Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Good morning.
And happy 2 ,568. I think. No, I know. Happy
New Year and happy Songkran to all of us. I hope
you get to enjoy some time off. I hope you bought
your monster guns to make the streets of Bangkok
unsafe in the coming days. Enjoy it and make
sure to keep your phones at home because they
may get wet. Before we continue our sermon series
Living Hope, there's a few things I want you
to know. First of all, we're going to have baptism.
My clicker is not working yet. Yes, there we
go. We're going to have baptism on May the 18th.
It's the third Sunday of May. And already a number
of you have signed up. But if you want to be
baptized in May, obeying Jesus' instruction and
command, I invite you to join the baptism class
that we will have. on April the 26th, that's
yesterday in two weeks here on the campus. So
sign up. And even if you don't want to be baptized
yet, but you're just curious about what is baptism
all about, why don't you join the class, and
you can always say no to baptism for the moment.
That is all fine. So April 26th class, May the
18th, we're going to baptize. Also, next weekend
is Easter weekend. I mean, if there is highlights
during the year, there are many, but Easter is
certainly one of those highlights. We're celebrating
the death, yes, on Friday of Jesus, our Savior,
but then his resurrection on Saturday. We're
doing that in a number of ways, and for that,
we need still volunteers. Thank you for those
who have signed up to join us. to serve in either
of those events, but we need a couple of dozens
more. So if you have time, would you scan the
QR code, sign up to serve us in the coming week
to help people come to know Jesus as their Savior.
Here's the QR code. I think we have a table downstairs
as well after this service. Lastly, about next
Sunday as we gather here for Resurrection Sunday,
just for you to know, there will be a number
of ways for people to engage with Jesus. There
will be a prayer room downstairs in the Connection
Center. There will be a gospel explanation room
in room 1101. And there is a room for those who
know Jesus, but who kind of need renewal in 1204.
So this picture is all to say, get ready. Bring
your friends. Jesus, our living hope, will reveal
himself. And there's a number of ways that he
will minister to us. Got it? Wonderful. Well,
today is Palm Sunday. But you kind of figured
that, right? On the basis of the songs that we
were singing and the kids that came in with the
palm branches. Palm Sunday. We celebrate today
the day that Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem
about 2 ,000 years ago. And the people back then
were ready for King Jesus. They were fed up with
the oppression by the Roman Empire, so they were
excited that the King was finally there. Thank
you for coming, Jesus. Now, Hosanna. Save us.
But as we will see today, The picture that they
had in their minds of the king, King Jesus, didn't
quite align with the kind of king that Jesus
really was. Oh yeah, he would save them, but
not by fighting. He would save them by serving.
Indeed, a couple of days after Palm Sunday, Jesus
would free the people from their oppression,
but a much larger scale oppression than just
the Romans. He would free them from their oppression
and our oppression of sin and death. The God
who serves, that is part two of our sermon series,
Living Hope, that we will look at today. A portrait
of Jesus. as our servant king. And we will do
that by delving into a story, a well -known story,
that we find in the Gospel of John, chapter 13.
But before I read the story for you, I want to
give you some context, which I believe is very
helpful for us to understand. John 13 marks a
shift in Jesus' ministry. In the first 12 chapters
of the Gospel of John, John covers three and
a half years of Jesus' ministry. But from John
13, Jesus' public ministry is over. It's finished.
He's done with his traveling. He's done with
his preaching. He's done with his miracle doing.
And now he is getting ready for the final climax
of his ministry on earth. His death. And his
resurrection that would follow a few days after.
And John covers that, death and resurrection,
in his last four chapters of his gospel. But
right in the middle, in chapters 13 through 17,
John describes the things that took place on
the final evening before Jesus' death. As he
was having dinner with his 12 disciples. Not
just dinner, of course. It's never just dinner
with Jesus. Okay? He still had some important
things to tell to his disciples. His public ministry
was over, but he had a lot to say still to his
men. It's like a coach calling his team together
for one final talk about the game plan. Jesus
chose to spend the last evening before his death
privately. with his closest friends to teach
them the last things they needed to know about
him, about Jesus, as well as about their future
ministry before all the craziness of Jesus' arrest
and crucifixion would happen. We know this part
of scripture, John 13 through 17, as the upper
room discourse. And we get a lot of amazing nudges
from Jesus' teaching. from just these couple
of hours of Jesus' ministry. You remember where
Jesus was saying, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. You can only come to the Father, but
through me, this is where he said it. Remember
where Jesus was speaking about divine himself,
as divine us as the branches, to remain in him
and his Father as the gardener? It was here at
this dinner table where Jesus taught it. Remember
when Jesus was sharing about the Holy Spirit
who would come? It was here at this table. Remember
about Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper, breaking
bread and wine, and for us to remember him? It
was here at this dinner table where it happened.
