Friendship Church - Sunday Morning Messages

Friends, you can open up to John chapter 13. We're going to be in verses 1 through 17. And while you're on your way there, I just want to remind you that at 12:15 today over at the Shakopee campus, we're going to be having a celebration of Pastor Kenny and Cindy and their ministry here. I'd love to have you join me in going over there when this service is over. Love it if there was a wave of Prior Lake appreciation for Pastor Kenny. Maybe a tsunami of Prior Lake appreciation for Pastor Kenny as we make our way over there together.But over here, we are finally kicking off our fall sermon series. Well, over the course of the last year, we have gone through a sermon series on the seven "I Am" statements in the Gospel of John. And we have also done a sermon series on the seven signs in the Gospel of John. And in those two series, we've covered a lot of the material that appears in the first 12 chapters of the Gospel of John. Now we are going to be looking at a sermon series that focuses on John chapters 13 through 17 that all takes place in an upper room.John chapters 13 through 17 are very different than John chapters 1 through 12. In John chapters 1 through 12, there are different snapshots from over two and a half years of Jesus' ministry. Then in John 13 through 17, those five chapters cover just a few hours in a single location. Jesus and His disciples have been lent an upper room by some unnamed character where they can go and participate in the preparation for the Passover and taking the Passover meal together, just a few hours before Jesus goes to the cross.It was common in this day, if you had money, that you would build a home in the city where the first level of the home had a couple of different rooms for you and your family to live in. And then up above that, there was often a single upper room built as a second story. That upper room was used for entertaining; it had its own separate entrance, its own separate stairway to get in there. And that's where Jesus and His disciples are having this dialogue found in John chapters 13 through 17.Now today, Jesus is going to famously wash His disciples' feet. Let's recognize right off the bat that this is not a custom that is common in our day. If you come over to dinner at my house, there are some things that we are going to do that are common to our day: we're going to pray before we eat, we're going to all sit in chairs at a table rather than reclining the way that they did, we're going to eat dessert when the meal is over—probably ice cream, definitely ice cream. And these are all normal customs for our day. But what is not going to happen if you come to my house, someone is not going to grab your shoes and socks and take them off and start scrubbing your tootsies! Like, that's just not the way that we work in our culture. But it was absolutely a regular part of their daily life 2,000 years ago.And we're going to see Jesus wash their feet. And as we do, this is far bigger and more important than just the removal of some dirt and grime for a more sanitary meal. Jesus wants them to learn lessons as He is teaching them through the washing of feet. And He wants them to understand:This is a display of God's love. As He washes their feet, He wants them to understand it's a symbol of salvation's cleansing. And finally, He wants them to understand it's a model of conduct for Jesus' followers. If you are playing along here, these are our three points of the sermon, right? Like, if you're a notetaker, this is it—these are the three points. And we're going to spend much of our time on the first one, because if we don't understand the display of God's love, the next two don't really matter.And so, as we talk about how this washing of feet is a display of God's love—His great love for us—let me just encourage you right now to pray for God to deepen your understanding in heart, mind, and soul of His love for you. We don't want to just learn a few truths in our head as we walk through this. Let's pray for a deepening of our understanding of the height and width and depth of the love of God, and let's praise Him for it as we walk through this.Jesus, we ask for that right now: that You would deepen our understanding of Your great love.John chapter 13, verses 1 through 5 says this:"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 into 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 supper. He laid aside His outer garments, 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." Jesus' washing of the disciples' feet, and the greater act of service of going to the cross on behalf of His people that it represents, are all done—according to verse 1—because of the love of God for His people. He has a love that goes to the end. Some of your translations say "He loved them to the uttermost." This word can mean "to the maximum." He loved them the maximum amount that love can happen, and He loved them the maximum amount of time. He loved them absolutely to completion, to the max, to the end.And what kind of love is it that we see here as we see the love of God poured out through the washing of feet?Well, first of all, it is, shockingly, a humble love. And I say shockingly because did you see what verse 3 said? Verse 3 said all power or all