SERVE OTHERS | John 13:1–17 | Pastor John Anderson | 7.12.26

Serve as Christ Served

Transcript

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Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Gerlock and Pastor John Anderson. Welcome to the Resurrection Church Podcast. Each week we bring you Sunday's message from Resurrection Church right here in Racing, Wisconsin. So whether you're listening on a walk, driving to work, or just folding some laundry, or avoiding folding laundry, we hope this encourages your faith, challenges your perspective, and reminds you that resurrection isn't just something that happened. It's something God is still doing. Enjoy this week's message. Morning, everybody. My name is John. I'm one of the pastors here at Resurrection. And we are in a series back to the basics. And today we are in a scripture that if you've been around me for the past few years, you've heard me quote uh so often. John 13. In the Gospel of John, chapter 12, we see the entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and then really the end of 12, and then 13, 14, 15, and parts of 16 are all just Jesus around the table with the people he loved most. I love this text today. I love how Mary read it today. Um this past Thursday, I had uh I attended a funeral down in Kenosha. Um, Tom Williams passed away, and he was the maintenance man at St. Mary's Lutheran Church where both Pastor Ryan and I served for many years. Um and Tom was great, and this is a compliment. Tom reminded me a little bit of Mark Henkel, uh, who when if you don't know Mark, uh you'll never forget him once you meet him. Um but uh but but a tall, uh strong man, uh and and just uh and a lot of fun. Um and and so we celebrated Tom's life, and his son was there, his son was part of our youth program. Uh and Tom, Tom took care of his son, and and and and his son had a couple uh a couple disabilities. Um but Tom Tom loved his boy, and I just I remember Tom. And the first time I met Tom, though, I wanted to share this, and it has little to do with the sermon, other than how Tom is gonna connect to this next part. But the first time I met Tom, it was my first day ever working at St. Mary's Lutheran Church. I had followed Pastor Ryan. Uh, he was in seminary, I was doing youth ministry, and this big man walked into my office and said, There has been a disaster. I said, What happened? He said, The American flag is missing from the sanctuary. And then I found it leaning up against a wall. And I'm not in any way uh besmirching the flag, but I didn't do it. And I said, Oh, that's terrible. I'm so sorry. He says, Do you have any idea who did it? And I looked him in the eyes and I said, Ryan Gerloch did it. Ryan Michael Gerlock. Ryan had filmed a Luther video uh about the Reformation and in 1517 Germany there's no American flag. So, anyways, but Ryan was a seminary and safe from Tom's area. But Tom was a great man, and I wonder who's the greatest person you've ever met? And I I wonder what popped into your head right there. Is it is it an athlete, maybe, or a politician, or a musician? Um, who's the greatest person you ever met? Or maybe it's something more personal, maybe it's a coach or a teacher, someone that you think of right away, maybe it's a grandmother or a parent, someone who quietly shaped your life. Isn't it interesting that when we think about greatness, I think we often think about accomplishment. Man, they've done so much. Did you see what they did? But when I think about the people who changed me, I mean like who radically shaped me, I almost always think about love. And not some pie in the sky love, but like a love that worked really hard to stay with me. A love that was full of grace and patience. I don't remember every great sermon I've heard, I don't remember every impressive speech I've heard, but I do remember the people who love me, the people who showed up, the people who made me feel seen, the people who reminded me, as I often need to be reminded that I'm not alone. I think unfortunately, our world measures greatness by the amount of people that serve you. And that's not what Jesus measures greatness by. Instead, Jesus measures greatness by how willing we are to serve someone else. And nowhere, I think, in scripture does he display why and how more beautifully than in John 13. Let's pray together. Oh God, I come to you a little heavy this morning, God, just thinking about a world that's too often upside down, a world that is embittered towards one another, embroiled in conflict and war, dealing with famine and poverty, a world is broken, but a world that you've come to save. And I and I ask you, God, to move in this space, to for a few moments cause us to lean in, to listen, and then to respond. Holy Spirit, I pray that the meditations of my heart and the words that pass through my lips are yours. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. I love John 13. Every Maundy Thursday, which in our tradition is the Thursday of Holy Week, it's where we remember the Last Supper, the table that Pastor Ryan just presided over. You always get John 13. Um, the the scripture that is written on my heart, it comes later. John 13, 34 and 35. Love as I have loved you, then they will know you are my disciples. I love that. And I've I've I've too often flown by this first part of the scripture. Listen to it again. It was just before the Passover festival, if you don't remember what that is. Generations earlier, the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians, but God's spirit passed over, and their homes were protected from death by the blood of an innocent lamb. And then they were set free. They escaped, they were brought into the promised land. So that's what they're celebrating. It's a great celebration. Jesus knew, scripture says, that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. And this next part is what I have missed too often when I read this. