If you have your Bibles, I’d like you to turn to the book of John. We’ve
been in a series entitled, "the Twelve." This is a series about twelve
common men that had an uncommon calling that Jesus chose to do life with. You know, if there’s anybody at all that could have done a solo
project, it was Jesus. Jesus could have done everything He did on earth and on the cross with the power of the resurrection. He could have done all of that by Himself. But it’s interesting to me that Jesus made the decision to have some people join the journey. And He selected a real diverse group. We’ve been studying each of them and looking at them individually, been looking at them together.
One of the things we looked at is how Jesus selected some that were siblings. How many know that it’s hard sometimes to get brother and sister to get along when they’re eating cereal, much less to go somewhere for three years together. And so Jesus put two sibling brothers together on His team. He put some that were unknown. He put some that were known, like Thomas who we learned, when we hear the word "Doubting Thomas" in our culture. We even hear a lot about Judas. And we didn’t cover Judas in this setting, but I did a special message on Judas online. So it will be available tonight on the website. You can go to our website and check out a message that I did about the disciple, Judas. I did that in my home and just talked about a few things for a few minutes about what I learned from studying the life of Judas. It’s interesting to me even though we see Judas, he’s got horns growing out of his head and he walks around with a pitchfork, guess what? He was not like that. He was one that was chosen just like the rest of them. Something went bad. And we want to find those things out.
But Jesus chose all kinds. He chose ordinary. They were ordinary men. They were common men. They were not men that had their bath water drawn by a butler. They were not men that every morning when they got up there was freshly squeezed orange juice, like many of you who have maids and you have people pull your car around in the morning. They Benedict your eggs and all of that kind of thing. If that even makes any sense. That wasn’t planned, I promise you. But you know, they were common people just like us. Common finances, common family, common work, things like that. But obviously there was something about the twelve. And we’ve studied that for six weeks. There was something about the twelve that got Heaven’s attention that got the attention of the King of Kings. And I believe there are many things, I believe there were gifts, I believe there were talents, I believe there were traits about them, there were skills about them that could be used for the Kingdom.
But I believe there were two things that really interest me about when Jesus selected them. One of them is, it tells us that Jesus embraces diversity, that everybody doesn’t have to be the same. Aren’t you glad that church doesn’t have to be the gathering of the cookie cutters? Can I have an amen? It doesn’t have to be all the cookie cutters. Sometimes there’s spiritual environments where everybody’s got to raise their hand just the same way. "You’re not raising your hand right. You do it this way, not that way." Or you’ve just got to worship one way. We embrace a diverse expression of worship here, a diverse expression of how you connect with God. I’m kind of out there, a little ADD at times. I mean, I’m moving at a funeral, come on somebody. That’s just my flow. But other people are kind of stoic and if the Holy Ghost moves on them, they just kind of do this right here. And it’s a moment and it’s cool and it’s great, whatever God does. Now let me tell you this. God always wants to move you outside of your comfort zone. Come on somebody. So
wherever your comfort zone is, He’s always wanting you to step outside of that. And so He always wants us to do that. He doesn’t want us to be tripping on ego and tripping on identity and so caught up in self-awareness. So Jesus was looking for a diverse group.
And the other thing I think that was real cool is that Jesus saw potential in these disciples that they didn’t even see themselves. Have you ever had a coach or a teacher in a positive light see something about you that you didn’t even see yourself? They say, "You know what, I believe you could be good at this." Or sometimes there’s been a mentor in our life that says, "Man, you’ve got it going on here." "You think I can do that?" "Yeah, I think you can do it." "Well, my goodness, let me try it." You feel good about yourself. Now in some cases we have people that do the opposite. We have coaches that run us down. Sometimes, even in our parent zone, we’ve come from a home maybe that there was the tragedy of always being put down. "You ain’t good for nothing. You ain’t ever... I’ll tell you what," all this kind of stuff. But Jesus saw people and saw potential. Not only does God want us to be a people of faith, I’ll tell you some good news. God is a God of faith. He wants us to give Him faith. But you know what, He has a lot of faith in looking at our life, believing that we can be the man, believing that we can be the woman that He’s intended us to be.
