WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:07.459 Good morning, church. It's good to see you all this morning. Our text today is John chapter 13, 00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:12.240 verses 1 through 20. The sermon text won't be on the screens this morning, so let me invite you to 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:15.359 turn there in your Bible if you brought your Bible or on your phone, if you have your Bible 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:20.960 app on your phone or if you're at home, any of the above. It's good to be gathered together with you 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:26.100 and going to God's Word together. So we've been preaching through the Gospel of John this year, 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:31.980 and today we come to a new section of John's Gospel, sometimes called the Farewell Discourse 00:00:31.980 --> 00:00:38.579 or the Upper Room Discourse. This is chapters 13 through 17, and they recount Jesus's final 00:00:38.579 --> 00:00:44.480 extended teaching to his disciples before he goes to the cross. And what Jesus is teaching 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:49.560 his disciples in these chapters isn't just how to prepare for the next 24 hours of his betrayal, 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:53.900 arrest, and crucifixion, but also what it will mean to be his followers after his resurrection 00:00:53.899 --> 00:01:00.140 and ascension and outpouring of the Spirit. In other words, what does it mean to be a follower 00:01:00.140 --> 00:01:06.000 of Jesus once Jesus completes his work and returns to the Father? How do we live out the mission that 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:11.420 Jesus has given us here and now? What should we expect along the way? And maybe more importantly, 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:18.039 most importantly, what role does God the Holy Spirit play in all of this? This is what Jesus is going 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:23.460 to be teaching us in the coming chapters. So as we continue this series in John's Gospel, 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:27.500 we're going to slow down a little bit. You know, for the past three and a half months, we've been 00:01:27.500 --> 00:01:32.680 taking the book in these big sections. Now we're going to slow down and take chapters 13 through 17 00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:39.880 in smaller portions so we can really let Jesus's Word sink in as we seek to live our lives as his 00:01:39.880 --> 00:01:46.380 disciples today. So with that being said, as we start our new kind of chapter in John's Gospel, 00:01:46.379 --> 00:01:50.859 let me pray and then we'll look at John 13 verses 1 through 20. Would you pray with me? 00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:59.299 Our Father in heaven, we ask that you would send your Spirit now as we turn to your Word, 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:04.599 that you would bless the reading and the hearing and the proclamation of your Word, 00:02:05.419 --> 00:02:12.259 that our hearts would be softened to receive what you have to say to us, Spirit, 00:02:12.259 --> 00:02:19.799 and that we would bear fruit as a result. We ask all this in Christ's name. Amen. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:24.280 All right, John chapter 13 verses 1 through 20. 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:29.899 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this 00:02:29.899 --> 00:02:34.439 world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:39.680 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:44.659 to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had 00:02:44.659 --> 00:02:50.800 come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments and taking 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:57.980 a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet 00:02:57.980 --> 00:03:04.540 and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter who said to him, 00:03:04.539 --> 00:03:13.719 Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, what I'm doing you do not understand now, but afterward you 00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:21.239 will understand. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, 00:03:21.519 --> 00:03:28.939 you have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 00:03:28.939 --> 00:03:34.840 Jesus said to him, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:41.879 clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray him. That was why he 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:47.860 said, not all of you are clean. When he'd washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed 00:03:47.860 --> 00:03:53.620 his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, 00:03:53.620 --> 00:04:01.360 and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:09.520 ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:15.620 have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a 00:04:15.620 --> 00:04:22.519 messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 00:04:22.519 --> 00:04:28.659 I'm not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled. He who 00:04:28.659 --> 00:04:33.339 ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. I'm telling you this now before it takes place, that 00:04:33.339 --> 00:04:39.000 when it does take place, you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:44.519 one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:55.060 So John 13 begins with a famous scene of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. And I want to approach 00:04:55.060 --> 00:05:00.500 this passage today by kind of looking at it in three paragraphs, in three sections. We're going to look 00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:05.219 first at why Jesus does this. Why does he wash the disciples' feet? Then second, we're going to consider 00:05:05.219 --> 00:05:09.599 what that means for our relationship to him, our relationship to God. And then third, we're going 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:14.300 to consider what that means for our relationship with one another. So let's look first at why Jesus 00:05:14.300 --> 00:05:20.040 does this. And the answer to that question we have to realize comes when we realize that what Jesus does 00:05:20.040 --> 00:05:27.480 here is very surprising, and it is also very symbolic. So it's surprising that Jesus washes his disciples' 00:05:27.640 --> 00:05:34.439 feet, because in the ancient world, washing feet wasn't a very glamorous job. Think about it. 00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:40.420 So you walked everywhere in the first century. The streets were dirty. Animals were the only other 00:05:40.420 --> 00:05:45.019 mode of transportation, and they also made the roads dirty, because they do what animals do. 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:49.639 And the major footwear of the day wasn't, you know, Wellington boots. It was sandals. 00:05:50.579 --> 00:05:54.379 So it doesn't take much historical imagination to realize that people's feet in the first century 00:05:54.379 --> 00:05:59.519 got really dirty by the end of the day, by the time dinner rolled around. And when you came to a 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:03.959 special gathering and reclined at table for dinner, remember people ate at low tables in Jesus' day, 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:09.839 so you were reclining. Having your feet washed as you reclined at table was a pretty important thing. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:18.639 But because washing someone's feet was a very dirty job, it was considered the kind of work 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:26.919 that was only fit for a servant. In fact, some Jews in Jesus' day thought that it was such a demeaning job 00:06:26.919 --> 00:06:31.779 that Jewish servants shouldn't be forced to do it. It was too degrading for a fellow Jew, 00:06:31.779 --> 00:06:37.319 Jew, even if they were your servant. So it had to be your Gentile servants who washed feet. 00:06:39.159 --> 00:06:42.599 It had to be the people that the culture thought were the sort of lowest of the low. 00:06:44.579 --> 00:06:50.539 So when Jesus gets up from the table and lays aside his outer garment and takes a towel and ties 00:06:50.539 --> 00:06:55.479 it around his waist and then pours water into a basin and begins to wash the disciples' feet and to 00:06:55.480 --> 00:07:02.160 wipe them with a towel that was wrapped around him, Jesus is doing something that no one would imagine 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:06.840 him doing. He's taking the place of the lowest of the low. 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:15.439 Now consider that the first century, like ours, was a culture that valued upward mobility, right? 00:07:16.099 --> 00:07:20.500 Think about it. Today, today we want to meet the right people, go to the right schools, get the right 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:24.620 jobs, build the right platform so we can kind of move up the social ladder, so we can move up the 00:07:24.620 --> 00:07:29.899 scale of cultural influence, of success. And in the first century, you did that through a system of 00:07:29.899 --> 00:07:34.879 patronage. You sort of connected yourself to someone wealthy or influential, someone in a position of 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:39.219 authority or power, and you did favors for them, you worked for them, you supported their household, 00:07:39.219 --> 00:07:43.060 and then they would do favors for you. They would give you positions of influence and money. