Jesus' Mission - To Serve Others | Pr Gloria Paul

You're listening to a message to go from axt church. We hope this message

will light up your day. Today's scripture or in fact, the word is

something I'm gonna draw. In fact, if you were here with us last

week, you've been, you would have you heard about when we spoke about

the power of one right, how all of us matter, what are we

called to do? Right? And how the scriptures reminds us of how you

know, until we actually tell someone, how are they going to hear God's

love? Right? How are they going to experience God? And so each

one of us have that mission right, And so for today's sermon, we

are going to hear about this one person's mission, okay, how he lived

his life and how he knew what was his mission from the very start,

which is how very own Jesus Christ. Okay. So if you have your

Bibles, you can turn with me to the Book of John. Chapter thirteen

was one. Okay, so some of you might have heard about this story

of how Jesus washes his disciples feet, and in fact, this scripture is

mentioned throughout the Gospels from Matthew Mark Luke right. But when John wrote it

in this chapter, he emphasizes a couple of pointers, you know, which

teaches us something about Jesus himself. Okay, so let's read this portion of

scripture together. John turteen was one. I'm reading from the Annalty version,

so it says, yeah, before the past of over celebration, Jesus knew

that he's how our had come to leave this world and returned to his Father.

He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he

loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the

devil had already prompted Judah's son or Simon is carried to betray. Jesus was

three. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything, and

that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got

up from the table, took off his rope, wrapped a towel around his

waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the

disciple's feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. But six,

when Jesus came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, Lord,

are you going to wash my feet? Jesus replied, you don't understand now

what I'm doing, But someday you will No Peter Prott protested, you will

never ever wash my feet, Jesus replied. Unless I wash you, you

won't belong to me. Simon Peter exclaimed, Then wash my hands and hate

as well, Lord, not just my feet. Vers ten. Jesus replied,

a person who who but all over, does not need to wash except

for the feet to be entirely clean. And your disciples are clean, but

not all of you, For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is

what he meant when he said, not all of you are clean. Was

twelve. After washing their feet, he put on his rope again and sat

down and asked, do you understand what I was doing? You call me

teacher and Lord, and you are right because that's what I am. And

since I your lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to

wash each other's feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do

as I have done to you. I tell you the truth. Slaves are

not greater than their master, nor is the messenger more important than the one

who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless

you for doing them. Amen. May God bless the reading of his word.

So this portion of scripture is a lot that we can lean in from.

It speaks a lot about humility, right, you would have heard sermons

that speaks about that. And just to even give some context to this scripture,

this was right before he went to the cross, right. In fact,

it is the last supper that he had his disciples. In fact,

before that, he told the disciples, a few of them, okay,

go and you know, set this place, prepare this place. You know.

So it's kind of like maybe they rented this room, okay, and

the disciples were there, he broke brate, he shared with them, right,

and they took the holy communion. And that is what we do as

well right in church. And there are few things that we can identify or

learn from this scripture here. For of all, this was one of his

final moments with his disciples. Okay. As you read the gospels, you

will know that he has been journeying with the disciples. They've been following him,

performing miracles raising the date. Right, all this encounters and I think

by now they will be pretty quite close, you know, the build that

relationship with Jesus. And so for him to actually wash the disciples feet must

have been a very important lesson because that was one of his first final gathering

with the disciples, you know, before he went to the cross. Right,

if you think about the last time you will meet your friends before your

travel overseas or something, I'm sure you'll do something precious, something meaningful.

Right, And for Jesus was that he wanted to teach a lesson to his

disciples. Okay, so it was his last encounter with them. And another

thing that we can read from here was that Judas was about to betray him.