See, not only did it take me faith to ask DeLynn to marry me. I mean, I was all worked up and I was thinking, "Man, I don’t know if this girl’s going to marry me. What’s up with this deal? I mean, I know I’ve got it going on and all that, but still, she may say no." And it took some faith. I remember when I asked her to marry me, my heart was pounding. I was B.O.-ing up. I was stinking. I was sweating like crazy. I was worked up. And I said, "Will you marry me?" And she paused. I’ll never forget it. She paused for about fifteen seconds. And as I began to vomit, she felt sorry for me. No, but she paused. And then she said, "Of course." She said, "Yes, I guess I will." I was like, "Oh, I’m feeling good about myself right now." I got an, "I guess." But sixteen years later, come on somebody. But here’s the other side of it, is it took faith for her to say yes, to see me where I was at in my life. And you know, I had a vision to reach the world. And I wanted to touch the world. I wanted to help poor people. And I gave her a long speech, "Baby, we’re just going to go and live. Can you just live on the street? We may be homeless our
whole life, reaching those. We may run a soup kitchen. We just may live in a cardboard box." That’s how I won her. Her daddy was like, "No, my daughter ain’t living in a cardboard box. You better go to work, son."
But it took faith for her to say yes to me. So it takes faith for us to say, "God, I want to follow you." And then God is a God of faith that says, "Yes, come on. Let’s go." There was faith both ways. The disciples said yes. And Jesus said yes.
And then the other thing that they had in common that I just want to finish up with, is that even though they were different, some had a temper and some were kind of chilled, some were unknown and were not real noticeable in a group, a real face in the crowd. You don’t see them a lot in scripture. And then there were others that were always kind of, "Hey, let me talk. Let me talk," real outgoing and things like that.
But all of them at the end of the day, at the end of the journey for three years made a decision that they were going to follow Christ. And just like those disciples made that decision, today as modern disciples with the call still going out from Jesus Christ, "Come and follow us," we all have to come to a place in our life that we either accept Christ or we reject Him.
And then there were those in the crowd, those that heard the teaching of Jesus that rejected Him. He would talk about certain things and they just said, "We’re not doing that. We’re not into that. That’s crazy. I’m not going to live that way." And they bolted. And there was one time in John chapter 6 where all of them were gathered together and Jesus talks about, "I want to be intimate with you. We’re going to have a personal relationship. We’re going to be committed to one another," and everybody in the room heads out and the only ones that are left are the disciples. And Jesus looks at them, I love how he does this. It is so cool. Jesus looks at them and says, "Are you leaving, too?" I don’t know about you, but if everybody left, I would want a few to stay around. "Y’all don’t leave me. I’m going to give you a hundred dollars. Stay with me."
But He looks at them and says, "There’s the door, too, because this is going to be a personal relationship." And I love what they say. Peter, he’s always making a statement. Peter says, "Lord, how can we leave? There’s nowhere else to go but You." He adds and he says, "You’re the only One with life and with power. You’re the only One that gives eternal life." See, there comes a time in our life where, "Help us, God, to get to that point. If there’s anything I want to make sure I get a hold to you. If I gain anything in life, I want to gain you."
And the disciples made that decision. They were that serious about it. Now Jesus walked with them for three years. Some of them it was two and a half years. He chose them over a little period of time. Some got closer. There were some that He took out of the twelve, three that became very intimate with Him. But by and large, they walked with Him for three years. They became an apprentice. Jesus said, "You will be My disciples, but I will also call you apostles." A disciple is a learner. An apostle means messenger.
So He walks with them for three years. And He trains them and He coaches them. And they get into situations where He says, "Don’t act that way." He gets into conversations where He looks at them and says, "I am the Truth." He gets into things with Pharisees and with sick people and with sinful people and hurting people, and He turns around to His disciples and says, "I’m giving you a new definition of what the Kingdom is all about." Many times He gives discourses and lectures and messages. He gives talks about His coming Kingdom, that He is going to rule, that there’s going to be eternal life. One time He’s with the disciples and they are looking at this magnificent temple and He says, "You see that temple? That temple will not even stand. It could be destroyed and in three days it will rise again." And they are not knowing what He’s thinking about, He knowing that He speaks of the cross and the resurrection. They look at Him and say, "My goodness, He’s got some power. He just said He could come in and do demolition on the whole temple and in three days rebuild it. This man has got power." They’ve seen the blind eyes opened. They’ve seen Him call forth into the realm of death and pull Lazarus back from the hold of death. They’ve watched Him break loaves and fishes and feed the multitudes. They’re seen the withered hands stretch out. They’ve seen the bent-over woman stand straight.
