Kaleo San Diego Church

We will continue this morning in the Gospel of John, chapter 13.

 

The next 5 chapters will give us perhaps the most intimate portrait of Christ with His disciples.  These chapters will center around only one night, the night before Christ’s death.

 

The context of what we are going to be reading is important. 

 

Q-How many of you, if given the opportunity to know when and what kind of death you were going to die, would want to know?

 

Personally I would have no interest in knowing, especially if my death was going to be brutal, painful and traumatic.  I would prefer not to know.  I would rather let it happen without expecting it.

 

Jesus does not have the same luxury as you and I.  He knows He is about to die.  He knows what kind of death it would be.  And He knows that He was going to be betrayed by a friend who was supposed to be one of 12 that were closest to Him.  He even knows who that person is.

 

Jesus has said that His time has now come.  He knows He is going to be crucified, and these next chapters give us a recorded dialogue of Jesus and His disciples the night before He is to die on a Roman cross.

 

Q-If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do tonight?

 

Q-What would your last memory be?  Who would you hang out with?  What would spend your time?  What would you want most before you are about to be betrayed and killed by torture, for all the public to see?

 

This is the context of where we have now come in this Gospel.  This is the last night of Jesus life and He knew it.

 

Verse 1- Now before the Passover Festival, Jesus realized that his hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Several weeks ago we spent time looking at the Passover celebration.  We learned that it was a celebration of God’s people as they remembered God’s grace upon them as they set them free from slavery under Pharaoh’s rule.

 

God sent several plagues upon Egypt for their treatment of God’s chosen.  The last of these plagues was the killing of the firstborn males in every family.

 

The only way that your family would be spared was by sacrificing a lamb and sprinkling the blood of the lamb over your doorposts, and as death passed by your family would be spared from losing its firstborn son.

 

We know that this foreshadowed Jesus, showing that there must be a sacrifice of a lamb to protect all of us from eternal destruction.

 

This is why John the Baptist cried out “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” in chapter one of this Gospel.

 

Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 5:7 that “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”

 

John even tells us in Revelation5:6 that Christ was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

 

Every year Jews celebrate Passover not realizing that all of the symbols and types and foreshadows were fulfilled in Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God.

 

This is the perfect time for Jesus to have died for the sins of many as the entire celebration was fixed upon that very truth.

 

Jesus knew His time had come, He was aware of His impending death, and still Jesus was loved His disciples up to the very end of His natural life.

 

He is demonstrating to His disciples how much He loved them by looking towards the cross and accepting the very punishment that they rightfully deserved.

 

Jesus focus is not on Himself and His circumstance.  He is about to endure a death that is considered even to this day, perhaps one of the most torturous ways to die, and He decides to spend His last night with His friends, loving them and serving them.

 

Verse 2- By supper time, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him.

 

Think about this scene. 

 

Q-If you knew you were eating your last meal with your closest friends, and that one of these so called friends was going to leave after eating with you to turn you in and have you killed, would you invite him over for dinner?

 

I would invite him over, but dinner would not be on the agenda for that evening.  I would have him over so I could reenact the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  It wouldn’t be for friendly conversation over a meal.

 

Yet Jesus has Judas over for a meal, to treat him with dignity, and to continue to demonstrate hospitality and friendship with him.

 

This is how Jesus spends His last moments.  Incomprehensible humility, kindness and grace. 

 

When the Scriptures tell us that God is Holy, one of the meanings of Holy is different, other, separate in character.

 

He thinks, acts, speaks, rules, loves, totally different and other compared to you and I. 

 

This is why you and I are not God.  I would govern on totally different principles than God does, because I have fallen short of God’s glory and holiness.

 

Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:43-48:

 

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 "And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

 

And now Jesus is doing exactly what He preached.  He is loving and kind and patient with Judas the betrayer.

 

And we are told to follow His example and “walk as He walked.”

 

If you have read the Gospel of Luke, you know that in this setting of the last supper a dispute broke out among the disciples.

 

The dispute was over who would be greatest in the kingdom.  They are arguing over who is going to sit on the throne and rule and what positions would each of them play.

 

Instead of Christ getting angry or rebuking them He redirects their attention to a Kingdom truth. 

 

Jesus tells them that there is a way for them to be the greatest, and if they want to be the greatest the way to do it is to become the least and serve.

 

If you want to be first, you need to be last.  If you want to be the greatest, you need to humble yourself and be the least.  If you want to lead, you need to serve.

 

God’s Kingdom works on a set of completely inverted principles compared to you and I.

 

As they are sitting there arguing over their position, Jesus simply speaks truth to them, then shows them.

