Matthew Poole: Good morning. Let's pray together as we get into God's word. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this moment. This moment in each one of our lives. A unique moment created and gifted to us by yourself. Not another moment like this moment, God, and we believe according to your word that you desire to do great things in and among us. God, as we open up your word today, we ask for miracles. We ask for supernatural help to hear it. God, we cannot hear your word unless you help us hear it. We don't have ears to hear, not in our natural selves. So we ask for grace, God. Grace that when you speak this morning, we would hear it. Because we want to hear it. God, your word is life. There's blessing in your word. There's glory in your word. So help us today, God. We believe that even there's transformation in your word. Your word is powerful. It does not return void. So, God, would you send your word now through me in all of my weakness as a person and preacher? Would your word be on display and would it do its work in all of us today? For the glory of your son Jesus, for the good Of your church and our joy everlasting. We pray. Amen. There is a phase an experience of every parent when they're trying to train their children to tie their shoes. There is that experience when the child outright rejects the help. And it comes with like a settledness about it, a matter-of-factness about it. Like, no, you will not be helping me tie my shoe. But you're sitting there as the parent going, You don't know how to do it. We're not gonna get out of the house unless I help you. And there's the doubling down, no, you will not serve me in this way. We laugh, but we have been those children too, have we not? And in many ways we are still those children today. Not much has changed in our refusal to allow service, and now we're making a tie spiritually, service from God to us. We need God's help, and oftentimes we reject it out of this self-sufficiency. Or if we could peel back the layer one step further, it's not just self-sufficiency. There's self-glory at stake. Self righteousness, self-glory is what's really down underneath there in the heart that refuses God to come and serve us. The stakes are high in this. It doesn't just cause us to trip over ourselves and fall on the sidewalk. No. The Bible says we stumble into death away from the presence of God if we don't get this right. Stakes are very high. See, we don't like a God who serves. It's not glorious to us. A God that serves? That sounds like weakness. We don't like a kingdom that's represented by service. We like things being high and mighty and strong. That's glory, not lowliness and service that's fixated on others. That's not where we naturally go. We have a gravity towards self-sufficiency, self-glory, self-righteousness. This problem is not unique to us today. All humanity has it. They've always had it since Adam. The disciples in John chapter 13 have this same problem. What's interesting about our text is that Jesus Jesus has to do something. And he's trying to create a whole new paradigm of how we operate to him and to the world. And right here in John 13, there's maybe five hours left until Jesus is arrested. So maybe five hours to go. John 13 is a massive pivot in the book of John. Ministries over publicly that Jesus has been doing, and now he gathers the disciples together and he wants to do something. And the question is: what is he gonna do? What are his last words for the next several chapters? We're gonna be all at this one meal that he's got with his disciples. What is he gonna do? How does Jesus Transform service rejecting disciples into those that glory in service. Last words, last actions are important words and actions. Let's tune in to what Jesus has for these disciples and for us this morning. And we begin. There's going to be two large points this morning. First big point is this: John 13. The sovereign king is sent to serve. The sovereign king is sent to serve. Verse one. Now before the feast of the Passover. When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God. We're going to pause right there. This is like a mini little major pivot, but it's like a mini prologue for the rest of the book. There's These three verses are rich. It spent eternity right here. So much here, but what is the main thing John is wanting to get us to understand, the reader to understand, as we are moving into this last section of his gospel? And for one, John says, he begins, this got this Passover happening. He says, Jesus knew that his hour had come. Now we've been tracing the hour through the book of John, and he's been refusing to get caught because what? His hour had not come. Here, Jesus says. My hour is yet. I know it's here. So I think one of the things John is trying to get across and that Jesus is trying to get across is this isn't a trap. I'm not getting caught here. I am laying my life down. Laying my life down. That's what's happening here. I know full well what's going on. Judas is going to betray him. That's not a