Love One Another: “Through Community”

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Reading from the Gospel according to John.

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.

Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

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.

So 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 began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet?

Jesus replied, you do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.

No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet.

Jesus answered, unless I wash you, you have no part with me.

Then Lord Simon Peter replied, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well.

Jesus answered, those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet.

Their whole body is clean, and you are clean, though not every one of you.

For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.

Do you understand what I have done for you?

He asked them.

You call me teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am.

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 if you do them.

A new command I give you, love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another.

By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Good morning, Christ Church.

If you see some people here today who look like they are part of the same gene pool as me and share my DNA,

your eyes are not playing tricks on you.

We are delighted to have my brother and his family here with us today.

And they have offered, yes, they have offered to host a Q&A after this service

so that you can ask all those questions you have been wanting to know.

Like, what is up with Jonathan?

You all seem so well adjusted.

What happened?

You can ask them later today.

But we are going through the gospel of John, and we are in this kind of like moment

where we are preparing for the 20th birthday of our church.

And we are using some text in the gospel of John to help us renew our sense of our mission

and our commitment to that mission.

And we have said the past few weeks that it is just so important when you sit down

to hammer out your mission, vision, and values of a new organization, a new institution,

that you clearly and adequately capture your core identity and your core purpose.

Who are we?

Why are we here?

What do we exist to do?

And I remember when we were crafting the mission statement of Christ Church,

we were not satisfied to simply say that we exist to lead people

into a deeper relationship with Christ and His church and just kind of leave it there

because we were concerned to add these words through community.

We want to lead people into a deeper relationship with Christ and His church through community.

We didn't want people to think that, you know, you can attend a worship service two or three times a month

or serve once a month on a ministry team and give an occasional financial gift

and that that would be the extent of your involvement in the mission.

We wanted to emphasize the personal relationships, the relational fellowship that a living church

and a dynamic church is meant to experience and express.

And so we wanted to push people.

We wanted you to be thinking about all the aspects of what it means to be part of a dynamic Christian community

that we don't just limit ourselves to a Sunday morning gathering

but rather our community extends Monday to Saturday

that we are a people who break bread together, that we open the Bible together, we pray together,

we bring meals when you get sick and when you have a baby,

we go on a walk when you're discouraged, we drive you to the airport,

we watch each other's kids, we tutor your struggling student,

we visit you in the hospital, we help you move.

And so today I want to kind of bore down on this question,

not just what is a good community, a good human community,

but what is an authentically Christian community?

What does a Christ-centered and Christ-like community feel like

and how do we cultivate such a community?

And I think John 13 is very helpful because Jesus knew that this was the last time

that he would have with his disciples before he went to the cross.

And so he's giving them this intensive graduate level training course.

And John 13 to 17 is the longest single body of Jesus' teaching that we have in the New Testament.

And he addresses some aspects of Christian community that I think are critical for us to get a hold of here in John 13.

And we're going to talk about three things.

First of all, a community of downward mobility,

a community of gracious sacrifice,

and a community of one-anothering love.

A community of downward mobility,

a community of gracious sacrifice,

and a community of one-anothering love.

Let's start with a community of downward mobility.

In verse 1 it says it was just before the Passover festival,

and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and to go to the Father.

And having loved his own who were in the world,

he loved them to the end.

In less than 24 hours,

Jesus is going to die on the cross.

And by this time,

tomorrow on Good Friday,

the lifeless body of Jesus will be carried to the garden tomb.

And Jesus, well aware that this is his certain destiny,

he wants to show his disciples what it means to love them to the end.

And so it says in verse 3,

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power,

and that he had come from God and was returning to God.

And so he got up from the meal,

took off his outer clothing,

wrapped a towel around his waist.

And after 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,

knowing what was at stake

with his disciples,

he wasn't talking with them about the weather,

or sports,

or the NCAA tournament,

or politics,

or international affairs,

or the rising and falling of the stock market.

He was talking with them about the things that were most crucial for their life with God.

In fact,

Jesus actually wasn't even really talking with them at all.

He was showing them something.

And what was he showing them?

Well,

we know that in the other Gospels,

Matthew,

Mark,

and Luke,

this is the moment where Jesus' disciples were arguing with each other about which of them was the greatest disciple.

