Speaker 1: 0:00

This morning is going to be our final service in our final sermon in our John series. We have been going through John ever since Christmas and we picked up in John 7, and today we'll end in the beginning of John 13. John 13. And next Sunday we'll have an Easter sermon about the Easter story, the resurrection of Christ, and I'm just going to give you a little preview of where we're headed. I'm really excited about where we're going with everything. And then from Easter to Pentecost, which is the second Sunday of June, we are going to be preaching a six-week series through the book of Colossians, and the title of the series is the Supremacy of Christ in the Resurrected Life. So we're celebrating resurrection, the resurrection of Christ. What does that mean for us? Why is the resurrection important and what does it look like for us to live it out? So, six weeks book of Colossians, from the Sunday after Easter through Pentecost, the second week of June, we're going to be focusing on the resurrected life and then for the rest of the month of June we're going to be focusing on and preaching out of Acts and a few other passages on the church. What does it mean now to be the church? What does it mean for us to be a part of the church. What is it that we ought to be expecting? So through the end of June, we'll be preaching through sections of Acts to focus our minds around what it means for us to be the church, and then this summer July and August we are going to be preaching a Psalms series. So we will be spending our summer in the Psalms and focusing on that, and I'm really excited. I'll just tell you this now. There's a guy that I wanted to have come out here last year. He has made it his life ambition to write a new version of a song of every psalm that's in the Bible. So he has recordings out where he has written songs on those different psalms. We've sung a few of them as a congregation here, although you probably didn't know that, and he has written a bunch more. Well, he's going to be coming here and doing a concert for us in July and then, lord willing, he may be actually helping to lead worship for us on that same Sunday, and so I'm excited to be able to have him We'll give you more details about that coming up, but as part of ourm series, I am excited that he is going to be able to come out and in his concert that he's going to be doing, he's going to be doing some talking through why the psalms are important for us, why we engage in them, how they encourage us as believers. So I just wanted to give you that look ahead to know where we're headed. I think these are all going to be very helpful for us. They're going to be formative for us. They're going to help us as we figure out what it looks like as a church to follow Jesus, to live the resurrected life, to be the church and then to, as human beings, engage in the songbook of the Bible. But today we preach our last sermon out of John until next year. Next year, lord willing, we'll pick up in John 13 after Christmas and we'll continue on through this book. You know it's pretty interesting.

Speaker 1: 3:42

I don't know if you guys ever watched the show. It's a show that I loved. When Carlin and I were first married, we would come home after church on Sunday afternoon or Sunday evening and typically what would happen is we would turn on a show and she would put her head in my lap and fall asleep and I would just watch the show by myself, because that's how it ended up. But I would always end up watching one of these reality shows like Extreme, home, makeover or whatever, and I'm a crier, so I cry easy and she would wake up to like the shaking, you know, and we're like we're in South Carolina, we're not in California, so it's probably not an earthquake, but what is going on? And then I would just be crying because of whatever is going on in the show.

Speaker 1: 4:33

One of the shows that we watched that I loved watching was the show Undercover Boss. I don't know if you've ever seen it, but the show Undercover Boss is oftentimes you have a very large company with a lot going on, but this boss, the CEO or the president would dress up in a way that he would go and work with some of the lowest people in the company and he would work alongside of them. In some cases it might be a high-end restaurant chain all over the world, but this person high-end restaurant chain all over the world, but this person the CEO of the company would go in there and dress up as like a dishwasher or as a cook's helper or some of those things, and they would just work alongside and oftentimes they would end up with some pretty nasty work to do, but they would know what it's like and they would see what it's like to do this work. They would leave their rightful office, their rightful place in the office, and they would come and they would work. And then later on what would happen is, if you watch the show, they would remove the disguise and they would say I'm actually so-and-so, I'm the head of this company, and they would either tell them you did a horrible job and I can't believe that you work for me, or they would say you're amazing, it's a privilege to get to know you and I'm glad that you work for me.

Speaker 1: 6:01

There was also another story that I think of George Washington, our first president George Washington is known for. After he did his second term as president, he gave his resignation address, the very famous address. George Washington, by all accounts, was very popular. People were ready to crown him the king of America, and yet he understood that the government that had been set up there was to kind of, was to try to disseminate the power from or to decentralize the power from one person and to spread it over the government. And he knew that, if he remained in it, that there was a movement behind him to make him the first king of America and in a very powerful address, and at the time there was no limit on terms, so he could have very likely stayed in as long as he would have wanted. But George Washington gives this resignation address that just shocks everybody and reminds people that it's not about him and he simply wants to go back to his farm and live as a farmer and just work the land. And it was a very humbling, a very it was a humbling thing. It was something that you see from someone who had all the power and all the privilege to be able to do whatever he wanted to turn it down and to just leave government to go and become a farmer and become a farmer.

