Serving God
Established - Week 4:
Scripture: John 13:1-
Over the last few weeks we have been in a series called, Established. We're talking about what it means to have a relationship with God. What it means to build this close relationship, not just knowing things about God, but actually getting to know God personally. Each week, we've been looking at different things that God has given us to grow in our relationship with Him.
Today, we will look at serving God, and will look to our example- Jesus.
Jesus lived in a time that had a social and political caste system so to speak.
In Roman Culture, you had various classes of people from the person at the top of the food chain being Caesar down to the lowest person- the slave.
In Jesus’ culture- you had several different caste levels from the servant, to a businessman, to a landowner, to a religious leader to a Pharisee. At each level, you had power, privilege, fame, and fortune.
Just like today, everyone within these cultures wanted to move up the hierarchy to the next level.
What poor person doesn’t dream of being rich one day?
In John Chapter 13, Jesus is going to demolish this hierarchy in the minds of his disciples.
He's going to flip that entire thing upside down and help us understand what life is truly about.
Prayer
John Chapter 13, verse 1 says, “It was just before the Passover festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.” In the next 24 hours, Jesus is going to be betrayed by one of his closest friends- Judas Iscariot.
Judas’ betrayal will set into motion the worst hours of Jesus’ life.
He is going to be arrested, is going to be put on trial. He's going to be mocked. He's going to be beaten, and he's going to be crucified.
That’s what makes the timing of John 13 so important.
Jesus knows what's about to happen.
He knows his time has come. Verse 1-Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end, knowing this is the end. Verse 2. “The evening meal was in progress and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God.”
I want you to focus on the words “All things”
Everything is under the power of Jesus. All the social and political hierarchy’s of Rome and Israel, all of the human empires and kings- Jesus knows HE is over all of it.
Jesus has All power. All authority.
Every atom in our universe bows down to HIM.
What does the extreme ruler of the universe do with his power? Verse 4. “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 he began washing his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”
If you read this, keeping in mind these actions are being done by the most powerful, majestic being in existence, it should really make us ask,
“What is He doing?”
In our human minds, it just doesn't make sense.
We think once you get to the top rung of the ladder, you can just chill out in the recliner. Everybody serves you. You're at the top of the food chain there.
But Jesus flips that idea and does something that was radical.
It was unexpected and shocking.
Jesus gets up from the meal, takes off his outer garments, so he still had his undergarments. He puts a towel around his waist and he kneels down and he begins to wash his disciples' feet.
Stop and visualize that for a moment.
Take in the sight, imagine the atmosphere of that room, the whispers between the disciples asking, “what is doing?”
The sound of water and towels, the smell of the feet and the food.
I want you to get this picture in your head, because this is the true picture of God.
I don't know what picture you have of God in your head.
If you are like most people, it’s probably based on how you did this week.
Examples-
• Angry Judge
• Retired in the recliner letting Jesus do it.
• 90% of Americans- A genie in the lamp waiting for you to rub him the right way to get him to perform.
Whatever your secret view of God, The Scripture is clear when it says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
If you want to know what God is like, you look at Jesus.
In this moment, Jesus takes on the form of a servant wrapping a towel around his waist.
This is the picture of who God is.
Jesus isn't replacing the form of God with a servant.
He is revealing the form of God as a servant.
This is God in His very nature.
This is who He is.
God came to serve. If you take a moment and think about it, the very act of creation is the Almighty serving the creation.
In this case, who did Jesus come to serve?
The people in that room.
12 followers that had been with him for 3 years.
By the way, this includes Judas, who will betray him in the next hour or so. I don’t know this for sure as the bible didn’t give this information, but I think Jesus may have started with Judas.
Think about for a moment- you know someone is betraying you to one of the worse deaths a human being can face, yet you serve him in the lowest way possible in that culture.
Also in the room is Peter. In these 6 or so hours, he would be denying that he even knew Jesus. Jesus goes to the feet of his denier and he washes his feet.