And Jesus,

in the midst of that argument,

he tells them,

I am among you as the one who serves.

And it was clear in that moment that none of the disciples were prepared to wash the feet of Jesus.

None of them were prepared to wash each other's feet.

And so,

Jesus,

in that moment,

puts himself in the position that they should have been in.

Jesus says he rose from the table,

he took off his outer garments,

and he tied the towel around his waist.

Now, let's just pause there to make a cultural observation

that what Jesus is doing here socially is not just jarring,

but it's offensive.

Because people,

as you know,

they didn't wear socks and shoes like we do.

They wore sandals.

It was hot.

It was arid.

They needed sandals on their feet.

But also,

very few first century homes

had toilets and sewers like ours do.

And so,

they would take the refuse of chamber pots,

and very often those would be dumped out into the streets.

Add on to that the manure of animals going up and down on the streets

and the accumulation of food waste.

An ancient street could be a pretty nasty place.

And so,

when you would arrive at a meal,

you would arrive with pretty stinky,

pretty grimy feet.

And the question is,

who is it that is to wash those feet?

And the answer was,

a slave.

That was the job of a slave.

And not a high-ranking slave,

mind you.

But the lowest of the low.

This was such an undignified and reviled task

that later rabbis would not allow Jews

to carry out this role.

But I want to also not just make a cultural observation.

I want to make a theological observation here

that at this Passover feast,

Jesus is the host.

Jesus is the teacher.

And therefore,

he's a person of high status.

He's a person

with great social honor.

But he's so much more

than just a host and a teacher.

It says again in verse 3,

that Jesus knew the Father

had put all things under his power

and that he had come from God

and was returning to God.

Now, if you and I were to finish that sentence,

that Jesus knew he had all things

put under him,

under his power by God,

that he had come from God

and that he was going to God,

we probably would have finished that sentence

and we would have written,

Jesus then displayed the majesty

of the one

who possesses all authority

in the universe.

And Jesus, of course,

does know that he's co-eternal

with the Father

in dignity and majesty

and glory and power.

He knows that from all eternity,

he's been face to face

with God himself,

that he's been the one

in closest relationship to the Father

and that in just a little while,

he's going back

to sit on the very throne of God.

Jesus knows himself

to be the Lord of all

and yet what does he do

with that power?

He humbles himself.

He becomes the lowest

of the lowest slave

and he begins to wash

the dirty feet

of his disciple community

that frankly was just too self-concerned

about who was the greatest

to wash Jesus' feet,

to untie his sandals.

And in this prophetic action,

in this acted parable,

the Son of the living God,

the King of heaven,

the Lord of glory,

the Word made flesh,

he's giving us a sketch

in miniature

of the larger portrait

of his overall humiliation.

If we can pull up a slide,

I hope we have a slide

that you can see.

Many scholars like to point out

the striking parallel

between this text

and Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

I don't know if we have that or not.

Maybe, maybe not.

Okay.

Don't worry about it.

If you know Philippians chapter 2,

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

the Apostle Paul

is writing there

that Jesus

began in the highest glory of heaven

and that he then came down

into the deepest depths

of the human condition

into a world

full of dirty feet

and grimy souls.

And he emptied himself.

He humbled himself.

He took the lowliest position

of a slave

in order to accomplish

our cleansing from sin

by his death on the cross.

And then the Apostle Paul says

then he was exalted

to the highest place,

to the highest place of honor

at the right hand of the Father.

And this,

in the New Testament,

is the V shape

of God's rescue operation.

There's the downward mobility

of Jesus' humiliation

and then there's the upward mobility

of his exaltation.

The downward mobility

of Jesus' incarnation

and his crucifixion

and the upward mobility

of his resurrection

and his ascension.

And what Jesus is showing us

is that the way up

is actually the way down.

And this foot washing

is not simply

the humble service

of a man to his equals,

nor is it even

the service of a good man

to others less fortunate

than himself.

But rather this foot washing

and the crucifixion

to which it points

is Jesus' way of showing us

who God is

and what God is like.

This is the humble service

of God

to sinful humanity

in need

of cleansing.

There's a downward mobility

in the heart of God.

There's a downward mobility

in the mind

of Christ.

Let's just pause

here

for some application.

What does this mean

for us?