authority was given to Jesus. That's exactly what He says in Matthew 28. He says, "All power and authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." And how does He choose to use all power and authority in heaven and on earth? By getting low and serving His creatures. By getting low and serving His creatures. It's difficult for us to understand the amount of humility and service that is involved in what Jesus does here. Washing other people's feet was considered among the lowest tasks that a servant might take on in this day. Someone came to your home for a meal, and they had been walking all day in a world where there is no sanitary system, where there is no indoor plumbing, where there are no concrete roads, where the animals roam throughout the village doing whatever they do wherever they go. And when they show up to your house, they have been walking around in bare feet or maybe open sandals, and at this point, their feet are filled with filth, refuse, and animal substances.And you're all about to recline at table. They're all going to lay on their left side and eat with their right hand, so that their feet are all down next to the head of the person two over. People needed to wash their feet, right? It's disgusting. And so what was the normal practice? The normal practice was for the host to bring out a bowl and a towel so that people could wash their own feet. That's what we see from Jesus in Luke chapter 7 at the home of Simon the Pharisee. Normally a bowl and a towel would be provided so you could wash your own feet. But on rare occasion where you really wanted to show honor to someone, you would bring out a servant, and that servant would actually wash the feet of your guests.Never did someone wash the feet of a peer. This was considered far too low a task for someone to wash the feet of a peer. As a matter of fact, there are several writings from this day that indicate the Jews believed that footwashing was such a low task that they didn't believe Jewish servants should be required to do it—only Gentile servants.And what we see here is the Master, the King—according to John chapter 1, the Maker of all things—take off the robes of the banquet, get Himself into a servant's garb, grab the bowl and the towel, and begin to wash the feet of His followers.They didn't have a category for this! This would have been shocking to them. They would have thought that washing Jesus' feet was beneath Him—it would have only been for the servant who had to wait outside the door. And yet here is their Master and their King who is washing their feet.And this is symbolic of a far greater act of service that Jesus is about to participate in. Because "the Son of Man," Jesus said, "did not come to be served, but to serve" (which He's doing here), but the ultimate act of service is that the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. And so we recognize this is just symbolic service of the far greater service that Jesus is about to participate in in less than 24 hours as He gives His life for His people.There wouldn't have been a category for them in terms of the humility and the service that is involved here. And it should still be shocking to us that the King of the universe, the Creator of all that exists, has taken off the robes of majesty and glory in heaven and has come and lowered Himself to become a part of the creation—and not just lowered Himself to become a part of the creation, but to become the very lowest, to take on the lowest station in which all guilt for sin of His people is placed upon Him and all punishment for that guilt is placed upon Him.Right, are you kidding me? This is shockingly humble love. Amazing love! How can it be that You, my King, would die for me? This is astounding humble love that God has shown to us.Second, I want us to understand it's undeserved love. We're told that Jesus loved them to the end, to the uttermost, to the max here. And what had they done in order to deserve the glorious, deep, wide, high love of God? Nothing! As a matter of fact, what we're going to see is that Peter is going to deny knowing Jesus at all over the course of the next 24 hours, three different times. The disciples are all going to scatter, and at the moment that Jesus needs them the most, they're going to abandon Him.If you turn over to Luke chapter 22, what you'll find is immediately before Jesus washes their feet, the disciples are busy all arguing with each other. Can you guess what they're arguing about? You know, don't you? Because they do it over and over again in the Gospels: they're arguing about which one of them is the greatest!Again, what have they done in order to deserve the steadfast, glorious love of God? They've done nothing to deserve it, and yet it is placed upon them. It is a gracious and merciful love that has been placed upon them. And we recognize Romans 5 teaches us that it is while we were in the midst of our sins that Christ died for us. Ephesians 2 says while we were enemies of God because of our sins and transgressions, God chose to place His merciful love upon us. It is a completely undeserved love, and yet He places it upon us in His grace and His mercy.And because it's an undeserved love, it's an unending love. I want you to notice in verse 1 that we are told that Jesus