John 13:1-17 - Josh Turner

Today is a good example of somebody who took

serious being discipled and is discipling others.

And so Josh Turner and Josh and Kayla came to

our very beginning when we started Radiant in

my house. In fact, I met Josh the first time

after he called me and said, hey, we're part

of Radiant Anchorage and we hear you're starting

a church and we're going to move to the valley

to be a part of it with you. That was the only

couple that did it. I mean, I left the whole

church in Fairbanks, and not one person moved.

It's a way to go. So anyway, they showed up,

and right from the beginning, they've been a

part of this. Two years ago, we were hunting

together, and as we were sitting in the tent,

Josh says to me, he says, I think it's time I

get more serious about leadership and what that

looks like in the church. And so we began to

meet after that on a regular basis and still

meet on a regular basis. And as we began that

process, one of the questions we go through,

and I'm going to go into a lot of this, but one

of the things that Josh realized in the process

of that was that his biblical competency, that

means your understanding of the Bible, needed

to grow. And then he needed to get really serious

about it. In fact, it hit him so hard that he

was ready to say, I've got to step away from

this process. And I said, no, you've got to step

toward it. And so he began to take serious his

understanding of God's word. And so I basically

said, okay, and you're going to preach at some

point. Which, if you know Josh, he'll tell you

this. This is not his jam. At least that's what

he thinks. I think you're going to be otherwise.

convinced today. But it's been a really fun journey

to go walk with Josh, and I'm just super excited

for the chance that you guys get to hear him

unpack God's Word. He's just a dude like the

rest of us, or dudettes. I'll clarify that. But

I'm just super encouraged, and I think you're

going to be blessed by what Josh shares today.

So let me pray for you, Josh, and then we'll

get into it. Lord, thank you for the work that

you have done and are continuing to do in Josh's

life. It serves as a good example to me and to

others in this room that we need to take serious

our growth, that we need to press into continuing,

stepping into a deeper and deeper relationship

with you. And Lord, when the Spirit of God convicts,

we step toward you, not away from you. And so

thank you for that, that I have seen that with

Josh and continue to see it. And so I pray today

as he opens your word that Josh will get out

of the way and that the Spirit of God will speak

through him. So Spirit, we pray that you will

bring it today for us. Bring us the kind of conviction.

Bring us the kind of words we need to hear through

your word. In your name we pray. Amen. This is

crazy. Yeah, if you had asked me eight years

ago when Kayla and I moved out here to be a part

of this, I'd have told you there's absolutely

no way that I would be up here preaching. And

all I can say is that it is because of Jesus

that I stand here right now. Yeah, it is because

our Savior likes to take dirty, nasty, messy

sinners, clean them up, and make them new. All

the words that I have right here and all of my

notes and everything I'm going to say is from

him and for him, and it is by God's grace that

I get to share it with you. And we're going to

be going through a really popular passage this

morning where Jesus washes the disciples' feet.

And you would not believe how many people asked

me if I would be washing someone's feet up here

as part of this. No, we're not going to be doing

that. My hope is that this wouldn't be just another

foot -washing sermon. That after our time together

this morning, you wouldn't leave here with just,

oh, well, I need to be more humble. That you

would actually be in absolute awe of the heart

of Jesus after we're done with our time this

morning, like you've never seen it before. And

that we would not just know in our heads that

Jesus loves us, but that we would believe in

his love for us. Right? We've been talking about

that since we started John. We don't want to

just believe that Jesus. We want to believe in

Jesus. Right? There's a difference. If there's

anything you get from this sermon, the one thing

I want you to walk away with is Jesus loves you

and he willingly shed his blood and died so that

you and I could be made clean. That's it. There

it is. It's the gospel. That's what I want you

to leave here with. And before we get too far,

I want to set the stage for this passage. And

John does that for us in verse 1. So let's read

it. Before the Passover festival, Jesus knew

that his hour had come to depart from this world

to the Father. Having loved his own who were

in the world, he loved them to the end. The last

several weeks, we've mentioned that we are in

the last days before the cross in Jesus' life.