 

Verses 3-5 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. 4 got up from the table, removed his outer robe, and took a towel and fastened it around his waist. 5 Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel that was tied around his waist. 

 

This is a classic portrait of Jesus humility and character. 

 

Paul tells us is Philippians 2:5-8 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

 

Paul tells us that our attitude should be like His.  It should be one of humility, of service, of obedience to the Father.

 

As Jesus is sitting with His friends on His last night, He sees the filth and dirt on their feet and places Himself in a position of someone that is the lowest of the servants.

 

To be given the job of feet washing in this day was not pleasant.  You were the lowest of the totem pole of authority among other slaves.  You were not only a slave you were the very least of all of them.

 

Imagine in this day, no blacktop, no nice neat sidewalks, no covered workboots.  Just dirt and dust and mud.  Now image the time of the Passover, in which Josephus mentioned in one year of counting there were over 275,000 animals that were brought into Jerusalem to be sacrificed.  This is not a clean place during this time.  It was crowded and dirty with animal dung all over the place.

 

And here is Jesus, God in the flesh, taking on the form of a lowly servant and washing the filth off of the feet of His men.

 

Even in the day of daily showers and foot spray, you men know that your feet are nasty.  You know that your feet kick like Bruce Lee. 

 

You also know that as a man, the last thing you would ever want to do, would be to wash another mans dirty, stinky, feet.

 

We are told that this room was a borrowed room.  There were no slaves that would be responsible for washing the disciples feet.

 

What does Jesus do, He becomes the slave.  He sets aside His position, His authority, His rights, His seniority, and He does the job that no one else would do. 

 

This is such a common theme with Christ that it would take a couple messages to speak about those things that Christ did that no one else took the responsibility to do.

 

Now if that isn’t scandalous enough, He does something I simply can not understand, and would not have done, He washes Judas’s feet!

 

Imagine if you had a friend, and for 3 years you have fed, loved, taught, provided for, protected, prayed with, invested in, and you had never sinned, so you obviously never sinned against him, and for some reason they hated you and despised you, and they decided to betray you and turn you in to people that wanted to kill you. 

 

You knew that this man was going to leave you and turn you in and tomorrow you were going to be nailed to a cross because of his betrayal, and yet you invite him over to have dinner and then you get on your knees and wash his filthy feet, all the while realizing that the very feet you wash will walk out on you and have you killed!!!

 

This is almost too difficult for me to imagine. 

 

Imagine how hard Judas heart must have been to allow Jesus to come to you and take off your sandals, and hold your dirty feet in His tender, loving, hands while He looks up at you.  All the while you know that you are going to turn your back on Him and this picture will be in your memory for the rest of your life.

 

We know that Judas later kills himself.  I wonder why?

 

This is almost unbelievable for me because I am so different than Christ.

 

If I had poured into someone for this long, and had loved them for as long as Christ had, my response would be so contrary to the character of Christ.

 

If I had a wet towel in my hand, I wouldn’t have washed his feet, I would have strangled him!

 

Yet because Jesus is different, Jesus is Holy, Jesus is other, He washes the feet of His betrayer.

 

Is Judas ever going to change?  Is he ever going to repent and be saved?  No!

 

What has Judas been doing up to this point?  For 3 years he has been stealing the money from ministry.  He has been stealing from Jesus!

 

Now I am not a rocket scientist, but I have to believe that if you steal from Jesus, and don’t repent, and then have him killed, you are going to end doing some pretty hard time in hell for eternity.

 

Yet Jesus washes His feet and demonstrates humility towards him anyway. 

 

Why?!!  Why would Jesus do that?  Why would he feed him, love him, care for him, when it doesn’t make a bit of difference?

 

Jesus did this because He loved the Father.  Jesus knew that what He did wasn’t for Judas, is was for the glory of His Father. 

 

His love for His Father not only gave Him the reason and motivation for washing Judas feet, it also gave Him the reason and motivation for keeping His Fathers law, for never sinning, for going to the cross.

 

It was all for His Father. 

 

Judas would never appreciate what Jesus did, but the Father does.  Judas would never understand why He did it, but the Father did.  Judas would never love Jesus in return, but the Father did.

 

Jesus didn’t do it for Judas.  He did it to Judas out of love for the Father.

 

That is the key to serving like Christ.  We don’t love and serve because of what we are going to get, or how we are going to be noticed, or what we can brag about.  We serve like Christ because of our love for Him and because of our love for the Father.

 

This is so contrary when we live in a world that teaches you that you need to get maximum return on your investment.  You need to get maximum service for your money.  You need to get maximum results from your purchase.

 

We are shown by Christ that the only motivation we should have in doing anything is because you love God.