Remember Jesus praying this heartfelt prayer
over his disciples? It was in these couple of
hours of Jesus' life and ministry where all of
that happened. deep stuff happened at this dining
table. This was not a fast food dinner. This
was a slow food and long food dinner because
Jesus still had a lot of profound things to tell
to his disciples. And even before Jesus began
to speak, it already was a special evening. It
was the evening of the Passover. It was the evening
on which the Jews would eat the Passover meal.
It was for them to remember and to celebrate
their freedom from slavery in Egypt many years
before. It was a custom on those evenings in
Jewish families that the youngest child would
ask his or her dad, Dad, what is it that makes
this night... So different than any other night.
And it was for those children to engage and understand
the significance of what they were doing on that
evening. And I wonder, I just wonder if one of
the disciples was wondering this on that evening.
What is it that makes this night so different
than any other night? Something is up. I can
feel it. I can tell. But what is it? Well, we
will learn from today's story in John 13 that
what made this night different than any other
nights is that it would change the meaning of
Passover for good. That's what made this night
so special. So let me read the story for you
as we find it recorded by John in chapter 13
of his gospel. By the way, John, one of Jesus'
disciples, he was there. At the table, he was
an eyewitness to all that happened. It was just
before the Passover festival, and Jesus knew
that the hour had come for him to leave this
world and go to the Father. Having loved his
own who were in the world, he loved them to the
end. The evening meal was in progress, and the
devil had already prompted Judas, the son of
Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. And Jesus knew
that the Father had put all things under his
power and that he had come from God and was returning
to God. So he got up from the meal, took off
his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around
his waist. And after that, he poured water into
a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet,
drying them with the towel that was wrapped around
him. He came to Simon Peter. who said to Jesus,
Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus replied,
you don't realize now what I'm doing, Peter,
but later you will understand. No, no, no, no,
no, said Peter. You shall never wash my feet.
But Jesus answered, unless I wash you, you have
no part with me. Well, then, Lord, Simon Peter
replied, not just my feet, but my hands and my
head as well. Jesus answered, those who have
had a bath need only to wash their feet because
their whole body is already clean and you are
clean. Though not everyone of you, for he knew
who was going to betray him. And that was why
he said not everyone was clean. When he had finished
washing their feet, he put on his clothes and
returned to his place. Do you understand what
I have done for you? He asked them. You call
me teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that
is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and teacher,
have washed your feet, you should also wash one
another's feet. I have set you an example that
you should do as I have done for you. Very truly
I tell you, Before we take a look at what Jesus
is saying through the foot washing of his disciples,
let's first look at what Jesus is not saying.
Jesus is not asking us to incorporate foot washing.
as one of the principles in our weekly worship
gatherings. That's good news if you have hammer
toes or fungus nails. Don't worry, I'm not going
to do that. That's not what Jesus meant. If that
was the case, then we would have read about this
in the book of Acts or in the letters of Paul
as one of the ordinances like baptism or like
the Lord's Supper. That's not the case. That's
not the point that Jesus wants to make here.
But what Jesus is illustrating through the foot
washing of his disciples is the essence of his
ministry, as we will see in a couple of moments.
Not only the essence of his ministry, also the
essence of our ministry. So what is that? What
is the essence of Jesus' ministry that we learn
today from John chapter 13? Well, there is five
things. I want to highlight with you today that
explain to us, that illustrate to us the essence
of what Jesus came to do. This is what we read
at the beginning of the passage that we just
read. Having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end. I hope you know that
Jesus loves all people. Did you know that? He
loves all people irrespective if they love him
back. But Jesus has a special love for those
who he calls his own. Those who have come to
him in faith, who have chosen to trust him. And
it's this own, his own, as John says, that he
has loved to the end. Now, to the end, if you
go to the Greek translation, to the end is not
so much an indication of a timeline as, okay,
Jesus loved them all the way until... The end
of his life. That's not what it means. What it
means is he loved them to the full. To the limit.