Well,

first of all,

if you're here

exploring Christianity,

I want you to consider

whether or not

the other world religions

have anything like

what is going on

here in this text.

If you read Buddha

and you read Muhammad,

they are repeatedly

and clearly denying

that they are God.

They're very often

pointing away

from themselves

and saying,

that is the light

as far as I understand it,

so follow that.

Follow the light.

And Jesus,

on the other hand,

is pointing to himself

and he's saying,

I am the light

of the world,

follow me.

I'll be the one

to lead you

out of the darkness.

Buddha and Muhammad

are very often saying,

that is the way.

Walk in it.

That is the truth.

Trust it.

That is the life.

Go live that life.

And Jesus,

he's pointing to himself

and saying,

I am the way.

I am the truth.

I am the life.

And no one comes

to the Father

except through me.

Jesus is constantly

making these astonishing

claims that no other

religious leader

has made.

and yet notice

that his foot washing

is the exact opposite

of his claims.

In Jesus Christ,

you have this striking

juxtaposition

between the loftiness

of his claims

and the lowliness

of his behavior.

is there any other

religion in which

you see the master

making such incredible

claims about himself

and yet humbling himself

to wash the feet

of his disciples?

What the gospels

are telling us

is that here

in the stooping figure

of the slave

is revealed for us

the majesty

of the one true God.

The second application

is if you're a Christian,

the early church

said that Jesus'

downward mobility

was to be

a defining mark

of the disciple community.

And they said

this right here

is the measure

of greatness

among us.

The one who most

humbles himself,

the one who goes

the lowest,

the one who gets

the most dirty,

the one who acts

most like a slave,

the one who does

the most menial

of tasks.

The apostle Peter

who we'll talk about

in a moment,

he has a front row seat

to this,

he experiences

the foot washing himself.

And he writes

a letter later on

to Christians

who are scattered

throughout the Roman Empire

and he says

in 1 Peter 5,

Peter says,

clothe yourselves

with humility

toward one another.

And that verb

clothe

reflects

the picture

of a slave

who's tying a towel

around his waist.

He says,

clothe yourselves

like Jesus

clothed himself

with humility

toward one another.

Or think about

the apostle Paul.

Anyone know

the first words

that Paul writes

in his magisterial letter

to the church

in Rome?

His first words

are Paul,

a slave

of Christ Jesus.

Can you imagine

waking up tomorrow

morning and saying,

that is who I am,

Jonathan,

a slave

of Christ Jesus.

But Paul goes on

and he writes

to the Christian community

in Corinth

and he says,

he says to them,

we are slaves,

we are your slaves

for Jesus' sake.

So to the,

to a Christian community,

the mark of Christian community

is that we are a people

who kneel down

in our hearts

before our fellow disciples

and by our humble service

we say,

I am your servant

for Jesus' sake.

And that's the test.

That's how you know

that you've come in contact

with an authentically

Christian community.

It's a community

of downward mobility.

It's a community

that says,

I'm a slave

of yours

for Jesus' sake.

But secondly,

not just a community

of downward mobility

but a community

of gracious sacrifice.

I want us to think

about a community

of gracious sacrifice.

In verse five,

again it says,

after that he poured water

into a basin

and began to wash

his disciples' feet,

drying them with a towel

that was wrapped around him.

And I want us to notice

that Jesus is graciously

loving his disciple community

in the face of forces

that would stop most of us

from loving other people

in this moment.

Because I think most of us

would say,

you know,

when I'm under intense stress,

when I'm under incredible

pressure and strain,

I tend to kind of focus

more on myself,

right?

But Jesus knows

that in the next 24 hours

he's going to die.

And yet in the face

of his impending death,

who's he thinking about?

He's thinking about the needs

of each one of his disciples.

And notice that Jesus

loves his disciples

in spite of their unworthiness.

Jesus in a moment

is going to predict

that Judas will betray him

and that Peter will deny him

and that the rest

are going to abandon him.

And we don't know

which of those disciples

Jesus started with

in the foot washing.

We don't know

where he began.

But we do know

that Jesus eventually

washed the guy

who was about

to have him killed.

And then he washed

the feet of each one

who would forsake him

and hurt him terribly

within the next 24 hours.

And Jesus is just

graciously loving

each disciple

without exception.

