Intro> It was Thursday evening. Jesus knew when He entered the room that in less than six hours He would be betrayed and arrested. He knew that in twelve hours He would be victim of a mock trial, taken to be ridiculed by King Herod, then back to the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate. He knew that in sixteen hours He would be mocked and whipped with a cat of nine tails by Roman soldiers, the temple guard, and that in seventeen hours He would hear the crowd yelling for Him to be crucified. And, He knew that in eighteen hours He would be nailed to a cross, and in twenty-one hours He would be dead.
<>I invite you to open a Bible to John 13:1-17.
>This is the second message in our sermon series, “From Palms to Paradise.”
--Last week, in “The Tears Of a Crown,” we looked at the events of Palm Sunday, and the fact that before Jesus entered the city that day He wept over Jerusalem. Then He entered meek and lowly on a donkey as the crowd cheered.
--In the days that followed His triumphal entry, He went and cleared out the money changers from the temple, healed people in the street, many in the crowd heard the voice of the Father speak down through the clouds. Jesus not only wasn’t “caught” in the Pharisees’ debating questions He actually left them scratching their heads...to the point they began plotting to have Him killed, and they talked to Judas about betraying Jesus, bringing them to where Jesus would be away from the crowd so they could arrest Him and take Him into custody.
<>Today we come to Thursday Evening of Jesus’ final Passover week.
--He had only 21 hours left in His earthly life...only six hours left with His disciples.
--So what would He spend His time talking to them about?
>He put the meeting together...the Passover Meal...knowing it would be His “farewell address,” a time for Him to teach them one last lesson.
--But the lesson was probably not what Jesus would have hoped it could have been.
<>(Read John 13:1-17)
>How disappointed Jesus must have been!
--He had spent three years with these men, and now on His final evening with them, He found them focused on which one of them was the greatest.
<>TODAY I WANT US TO LOOK AT WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE UPPER ROOM THAT EVENING, AND THE LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM THOSE EVENTS.
>First, there was...
1) A LAME DISCUSSION.
--Lk.22:24 -- “And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.”
>Luke’s account of this gathering tells us the subject of Jesus’ discussion:
--The disciples had “bought in” to the same idea as the rest of Judaism: that the Messiah would be a military conqueror.
----They thought He would come and overturn Rome, oust Caesar, set Israel free, and then rule from Jerusalem and elevate the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
>The disciples were probably thinking out loud as to what positions each of them would have in Jesus’ kingdom, His new administration.
>Their thoughts might have gone something like this:
-->Secretary of State? -- Well, let’s install John.
-------He’s a diplomat. He speaks of love, he was comfortable and accepted in many crowds.
-------After all, he was able to “mingle” with the high priest after Jesus’ arrest, and yet he was not arrested.
-------He also was able to be present right at the foot of the cross without being arrested.
-->Chief of Staff? -- Probably Andrew.
-------He was good at being a go-between for people bringing “stuff” or questions to Jesus.
-------He brought Simon Peter to meet Jesus on the first day He also met Jesus.
-------It was Andrew who brought the boy with the loaves and fish to Jesus.
-------It was Andrew the Greeks came and asked if they could see Jesus, and he brought them to Him.
-->Secretary of War / Secretary of Defense -- Peter.
-------He had the temper. He was militant, forceful.
------However, that position was probably put in jeopardy when he swung a sword at the head of Malchus, the Roman soldier, and took off his ear instead.
-->Secretary of Interior -- James.
------He was an outdoorsman, a fisherman. a “nature” guy.
-->Secretary of Treasury -- Matthew.
------The accountant, the tax collector, familiar with working with money and collecting money for the government.
-->C.I.A. Director -- Thomas.
------Skeptical of everything, he wouldn’t be fooled by deceptive appearances or under-cover spies.
<>Jesus would respond to the discussion and spend His last “teachable moment” with His disciples teaching them that greatness is not about “status” or what the world’s view of a great leader might be.