To its fullest extent. That's what the Greek
translation means. And Jesus would show them
at this dinner what it meant to love them to
the full. He got up from the table. Took off
his outer clothing. Wrapped a towel around his
waist, and after that, he poured water into a
basin and began to wash his disciples' feet,
drying them with the towel that was wrapped around
him. To see the profoundness of what Jesus is
doing here, you need to understand some of the
common practices of the Middle East in the first
century. When people would move from place to
place, they would walk, okay? No cars, no bicycles,
sometimes a horse, but they would walk on roads
that were dusty and dirty. And as they were wearing
open shoes, sandals, their feet would get dirty,
really dirty. Even the animals walked on the
same roads and they would leave their pee and
their poo everywhere. So you would pick up a
fair share of that as well as you were walking
from A to B. And nobody wants dirty feet in the
house, right? Especially not where you're going
to have dinner together. I mean, it's a matter
of hygiene. You're unclean. It's disgusting when
you eat dinner with dirty feet. That's why today
we still ask our children, maybe even adults,
to wash their hands before going to dinner because
you never know where these hands were stuck in
right before dinner, right? So here's the deal.
When guests would arrive at the place, where
the dinner was, the host of that place would
have someone on staff, a servant, a slave, someone
who held the lowest position on staff to do the
dirty job of cleaning those feet from dirt, from
dust, from pee, from poo, from everything. And
that slave would have a towel wrapped around
his or her waist and then would dry it off. And
then the guests... could go to dinner. It's this
dirty job that Jesus took on on this evening.
He got up from the table, took his clothes off,
put the towel on, stooped down, washed the dirt
of the feet of their disciples. And in so doing,
Jesus demonstrated the full extent of his love
to his friends by becoming a servant. As we will
see in today's story, he demonstrated, he illustrated
in this a much greater service that he would
do less than 24 hours later, where he would wash
us with his blood from our unrighteousness. That's
how Jesus demonstrates his love to its fullest
extent to us by becoming a servant to us. And
that preview that I just mentioned, That preview
of the things that would happen less than 24
hours later gets an even more profound meaning
when you consider what John says next in verse
3. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things
under his power and that he had come from God
and was returning to God. Do you see that? God
had given Jesus all power, all the authority
over everything. Well, Jesus, now you have all
that power. What are you going to do with all
that power? You know what Jesus could have done
with all that power? Jesus could have stopped
the whole thing that was waiting for him. Jesus
could have used his power to stop his arrest,
stop the humiliation, stop the false accusations,
stop the suffering, stop the torture, stop the
nails through his hands, stop this painful suffocation
that he suffered for us on the cross. He could
have said, I'm out. I'm not going to bother about
these people. I'm not going to save them. I'm
going to use my power to save myself instead
of them. That's what Jesus could have done with
all that power that had been given to him. It's
not what he did. As Paul reminds us in Philippians
2, Jesus, being in very nature God, didn't consider
equality with God something to be used to his
own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness, and being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to death, even death on a cross. Do you see the
impressive reality of the sacrifice that Jesus
took for us? Do you see the profoundness of the
love, the ultimate love that he revealed to us?
He could have used his power to stop it all and
to save himself. But instead he chose to lay
down his glory, to lay down his power, to lay
down his life to save you and me instead. That's
Jesus, our servant king. That is Jesus, our living
hope. The third aspect of the essence of Jesus'
ministry that we find in today's story is this.
We're never too far off to be washed by Jesus.
If you look at the men who were there, these
12 guys at the dining table, you wonder why on
earth. Would Jesus serve these men? Why would
he become a servant and wash their feet? We get
some more intel from other gospel writers of
some other things that happened at that dining
table. Luke, for example, he describes the same
events, the same couple of hours, but he uses
a somewhat different angle. And also in Luke's
story, things started off pretty well. The time
had come that Jesus and the apostles sat down
together at the table. And Jesus said, I've been
very eager to eat this Passover meal with you
before my suffering begins. For I tell you now
that I won't eat this meal again until its meaning
is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. What a precious
setting. Do you see it? Jesus at the dining table
with his friends. pouring out his heart and said,
oh, guys, I've so longed for these couple of
hours with you. It's going to be the last time
that we're going to eat together until we're
going to see each other or be with each other
again. And the kingdom of God has been fulfilled.
