WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:12.560 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the Spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.640 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:23.039 Well, as you're turning into your Bibles to John chapter 13, I do want to just thank you for the kind welcome. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:28.320 I'm thankful to be here, and I've been looking forward to it. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:39.679 And also just really thankful that for your pastor and that he can get some well-deserved and needed rest as you also prepare for ministry launch in a couple weeks. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:44.799 And I'm just very grateful to worship and open up God's word with you. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:52.079 And I just wanted to begin by asking you to consider a question as we begin. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:57.039 And the question is: what comes to mind when you hear the word greatness? 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:06.159 It's a word that gets thrown around many circles and placed on individuals, and any of us, I'm sure, would appreciate that title being said of us. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:10.879 But what does it mean, and how would you describe someone who's great? 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:20.959 Because you can probably walk up the streets and be asking any individual what they would think, and maybe they would say that it has something to do with their education or their career. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:31.359 That greatness is based on one's influence or power or maybe their wealth or their overall success in terms of their personal or family life. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:54.079 My family and I have been really enamored with the Olympics in the last number of weeks, and there's been a lot of bantering between the athletes about who's number one and who's the best and the greatest of all time, and that can be very entertaining for us at times, but I think we have to be very careful because people who are described this way are the ones being recognized and then given privileges. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:58.640 And I think this mentality has influenced the way the church has thought about greatness. 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:12.960 We're tempted to think about it in a very similar way, and it's shaping the way we treat one another, or the pressure that we place on kids, or how we view those in leadership, whether within the church or outside of it. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:20.560 And no doubt we want to be great and we want others around us to aspire greatness, but what does that look like? 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:22.080 What does that even mean? 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:26.639 Is it about accomplishments on paper, whether it's secular or even spiritual? 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:28.240 Like, is that what it's about? 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:34.479 Well, I wonder if you thought about greatness in terms of being a servant or a slave. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:40.479 Jesus says these words in Matthew chapter 20, verse 26. 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:48.240 He says, Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:52.639 You would rarely find those words being defined by anyone. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:59.120 And then Jesus goes on to say, I didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give my life away. 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:02.319 In other words, I came to serve you by dying for you. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:09.759 In absolutely no context today would this world associate death with greatness. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:15.280 So if we really want to understand what true greatness is, we need to look nowhere else but at Jesus. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:22.319 And we might be very surprised when we measure our understanding of it to how Jesus defines it. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:27.039 In John chapter 13, the hour of the cross is drawing near. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:28.159 His death is imminent. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:29.199 We know that. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:43.759 And as Jesus is washing the feet of his disciples, he is pointing us and them forward to the highest display of greatness that this world has ever seen, which is the cleansing work that he will accomplish for us at the cross. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:47.599 And Jesus becomes a model for us as we pursue greatness. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:51.520 And I want to look at three things that he is teaching us in this passage. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:57.360 And the first one is this true greatness is defined by one who loves without limits. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:03:59.599 One who loves without limits. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:04.879 And I want to begin by reading the first few verses of John chapter 13. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:18.560 Beginning in verse 1, it says, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:33.920 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Isariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and they had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:39.199 He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:48.879 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:58.000 Twice in verse one does John mention this word love, and the object of Jesus' love are his friends. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:02.560 It says, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:07.519 And it's not speaking in terms of time as if he loves them until a certain point. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.160 It's in terms of quality or capacity. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:16.879 He loves them as much as he can love, and because he has an infinite God having no limits, he loves them to the uttermost. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:19.680 There is no measure to his love. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:28.480 Which should really blow our minds because these friends of his, these disciples, they're a confused bunch of men, aren't they? 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:30.879 They're lacking in their faith. 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:33.439 They speak out of turn, they're falling into sin. 