<>THE LESSON WE CAN LEARN: GOD WORKS THROUGH IMPERFECT PEOPLE.
-->These disciples were clearly fallible, they were slow in truly comprehending the depth of Jesus’ teaching.
-->And yet, everything we know about Jesus was the result of their efforts in passing along Jesus’ truths to others who wrote them down.
2) LEADERSHIP’S DEFINITION.
--Lk.22:25-26 -- “And He said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.’”
-->As we’ve been learning on Wednesday nights in our “Life Groups,” first century concepts were different from today’s understandings.
----Leaders exerted power, even coercion over those they led....they “lorded it over” their charges.
----At the same time, the Roman leaders scoffingly required the Israelites to refer to their oppressors as “benefactors” while they were being mistreated.
----And children had no standing in the community. They were considered the least in importance. They could even be thrown away, discarded at birth by their father without any fear of being charged with a crime.
<>But Jesus gave leadership a new definition: A GODLY LEADER WILL BE A SERVANT.
----He or she won’t “lord it over” those he/she leads...and will be humble as a child, a servant leader.
<>THE LESSON WE CAN LEARN: BEING A TRUE FOLLOWER OF JESUS MEANS PUTTING OTHERS FIRST.
---ILL>A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800’s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. However, this was America, and there were no hall servants. Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students, but was met with only silence or pious excuses. So Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and alone in his room, the world’s most famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrive of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret. The next morning, the foreign visitors opened their doors and found their shoes shined. They never knew by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the 5-day conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. It is perhaps a vital insight into why God used D. L. Moody as He did. He was a man with a servant’s heart and that was the basis of his true greatness.
3) THE LORD’S DEMONSTRATION.
--Jn.13:5 -- “Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”
-->The contrasts and the irony in this scene is striking:
-----These fishermen are trying to determine which of them was the greatest, meaning which of them would have more people serving them than any of the others.
-----Standing among them, however, is the Creator of the universe, the One to Whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.
-----He is the greatest Being of all, and yet He puts on a towel, bends down and begins to wash their feet.
-->Feet washing was such a “dirty” job only the children in the household or hired servants would engage in it.
-->Jesus’ act was so surprising, it immediately stopped the disciples’ discussion without a word being spoken.
<>THE LESSON WE CAN LEARN: WE‘RE NEVER “TOO BIG” OR “TOO GREAT” OR “TOO IMPORTANT” TO BE OF SERVICE TO SOMEONE ELSE.
---ILL> Help set up and clean off chairs on Sunday morning?...No problem.
---ILL> Help out in the nursery, help take care of kids during the worship service...even change diapers if needed?...Absolutely no task is too menial.
-->Or, stated another way...our “place” at the table is to be the place of a servant.
-->Our task is to see how we can be of service to others, rather than expecting others to serve us.
4) A LAST DINNER.
--Lk.22:19-20 -- “And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.’”
-->This was the purpose the disciples were brought together by Jesus....to observe the Passover meal, the Seder, the Passover Lamb.
-----The focus, of course, was remembering the past...when the death angel passed over the houses in Egypt, only sparing the first born children who were in the houses whose doorways were covered by the blood of the lamb.
-->But Jesus about to change the meaning of the meal forever...and give it a new dimension.
----He was giving them a preview as to what was going to take place within the next twelve hours, but they didn’t understand it.
----Now we wonder why they didn’t...After all, Jesus was telling them this was a MEMORIAL supper to Him.
<>Why would you memorialize a living person?
----You would only do so if He requested you to do it.
<>THE LESSON WE CAN LEARN: WE SHOULD REMEMBER JESUS THE WAY HE ASKED US TO REMEMBER HIM...BY A SUPPER.
<>To participate in the supper, to remember what Jesus has done for you, you need to have invited Him into your life.
-->This morning, before we enter into a time of observing the Lord’s Supper, we want to give you that opportunity now.
(Offer an invitation, then proceed to leading in observing the Lord’s Supper together).
