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[0:00] John chapter 13, if you've got your Bibles, just a further little exhortation on the Lordship of Christ.! Now, as a church we don't believe in Lordship salvation, that's an error, but we do believe in the Lordship of the Saviour, and that He is Lord and we should be His servants.

[0:19] And John chapter 13, we read from verse 13, it says this, John 13 from verse 13, our Lord is there at the Lord's table, the upper room, and He's intending to wash their feet.

[0:34] And He says, So the Lord Jesus, He is Master, He is Lord. He's speaking of the servant, He's speaking of His Lord. Of course, for we that trust Christ, we are His servants, He's our Lord.

[1:11] Lord means Master, it means Teacher, Instructor, you could say it means Controller. It's a good control to be under the control of the Lord. Have you submitted to the personal Lordship of Christ? Do you know Him? He comes on the scene and He says to us, follow Me.

[1:31] And He urges us to leave our own way of living and walking and to take His path. It says in 1 John 3 verse 2, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

[1:50] I'd like to think, really, what a great church it would be if everyone was like Jesus. Wouldn't it? Wouldn't it be such a great church? And really that's what we're called to be. We're called to be like Him, it says.

[2:04] And the Bible exhorts us many times to the theme of godliness. Godliness. And it's been said that the best definition of godliness is godlikeness.

[2:15] We should be like Him, like God, like Christ. So I want to urge you in a nutshell the thought of being like Christ, being Christ-like, to urge you to Christ-likeness.

[2:28] Really people should see a family likeness, if you like, that we have. You know, see that with some families, don't you? Down the shops and you see what clearly is a mum and her daughter, or a, you know, you see a family and they all kind of got the same appearance.

[2:46] And to think, really, as God's children, we should have a family likeness, that we should look like Jesus in the sense. Men and women, both, can be like Jesus.

[2:57] That's what we're called to be. We're called to be like Him, to think of that. And I would urge you in three things today, three things I could put to you, of ways that you can be like Him.

[3:07] Now, firstly, number one, serve like Him. Again, verse 15 of John 13, it says, Our Lord says, I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.

[3:19] Now, I know some churches where they do literally have foot washing. We're not going to do that this morning. You'll be relieved. I see the sigh of relief there, brother.

[3:30] We know that too. I know my feet aren't particularly, as much as they're beautiful feet. They can be smelly feet. And that's real, isn't it? But we don't necessarily have to reenact a physical foot washing, although there might be a time and place for that.

[3:47] But it's more about the spiritual intent of that. And the point that our Lord is making is setting this striking example of how we are to live, how we are to treat others.

[3:58] This was the most menial, humble thing to do. I know some people have got jobs where they've got to wash people. That's a humbling thing. But it's also something that is very important and is a very comforting thing for the person who's getting washed.

[4:12] And to think that our Lord would stoop down and do that humble, menial thing, that lowly task, that menial thing of being that most servant of servants.

[4:24] And he was a genuine servant. And he says, do as I have done to you. Get that mindset that I should serve like he served. And what a servant, what a genuine servant that he was.

[4:36] We read in Philippians 2 from verse 3, it says, It says, It says, It reads on verse 5, Now it says, Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory.

[5:32] There sure is a lot of vain glory out there. There's self-centeredness, isn't there? You see what people post on Facebook. People just self-serving. It's all about the self, the selfie, the self-image.

[5:44] Focused on pleasing ourselves. And not much thought for others. Again, similar to the theme of my earlier talk.

[5:55] When we become a Christian, we give our heart to Christ. And it's only possible because he first gave his heart for us. Really, isn't it? In that sense, giving our heart, it's because he's given his heart.

[6:08] And the Bible does talk about that Christ will dwell in your hearts by faith. That's a scriptural thing. He humbled himself to the death of a common criminal. That's how humble our Lord is.

[6:19] Think of the attitude of service, of humility. He says, You should do as I have done for you. There's very few that are willing to take the mantle of a servant.

[6:31] There's people serving in behind the scenes here who are making this service run reasonably well. We thank God for those that are behind the scenes. The unsung heroes.

[6:42] Those that have helped clean this place and doing those tasks of preparing the communion time and such. But there's very few that are really willing to take that mantle, the mantle of a servant.

[6:55] Take the towel of a servant. They would rather have the rights than the responsibilities of serving God. They would rather have recognition than inconvenience.

[7:06] You know, it's easier to not put your hand up. Some would rather have the spotlight than the hidden place.

[7:19] It's a question, isn't it? How is our attitude? Will we take the towel? Take up your towel? Or throw in the towel? Are you a servant? What would be OHMS? OHMS, you know the old statement of the government of the day?

[7:33] OHMS. On His Majesty's service though, at His Majesty's command, running His Majesty's errands, obeying His Majesty's orders, a good servant is committed, unselfish, available, sacrificial, giving, devoted, reliable, not out for position or praise or not looking for credit or acknowledgement but just doing what needs to be done, quietly.

[7:58] Will you follow His example? What a servant. Be like Him today. Serve like Him. Secondly, in aiming to be like Jesus, I put to you, serve like Him.