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Man, that like rocked me when I sat with it. I think about those relationships I do such a miserable job of taking care of. How sometimes I'm so quick to get angry and to kind of put love in a corner. I'll come back to you in a minute. Jesus loves him to the end. Not halfway, not until they disappointed him, not until one of them would literally betray him, not till Peter would deny him. Then it stops. No, none. He loves them until the end because that's who God is. And I think we think that God, that God loves us in some fragile way, as if we could do something and God goes, Oh, I've changed my mind. As if one more mistake might finally exhaust God's patience, as if one more failure might make God say, Finally, I'm done with you. Church, if you've ever believed that it's a lie. John says something different. He says that Jesus loved them to the end. If that's true for Peter, if that's true for Judas, who will betray Christ just moments after this meal is finished, then it's gotta be true for us. I wonder if you came into church today thinking, I don't know what I'm doing here. God can't possibly use me. I don't know the words. I'm not even sure if I believe in any of this stuff. But God loves you just as you are, with everything that you've brought in. And God just wants you to sit and to receive that love. That's the beginning of all of this. Jesus loves his people to the very end. We've got to remember that, otherwise, the towel and the and the washing of the feet, none of it makes sense. The scripture goes on and says, Jesus knew the Father had put all things under his power, and he had come from God and was returning to God. Do you ever just get blown away by scripture? You should. Jesus knew exactly what would happen. You know, I my first sermon at 8 o'clock, uh, I felt the spirit led. Pastor Ryan had some good feedback. But as I was sitting in worship, watching the peace, I love our peace. People seeing people they love, meeting new people, it was going on and on, and it would probably go on and on if we didn't interrupt you. I was thinking that this church right here is no different than that room of disciples sitting around a table. Both in great ways, but also in the ways that that broke them this night. Because instead of sitting there ending the meal, Jesus changes it all by getting up, taking off his outer garment, wrapping a towel around himself, and kneeling down and washing their feet. And here's where this resonates with me today as I look at all of you. I think too many of us are like the disciples sitting there going, Why would he ever wash my feet? Why would he ever cleanse me? Why would he ever bow down to me? Why would he ever come to me? Why would he ever waste time to clean what I don't think I can ever keep clean on my own? Why would he do that? And that's how they respond. Nobody says anything. They don't know what to do. And I think we do that sometimes. We get so paralyzed by the reality of who God is and what God offers us that we go, no, I can't possibly be worth that. Or we come to me and we sit in my office, and this isn't an indictment on anybody, and you say, I'm having a hard time loving people. And my response to you will be, No, you're having a hard time believing that God loves you. Because you can't possibly love people like God unless you believe you have a God of love like Jesus. Because if you have a God of love like Jesus, then why wouldn't you love like Jesus? Amen. I mean, that's the gospel. If you understand and receive the love of Christ, why wouldn't you love like that? And then maybe you say, Well, Pastor, how do you do that? Well, let's look what he does. He picks up a towel, he kneels down and he washes their feet. And I bet they were thinking the same things that we would think. Man, I wish I would have digg on it. I should have got up first. You know, I hope he doesn't come to me. I haven't bathed in a while. Well, Peter, because he's Peter, and the more I used to always want to believe that I resonated with John, the beloved disciple, the name thing helps too. But man, the more I read about Peter, the more I think I'm like Peter. Peter couldn't keep his mouth shut. Amen. I got an Amen. There's a lot of people over here who could have said it. I don't know. Peter couldn't help himself. And what does he say? Not me. Not me, God. I used to read that and think that, oh man, Peter's so humble. Like he gets it. Like they didn't get it. But Peter didn't get it. Peter didn't get it at all. In fact, yet again, poor Peter is gonna receive the brunt lecture, although it's done in love and gentleness from Christ. Not me, God. You know, sometimes, sometimes we get this mixed up. We think that the gospel is good advice. It's a good way to live. It'll it'll make you better. No, the gospel is first