loved them to the maximum, to the uttermost, to the end. Why did He do that? The first part of that sentence says because He had chosen to love them—because He had already chosen to love His own, He loved them to the uttermost, He loved them to the max.And when did God choose to love His children? According to Ephesians 1:4, God chose to love His children before the universe was ever made. According to Revelation 13:8, Jesus made the decision to go to the cross before the foundations of the world existed. And so it is right to understand God to have already loved you before there was space and time. (I don't even understand what that sentence means—what is before time?) God loved you before anything existed, before there was space, before there was time.And because His love has no beginning, it will have no end. God didn't see something in you and say, "Oh, that's attractive. I'm going to place My affections upon them." And because of that, God will never see something unattractive in you and say, "Oh, that's unattractive. I'm going to remove My affections from them."God does not love in the same way that we do in our world, based on seeing things that are attractive or unattractive in others. In our world, two young people come together, a young man and a young woman. And that young woman sees some qualities in that young man that she finds attractive, and she places her affections upon him, and they begin a dating relationship. And what is dating like in our society? Dating is where we hide anything bad in us for as long as possible in order to try and fool them into choosing us! And so she sees these things that are attractive and she places her affections on him. But over time, what takes place? Eventually she sees some other qualities in him and she goes, "Wait a minute... these qualities, they're not so attractive. They're unattractive." And often at this point in our world, she removes her affections and love dies—which, sometimes in the dating relationship, absolutely needs to happen so that she can move on to something better.Or have you ever experienced someone who took a new job and they say, "I love my job!" Right in those first few weeks, they can't talk enough about how much they love their job. Well, of course you love your job—you're being onboarded! Everyone is catering to you, they're throwing parties because you're here. There used to be a vacuum there and now you're there, and everyone is super excited that you're there. And then within a few months, what takes place? You start to realize, "Oh... my coworkers, they don't all get along. Oh, my boss speaks to me in ways I don't want to be spoken to. Oh, the company is involved in pursuing these things over here that I don't really have an interest in." And within a couple of years, you're no longer yelling to everyone, "I love my job!" And a couple more years after that, you're like, "I need a new job."What happened? Well, you saw some things that were attractive and you fell in love, and then over time, you found things that were unattractive and your affections waned.That is not how God's love for you works. He placed His love on you before anything in the world existed. He did so in complete and utter foreknowledge of everything that you would ever think, say, or do. God did not say, "Oh, how attractive! I'm going to place My affections on them," and then later on see something unattractive in you and say, "Oh man, if I'd known that, I never would have spent My Son's blood for that one." Right? Never!And because He didn't choose to place His love on you because of how attractive you were, you will never experience the retraction of His love because there's something unattractive in your life. That's why places like Psalm 18 and Psalm 136 say over and over again, "His love endures forever." The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His love endures forever. As a matter of fact, if you read those Psalms, it says it over and over again, doesn't it? "His love endures forever. His love endures forever." It says it so often we might just scan right over the top of it.But friends, think about the implications of the forever love of God that has been placed upon you. Because God chose to love you before anything existed, in complete foreknowledge of everything you were ever going to think, say, or do wrong, He never has buyer's remorse about you.Right, you've had buyer's remorse at some point. My wife and I, we just recently experienced buyer's remorse. (Oh, thank you, you feel for me!) My son and his wife have birthdays that are just a few days apart, and so we bought them this fancy blender because they're healthy people and they love to make smoothies. We bought one of these blenders that costs more than any blender should—something Vitamix from Costco, I don't know. We got them this fancy blender, and the first day that they used it, they're making smoothies, and the thing starts to smoke and stops working!And so, because Costco has a wonderful return policy, they bring it back and they're given a new one. And they go home with the new one, and the first day that they're using the new one, it stops working and dies entirely! Now, I don't know what they were doing—maybe my son is making gravel smoothies to try and get tougher, I don't know. 