And John tells us here that it takes place around

Passover. So I want to touch base on what the

Passover is and was. And then we'll keep going

into our story. The Passover was when Israel

remembered God rescuing them from slavery in

Egypt. God told them to spread the blood of a

lamb across the doorpost, and the angel of death

passed over their houses that were covered by

the blood of a lamb. And in just a few minutes,

as we go through this together, sitting here

with his disciples is the Lamb of God, as John

the Baptist refers to him in the first chapter

of John. The one who takes away the sins of the

world. And this is all happening during Passover.

And Jesus is getting ready to do just that. He's

getting ready to take away the sins of the world.

He knows that the pain and the torment is coming.

And he knows that he's about to feel the weight

of every single sin committed on his shoulders.

This is all happening in the shadow of the cross.

So that's what's happening in the background.

And I want us to keep... that in our minds as

we go through this together. And in the last

half of verse 1, it says, having loved his own

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

That sentence really sums up a lot of what we've

gone through together in John. We have seen Jesus

love those around him and his disciples again

and again and again and again. And John gives

us a picture of what Jesus is going to continue

to do. He's going to keep loving them. And through

this passage today and over the next several

chapters, Jesus' heart for his people and for

his disciples is going to explode off the pages.

The NIV translation of this verse says, having

loved his own who were in the world, he now showed

them the full extent of his love. And we're going

to see that the full extent of Jesus' love for

his disciples and for his people wasn't a parable

or another miracle. or some crazy outrageous

gift, we're going to see Jesus lower himself

to the position of a servant. And we see in the

rest of scripture that that love changes the

disciples forever, just like it changes us forever.

And I know we just prayed, but I'm going to pray

again. I got to give this to the Lord. This is

his. And then we'll dive in. Father, I thank

you for your word. I thank you for everybody

who's here. And I just ask that as we dive into

this, that this would bring glory to your name,

love to your people, and hope to those who don't

know you, and that we would all know the love

of Jesus. Amen. All right, let's go ahead and

look at verse 2. Now when it was time for supper,

I'm going to pause right there, because we all

need to understand what supper looked like for

Jesus. They weren't sitting at a modern dining

table. and chairs similar to what you're sitting

in right now. The table that they would have

ate at would have been about this high off the

ground, and they would recline and relax and

kick back around this big table on cushions or

pillows. So that's where we're at right now.

Jesus is reclined with the twelve, getting ready

to eat. So let's go ahead and read the rest of

verse two. Now when it was time for supper, the

devil had already put it into the heart of Judas,

Simon Iscariot's son, to betray him. So picture

this, Jesus is sitting there, reclining, kicking

back, relaxing, with 12 men who have spent the

last three years with him. They've traveled with

him, they've eaten with him a lot, they heard

all the teachings, and they saw all the miracles,

saw him turn water into wine, feed 5 ,000, and

they saw Lazarus walk out of the tomb. They've

grown really close together. This is an intimate

setting, is what I'm trying to get across here.

And reclining and kicked back there with them

is Judas. He has heard all the same teachings.

He has seen all the same miracles. And it tells

us here in verse 2 that the devil has played

his game with Judas and won. Judas knows what

he's about to do. He has made his choice. And

I always picture this scene, you know, at this

table, they're reclining. Jesus and Judas are

sitting right across from each other. able to

look each other in the eye. Let's read verse

3 and see where Jesus is at with his betrayer

right in front of him. Jesus knew that the Father

had given everything into his hands, that he

had come from God, and that he was going back

to God. Jesus knew. He knew that Judas was going

to betray him. He knew that the cross was coming.

He knew where he came from and where he was going.

Jesus was not caught off guard. We don't have

a Savior that is caught between the enemy and

Jewish and Roman aggression, not wondering what

to do. It says here that the Father has given

everything into his hands. He has all the authority,

and he is the most powerful person in that room

right now. I was listening to a sermon by Joby

Martin on this passage, and he had a great question

for this part of the story. Oh yeah, it's right

there on the slides. What do you do when it dawns

on you that you are the most powerful person

in the room? Dads, husbands, I'd guess that in

your family, you hold a lot of the authority.