good news. That in Christ, all those things that you think separate you from God and each other are put to death on a cross. The gospel is good news before it's good advice, not me, Peter says. And then Jesus says these words that I bet haunted him that whole night, especially later when Peter would deny that he even knew Jesus. He says, You can't have any part of me unless I wash you. You might read that and go, so he's giving him an in or an out ultimatum. No, what Jesus is saying is to experience the fullness of my love, you literally and physically need to receive it. Let me hold your feet. Let me do what the lowest position in this home would do, so that you know that I'm a God who comes down to you. We've had so many baptisms here. Praise God, amen. And we continue to have many more this summer. And the beauty of baptism in our tradition is that God does all the work. We make promises, parents, sponsors make promises, but it is all God. All God coming to us, saving us. And God says, look, you want to experience that love, receive it, and it will increase as you share it. That's why the Christian life doesn't begin with what you do for Jesus, it begins with what Jesus has already done for you. You don't have to earn God's affection. I promise. You do not have to impress God. You don't have to prove to yourself that you're good enough. The cross has settled the question of your worth. You are loved. And man, I need to hear that every day. Some of us are really good at serving. We are. It's a knee-jerk reaction. Um, I, you know, I could, there's so many people. We have a member of our church who drives down here every single week to take care of his late wife's father. We have a family in our church who spent the entire day last Friday here making sure that our freezer had power because our power went out. I could go on and on. The amount of times Cheryl, our office admin and really church boss, whose birthday is tomorrow, you'll hear more about that later. The amount of times that I've come to Cheryl with eight things I need to get done, and she says all of them have been accomplished, along with the three you forgot. Or Christy, who goes out of her way to connect with people. Steve, who takes care of our property and doesn't get paid to do the amount. I mean, the list I could go one by one in this church, the amount of people that do our worship team, the amount of time and effort and prayer that goes into preparing and planning worship so that we can be led, not performed to, but led to praise our God. Some of us are good at serving, but some of us are bad at receiving it. Some of us serve and serve and serve, and then someone says, How about you? And you say, I'm fine. I I'm good. I don't want to burden you. On October 31st, 2020, I've shared this in a class before, but my wife and my family, we all moved to Waterford, Wisconsin from Kenosha. It was a busy day. Who loves moving? And so it was a busy day, and we're moving, and uh, it's also the same day that my biological dad passed away. And then that night, if you remember this weird Halloween, there was a giant blizzard. Anybody remember this a few years ago? And so we have no snowblower, in part because I have three sons. I'm never gonna own a snowblower. Um and I there was all there's a million, I mean, there were so many things on our hearts, all of it. And I remember I heard early in the morning, thinking about having to wake up and go shovel my driveway, give me pack shovels, a four-wheeler, and uh plow out front taking care of my driveway. Found out that the neighbor across the street, Marshall, does this all the time. But when I walked out that day, I wept. Because I never would have asked for help. Some of us are so bad at receiving, and Peter, I think, right there, was bad at receiving, believing for a moment that someone could do something for him. And we all have that need your gut reaction. No, if you I gotta top it. And by the way, I will end, although it derails the story a little bit. I will add, I mean, I I I overdid it in my response to this because I don't know what to do. I went out and I made a giant like party basket for Marshall. I put some beer in there. I and then I'm well, if he doesn't drink, I put some soda in there, well, if he's on a diet, I did, you know, I put candy and then I went over to his house at 8:30, not realizing he has toddlers and I'm ringing the doorbell, and his frazzled wife comes to the door, and I'm like, Good just thank you. And true story, he we're not sure if they like us anymore. We have a hard time making eye contact with, but some of us are so bad at receiving, and I realize as I as I play that out in my own life, that we are so bad at sitting and receiving the grace that God has offered to us. We cannot sit there and trust that our Savior would want to wash our feet, would want to hold our hand, would want to come down to us. No, instead we're always looking up. God, if I could just get better, God, if I and God says, No, I'm right here with you. Back to the basics. Isn't some this wasn't, I'm sure there's been loads of back to the basics sermon series from other churches. Pastor Ryan and I have a burden though placed upon us, we feel, to remind you that following, receiving, it's a lot simpler than we make it. Jesus models this in such dramatic and powerful ways, but we miss it. All of this, this whole story