And he's not doing

what I do

and what you may do sometimes.

He's not doing

a cost-benefit analysis

of his little

disciple community there.

He's not evaluating

each disciple on what,

let's see,

what have they done

for me lately?

How much am I getting

out of this relationship

with this disciple?

At no point

is Jesus saying,

you know,

I'll be in this community

as long as it's

making me happy,

as long as it's

fulfilling my needs.

But the moment it's not,

I'm out of here.

No, Jesus,

it says he loves

his disciples

to the end.

He's not loving them

because they're great,

he's loving them

because he's great.

He's loving them

with the power

of unconditional

electing love.

He's loving them

with a gracious love

that loves to the end.

A love that will

never forsake you,

even when I'm getting

nothing out of the relationship,

even when this relationship

is costing me terribly.

And at some point,

Jesus,

coming around the circle

of all the disciples,

he gets to the leader.

He gets to the leader

of the twelve,

and this is what it says

in verse six.

He came to Simon Peter

who said to him,

Lord,

are you going to wash my feet?

And Jesus replied,

you do not realize now

what I'm doing,

but later you will understand.

And Peter said,

no,

you shall never wash my feet.

Jesus answered,

unless I wash you,

you have no part

with me.

And then,

Lord,

Simon Peter replied,

not just my feet,

but my hands

and my head

as well.

See,

when Jesus gazes

into Peter's eyes

as he's about

to wash him,

Peter protests.

And it's like Peter

saying,

you know,

you shouldn't be doing

the work of a slave.

Isn't there some other

slave around here

that we could get

to do this job?

But I think Peter

is also kind of saying,

hey,

Jesus,

I just took a bath.

I'm not really

that dirty.

Like,

do we have to do

this foot washing?

But Jesus here

is speaking about

a different kind

of dirt.

Right?

When Jesus says,

unless I wash you,

you can have no part

with me in the salvation

that I bring,

he's saying,

Peter,

I'm not talking about

the dirt on your feet.

Peter,

I'm talking about

the fact that you're

spiritually dirty.

I'm talking about

the fact that you are

morally grimy,

that morally you stink.

And Jesus,

I'm sure,

has that phrase

in Psalm 51

that he's memorized

in his mind

in this moment

that says,

wash away

all my iniquity

and cleanse me

from my sin.

And he's saying,

Peter,

that's the kind

of washing,

that's the kind

of cleansing

that you need me

to do for you.

And yet,

Peter here is saying,

I don't think

I'm too dirty.

I don't think

it calls for such

drastic measures,

Jesus.

And perhaps you feel

the same way

about yourself.

That yes,

I've made some mistakes,

but on the whole,

I'm a good

and a decent person.

I've said some things

that I regret.

I've done some things

that I wish I could do

over,

but I'm not really sure

if it's necessary

for me to be washed

by the eternal

Son of God.

And Jesus says

to Peter,

he says in verse 7,

you do not realize

now what I'm doing,

but later

you will understand.

He's saying,

Peter,

what I'm doing now

is pointing

to what I'm going

to do

later on my cross.

This foot washing

is a signpost

to my humiliating

and cleansing death.

And Peter,

if you refuse

the sign

of what I've come

to do,

if you reject

the reality

to which the sign

points,

my dying on the cross

to wash away

your sins,

then you can have

absolutely no share

in the salvation

that I've come

to bring.

And Peter,

you've got to love Peter

because he's got

that personality

that just goes

from one extreme

to the other.

And Peter says,

well, Lord,

not just my feet

but my hands

and my head

as well.

Give me a bath.

Just make my whole body

and my whole soul

clean right here,

right now.

Why do we have to wait

for your cleansing work

on the cross tomorrow?

Let's just do it

here and now.

And I wish we could,

we had the time

to go into what

Jesus says to Peter

but he basically says,

hey,

chill out,

brother.

But let's just pause

for some application

about what this means

for us.

Again,

if you're here

and you're exploring

Christianity,

you need to hear

the word that Jesus

says to Peter.

He says,

unless I wash you,

you can have no part

with me.

You need to be

washed

of the filth

of your self-centeredness.

You need to be

washed of the grime

of your inordinate

self-love.

And if you spend

enough time

with Jesus,

you'll realize

that he doesn't just

want to wash you

from head to foot

but he wants to wash

you from the outside

to the inside.