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:50.540 Now the means were different back then, but the idea was the same, right? Upward mobility. 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:59.639 But look at Jesus here. Do you see how surprising this is? He's not about moving up, but he's about 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:04.740 moving down, down to the lowest of the low, down to the place of a servant. 00:08:08.740 --> 00:08:14.360 But what Jesus is doing here isn't just surprising, it's symbolic. It's symbolic. We get it, we get our 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:21.139 first hint of that in verse 7. Remember when Jesus replies to Peter, what I'm doing now, you do not 00:08:21.139 --> 00:08:28.459 understand. You don't understand it now, but afterward you will understand. In other words, Jesus is telling 00:08:28.459 --> 00:08:34.340 Peter that this action of washing their feet is so full of meaning that only after his death and 00:08:34.340 --> 00:08:39.879 resurrection will the full significance be understood. And we know that Jesus has something 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:45.299 deeper in mind from verse 3 as well. Do you see there how John writes, Jesus, knowing that the Father 00:08:45.299 --> 00:08:50.919 had given all things into his hand, and they had come from God and was going back to God, then he rose 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:56.500 from supper and washed their feet. In other words, at this meal with his disciples, which is probably the 00:08:56.500 --> 00:09:01.159 meal in the upper room, the Passover meal, what we remember as the Lord's Supper, Jesus, the sort of 00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:07.759 last supper, Jesus is looking ahead at this meal to what's to come. His mind is on the mission his 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:12.399 Father has given him, and with that mission in mind, he gets up and he washes their feet. 00:09:13.299 --> 00:09:18.139 So these two clues in our passage tell us that Jesus means something more by this act of washing 00:09:18.139 --> 00:09:22.620 the disciples' feet. It's a deeply symbolic act that he's performing, and when we look at the whole of 00:09:22.620 --> 00:09:26.620 John's gospel, it's actually not hard to see what Jesus is trying to symbolize, what he's trying to do. 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:33.480 Through most of John's gospel, we've seen this kind of literary structure where Jesus does a powerful 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:38.460 act, and then there's this long discourse afterward that explains and applies it, whether it's the 00:09:38.460 --> 00:09:43.779 feeding of the 5,000, or the healing of the paralytic man by the pool of Bethesda, or healing the man born 00:09:43.779 --> 00:09:52.299 blind. Big act, big significant miracle, long discourse. Now we come to the climax of John's gospel, 00:09:52.299 --> 00:09:57.639 and the order is reversed. We get a long discourse in chapters 13 through 17, then it's followed by 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:04.259 Jesus's greatest act of all, and that great act is his death on the cross. 00:10:07.379 --> 00:10:14.240 You see, in the first century, crucifixion was a death that was reserved for criminals and slaves, 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:23.240 the lowest of the low. Just like washing feet was a job reserved for slaves, for the lowest of the low. 00:10:25.899 --> 00:10:32.220 Jesus had just told them in chapter 12, what we looked at last week, that his hour had arrived, 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:37.039 that he was going to be lifted up on the cross, that he was going to die a shameful death. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:44.419 He had told them this, but now in the upper room, he was going to show them what he meant. 00:10:45.860 --> 00:10:51.839 By washing their feet, Jesus is showing them in a personal and powerful way what his death on the 00:10:51.839 --> 00:11:01.799 cross truly means. Now how about you and me? How about us? Now maybe you and I, maybe we see the cross 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:06.819 as something that happened a long time ago. You know, we talk about it a lot at church. Maybe you 00:11:06.819 --> 00:11:11.759 see it as something that, yes, achieved the sort of great eternal plan of God, but the reality is, 00:11:11.799 --> 00:11:19.079 do you and I see the cross as something real, as real, as powerful, as personal, 00:11:19.879 --> 00:11:25.299 as the very Son of God taking the place of a servant to wash our feet? 00:11:25.299 --> 00:11:33.759 So this is why Jesus gets up and washes the disciples' feet. This is why he humbles himself 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:42.279 in this way. This is why he does this surprising act, to show us what the cross means. 