Beautiful setting. And after this, Jesus breaks
the bread and the wine and he institutes the
Lord's Supper, precious time, intimate time with
his friends. And then this. Then they, the disciples,
began to argue among themselves about who would
be the greatest among them. Really? Really? Your
Savior is pouring out His heart. Your teacher
and friend is explaining, guys, I'm going to
die. They're going to torture me. They're going
to accuse me of things that I have not done,
but I have to die. And all they care about is,
hey, is it me? I think it is, right? I'm going
to be the gracious. All they care for is their
own ambition for greatness, while their dearest
friend will be suffering and dying. Well, if
you're like that, certainly Jesus will not serve
you, and he will not wash your feet, right? And
yet, it was these men whose feet Jesus washed.
You know who else was there? A guy named Judas
Iscariot. He was the guy who would betray Jesus.
In a couple of hours, a bunch of soldiers led
by Judas would go to the Garden of Gethsemane
to arrest Jesus from where he would be tortured,
from where he would be murdered. He had already
received his rewards, 30 pieces of silver from
the Jewish leaders. And he was... at that table,
ready to betray Jesus. And Jesus knew it. Jesus
knew that Judas was the guy who would soon betray
him. You're not going to wash the feet of a guy
like that, will you? And yet, Jesus washed the
feet of the guy who would betray him. What a
picture of Jesus, our living hope. You're never
too far off to be washed by Jesus. Some of you
can identify with the disciples, some of you
here today. You care more about your ambition
for greatness, your podium, power, and influence
to be used to your own advantage, applause, audience,
recognition. Some of you may identify with Judas.
On the outside, you look as one of Jesus' intimate
friends, but when you're honest with yourself,
you're living a life of betrayal. You're living
a double life. Your thoughts, your actions, of
course, all done in secret, reveal that your
heart is not in it. And in so doing, you're betraying
Jesus and probably you're betraying some other
people as well. And yet you're never too far
off to be washed by Jesus. Whether it's your
ambition for greatness or recognition or power
or wealth or glory. Or whether it's your life
of betrayal and secrecy, the double life. It's
no reason for Jesus to turn his back on you.
As a matter of fact, he says, let me serve you.
I want to show you my love. I want to wash you.
I just need you to want me to be your servant.
I need you to turn to me so that I can serve
you and wash you clean. And turning to Jesus,
as we also learn from today's story, it requires
humility. As Jesus is making his round, To wash
the feet of his disciples, he arrives at Peter.
And as you may know, with Peter, things are often
a bit more complicated. He came to Simon Peter,
who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash
my feet? Jesus replied, you don't realize now
what I'm doing, but later you will understand.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, said
Peter. You will never, ever, ever wash. my feet
peter resists being served by jesus peter feels
uncomfortable with the idea that his messiah
would would stoop down kneel down for him and
do the dirty job of cleaning his feet maybe peter
caught himself at a moment wondering ah i should
have been that guy who had asked a slave to do
this job and we don't know what peter was thinking
but peter resists being served By Jesus. And
in response, Peter does what he always did. He
takes things in his own control to manage the
situation. He always did that. Remember the time
when Jesus told his disciples, I'm going to be
arrested. They're going to accuse me. They're
going to kill me. What is it that Peter said?
Oh, no way, Lord. I'm not going to let that happen
to you. Remember that moment when Jesus was arrested
in the Garden of Gethsemane and Peter pulled
his sword, chopped off an ear. I think he went
for the head, but it was an ear eventually where
Jesus had to stop them. Peter wanted to reveal
to Jesus, I've got it all covered, Lord. I'm
going to save you. It seemed that Peter had a
pattern in his life of always knowing better
than Jesus did. I wonder if there ever was a
moment in Jesus' life where he thought, Peter,
would you just stop? telling me what I should
do and should not do, and just listen to me and
do it? It's not what Jesus said that evening.