Speaker 1: 7:47

You know, as we consider these stories and stories like these, they're very moving. They are stories that really cause us to pause and to think and to reflect. But in this story that we are going to read today, in John 13, jesus doesn't come in a disguise. As a matter of fact, as we've been going and following through John, we've seen Jesus, little by little, reveal himself who he is and he tells them very plainly where he has come from, who has sent him, why he is there. He has not come in disguise, he's not ready to rip it off and say, surprise, guess what? I'm the God of heaven. No, he has been very clear as to who he is and why he is there and what he is to do. And although he had extreme power, the power, infinite power, we find him in our text today. We find him in our text today humbling himself in a very powerful and in a way that would never be forgotten, that would always be remembered, so much so that, as Christians, we observe two primary sacraments or ordinances. We have the ordinance of baptism, or the sacrament of baptism, and then we have the table, the Lord's table, this text, this story that we're going to look at today.

Speaker 1: 9:10

Some people have even thought that it is so critical and so important to the Christian faith that they believe that it would be a third sacrament of the Christian faith, and it is the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet. Now, on Thursday, we're going to be here and, lord willing, if everything goes well, we'll have the chapel rearranged in a way where there'll be a table with food and we'll have a meal together. Here, in this space, we're going to reenact what would be considered the Passover meal, but from a Christian perspective, and then we will share in this together. So in some sense it's a slowing down and not an exaggerating, but making larger what we do at the table every Sunday, and it's just focusing on what it means to be gathered together in the name of Christ. So that's on Monday, thursday, but in that same account, in that same way, jesus does this amazing thing that grabs the attention of his disciples and it leaves a mark. It leaves something in their mind that they, by God's grace, carry on with them through the rest of their ministry. This, as Pastor Roy said last week, jesus is done with his public ministry. He is no longer speaking to the crowds. From here on out, chapter 13 marks the moment when it's just about him and his disciples, when it's just about him engaging with disciples and we follow him all the way to the cross. There's no longer any public addresses or public actions that he does. This is now between him and his disciples. So this text that we're going to look at John 13, is specifically targeting those who follow Jesus. So, as we look at this to today, if you have your faith and your trust and hope in Jesus, this is for you. We can look at Jesus engaging with, talking to his disciples and we can see what happens here.

Speaker 1: 11:32

And one of the things that I want to mark before we read the text is that Jesus Jesus changes ordinary things that happen every day around us into sacred things. There is a breaking apart of things that are specifically sacred and things that are secular, and there is a blending together. As a matter of fact, debbie Thomas, one of my favorite authors, says this After Maundy Thursday there is no such thing as quote ordinary anymore. Jesus makes it impossible for us to compartmentalize sacred from secular. Ours is a God of tepid water, dusty toes, cracked heels and unpedicured feet, cracked heels and unpedicured feet. A God of basins and towels, a God of small upper rooms, a God of a single candle burning on a cluttered kitchen counter and maybe no one else will see but you. Ours is a God who comes into our smallness, our messiness and our not nearly good enoughness, and transforms it all with grace. So, as we look at this text today, I want us to recognize that, although the King of heaven came to earth to do the greatest thing that we could ever imagine to offer salvation to all who would believe and trust in him that that starts for us, that is exhibited for us, it is played out for us through a simple act of washing feet, and it is an example that we ought to follow. So let's look at John, chapter 13, beginning in verse 1. And I'm going to read from verse 1 to verse 20. I'm going to focus primarily on 1 through 17, but I'm going to read this 1 through 20, and then we'll look at this and be done.

Speaker 1: 13:50

Verse 1, 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 During supper, when the devil had already put it in the heart of Judas, iscariot, simon's son, to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from the supper. He laid aside his outer garment and, taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him Lord, do you wash my feet. Jesus answered him what I am doing? You do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand. Peter said to him you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him. Simon Peter said Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you, for he knew who was going to betray him. That was why he said not all of you are clean.