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:35.759 They argue with one another. 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:43.519 And more often than not, they don't fully understand who Jesus is and the power he has and what he came to accomplish. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.000 They really don't get it many times. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:51.600 And then it clicks in my mind, and I say to myself, man, this sounds a lot like me. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:57.519 Like forgetful, anxious, fearful, doubting. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:08.000 And if Jesus loves them, not based on their performance, there is great comfort to know that his boundless, infinite love extends to me and to you. 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:10.639 Also broken creatures. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:16.720 That it doesn't change depending on my love for him or my maturity. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:23.920 But if I am his child, I can put my name in verse one and says and says that he loves me to the end. 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:31.120 To the same degree that he loves any of his other children, and even the love that exists within the triune God. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:33.680 It's an incredible love. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:37.759 And perhaps someone needs to hear that today. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:52.959 You may have walked in here with many burdens, dealing with your past or your sin, maybe your flesh, and maybe not being loved by certain people, but if you are one of his, he says to you, I love you to the end. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:57.600 I love you with an eternal love because I am an eternal God. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:04.480 And it's this that should compel us to love God and one another. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:12.800 I think we often excuse our lack of love towards believers because of what they've done to us or what they haven't done. 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:24.000 But God completely overturns that because not only in his perfect holiness does he love us despite our continual disobedience and unfaithfulness as believers. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:27.600 But it says that God loved us even while we were his what? 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:29.279 His enemies. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:39.759 And this leads us to our next point because I want you to notice that his love is extending not only to his friends, but also to his foe, his enemy. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:46.879 And maybe you're thinking, I can understand being called to love our friends, but those who don't like us? 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:52.319 Well, it says in verse 2 that Judas, the one who would betray him, is sitting among them. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:58.079 And as Jesus is about to get on his knees, Judas is Judas' conscience is unmoved. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:07:59.279 He doesn't care. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:03.680 And I was thinking, like, what would I do if I was Jesus? 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:04.720 What would I do? 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:06.160 What would you do? 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:12.079 I I probably would have just skipped right over him, knowing how much he hated me. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:19.759 Maybe I would have thrown a little more dirt on his feet, looked him in the eyes, and then just moved right along to the other eleven. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:31.199 But Jesus fulfills what he commands us to do when he says, love your enemies and do good to those who hate you, and he kneels down and washes the feet of his betrayer. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:41.759 He knows all things, and that he'll be handed over by this man, but he extends a kindness to him that shows us what it means to love those who hate us. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:47.759 And I'm sure most of us in this room have at least one enemy, probably more. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:51.200 And you can maybe even think of them right now. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:54.559 And nobody said that you have to try to be their best friend. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:09:05.039 But perhaps we can take a lesson from John 13 that when they are around you, they know that they will be met by someone who shows the kindness and compassion of your Savior. 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:15.759 That that the person is fully aware that Christ has influenced you in a way that you'd be even willing to love even your enemy. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:36.399 And some of you may rightly say, Well, you don't know what they've done, and I certainly don't, and it's probably more than I could ever bear, but Jesus knows and he can sympathize with you because he is the perfect and righteous Son of God who absorbed the greatest injustice known to man, and then it would extend forgiveness to the very ones who nailed him to the cross. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:42.399 And maybe you're asking, well, one how can one practically do that? 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:47.120 Well, Romans 12, verse 20 says, If your enemy is hungry, feed him. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:49.440 If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. 00:09:49.600 --> 00:10:04.399 In other words, don't overlook their needs, don't walk right past them, don't give them that so-called silent treatment treatment, but in simple, practical ways, you can provide for them in a way that Jesus provides for his enemies. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:10.159 He loves his friends, he loves his foe, but notice he also loves his father. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:17.279 Four times in the first three verses does it refer to God the Father, and maybe you're wondering why. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:25.519 And I just think the thought of Jesus returning to the Father, especially in this moment, filled his heart with great delight. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:39.759 He had experienced unhindered joy and fellowship with his father within all eternity, and so it was this mutual, eternal love that compelled him to fulfill the Father's plan, even if that included suffering. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:46.879 He was willing to do anything at any cost if it meant being with his father and obeying him. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:56.559 In chapter 14, verse 31, Jesus says, I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:03.840 And within this divine relationship, Jesus is teaching us here that there is this inseparable link between love and obedience. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:05.279 You can't separate them. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.279 I mean, I want you to think about it. 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:10.159 You want to know if a child loves their parents? 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:12.960 Watch them when they're given instructions. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:18.639 And not just any instructions, but hard instructions, and see how they respond. 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:24.320 Are they willing to obey when there is a strong temptation to do the opposite? 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:32.320 When they're faced with the pressure from others or even from within themselves to do their own will, that's how you know they love you. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:49.279 No one will experience a greater temptation than Jesus did, but he was willing to obey because he knew that his suffering was being handed to him by the Father, whom he so infinitely loved, and he knew that he was going to go back to him. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:55.519 And I would think that some of you are going through some hard moments right now. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:58.080 Life has not been easy. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:18.320 There's been a sharp testing of your faith, and I just want to give you one word of encouragement from here, and that is that your cup of suffering right now is being sovereignly but graciously handed to you by your loving Father who is fully aware of all that is happening, and none of it happens without his permission or his providential care. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:27.200 So when we choose to obey, even in those hard testing moments, it actually proves our love for God. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:39.519 And just like Jesus looks ahead to the reunion with his father, we too are given the promise of being reunioned with our Savior, being absent from this body and in his very presence. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:48.639 That's what should cause us to endure for a little while because we were made for another world, to share fellowship in the presence of our God. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:54.559 So until then, let us choose the pathway of love and obedience, just like Jesus. 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:57.759 It's quite incredible. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:13.679 But as Jesus thinks about being denied by his friend, betrayed by his foe, and forsaken by his father, in light of all of that and the weightiness of the cross, what consumed his mind was love for others and obedience to his father. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:17.200 That, dear ones, is what defines greatness. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:23.679 One who loves without limits, but secondly, one who leads with lowliness. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:37.759 Verse 4 mentions that Jesus rose from supper, and notice that it doesn't say that he rose before supper or as they enter, but it happens during supper, which seems a little strange. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:39.279 I mean, think about it. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:48.720 When you enter someone's house as a guest, it's normal that you would remove your shoes as you enter the home in order to not bring dirt into the house. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:55.679 You don't keep everything on, and then in the middle of dinner, after you've had your first helping, that you then decide to take off your shoes. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:59.360 It's very unusual that this happened during supper. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:02.799 And maybe you're wondering why it happened this way. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.120 And the answer is quite simple. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:08.639 Because none of the disciples were willing to wash one another's feet. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:10.639 He gave them an opportunity to do it. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:12.559 They just didn't want to. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:19.279 They all knew it had to be done, but as they walked in, none of them could be brought low enough to do it. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:30.559 And it was actually a custom in their day that as you entered a Jewish home, there was a basin of water sitting near the front of the door, the entrance. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:41.120 People's feet were filthy from walking in the streets, and so there was so much dirt and garbage that their sandals needed to be removed and their feet needed to be clean before they sat down. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:55.919 And in most homes, there was a servant, and not just any servant, but it was a non-Jewish servant that was responsible to wash the feet of everyone who walked in because it was such a degrading place for any Jewish person. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:06.240 They were all aware of what should have been done, and the Gospel of Luke actually helps us understand why the disciples all refused to do it. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:15.440 Because before they entered the room, it says in chapter 22 that there arose a dispute among them as to who was regarded as what? 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:17.200 The greatest. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:23.840 The one who is going to be given the best place. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:29.120 And when Jesus asked them what they were talking about, they all remained quiet. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:40.879 And as they enter this room, they all walk right by that basin because they knew that if they were gonna prove their so-called greatness, they wouldn't dare become that servant. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:44.720 There was no way that they would take that place of lowliness. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.960 And I wonder if you've been in that place before. 00:15:49.279 --> 00:16:00.960 When you know that the floors need to be scrubbed or the toilet needs to be cleaned, or the garbage needs to be emptied, and we might not say it, but in our minds we think, well, don't these people know who I am? 