surprise. Jesus knows what's going on in Judas. Then John doubles up on the term love. We haven't really seen this much so far in John's gospel. He loved them to the end. He's referencing all the way to the end. Jesus is going to finish. He's going to get across the finish line, and you know what's going to be present every bit of the way? Love. Cross is coming, he knows it. Every ounce of blood he is gonna be he's gonna spill is an ounce of blood that has been spilled in love. So he's coming in love, but then there's this sweeping, absolute sweeping theological arc story line of what Jesus is doing. He has come from the Father, and he's now departing to the Father. And in the way is a cross. Like John is wanting to connect the dots to make sure we understand who we're talking about here. He's the sovereign one, the creator God, the one who has been sent from God, who always has been Jesus. Or the Son. God the Son always has been. He took on flesh in his name Jesus. This is the eternal word that's come to take on flesh. Creator, God's sovereign one, eternal one, the great I am, the one who always is. No beginning and no end. That one has been sent from the Father. Get that God in your heart. No beginning. Sovereign. All things in his, underneath his, his authority, all things in his hands. Over it all. Nowhere close to him. What is he trying to teach the disciples? He sits down at a meal. Verse 4. He rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, he tied it around his waist, and he poured water in a basin, began to wash the disciples. And to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped. With thirteen dudes around this table, I imagine it was a pretty rambunctious crowd. A lot of conversation, a lot of noise, loud discussion, talk, laughter. This moment. Silence hits this room and this dinner table. The chewing stops, jaws drop. All eyes fix on Jesus. Why? Because what Jesus is doing is breaking every social rule in the book. Everything you could expect this Jesus to do, he's breaking it. He's not doing things according to the rules. He's playing by something else. Something else is going on here. Foot washing was dirty, foul business. All kinds of things would get on people's feet. It's it it would it's repulsive to clean someone's feet in this culture. Edward Clink, New Testament scholar, he comments and he says, foot washing was the most demeaning task assigned to a household servant. And some historical sources even considered the task too demeaning for servants to have to perform for their masters. For to do so was to be a slave. The act of foot washing truly. was the act of a slave. Never, he adds, never is the act performed by a superior. There's no historical evidence of anything like this happening anywhere. Superiors don't do this. No lowly people wash feet. That's why everybody stopped. Verse six we continue. Jesus coming around the table. He comes to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, What I am doing, you do not understand now. But later, afterward, you will understand. Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. You shall never do it. Like God forbid. You're not going to wash my feet, Jesus. Jesus answers, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Peter can't conceive of a world where Jesus is stooping down to wash his feet. He can't conceive it. He doesn't have a category for it. But there's probably more going on spiritually here than what meets the eye, again, as scholar Klink adds. He says, what looks like an objection born out of modesty is really disobedience and self-righteousness. The refusal to let Jesus wash his feet is evidence of self-centered, sin sick heart. Disobedience and self-righteousness. Don't need it. Don't do it. It's not appropriate from you, King Jesus. And as many look at here, perhaps this is also Peter, like when Jesus had profit or prophesied that he was going to die and raise from the dead, and Peter's like, absolutely not. You're not doing that. You're not dying. Jesus has to tell Peter, get behind me, Satan. You don't have in mind the things of the kingdom that I have in mind about. Like Peter is wanting a kingdom. They're all, everybody's wanting a kingdom, but not one built off of service. Especially not one built off service to suffer. That challenges us. And you gotta love Peter, verse nine. He says, Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Like, okay, Jesus, just wash the whole thing. Give me the full bath. He goes, flies across the other extreme. Just do it all, Lord Jesus. But then Jesus responds, in 10, the one who is bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you, for he knew who was to betray him. That was why he said not all of you are clean. So Jesus uses two words here for bathe and wash, and it's like he's doing something very specific with these words. And with bathing, it's a sign of the foot washing is pointing to a full bath, the full bath of the cross. He's speaking prophetically for Peter. You're clean. We'll see this again, I believe, in John 15. You're clean