'Cause smoothies are the key to toughness!But as my wife and I think about this, we've got buyer's remorse. We got buyer's regret in all of this. If we had known how broken and flawed this product was, we would have bought them something else. And you've had this experience.And what I need you to understand is: God never feels that way about you. God knew absolutely everything broken and flawed about you when He chose to set His love upon you before anything existed. And so His love, because it is undeserved, is unending. His love endures forever. That's amazing love, right? How can it be that You, my King, would die for me?As Jesus is washing their feet, He wants them to understand this is a display of the love of God. The second thing I want us to see here: as He is washing their feet, it is a symbol of salvation's cleansing. Washing their feet is a symbol of salvation's cleansing. Look at this interaction between Jesus and Peter in the passage: 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 afterward you will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean." It seems obvious here as we read this passage that when Jesus is talking about washing and cleanliness, He is talking about something more than physical bathing. The problem with Judas isn't that Judas hasn't had a bath in long enough. The problem with Judas is he has rejected Christ; he has rejected the gospel. And because of that, the filth of his sins remain upon him, and those will be judged and punished. And he cannot have fellowship with the Lord as long as the filth of those sins remains upon him.Jesus says, "You have to be washed if you're going to have fellowship with God." We must be washed by Jesus if we're to have fellowship with Jesus. And when Jesus tells Peter, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with Me," He's communicating to him gospel fundamentals. He is saying, first of all, Peter, what primarily—no, what exclusively—keeps people from fellowship with God is the filth of their sin. That's what keeps people from fellowship with God. The second thing He's saying to Peter is: you can't clean yourself. You notice Jesus doesn't say, "Unless you clean yourself, you cannot have fellowship with Me." He says, "No, unless I clean you, unless I wash you." And so we recognize there's no ability we have to wash ourselves. The only way that we can have fellowship with God and share with Jesus is if He cleanses us, if He washes us. And we see here in this interaction between Peter and Jesus, what is the division between man-made religion and the gospel?Man-made religion follows the pathway that Peter starts down here and says, "I need to wash feet so I can be in the presence of the deity. Let me do enough good, let me serve enough, let me work enough, and then maybe I can be in the presence of God. Let me climb this mountain through my good works, and maybe I can climb up to God."The gospel, on the other hand, says God Himself recognized we can never climb that mountain to have fellowship with God. And so He came down to us, and through what Jesus has done, we have been washed and now can be in the presence of God—not because we've washed enough feet, not because we've washed feet well enough, but because of what Jesus has done on our behalf and the washing that He has brought to our lives.And this is the difference between all man-made religion that says, "Wash enough feet, do enough good, and someday you can be in the presence of God," and the gospel that says, "You can never wash enough feet, you can never do enough good, and so Christ, the Son of God, has come in order to wash you clean so that you can be in God's presence."We must be washed by Jesus if we're to have fellowship with Jesus. It is a symbol of salvation's cleansing as He is washing their feet. And finally, as Jesus washes their feet, it is a model of conduct for Jesus' followers. Read the final verses with me: When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments 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 also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to 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." Jesus is here, as He washes feet, serving as a model for the conduct of His people. He is saying, "I am the King. You rightfully call Me Master, Teacher, King, Lord. All of these things are absolutely true. I am the King of the kingdom. And what do I do as King of the kingdom who rightfully has the top place? I go to the very bottom and I serve the subjects of the kingdom. The King serves the subjects of the kingdom." And so He says, "What are the expectations of the subjects in the kingdom? That you would all take on this same spirit and the same attitude and humbly serve one another."There's opposition to that. Satan, the world, and the flesh provide opposition to that. Judas is an example of that right here in this passage. Judas chooses self-interest and self-rule instead of love for God and love for people. He says, "Boy, Jesus isn't establishing the kind of kingdom that I want, and so I am going to betray Him. I want 30 pieces of silver, and so I am going to betray Him." And he is involved in self-interest and self-rule, and he has followed the king of the kingdom of self-interest and self-rule.Satan was the first to say, "I'm