00:11:44.299 --> 00:11:48.099 So if that's the case, what are we supposed to see about the cross in this symbolic act? 00:11:48.859 --> 00:11:53.219 Well, first, we see what it means in our relationship to God, and this is verses 6 through 11, 00:11:53.220 --> 00:11:59.779 specifically as Jesus engages with Peter, the foot washing speaks of the cleansing that Jesus 00:11:59.779 --> 00:12:05.300 brings us through the cross, the cleansing that Jesus brings to us. Foot washing, obviously, 00:12:05.399 --> 00:12:10.740 is an act of cleansing, and the cross is the sort of ultimate act of cleansing, not just of our bodies, 00:12:10.860 --> 00:12:15.440 but more importantly, of our whole selves, of our souls, of our relationship with God. 00:12:16.259 --> 00:12:22.620 Throughout the Old Testament, our sin against a holy God is often depicted as a stain, as an uncleanness. 00:12:23.220 --> 00:12:28.779 And you know, one of the great themes of the Old Testament is a story of how the dirty, how the 00:12:28.779 --> 00:12:37.879 stained can be made clean again. How will God cleanse his unclean people? And as the story unfolds 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:42.420 in the Old Testament, we see that however God is going to do it, it's going to be costly. 00:12:42.419 --> 00:12:50.159 At the tabernacle in the wilderness, then at the temple in Jerusalem, what does God do? He sets up a 00:12:50.159 --> 00:13:00.740 system of sacrifices. Day by day, week by week, month by month, sacrifices are made for the sins of the 00:13:00.740 --> 00:13:10.740 people to cleanse them. A very costly system. But this obvious tension arises. How can an animal 00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:16.980 take away human sin? How can that truly cleanse us? 00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:25.600 But when the fullness of time came, and when the people of God had been burdened by the ongoing stain 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:32.820 of sin for hundreds of years, when the fullness of time came, God himself came in the person of Jesus. 00:13:32.820 --> 00:13:39.960 And when Jesus comes on the scene in John's gospel, do you remember what John the Baptist proclaims? 00:13:40.020 --> 00:13:48.500 Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Finally, true cleansing had come. 00:13:49.100 --> 00:13:55.360 God had taken human nature and would himself become the effective sacrifice for our sins. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:01.740 The sacrifice that fulfills and ends all other sacrifices to make us clean once and for all. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:08.539 Jesus humbling himself on the cross, that would be our cleansing. And when he stoops to wash the 00:14:08.539 --> 00:14:11.419 disciples' feet, he's not just telling them that, he's showing them that. 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:18.519 But like Peter, in this passage, we can struggle with that, can't we? 00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:25.240 Jesus stoops down to wash our feet and we say, no, Lord, you shouldn't be washing my feet. You should 00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:32.779 never have to wash my feet. Now, on the one hand, I think Peter's a little embarrassed, right? After all, 00:14:33.340 --> 00:14:38.659 none of the other disciples got up to wash feet and now Jesus had to do it. So maybe Peter's feeling a 00:14:38.659 --> 00:14:44.279 little embarrassed. And perhaps on the other hand, perhaps part of Peter wants to honor Jesus. You know, 00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:50.799 this isn't a job you should be doing. Lord, you're too good for this. But underneath all of our 00:14:50.799 --> 00:15:01.019 protestation and refusal to be cleansed by Jesus and his humility, underneath it all, isn't it really 00:15:01.019 --> 00:15:10.240 our pride? Isn't it our pride that pushes away the cleansing that Jesus offers? Because I don't want 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:18.879 to be in the place where I have to acknowledge my need and my sin. I don't want to have to acknowledge 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:26.440 my weakness and my uncleanness. But Jesus answers Peter and he answers us. He says, if I do not wash you, 00:15:27.060 --> 00:15:36.060 you have no share with me. In other words, the cleansing that Jesus provides is utterly necessary. 00:15:36.059 --> 00:15:45.699 There is no other way to be clean, Jesus says. If we want to have a share with Christ, that is, 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:51.719 if we want to have fellowship with him and fellowship with our creator, if we desire to be partakers and 00:15:51.719 --> 00:15:59.079 participants and inheritors of the kingdom of God, Jesus must wash us. The cross is absolutely 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:10.620 necessary. And that just wrecks havoc on our pride. Our sin is so great that the Son of God had to 00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:17.259 become a servant, stoop to the lowest place, and even die to make us clean. 