because you've received my word. You've received the word of Christ, the person of Christ. Who is ultimately going to die for you for your sins? You receive that, you are clean once and for all. So that Jesus says, You are already clean. You don't need to get your whole body washed again. No, you do need your feet washed. But speaking of the full bath, this is pointing to the cross. Right? The foot washing, it's like if you don't get the foot washing, you're never gonna understand the cross. You're never going to understand what I'm about to do. He's given them a parable to help them understand what's going to happen. Where he doesn't wash them and he doesn't wash us with water. He washes us with water. He's not cleansing our feet from dirt and whatever else we've got on them, he's washing our hearts from sin, from corruption, from evil, from guilt. He's washing it. The spotless lamb is dying for filthy sinners. And guess what? If you believe you're washed clean, the spotless lamb is sufficient. For your stains and for your sin. That's the glory of the gospel. Once and for all, you believe in it, you're clean. Church, you're clean. You're clean. No accusation ever can land against you from the devil or from God's law. You are clean by the grace of God. Once clean, always clean, made new, given new life, righteous. Once and for all by the sacrifice of Christ. God is declaring us righteous. He's not making us righteous. He's making us what we already are in Jesus Christ. And that can never change. This is our justification that we were just talking about. Listen to the words of Paul to 1 Corinthians or to the Corinthians in chapter 6. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Right? We're taking sin very seriously. Do you not know that if you're not righteous, you will not inherit the kingdom of God? There will not be any eternal blessing for you. He's not mixing his words. And he says, Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers. Just list out all these categories. We could keep going. The point is, we're all sinners. Can fit in some category of sinner, none of them will inherit the kingdom of God, and such were some of you. And such were some of you, but you were washed. You were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. You were past tense. That's not your identity anymore. That person with all of your sin struggles, even today, that person is dead. It's dead on the cross. Self-righteousness and pride and arrogance, and that part of us that only wants to be served and wants self-glory, it's all dead. That's Paul's argument throughout Romans. It's dead. So how can we live in it any longer? We're brand new in Christ Jesus. We have been washed. Be encouraged this morning. You are clean. You never have to doubt your salvation. Even when sin gets the upper hand and you still struggle, we are clean, sanctified, declared righteous in the courtroom of God, united with the Son of God, his righteousness to our account, his life in our hearts. That never changes, church. That never changes. Unbeliever, that's what God's inviting you into today, if you will believe. Have your sins wiped away, be cleansed of a guilty conscience. But we do still struggle, and I think, and this is what a lot of people point to, there's something else that Jesus is doing here because he says there is a full clean, but you also need your feet washed. And this refers to the ongoing relational work of repentance. So we're saved, we're clean, but we still walk this filthy world. We still have sin in our members. We still sin. And we come to God, we come back to Christ for continual renewal of our relationship. We might be saved and always clean, but we are still getting a little bit dirty. And we have to renew our relationship with God. It has n it has no bearing on our standing before Him and our full cleansing. Think of an example of this would be like in marriage, my wife and I are married. That's a legal fact. That does not change. Now, what does change is my experience of the joy of that relationship. A change is often, most often, due to my failure to serve her and to honor her. And when I offend her, what happens? The relationship goes down. What do I need to do? I need to repent. I need to confess. I need to say, honey, I am sorry. And what happens in that process? Renewal of the relationship happens. We're not getting remarried, but we're engaging in the relationship. The relational joy and fellowship and fruit is going up. And that's the way it is for us and King Jesus. We're never not his sons and daughters, but the relationship does get altered when we live a life of disobedience and sin. But praise God, he offers continual, we just come back to him. Lord, I've messed up again. I've messed up again. Please forgive me. You're forgiven. You're forgiven. You're forgiven. He never not answers, you're forgiven. It's a wonderful truth in the gospel. And so let me ask, have you received this morning the once and for all cleansing work of King Jesus? The one who came from God, sent from God to serve