What do you do with all that? Moms, wives, when

dad's gone, that falls to your shoulders. Big

brothers, big sisters, bosses, business owners,

managers, GC leaders, elders. At some point,

every one of us is going to be in a position

where we hold all of the cards. What do you do

with all that authority? And I'm asking you this

question so that maybe just for a second, we

can wrap our heads around what's about to happen

here. Because what we're going to see is that

the guy who holds everything in his hands, the

creator, is about to lower himself to the position

of a servant. Let's read verses four and five.

So he got up from supper. laid aside his outer

clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself.

Next, he poured water into a basin and began

to wash his disciples' feet and to dry them with

the towel tied around him. So Jesus gets up from

the table, takes off his clothes, down to his

shorts, and wraps himself in a towel. Weird.

This would be super weird for us if this happened

at dinner today, right? Imagine you're at someone

else's house for dinner. one of the guests stands

up and undresses down to their shorts and then

wraps themselves in a towel. That would be really

awkward. But for the disciples, this would have

been common. In their day, when you came to someone's

house for a meal, there would normally be someone

there to wash your feet. And that someone was

a servant. No one volunteered to be the foot

-washing guy. People walked around with open

-toed shoes on dirt roads and their feet would

be covered in dust and sand and even animal waste.

It was a disgusting job. And I was trying to

think of like how this would relate to us now.

How could we like put ourselves in this situation

to try and understand like what's happening right

here? And one of the things that I thought of

was some of you probably have kids or teenagers

that play sports, right? or have been the kid

or the teenager that played sports. And when

your kid or your teenager gets home from practice

or a game and they kick off their shoes, I'm

willing to bet that the smell would wake the

dead. Now imagine your kids come home from a

game, take their shoes off, and their stinky,

sweaty, nasty feet need to be washed. And you

have to clean them with nothing but water and

your bare hands. That's the job we're talking

about here. It was the job of a servant. So this

wouldn't have been weird for the disciples. They

would have been used to seeing someone wrapped

in a towel, washing the feet of somebody else.

What would have been really weird for the disciples

was seeing Jesus look like a servant. Jesus has

stripped himself of his dignity and actually

looks like a servant. But don't misunderstand

what I'm saying or what's happening here. This

is still the same Jesus that John introduced

to us in chapter 1. In the beginning was the

Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word

was God. He was with God in the beginning. All

things were created through him, and apart from

him, not one thing was created that has been

created. In him was life, and that life was the

light of men. That light shines in the darkness,

and yet the darkness did not overcome it. That's

who's standing here wrapped in a towel. He's

taking on the role of a servant, and he's about

to get down and dirty. The creator, the light

of men, the one who holds all the authority is

about to scrub feet. So Jesus grabs his bowl,

his basin, and his towel. He fills it with water,

and he comes to the table, gets down on his knees.

He starts washing their feet, and he looks up,

and it's Matthew. the tax collector, absolutely

despised by society. He moves on to the next

guy, kneels down, and he looks up, and it's Thomas,

the doubter, the one who refused to believe that

he would even rose from the dead. And next, he

gets to Judas. Jesus knows what Judas is going

to do. He knows the choice that he's made. And

Jesus gets down, looks him in the eyes, and gives

him the exact same loving care that he gave everyone

else. He didn't wash everybody else's feet and

then get to this guy and go, I'll wash everyone

else's feet but him. He gives him the same loving

care, and Jesus goes around the table, one disciple

after another, the doubter, the despised, the

betrayer. Eventually, all of them would desert

him, but he washes all of their feet because

for Jesus, no one is below being served. And

as Jesus continues, at the corner of the table

or somewhere at the table, there's Peter. And

Peter is watching this unfold before his eyes,

and he does not like it. He is stressing out

inside, and the anxiety is starting to boil over

within him. And Jesus does the same thing. He

comes to Peter, gets down on his knees, looks

Peter in the eyes, And what happens next is one

of my favorite conversations that these two have.

Let's read verse 6. He came to Simon Peter, who

asked him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet?

Peter starts the conversation with a very appropriate

question. Lord, are you going to wash my feet

right now? Peter understood the status quo here.