But now He’s ending His public ministry. And in that final week of training, the most important things always come to the surface. That’s how it is in life. I’ve stood around a few deathbeds as a pastor. And it’s interesting to me that I have never yet seen anyone around a deathbed tell their baby, "Honey, can you go get that boat and bring it up here in this bedroom. I need to touch it one more time." I’ve never seen anybody fighting cancer and somebody tell them, "You have three days to live," and they say, "Put those fishing poles in bed with me. Go get that checkbook and rub it on my forehead one more time. Let me count my money one more moment." There’s never those conversations. I’ve never seen a woman yet say, "Oh, baby, go get my shoes and place them up here on the bed. If I can touch them one more time." That’s never the conversation by the deathbed.
Do you know what everybody wants? You’ve been there. Some of you have been there with your parents. I was there with both of my parents. Do you know what they want? They want their family. They want to say something one more time to their family. They want a friend from high school that’s been their friend. They want to see somebody that’s done life with them. Isn’t it interesting that in someone’s final words, some of the most vital things about life are said.
When my mother was brought home from fighting cancer and we had hospice, what an incredible ministry, and she’s there in our living room in a hospital bed. And the hospice lady comes in and says, "She won’t live another twelve hours." Can I tell you this? All of our conversations became very pale to the words that she would say. And every time that she would come out of a coma, sedated by so much pain killer, every time she opened her mouth our little conversations about the new Target down the road and about the score of the ballgames, they were very quiet. "She’s going to say something. She’s going to say something." And my two sisters, we stayed around that bed, and if someone had to slip away, they came right back and said, "Did she say anything?" Because the vital things come out of a person’s life in their final moments.
Jesus knows that the sand in the hourglass is dropping through and that in several moments He will be led away and He will be crucified for the sins of you and I. But He won’t stay in that tomb. He will rise again. And He gathers His disciples together in a little thing called the Upper Room. And there He’s going to give them Passover, speaking of the Old Testament. There He’s going to institute the Lord’s Supper. He’s going to talk about the cup and the bread. They’re going to spend some time talking about some things because He knows that in a few moments He’s not going to be with them bodily, but He’s going to go to the cross and then the Holy Spirit is going to come and He’s going to pass this Gospel ball to them and say, "Take it down the field until I return again."
So here’s my question after that long intro. What was He trying to get across to them in those final moments? I believe if we can discover that, we may be able to discover some valuable things about our life. If He could use them, if He could transform them, if He could get them to get a hold of some things, just maybe He can use you and I in an amazing way because He used those twelve men in an amazing way. They changed the world. Here we are two thousand years later and we’re talking about them.
You know what? There’s probably not a lot of other lectures going on about a lot of other people that lived two thousand years ago. But all over the world there are over a billion people that are gathering in church talking about these twelve men and the life that they chose under the Son of God. I would say that’s pretty powerful.
And Jesus gathers them together in John Chapter 13. And He does two things that are amazing to me. He gives them an example of serving and then He talks to them a little bit about love, authentic love. They gather together and in the air is a dispute and you can see it at the beginning of John Chapter 13. In the air is a dispute still after three years, thirty-six months. Think about this. A hundred and fifty-six weeks they have been with Jesus and they go into the Upper Room and they are trying to figure out who is going to be the greatest. Could you imagine, three years and He still hasn’t gotten that out of them. He’s gotten a bunch of other stuff out of them, but He’s not gotten that out of them.
And so Jesus, hearing this conversation, knowing that the Father has given them all power, He’s going to go to the cross, it says in Scripture, in John Chapter 13, it says He takes a towel and He girds Himself with it. And by being the Rabbi, it shocks them that He has put the towel on because in custom when you would come into a home, you would have to wash your feet due to the world that they lived in. That was just what you did every night. And usually the lowest servant, the lowest paid person would do that. But they are so concerned about who’s going to be the greatest, none of them, because it was just them, none of them would give in and do it. They knew it needed to be done. They knew that that basin and that towel was sitting by the door. But everybody walked in and said, "I ain’t doing that. John’s doing that." The next one walked by, "Andrew, hold up right there. James the Less, he’s doing it." Come on, have you ever passed the buck and thought, "Man, I’m not doing that. I’m going to let somebody else pick that up. I’m going to let somebody else do that." And all of them did that. And Jesus walked in and saw the towel and the basin still standing there and everybody’s going to eat the Passover with dirty feet. And He hears them talking about who’s going to be number one. And He takes the towel and He kneels down to every one of them and He brings the basin over and He begins to wash the disciples’ feet, cleanse their feet from the crud of the world.