Speaker 1: 15:38

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garment and resumed his place, he said to them do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I, then your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done to you. Truly, I say unto you a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I'm not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but the scriptures will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. I am telling you this now, before it takes place, and when it does take place, you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say unto you whoever receives the one I send receives me. Whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. This is the word of the Lord.

Speaker 1: 16:50

There's a lot here and there's a bunch we could jump into. I'm not going to do that this morning. I am going to address a few things that are in this text that hopefully will help us. I want to approach us more pastorally today as we enter into this text, because what I see here, jesus is doing two things. He is doing something to demonstrate for us, in a very small but meaningful way, what he intends to do within the week. He is demonstrating a heart of service. He's demonstrating humility. He's demonstrating something in a very small way and he even tells them what I'm doing right now. You don't understand until later, because they are going to connect that with what he is doing here doesn't quite make sense until they see him die on the cross and wash away their sins through the forgiveness that he offers them through his death and through the power of his resurrection. But the second thing he does is not just a theological example, but the second things he does is he gives his followers, his disciples, an example of how they ought to live their life toward those around them. He gives them a very vivid picture of what it's like for someone who is respected to put aside in some sense their dignity so that they can serve the needs of those around them. And he calls us into that service. He calls us to follow him in that service.

Speaker 1: 18:53

So what I want us to see this morning is this to be a disciple of Jesus is to humbly and sacrificially serve others. To be a disciple of Jesus is to humbly and sacrificially serve others. Three points that I wanna give this morning. As we walk through this text, the first thing that I want us to see is this no matter what, jesus' love will never give up on you. Now we just sang that right, one of the things I've heard critics talk about the song that we just sang this morning. It's so repetitive never gives up. The song itself never gives up. It just keeps going on and on and on right. The reality is, is that I think that it's intended to give the effect that it does not give up, no matter what. Jesus' love will never give up on you.

Speaker 1: 19:59

Jesus enters into this moment of caring for, demonstrating to his disciples. He enters into this moment, according to John's commentary here, with great love. Look at it, the beginning. Look at verse one and verse two. What's it say? Before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father? What's it say Before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father? What's it say? Having loved his own who were in the world, and then there's almost this doubling down he loved them to the end. John is writing this after he has already experienced the power of the resurrection. He's already, jesus has already ascended, and John is writing this and he wants to confirm to them that Jesus is entering into this week.

Speaker 1: 20:54

He's entering into this moment, but broadly into the week where he serves those whom he loves. He serves those who are his, those whom he loves. He serves those who are his. He serves them both by washing their simply washing their feet, but by also laying down his life so that when he on the cross. Before he gives his last breath, he says it is finished. His love was still there for all who are his, no matter what, no matter what it is you go through, no matter who it is, no matter where you are. His love will never give up on you. We know that Peter, who ends up having a conversation with him here, is going to deny him. It's already noted in this text.

Speaker 1: 21:45

Look at verse 2, during the supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him. Jesus, he knew that Judas was going to betray him and yet he still washes his feet with the rest of the disciples. Jesus, knowing everything that is going on here, he still continues to serve them out of love, god's love that we experience through Jesus Christ is powerful. It is unending. Christ is powerful, it is unending.

Speaker 1: 22:26

I want us to see here that his love not only does not stop, no matter the circumstances, but I also want us to see that, god, that Jesus' love is tangible. It's not just philosophical and or theoretical. He could simply just pontificate about how much he loves them or how much he cares for them or how much he wants to do, but here we see a tangible, real-life example of what his love and his care for them looks like. So much so that he is willing to take off his clothes like a servant, to undignify himself and to put a towel around his waist and to kneel down and to wash their stinky, smelly feet. Jesus, lord, teacher, is willing to do this. So much so that we see how appalling it is. Through Peter's response, through Peter's reaction. He's just like no way you're not doing this Like. This does not make sense. And yet Jesus wants to leave the impact on those who follow him that this is what service and love looks like, but it's a tangible. It's literally washing dirt off of feet. It's not just an idea. Jesus is doing that which actually has a physical result.