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:27.620 And the reality is, friends, we have to humbly receive the crucified Christ personally by faith 00:16:27.620 --> 00:16:33.840 in order to be cleansed. You know, if we think that simply coming to church or simply participating 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:38.860 in religious activities or being sort of part of a Christian culture or a Christian family or whatever, 00:16:39.220 --> 00:16:43.580 if we think any of those things will make us clean, we have to think again. 00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:50.759 Judas, after all, was there when Christ washed the disciples' feet. 00:16:52.900 --> 00:16:55.600 Did you notice how often Judas is referred to in this passage? 00:16:57.580 --> 00:17:00.860 Now, we'll have more to say about Judas next week when we look at the rest of chapter 13, 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:06.220 but the point for us to consider today is this. Friends, Judas received the external foot washing. 00:17:07.660 --> 00:17:11.539 He received the sign, but he rejected the reality. 00:17:13.579 --> 00:17:15.439 Don't let that be you. 00:17:17.199 --> 00:17:22.659 Don't just attend church services. Don't just participate in the externals of Christianity 00:17:22.659 --> 00:17:25.759 and then end up rejecting Christ himself. 00:17:27.220 --> 00:17:37.199 The necessary thing is the cross, what Jesus has done, and we must receive it. It is utterly necessary. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:44.319 But we also see in this exchange with Peter that the cross is not just necessary to cleanse us, 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:47.900 but that the cross is also utterly sufficient to cleanse us. 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:50.940 In verse 9, after Jesus tells Peter, 00:17:51.059 --> 00:17:52.500 If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. 00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:58.460 Then Peter says, Lord, well, in that case, not only my feet, but my head and my hands. 00:17:58.819 --> 00:18:02.180 Just go the whole nine. Wash me the whole way. 00:18:02.180 --> 00:18:06.060 In other words, then you better wash all of me, Jesus, just to be sure. 00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:07.900 I want to make sure it's enough. 00:18:10.120 --> 00:18:11.740 But in verse 10, Jesus says to Peter, 00:18:11.840 --> 00:18:15.860 The one who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. 00:18:17.259 --> 00:18:18.740 Now, what does Jesus mean by that? 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:23.740 He means that when you go to a dinner party, the foot washing is sufficient. 00:18:24.299 --> 00:18:26.940 You don't need to take a whole bath before sitting down to dinner. 00:18:26.940 --> 00:18:32.320 In the same way, the cross is sufficient. 00:18:33.620 --> 00:18:38.440 When Jesus cleanses us, we are completely clean. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:44.559 We don't need to add a single thing to what Jesus achieved on the cross for our spiritual cleansing. 00:18:47.380 --> 00:18:54.759 After all, what could we possibly add to the perfect righteousness and perfect sacrifice of the Son of God? 00:18:54.759 --> 00:19:01.500 If he has given all to you, what could we possibly think there is more to add to that? 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:07.220 If he has cleansed us, then we are completely clean. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:16.940 And just as the necessity of the cleansing humbles us, so the sufficiency of the cleansing, it empowers us, does it not? 00:19:16.940 --> 00:19:22.039 In Christ, through faith in him alone, we are clean in God's presence. 00:19:22.380 --> 00:19:23.740 We are robed in royalty. 00:19:24.100 --> 00:19:25.440 We are seated at his table. 00:19:25.539 --> 00:19:29.759 And the Father says, come inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. 00:19:30.259 --> 00:19:34.799 Come be a part of the new creation right now, right here in the midst of the old. 00:19:35.360 --> 00:19:38.680 All of your sins, past, present, and future, I've washed away. 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:43.779 Now, live as those who are free from guilt and shame. 00:19:43.940 --> 00:19:44.860 Live as my sons. 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:48.340 Live as my daughters who are forever loved and forever clean. 00:19:53.340 --> 00:19:56.120 And that leads us to the last part of our passage, verses 12 through 20. 00:19:57.060 --> 00:19:58.580 As one writer said about this passage, 00:19:58.579 --> 00:20:09.000 Because if the foot washing shows us the cleansing that Christ brings to us, 00:20:09.099 --> 00:20:11.019 as far as our relationship goes with God, 00:20:11.939 --> 00:20:17.720 the foot washing also shows us the example that Christ sets for us in our relationship to one another. 