So he knew that. Okay, Jesus does not you know, not

knowing about it or ignorant, No, he knew it. In fact,

the scripture tells us that this is when the devil went into Judah's you know,

to actually betray Jesus. So Jesus knew all about that. But he

still washed Judah's feet, right, And when we read on, and he

had total authority from God, the scripture says, is that right, he

had total authority from God. And so having all of this in place,

Jesus still chose to wash the feats of the feet of the disciples. And

why did I see, you know, the Book of John, or in

fact, John writes it in a very beautiful way because he actually gives us

a picture to image. How if you can imagine, you know, they're

all sitting like in a dining table, having their last supper, maybe having

a bit of a chat, and then Jesus stands up when everyone else is

seated. He stands up, he takes off his rope, right, and

then he wears a cloth around him, and he takes a basin of water

and he goes to each of their feet to wash. Can you imagine the

kind of reaction you would get your seat there with Jesus and is just suddenly

going and of all people, he's washing our feet. Right. Well,

maybe in our culture washing of the feet is not something that we you know,

do right. Yes, maybe if you go out you come back,

you wash, you know, but at that point it was a very it

was part of a tradition, right to wash the feet before they partake of

their meals. And so in those days they used to wear sandals wherever they

go and used to be sandy. It's not like we have proper roads,

right, So there's a lot of dust, and that is why they made

sure that when they come back. In fact, there's always a servant that

will bring a basin and wash their feets before they step into the house,

you know, before they do anything else at home. So it was part

of their culture, right, And knowing that Jesus actually told their disciples to

set this place for the Last Supper, meaning it was a place that there

would have been servants around, Okay, it was not something that they didn't

have anyone, therefore Jesus had to do it for them, okay. And

for the very fact that if Jesus washed their feet, meaning they were actually

eating and you all gathering together before even washing their feets, so there could

have been that question mark in among the disciples like okay, why are we

not doing what we usually do? Or are we waiting until now? And

then Jesus is washing our feet? Right? And when we look at the

portion of scripture when Jesus removes his rope, wondering, okay, why is

Jesus removing? Everything about Jesus is you know, the very beautiful thing about

Jesus is that he shows or teaches out of action. If you can what

I'm been right, if you've been reading the scriptures, you would know what

this means speaking about you all the lady who they wanted to stone because she

was a sinner, they just didn't see anything. Right. He said,

okay, if any of you have not since Stone, none of them did,

and Jesus said, sin no more. It was an action that he

showed right a lot of his love to people. Beat the text collectors,

beat at the people at leaving at that point. It was true action.

And the same thing goes with this as well. Jesus took that time to

stand up take out this rope, because when you talk about rope, it's

like you have that authority, you know, you have that covering. But

as a savior, right, as Lord of Lord, like what we read,

you know, he has the power from God. But he still chose

to take it out and come in the form of a servant. And then

he had definitely had to band down, band down to their knees and washed

each of their feet. And so that is why you can imagine why Peter

got so alarmed. Right, Peter was a very vocal person and he was

like, no, you shouldn't be washing my feet because you're God. I

mean, you're you know, you're a son of God. And yeah,

why should you do this for me? So that is the kind of context

that we're seeing or understanding where this scripture comes from. The first thing that

we can learn from Jesus was that Jesus came to serve and not to be

served. Right, Jesus came to serve and not to be served. In

fact, he had a lot of oppositions in the time of his ministry.

He had people who were doubtful, you know. In fact, with his

authority, he could have just done whatever he needed too. But he knew

what he was called to do. It was to serve and not to be

served. And in fact, he was not waiting for people like Okay,

I'm gonna being at the temple and you come for prayer. But yet he

went to them, He went to their houses when they were sick, He

went to that beggar, right, he went to that blind person. That

shows that he knew what he was called to do, not to be served,

but to be served. And if you think about it, it's a

very opposing view from the world that we're living in. A think about your

your bosses, your leaders, if you're talking about it in a company,

how often do we see leaders to actually go down to the level of someone

who is lower, right, someone who is lower and say, you know

what's going on. It's usually the other way around. But that's the thing

about Jesus. He always had a very radical approach on things. You know.