He wants to wash

you in places

you didn't even know

were there.

He wants you to wash

you in places

you didn't even know

were dirty.

But don't make

the mistake

of saying,

well,

if I just follow

Jesus' example,

if I just serve

people enough

and I love people

enough,

then I can kind of

cleanse myself.

No,

before you,

the gospel says

that before you

imitate Jesus

as your example,

you need to trust

Jesus as your Savior.

That as your Savior,

Jesus must come

first perform

a service on you.

He has to cleanse you.

He has to forgive you.

He has to reconcile

you to God.

He has to justify you

in a right relationship

with your Heavenly Father.

He must do that first.

And then,

having served you

as your Savior,

He can then be

your example

and He can show you

how to live out

His salvation

in a transformed life

of service to others.

So the first question

you have to ask yourself

is,

do I need to be washed?

And who will wash me?

Who has the power

to really deeply

wash me?

And who's trustworthy enough?

Who's died for me?

Who's bled for me

and shown

that they love me

that much?

But the second point

of application

is that if you're

a Christian,

the way that we approach

our relationships

in the Christian community

is not,

how is this person

treating me

and then I will

do the same for them?

But rather,

the question is,

how has the Lord Jesus

treated me?

And that is the model

for the way

that I'll treat others.

With Jesus' power,

I will display

the same

gracious sacrifice

that I've received

from Him

that He's shown to me.

If the Lord of glory

has graciously washed

those dirtiest parts

of my soul,

those grimiest parts

of my innermost being,

then it's only appropriate

that I would turn around

and love

the way that I've been

loved by Jesus.

Now,

I don't know

if you're like me,

but I say,

yes,

I'm all about that,

but I also have

kind of a list

of exceptions.

that I will do

what Jesus did for me,

but not for Him.

Surely not for her.

I'm not pointing

to any particular people

right now,

by the way.

He's a difficult person

to love.

She can be

a real pain in the neck.

Why should I serve them?

Why should I kneel down

before them?

They don't deserve it.

But you see,

if Jesus had said,

I'm only going to invest

my time and my energy

to serve people

who will never abandon me,

never betray me,

never deny me,

none of us would be here

today,

would we?

None of the disciples

deserved what Jesus

is giving them here,

and none of us

deserve it either,

but we got it.

He washed away

the dirt

of our self-centeredness.

He bought us

with His blood.

We don't belong

to ourselves anymore,

and so we don't get

to do it the way

we would normally do it

because we have

a new master.

We got to do things

His way.

So the Christian community

is meant to be

a community

of downward mobility.

It's meant to be

a community

of gracious sacrifice,

but let me close

by talking about

the way we're to be

a community

of one-anothering love.

We're called to be

a community

of one-anothering love.

Isadora Duncan

was the mother

of modern dance?

I think she lived

here in San Francisco,

and she would often

quip, she would say,

if I could say it,

I wouldn't have

to dance it.

If I could say it,

I wouldn't have

to dance it,

and in some ways

that's what Jesus

is doing.

He's saying,

let me show you

the dance,

and then let me

explain the dance.

I'll show you

the dance,

and then we'll talk

about the why

of the dance

and the how

of the dance.

And so it says

in verse 12,

when Jesus had

finished washing

their feet,

he put on his clothes

and he returned

to his place

and he said,

do you understand

what I have done

for you?

You call me

teacher and Lord,

and rightly so,

for that is what I am.

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.

And down in verse 34,

a new command,

I give you love

one another

as I have loved you,

so you must love

one another.

Quick Greek lesson.

The Greek verb phileo

is about the affectionate

love between friends.

And the Greek verb erao

is about the passionate

love between a husband

and a wife.

And the Greek verb stergo

is about the familial love

between a parent

and a child.

But Jesus right now,

he's preparing his disciples

for some tumultuous days ahead,

for some really hard

decades ahead.

And so he says,

you're going to need

a love that's more potent

than any of those loves.

And so the word he uses here

is agapao.

This is the unconditional

self-giving love

that sacrificially seeks

what is best for the other.

It's the divine love

at the heart of the Trinity.

It's this unselfish love,

this giving love

that is to define

the relationships

in Jesus' disciple community.

