Well, good morning, everyone.
It's a privilege to be here and to be able to open up God's Word this morning.
Thank you, Tofell, for reading that passage.
And what an amazing passage we have this morning.
It's been a real privilege to be able to read it these last couple of weeks
and to really get into it and to see what it means.
You know, we've been in John, John's Gospel, written by John.
And just a reminder, at the end it says that chapter 20, verse 31,
John wrote this Gospel, this account of Jesus' life,
so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing you might have life in his name.
That was why John wrote this.
Now we're in chapter 13.
A bit of context.
We had a break last week when we had the church weekend.
So it's been a whole two weeks and our minds are weak
and sometimes we need reminders, don't we, of where we've been.
So in chapters 11 and 12, we had the raising of Lazarus.
This was really the pinnacle of Jesus' public ministry.
He raised Lazarus back from the dead, his friend.
And you know, this really sealed his fate.
This was the last straw and the Jews said,
that's it, we will kill him.
And yet despite this, Jesus travels to Jerusalem,
the home of the Jews, and he has his triumphal entry.
And two weeks ago, it was Wayne from Corrobbers,
he was speaking to us, and he was saying
that Jesus' last public words
cause people to believe or to not believe.
That is the two choices.
And in chapter 12, verse 44, you might see it there.
Jesus cries out.
His last public words, he cries out.
And essentially what he is saying is believe.
So this marks the start of a new section
that will run pretty much until the end of John.
So chapter 13, and really here,
this is the heart of God revealed to us.
Where are we?
Well, we are in the upper room.
That is where this takes place.
Jesus is with his disciples, the 12.
So the 13 of them are there.
And it is only, well, less than 24 hours
before Jesus will be hanging on the cross
as we have sung about already this morning.
So this is the start of a section
where we have his farewell teaching.
He is telling his disciples
how to live in the world after he goes.
They don't realize that,
but that is what he is teaching them about.
And this particular passage that we have read
is only in John's gospel.
So it is unique to that.
So our outline for today,
I left my clicker down there,
so could you put one on?
There we go.
So John 13, 1 to 20.
And we're looking at it in humbleness,
and we're going to see holiness,
and we're going to see happiness.
So let's start with humbleness.
So what is the best thing
that someone has ever done for you?
I imagine there'd probably be varying responses.
There might be, you know,
some quite amazing stories
of what people have done for you in your life.
Well, this is quite an amazing thing
that Jesus does here,
and it's pretty unique.
So let's go through it.
We see that it was just before the Passover festival,
and we have this phrase
that Jesus knew that the hour had come
for him to leave this world
and go to the Father.
Now this hour that it speaks of,
it's a bit of a theme in John,
and it tracks the way through the gospel.
Now most of the time it says,
his hour has not yet come.
His hour has not yet come.
And yet here, his hour had come.
It was his appointed time.
It's an interesting study
if you want to go away
and look at these hours in John's gospel.
So his hour had come,
and it says that having loved his own
who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.
Now really what that's saying
is he loved them to the full.
He loved his disciples.
That is who he is speaking to here.
So we're in the upper room.
In verse 2,
the evening meal was in progress.
It was the end of the day.
And we see that Judas
has already been prompted by the devil,
and he's going to betray Jesus.
Judas knew at this point
what he was going to do.
And Jesus knew at this point
what Judas was going to do.
And finally, verse 3,
to sort of set the scene here,
we have this amazing verse
that Jesus knew that the Father
had put all things under his power,
and that he had come from God
and was returning to God.
You know, just last week at the weekend,
we were looking at being made
in the image of God,
the identity crisis
that faces so many in the world.
And yet Jesus,
he had no doubts about his identity.
He knew that all authority
was given to him.
Everything was under his power.
We know that.
We've seen this.
The storm was calmed.
He rebuked the fever.
He raised Lazarus.
All things were under his control.
And we also see the relationship
that he has with God the Father.
He had come from him,
and he was returning to him.
What a high position he came from.
And he knew where he was going.
There was no doubt.
And so that sets our scene
for what Jesus does next.
Verse 4,
So he got up from the meal,
took off his outer clothing,
and wrapped a towel around his waist.