He was always the different or the saul and the thumb right when everything

else seems to be usual. But he stood up, you know, and

he made did what was very different right. So Jesus was God in the

flesh, and he didn't expect special treatment. Instead, he came to show

us a different way, and he said an example that we should follow.

Let's take a check on ourselves. Do we have the heart of a servant?

Right? Do we leave alive that is going to that person who needs

the help? Right approaching or being the bigger person. Sometimes, you know,

it's not always the easiest to forgive or you know, to go down

to another person and say, okay, what's going on? Do it may

not be her fault, right, but Jesus just did that. You know.

Yes, we can say that he was God and son of God and

all that, but remember he was a human as well. He was living

in a world just like you and me. He was dealing with people,

ordinary people, but yet he recognized what he was called to do. Amen.

So it is not easy to do that in the kind of a world

that we're living in, but Jesus teaches us how to do it. And

that is why I believe Jesus had to show it. Remember we all sometimes

we learn very well when when it's in the form of visual How many of

you can remember things in that way? Right? You show visuals, you

imagine things. And you just had to do that instead of preaching to the

disciples. You have to serve. He had to show it to them.

He had to make them feel like, all what's going on and then remember

it in their minds. Right. And so there are three points that I

like you to just you know, catch from this from this portion of scripture

and hopefully reflected in our own lives as well. So the first point here

that we can learn, or what Jesus is teaching us, is we are

to show others the same kind of love that Jesus shows us. Right,

we had to show others the same kind of love that Jesus shows us.

So when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, not only is he serving,

but he's showing what sacrificial love looks like, right, sacrificial love looks

like. And in fact, he was about to be crucified after that on

a cross and to make that that, you know, the ultimate sacrifice with

his life. So the disciples could not understand. In fact, there were

those in that table who you know, we had Paul Peter was about to

betray him after that, you know, to deny him, right, he'll

deny him later on. We had Judas who would betray him, you know.

So we had those who were not completely one hundred percent followers. There

are those who had those doubts or may not be able to understand yet.

But yet Jesus was trying to set an example to them on what it means

to love, what is sacrificial love. And that is why in John thirteen

fifteen, as we read just now, says I have set you an example

that you should do as I have done for you. So Jesus expressed his

love for the disciples when he humbly washed each of their feet. And we

are to follow the food steps and do likewise to others. Right, So,

how many of you are the disciples of Jesus? Yes, you know

that you're a disciple of Jesus, right, you are a child of God.

We are called to do what he has called this to do. That

does not mean we're gonna wash the feet how others. Right, it is

out of our culture. But what how does this speak to you when we

say loving others, when we say sacrificial love, how does it speak to

you? How can you do that in a daily basis? Right? How

can you do that to those around you? Your family, your friends,

your cliques? Right, Like I said, people who are hard to love?

How you still do that? Because Jesus did not just wash the feeds

of the very good obedient disciples, but he washed every other feat even those

who are doubtful or who wanted to betray him. But He's still washed their

feet, right, So think about it. How can you leave this out?

Because when he said, I've said an example, he's telling that to

us today. And if you're figuring out, okay, what is my mission?

Yes, you've been hearing about mission the whole month. What is my

mission at the end of the day, But let me tell you to start

off, is to love others? To love others? Right, And if

you can't do that, don't talk about loving God, because God is a

god of love. He's full of love in fact. Right, So take

some time to think about it because we all have a different calling, we

have a different capacity. Right. You can be a housewife, but you

have still loving your family. Right. You can be being the corporate You

can still show so much love to your colleagues. You can have families.

So are still not knowing Christ? Yet you can still show God's love.

So ask God in what capacity can I love them? How can I express?

How can I show them this love? Not just about buying gals all

the time, but our words, the way we leave our lives. Right

in our church, we believe in this. Pray, listen and obey.

I remember as as a student in campus, we used to do this.