Speaker 1: 24:10

And I also want us to see that Jesus' love is not just tangible, but it's also personal. It's also personal. He takes the time to wash each of their feet. Jesus' love compels him to serve, even in this very, very small way. There's a lot of things that he could have done. There's one you know Jesus was in his teaching said a cold cup of water, given in my name. It will be praised from the housetops. He could have just handed out water. He could have done a number of other things, but there was something significantly powerful about him taking on what was supposed to be the act of a servant. We also see this service of washing the feet as it will be a foreshadowing of Jesus' death, as he serves the world through his death on the cross, bringing forgiveness to those whom he loves. And so, as we look at this, we need to understand that what Jesus starts off with at the beginning of this week, with the simple yet meaningful and powerful washing of his disciples' feet, will culminate at the end of the week with him serving those whom he loves, those who are his, by dying on the cross. Again, a tangible and personal service and love to those who are his. The second thing that I want us to see this morning in this text, is that the service that Jesus brings is both thorough and necessary. The service that Jesus brings is both thorough and necessary.

Speaker 1: 25:56

This conversation, peter doesn't leave us hanging. He doesn't stop being himself. He's going to just speak up and say his mind. He is going to make it very, very clear that you don't wash my feet. This is not how it works. This does not make sense. My mind is not comprehending this.

Speaker 1: 26:23

As a matter of fact, if I were to pull out a basin and towel here and strip down into a towel and have you guys start taking off your feet, I think all of us would feel a little bit awkward. I mean, you might say, come on, I know you're trying to, you know, get a point across, but really it would be a little awkward. You would insist to stop. Okay, we get the point. You read the passage. You preached the sermon. Just get off your knees, put your clothes back on and let's just get on with it. It would be super awkward. Why? Because this is not, this is weird. I rub my wife's feet at night and even that to some people just feels weird, like why, you know, just rubbing someone's feet, feet is kind of a nasty thing. And especially in that day and age where there's this hierarchy and this system of who's important and they do certain things and who's unimportant and they do certain things and who's unimportant and they do other things, this would have felt really, really weird.

Speaker 1: 27:31

But the service that Jesus brings has bigger implications and intentions than that meet the eye. Now. I believe that Jesus enters into this moment of washing his disciples' feet with the intention of demonstrating to them what it is to be one of his disciples, what it is to follow him as their teacher and as their Lord. I believe he enters into this, but I don't, and so the conversation that comes up here with John, I don't believe, is necessarily what he intended to happen. Yet Jesus knows all things, and John, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit to text and to tell us the story, records Peter's conversation with Jesus here.

Speaker 1: 28:24

So what I don't want to do is I don't want to get into all the details of what did he mean when he said you know, I'm going to wash your feet, but I don't have to wash the rest of your body, because you're already clean, but not everyone's clean. And so what is it Like? What is the symbolism here? What's Jesus getting at? I don't want to get into all that, but what I do, I do want to draw a couple quick points to help us understand at least this, and that is this there is some things that is left up for Jesus to do. There's some things that only Jesus is going to be able to do. Jesus' intention here was to give an example of what he wants his disciples to do when he's gone, after he goes back to God. He wants to give them an example of what they are to do, and what they can do is do something like this tangibly, lovingly, humbly serving your neighbor by washing their feet. This is an example.

Speaker 1: 29:24

Peter dives into this whole theological discussion like, well, yeah, I mean, I just don't want my feet washed, then I need all of me clean, especially after Jesus clearly says to him if I don't wash your feet, then you have no part with me, like I have no share with me. So I think it's important for us to understand that there are some things that only Jesus can do. But I would also say this I would also say that Jesus makes it very, very clear that there is a distinction between those who have been washed clean and those who have not. He identifies the fact that there is one, at least one, in in the room, or there is the one in the room judas iscariot, who is not truly one of his, who is truly not a believer, who will not continue in faith, and judas, although jesus will wash his feet, jesus identifies this one as one who has not been washed, one who is not clean, and so what we have here is. We have this reality, this theological understanding that Jesus is speaking, that not everybody was clean, not everybody has been forgiven, not everybody has been washed. But what I am doing is about taking care of number one. I'm showing you an example, but I'm also taking care of the dirt that you carry with you, just through everyday matters.

Speaker 1: 30:55

Now, again, without going into a lot of the theological ideas here and as I've read the commentaries on it, there's people all over the place on this what is he referring to? What is he specifically saying? Why is he saying this? About not washing the body but washing the feet, and all of that. But what I do want us to do, there's two things that I want us to take away from this, and that is this when we look at Peter and we look at how he responds to Jesus, peter is being taught a lesson and us, through Peter, is being taught a lesson of what it is to be clean and what it is to be forgiven. You know, I think one of the biggest problems that we have and I'll speak even to myself, one of the biggest problems that we have, and I'll speak even to myself, one of the biggest problems that I have that we have is that we don't understand what it is like to forgive and to be forgiven. I think we struggle with that.

