant.
SPEAKER_01: And the list could go on and on.
SPEAKER_01: Being the garbage man, super important, not something we tend to honor in our culture.
SPEAKER_01: Though if if if it stopped as a service, you know what, we'd probably honor it a little more.
SPEAKER_01: So, put another way, as we come into this story, it's important to remember this.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples would have found it appropriate for them to watch Jesus' feet, their teacher, their master, their Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But they would have been not so comfortable the other way around.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the dynamic that we get when we encounter this story.
SPEAKER_01: It's a normal custom, a time of ancient roads and dusty things and long walks, a normal practice, and then uh a group of men who were serving under the leadership of someone they so respect but were not ready for what happened to them.
SPEAKER_01: Let's next, if you have a Bible, I'm gonna invite you to really walk through this story with me.
SPEAKER_01: And it's it's it's easy to hear these New Testament stories and not catch them.
SPEAKER_01: It is.
SPEAKER_01: Words on a page.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, uh, I want to remind you that this event really happened.
SPEAKER_01: It really happened.
SPEAKER_01: And and if if you were there to witness it, you would have found it startling and scandalous and unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: And I bet if you had seen it, if you had seen it, and we have this on good authority, because those who did see it, it reshaped everything they thought about leaders, about people, about loving one another, and gave them an example even over there, they're heading.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have a Bible, turn to verse one.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna walk through this foot washing story.
SPEAKER_01: And you see, this foot washing story starts before their last supper together.
SPEAKER_01: If you look down at verse one, uh it's set during the final week before Jesus' crucifixion.
SPEAKER_01: The community is preparing for the Passover meal and Passover, if you don't remember, was that special meal uh among the Jewish people that commemorated God's mercy and rescue during the times in Egypt and right before the Exodus.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it was.
SPEAKER_01: It was a very special meal, among the most important meals for them, uh, commemorating what God had done to protect their children in the midst of a terrible, terrible plague on all the children, so that the people of Israel might know that he was their God, he was their rescuer, he was their deliverer.
SPEAKER_01: Put another way, it's the right meal for this act.
SPEAKER_01: The text says, if you look at verse one, that Jesus knew his hour had come, and that means that his crucifixion and resurrection and ascension were at hand.
SPEAKER_01: He knew that.
SPEAKER_01: It also highlights, and this is the important detail to catch, that he all the way up to this point had shown deep love for his own.
SPEAKER_01: For his own.
SPEAKER_01: It says, those who by grace he would set his affection on, those he was giving his life for, those he was living a perfect life on the behalf of.
SPEAKER_01: And the time had come for him to show how far that love went.
SPEAKER_01: The text says in the ESV, it says he loved them to the end.
SPEAKER_01: In some other translations it said, it was now time for him to show the full extent of his love.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: That's how this story starts.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it starts there in verse 1, but in verses 2 through 5, it continues with this humble, jarring act of love.
SPEAKER_01: Try to see it, try to feel it.
SPEAKER_01: Look down at your Bibles again at verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: We're told the meal is begun, and we can picture them.
SPEAKER_01: You know, they didn't have kitchens like ours, right?
SPEAKER_01: So they're reclining at a table, they're leaning on their elbows, and their feet, their feet aren't sticking under, they're probably sticking out.
SPEAKER_01: They're probably sticking out, and that's that's how the picture would look.
SPEAKER_01: And the passage points out, and we should take note, that Judas was among them.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what a startling detail from this perspective that is.
SPEAKER_01: Judas, if you remember, was Jesus' betrayer.
SPEAKER_01: One among these twelve, among those men he had called to follow him and to promote his ministry moving forward to be his disciples who would become his apostles.
SPEAKER_01: And Judas is there among them.
SPEAKER_01: The text goes to great lengths to point this out, in part because Jesus, we will see, he washes his feet too.