We get it together. You know with our courtmates we can't we pray,

we listen God, what is it that you want us to bless our campus,

our friends? And we obey? We do that. So use this

simple formula. You know, if you're not show where to start, pray,

ask God, what is it that you want me to do? Listen

and you just do it. Nothing goes wrong from that. Yeah, So

love others as how Jesus loved us. The second thing that we can learn

from Jesus is that he had a healthy understanding of who he was and where

he came from. So my question for all of us this morning is do

we know who we are? Not just my name or where I came from,

but what is my identity? Because if I know who I am,

that is how I'm going to leave my life right. If I know I'm

the child of God, I'm going to leave like a child of God.

I'm going to show love like a child of God. Because Jesus knew who

he was, the son of God. No matter what came his way,

he kept living people right, He kept going, not stopping. So there

was no doubt that Jesus was secured with his identity. We can see this

in John thirteen Tree. It says 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 knew he had all the power, he had all

the authority. But he didn't go around, you know, misusing it.

But he was using it out of love. He was using it to serve

arthers right. And because of that confidence, he could do what he needed

to do. You know what, there are times when he was down,

definitely, right before he went to the cross, he told God, take

this cup from me. Right, his heart would have been heavy with all

the things that he has done yet people betrayed. So that was that emotional

part of him. But it's about taking it unto God because he knew who

he could speak to, right, because he knew his identity and so he

brought it to God. So being secure in who he was, he was

able to love others perfectly and not feel inferior because you're serving them. And

you know, sometimes that can catch us when we are serving someone and like,

oh, this person is not returning, they're not saying thank you,

they're not responding. You can feel inferior about it. But Jesus always received

gifts and thank you not all the time, right, But he did not

stop. He kept going, And that is serving. We can't be expecting

because we're doing it out of the love of God. So when we know

we are fully loved and know where our identity comes from, we don't have

to try to get it from our status oppositions in life. You can start

where you are right now. You can start with what you have. Yeah,

never about too young, never about two old, never about have it

all figured out? Okay, But it's about recognizing who you are at this

point. So sometimes you can be struggling with the thought of I'm not good

enough, or maybe you've had some past experiences that made you feel you know

who am I Actually No, if you're doubtful about all of that, be

reminded that you are the masterpiece of God. And I always say nothing happens

out of a coincidence. You are listening to this message because He wants you

to listen to this message. You are in this world because He wants you

to be in this world. There's so much more in life, right,

and it's about recognizing the under the identity. And I believe that is the

foundation of everything. I mean, if you talk about those who maybe struggling

with low self esteem or you know you're going through things about your uncertain well,

it always roots back to your identity if you think about it right,

and you see identity, it's not about oh I know everything, I figured

it out, but deep down you just have that security that I may not

have all the fame I may not have, you know, everything else that

the world makes you successful. But I can still keep going, right,

I can still keep doing this? Why because deep down I know who I

am. And this is not even determined by your physical people around you,

your parents and such, but God in your life. That is what remains,

you know why, Because God doesn't change. It's the same yesterday,

today and forever. Amen. Yeah, So I believe God is speaking to

someone today to strengthen that identity in you. And if you're figuring out who

am, I ask the Lord, you'll have so many things to talk about

you, you know, and he loves you, right, He loves you.

He has called you, and so sometimes just recognizing that gives you a

sense of purpose, gives you a sense of direction. You know, where

should I go? What should I do? You know, you wouldn't be

waiting so long to serve God. You'll just start where you are, right,

because it's about what He has given me now, my talent, now,

my ability now. Right. So that is something about Jesus that we

can truly admire. You know, he had a very health understanding of who

he was. Amen. Yeah. And the last point that we can see

from this scripture that he reminds us is to realize that when Jesus washed the

feet of the disciples, what he's teaching us. Teaching us is how much

he loves us, right, how much he loves us. Yes, you've

been talking about serving missions is a lot about serving giving to others, right,

But do you know that you also can love others from an empty cup

because you don't have anything else to pull, You have nothing else to give.

