Sacrificial Love

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast

you can have an encounter with Jesus that will

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. You go out to

coffee with someone and they go, don't worry

about it, I'll grab coffee. And your brain starts

to do the maths, right? That's what I mean these

you got to lunch Sex don't worry about it lunch.

It's pay week That should be okay. Yeah, that'll

be okay. And how about this one the phone call?

Hey, I'm outside I've got bags of groceries for

you and you go Yeah Man when I did that was $100.

Is that a tub of raspberries? I am never gonna

financially recover from this ever And then how

about this one? A text message. Hey, I borrowed

your spare key. Bathrooms are clean. Your towels

are in the washer. They'll need to go in the

dryer when you get home. What am I meant to do

with that? Yeah, come on. Jenny receives that.

How am I meant to repay that? I don't even have

anybody's spare key. I have no idea how to do

that. So why, why, with all that in mind, why

is it so hard? Why can we not simply just do

or receive these acts? Why is there such this

weird balance? And I think the answer is because

there is a cost in doing genuine service. And

I think for most of us, we're kind of okay with

that idea. And the reason we don't necessarily

love receiving acts of service is because we

know there's a cost, but the cost is unknown.

When we're serving someone more often than not

we will pick that thing that is right in the

sweet spot Right where it's just enough of a

cost to me that I recognize the inconvenience

and truth be told I kind of hope they're gonna

recognize the inconvenience as well, right? but

truthfully For most of us it's never so much

that it means we actually miss out on anything

It has a cost, but it's a controlled cost. I

get to pick the value. I get to pick the sacrifice.

But when I'm being served, it's completely different.

Completely different. I'm not in control anymore.

How much did this cost? How much is a tub of

raspberries right now? How much does this cost?

What does it mean? How much did it put them out?

Does me getting these groceries mean they don't

get groceries? What is the expected response

from this? When is the expected response from

this? Is that going to come at a time where I

can afford to do that? We've turned someone serving

us, someone doing something hopefully out of

a genuine good place into a millstone that we

put around our neck and carry around. We are

hesitant to receive in such a way because we

have a fear. of when it may be expected to be

returned or when or how that may hit and what

that cost may look like. Now in today's teaching,

with all that in mind, we find Jesus with His,

He's gathered His 12 disciples, His 12 closest

followers and friends to partake in a meal. This

is part of the Passover. This is the Holy Jewish

Festival. It's a meal that would soon become

the most famous meal in history. It's the Last

Supper. And as Jesus stood from the table and

removed his outer robe and then proceeded to

wrap a towel around himself, there was just absolutely

no way for anybody in that room to be prepared

for what was to follow. Jesus stood from the

table. He poured water into a basin and then

he knelt to the floor. and he began to wash and

dry the feet of his disciples. It's actually

near on impossible to really explain the gravity

of what this means, of just how scandalous an

act this was. Ancient Israel is a time of dusty

roads and sandals, friends, not fancy nice white

sneakers. Washing feet was seen as the lowest

act of service that you could perform, undertaken

by servants and slaves. It was an act that guests

and kings were the recipients of, and never,

ever the ones actually taking out that service.

They were never the performer. And yet, yet,

in the face of that, in spite of that, here kneels

Jesus, brother, teacher, Saviour, King, saying,

come, I will serve you, and I will do so with

an act so low that it absolutely beggars belief.

It was an act that was so scandalous and so just

out of the realm of possibility that he just

knew there would be pushback. How could there

not be? There was no precedent for this, ever.

Acts of service weren't seen as an act of kindness

in ancient Israel. They were seen as a sign of

weakness. They were affirmations of your obedience.

They were a representation of stature. Again,

with that of a foot washer being about as low

as you could go. And Jesus knows this. He's expecting

this pushback. He's expecting this reaction because

He stops and He says, you do not realize now

what I am doing, but later you'll understand.

This act is so, so far out of left field that

when it comes to Peter's turn, he actually refuses.

He says, no, you shall never, ever wash my feet.