Speaker 1: 32:01

What is forgiveness? Forgiveness is something that, as somebody who is the offended party, as somebody who has been taken advantage of, who has been robbed from, I assume the liability on myself. As the one who is also the victim, I absorb the cost of that offense. I absorb the cost of that offense. I basically, in my forgiveness there's not anything else except for me saying I am going to take on myself the offense of what you have done. That is a beautiful thing, it is a powerful thing.

Speaker 1: 32:39

In another account, jesus even says that the one who has been forgiven much will love much. Forgiveness is something that causes us to respond in love. I cannot believe that somebody would forgive me in that way. It is a huge and admirable thing to forgive somebody and to say there is no longer a payment that is needed after this forgiveness. But here's the other thing. This is tricky and I think this is what Peter's dealing with. It is a difficult thing to be forgiven. It is difficult to be forgiven because we have to live with the reality that my offense is still out there. The payment has not been made. There is not a tangible accounting of the payment, of what has been made, and so I can't deal with that. The person says I forgive you, there's no longer any matter, but I still feel it in me that I owe you something. I still feel it in me that I ought to do something, that I ought to make up for my offense. And so what do we do? We enter into this feeling of guilt and shame and we struggle with what it means to be forgiven. We might actually do something for somebody who has forgiven us, and in our minds we're doing it just to show love, but in our heart we actually still are doing it out of guilt. I owe them something. I know they forgave me, but I still owe them something.

Speaker 1: 34:27

Peter, as he is looking at what Jesus is doing, he is dealing with the reality of what it means to be washed clean. In some sense, peter has kind of like this proud humility You're not washing me. No, I would never allow you to do that to me, because that is just so low, that is too low for you. I don't deserve that. So he says don't wash my feet. And then Jesus says to him yeah. Well, if I don't wash your feet, then you have no part in me at all. Well then, peter's like I'm all in. Okay, whatever it is, I'm all in. And Jesus is basically just laying out the fact that Jesus has come out of love to serve and to love them. Love him. There is something that he is going to do through his work on the cross that will guarantee his washing away, guarantee his forgiveness. But Jesus is leaning into the fact that there is still, in spite of being washed clean, in spite of having a bath or a shower, that there is still dirt that gathers on us, and Jesus wants to demonstrate, as a leader of his disciples, what it means to care for that.

Speaker 1: 35:47

We preached in Peter that love covers a multitude of sins. There is something significant about our love that washes away this dirt. This is one of the reasons why we do a confession every Sunday. This is one of the reasons why we come every Sunday and we have a time of confession where we are confronted with our sin. We have a prayer time that we pray together and that we join in together praying our prayer of confession. It's not because I need new forgiveness. I need a new bath, I need to be washed again.

Speaker 1: 36:26

No, we're coming as people who've already been accepted by God. We're people who've already been cleansed, we've already people who've already been forgiven, but what do we have? We've walked the week and gotten dirt on our feet, and Jesus wants us to come back together and be reminded yeah, I'm clean, but I've still got dirt, and I need to be reminded that I need to be forgiven, I need cleansing, and that Jesus has done it through the cross. We're not being forgiven and given new salvation. Week after week, we are actually just being reminded that, although we're clean, we still have dirt on our feet. And so we see, through this interaction here that Peter has, that he is struggling with the fact that Jesus is doing what is necessary in that moment, but that Jesus has already done and he will complete that work at the cross and at the tomb. He will complete the work that guarantees his cleansing and his forgiveness. Lastly, I want us to look at this Forgiveness. Lastly, I want us to look at this the service and love of Jesus should be adopted and practiced by all who follow him. The service and the love of Jesus should be adopted and practiced by all who follow him.

Speaker 1: 37:59

Jesus then says he asks them a question. If you look back verse seven he says this what I am doing, you do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand. Well then verse 12, he says and when he had washed their feet and put out his armor and a garment and resumed his place, he said to them do you understand what I've done to you? He already tells them what I'm doing right now. You're not going to get it until later. But then he just like asked them do you understand what I did? And I think he's trying to log in their memory this moment and saying I don't want you to forget this. I want you to be thinking about this, I want you to go through this week and when you observe and experience everything that's gonna happen, I want you to remember this. And you're not gonna understand it now, but I'm gonna give you a little bit of an understanding ahead of time. So what does he say? He says you call me teacher and Lord, and you're right, for so I am.