00:20:19.099 --> 00:20:23.720 When it comes to our relationship with God in Christ, the cross makes us completely clean. 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:26.480 When it comes to our relationship with one another in Christ, 00:20:26.579 --> 00:20:31.579 the cross shows us that we must wash one another's feet, 00:20:31.720 --> 00:20:34.059 just like Jesus has washed ours. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:37.559 We must humble ourselves and serve. 00:20:39.019 --> 00:20:40.339 Jesus says, starting in verse 12, 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:41.880 Do you understand what I've done to you? 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:45.740 You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:49.120 If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, 00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:51.579 you also ought to wash one another's feet, 00:20:51.579 --> 00:20:53.319 for I have given you an example. 00:20:53.720 --> 00:20:57.759 That you also should do just as I have done to you. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:05.000 And we need to understand that Jesus isn't talking here about doing this every once in a while. 00:21:05.980 --> 00:21:07.579 You know, it's not as if Jesus is saying, 00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:10.680 Go ahead, live your life for upward mobility. 00:21:11.360 --> 00:21:15.319 Just remember, every once in a while, give a little something back. 00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:18.620 You know, volunteer, give some money to charity, stuff like that. 00:21:18.619 --> 00:21:19.059 No. 00:21:19.059 --> 00:21:19.539 No. 00:21:19.539 --> 00:21:19.939 No. 00:21:20.699 --> 00:21:23.599 Jesus is saying that this has to shape everything. 00:21:24.839 --> 00:21:27.639 The values of the world are turned on their head. 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:33.740 As followers of Jesus, we're more interested in downward mobility than in upward mobility. 00:21:33.740 --> 00:21:40.299 After all, our Lord and teacher's whole life was a life of humility. 00:21:40.599 --> 00:21:44.859 All of his authority, all of his wisdom, all of his power, all of his love. 00:21:44.900 --> 00:21:46.259 And don't you see that in this passage? 00:21:46.539 --> 00:21:49.519 His sovereignty, his wisdom, his authority, his love. 00:21:50.099 --> 00:21:52.059 How did he use it while he was on earth? 00:21:52.059 --> 00:21:55.859 Not to be served, but to serve. 00:21:57.500 --> 00:21:58.980 So friends, it's the same for us. 00:21:59.460 --> 00:22:02.460 Our gifts, our wisdom, our positions of influence, whatever they might be, 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:07.960 they need to be exercised not so we can advance, but so that we can serve others. 00:22:08.179 --> 00:22:10.859 So that we can lay our lives down for the benefit of others. 00:22:12.619 --> 00:22:17.740 This is a whole life perspective that we take into all of our roles and calling. 00:22:17.740 --> 00:22:19.799 Not just something we tack on. 00:22:22.059 --> 00:22:27.799 We take it into our whole life at work, at home, in the church. 00:22:29.159 --> 00:22:34.519 We aren't afraid and we don't recoil to do the lowly act, to do the humble act. 00:22:34.940 --> 00:22:38.119 The act that maybe no one will see, that no one will praise. 00:22:38.819 --> 00:22:42.059 The act that people might even question if we're wasting our time and our talents. 00:22:44.879 --> 00:22:46.720 I think of the example of Henry Nouwen. 00:22:47.919 --> 00:22:50.980 Nouwen was a professor of spiritual theology at Yale, 00:22:50.980 --> 00:22:52.279 and then at Harvard. 00:22:52.380 --> 00:22:56.120 I think while he was at Harvard, he taught the most popular course at the whole university. 00:22:57.019 --> 00:22:57.599 Isn't that something? 00:22:58.900 --> 00:23:00.039 He was a best-selling author. 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:01.519 He was a much sought-after speaker. 00:23:02.140 --> 00:23:06.180 And at the height of his career, after much prayer and discernment, 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.839 he completely walked away from the academy 00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:14.140 to eventually serve a community of people with mental and physical disabilities in Toronto. 00:23:14.140 --> 00:23:19.340 Can you imagine what his friends must have thought? 00:23:19.780 --> 00:23:25.200 Henry, you're teaching the most popular course at the most prestigious university, 00:23:25.560 --> 00:23:27.580 one of the most in the whole world. 00:23:27.579 --> 00:23:36.579 And you're going to go serve... 00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:39.899 I mean, let's be honest. 