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:05.200 Like certainly there are other people who should be doing that, not me. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:08.559 But Jesus is asking, Why not you? 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:17.279 All the disciples sat there in a circle with their dirty feet exposed, and not one of them moved because they are all too proud to do it. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:28.080 So it's Jesus, the greatest among them, who rises from supper, takes on the form of a slave, and humbles himself by becoming lowly. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:35.840 And so, if Christ, being the greatest among us, is willing to stoop in lowliness, what should you and I be unwilling to do? 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:49.120 I know any illustration falls short of what Jesus is doing here, but it was a number of years ago when I attended a men's conference, and there were literally thousands of attendees. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:17:00.080 And the church that hosted the conference would spend an entire year just preparing for it and wanted to do everything they can do to bless all those who attended the conference. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:17.440 And apart from you know the great preaching and the singing, for the three or four days of the conference, they would prepare meals for us and cappuccino and candy stations and ice cream stands, and they even had like professional barbers come in and offer their services of cutting hair. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:20.319 Like it was just over the top remarkable. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:29.039 But one area of the church caught my attention, and they had a section set aside for some of their members to shine people's shoes. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:38.559 They would get on their hands and knees and literally spend the entire day just scrubbing the dirt off of people's shoes. 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:46.240 And year after year I would watch them, and I noticed one man in particular doing it so faithfully every year. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:50.079 And as I was watching, someone leaned over to me and he said, Do you know who that is? 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:51.839 And I said, I have no idea. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:55.920 And he said, That's a judge in the Supreme Court in the state of California. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:18:05.200 And every year he's the first man to sign up, takes an entire week off so that he can get on his knees and scrub dirt off of people's shoes. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:17.680 A man who has the authority to weigh in on some of the most important decisions of an entire state, but has chosen to get low and experience to some degree what it's like to be like his savior. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:30.880 And as I look back at that time, I fully believe the church provided this service in particular so that they can experience in some form what it means to humble oneself before others. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:37.759 One author put it this way He said, The surest mark of true conversion is humility. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.400 Are you looking to serve those around you in ways that resemble the Savior? 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:58.480 Because based on this passage, I would also add that the surest mark of true humility is Christ-like service and lowliness that is being rendered to one another. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:09.440 I'm a father and a husband, and the Lord has been impressing this upon my heart in a very unique way. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:14.319 And maybe if I can ask the men in this room a question that I was asking myself. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:20.000 When I walk in the home, am I someone who is expecting to be served? 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:28.559 And forgetting that the primary realm of service to God is to be rendered to my family, whether that's to my wife and my children. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:34.079 And to do so in a spirit of gentleness and kindness, like my Savior. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:43.680 Is your family seeing the aroma of Christ emanating from your life as you come home and seek to serve them willingly and cheerfully? 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:49.599 Because if we expect our family to know Jesus, they need to see Jesus in me, in you. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.960 And so we must lead with lowliness. 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:54.960 That's what we're being called to. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:00.400 And maybe one other question with regard to our service offered to the church. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:10.079 Are you willing to make yourself available to whatever needs there are right here at Redemption New Market if you call this church your home church? 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:25.200 Over the years, I have seen and heard from many people within various churches, and I have no idea the stats here, but there is generally a discrepancy between the number of men who volunteer in kids' ministry versus the number of women. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:30.240 And no, this is not just a three-point sermon with a plug for kids' ministry. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:31.599 That's not my job. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:33.599 That's not what's happening. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:36.480 But but it begs the question like, why is that the case? 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:45.839 And maybe it's not here, but I'm gonna throw this out there just in case, because I've seen this in my own life and tendencies. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:53.119 I think we as men can be like the disciples who on one occasion told people to send the children home. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:56.720 And Jesus says to them, No, no, you bring them to me. 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:59.440 I'll have I'll have patience with them. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:03.759 I'll take the time to lay hands on them and pray with them. 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:17.519 And I think what Jesus is teaching the disciples there is very similar to what he's teaching them in John 13, that as he becomes lowly, he associates with the lowly, the vulnerable, the weak. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:25.680 So the question is: in your pursuit of looking like Jesus, do you find yourself associating with the lowly? 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:37.200 Willing to be involved in lives of people where you won't voluntarily or publicly receive a lot of recognition or appreciation. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:56.559 And as I said, I don't know the details of your kids' ministry, but if we ever find ourselves thinking that serving in any ministry is beneath us, may we look to Jesus, who consistently found himself in the company of all people, but especially those who the culture would never make time for. 00:21:58.480 --> 00:21:59.759 Paul writes these words in Romans. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.880 Romans 12. 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:04.000 Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:06.640 Never be wise in your own sight. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:12.480 In other words, don't think highly of yourself, but model Jesus in his lowliness. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:21.759 And so as John continues to describe what's happening, he kind of slows the scene down for us in verse 4. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:28.640 It's kind of like someone retelling a story and they don't want to leave anything out because of how shocking the details are. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:33.279 He wants every piece of information to be conveyed. 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:42.480 And so he says that Jesus rises from supper, and you can imagine that all eyes must have been fixed on him, like wondering, what's going to happen now? 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:43.839 What's he going to do? 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:46.799 And it says that he laid aside his outer garments. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:54.160 He then takes a towel and ties it around his waist, and the disciples must be thinking, there's no way he's going to do this. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:55.680 Like, should I be getting up? 00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:59.359 And then he remembered, like, there's no way I'm going to wash Peter's feet. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:00.799 There's no way. 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:12.559 And then Jesus goes on to say that he took the basin and filled it with water and then began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:16.960 Like you don't even hear this kind of thing in fictional stories. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:26.240 Like the creator washing the feet of his creatures, the eternal one becoming like a slave to cleanse the dirt from the feet of mortal beings. 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:28.640 This is unheard of. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:35.920 And yet at the same time, we need to remind ourselves that this is not just the Lord cleaning the feet of his friends. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:41.759 This is pointing us forward to when the Son of God will cleanse the heart of sinners. 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:45.920 His lowliness here will actually descend even lower. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:53.839 Listen to the words of Philippians 2, and it'll be up on the screen, and pick up on the similar language. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:24:18.079 Speaking of Jesus, it says in verse 6, though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:23.680 He keeps going lower and lower and lower until he reaches death. 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:34.960 I like how one preacher said, he put it this way, he said, John 13 is not just a nice, humble story about a basin of water and a towel. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:47.119 No, this is a picture of the humiliation that Jesus will experience when he is nailed to a piece of wood, suspended between heaven and earth, and humbling himself in order to cleanse the filth of our sin. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:56.079 But the good news is that Jesus didn't remain on that cross, but was raised to life and seated at the right hand of God. 00:24:56.160 --> 00:25:01.279 And if you drop down to verse 12 of our passage, I think that's what's pictured here. 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:07.279 It said that when he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and what? 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:09.440 Resumed his place. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:14.240 The word literally means to return back to a former place. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:16.400 And what place is that? 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:20.480 Well, he didn't stay on the cross, he didn't remain in the tomb. 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:26.799 He resumed his place of honor, where he would share in the glory that he had with the Father before the world began. 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:31.039 This is a parable of the gospel. 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:33.119 It's a foretaste of it. 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:37.839 And so we can put it this way: the gospel becomes our example for true greatness. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:45.759 When you witness people around you, mirror what Jesus is doing here, it should remind you of our great Savior and his greatness. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:54.960 And so Jesus takes his place again, and then he turns to his disciples and says to them, beginning in verse twelve. 00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:18.319 For I have given you an example that you should that you also should do just as I have done to you. 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:26.400 Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:31.039 The disciples understood what Jesus was doing here. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:35.279 They knew exactly what he was referring to, and they needed to hear it. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:40.160 And you'll notice that he draws their attention to four titles here. 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:44.160 He is their Lord, their teacher, master, and an example. 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:51.680 And he says, If you believe this of me, and if as the greater one I'm serving you, then the least you can do is what I'm doing. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:53.200 The very least. 