We still need it today. He gets to old Peter, and Peter says, Peter’s the only one that kind of says something. He finally feels bad about it and they probably all think now, "I wish we would have done that. Here’s our Rabbi, we’re the student and He’s doing it." And Peter says, "Lord, You can’t wash my feet. What are you doing?" And He looks up at Peter and says, "If I do not wash your feet, you have no part with Me," speaking, "If I cannot cleanse you by My forgiveness you will never be able to come into My Kingdom. You’ve got to let Me give you the gift of cleansing. You can’t earn it. You can’t work for it."
And He washes all their feet and He gets up, our Savior, moments away from being betrayed, and He looks at them and this is what He says, trying to get them to get this one. He says in verse 12, after washing their feet, He put on His robe and sat down. Verse 12 of John 13, He says, "Do you understand what I’m doing? You call me Teacher and Lord and you are right because it’s true. And since I, the Lord, your Teacher have washed your feet, you ought also to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. How true it is that a servant is not greater that his master, nor are messengers more important than the One who sends them. You know these things. Now do them."
He looks at them and says, "After three years, we’re still dealing with this. And if we’re going to get this Gospel, if you’re going to be able to take the cross to the world then you have got to settle this issue of being a servant. You’ve got to quit running and jumping in line." Have you ever seen a bunch of kids and you say, "Okay, now it’s time for the brownies," and all the kids are like, "He stepped in front of me." And it’s like that’s what they’ve been doing. They’re just stepping in front of each other. He says, "You guys have got to quit all of this. We’re never going to be able to do this if you do not understand that this is the heart of serving, that I have called you to be a servant. I’m not giving you a title. I’m trying to show you that life is about a towel. Everything else is empty."
We need a revolution of servanthood. I love what He says. He says, "nor are messengers more important than the one who sends them. You know these things. Now do them." That is the path of blessings. And then He looks at them and says, "Let me tell you one more thing about how this is going to work, because you’ve got to become a servant. I’ve brought you along for three years because I need you to become a servant." He said, "This is how you’ll sustain it." Look at verse 31, as soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said to them, "The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into My glory. And God will receive glory because of all that happens to Me. And God will bring Me into the glory very soon," talking of His coming Kingdom. "I give you a new commandment." "He’s giving us a new commandment. It must be important. This could be huge. This could be the tipping point." He says, "Love each other. Love each other just as I have loved you." Now post-cross, we understand that Jesus loved us with a sacrificial love by dying on the cross, but Jesus is here before the cross, looking at the disciples saying, "The way I’ve lived, the way I’ve loved, the way I’ve served, the way I’ve cared for you, you need to do the same."
You say, "Well, I can’t die on the cross for anybody." But you can live the cross for somebody. He says, "Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples, not your biblical knowledge, not any spiritual, mystic, abracadabra movements, not the way you carry yourself." It won’t be a haircut. It won’t be a clothing style. It won’t be an address of a church. It won’t be a personality or a star of the faith. Come on. It won’t be a denomination. He says, "It’s your love for one another, how you love each other. That’s how people are going to know that you are My disciples."
What has He been trying to do? He’s been trying to get them to be His disciples because when He dies and He goes to the cross and He goes to Heaven, He says, "Now you’re going to go and make disciples. This thing is going to spread." This is so different than what they thought.
Let me finish with this. I believe the disciples thought that they were going to establish the Kingdom through the sword (picks up a sword on stage). They just knew that Jesus was going to let them feel the pain. I watched Gladiator. I’ve done Russell Crowe in my bedroom before. (Flashing the sword overhead.) Don’t make me go Bruce Lee on somebody up in here. I need help. They really thought, because here’s the cool thing. They leave the Upper Room, they head to the garden, and guess what? Judas shows up and kisses Jesus on the cheek and there’s a bunch of soldiers. And when they go to get Jesus to bring Him into trial, guess what happens? Peter is there with his sword. "I’ve been waiting on this moment." And the Bible says that Peter takes a swat at an individual (swipes sword through the air). (I’ve got a handle on it. Some of you are like, "That pastor is crazy. I knew they had a purple sign but I didn’t know they had swords up in the house. My mama told me that was a cult." It’s an illustration. I’ll get back a little.)