00:23:40.139 --> 00:23:41.960 You're going to go serve people like that? 00:23:42.539 --> 00:23:45.679 Oh, but the gospel shatters those things. 00:23:48.579 --> 00:23:50.619 It was actually Nouwen who coined the phrase, 00:23:50.619 --> 00:23:56.559 downward mobility to describe the Christian's life of discipleship and service. 00:23:57.399 --> 00:24:00.939 That those people with mental and physical disabilities 00:24:00.939 --> 00:24:03.039 were created in the image of God 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:06.500 and had gifts to share. 00:24:07.139 --> 00:24:07.879 And Nouwen said, 00:24:08.099 --> 00:24:11.599 I would delight to pour out my life for them. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:16.819 Now, of course, for many of us, 00:24:16.939 --> 00:24:20.000 this may not look like walking away from our career 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:22.399 or anything so outwardly dramatic. 00:24:24.019 --> 00:24:25.379 For most of us, 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:30.199 it'll look like changing diapers in the middle of the night. 00:24:31.459 --> 00:24:33.719 It'll look like caring for an aging parent 00:24:33.719 --> 00:24:36.559 as they struggle with the early onset of dementia. 00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:40.859 It'll look like calling up the lonely member of your small group 00:24:40.859 --> 00:24:42.019 and inviting them to coffee. 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:47.819 It might look like being passed over for a promotion at work 00:24:47.819 --> 00:24:51.699 because we prioritize our spouse's dream of going back to school 00:24:51.699 --> 00:24:53.479 rather than working extra hours in the office 00:24:53.479 --> 00:24:54.839 to catch the boss's attention. 00:24:58.139 --> 00:25:00.079 You see, washing one another's feet 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:03.799 is letting yourself take the position of a servant 00:25:03.799 --> 00:25:06.079 so that others can flourish. 00:25:10.859 --> 00:25:12.219 Of course, the big question is, 00:25:12.279 --> 00:25:12.919 how do we do that? 00:25:13.179 --> 00:25:14.000 How do we do this? 00:25:14.579 --> 00:25:16.259 How do we do that without becoming bitter? 00:25:16.439 --> 00:25:17.799 How do we do that without becoming angry? 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:20.159 How do we do that without being riddled by regret 00:25:20.159 --> 00:25:21.559 or fear of what we might be missing? 00:25:24.839 --> 00:25:26.179 Well, at the very basic level, 00:25:26.579 --> 00:25:27.859 we remind ourselves 00:25:27.859 --> 00:25:29.679 that if Christ has done this for me, 00:25:29.819 --> 00:25:31.399 how could I not do this for others? 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:34.519 He stooped to wash my feet 00:25:34.519 --> 00:25:36.279 when I did not deserve it. 00:25:36.279 --> 00:25:38.980 How could I not do the same for others? 00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:42.539 But push a little deeper. 00:25:43.819 --> 00:25:45.740 When Christ washed the disciples' feet that night, 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:46.819 what was his mind set on? 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:48.859 It was set on knowing that the Father 00:25:48.859 --> 00:25:50.480 had given all things into his hands 00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:51.579 and that it had come from God 00:25:51.579 --> 00:25:52.559 and was going back to God. 00:25:53.139 --> 00:25:54.599 Jesus knew where he had come from 00:25:54.599 --> 00:25:55.619 and where he was going. 00:25:55.960 --> 00:25:57.940 He knew that he was the beloved of the Father 00:25:57.940 --> 00:26:00.539 and that soon he would be entering into his glory. 00:26:01.899 --> 00:26:03.539 And if we are in Christ, 00:26:03.619 --> 00:26:04.759 the same is true for us. 00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:07.480 We can take up the most humble place of service 00:26:07.480 --> 00:26:08.660 in this world 00:26:08.660 --> 00:26:10.059 because we know where we've come from 00:26:10.059 --> 00:26:11.119 and we know where we're going. 00:26:12.299 --> 00:26:13.599 We are image bearers of God, 00:26:13.700 --> 00:26:14.859 created in his likeness, 00:26:14.980 --> 00:26:16.799 and we are headed to the new heavens 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:17.460 and the new earth 00:26:17.460 --> 00:26:19.720 while we will reign with our Father forever. 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:21.819 So right now, 00:26:21.879 --> 00:26:22.759 we don't need to live 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:24.220 an upwardly mobile life 00:26:24.220 --> 00:26:26.099 of success or prestige or wealth 00:26:26.099 --> 00:26:27.019 to be okay. 00:26:27.660 --> 00:26:29.400 Our identity isn't shattered 00:26:29.400 --> 00:26:31.720 if we have to stoop and wash feet. 00:26:32.900 --> 00:26:34.440 We're still children of the King. 00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:36.279 And we will always be. 00:26:39.019 --> 00:26:40.579 But push a little deeper still. 