00:26:54.880 --> 00:27:00.559 And no doubt Jesus is picking up on their use of the word greater, and he says, You really want to know who the greatest among you is? 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.359 You want to know how you define true greatness? 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:07.359 They are those who are following my example and getting low. 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:12.960 And I think this is an important leadership lesson for all of us, wherever we find ourselves. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:20.640 The best leaders are those who lead by example and never ask people to do things that they're unwilling to do. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:30.400 Whether in the home or the church or the working world, follow after leaders that are loving and lowly, and you will find yourselves around good company. 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:39.279 And we're not always going to be privileged to be around those kind of people, but through Christ's examples, we can model that type of character of lowliness. 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:48.640 True greatness is one who loves without limits, who leads with lowliness, and finally the one who lays down his life. 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:51.839 Look at verses six through eleven. 00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:58.319 He came to Simon Peter and said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:04.640 Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:08.160 Jesus said to him, You shall never wash my feet. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:12.880 Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. 00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:18.160 Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:24.400 Jesus said to him, The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. 00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:27.440 And you are clean, but not every one of you. 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:30.160 For he knew who was to betray him. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:33.759 That was why he said, Not all of you are clean. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:43.039 I think Peter's initial response probably represents how anyone would have reacted to Jesus washing their feet. 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:47.599 But he seems to have the courage, as Peter normally does, to speak up. 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:53.440 Like this doesn't make sense. 00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:56.880 If anything, I should be the one who's washing your feet. 00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:01.440 And yes, that should have been the case, but you weren't willing, and neither was anyone else to do it. 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:11.039 And yet we'll soon find out that it had to be done this way, because Jesus said to him, What I am doing, you don't understand now, but you will afterward. 00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:16.960 In other words, I have to do this, and sometime in the future you're gonna know why. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:26.160 So on the one hand, they they clearly knew what he was doing, but there's also a sense in which they won't fully understand until a much later time. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:34.960 His lowliness at the cross would only be fully understood when the Holy Spirit comes, and as chapter 16 says, he will guide you into all truth. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:38.160 Everything will be much clearer afterwards. 00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:49.599 And I think just a little side note here, I feel like verse 7 should be our life verse, especially when life becomes hard and hazy and confusing. 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:54.880 We don't know all that God is doing in our life, but there will come a time when we will. 00:29:55.519 --> 00:30:06.319 And maybe not even in this life, but even until then, may we learn to trust Him when those seasons are not as clear, because He knows all things and He knows what He's doing. 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:15.440 So He says to Peter, You don't understand right now, this is but a small picture of the full extension of my humiliation. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:22.160 So Peter responds and says, Lord, you shall never wash my feet. 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:30.480 And let me just begin by saying that no one is ever in a good place when they command the Son of God as to what he should and should not do. 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:35.119 We don't have that kind of authority. 00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:41.279 But if you actually remember, this is not the first time Peter's responded this way. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:51.599 In Matthew 16, Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the sufferings that he'll endure and how he'll be handed over to the chief priests and scribes and be killed. 00:30:51.759 --> 00:31:01.680 And it says, very similar to what we just read, that Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him and said, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:03.440 You won't do this. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:12.799 He couldn't get his mind around a suffering savior who would humble himself to the point of death. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:18.640 So Peter says similar words here, you shall never wash my feet. 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:22.400 You shouldn't be the one to take that humble place. 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:37.680 And what Peter doesn't realize is that Jesus now responds to him as if Peter is referring to the cross, as if he is trying to forbid him from humbling himself to the point of suffering on the cross, as in Matthew 16. 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:40.640 So Jesus says, I need to wash you. 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:46.799 Jesus flips the script on Peter and is no longer just talking about a foot washing. 00:31:47.039 --> 00:32:00.000 And he says, Peter, unless I wash you, unless I lay my life down in complete humiliation and cleanse you from your sin, you'll have no part with me and share in the inheritance that I've reserved for all of my children. 00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:01.680 I need to wash you. 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:12.880 And Peter will eventually understand these words, but right now he still thinks this is only about a physical washing because he says, if that's the case, not only my feet, but my hands and my head. 00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:14.960 Like, just give me a full bath. 