And that is when we run the risk of serving and loving others for

the wrong reasons. Because I'm doing it for the sake of artists, I'm

doing it to please my pastors, my families, my friends, how others

looking at me. But when you are filled with God's love, you know

that you're only doing it or one person, which is God himself, right,

which is God himself. So it's good for us to have a heart

check. Do I know how much God loves me? You know, with

all the things that I'm doing in church serving, ultimately, who am I

doing it for? Because sometimes when we're not careful with that, we can

get so caught up with just doing it out of Oh that's just you know,

I'm just filling in the gap. But am I taking time to be

ministered by God. You know, for those of you who are serving almost

every week, are you having that quiet time before you come to church on

a daily basis? You know, are you encountering God in a personal way

before you can come and lead the congregation, whether it's in a charing or

worship or whatever ministry. Right, if you're giving to kids, are you

first filling your cup so you have all the energy to give back to them?

Right, So it's about first filling our cup. It is to genuinely

love others. If we don't understand how loved we are, how are you

going to talk about love to others? It is loves you if you don't

realize how much love God has for you. Yeah, if you're just going

to be hypocrites, they're saying out of just I have to, but I

have not experienced that love. It's just like how you're telling all this restaurant

or this cafe is so good, but it's not good to me. Yeah,

So you've got to experience that love for yourself when it was the last

time you fell God's love in your life in a personal way, not just

writing on another person's testimony, by your own story, your own encounter and

if you have not, don't feel bad about it. You can feel it

today at this very moment, because it's always finding ways to speak to us,

right, It's always finding ways to minister to us. So that is

White Church. We need to spend time with Jesus. Spending time with him.

You know, we can talk about missions, we can talk about going

to the world, but please don't do all that. If you have not

spend time with Jesus. You need that first. You need to encounter him

first. Okay, grow your relationship with him, you know, just just

do your own heart check, like throughout this week, maybe just had lost,

maybe just met last week, and it's so fast another week out of

that seven days, how long have I been spending time with God? Again,

not making any of us feel and hitting low? Right, I'm including

myself in this because life happens. We have so many things going on,

and the sad thing is the time with God is the one that is affected.

Right. God understands and we keep writing on on that. But the

problem is that when we keep doing that, we run dry, especially if

you're still giving to others and we're stay giving, not just in the form

of a church but as a parent, right, as a friend, as

a daughter, as a son. When we keep doing that, but when

we're not receiving and filling up from the relationship with God one fine day,

you're just going to go very dry and sometimes even forget who God is.

Yeah, So spend time with God. Ask yourself, how much am I

speaking to him? When we get to know him more, eventually, loving

others will be something that flows out of our relationship with Him. If you've

met anyone in your life where sometimes when they speak, they are abounding with

love, you know, you don't have to be figuring out or throwing so

many words, but their life himself itself is representing God's love, you know,

And that is what it means when you experience God. It is so

contagious, abounding where others can feel it as well, and when they see

you, they'll know this is a child of God. Right. So these

are the three things that Jesus reminds us from washing the feed of the disciples.

Very beautiful because just one act of washing the feet he teaches us so

many things. Right, how you need to show the same kind of love.

How Jesus had a healthy relationship and don't remind us that he loves us.

And because he loves us, we are to love others as well.

Amen. Yeah. And just to even end with this portion of scripture here

as we read, you know, in John turteen and then the part where

the betrayal comes in, you know, he tells Peter that you'll betray me,

betray me. And in John fourteen, okay, if you have your

Bibles, you can turn with us. Okay, it says you're John fourteen.

In worse one, don't let your hearts be trouble. Trust in God,

and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my

father's house. If this were not so, would I have told you that

I'm going to prepare a place for you. When everything is ready, I

will come and get you so that you will always be with me where I

am. And you know the way to where I am going. And it

was six it says Jesus told Thomas, Yeah, I am the Way,

the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through

me. Amen. And this was the scripture he gives before he goes to

the cross, right before he goes to the cross, so he reminds the

people do not let your hearts be trouble, but to trust in God.