He said it more gentle. Peter, unless I wash
you, you have no part with me. Peter, it's time
to let go of thinking that you know better than
I do. Peter, it's time to stop your resistance.
You can't be mine. If you don't allow me to serve
you, if you don't allow me to wash your feet,
you can't be mine if you don't let me do what
you cannot do for yourself. It were these words
of Jesus that broke Peter's resistance. And the
pendulum shifted from one extreme all the way
to the others. Well, if that's the case, Lord,
not just my feet, please. Do it all. Complete
me entirely. My hands, my head, everything, Lord.
I want to be cleansed by you. Peter's resistance
broke. Uncomfortable as he had been at first
with the idea of Jesus washing his feet, he now
sees that it has to be this way for him to belong
to Jesus. And he went from, I've got it all covered,
to Jesus. I'm yours completely. Wash me. Wash
me. The realization that you need to be served
and washed by Jesus begins with a humble recognition
that we are dirty and that we need to be washed.
That's where it starts. I've got it all covered.
Doesn't cut it when you're under the power of
sin, you know. And neither does downplaying the
influence of sin in your life by making promises
to yourself and to others that you will never
be able to keep. The proper response to Jesus'
offer to serve you and to wash you is, Oh, Lord,
I need you. Lord, I need you to wash me, not
just my feet, please. Do the whole thing. Wash
me completely. What it takes on our end to allow
Jesus to serve us is humility. Acknowledging
that we don't have it covered. But trusting that
Jesus has got it covered on our behalf. One more
thing we learn about the essence of Jesus' ministry
in John 13. In response to Peter's desire to
have everything cleansed, this is what Jesus
says. Those who have had a bath need only to
wash their feet because their whole body is clean.
And you are clean, though not every one of you.
And he was referring to Judas in saying the letter.
In this verse, Jesus gives us the full picture
of what he was illustrating by... The washing
the feet of his disciples. He is speaking about
the greater reality of his cleansing work. Soon
after this evening as I already told you. A couple
of hours after. Jesus would do a much bigger
cleansing work. Not with water. With blood. With
blood he would cleanse us from our dirt. Our
dust. Our dung. All of our unrighteousness on
the cross. And here Jesus tells us in this verse.
that Jesus' cleansing work involves an initial
bathing as well as an ongoing washing. An initial
bath and an ongoing washing. When you believe
and trust in Jesus as the Savior for your sin,
you've had a bath. You may even have experienced
it as a bath. You felt washed clean entirely.
And when that has happened to you, You don't
have to wake up in the morning wondering, hey,
am I still saved? I was saved yesterday, but
did I get unsaved between yesterday and today?
No, no, no. You did not get unsaved, okay? You've
had your bath. But you do get dirty feet. As
we walk through this world, We pick up dirt through
the conversations we have, from the things we
are exposing ourselves to, the things we think
and do, the desires that we let, you know, rise
up every once in a while and give into. We pick
up dirt and we get dirty feet that need to be
washed by Jesus, which is an ongoing washing.
You know what we need to do when our feet get
dirty in walking through this world? We go to
Jesus, we say, Jesus, I have to be honest, look
at my feet, they're dirty. They're full of dirt,
dust, and dung again. I need you to clean my
feet. Would you serve me? And that's when Jesus
says, Dear son, dear daughter, I'm faithful and
just. I clean your feet. I forgive you all of
your sin. I purify you from all your unrighteousness.
That's the ongoing washing, even after having
the initial bath. that Jesus serves us with.
That's the essence of Jesus' ministry. Serving
us feels a bit uncomfortable, does it? Jesus
serving us? Yes, it's the essence of his ministry.
He is our living hope. He is our servant king
who stooped down to wash you and to wash me clean.
But it's not the end of the story in John 13.
Jesus has more to say. It's in verse 14 where
he says, Jesus was done illustrating the essence
of his ministry. And now he turns to us and he
says, you're my own. I want you to follow my
example and to serve each other. Jesus' desire,
no, not just desire, Jesus' calling for us is
to serve each other, to serve people, encourage
people, love people, forgive people, talk to
people, pray with people, support people. We're
called to have the mindset of Jesus, says Philippians
2, in our relationships with each other. The
essence of our ministry. There's four things.