SPEAKER_01: What a wonder.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, Pastor says, with the confidence of God that is in him, in the midst of his tomb betrayer, he rises up, he lays aside his outer garments, ties a towel around his waist, he pours water in a basin, and to the embarrassment and confusion of his disciples, he starts washing their feet.
SPEAKER_01: He starts washing their feet.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just imagine what it would feel like.
SPEAKER_01: He starts, he pours the water in.
SPEAKER_01: They're thinking, oh, it couldn't be what he's about to do.
SPEAKER_01: He's not really about to do this.
SPEAKER_01: Like, isn't there isn't there a servant around who could do this?
SPEAKER_01: Why should or shouldn't we do it?
SPEAKER_01: Should we jump up and do it for him?
SPEAKER_01: They were scandalized.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to get a feel for what this would be like, go ahead and try it next time you're in somebody's house.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It would be pretty awkward too, but nowhere, try it next time you're with a person of status.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It would be so, it would be just so jarring, and it is so jarring.
SPEAKER_01: So this story that started uh with their last supper and it and continued with a humble jarring act of love, it pivots on embarrassment and misunderstanding.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses six through eleven.
SPEAKER_01: Simon Peter says, Jesus, do you plan to do this to me?
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
SPEAKER_01: We can think, oh, like Peter's always the sort of uh one to raise his hand and say the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_01: But you gotta know.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta know.
SPEAKER_01: Every single person in that room is thinking what he said.
SPEAKER_01: Like, aren't you sometimes thankful for that person that says the thing that just, hey, we gotta, somebody should say he should stop.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody's gonna stop him, right?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Please don't let this happen.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter says this, they're all thinking it.
SPEAKER_01: Um, Jesus says yes, he says, I could never let you wash my feet.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus says this, hey, he says two things.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You don't, you don't really understand.
SPEAKER_01: You don't really understand.
SPEAKER_01: That's one of those places in this passage I can relate to that.
SPEAKER_01: I think if I were in this place, I would think, I do not get what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: I do not feel comfortable with what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says to him, You don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: But he also says, hey, if I don't do this, you and I don't have any part.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's a little, there's a little message within the story here.
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about it later.
SPEAKER_01: If you come to God because you're going to be the very best person on his very best team, you miss the whole story.
SPEAKER_01: You miss that's none of us get to be the very best person on his very best team.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not one to come to God dirty and grubby, needy and broken, there's no, you can't come at all.
SPEAKER_01: You can't come, which is what Jesus tries to say to him.
SPEAKER_01: He begins to explain to him, he corrects his misunderstanding.
SPEAKER_01: See, footwall, he's taking this custom and he's turning it on its head, and it's foreshadowing what's about to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Because they had another custom in this ancient world.
SPEAKER_01: Criminals were crucified.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is in short order going to take that custom, turn it on its head, and change literally everything.
SPEAKER_01: Change literally everything.
SPEAKER_01: And he's hinting at that.
SPEAKER_01: He's foreshadowing toward that.
SPEAKER_01: And so Peter, you know, bless him, he says, well, hey, wash it all, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if if I need to do this to have a part with you, let's go big.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, no, no, no, you still misunderstand.
SPEAKER_01: This little symbolic act represents a big thing that's about to happen.
SPEAKER_01: And you don't need to keep on doing it, and there's there's metaphors there as well.
SPEAKER_01: But this brings us to the final part of our story.
SPEAKER_01: If you look at verses 12 through 17, our story concludes.
SPEAKER_01: He finishes washing their feet, each of them, even Judas.
SPEAKER_01: Even Judas.
SPEAKER_01: He puts on his outer garments, he returns to the table, and he starts explaining.
SPEAKER_01: He says, This, do you understand what I have done to you?
SPEAKER_01: He asks the question, do you get it?
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand?
SPEAKER_01: He, as their teacher and Lord, he humbled himself.
SPEAKER_01: He showed sacrificial love to them.