 

This is why Jesus doesn’t get bitter.  He didn’t waste His time, or His money, or His love, it was all given to Him from His Father.

 

If you love God, and you serve for the purpose of glorifying the Father, your money and time will never be wasted and your sweat will not be in vain.

 

However, if you are looking for something in return for your investment.  If you are looking for attention for your service.  If you are look for rewards from those you helped, you will be greatly disappointed.

 

You will live a life of misery, because every human will eventually let you down. 

But the Father doesn’t, and your service will be noticed by your Father, your investment will be profitable because of your Father, your reward will be eternal because of your Father.

 

The problem each of us have is we think we are better than Judas. 

 

Judas is a punk, he is a betrayer, he is a thief and a murderer. 

 

The reason Judas bothers me so much is because I am more like Judas than I am like Christ.

 

Each of us sitting here, if we are honest about ourselves, should come to the conclusion that we resemble Judas more than Christ.

 

Have I stolen from Christ and not given to Him what is rightfully His, or wasted it something ridiculous?  Yes I have.  Have I betrayed Him and turned my back on Him before others?  Have I pretended to be religious when inside I am a hypocrite?  Yes I have.  Am I guilty for His murder?  Yes I am.

 

I can’t make a judgment against Judas without first recognizing the Judas within me, and neither can you.  And yet Christ still washes us.

 

Has Christ come to me, has He humbled Himself before me, has He loved me, has He provided for me, has He not only washed my feet but also my soul, has He remained faithful even when I am not?  Yes He has. 

 

So how are you any different than Judas?

 

Verse 6- Then he came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?

Good job Einstein!  Jesus comes to you with a towel and a basin of water and you are skilled enough in analytical observation to ask a question like “are you going to wash my feet?”

 

Like most men Peter is gifted in stating the obvious. 

 

Verse 7-  ^Jesus answered him, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later on you will understand.”

 

Jesus tells Peter that He doesn’t understand what He is doing, but He will eventually.

 

How often does God work this way with us.  He moves, and we sit back and say we have no idea what He is doing?

 

Is that common?  It is for me!

 

Any time someone tells you they know exactly what God’s will is for your life, they are a freak and you should run from them!

 

You know how we know God’s will, by looking at it after it occurs.  That’s how we know.

 

So often we don’t understand God’s decisions for our lives until later.  Then God is a genius!  It hindsight it all makes sense to us.

 

We are simply called to trust Him through the process.  We are supposed to maintain our faith as He moves us to another chapter, then afterwards our faith is increased because we can say that our faith has grown through the process.

 

Let me give you an example:

 

Last year in the first 10 months of working, the recruiting firm I owned did very, very well.  We almost billed a million dollars.  Then, we open a church and the very month that we open our church we lose the contract that was providing us with this income and the entire industry has taken such a beating that our friends our selling their homes and closing their companies.

 

About 3 months ago I officially closed the business because it was obvious that things were not going to get better.  Every deal that we tried to land.  Every proposal that we gave, seemed to fall apart, again and again.

 

Now, I am not telling you this for sympathy or to impress you, I am telling you this because up to this point I have no idea what God is doing!

 

What I do know is that I love God, God has called us to plant a church, and we want to see people move from death to life.  Anything beyond that in terms of details, God has not revealed.

 

And the only thing that has kept me from slipping the noose around our neck and kicking the stool out from under our feet is our love and trust for the Father. 

 

If we didn’t believe in God’s sovereignty and providence, we would have never planted this church.

 

Do I struggle through this process?  Yes.  Do I ask God why this is happening?  Yes.  Do I get an audible answer back?  No.

 

We are to love Him, to trust Him, and cling to the day when we can look back and say “God is a genius!”  Until then, it is a daily walking in faith, and a daily dying to ourselves.

 

It is beautiful terror!  It is making us fully rely on Him for everything, including our daily bread.  It is killing that pride in me of being self sufficient and relying on my own hands and skills to get by. 

 

It is painful, it is inconvenient, and it is frightening, but to God be the glory.

 

Verse 8- Peter said to him, “You must never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

 

Peter loves to tell Christ what to do.  Instead of listening and going with the flow, Peter tries to direct Jesus.

 

Jesus responds by telling Him that unless he is washed by Him, he has no relationship with Him.  He is teaching Peter to trust Him and to accept what He is doing.

 

Verse 9-  Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well!

 

Peter is still telling Jesus what to do.

Q-Why does Peter struggle so much with having Jesus wash his feet?

 

It is pride.

 

There is something in us that like to be autonomous.  There is something in us that have a hard time accepting grace and service and love.