And what Jesus is saying here,

he says,

agapao each other

as I have agapao'd you.

Love each other

out of the love

that I'm showing you.

And he says,

I've set you an example.

And that word example

really pictures a child

who doesn't know

how to write, right?

They're sitting down,

they're learning their letters.

And the teacher

comes up to the board,

the teacher writes a word,

the teacher writes a sentence,

and then the child

copies the pattern

of the sentence.

And now I want you

to learn my dance moves.

I want you to follow

my dance steps.

Jesus is saying,

I've taken

that most shameful place

as a servant of sinners.

And that means

that you owe me a debt

having taken

that place for you.

But what he's saying

is that now the debt

you owe to me

is to be discharged

by your subjection

to one another

in loving service.

That the people

in these pews,

the people in your

community group,

the people in your

discipleship group,

these are the appointed ones.

These are the ones

I've appointed

to receive everything

that you owe to me

and your master.

I want you to give

to them.

Agapao them.

Become a copy

of me

to him.

Become a copy

of me

to her.

And this brings me

to your little bookmark

that you received today.

It's a wonderful,

wonderful book

by Gerald Sitzer

and it's wonderful

to read

with your community group

or with your family

because it explores

this agapao,

self-giving love

in all of its

multifaceted dimensions.

But I'll just mention

a few of these

aspects of love.

He says,

you know,

when we welcome

one another,

it's all about,

in the church context,

it's all about

seeing that stranger

that walks

into the door

and not saying,

oh, there's a stranger,

but saying,

oh, there's a friend

that I have not yet met.

It means that

you take the initiative

and you go to them

and you open your heart

to them

and you open your home

to them

and you ask their name

and you remember their name

and you welcome them

and you say,

you're not a stranger,

you're a brother.

You're not a stranger,

you're a sister.

And Sitzer says

that prayer,

prayer is perhaps

the greatest service

we can render

to the disciple community

because prayer is the thing

that touches us

at the deepest part

of our lives

in those places

that we cannot touch.

It's a way that we love

and we serve each other

by praying for each other.

He says that another way

that we serve people

is that we give them our time.

And here in the Bay Area,

time is often much harder

to give even than our money,

right?

We're so busy.

And time,

giving our time

means that we've got to

simplify our lives.

We've got to

sacrificially release

more and more

of our time

to serve this person

or to encourage this person.

You can't serve someone,

you can't encourage them

without giving them

your time.

And Sitzer says that

when you see these things

working in a Christian community,

welcoming and praying

and serving

and encouraging,

he says,

you will recognize

the most Christ-like person

in your midst

by the ease

and the spontaneity

with which

they do those little

annoying and messy things

that no one else

wants to do.

They do the kind of things

that in the ancient world

a slave would do.

Right?

They do the kind of things

that we are secretly hoping

somebody else will do

because I just really don't

want to waste my time.

Jesus says,

you know,

I want you to do

this for each other

because I've already

done that for you.

And why should we do this?

What's the motivation

to do this?

Jesus ends,

he says in verse 35,

by this everyone

will know that you

are my disciples

if you love one another.

It's just inevitable

that people are going

to form their view

of the Lord Jesus

from your life

and my life.

Whether we like it or not.

And Jesus is telling us

that the embodied expression

of this agapao love

that Jesus has for us,

when that's operative

in the life of our community,

everyone will identify it

as belonging to Jesus.

And so the question is,

have you committed yourself

have you committed yourself

yet to a community

of people here

with whom you can

live out these

one another commands?

People with whom

you can pray

and serve

and encourage

and comfort

and admonish

in all the ways,

all the multifaceted ways

Jesus wants us

to love one another

because he says,

not only will you be blessed

if you do these things,

but Jesus says,

this is how everyone

around us,

everyone in our networks,

everyone in our city

is going to know

what the love of Jesus

is like when they see it

embodied among us.

And friends,

we can kneel down

before one another

and we can say to each other,

I am your servant

for Jesus' sake

precisely because

the greatest power

in the universe

has already knelt down.

And he's not just knelt down

to wash our feet,

he knelt all the way down

to the cross

to bleed for us,

to die for us,

to serve us,

and to save us.

And so he says,

now that you know

I've done that for you,

please,

agapao,

one another.

In the name of the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit,

amen.

Amen.