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:20.000 And you kind of have to appreciate Peter and his heart. 00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:29.839 He couldn't stand the thought of being apart from Christ, but he didn't understand that it wasn't about the washing of his physical body that brought him near to his Lord. 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:35.839 It was the washing away of a sin that could only be done when Jesus would lay down his life. 00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:46.960 And so Jesus now uses Peter's language of a bath and teaches them that they've been fully cleansed, and all what's needed is the daily cleansing from the dirt of this world. 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:57.920 And we know that it's exposure to God's word that has that kind of transforming power as the Holy Spirit brings it to bear upon our life. 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:04.640 And as John 17 says, that it's the word of God that sanctifies us. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:14.319 We will be conformed to the filth of this world if we're not taking in the word and allowing it to cleanse our minds and our hearts and our conscience. 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:24.319 So we need a greater commitment to personal time in the word, as well as really a greater commitment to the gathering of God's people around his word. 00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:27.680 And I pray that this church will continue to do that. 00:33:29.359 --> 00:33:35.279 And so Jesus says that if you've been bathed, if you've been washed, it's only your feet that need to be clean. 00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:40.240 But the sad reality is when he says that not all of them have had a bath. 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:43.839 Not all of them have been cleansed, referring to Jews. 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:48.799 There is one who is sitting among them who hasn't been washed. 00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:59.839 And I can't help but really press this application to us because perhaps there is someone here who, in the words of Jesus, is not yet clean. 00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:03.599 I mean, you may have walked in here for the first time. 00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:10.000 Or maybe you've been coming for a while, but you've played that religious game. 00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:24.320 I don't know your story, but Christ wants you to have a share with him, to be washed, to be cleansed of your sin, believing that your only hope is through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that if you come and believe on him, that he would save you. 00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:35.199 So that you can say, like Peter eventually, that Christ suffered for me, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring me to God. 00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:41.599 That can be your story today, that Christ died for me and I am no longer indebted to sin. 00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:43.760 That's the guaranteed hope. 00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:49.599 As you join the company of those who have believed and repented. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:35:02.960 And as Jesus has laid down his life for you, you can now respond through seeing the example of Christ and lay down your life for other people in lowliness and doing so lovingly. 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:08.719 On the other side of the cross, Peter eventually came to understand what Jesus did. 00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:12.880 And he writes these encouraging words to those who have embraced Christ. 00:35:12.960 --> 00:35:21.519 He says in verse, in 1 Peter 5, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. 00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:26.320 Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. 00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:30.480 And I don't know what Peter was thinking when he wrote that, but maybe it was John 13. 00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:46.400 When he saw and remembered his Savior, put on the attire of a servant, and clothed himself in humility, knowing that that was pointing forward when his Lord would lay down his life in such humble fashion. 00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:56.400 This is what it means when Jesus says, the greatest among you will be your servant, because he's essentially saying that the greatest among us are the ones who look like the Lord. 00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:03.199 Greatness is not about how many letters you have after your name or before your name. 00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:06.400 It's not about your status within the community. 00:36:07.119 --> 00:36:13.599 Greatness is shown in our love, in our lowliness, and as we seek to lay down our life for one another. 00:36:13.760 --> 00:36:20.079 So let's be committed to pursue greatness God's way in accord with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:21.840 Let's pray together. 00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:30.880 Father, we're so grateful for the truth of your word. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:42.800 We're so grateful for the work of Christ that he was willing to go all the way to death in order to accomplish salvation for us. 00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:54.559 And we get really a taste of this in John 13 when he would humble himself by washing the feet of those who loved him and those who hated him. 00:36:55.280 --> 00:37:16.800 And what a model and example that is for us as we walk into this world, the filth of this world, and are treated in a similar way, to a small degree, like our Savior, may we respond like the Lord in kindness and compassion and love. 00:37:17.039 --> 00:37:19.440 Help us to model that in our homes. 00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:23.199 Help us to do that in our workplaces, in this church. 00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:27.840 May it be an aroma of Christ Himself. 00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:37.679 That when people do see us in how we speak and how we serve, that they can see glimpses of our Savior. 00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:49.679 May we continue to reflect upon our Lord who gave his life for us, and that we would respond in imitating him as we even worship him right now. 00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:50.800 In Christ's name. 00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:51.519 Amen.