 

We want to think of ourselves as being self sufficient and not relying on others.

 

You want to stand on your own and take care of yourself without anyone’s help.  Then Christ comes to you and tells you that you need Him.

 

Oh no!  I’ll take care of my own dirt.  But you can’t take care of your own dirt, I have to. 

 

There are some that think that Christianity is too easy to follow.  All you have to do is just surrender and accept Grace.  That’s way too easy?  Is it?

 

If I were to tell you that if you do these 10 steps then you will earn God’s favor, you would do those steps and be proud of your accomplishments.

 

You would like to think that God owes you for your performance.

 

But if I were to tell you that you can never please God, never know God, never love God, earn His favor, deserve His grace, or merit His friendship unless He first came to you and loved you and did for you and gave to you and all you need to do is simply receive His grace as a thankful gift, it just made things tough didn’t it.

 

We love to think we can participate in God’s grace.  We love to think we can earn His favor.  We love to think we are good enough for God to give us His love, when in reality we will never earn anything from God but justice. 

 

Either we receive grace, or are paid justice, but being paid from God is not what you want.  What you should desire is God’s gracious gift.

 

I am just like Peter.

 

Some of you have a hard time serving others.  I have a hard time being served by others.

 

If you have ever been to dinner with me, you know what I am talking about.  When the check comes, it am ready to fist fight you for the bill.

 

I have a very hard time accepting things from others in that way.

 

Why?  Pride.

 

I like to control, I like to be tough, and I like to be self-sufficient.

 

I want to be thought of as the guy that takes care of it. I want to be thought of as the one that takes care of everybody else.

 

When Grace and I first planted the church, after the first few months I realized, with help from my wife, than I was in sin.

 

I kept thinking that I could pay for everything in the church.  I wanted to pay the rent, buy equipment, pay for meals, bbq’s and whatever else I could, but what I didn’t realize is that I was not allowing God to work through you and bless you.  It was pride.

 

And for a guy like me, that is a very difficult thing to admit!  I don’t like other people caring for me.

 

Peter wrestled with the same thing we do.

 

Verses 10-11-  Jesus told him, “The person who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is entirely clean. And you men are clean, though not all of you.” ^{11}For he knew who was going to betray him. That’s why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

 

Jesus is using this opportunity to teach us about salvation.  He is showing us that we are dirt and we are dirty.  And that we need Him to come and to cleanse us from sin and guilt.

 

And if we are not cleaned by Him, we won’t be able to clean ourselves.  Just as He expected Peter to accept His humble selfless service, He expects that we would accept His humble selfless sacrifice of His own life for ours.

 

He does this by going to the cross and dying as our sacrifice and then raising from the dead and defeating sin and death and our enemies.

He shows us that we are clean by Him but we will still get dirty feet, and though we are made clean by Him before the Father, we need to repent of our sins and ask His forgiveness so that He can come and wash us and take away our filth.

 

Verses 12-17- When he had washed their feet and put on his outer robe, he sat down again and said to them, “Do you realize what I have done to you?  13 "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 "Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

 

I love the ending to this study because even though our faith gives us tremendous room for philosophy and theology, even though our faith gives us the ability to debate and discuss abstract thoughts in Scripture, our faith is to be extremely practical.

 

There are many of us that are very skilled in debate and critique and love to hammer through biblical issues, but we are terrible at living them out!

 

We have a huge God in our theology, but a little tiny God in our practical life.

 

How we treat people, how we spend time, how we love our wives and kids, and friends, and neighbors, and even our enemies, should be practical.

 

We shouldn’t just want a systematic theology that tells about humility, we should have our own.

 

We shouldn’t only want a theology and biblical explanation of service, we should serve.

 

We shouldn’t just be able to explain what it means to love in Scripture, we should love.

 

You shouldn’t just have a great concept of grace, you should be gracious.

 

Our Theology at end of the day needs to match our practical living.

Christ tells us we are blessed if we do these things.

 

This is so true for our subject this morning.

 

Let’s finish by looking at Galatians 6.

 

This will teach us how to practically serve and love.

 

Galatians 6:1-5 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens (heavy load), and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For each one shall bear his own load (light load).

 

What does this mean?

 

We are to carry each others heavy loads.

 

What would be a heavy load?

 

What would be a light load?

 

Some of you think everything is a heavy load and you are always in crisis.

 

Others think that everything is a light load and never ask for help.

 

Both are sin! 

 

 

Jesus says to us tonight “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

 

Do we desire to be blessed by God?  Then let’s do what he says and come to Christ and allow Him to wash us and then let’s go out and wash others.

 

Let’s Pray.

 

Communion and Tithe.

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