SPEAKER_01: He modeled genuine leadership for them.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, You should do the same.
SPEAKER_01: His example's clear, he says.
SPEAKER_01: I've done this as an example, and you should follow it.
SPEAKER_01: In their world, like ours, those who have high status rarely see themselves as equals with those of low status.
SPEAKER_01: That was, it was like that for them.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: It's like that for us.
SPEAKER_01: And in the gospels, you see the disciples trying to figure out who are we supposed to be?
SPEAKER_01: Are we supposed to mirror the leadership structures of this world?
SPEAKER_01: Do we get to be the important people in the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, in this world, and it's like our world, those who have high status rarely see themselves as servants of those who have low status.
SPEAKER_01: In that world, like this one, they take their privilege, they enjoy their lofty place.
SPEAKER_01: But not so in the kingdom that Jesus is creating.
SPEAKER_01: And he punctuates this idea, this notion, with a common saying that I'm sure became common among them: a servant is not greater than his master, a messenger not greater than the one who sent them.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he means.
SPEAKER_01: They are not greater than Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine he just washed their feet and then he says, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: A servant's not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent them.
SPEAKER_01: And what he's saying is, um, I'm your teacher, I'm your Lord, I did this.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think you should do?
SPEAKER_01: He's making the point, he's trying to get it through.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I've spent a lot of my life uh working with Christian leaders.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't surprise me that he has to do something so jarring to break through their confusion.
SPEAKER_01: Um I've sat I've sat and pleaded with people like me.
SPEAKER_01: We're hard to convince, we're hard to explain to.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus says, hey, I just want you to get it.
SPEAKER_01: If you think I'm great, look at what I did.
SPEAKER_01: You ought to do likewise.
SPEAKER_01: And the story concludes with that simple truth that's driven home.
SPEAKER_01: He says, you know this now.
SPEAKER_01: You know it.
SPEAKER_01: And and don't we all know it?
SPEAKER_01: But knowing it's not particularly important to Jesus here.
SPEAKER_01: He says, you'll be blessed, not if you know it, but if you do it.
SPEAKER_01: So what do we make of this story?
SPEAKER_01: Why is serving Christ a footwashing story?
SPEAKER_01: I want to give you three things from the story that I hope you caught that apply to our lives first.
SPEAKER_01: Serving Christ is a footwashing story.
SPEAKER_01: Because in this story, we see the depth of Jesus' love for all those who put their hope in him.
SPEAKER_01: We can't miss uh, in fact, the first two are more important than the third.
SPEAKER_01: Uh if you look back at verse one, he says he loved them and he wanted to show his love, he loved them to the very end.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is a story about how much Jesus loved them, and it's no stretch.
SPEAKER_01: It's in the Bible to be a story that helps you and I know how much Jesus loves us.
SPEAKER_01: There is no limit.
SPEAKER_01: It is impossible to exaggerate.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't love you because you're skilled or tidy or helpful or gifted or attractive.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't see your faults and step away like some do.
SPEAKER_01: Human metaphors at this point are helpful, but they fall painfully short.
SPEAKER_01: I mentioned it.
SPEAKER_01: Of the moments in my life I felt the most love, I remember when my son was born.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, I am never gonna be the same again.
SPEAKER_01: I have never felt this in my whole life.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
SPEAKER_01: A pale, weak comparison to what Jesus feels for you and I.
SPEAKER_01: When Terry and I were married, I knew this changed everything in my whole life.
SPEAKER_01: And I'd never been connected to a person, but a pale, weak, small comparison of the actual love, the actual Jesus who watched actual feet feels for you.
SPEAKER_01: It is true.
SPEAKER_01: It is true, and we'd be fools to read this story and think, oh, we should go help people.
SPEAKER_01: Like this story is supposed to say, oh, I am loved in a way I didn't fully understand.
SPEAKER_01: But more than that, more than that, this story also reminds us why is serving Christ a foot washing story?