is really about salvation. Unless I wash you, you have no share with me. By the way, salvation to be saved, Jesus is offering us an out from ourselves because we will fail. And because striving and trying to be the best and accomplish the most is simply exhausting. Amen. It's exhausting, it's exhausting to look at the news, it's exhausting. And so Jesus says, I've come, I've come to release you from that. You cannot wash yourself, you cannot earn your place at my table, and you cannot make yourself worthy of my love unless I wash you. That's the gospel. Before Jesus ever asks us to carry the towel, he washes our feet. Church, you have a God who wants you to receive. A God who is serving you, a God who is constantly available to you. A God, by the way, church, if you believe and profess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord, you have a God who has called you then to go serve. Whose feet would you have a hard time washing? And I ask that, knowing that I have a hard time, well, with feet, but that I have a hard time loving everybody. And then sometimes you go, yeah, but I'm not God. Maybe that's just my line. But Jesus says, look, that's not an excuse. Right before this scripture, by the way, and I think about this, and band, I'll I'll invite you to come forward. I think about this a lot. Right before this scripture, the disciples are literally arguing about who's gonna be the best. Jesus has just had this triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which by the way happened just days after he raised a man from the dead. Which, by the way, happened a few months after he literally walked on water. They could have asked him anything. And instead, they go, hey, Jesus, when you get to heaven, I'm gonna, I mean, I'm taller than Pastor Ryan, but I'm gonna be a little bit closer to you than he is. And I used to read that and think, man, Jesus' heart might must be breaking. And I think it was in some ways, but I also think that Jesus' heart was breaking for Peter, for James, for John, for all of them, when they would experience shame later because they forgot the promises, because they denied who he was. And I think our Savior is doing that to us today. Our Savior is telling us, stop living in this shame spiral. Thank you to the therapist that taught me that. Stop living in the shame spiral that's not real and start clinging to the Savior who serves you, who kneels down to you. And who's maybe saying right now, this is all you need. Just receive. Just receive. And when you're ready, when you're ready, go show the whole world what this love looks like. Let them experience it through the way you serve. At neighborhood camp, we every week, last story band, at neighborhood camp, every week at 10 a.m., it's the best part of our week. Every week at 10 a.m., we have these kids that come in here and and it and it's crazy. And by the way, it's the best part because we only have them for 30 minutes. God bless our camp directors and our leaders. But for 30 minutes, we get 50 odd kids in here, and uh, they're not odd, 50 or so kids in here, and we sing, man, they sing. If you want to pop by at 10 a.m., they sing. And Pastor Ryan, of course, plays these incredible goofy games. And then we we do a little lesson. This past week we talked about the prodigal son, super fast. There was a dad, he had two kids. One kid was like, Hey, dad, I want my inheritance now, which is like saying, I wish you were dead. And so his dad gives him the inheritance, and the kid runs away and he squanders all of it. Some of you heard the story. Then he comes back home, and we all know what happens if you know the story. And so I asked the kids, what do you think is gonna happen? The one son stayed home, did what the dad wanted, but the other son did terrible things and came home broke, wasting what his father gave him. What do you think happened? And the kid said all sorts of different things. He should have been punished, he got in trouble. And then one little girl, one little girl said, No, no, he's not in trouble. He's his son. The dad's gotta love him. And man, sometimes the gospel is that simple, right? Like there is a God who loves us, a God who doesn't tell us to go and just not care about the world and do whatever you want, but a God who says, if you lean into me, you will experience a love unlike anything you've ever experienced, and never think for one moment that there is anything you can do to separate you from my love. I'll prove it to you. I'll get down on my knees and I'll wash your feet. And then I'll go to a cross. And then I will come back, trusting you with the responsibility of sharing that good news of the world. Amen. The gospel is not good news for us only, it is good news for the world. So let's go share it. Let us pray. God, you teach us over and over again how to serve. You teach us over and over again what it means to be you in a world that so desperately needs you. God, help us. Help us to receive. God, before we could ever love like you, help us to trust that we are loved. You are the way, the truth, and the life because you model what it looks like to care, to extend mercy and forgiveness and grace. Help us, Lord, to embody those things. Holy Spirit, lead us so that we can leave this room today and change the world for your sake. Through love, it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen, church.