Speaker 1: 39:01

If I, then your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet, for I've given you an example that you should do, just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say unto you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. He's basically saying this if I am your Lord and your teacher, if I am your master and I am willing to take off my clothes like a servant and make myself undignified and get down and do the lowest job, and get down and do the lowest job, and if I am your master and you are the you are, I am the one over you, then this is not too low of a job for you either. If I am willing to lay down myself, if I'm willing to humble myself, this is not too low for you.

Speaker 1: 40:11

Now, I could not read this text without thinking of the text that we read in our scripture reading today, because after studying this passage in John, it has brought new realities for me as I've read Philippians 2. We read it this morning and, just so you know, this was not planned. This was part of our normal scripture reading, our lectionary, but this was our passage for this morning and as I'm reading it, you can look in your bulletin. It says for our New Testament reading. Well, actually, before we do that, I want to say this I want to ask you the question what does it mean to serve one another? What does it mean to care for one another, to love one another? What is Jesus wanting them to go away thinking? What does that look like for us? What does that look like for his disciples? You can look at the text in our bulletin, but I'm going to start reading that text just a little earlier.

Speaker 1: 41:26

So at the beginning of chapter 2, it says this so, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy. Being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind, this is it. This is it. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but, in humility, count others more significant than yourself. Let each of you look not on his own interests but also to the interests of others. And this is where our passage picks up from our scripture reading today.

Speaker 1: 42:15

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, he was not just a teacher or a Lord. He was God Almighty, he was the maker of heaven and earth. He is the one who stooped down and took clay from the earth that he had created. With his speech and formed man. He formed the feet that he was washing. His speech and formed man he formed the feet that he was washing. He is not just a wise teacher, he is the God of the universe, and the God of the universe taking on bodily form. He did not count equality with God as something to be grasped or something that he hold onto and cling to and hold it over other people's heads. Do you know who I am? Do you know what I've done? That's not what he did, but he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant. And before he goes to the cross, he literally takes on the form of a servant. And before he goes to the cross, he literally takes on the form of a servant. He takes his clothes off and he puts himself down on the ground where he's washing the dirt off of his disciples' feet. He was born in the likeness of men and, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient, to the point of death, even the death on a cross.

Speaker 1: 43:58

This passage in Philippians that Paul refers to, and I say refers to, is because this passage is commonly known as an early Christian psalm. It's something that they would have sung. If I were to start singing in Christ alone, my hope is found, we would all be familiar with that song. We would sing along. Or if I were to sing Amazing Grace, we would all join in and sing it. Why? It's a way of encapsulating truths about God and who he is in a way that's memorable and something that we can do. This passage, when Paul starts writing this, he says he was in the form of God did not con equality with God a thing to be grasped. This is a song that they would have sung. They would have been familiar with it.

Speaker 1: 44:49

I'm wondering if whoever wrote this psalm, this song that they sung, had in mind maybe they were even in the room and they had their feet washed and they think of he took on the form of a servant. I can't get the thought out of my mind. I can't get the thought out of my mind. I can't get the idea out of my mind that he took on the form of a servant and, being found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself and it wasn't just a servant that just washed his feet, but he became obedient to the death of a cross.

Speaker 1: 45:27

And Paul, here in Philippians, says this this is the mind that you should have in you. What does Jesus mean when he says if I am your master and the servant is not greater than the master and I, as your master, am willing to do this, if I am willing to do this, should you not do that? Well, here's my mind. My mind is this Don't be thinking about your interests more than other people's interests. Don't think of yourself and things that you have achieved and the things that you've accomplished as something that's yours that you should leverage for your own purposes, to hang it over other people and think of things that other people need as less dignified than you.

Speaker 1: 46:18

No, no, he wants jesus, wants us to have the mindset of a servant, where we are willing to do the most despicable and menial things out of love and out of service, out of being a disciple of jesus. He is going to go on and we're not going to. Unfortunately, we're not going to get to this part of the end of chapter 13, but he talks to them about a commandment that he is going to go on and, unfortunately, we're not going to get to this part of the end of chapter 13. But he talks to them about a commandment that he is going to give them. He says a new commandment. It's not new, like it's never been around before. I'm going to give you a fresh, new reality of what this commandment is and what it looks like for you, now that you've experienced my life and you've seen what I've done and how I live. This is what I want you to do. Here's the new commandment Love one another. That's the new commandment Love one another. And that drives home this understanding of what it is to serve one another. Now Jesus expects, in the same way that he made clear to Peter, that if I do not wash you, you have no part in me, jesus fully expects that those who are his disciples, those who follow him, will do just as they have seen in their Lord and teacher. Do you know?