SPEAKER_01: Because this story symbolizes the cleansing Jesus provides for anyone who trusts in his cross and his resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: The middle of the story, Jesus is saying, before we get to the place where you follow my example, hear this.
SPEAKER_01: Peter says, You can't wash my feet, it can't go that way.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, if I can't do this act of service for you, there is nothing here.
SPEAKER_01: There is nothing here.
SPEAKER_01: If if Peter isn't willing to go to Jesus in need of cleaning, there's nothing there.
SPEAKER_01: There's all there would be is dead religion and empty acts.
SPEAKER_01: And he's saying to Peter, don't miss it.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying to us, don't miss it.
SPEAKER_01: Not only does Jesus love you, but this story symbolizes the bigger story.
SPEAKER_01: Just like on a real Thursday, somewhere in history, Jesus washed these guys' feet.
SPEAKER_01: The next day, the next day, he's put on trial.
SPEAKER_01: He's betrayed.
SPEAKER_01: Over these terrible three days, he's crucified and yet rises again.
SPEAKER_01: These things really happened.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was pointing forward to them, saying, if you'll put your home in that, you will indeed be clean.
SPEAKER_01: And he offers it to each of us.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It's a place at his table.
SPEAKER_01: It's an opportunity to not have everything washed all the time, but to be made clean by Jesus' once-for-all act.
SPEAKER_01: And my assumption is most people here know this story.
SPEAKER_01: This true story.
SPEAKER_01: And my assumption is many people here have put their hope in this story.
SPEAKER_01: But but today should feel like it does to me always, an invitation to trust in Him, to continue or to start, to put your hope in Him.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, why is serving Christ a footwashing story?
SPEAKER_01: Well, Jesus tells us straight up in 12 through 17.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 15, he says, I have given you an example.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 16, I'm greater than you, and I'm willing to do this.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 17, he says, You know what?
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: You'll be blessed if you do this.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the story is a thing we ought to do, story.
SPEAKER_01: After it's a God loves you story and a Jesus saves you story.
SPEAKER_01: It is certainly, brothers and sisters in Christ, if you want to know what's normal in Christianity, this is it.
SPEAKER_01: This is it.
SPEAKER_01: This world would say other things like money, power, success, position, those are normal.
SPEAKER_01: You should climb the ladder toward them.
SPEAKER_01: Not so among those who put their hope in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: For those who put their hope in Jesus Christ, it is a climb down into the valley.
SPEAKER_01: Greater responsibility in the body of Christ should look like going down into the valley, not up the mountain.
SPEAKER_01: It should look like more service like than not less, not less service.
SPEAKER_01: It should look like, in some ways, less privileges, not more privileges.
SPEAKER_01: It should look more like pouring more of yourself out, not less of yourself out.
SPEAKER_01: It should look like washing people's feet.
SPEAKER_01: Washing people's feet.
SPEAKER_01: And some in our world don't think that Christian leadership looks like washing people's feet.
SPEAKER_01: But can't I just tell you, as someone who has a front row seat to it, it does.
SPEAKER_01: I see time and again, day in and day out, Christian leaders who uh get up from the table.
SPEAKER_01: They do, they get up from the table, and they take off their outer garments and they tie a towel around their waist, and they look at the people among them and they serve them.
SPEAKER_01: They serve them.
SPEAKER_01: I see day in and day out Christians, ordinary everyday believers in ordinary, everyday churches.
SPEAKER_01: They're not splashing it all over Facebook.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't play well there.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't work.
SPEAKER_01: Facebook, incidentally, doesn't work, but that's a whole nother sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_01: And they're serving one another.
SPEAKER_01: So the invitation is pretty simple, I'm saying to you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh because he loved us, because he rescued us, you are now free indeed.
SPEAKER_01: Just like Jesus said, our great master was up for this.
SPEAKER_01: We can be two.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna close with a quick story.