00:26:42.519 --> 00:26:43.920 Jesus says in verse 17, 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:45.319 if you know these things, 00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:47.460 blessed are you if you do them. 00:26:49.539 --> 00:26:51.779 In the act of humble service, 00:26:51.879 --> 00:26:53.000 Jesus says there, 00:26:53.319 --> 00:26:54.460 in that place, 00:26:54.940 --> 00:26:56.720 there we find blessing. 00:26:56.720 --> 00:26:58.680 Now what does it mean 00:26:58.680 --> 00:26:59.400 to be blessed, 00:26:59.740 --> 00:27:00.440 biblically speaking? 00:27:01.360 --> 00:27:02.740 To be blessed, 00:27:02.940 --> 00:27:03.660 biblically speaking, 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:04.000 means, 00:27:04.100 --> 00:27:06.759 it means to be truly happy 00:27:06.759 --> 00:27:08.319 because we are experiencing 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:09.740 communion with God. 00:27:13.339 --> 00:27:14.980 To be truly happy 00:27:14.980 --> 00:27:16.860 because we're experiencing 00:27:16.860 --> 00:27:18.440 communion with God. 00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:20.340 You see, 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:21.600 when we stoop down 00:27:21.600 --> 00:27:23.100 and take up the towel 00:27:23.100 --> 00:27:24.320 and do the humbling 00:27:24.320 --> 00:27:26.120 and even humiliating work 00:27:26.120 --> 00:27:26.980 of washing feet, 00:27:27.080 --> 00:27:28.019 whatever that might be, 00:27:28.180 --> 00:27:28.519 there, 00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:29.920 in that place, 00:27:30.080 --> 00:27:31.660 we experience communion 00:27:31.660 --> 00:27:32.720 with God. 00:27:33.660 --> 00:27:34.220 There, 00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:35.600 we meet Jesus, 00:27:35.820 --> 00:27:36.940 our Lord and teacher, 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:38.539 who made himself known 00:27:38.539 --> 00:27:40.160 in the washing of feet. 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:44.840 So what is our greatest 00:27:44.840 --> 00:27:46.420 motivation to humbly serve? 00:27:46.740 --> 00:27:47.940 To wash one another's feet? 00:27:48.180 --> 00:27:49.200 It's the promise 00:27:49.200 --> 00:27:51.400 that Jesus meets us there. 00:27:53.040 --> 00:27:54.100 That we are promised 00:27:54.100 --> 00:27:55.640 a deeper communion there 00:27:55.640 --> 00:27:56.340 with Christ, 00:27:56.460 --> 00:27:56.980 our Savior, 00:27:57.540 --> 00:27:57.740 who, 00:27:57.860 --> 00:27:59.180 as verse 1 of our passage says, 00:27:59.660 --> 00:28:00.640 having loved his own 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:01.560 who are in this world, 00:28:02.040 --> 00:28:03.340 he loved them to the end. 00:28:06.460 --> 00:28:07.480 This doesn't mean 00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:08.500 it's going to be easy. 00:28:09.340 --> 00:28:09.940 In fact, 00:28:09.940 --> 00:28:10.380 we're going to see 00:28:10.380 --> 00:28:11.039 in coming chapters, 00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:12.400 Jesus promises us 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:13.680 that it will not be easy, 00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:16.019 but we will be blessed. 00:28:17.900 --> 00:28:19.360 We will meet our Savior 00:28:19.360 --> 00:28:21.500 and know him more fully 00:28:21.500 --> 00:28:22.220 in that place 00:28:22.220 --> 00:28:24.100 of washing one another's feet. 00:28:24.779 --> 00:28:25.360 Let's pray. 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:31.059 Lord Jesus, 00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:31.680 thank you 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:33.860 that you have not 00:28:33.860 --> 00:28:34.740 left us alone 00:28:34.740 --> 00:28:36.700 to do this. 00:28:37.120 --> 00:28:37.860 You have sent 00:28:37.860 --> 00:28:39.059 your own spirit 00:28:39.059 --> 00:28:40.819 into our hearts 00:28:40.819 --> 00:28:42.639 to take the things 00:28:42.639 --> 00:28:42.960 of you 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:43.779 and make them clear 00:28:43.779 --> 00:28:44.639 to our souls 00:28:44.639 --> 00:28:47.159 to dwell within us 00:28:47.159 --> 00:28:49.559 so that we might live 00:28:49.559 --> 00:28:50.639 like you. 00:28:52.419 --> 00:28:52.779 Lord, 00:28:52.839 --> 00:28:53.480 for your cleansing 00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:54.460 we give you praise 00:28:54.460 --> 00:28:56.759 and in order to live out 00:28:56.759 --> 00:28:57.319 your example 00:28:57.319 --> 00:28:58.419 we ask for your grace. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:28:59.839 We pray this in your name. 00:29:00.119 --> 00:29:00.359 Amen. 00:29:00.679 --> 00:29:01.019 Amen. 00:29:01.019 --> 00:29:31.000 Thank you.