Speaker 1: 47:52

To be a follower of a rabbi in this day and age was not just to gain knowledge. To be a follower of a rabbi was not just to hear them teach and to develop new ideas and to strengthen their theology and to build the philosophy. To be a follower of a rabbi was to change your life, to live and walk and be like the rabbi. It might start with the mind, but it is to be fleshed out in our lives, in our actions. So we gather this morning as followers and disciples of Jesus. Gather this morning as followers and disciples of Jesus, and I want us to stop and think for a moment.

Speaker 1: 48:51

What does it mean for us, then, to follow the example of Jesus, to live our life as expendable, life as expendable, to be able to recognize that I, at any moment, like Jesus, can put off anything that identifies me as greater than another person, and I'm willing to put that aside so that I can enter into the type of work that Jesus leads us and teaches us to do. This is not just about knowing that I should love people. This is not just about knowing that it's a good thing to care for people and serve people. This is about us becoming like Jesus, living like Jesus, walking like Jesus. Living like Jesus, walking like Jesus. And I would dare say like, honestly, it was a rough week this week for me.

Speaker 1: 49:50

I really struggled working through this text, not necessarily because of all this, but I also looked at it and I found myself literally weeping at times thinking I don't do this, at times thinking I don't do this, who am I to get up here and say this to our people? I try, but I know there are times that I'm just like I'm not answering that phone call because I know what that means, or I'm going to ignore this moment because of this. I've got more important things to do. Or we and this is me too right we clutter our lives with things back to back to back to back to back, and we have no margin to offer to anyone. Why? Because we're more interested in accomplishing things for ourselves than we are for others. And so when we go and say to people how are you? I'm busy, things are busy. Well, great.

Speaker 1: 50:51

Maybe busyness is not just the nature of the life that we live in, but maybe busyness is also keeping us from living out the kind of service and the kind of love that God would want us to have. Maybe what we need to do is prioritize the opportunity of serving other people by creating spaces and margins in our calendars for opportunities to arise. How often I feel this way? How often is it that we just say I can't do it, I've got too much on the schedule. I wish I could be there for you, but I'm just packed Again. I'm talking to myself here. We're so interested in doing our things to accomplish our goals and our agendas and get things done our way and, honestly, the world we live in doesn't make it easy for us. Sometimes you just have you have to like bust it out in order to survive.

Speaker 1: 51:48

I understand that, but I think that it's very important for us as believers and I want to tell you that I am committed to figuring out what this looks like even for me to help lead us in a way that we can be known for people who love and serve and sacrifice for those who are around us and for one another. We should be known for that. This is how Jesus expects for us to live. He models it for us. So, as I said from the beginning, to be a disciple of Jesus is to humbly and sacrificially serve others. To serve one another, and to serve others is going to require humility and sacrifice. The question is are you willing to be formed like your Lord and your teacher, so that your life follows the example of Jesus?

Speaker 1: 52:59

As we go into this period of what Christ has done, we will look at his crosswork and his resurrection and say I am so grateful that he did that for me because I could not do it myself, which is true. I just want to thank him for that. But you know what? There are small little ways that we could sacrifice and give ourselves that will point other people to his work and will make a difference in their lives as they feel and they sense and they experience the love and the grace of God through you, and I pray and ask that God will do that in us as His people. Lord, we thank you so much that you made Yourself as a servant, you took on the form of a servant, you humbled yourself and you became obedient to death, to a death on the cross, the execution of a prisoner.

Speaker 1: 54:22

God, I pray that you would help us as we think through this for ourselves. I can't tell everyone, and nor do you provide in your scriptures a clear layout of what this is going to look like for each and every one of us. But as we clear our schedules and as we create space in our lives to follow your example, god, I pray that you would open up those opportunities where we can serve and love one another. God, I pray that you would help us to realize that just a simple, seemingly insignificant act can point people to the cross, can point them to the gospel, can then point them to your love and your mercy. So help us to be your disciples, your people. Help us to live as you live. Help us to have the mind of Christ that is in you. Let that mind be the mind that unites us together in this place as your people. God and I pray that you would do this for your glory and for the good of all, in Christ's name amen.