[8:10] Secondly, love like Jesus. Love like Him. A new commandment, it says, I give unto you, John 13, 34, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

[8:23] By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another. So love like Jesus is a very important principle. He repeats it again, John 15, verses 12, through 13, and then 17.

[8:38] He says, This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Now, greater love had no man than this than a man laid down his life for his friends. That's the kind of love he's talking about.

[8:50] A love that would even sacrifice self. As I have loved you. And again, verse 17, these things I've commanded you, that ye love one another.

[9:02] So what should mark a servant of the Lord? A servant of the Lord, it says, Paul tells Timothy, the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men.

[9:14] Be forbearing, be gracious, be kind, be sensitive, be gently pointing people to the Saviour, to the truth, that they might be saved. Once we were lost, now we are found.

[9:27] We were where they were. Be gentle as you reach out with the message. Don't be braggadocious or brash. Be like him. He's so gentle and kind and gracious, full of grace and truth.

[9:42] Yes, he's full of truth, but he's full of grace as well. We need the two. So be like him today. Love like him, show compassion, have a heart. And the Bible tells us that God commands his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

[9:58] So God's love is extending so widely and freely and fully extended to the undeserving, to the loveless, to the unlovely, to the unlovable, that while we were yet sinners, while we were his enemies and his love breaks through every barrier of religion, of race, of culture, of time, of space, his hand reaches such that there's no one beyond the scope of his love and salvation.

[10:28] Friends, his hand is not shortened that it cannot say. So do we love like him? Think of your love. Sometimes I love, yeah, I'll love someone just so far and I'll cut, have a dividing line but his love is extended.

[10:44] It's self-sacrificing. It's self-denying. It's not got a convenience point that it doesn't go beyond. It goes beyond, above and beyond anything.

[10:56] It goes beyond having a love in return. It's a loving without limit, without exception, without reservation. with no strings attached. Undeserved, unwarranted, unselfish, not always reciprocated.

[11:09] When we think how we love someone, how we love people, sometimes we're a bit limited, aren't we? We don't have that overflowing love. And it's not a love that yet can challenge people.

[11:24] Our Lord Jesus did not have a love that shied away from challenging people, from confronting people. when he left the Pharisees under no illusions about their need to repent.

[11:36] He left them under no illusions that they had not right standing with God and needed to be saved. Now this love will speak the truth. This love will challenge and stand against error.

[11:47] Because we love the truth, we'll oppose error, we'll stand against it. And this love will stand for what is right and true and godly. So this love, the love that we have, God's love, is not a weak love, it's strong, it's resolute, it's determined, devoted love.

[12:04] It's a love that will go the second mile and it's steadfast love. So my plea to you this morning is be like him. Be like him.

[12:15] Serve like him. Be a servant like Jesus. Love like him. Have a love that's wow, such love. And thirdly, suffer like him.

[12:27] That's why it's a bit hard to take but yes, sometimes we call to suffer like him. It says in 1 Peter 2, even here unto were you called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.

[12:45] Now, suffering for Christ is a part that's not going to sound too attractive. I don't know that I can sell you on that as something to look forward to. But if you must follow the example of the saviour, the suffering servant, the suffering saviour, then there may be times when you will suffer like him.

[13:05] We know in the workplace, in the home place, in the street place, as you speak for Christ, as you stand for Christ, there'll be some opposition. You might cop some suffering. In the context of 1 Peter 2, verse 19 talks about making a stand of conscience suffering wrongfully.

[13:24] You might do well and suffer for it. In verse 23 of 1 Peter 2, it says, our Lord was reviled and he did not retaliate. He suffered and he did not threaten again.

[13:36] What about you and me? Are we willing to stand for Christ such that we'll be willing to be misunderstood, that we'll be willing to be mocked and criticised for our faith? I know some of you are in workplaces where you're on the firing line.

[13:50] It's sometimes hard to even utter a word or say anything to stand for the Lord but God will help you to find the words, the tact, the wisdom, the place, the means, the ways that you can stand for Christ and be willing to cop some suffering if it be God's will.

[14:07] It says, 2 Timothy 2, verse 12, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. So be willing, people of God today, be willing to be a Christian that is not afraid to stand for Christ, alright?

[14:24] Be willing to bear your cross, to follow in his tread, to walk in his bleeding footsteps, to bear the scoffing rude, to face the criticism of the crowd, the hatred for his namesake even.

[14:39] It says in Isaiah 53, 3, he is despised and rejected of man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hear, as it were, our faces from him, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

[14:53] He was treated like this vile person. He was hated. They hated his guts. Now just like that story I told of the reenactment in a parade, they still hate him. There's people today that hold signs like, if Christ comes again, we'll kill him again.

[15:08] They hate Christ. They hate the Saviour. They hate his truth. They hate who he is. And we need to be willing to stand with our Saviour, be made fun of even, look down upon.

[15:19] They didn't consider him worth anything. He was despised and rejected. And we are in his tread. We are in his number. We are his. And he is ours. So let's be prepared to take the lowest place, to take the insults and the hurtful remarks.