After that, he poured water into a basin
and began to wash his disciples' feet,
drying them with the towel
that was wrapped around him.
What?
We shouldn't read that
and just nod along
as if that's a normal thing to do.
The Son of God,
the one who had all things under his power,
he had that authority,
that relationship with the Father
that was so unique,
was on his knees,
semi-naked,
washing the disciples' feet.
Even Judas.
Imagine the silence in the room.
What's going on?
What is he doing?
You know,
this is the heart of God revealed to us.
This is the servant king.
Humbleness and service.
How would you spend your last few hours on earth
if you knew what they were?
We have quite the phenomenon, don't we?
The bucket list.
What are we going to do before we kick the bucket?
I want to skydive.
I want to see K2.
I want to do this, do that.
You know, it's a kind of nice thing,
some things we might want to tick off,
the things we want to do in our lives.
But you know,
I bet not many people have this on their bucket list.
I want to wash my friend's feet.
Now, there is cultural context to this,
so it does seem more strange to us
than it would to the disciples.
You know, in that day and age,
they would wear the open sandals.
In my head,
I go back to when we used to learn
about the Romans at school,
and you kind of see those open leather things.
You know, they would get dirty feet.
It was dusty.
It was dry.
It was a muddy land.
They would, during the day,
they would get dirty feet.
And this was the evening.
We've read that already.
And we saw just,
it was just a few days ago,
a couple of chapters ago,
that Mary,
she washed Jesus' feet
with that expensive ointment.
This was a common practice.
But you know,
it was the lowest of the low
of the servants that did it.
If you went to someone's house,
the most junior of servant,
that would be their job.
They would wash your feet
so that you could go to the table
and you would have your feet cleaned
for the evening meal.
And we don't know,
it doesn't say whether someone
had already washed the feet
of everyone that was there.
I think not.
I think it was just 13 of them
in this room.
But you know,
what I think for sure
is that the disciples,
they hadn't thought to do it.
They hadn't crossed their minds.
Maybe I should wash Jesus' feet.
What a day he's had.
That would be a good thing to do.
Do you want to know
where the disciples' heads were at?
Well, we see it in Luke 22, verse 24.
It says,
a dispute also arose among them
as to which of them
was going to be regarded
as the greatest.
That was the discussion
they were having in the upper room
before the meal started.
What a contrast
to where Jesus' heart was at.
Jesus here,
he's setting them an example
as we will see in the next section
and at the end,
while he was also speaking to them
about their position before God
and what that means.
Jesus,
before he goes on
at the end of chapter 13
and then through chapters 14 to 17
to teach them wonderfully
about how to be without him.
First of all,
he sets them a physical example
of how to conduct themselves,
how they should be.
humbleness.
So that brings us nicely
to our second section of holiness.
Now I wonder if you have a friend
that maybe speaks before they think.
It just comes out.
A few wry smiles,
you've maybe thought of someone.
And you know there is.
We all do it at times.
We just say something
and then,
oh,
can't get that back,
can we?
You know,
that's a bit like Peter.
At first we have this,
you know,
first glance,
we have this slightly odd section
between Peter and Jesus.
And it,
you know,
it is at first glance,
it is a bit strange,
but as we get into it,
it is really wonderful.
So Simon Peter,
he's going around
washing the disciples' feet,
Jesus is.
And Simon Peter goes to him,
Lord,
are you going to wash my feet?
He's incredulous.
You can't be doing that.
You're Jesus.
You're the Lord.
You know,
I think there's a wee bit
of human embarrassment here,
isn't there?
We sometimes don't like people
doing things for us.
We're sort of a,
it's a false humility,
isn't it?
And he disobeys.
Jesus says,
you don't realize now
what I'm doing,
but later you will understand.
And Peter says,
no,
you shall never wash my feet.
He says no to the Lord,
the ruler of all things.
And you know,
just as a wee aside,
and it is just a side note,
verse seven,
I think it's wonderful
that it's so true.
Jesus says,
so graciously,
you do not realize now
what I am doing,
but later you will understand.