I'm going to be quick in these. Don't worry.
I'm not going to be as long as I was for those
who say, it's already half an hour. Four things
that I want us to know about what it is to be
a servant of each other. That we learn from John
13. Here's the first thing. Serving others is
never beneath any of us. No matter how important
you are, wealthy you are, powerful you are. Serving
other people is never. Beneath you. Remember?
Jesus. The God of the universe. Who has all power.
All glory. All authority. Kneel down. To wash
the dirty feet. Of sinners. He laid down his
glory. He laid down his power. He laid down his
life. To wash dirty sinners. So if any of us
thinks that serving each other is beneath us,
somehow we think that we're better than Jesus.
Let me tell you, we're not. Jesus calls us to
serve each other, and none of us is able to rise
above that calling. Second thing, serving others
is not about who they are, it's about... who
Jesus is and what he calls us to do. If Jesus
would leave it up to you and me who to serve,
we would be very selective in who to serve. Those
who have been kind to us, of course, check. Those
who honor us, check. Those who have been kind
to my family, oh, check. Those who have helped
me when things were really hard, definitely going
to serve them. Those who have hurt me, what do
you think? Those who talk bad about me behind
my back, go figure, no way. Those who mistreat
me or my family, forget about it. I want to remind
us, Who were the people that Jesus served on
that evening? People who were more occupied with
their own greatness and who would soon desert
him at the most difficult hour of his life. Those
were the people that Jesus washed the feet of.
A guy who pretended to be a friend but who would
cause Jesus to be arrested leading to his torture
and death. Judas and Jesus. Served him. And Jesus
washed his feet. We don't serve others for who
they are. I know. It's hard. We don't serve others
because they treat as well. We serve others because
of Jesus and what he has done. And what he is
calling you and me to do. That's why we serve
others. Third thing. Serving others requires.
Humility, yes, it's a humbling thing, right,
to get on your knees and to wash the dirty feet
of someone else or whatever shape your sacrificial
service to somebody else looks like, to your
friend, your spouse, or even a stranger. It's
a humbling thing to serve each other. And it's
also a humbling thing to be served by others.
For some reason, many of us get all awkward when
people want to serve you. There's a friend who
wants to pay for dinner that you just had, and
you say, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I will only
allow you to pay for my dinner when you promise
that I get to pay next time. Right? Or someone
who has helped you in a really hard time, a time
when you could not make ends meet, and you say,
I'm going to pay you back until the last bat
in Satan. Many of us, when we could really need
help, and being served by other people, go even
as far as to isolate ourselves. Because we don't
want to ask for help. We don't want to receive
service by anyone else, because they may think
that we're weak, that we don't have it together,
and that we have failed. And many times, especially
to us guys, it's just pride outright. that we
don't want to receive service by Allah. This
is why in the days before GPS, we would never
stop our cars to ask for directions and rather
figure things out ourselves, even if that meant
that we would get lost and it would take an hour
more to get to our destination. Whatever it is,
it takes humility, yes, to serve someone else
as well as to be served. By someone else. And
there is this beautiful model. A godly principle
that Paul speaks about in Philippians 2. Which
says don't be selfish. There we have it. Don't
try to impress others. But be humble. Be humble.
Thinking of others as better than yourselves.
Don't look out only for your own interests. But
take an interest in others. Have you ever wondered
what would happen to the quality of your life
if we were to decide to collectively apply this?
Imagine, picture, that from today, all of us
here at ECB would apply this godly principle
to our life and our community life. I guarantee
what would happen is that your life would get
much easier and significantly less stressful.
Why? Because you're no longer the only one who
is looking after your interests. All of us will
be looking with you after your interests. Wow.
That's a relief. And by the way, you will be
doing that to me and to others as well. So all
of us get to experience that easier life, much
less stress, because we're applying one of those
beautiful principles of Scripture. Makes sense,
doesn't it? What it requires is humility. Humility
for us to serve each other as well as humility
to be served by each other. I will ask Pastor
Pablo, maybe he wants to launch a project like
this here at ECB so we just, you know, can begin
doing this. Okay, one more thing for us to learn
about serving. Especially for those who wonder,
is there something in for me in this whole serving
others thing? Actually, There is. The person
you serve is not the only one who is blessed
by your service. In serving others, we also bless
ourselves. Look at what Jesus says at the end
of today's passage. Now that you know these things,
you will be blessed if you do them. This is scripture,
right? We're not just listeners of the word.