you. In the most scandalous, shocking, humble way, through death on a cross, dying for sin, your sin, have you received? Embrace it today. Say yes to the sacrifice of Christ and believe in it by faith. And then if you have, then are we continuing to run to our Lord in continual repentance, daily renewing ourselves and refreshing ourselves in our relationship with Him? Are we living a life of continual repentance, as Martin Luther calls it? The whole Christian life is just turning, just turning from sin back to Jesus. Are you engaged there? Do things have you? Do certain sins and habits and different whatevers have your heart? Would today be a fresh opportunity to come back? The fullness of grace awaits you if you come back. The sovereign king was sent to serve. May we receive the work he came to do. He gladly bears the sin, he gladly washes our feet. Over and over and over again. Okay? It's the first point. The sovereign king was sent to serve. That's who he is, and that's what he came to do. And the second guiding point this morning is the sovereign king sends us to serve. The story continues. It's not just what Jesus does for us, it's now what he is commissioning us to do. Sovereign King sends us to serve. Verse 12. When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and lord, and you are right. For so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet. Listen, here it is. You also Ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example. He's arguing that you should also do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. So now we see the foot washing is not just about getting our feet washed. There's lot more going on here. It's about informing and shaping our lives and the Christian community and our missional responsibility on earth. Jesus is creating a community of footwashers. Metaphorically, although maybe we will be tasked at some point, you wash somebody's feet, praise God. Some traditions turn this into a rite. I'm not going there, it's not what Jesus' talking about. He's turning us into those that serve one another. We're going to see even later on in this chapter or over the next couple weeks that too. I'm giving you a new command to love one another, service born out of love, looking at the Lord Jesus and what he has done. The sovereign one creating this community based on his example. He says, I am your Lord and teacher. I am that. You are right to consider me that. Therefore, you are to do what I have done. You are to emulate what I have done. This is the example. Just like a piano teacher, they're teaching a student piano. One of the first things that the teacher will do is press the key like this. Hold your hand like this. Do the phrase like this. There's a demonstration, and then the student is to emulate. I have given you an example. You are to do it. The example is absolute. Absolute humility and love and service. he says, You aren't greater than your teacher in You don't graduate from this school, from this teacher, and go off to get your own little style and just add a little this and a little that. No, you stay here. You're not greater than the Lord. So therefore, your life takes this shape. It's not a narrowly defined little thing, let's some sort of service for an hour on a Sunday morning. So far from what Jesus is talking about here. As one scholar said, this is a rule of life. It's a guiding principle, it's a governing umbrella over your life. As you think about it, who am I? What am I doing here on planet earth? You're a servant of the Most High God. And you're serving other people the same way Jesus served you. Is that enough for us? Or are we itching for something else? I think a lot of us are itching for something else. I don't want to carry a towel. I like a name tag, I like some glory, some stars, something. No, I've given you an example to follow. He's not robbing us of anything. This is our failure of faith. He says, Blessed are you if you do this, if you do them. Follow this example. You are blessed. The blessing of Almighty God rests upon you when you serve in humility. To wash other people's feet. The blessing of God is upon you. In other words, there is more joy for us, church, and going low than when we go high. Will we believe that? Will we believe by faith? Because you don't feel it, trust me. Nobody feels it. Jesus didn't feel it on the cross, but he did believe it. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. It's coming. And there's a glory that rests upon us as we do these things. Don't feel it. That's why it's by faith. You have to by faith believe. There's more joy. Serving someone else than waiting for them to serve me. Would we believe that this morning? Jesus continues, I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I've chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am He. Truly, truly I save you. Whoever receives the one I send receives me. And whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. It's like Jesus knows there's about to be so many obstacles to what he's trying to teach the disciples here. Namely, it's about to get very dark. Evil's about to be unleashed on the Son of God. And part of that is because it's coming not through a stranger. Not through a stranger, through one that he shared bread with. He's quoting the Psalms. What he's saying is, this is one that I'm that is intimate with me. This is an intimate friend. Somebody very close to me. One of us in this room will see that next week. he's already pointing to it to Judas. I'm telling you. I know about it. I'm telling you ahead of time. Like Him telling the disciples ahead of time is going to help them understand how this whole thing is unfolding. Essentially, he's saying, listen, it's not because Judas won, it's not because there's a surprise here, it's not because evil won. Scripture is being fulfilled. I'm telling you that now. I have foreknowledge of it so that you will understand that I am He. That's another I am statement right there. So that you'll understand. I'm Yahweh. I'm God. The plan of God is not going sideways. When I get betrayed by one of my closest friends into the hands of the authorities and hung up as a criminal, the plan of God's not going sideways. I know it's happening. It is the glory of God and the revelation of God that is coming. That also prepares them for the mission. As we are sent by King Jesus, we are in his stead to serve. We are also in his stead to be rejected. We will be rejected. Not everybody's gonna receive the word. We're going to get rejected. And that's painful. Let's not be surprised when it happens. But not just are we rejected, we are also received. And he finishes there. Whoever receives the one I send receives me. And whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Do you see the glory of our calling here? There's not a higher, more profound, more glorious, joy joy filled, wonderful, honorable calling that we can have than to represent King Jesus. What is better? What is a higher calling? And he's saying we have to get this trajectory here. The Father has sent the Son. The Son is sending his people. As the people receive or reject the people, or as the world, the community world receives or rejects the people sent, the disciples, they are receiving or rejecting the Son. Which means they are receiving or rejecting the Father. This is John's gospel. The Father is making himself known through the Son of God. That's what we're doing, church. That's what we're doing. When you serve anyone in any capacity, you are displaying and representing King Jesus. We are his messengers, we are his sent ones. We have this mission on the earth, and there is our joy. The foot washing cleanses us and the foot washing sends us. This is our identity and this is our purpose. If we are wondering what we're supposed to be doing on planet Earth, here it is. Now what does this mean for us? It means that there's not a task or a person beneath you. There's not a task or a person you could be called to serve that is too low for you. Doesn't exist. We have all of our objections, don't we? We got plenty of objections. We have objection factory makers in our heart. Otherwise known as excuses. Too tired. Too busy. It's too uncomfortable. I'm not gifted enough. No one has told me what to do. If I serve, how will I get my blessing? Serving us for weakness. That's what Jesus. Aren't you glad Jesus didn't have any of those excuses? He sure could have, and he would be right. Father I'm not up for this. Father could have said son. You're righteous. We can still judge them. Justice. That's not the way Jesus was thinking. Jesus is thinking. What's the most I can do? Father, if not, is there any other way? Is there any other way, Father? However, not my will, but your will be done. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He would have been just to opt out of that, but he was loving to come forward. Aren't you glad this morning he did? Grace appeared. The revelation of God actually came forward. In the service of Jesus Christ. I don't know if he could have opted out because it's not part of his nature. It's a hypothetical situation. God reveals himself through Jesus, the servant. Are we to look at that and say, okay, I'm opting out over here? No. No, church. There's grace here, but no, we don't have an option to veer off of this course. So consider. Who God is calling you to serve. We could go on and on in multiple examples, but consider your spouse, husbands, are you serving, serving your wives? Wives, are you serving your husbands? Parents, are you serving your children? Singles, are you serving the community? You serving the workplace? Are you serving Who are you serving? Put a face to it and a name to it, not not generic, but who are you serving? Members, are we serving gladly, joyfully in our community groups and in our church? Are we trying to ask what's the least I can do to check off the box to just say I did it? Or are we saying, Where can I serve? I'm ready to serve. I'm seeing a need and feeling it before somebody has to tell me and show me. I tell you, that's the next level. I know that's