And you know,
maybe there's people here
and they're going through things
and you don't know,
you just don't get it.
What is going on,
God?
What is going on?
And you know,
God knows what he's doing
and later we will understand.
And I think as we go through life,
we look back
and we go,
of course,
of course.
It's a little bit like
Santa at the moment.
You've probably seen her,
blonde,
running around,
winding up all the other children.
But you know,
she's at that stage,
she wants to try things.
The other day,
she stood on her little,
it's a little mouse
that she can ride around on.
It's got wheels.
So she stood on it
and she went to jump off it.
I said to her,
no,
you can't do that
because it might slip.
You will fall
and you will hurt yourself.
And she looks at me
and she goes,
that's not going to happen.
Come on.
And I say to her,
no,
you don't get it,
but one day you'll see
that that's not the right thing to do.
It's a wee bit like that.
So anyway,
that was just an aside.
But in verse nine,
well,
at the end of verse eight,
Jesus answered,
unless I wash you,
you have no part with me.
You have no sharing
of what I have to offer.
And so Peter,
he's overzealous.
He just doesn't quite get it.
And he goes,
well then Lord,
wash not just my feet,
but my hands and my head as well.
Cover me.
So once again,
Jesus,
he's just so patient with him.
He says in verse 10,
those who have had a bath
need only to wash their feet,
their whole body is clean
and you are clean,
though not every one of you.
For he knew who was going to betray him.
And that was why he said,
not everyone was clean.
Now,
what is this saying?
Now,
it is physically true,
isn't it?
If we'd have a bath
and we're walking around
with bare feet,
yeah,
we just need to wash our feet.
But you know,
it's speaking of our salvation.
Stick with me here.
It's quite heavy going,
but,
you know,
it's really good
to look at these things.
And we have to remember
that he is speaking
specifically to the disciples
in this moment of time,
that we can certainly apply it
to our own lives.
So what he is saying
is that those who are saved,
those who have had a bath,
those who are saved
by the redemptive work
of Jesus on the cross
have had their sins forgiven.
They have been made clean.
Jesus,
just the next day,
he goes to the cross.
He takes the punishment
for us on the cross.
He dies.
He rises again
and he goes back,
ascends to the Father on high.
He did that work,
that redemptive work.
And so if we trust in that,
and I implore you,
if you don't,
then please look into these things.
It is the most important thing.
But once we have done that,
once we accept Jesus
for what he has done,
then our position
is secure in Christ.
There's no changing that.
We are secure in him.
We have been cleaned.
Makes me think of the hymn,
Have you been to Jesus
for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood
of the Lamb?
But you know,
despite this,
we live in a world
that is still not right.
We heard Graham's prayer.
You know,
we look at the news.
The news is sometimes
a terrible thing to turn on,
isn't it?
As we live in the world,
we are defiled by sin.
Our feet get dirty,
don't they?
You know,
I didn't actually mean this at all,
but this morning I looked at my shoes
and they were covered.
So I got out a baby wipe
and I cleaned them
to try and look a little bit
more presentable this morning.
But that's it, isn't it?
As we walk through life
and we are defiled by sin,
we mess up.
I mess up.
I don't need to tell you
that you mess up.
We are not perfect.
We live in this fallen world.
Now that doesn't change
our position.
We are positionally saved,
but conditionally
we still have sin.
So what do we do about this?
Do we go home?
Right, I'm skipping lunch.
I need to go back
and wash my feet
as soon as possible.
But what that means
is we need to be washed
with the word of God.
It cleanses us.
It sets us right again
so that we can have that
right and proper relationship.
Let me stress,
our position is secure,
but we need to maintain
that relationship
that we have.
We need to be cleansed
of daily sin
which hinders our relationship.
You know,
there's a great example
of this found
in the Old Testament.
The priests,
they would be fully washed
before they became a priest.
And there was this bowl,
I suppose a bit like
what Jesus took,
called a laver.
And before they went
into the tabernacle,
they would have to
wash their hands
and wash their feet
before they could go in
and do service for God.
To serve God well first,
we must be right ourselves.
So to finish this section in 11,
we see that Judas
will betray him.