not following You anymore, God. I'm doing what I want, I'm going to rule my own life." And since then, he has been the one tempting people to follow him into selfishness and self-rule.Jesus says, "In My kingdom, it's totally different than that. The King Himself humbly serves the subjects and calls all of you to do exactly the same."And what kind of humble, loving service does He show here?First of all, He shows that we are to humbly, lovingly serve our fellow believers who are a mess. Isn't that what Peter is? He is a believer who is a mess. In this passage, he's going to go ahead and, after three years of sitting under Jesus, argue with Jesus about how this should work, right? "No, Jesus, You're getting it wrong!" What, dude? You've had three years with Him, and you're still telling Him how to do it right? And then in the next 24 hours, he's going to deny even knowing Jesus three times.And Jesus' response to him is to get on His knees before Peter, towel and bowl in hand, and lovingly serve Peter by washing his feet. And Jesus is a beautiful example to us that when it comes to the followers of Jesus, yes, there are some who are easy to love and serve, and some who are hard to love and serve. And Jesus shows us here, "I'm calling you to serve and humbly love those who are challenging, where it might be painful, those who don't reciprocate. Love those believers who are broken and messy."But Jesus also shows us in this passage: love your enemies. Love those who are opposed to Me and opposed to you. Isn't that who Judas is at this point? He is Jesus' enemy. He is turning Jesus over to the authorities so that Jesus will be killed. If Jesus hadn't intervened, all of the disciples would have died right along with Him. Judas is the enemy of Jesus; he is anti-Christ at this point.And how does Jesus treat His enemy? He gets on the ground before him, He grabs the towel and the bowl of water, and He washes Judas's feet.And it is a wonderful example to us of how we are to love our enemies. You have someone in your family that you think of as the opposition—God's call in your life towards them is to think about how you can lovingly, humbly serve them. You have people in your neighborhood or your work who are opposed to you in every way—people in your neighborhood, they've got signs in their yard for people you would never vote for; people at work who affirm things where you're completely and totally opposed to those things.Jesus' call is for us to humbly serve them and love them—not by calling truth fiction or fiction truth, not by affirming things that are wrong, but to serve and love them with our time, our talent, and our treasure. That is His call. He says, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, because that's what My Father does." Because that's what My Father does. And so we're called to love our enemies in the way that we see from Jesus here. This is an example to us of how we are to love one another.Now, I don't know about you, but as I get to the end of this passage, my question is: how? I want to grow in humble servant love, and I want to grow away from self-interest and self-rule. How does that happen? How can I become more like Jesus in the way that I lovingly give myself away to others?And I think the answer to that is found here in this passage where Jesus says, "Do you understand what I do for you?" He says the key to you carrying out My example is that you are looking to Me and understanding what I have done for you.If we believe that we are going to become more humble, more loving, and produce greater service towards each other by looking at each other, then we're crazy—because we're all broken and we're all messy and we don't inspire loving service! Jesus says, "If you're going to lovingly serve one another, that's going to come because you are focused on and wrapped up in the way that I have graciously and mercifully served you." And when you see that grace and mercy poured out upon you, then you will have the proper inspiration and proper power in order to love the hard-to-love people around you.And so we look to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Does that sound familiar to anyone, right? Last week we looked at Hebrews chapter 12: what is the key to growth? Look to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. We look to Him, we focus on Him, we seek to understand what He has done for us. Knowing that is how we grow in pouring those things out in the life of others.Every week we come here and we participate in the Lord's Supper together. Why do we do that? We do that because as we remember Him, we are focusing all of our attention—we're focusing our minds and hearts—on Him and what He has done for us. And as we do that, He transforms who we are so that we will be greater loving servants towards those who are around us.And we are going to participate in that right now. I want to invite you right now to go ahead and just spend a few moments with the Lord thinking about the astounding, amazing love that He has shown to you:The humble love that the God of the universe has shown in being your substitute.The undeserved love that He's shown to someone like me—messy and broken.The unending love to the max that He has promised to His people, rooted in His character and His power.