March 14, 2009
Morning Worship
Text: John 13:1
Subject: The Love of Christ
Title: The Full Extent of His Love
The snow is gone. The temperatures are nicer. Robins are hopping around in yards everywhere. What else could it mean but that spring is drawing near? And with spring comes the thoughts of new life spring up out of the ground. Most of you have already noticed the crocuses and daffodils poking their chutes up, getting ready to announce that winter is over. There’s something about this time of year that creates a sense that everything is going to be OK.
There’s a story that tells about how someone put a sign at the end of their sidewalk in the middle of March. The sign was painted with butterflies and clouds and sunshine and it said, ”Think Spring”! The day after the sign was put up a March snowstorm blew in and dropped so much snow that it covered the sign. The next time the sign was seen someone had written, “Forget Spring. Think Summer!”
The thoughts of new life that comes with spring also reminds us of Easter – Resurrection Day – and how Easter is the day that brings new life.
I want you to go with me to one verse this morning. Turn to John 13:1. In John’s gospel, from the beginning of chapter 13 until the end of chapter 17, we see the time that Jesus spent with His disciples the night before his crucifixion. He had a lot to say to them and most of this time was spent speaking words of encouragement of what was to come later.
1It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
I want to show you today that the full extent of His love is directly related to the things that He has promised for your life as you continue His work on earth.
Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
I. HIS LOVE IN OUR CHURCH RELATIONSHIPS Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. Many of the footnotes and commentaries that I read connect the phrase the full extent of his love with what Jesus does in the role of a servant. I think that is only part of it. Yes, I believe that Jesus wants us to have a servant’s heart. I believe that our willingness to serve others more and please ourselves less will have a direct bearing on the effectiveness of our ministry as a church. I believe that is one of the ways Jesus showed the extent of His love. 2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Jesus was getting ready to do something that was reserved for the lowest of the lowly servants. Yet He never hesitated. Matthew 20:26-28, …whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus is setting an example for His disciples. It is an example that is reiterated in the writings of Paul. Philippians 2:3, 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. So is the love that Jesus showed His disciples completed in His act of service to them? John 13:13-15, 13“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
II. HIS LOVE IN HIS REVELATION OF HIMSELF In John 14, 6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. Jesus never did one miracle that was not for the sole purpose of glorifying God. He did what the Father did. He said what the Father said. He went where the Father told Him to go. Verses 23-24, 23Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. It is for this age – the church age – that God has revealed Himself through His Son. God wants us to know Him intimately. He wants us to be able to experience His love. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”— 0but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God…
III. HIS LOVE IN HIS PROMISE Chapter 14, beginning with verse 12.12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Jesus gave an example of servanthood. God has and is revealing Himself to His people. But there is one thing that shows us the extent of His love that we haven’t talked about yet. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He has promised not to leave us as orphans. John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:11, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The full extent of Jesus’ love is seen with the promise that He made about the Holy Spirit. John 14:15-17, 15“If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. When Jesus said He would send another counselor, the word translated “another” means one just like me. Jesus wasn’t going to send a counselor who was similar; not one who was like Him in some aspects. He is sending one who is exactly like Him. 15:26-27, 26“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
16:7, But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
The promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit has come. The prophets spoke of it. John the Baptist prophesied about it. Jesus promised it. And God has done it.
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues…they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
On the night of the last supper Jesus spent much time telling His disciples what was going to be expected of them. He wrapped His teaching about the coming Holy Spirit around His teachings of that night. He knew that for us to be able to minister the way He wants us to minister we must be baptized in power. .
Luke 24:49, I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The bible leaves us with that thought. We are to continually be seeking that power from on high. You shouldn’t walk away from here today satisfied with anything less.
Today is the day for something new and fresh.
Are you believing God for it today?