And just want to remind you church that this is what missions is. As

you love fathers, as you care for others. He's first concerned with your

heart. He's first concerned with what who you are as a person, as

an individual. Strip away those titles, whether you're a leader or whatever,

you know, beat in church or outside, all those doesn't matter. But

it's about who you are in the eyes of God. And he's saying,

don't let your hearts speach trouble. Amen. And this is a very powerful

scripture as I was preparing, you know, and just to share a little

bit here, I know some also officiated would know that my grandma passed away

yesterday and I was just sharing about her last week. Okay, she's hunder

and two and how she's lived alive, and so it was it was very

interesting when when passes. Sandra is the is one of our pastes. Yeah,

she our founding pastor, and so she always senses the schedule for the

month. Okay, who's preaching, And it just so happened that this month,

my turn comes in in two weeks right away, it was last week

and she gets between another summon another speaker and then maybe I'll come in two

times a month. But this time it just came twice, which I have

no problem. Right, it's just how the calendar looks like. But you

know how we speak about nothing happens out of coincidence. Right. It was

just last Sunday I spoke about her, and today she's gone to be with

the Lord, and so passes. Sandra asked me this question, are you

okay to preach? Elien asked me, as well, you know I order

this, Eilien, it's okay you preach. Yes, he turnal comes soon.

But deep down I just felt I had to do this because this is

what she would want me to do, right, this is what she wanted

me to do. And and as I was preparing this message before she passed

on, that scripture came about do not let your hearts be trouble. Yeah,

the scripture came saying, do not let your heart speach trouble. And

the reason why I wanted to do this not because I know I'm strong.

None of us can can do it by ourselves, right, But I'm just

reminded of her mission and how she lived a life. It was never an

easy life for her. You know, she was during the she lived during

the Japanese time, you know, and some of you would know how she

was persecuted for her faith and all these things. But yet she knew her

mission. She never gave up till the very end. And if you can

ask me, one thing that I can remember about her is how further and

her prayers were. If you'd just say, I call her a mama,

gave mean his grandmother, do you pray for me? She should lay her

hands and just say a powerful prayer. And that prayer brings so much comfort.

And that was who she was, a prayer warrior. Everyone she meets

she brings the gospel. I think every cap, every taxi that she went

into, she no one missed. And along the years you've seen how different

ones I've walked into our family and said, I was saved because your grandma

shared God's love to us. And that was a life. And I know

that in the midst of our church, we have a lot of you who

are young. We have many more years to go, But can I encourage

you to start now where you are. Never just do it when you think

it's the right time, because there's never a right time, love God,

leave for him, do what he has called us to do, which is

to love artists, love artists. Right. And if you recall what I

shared about how my grandma was safe, she was saved by someone who did

not even speak the same language. And so that speaks about how our action

speaks louder. And if God uses you, he just gives you the ability

to do it. His Holy Spirit is living in us. You don't need

to be all strong, all confident and have it all figured out, you

know, just start where you are. In fact, it's okay to start

with your weakness. You know, it's okay to start with And I've gone

through so many things and all who am I to share my story? Don't

say that because you'll never know how your stories are going to impact others,

because someone out there is also going through that same thing. And we've just

got to be real. We don't have to make things look we've all been

great and we've figured out, because that's not what life is. Right.

We all have struggles challenges. But if you could still pass through all that

and be here where we are today, it's because God is there. His

grace is sufficient, right, His grace is sufficient so let's not wait.

Let's do it now, because life is short. We can never get the

same chance again with our loved ones, sort, our friends, our families.

So let's just do it anyway, right, Let's do it. Let's

love like how Jesus taught us too, And it's just beautiful to see the

impact and the legacy that you can leave behind and how you'll be reminded.

Right, that is all that matters. It's not the possessions and what we

have, but it's about how much we love and how much we love God,

love others, love God. It all goes back to the right.

That is the summary of missions, Loving God, loving others. Amen.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information on our church,

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a hit for you. God bless