[15:35] You know, sometimes we know in the workplace settings there's people that mock Christians. You know, I've experienced it, where they mock you and they talk behind their backs about you and they make subtle remarks to undermine the fact that you're standing for Christ.

[15:52] But do not be afraid, brother. Do not be afraid, sister, to bear the pain of hateful treatment, even persecution, even that you be mocked and forsaken by friends, even by family.

[16:05] Our Lord says this, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

[16:24] He goes on to say, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. They will. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

[16:37] But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. So serve like him, love like him, suffer like him, if he wills that for you.

[16:49] And fourthly, go like him. Go like him. Again, this theme of mission is really a repeating theme. Go like Christ. He says, John 17, as he prayed for his church, as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

[17:06] So being like Christ, being like Christ means that we will be willing to go like Christ, to be sent like Christ. Again, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

[17:22] I know I've said this multiple times in sermons lately. His service is our service. His love is our love. His suffering is our suffering. His mission is our mission.

[17:34] And he says, peace I leave with you. He says, peace be unto you. As my Father has sent me, so send I you. So, to wrap it up just now, my message to you is that we shall be like him.

[17:51] We shall be. One day, we're not quite there yet. Some of you look a bit more like Jesus than I do. And you act more like Jesus than I do. Let's all be like him.

[18:01] Let's have that family likeness. Amen? To serve like him. To be willing to serve. To take the lowest place. To be loving like him. To love, even as he tells us, love your enemies.

[18:13] Wow! That's controversial, isn't it? That's countercultural. That we should so love that our love is so extreme. That we love like him. That we suffer like him.

[18:24] such that we're willing to bear persecution and mockery as a Christian will stand no matter what the suffering we might face. And lastly, to go like him. To take that gospel, take it to however many you can.

[18:39] And in all these different ways, we can emulate him. To be like him. To follow in his steps. To walk in his way. To aim to keep in his shadow. The Christian men and women that I know in my life growing up and in recent times, it's the ones that I look up to and think, wow, they're just like, I'd imagine Jesus would be just like that.

[19:02] I'd imagine that the Lord Jesus would be just like them. That they're showing Jesus to me. It's Jesus in them that's coming out of them. It's kind of exuding out of their skin.

[19:13] Out of their living. Out of the way they are. It's their attitude. It's Christ's attitude. Their heart. Their love. Their grace. It's Christ in them. Christ in you.

[19:24] The hope of glory. And friends, we can be. We can be like him. This side of glory, I believe. We can be like him. Ever more like him. Like him more. Day by day. More and more like him.

[19:35] Day by day. As we see the day. Until the perfect day. That we can be changed from. Glory. To glory. To glory. To glory. To glory. As his Holy Spirit will lead us and shape us will be more like him.

[19:50] So friends, let's have that Christ-like spirit. To be godly. It means to be like God. To be like him. Today. This week. To find that place where we can show his service to others.

[20:03] To find that way we can be that one who extends love in such a precious way. To find that comfort we can know in the face of suffering for his namesake.

[20:15] And to be sent like him. To go like him into your mission field. So think as I close what would Jesus do and act like that. Simply be like him.

[20:27] Now crucify yourself your own selfish ways and my own selfish ways. Put self to death and let Christ be alive in you. As the song goes.

[20:39] Oh to be like thee blessed Redeemer. This is my constant longing and prayer. Gladly I'll forfeit all of earth's treasures. Jesus thy perfect likeness to wear. Oh to be like thee.

[20:50] Oh to be like thee blessed Redeemer. Pure as thou art. Come in thy sweetness. Come in thy fullness. Stamp thine own image deep on my heart.

[21:01] Oh to be like thee full of compassion. Loving, forgiving, tender and kind. Helping the helpless. Cheering the fainting. Seeking the wandering sinners to find.

[21:13] Oh to be like thee. Simply to be like him. Let us pray. Lord we thank you that you give us the grace to be saved for one thing. For the main thing. For the ultimate thing.

[21:24] That we can know you as saviour of our life. And Lord as we walk in that discipleship, as we walk in that faith, that you change us from glory to glory. That we'll be more like you until one day we shall be like you.

[21:38] Lord that we'll serve like you, we'll love like you, we'll care, we'll suffer if need be for you, for your sake. And Lord we'll go for you. We'll take our feet and march them in your battle.

[21:51] Lord we'll march to your tune. Lord we'll be willing ones to bear the marks of the cross. I pray Lord for each one here today that each one will be encouraged to a deeper walk.

[22:05] Lord we pray if there's any yet to trust you I'll simply say yes Lord I believe and I receive that gift of salvation and we'll have that trust that our home is forever in heaven.

[22:18] It's forever settled in heaven. That reservation that you have made and we've simply received it. Lord we thank you for the grace you give to us that we can be your people.

[22:31] Lord while we have opportunity to meet let us meet and let us live each day in the light of your soon coming. Lord let us be a prepared people for that prepared place of heaven in that great merciful love gift you've given to us of your salvation.

[22:48] We thank you for it in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.