SPEAKER_01: Um my feet got washed this week.
SPEAKER_01: Um, not not well, I did wash my feet, but that's not not the other thing.
SPEAKER_01: Um I had a problem on my house the last two months, and I haven't known how to fix it.
SPEAKER_01: A board was loose on the front of my house.
SPEAKER_01: And I have an 18-foot ladder, and this was a 20-foot problem.
SPEAKER_01: And I kept, I kept trying to find a way to fix it myself with my 18-foot ladder because I'm because I'm as I moved to Minnesota, I stopped asking people for help.
SPEAKER_01: It's one of the things we do, you know, we feel bad about it.
SPEAKER_01: And so day one, I got up there, I got my ladder up there.
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna kind of climb on the roof, and I was gonna sort of nail my board back down, and Terry's holding the ladder, and she's looking at it, thinking, oh, well, this is how it ends, you know, it's this is a wonderful marriage until this moment.
SPEAKER_01: And I backed off and said, Oh, I I can't figure it out.
SPEAKER_01: So then I got another plan.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, I'm gonna climb up on my roof.
SPEAKER_01: Uh roofs, roofs here, you know, this are very steep.
SPEAKER_01: Um in California, this would have been an entirely safe plan here.
SPEAKER_01: I climbed up on my roof, I got to the top, and I thought, I think I'm gonna fall off this roof, trying to sort of traverse down to the broken board problem.
SPEAKER_01: And so finally it came to this, I had to ask for help.
SPEAKER_01: And I'd have a friend uh in God's beautiful providence.
SPEAKER_01: We were put in a small group with uh Juan and Esmeralda Martinez many years ago.
SPEAKER_01: We're not in the group anymore, but Juan comes to our church.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I tried to reach out to my builder and he wanted to like dismantle the whole front of the house and do an insurance claim.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, man, it's two nails.
SPEAKER_01: I I think that's a little bit much.
SPEAKER_01: So I didn't know where to go and I didn't know where to turn.
SPEAKER_01: And Terry texted Esmeralda and said, hey, could Juan just come over and take a look and help?
SPEAKER_01: And uh yesterday, I think it was yesterday, he came over, took a look, pulls out his ladder that's like a 25-foot ladder because he's a contractor.
SPEAKER_01: Uh puts the ladder up by himself because he's much, he doesn't have a desk job.
SPEAKER_01: I looked at Juan's arms and I thought, I I too could have those arms if I had a different job, but I don't.
SPEAKER_01: I don't.
SPEAKER_01: I have a job that doesn't turn you into Juan and his strength.
SPEAKER_01: Goes up there, nails it in, is done.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Hey, can I pay you?
SPEAKER_01: Oh no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: Try it again, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: And and well, I think what Juan was saying is, hey, don't take this from me.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Just like when I get to serve my brothers and sisters in Christ, I don't, I'm not, I don't have my hand out.
SPEAKER_01: And it was such a good experience to experience from an ordinary believer who we got to be alongside each other for a little bit, growing in Christ, um, uh, my feet getting cleaned because somebody gets Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So, um, as Jesus says, you now you know.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: You know how you'll be blessed by this sermon?
SPEAKER_01: There's just one way.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17, if you do it.
SPEAKER_01: Like that's the only way.
SPEAKER_01: The only way.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I thank you for these uh brothers and sisters in Christ, for this beautiful church of people that are endeavoring to love you like this.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, Lord, uh, that their love would be deep and wide, that it would be filled with acts of service, that it would be motivated by the simple love you have for us, the extravagant love you have for us.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and always, always, Lord, when we serve, help us to remember it's because of the cross, not for the cross.
SPEAKER_01: We're not trying to earn anything we can't possibly.
SPEAKER_01: But you, you, Jesus, by living a perfect life, dying a terrible death, being raised again in glory, you have provided a way for us not only to be right with you, but to do what you did.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to see your example and do it.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.