Peter couldn't believe what was happening. He

couldn't possibly allow Jesus to do such an act,

to continue to do such a thing. This is his King.

This is his Lord. This is his friend. This is

his brother. This is the Messiah. And he cannot

allow him to lower himself to such a station.

No doubt it made Peter incredibly uncomfortable.

No doubt there was the thoughts in his head of

this is an act that shouldn't be taking place

that alone How can I ever repay an act such as

this and does my part taking in such an act make

me complicit? So Jesus makes it incredibly clear

unless I wash you you have no part of me Peter

has missed the point entirely Jesus' act of washing

the feet is designed to make it so incredibly

clear. The baseline message of nothing else which

is no one is above being served and no one is

above serving another. With this act of servitude,

of washing His disciples' feet, Jesus is just

yearning to make it as clear as He possibly can.

He's going to remove any fears of discomfort

around this act at all. Service, both in giving

and in receiving, when done with a pure intent,

is an act of humility. It is designed to lower

and then completely remove barriers. And this

act of service had to be so extreme. This act

that He was doing to make this point had to be

so beyond belief as to ensure that the point

was not misconstrued, that it wasn't missed,

that it wasn't lost, and that it would be remembered.

Jesus is saying, again, allow me to be clear,

in receiving this service, in allowing me to

do this act for you, you are acknowledging that

no one is above receiving acts of humility and

service. And no one is above performing these

acts of humility and service. No one. It really

got me thinking like Jesus, Jesus performed so

much of his ministry in public. Why not this?

Why not this act that it was so important, so

vital? This act was designed to just completely

subvert expectations and standards. Was he ashamed?

No, absolutely not. This act wasn't for show

though. It was an act of great humility and the

reason it wasn't for show is also because it

was an act of great intimacy. It was an act of

great love. Within this act, Jesus is saying,

if you're worried about the cost here, don't.

The cost in me doing this that you have assigned

to me in this moment is a cost that you have

assigned to me in this moment. I am doing this

willingly. I'm doing this born out of humility

and born out of love. And that is how you can

recognize that this is a genuine act of service

and why it's a model that now in turn you must

follow. This deliberate act by Jesus undertaken

to completely subvert any ideas we may have about

control, about power, about sovereignty, and

about what love actually looks like. This act

designed and served by the same God. That they're

past and not so far of what we think that that

cost might look like. It requires that little

bit of thinking, a little bit of digging. When

you realize that this act by Jesus is undertaken

to leave, no doubt that our God is not cruel.

He's not a taskmaster with a list of rules to

follow. He's a relational God who desires to

be close to us, each and every one of us, who

came to us, who stooped down and said, child,

let me wash your feet. He is a God who loves

us. And in reality, the only thing that causes

distance between us and Him are the barriers

that we put up. And God's heart seeks to break

down those barriers one after another, time and

time again. The biggest barrier being one that

He destroyed forever, with the most extreme act

of service imaginable. When Jesus willingly went

to the cross. The ultimate act of love. Deceive

these acts with uncertainty. In this instance,

let me tell you, we do know the cost. The cost

is very clear, the cost is very apparent. your

sin to be dealt with so that we could be reconciled

to God once more, the cost to Jesus, God's one

and only Son, an act of service. Despite that

lack of understanding, Jesus just paid it in

full anyway. with no way to pay it back. It was

a gift. It's a gift. To all of us who believe

it's a gift. And God, God has served us so well

and so wholly and with so much love. So completely.

Yet we do still have that option to respond.

Jesus knows that we struggle, both to serve and

to be served. So after He washed the feet of

His disciples and prior to His final and greatest

act of service and sacrifice, He issued a commandment.

He issued this commandment, love one another

as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Not a suggestion, not a pretty good idea. He

commanded us to love one another as He had loved

us, in the same way that He had both loved and

served us. And tonight, I'm going to give you

all the opportunity to be served, to step into

that uncomfortable space. Thanks again for listening.

God bless you.