We're doers of the word. And here Jesus says,
hey. I've now told you what this serving each
other is about. You know it now. But if you do
it, you will be blessed by doing it. And no,
this is not Jesus' promotional campaign to get
us to serve, okay? Saying, hey, hey, there is
a benefit. Just go do it and you will receive
it. That's not what Jesus is telling us here.
The blessing that Jesus speaks of here is that
when you align yourself with the purposes of
Jesus, you live a life of alignment with the
purpose you have been created for, and that alignment
brings deep satisfaction. Deep joy, deep blessing
to your soul and therefore your entire life.
Jesus gives the recipe to us here for leading
a happy life. How? Serve each other. Crazy, right?
Doesn't make sense in our world, right? But with
Jesus, it does. It's better to give than to receive,
is what he says. He calls us. to serve each other
and promises us that we will be blessed by doing
that. It's what I call living hope. Jesus came
to serve us, to wash us clean of the dirt and
dung of our unrighteousness. What a living hope
we have. And Jesus calls us to imitate him by
doing the same to each other, serving each other.
And in closing, I want to ask you two questions.
First question is this, have you recognized your
need for Jesus to serve you? Your need for Jesus
to bathe you in his love? to wash you clean of
your sin. Whoever you are and whatever your story
has been up to today, you're never too far off
for Jesus. Jesus came to serve you and it's his
desire to save you and to welcome you as one
of his own. If that's your desire, I welcome
you. A couple of moments after this service.
to come to one of us here at the front of the
worship center so that we can pray together for
you to welcome Jesus, living hope into your life.
Maybe it's not a bath that you need. Maybe you've
had your initial bath already a while ago. Jesus
saved you years ago, but your feet got dirty.
You have picked up stuff on the way that you
know to be cleansed of. confess your sins to
Jesus, he will turn to say, dear son, dear daughter,
I forgive you of all your sin. I purify you of
all your unrighteousness. And if you need help
in praying these things, come, come after the
service. We're here for you. Here's my second
question. Are you imitating Jesus' example by
serving others? If this is a convicting question
to you, because your answer is, no, not really.
I'm glad you're here, and probably God wanted
you here to hear what he had to say to you today.
Although as God's people, we have been set apart.
We're a holy nation, you know. We're heavily
influenced by a culture that surrounds us, a
culture that encourages you and me to serve nobody
else but ourselves. And it takes a firm stance
for followers of Jesus, each of us, not to allow
that propaganda to overtake our lives. So whatever
has caused it, if you sense, if you notice in
yourself this, this hesitation, even unwillingness
to serve each other because you rather serve
yourself, that I encourage you to make this your
daily prayer. Lord, break my heart for what breaks
yours and give me the capacity to love people
and serve people the way you love people and
serve people. It's a prayer that God can work
with really well. to change your heart and to
shape you, to form you into becoming more like
Jesus. I want to ask us to bow your heads and
take a few moments in quiet to think about the
things that you've heard this morning. Lord,
you've come to seek and save those Who are lost.
Hallelujah Jesus. We praise you. For you are
the one who has set us free. And as we will be
proclaiming those words Jesus. I want to ask
you. Would you be near. Not just near. Would
you continue to speak. Truth. in the lives of
those who are here in my life, the lives of my
brothers, my sisters, my friends who are here.
Lord, and if the truth involves a moment today
where it involves saying yes to you, Lord, wash
me, wash me entirely. Lord, extend your invitation.
Lord, if the truth involves speaking to one of
us about dirty feet, Holy Spirit, I ask you that
you will Not let us go from this place. Let us
leave this place before we have come before you
and ask you to wash our dirty feet. Thank you,
Jesus, our living hope. Thank you for kneeling
down, stooping down for us to serve us, to wash
us clean, and to give us new life. We love you,
Jesus. And we praise your great name. Amen. If
God is calling you to support our ministries,
you will find giving options on our website.
And remember to join us next week. God bless
you.