Jesus also goes to the feet of his doubter, Thomas, who would say, "I don't think Jesus really rose from the grave," and washes his feet.
What does this mean? Why is this event recorded for us to read in the 21st century?
It shows us the same truth today as existed then-
Jesus serves those who didn't deserve it.
Jesus serves those who rejected him,
Jesus serves those who would betray him,
Jesus serves those who would deny him,
Jesus Serves those who would doubt him.
Almighty God of all creation humbled himself before HIS rebellious creation.
Let’s look even closer-
Jesus takes the towel and wraps it around himself and he goes to these feet. They wore sandals back then.
The roads would have been dirt and there would have been all kinds of animal excrement and filth and sick all over the streets. People threw their chamber pots and garbage into the street before there were toilets. They would have picked that up on their feet as they were walking through town. Jesus goes and he washes that off with the towel that is still wrapped around him.
He could have taken that towel off and put it to the side. He could have done it at arm's length.
He could have ordered angels down to do it.
But he chose, in this moment, not just to give us an example to follow.
But He gave us a picture of who he is and what he is doing. He takes all of this filth and junk from the feet of these guys and he takes it and he wears it on his own person.
That towel would've been filthy after just one person, but he did all 12, yet he chooses to clothe himself in that.
Jesus is giving His disciples, and us, a picture of the Gospel.
Jesus even told them you will not understand what I’m doing for you, until after He rises from the dead. “Oh, that’s the symbolism Jesus was showing us in the upper room”.
The Gospel is that when you and I were covered in filth because of our sin, because we were covered in all of this, gross, all of this nastiness, Jesus came.
He met us right where we were. He humbled himself.
He knelt down and he took our filth onto himself.
He did that through the cross.
He took our sin.
He took all of this stuff that we had picked up.
He took it and he wore it on himself.
In this moment, it's this beautiful picture that when you and I couldn't clean the filth off of ourselves, God came to us to wash us and take it upon himself to wear.
It's beautiful.
Zechariah 3
This is what makes Christianity different from every other faith on the planet. It's not about us cleansing ourselves, figuring it out, working out on our own.
It's about God meeting us where we are and us allowing him to simply wash our feet. To cleanse us from our sin.
Next I want you to note the interaction between Simon Peter and Jesus.
In verse 6. Jesus comes to Simon Peter. Peter sees what's going on. He sees Jesus going around cleaning people's feet. Peter is thinking
"I'm not comfortable with this Jesus." "Lord, are you going to wash my feet? I don't know if I can receive this from you."
"You're the Christ. You're the one that's been promised all throughout scripture. God in the flesh. I can't allow you to just wash my feet.”
Jesus tells him, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you'll understand." "No," said Peter, “You shall never wash my feet."
" Jesus answers, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
Do not miss this.
Jesus says, "Unless I wash you, Peter, unless I do this thing, you have no part with me.”
Peter didn’t understand what was happening, and as usual he blurts out something-, "Well. then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and head as well."
Jesus, if that's true, if I have to allow you to do this, let's do the whole thing. I want to make sure I don't miss out on this.
John is showing us through Jesus’ words and actions that here's where the Christian life begins for all of us. Any person who's ever walked this planet, here's where it begins.
Begins by allowing Jesus to serve you.
Christian life begins with allowing Jesus to serve you, but it doesn't end there. Christian life, practically speaking, is learning to receive the love, the grace, the mercy of Jesus.
But, then, the second part is learning to give it away to others.
Jesus continues in verse 12. “When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I've done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me teacher and Lord and rightly so, for that is what I am.’"
Verse 14. “Now that I, your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed...”
Notice Jesus’ emphasis, "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed..if you do them again.” (conditional statement- if/then)
Jesus says here's where the blessing comes from. Not just hearing it. Not just knowing it. But actually taking action.
Actually doing something with what I'm showing you, with what I'm teaching you. He says, "You will be blessed."
In a relationship with God, it's not just about knowing what to do, it's about actually putting that into practice.
Actually doing what God's word says.