He says,
you are clean, Peter,
but not every one of you.
Because Judas,
he was going to betray him.
Not everyone was clean.
You know,
Judas,
he hadn't had a bath.
He didn't believe.
He didn't trust
in the Lord Jesus.
His feet were washed here,
but it was useless
because he wasn't
in the right position
to start with.
You know,
reading the Bible,
attending church
this morning,
speaking about
Christian things,
having Christian friends,
family,
these things are all
good in themselves,
but it's no replacement
for accepting Jesus
as your own personal Savior.
So that's been holiness.
And so finally,
happiness.
C.S. Lewis says this,
he says,
God cannot give us
a happiness and peace
apart from himself
because it is not there.
There is no such thing.
Jesus,
he finishes washing their feet,
he puts his clothes on
and he goes back
to his place
at the meal
and he asks them
what is certainly
a rhetorical question,
do you understand
what I have done for you?
Now,
I think the stunned silence
probably answers
that question.
No,
they do not.
So he explains,
you call me teacher
and Lord
and rightly so,
for that is what I am.
Jesus,
he is the instructor,
the teacher,
he has been teaching
them all along
and he is also
Lord over them,
he is in charge,
he is the master.
Jesus says,
if that is who I am,
I rightly hold
these positions,
can do this for you,
then you disciples,
you can also act
in this way.
Now that I,
your Lord and teacher,
have washed your feet,
you also should wash
one another's feet.
In verse 15,
he says,
further,
he says,
I have set you an example
that you should do
as I have done for you.
Once again,
he is speaking specifically
to the disciples
but we can apply this
to Edinburgh in 2023.
Now,
we have this two-fold message.
First of all,
as we have already
thought about,
we are to wash
one another in the word.
We are to confess sins,
we are to share the gospel,
we are to speak Jesus
into each other's lives.
This can take many forms,
it could be our growth groups.
They are set up
to have open,
frank discussions
with one another.
Alistair last weekend,
he challenged us
in the time of tea and coffee,
what are we talking about?
Are we chatting about
the latest news
or sport or whatever?
Or are we asking,
you know,
how's your prayer life?
How's your daily devotion?
How's your walk
with the Lord?
Are we praying
with one another?
And you know,
the gospel,
it's wonderful
because it allows us
to be open and frank
with one another
in a totally unique way.
It allows us
to have these chats
with people
that we've just met
as well as those
that we've known
for a long time.
I remember sometimes
going on holidays
as a family
when I was younger
and we'd go to
the local church,
we'd walked in.
But you know,
you still have
that instant bond
with people
because you share
the Savior.
So that's one side
of it.
You know,
we are also
to physically
serve one another.
That may take
many forms
and it'll be different
for each one of us,
but that is the attitude
that we are to have,
to serve one another.
Verse 16,
it emphasizes here
that the disciples
were sent
by the Master,
by the Lord.
You know,
it says at the start,
yours might say
very truly,
depending what you're reading
or the old would say
verily, verily.
And you know,
that's an old phrase
when Microsoft Word
says to delete
the second letter,
the second word
because it's repeated.
But it meant
verily, verily.
It said,
when Jesus said this,
it meant,
pay attention.
If you've switched off,
this is the time
to switch on.
That's what this meant.
You know,
what it's saying
is that they have
to do as he did.
They are not too good.
The disciples
are not too good
to do as Jesus did,
to wash feet.
You know,
they were discussing
who is the greatest
and Jesus here,
he just puts them
in their place.
I loved Mark last week
when,
wasn't exactly
what he said,
but something
along the lines of,
Christians,
well,
they're Jesus people
doing Jesus stuff.
I thought that was great.
And you know what?
What is Jesus stuff?
Is it walking around,
head up,
taking the praise?
No,
this is Jesus stuff.
Servant leadership
shown ultimately
by the servant king.
this is a massive challenge
for leaders,
myself as an elder included.
Servant leadership.
And so verse 17,
now that you know these things,
you will be blessed
if you do them.
That is where we get this
theme of happiness from.
That's what this blessed means.
It's not prosperity,
it's not wealth,
it's not fame,
popularity,
it's joy.