He knew that by all accounts, Jesus shouldn't

be the one doing this right now. This didn't

make sense. Peter is looking around and going,

where is the foot washing guy? This isn't what's

supposed to be happening right now. Now let's

go to verse 7 and see how Jesus answers him.

Jesus answered him, what I'm doing you don't

realize now, but afterward you will understand.

Jesus responds with, look, Peter, you don't get

it right now, you don't understand, and that's

okay. Trust me. And you would think that Peter

in that moment would have the smarts in this

situation to take the hint and let Jesus do his

thing. But that's not Peter. Let's look at the

first part of verse 8 and see Peter's response.

You will never wash my feet, Peter said. Peter

says, absolutely not. There is no way you're

going to wash my feet. Peter is freaking out.

This is going against every cultural norm that

Peter knows right now. Now pay attention to what

Jesus says next, because this is where it gets

real. This is the important part of the conversation

here. Jesus replied, if I don't wash you, you

have no part with me. So first, I just want us

to slow down and notice how gentle Jesus is with

Peter. Jesus doesn't grab Peter and go, look,

idiot, I'm trying to do something really nice

for you right now, so chill out. No, Jesus is

saying compassionately, Peter, if I don't do

this, this isn't going to work. You and I won't

be a thing. What Peter did not understand here

is that it wasn't about how dirty his feet were.

It was about the necessity for Jesus to clean

him. Jesus, in this moment, is pointing to the

cross. He was pointing to the spiritual cleaning

that Peter needed. a cleaning we all need as

well. Church, look at me for just a second. It's

not about how deep your sin runs, and it's not

about how much baggage you have when you come

to Jesus. It's about the need for Jesus to be

the one to clean you. Jesus had to take the beatings,

carry the cross, and take the nails in his hands,

and it had to be his blood that poured out for

us to be cleansed from sin. And because he shed

his blood, there is not a stain on us too deep

that he can't cleanse. As we keep going, we see

Peter give another classic Peter response. Let's

look at verse 9. Simon Peter said to him, Lord,

not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.

So Peter, being this super enthusiastic, full

-throttle guy, is like, okay, Jesus, you get

the brush and I'll get the rubber ducky and get

scrubbing. But Peter still didn't get it. And

Jesus, again, is going to gently explain to us

what's going on here in the next verse. Let's

look at verse 10. I've got to be honest, verse

10 was really hard for me to wrap my brain around.

I'm going to read it one more time. bathed, Jesus

told him, doesn't need to wash anything except

his feet, but he is completely clean. You are

clean, but not all of you. After reading it over

and over and over again, I was like, okay, Lord,

is Peter clean or is he not? He's completely

clean but needs his feet washed? What's going

on here? What Jesus is showing us here is what

repentance looks like in the life of a believer.

Jesus tells Peter, you are clean. You already

had a bath. When we put our faith in Christ,

our sins are forgiven, washed away, past, present,

and future. Jesus told Peter, you are clean,

knowing that in the coming hours, in this exact

same chapter, just a few verses down, that Peter

was going to deny him three times. And later

in John, we see Peter reconciled back to Jesus.

and in a way gets his feet washed again. I have

a story, I think, that illustrates this pretty

well, and it's about my son Luke, who I absolutely

love, like with all my heart. He's full throttle

and all boy all the time, but he can be really

sweet, and God gave us a moment that this summer

that has really impacted me. Yeah, we can go

ahead and put the picture up there. I don't know

if Yeah, so from the right to the left, on the

right, that's my youngest son, Luke, and then

his buddy, Daniel, and Dottie, and then Alan.

So Kayla and I were at the church campout watching

these hooligans play in this mud hole. And they

were jumping in it and pushing each other down

and getting running starts and barreling right

through the middle of it. And it was super cute.

Like, I'm not going to lie. It was awesome. But

when they were finally done, my son Luke was

covered from head to toe in mud. It was in his

ears. It was packed into his eye sockets. It

was under his fingernails, you know, packed into

his clothes. It was everywhere. So I picked him

up and I sat him on the tailgate of my truck

and I took his shoes off, poured out what felt

like gallons and gallons of water out of his

shoes. And Luke finally, like he got a good look

at himself. He was like looking at himself. realizing

that he's really dirty, and he looks down, and

then he looks at me, and he said, Daddy, wash

it away. And we did. Him and all his buddies

got stripped of their clothes and hosed down

right there where we were all camping. And if

you were there, you heard the screaming. Our

walk with Christ really isn't much different.