Peter takes a swat at a soldier and the Bible says that it cut his ear off. Now I’ve never seen anybody in a fight try to trim somebody’s ear. Can you stand up for a second? You try to take somebody’s head off. The soldier was like, whew, Matrix. They thought that the Kingdom was going to be established by a sword. And Jesus hands them a towel. He said, "This is how My Kingdom is going to work right here."
You know, too often we’re trying to build our marriage on the sword. We’re trying to make somebody listen to us. We use our tongue as if it’s a sword and we’re going to tell somebody how they’re going to live. We’re going to force somebody to do what we tell them. And at first we date them with such a kindness, but then we marry them and that kindness turns into a sword. And you know what? When you have a sword, people around you respond one of three ways. They run from you, you wound them, or they fight back.
And the Kingdom of God is not built through a sword. It’s not about us telling everybody how to live. It’s not about us saying, "We’re the right ones. And if you don’t believe we’re right, you are wrong." Everybody else that doesn’t have my sword is wrong. Jesus says, "The Kingdom is established through a towel. Go and love somebody. Serve somebody."
And then the last thing that I believe the disciples really thought after
they were to establish it through a sword, I believe the other thing that they believed was that Jesus was going to give them a throne to sit on. They knew, "Man, we’re been with you three years. We’ve been hanging out under the stars. We’ve been eating crickets and wheat. Man, we’ve been eating Aunt Matilda’s food for a long time. You’ve got to put us in the palace. I mean, you’ve got to bump it up a little bit, Jesus. There’s got to be an upgrade to all of this sacrifice. I know you’re going to upgrade us."
As a matter of fact, there was all this dispute, one of the mother’s gets
involved and even asks Jesus, "When you come into Your Kingdom, can You give our boys one those thrones You’ve been talking about. My babies would look so good in that throne." And Jesus says, "Do you have any idea what you’re asking me? I do not give you a throne. I give you a cup. It’ll be a cup of betrayal. It’ll be a cup of isolation. It’ll be a cup of pain and you will drink it." Because you know what, when you follow Jesus sometimes you pay a little price. It’s not a throne. And do you know what? Too often we’re seeking a throne and not a basin of water or a towel. "Boy, I tell you what, if I can just get somebody to serve me. If I can get somebody to take care of me. I am the king of this house. That woman needs to get in here and give me that remote control that’s right here by me. Why aren’t you popping me any popcorn? I’ve been working all day long. Man, I’m the king of this house." Somebody’s always trying to sit on the throne.
There’s always that going on. And you know what’s sad? When you live your life sitting on the throne and just saying, "Hey, I’m going to be the man. I’m in charge. Everybody else needs to serve me," you know what takes place? There’s really only a couple of reactions that takes place. Either people are manipulated around you. And that’s never love. They’re dominated around you. Or you live your life paranoid all the time thinking somebody’s after your position. And that’s the political world we live in today. Look at politics all around us. It’s like that.
You know what’s sad? Sometimes this happens in church. The pastor, the prophet, the teacher, the apostle, whatever self-proclaimed name it is, "Let me just get right here and everybody else will take are of me. Everybody will serve me. I’m going to get real spiritual so I no longer have to serve." Let me tell you something. You never serve for a position. You never serve to get out of serving. It’s a spirit of servanthood.
And Jesus looked at those disciples and said, "You need to put away the sword and you need to get up off that throne. You need to live a life that will serve Me." I can sum it all real easy. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I like to make things simple. How many of you, your life is a little complex and every once in a while you’re trying to simplify? Here it is. What was He trying to get them to become? What is He trying to get you and I to become? Real simple. People that number one, know Him. Number two, make Him known. Here’s your commission from Jesus, know Him and make Him known. That’s what we live for. To know Christ in our little world and then to make Him known in our little world.
There’s nothing like this week to know Him. This is a great week to know Christ. And you know what? It’s a great week to make Him known to somebody. Turn to the person next to you and say, "I want to know Christ better." Look at the other person and say, "I really want to make Him known better."