It's joy.
You know,
this position of service
that the Lord Jesus shows,
it comes from a place of love.
We saw that in verse 1,
having loved his own to the full.
You know,
that makes it easy for Jesus
because of the love
he had for his disciples.
We are to have love
for our brothers and sisters
in Christ.
And if we do truly have that,
then to serve one another
will just come naturally.
It will not be a grind,
it will not be something
that we don't actually
want to do.
Once again,
last week,
Mark was speaking on
deny yourself,
deny self,
take up your cross
and follow me.
Last week in embassy,
we were discussing
after the sermon a wee bit,
you know,
about those who have
everything in this world.
They tend to be,
you know,
older,
rich men
living in big mansions,
anything they could ever want,
but they're on their own
and they've got broken relationships
and they aren't happy.
And once again,
C.S. Lewis,
he says this,
don't let your happiness
depend on something
that you may lose.
the Bible picture of happiness
is so radically different
to what the world would say.
So to finish,
we have Judas excluded.
I am not,
this is verse 18,
I am not referring to all of you,
I know those I have chosen,
but this is to fulfill
this passage of scripture,
he who shared my bread
has turned against me.
This is only for those
who follow him.
That is the position
we must start
by following him.
It's speaking of Judas' betrayal
which we will go into next week.
And this bit that is quoted,
it might be in quotation marks,
is Psalm 41 verse 9
where David is speaking
about betrayal
by his own family.
And it's a fulfillment
of that prophecy.
Jesus likewise says,
I'm telling you now
before it happens
so that when it does happen,
you'll believe that I am
who I am.
Now this I am,
if you like homework,
this is another great study.
The I am's of John's gospel.
You know,
that's speaking of his deity.
This is Jehovah
of the Old Testament.
It's speaking of the Trinity
and that relationship
that they have.
You know,
I must think,
I've been thinking about this
this week,
that the disciples,
they must have looked back.
You must have looked back
once Jesus was gone
and thought,
ah,
obviously.
Why didn't we get it?
Why didn't we get
what he was saying?
What was going on?
And verse 20,
another verily,
verily,
whoever accepts anyone
I send
accepts me
and whoever accepts me
accepts the one
who sent me.
That's the relationship
between the Father,
the Son,
and the disciples here.
Jesus is saying,
I am going.
I am away.
But the work will continue
through you,
the disciples.
And likewise,
it's still ongoing now
through us
if we are followers
of the Lord.
So,
that's us this morning.
Let me just sum up
where we've been.
So,
we've seen humbleness,
we've seen holiness,
and we've seen happiness.
We must serve,
but we must also
allow others
to serve us.
That is part of it.
Peter,
he was too proud.
You can't serve me.
You know,
Jesus,
as we talked about,
he was anointed by Mary.
His feet were washed,
but he also washed
the disciples' feet.
We are to wash
one another
with the word.
Get involved
with your growth groups.
the general chat
that will go on
just in a minute.
Pizza and prayer tonight,
what a great opportunity
to speak to one another,
pray with one another,
be concerned
for one another.
And we need to be
cleansed daily
to maintain
that right relationship
so that we can serve.
So,
action stations,
covet humble work,
thankless tasks
behind the scenes,
and a special challenge
for leadership
to be examples.
You know,
Jesus' life purpose,
it was to reveal
God's nature
as a being
of self-giving love.
We saw that last week.
God didn't need us.
He's self-sufficient.
And yet,
look how Jesus
served us.
He died,
allowing our sins
to be forgiven.
Therefore,
as disciples of him,
acts of loving generosity
are to be the hallmark
of Jesus' followers.
Acts of loving generosity.
Let me just pray
before Graham comes up
and takes us
through communion.
God and Father,
just thank you so much
for your word.
We thank you for
the truth
that we can see in it,
that it cleanses us
and that it sorts us out
when we have messed up.
We pray that as we
move into a time
of communion,
remembering what the Lord
Jesus did on the cross,
that these things
will just really
hit home with us
and that it will change
how we live
and our attitude
in everything.
So we just thank you
so much for the Lord Jesus
and for the cross.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.