When we put our faith in him, we are clean. We

don't need another bath. But then we go out into

the world, we get dirty, we mess up, we sin,

and sometimes we run through puddles we know

we shouldn't. So we go back to our Savior. We

have a life of continual repentance and come

before Jesus and say, Jesus, wash it away. Now

here's the thing I really love about that story

with Luke. Luke didn't clean himself up before

coming to me. He didn't say, Dad, give me five

minutes, let me get cleaned up, and then I'll

come to you. No, he came to me filthy. He knew

he was dirty and that I can clean him. And you

might say, yeah, Josh, he's three. So what? He

was dirty and he knew he needed his dad. And

I think we can come to Jesus in the exact same

way. Because like a toddler, we are prone to

mess up again and again and again and again.

Do you know what we spent the rest of the weekend

doing after we got Luke cleaned up? He's three.

Keeping him out of the mud hole. Any chance he

got after that, he would dart for it. Or if Luke

was missing from our campsite, we knew exactly

where he was going. He was going for the mud.

Don't we do that? Don't we get cleaned up from

one mess only to run right to another one? Keep

thinking of that video of the sheep that Caleb

showed. Gets rescued out of the ditch and then...

runs, and then two seconds, hops right back into

the same ditch. Or sometimes we get stuck in

this never -ending hamster wheel of sin, this

cycle that we can't get out of. We can come to

Jesus with all of that. We don't have to clean

ourselves up first. It's tempting to, though.

It's tempting to keep the mask on or be like,

after I take care of X, Y, and Z, once my life

looks okay, then I'll come to Jesus. But that's

not how it works. You see, Jesus didn't come

to the disciples at that table and tell them

to get up and go clean their feet and come back

and sit down so that he could wash clean feet.

He accepted them with all of their filth. But

here's the kicker, and this is how we know Jesus

truly loves us. He'll accept us with all of our

filth, but he is not going to let us stay dirty.

He gets down into our hearts and he cleans us

over and over and over again. And we see in the

next verse that not everyone there getting their

feet washed was clean. Let's read verse 11. For

he knew who would betray him. This is why he

said, not all of you are clean. Judas is there

having his feet washed and listening and watching

this conversation between Peter and Jesus. And

I imagine when Jesus said, Not all of you are

clean. I always imagine Jesus turning the volume

up just a little bit so that Judas could hear

that. Not out of being a jerk, but a warning

and a reminder. Because what Jesus is reminding

us here of, and this isn't popular to say, but

Jesus is the only way to get clean. Jesus is

the only means of salvation. And without placing

your faith in him and his work on the cross,

you are not clean. If he does not wash you, you

have no part in him. And some of us, like Judas,

won't let go of our sin. Like Judas traded Jesus

for 30 pieces of silver, we would rather trade

Jesus for whatever brings us pleasure in the

moment. I know because I've been there. For years,

I struggled with pornography. And if you would

have asked me back then, I would have told you,

oh man, it's an addiction. I can't. help but

give in to this, but looking back, I know what

my actual heart posture was then. My actual heart

posture was, no, God, I do not want you. I know

what's best for me, and I'd rather sit here in

this puddle of filth. I stand with the enemy,

and I'm going to stay in this darkness, and I'm

not coming to the light. That was my heart posture.