Here Jesus says it very clearly.
It's great if you know these things. You will be blessed if you do them and Jesus is saying, "I want you to go out and serve others."
You may say, "Well Jesus, I just want to serve God."
But Jesus would say to you, "then serve the people around you."
Jesus connects these two things. Serving God means serving others.
Jesus has made a connection between the two greatest actions you can do during your life here on earth-
The Greatest Commandment is: love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.
Then Jesus says, "and the second, it's just like it. Love your neighbor as yourself."
He makes this connection the way that we love an invisible God by loving, by serving our visible neighbors. That's how we do it.
The way you love an invisible God is by serving your visible neighbor.
That's how Jesus has set this up and we serve all places and all opportunities.
We serve in the church.
We serve in our community.
We serve in the workplace.
We serve in the marketplace.
We serve in our homes.
Where we see opportunity, we serve and when we do that, we will be a blessing to others and be blessed ourselves.
Love isn’t just a description of a feeling. In the bible, it’s most often used as an action verb which sees to the meeting of needs.
It's action-oriented.
It's about humbling yourself enough to serve somebody else. To give of your time, your talents, your treasures.
The reason why I believe Jesus could serve so freely is that he was confident in who he was.
He knew exactly who he was.
He wasn't worried about other people serving him.
He wasn't worried about what other people thought about him.
He knew who he was and where he was going and so he was free to serve.
If you've said yes to following Jesus, you've put your trust and allowed Jesus to cleanse you, to wash you and you are a child of God.
Listen-
You're adopted into his family.
You are his masterpiece.
You were created to serve those around you and you are free.
Free from the penalty of sin and free to serve those around you because you know whose you are.
Paraphrasing,
Jesus says, "Listen, you got to trust me with this. It's not going to be natural. It's not going to feel natural, but if you do these things, you will be blessed."
You never know what God might do through a simple act of service in somebody else's life.
Paraphrasing Jesus- “So you must love one another as I have loved you. Not because you earned it. Not because you deserved it. The betrayer, the denier, the doubter. I loved you. I met you right where you are. I took away your filth and placed it upon myself.”
That’s the kind of self-sacrificial love that ultimately would take Jesus to the cross to give everything so that you and I might live. He says that's the kind of love that you should have one for another.
If every person who said yes to following Jesus would follow the example and go, "I'm going to serve people. I'm going to meet needs where I see them," Jesus says people are going to notice that.
Today in the 21st century church, we need to hear this because we live in a culture that says “I want to be served. I want to sit in the important chair. I just want to relax, live the American dream.”
Jesus wants us, his church, his beautiful bride, to get rid of that mindset.
We have to follow what the bible teaches- to have the same mindset of Jesus who even though he was God in the flesh, he didn't consider equality with God something to be clung to, something to be grasped. Instead, he emptied himself. Taking on the form of a servant.
You know, we can fake it- We can serve without loving, but we cannot love without serving.
Love is the process of meeting a need that God chose you to fulfill in that person’s life so to show HIS great love for them.
Sermons like this can challenge us and make us feel guilty, but that isn’t what Jesus is trying to do here-
Please don't serve because you feel guilty- that’s the wrong motive and you will receive nothing form God if it’s done with the wrong motive.
Instead, serve because you know whose you are.
Jesus is inviting you into something incredible.
It will change your life, and it WILL change the eternal destiny of those who come into your life as they see the master in you.
All rise
True soul satisfaction is totally upside down to the American dream (and to the Roman dream). True soul satisfaction is found in serving.
You are never more like Jesus than when you give and when you serve. The Christian life, practically speaking, is learning to receive the love, the grace, the mercy of Jesus, and then giving it away to others.
I’m going to read one more verse, one of my favorites I used during communion-
2 Cor 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
NIV
God gave us this incredible truth in the midst of explaining that we are ambassadors in a foreign land that represent the Kingdom of God.
There is no better way to represent our king, then to emulate him in giving everything we have to serve him in this life HE has given us.
Let’s pray.