what blesses my wife. It's sort of a blessing when I'm like, honey, I don't know how to serve you. Can you please tell me? She tells me I serve. That's okay, that works. But the next level is I serve, I met a need that she didn't have to tell me about. That's what's meaningful. That's maturity. I'm not saying I do that a lot. I don't. I'm it's mostly the former, I have to be told. Church are we serving? Or guess you've been coming here months, maybe, maybe years. Maybe years. Could it be time you commit to formally serving? Joining our church, joining into this the covenantal relationship of serving one another together. This morning, maybe you come and you just think it just poofs here. Just happens. It doesn't. There's what, 30, 40 people? Behind the scenes every Sunday, making this happen. Praise God for you. Praise God for you. I mean, we could, we could, I'm challenging us, but at the same time, be commended, Harvest. The level of service that you do day in and day out for the saints of God here, praise God. Praise God for the text messages and the prayers. And the word of God that you're sending. I think if we were even to say, okay, what does it mean for me to wash others' feet? Like surely it's practical service, but I would say this to wash the feet of the saints is to speak and to live the word of Christ to one another. That washes people. It washes them. And what glory there is in laying down our lives that we may lift up Christ and bring people to Christ. Serve someone by bringing them. to Christ in whatever way that might look or be. I don't know if you experienced the massive power outage last couple days we did at our home. It was brutal. It was brutal. It's like for seven, eight hours. I'm like, what is going on here? Like, I get that in some other foreign places. I've been a part of those things, but like, here, come no. Carrie, get your stuff together. What's going on? I mean, we went to bed and we're all sweating. It was brutal. You know what we didn't even try to do was turn on the fans. Why? There's no power. Don't even try it. Just sit there and sweat. Try to sleep. Church, we're if we're wondering, okay. Want to serve great how to do that, we have to be connected to the power source. Our power source is Christ. And we have one this morning. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is our testimony. he's alive and well, and he's alive and well in us. We're gonna see later on abiding in Christ. The branch abides in the vine. It's the life of Christ, the life of the servant king who is living himself through us. The old man is dead, Christ is living through us as a servant. Where's your power? It's not in us. Don't go checking your resources, see if you can now serve. Look to Christ. That's where we're closing here. I want to read this from Philippians chapter two. Have This mind among yourselves, Paul says, What mind? Philippians, and what mind harvest? This mind, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not account equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Have that mind among you, because it is yours, church. It's the mind Christ has given you when he came out of the grave. Have this mind. And we as a church would say, yes. Yes. It is our glory to serve like that. Because it is the glory of God that He served like that. Church, let's go. Let's be servants. Let's be a community of foot washers and let's go out in the world victorious as we seek to serve the world unto Christ. Let's go. It is for our glory. It is for our good, it is for our joy, all that Christ might be magnified. We have the power, we have the grace. Let's do it. We're done with self righteousness and pride. What we are for is service, like he has served us. The sent one came to serve and now sends us to serve. Let's do it. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your grace this morning. Thank you, God, for a glorious word, a picture of your service to us that defies our categories, that shows a sovereign God who died the death. That we deserved. God, what a wonder. What a paradigm shifter. Lord, you have turned the world upside down and how we should think that glory and joy is not in going high, it's in going low and serve. God, we ask for the strength to embrace your sacrifice for us and to continue, to continue into repentance daily, and to be a people that testify in word and deed that we are servants. Lord, may we consider ourselves and may those that look at us see us as stewards, servants of God. Lord, may we welcome this identity. May we be content in the lowly place. May we know that our blessing is here. Our blessing is in Christ. God, we long for the day when we will be with you in the new heavens and new earth in a kingdom that will be ruled by service. We will forever magnify and glorify and praise the Lamb of God who was slain for us. God, we long for that day. We thank you that you are redeeming us even now. Help us to more and more look like the true kingdom that submits and receives the true service of the King. It's in your name we pray. Amen.