Meanwhile, there is Jesus, towel, and water in

hand. ready to wash us. Will you let him clean

you? Okay, so Jesus washes the feet of the disciples,

has his conversation with Peter, and then in

verse 12, he sits back down. Let's read it. When

Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer

clothing, he reclined again and said to them,

do you know what I have done for you? Family,

do you know what's been done for you? Do you

understand that the creator gave himself up to

save you? Do you know that Jesus loves you and

willingly shed his blood and died so that you

and I could be made clean? You guys remember

our imaginary table over here and the disciples

sitting here? Jesus made them clean and he made

them new. And they went on from being doubters

and deniers and deserters to leading his church

and spreading the gospel across the world. Do

you know why? Because they knew what had been

done for them. And here in the next few verses,

Jesus is going to show us how we need to live

once we've been made clean and how we live when

we know what's been done for us. Let's read verses

13 through 17. You call me teacher and Lord,

and you are speaking rightly since that is what

I am. So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed

your feet, you also ought to wash one another's

feet. For I have given you an example that you

also should do just as I have done for you. Truly

I tell you, a servant is not greater than his

master, and a messenger is not greater than the

one who sent him. If you know these things, you

are blessed if you do them. I love that Jesus

doesn't just do what he did and then leave the

disciples there wondering what's going on with

their jaws to the floor. That he loves them and

is teaching them and instructing them. And I

think there are three things we can pull from

what Jesus is saying here. Let's look at 13 and

14 again. You call me teacher and Lord, and you

are speaking rightly, since that is what I am.

So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your

feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

Jesus states the obvious to start things off

here. You're right. I am your Lord and teacher,

and I hold all the authority. Then he keeps going.

So if I, your Lord and teacher, am willing to

wash your feet, you should too. And this brings

us to the first point. We should serve like Jesus.

And just to clarify, Jesus isn't saying that

we all need to leave this sermon this morning

and go out under the streets of Wasilla and Palmer

and wash everybody's feet. That's not what he's

saying here. What Jesus is saying is we need

to be willing to lower ourselves, just like he

did. Jesus was willing to strip himself of his

dignity and wash someone else's mess. We need

to do the same. We should be willing to lower

ourselves and get into the messiness of someone

else's life and serve them. To put it in really

simple terms, if no one was below being served

for Jesus, in his kingdom, no one is above serving.

Jesus keeps going, and in verse 15, he gives

us the reason why we should serve. For I have

given you an example that you also should do

just as I have done for you. And I think that's

the key. For I have given you an example. Jesus

is saying, serve others because I have served

you already. We don't serve because we're trying

to earn favor from God. We don't serve because

we're trying to tally up a few extra Jesus points.

Jesus won that game on the cross. There's no

more points to be had. And that's my second point.

We serve because Jesus served us. And any act

of service we do, whether that's set up and tear

down, serving in the kids' ministry, on the worship

team, making coffee, or cooking barbecue at a

football game, needs to be rooted in what's already

been done for us. His death on the cross gives

us the reason why we serve. and the ability to

do it. We serve because the vertical relationship

we have with Jesus, we do this a lot, we show

this a lot, the vertical relationship we have

with Jesus starts to spill out horizontally to

everyone in our lives. Let's look again at verse

16 and 17, and Jesus tells us what happens when

we live this way. Truly, I tell you, a servant

is not greater than his master, and a messenger

is not greater than the one who sent him. If

you know these things, you are blessed if you

do them. What Jesus is saying here is really

simple. If you get what I'm saying, if you understand

that you aren't greater than me, and you do it,

you do what I'm telling you to do, you'll be

blessed. Jesus isn't saying we will be blessed

if we feel like we really want to serve, but

then we don't. Or that we will be blessed if

we plan on serving in this way or that, but end

up not having the time. Jesus isn't talking about

good intentions here. It says do for a reason.

And what's the blessing? That's really simple

too. And this brings me to the third point. When

we serve, we get to be like Jesus. We get to

give him the glory. We get to go and be like

our Savior in a dark and broken world. We get

to be radiant reflections of Jesus to those around

us. The blessing isn't material reward. It's

not a higher position in the church or the praise

of man. The blessing we receive when we lower

ourselves and we serve with a heart fixated on

Jesus is being more like him. That's the blessing.

If you're like me, this is really tough to swallow.

As I was studying this, I found that the hardest

people for me to be like this for was my family.

Not out of any fault of their own. I kept asking

myself, like, why? Why do I have such a hard

time lowering myself for the people I say that

I love? It shouldn't be that way. And I can tell

you why. It's because I don't want to deny myself,

pick up my cross, and follow him deep down. I

don't want to let go of my life. I want to be

the one with all the authority, call all the

shots. I kept thinking of, you know, Caleb's

bicycle wheel analogy. Jesus is the hub, right?

and all the spokes are the area of our life.

My problem is, is pull out Jesus, insert Josh,

and all the spokes become me, me, me, me, me,

me, me, me. And I was just confronted with that

as I studied this. And the words that Jesus said

in verse 12 kept coming back to me. Do you know

what I have done for you? Do you really understand

at the heart level how I have served you? How

Jesus has served us? That is why as a church

we constantly come back to who Jesus is and what

he has done defines who I am and what I do. That

is why we say we are a family of servant missionaries

because of what he has done. Imagine if we lived

that way. What would our church, our valley,

our workplaces, and our homes look like with

that kind of love? Husbands and wives, what would

your home look like if you served each other

and your families the way Jesus served you? What

if we, you know, at our places of work did the

job nobody wanted to do? Not for praise, but

to be radiant reflections of Jesus. What if we

served our friends and our neighbors, even the

ones who have wronged us? Church, we can start

living that way with each other, with the people

in this room. You can start there first. What

would our GCs look like if we always brought

the best meal we could and stayed behind to help

clean up after? everything was said and done.

Or if we were able to lay aside our preferences,

our political views, and our pride so that others

can know Jesus better. What if we as a church

took serving our kids seriously? We have a whole

mission field going on in the back back there.

It's not a babysitting service. They are discipling

kids back there. What if we all took responsibility

for the kids in this family? What if we made

it a priority to be loving and welcoming and

inviting on Sunday mornings and in our homes

throughout the week, lowering ourselves and getting

out of our comfort zones because Jesus didn't

prioritize his comfort? I can tell you what would

happen. Jesus would take center stage, and our

church would be like a city on a hill, and those

around us would begin to know and see the love

of Jesus. As we close, I want to leave you with

the greatest act of serving you and I will ever

know. In this passage, Jesus got up from the

table, took off his clothes, and took on the

role of the servant. He poured water into a bowl,

washed the feet of the disciples, dressed himself

again, and then took his place at the table.

Don't miss this. This is a picture of the gospel.

This is a picture of what he came to do. Jesus

left his place with God. He lived a perfect life

that you and I couldn't live and took a position

lower than a servant. He took the position of

a sinner. And having all the authority and holding

everything in his hands, he allowed himself to

be nailed to that cross. There was no one else

willing or able to take our place to pay for

our sins. He took our place. If he didn't do

that, we would have no part with him. And when

he hung on that cross, it wouldn't be to pour

water into a bowl and wash dirty feet, but blood

poured out to wash dirty sinners. Then he rose

again and took his place at the right hand of

the Father, defeating sin, Satan, and death,

making us clean, making us new. As we move into

a time of response, the band can go ahead and

come up. I don't know where you're at with Jesus.

Maybe you're hearing the good news for the first

time, or maybe you've heard it a hundred times

before, but that's what we need to respond to

this morning. Maybe you need to be bathed. You've

never placed your faith in Jesus and his work

on the cross. Maybe you're like Luke, and you're

seeing yourself for the first time how dirty

you are, and that you need Jesus to wash it away.

And if you need to talk, someone, myself, Caleb,

will be in the back. and you can grab us, and

we'll pray with you and talk with you. Maybe

you've been running through mud holes. You need

your feet washed. You need to come before Jesus

in repentance and let go of your sin. Maybe your

heart posture right now is like what I was talking

about earlier. I'm going to stay in the dark.

I do not need you right now. Communion is set

up in the back, and as you dip, as you pick up

that bread representing his broken body and dip

it in the juice, representing his blood that

cleans us, remember what's been done for you.

Remember that your sins are paid for and you

are clean. Go to him, repent, and ask him to

wash it away. Then come back and praise him for

what he's done. Let's pray. Father, thank you

for sending your son to lower himself and take

our place on the cross. I pray that your spirit

would move in our hearts right now. and that

we would come to you with a heart of repentance

and be made clean by the blood of your Son. And

from that, we would respond by being radiant

reflections of Jesus to those around us.