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Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church Henley and thanks so much for tuning

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into our podcast.

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Our prayer is that through this podcast you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll

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change your life.

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And now get ready for an inspiring message from our preaching team.

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If you don't know me, my name is Tim, I'm one of the pastors at Encounter Henley.

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And at 21 years old, I became the pastor of a little church in the mid north.

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I was 21, 21 years old.

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My friends were partying out the dog and duck somewhere in the city.

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I don't know, I never really went.

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Three years out of high school when I was in vocational ministry.

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When I would have, and I was leading a church and I would never set it out loud to anyone.

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I would have hidden behind a veil of false humility.

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But I thought that this was a pretty big deal.

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This was a pretty big deal.

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I was leading a church at 21.

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Where could I be by the age of 30, 40, 50?

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It wasn't all hubris.

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I genuinely hope that because of how early I had started, I could get to the point where

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I could be a helpful pastor for people.

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For Jesus and for his kingdom.

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But a lot of it was hubris.

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And there was one particular situation early on that started to crash me down to earth.

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My dad, my wife, and my best mate all got invited to lead a workshop or sit on a panel

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at a conference and I didn't.

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It's like, all these guys but not me?

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Well, on the one hand, the fact that I was doing significant ministry at such a young

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age puffed me up.

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It gave my ego a little boost.

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This event caused me to realize how fragile my ego actually was.

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I was floored by this.

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What was wrong with me?

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Why was I excluded?

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And where my pride had led me to believe that I belonged and that I was something.

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Being excluded made me question where I fit and whether I was anything at all.

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We all want to know where we fit in because it tells us whether we are okay.

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There is safety and security in knowing where you fit.

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But it's a fraud exercise in order to work out where we fit.

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Our ego, our sense of self, of who we are inside is constantly trying to work out where

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we would position ourselves relative to other people around us based on what we value.

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Inside we are constantly comparing ourselves to others and building up or tearing down

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people to feel a sense of security in where we fit in.

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If I got 10 people to stand up in a line in the front, which I won't do, where would I

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rank in those 10 people?

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Who is more important than me?

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Who has more than me?

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Who is more than me?

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And who am I more important than?

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Who do I have more than?

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Who am I more than?

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And depending on those 10 people you may feel a real sense of pride that you're really

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up there with the best.

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But you find a different 10 and you might feel that destroyed because you are nowhere near

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those people.

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It all depends what you value and what you see is important.

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If I got 10 people up here and I valued more than anything else, a lush, full-bodied head

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of hair, more than anything else and I had to rank myself against these 10 people, I

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would look at my very thin hair, which is, I have a hairline that's remarkably looking

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like my father at 30, which is terrifying to me.

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If anyone tells you they've got their grandfather's hair line and he had hair, they're feeling

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a bit self-conscious about their hair.

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So I had to look at my hair and then I looked at Tom Brown's very luscious locks.

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I would feel absolutely depressed.

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Such beautiful hair, thick.

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But then I would look at Tex and I would still feel depressed because this man's hair is

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a choice and mine is not.

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C.S. Lewis says this in the wonderful book, Meer Christianity, how much do I dislike it

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when people snub me or refuse to take any notice of me or shove their ore in or patronise

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me or show off?

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The point is that each person's pride is in competition with everyone else's pride.

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It is because I wanted to be the big noise at the party that I am so annoyed that someone

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else was the big noise.

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Two of a trade never agrees and what you want to get clear on pride is that it's essentially

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competitive.

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It is competitive by its very nature.

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While the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident, pride gets no pleasure

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out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next person.

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We say that people are proud of being rich or clever or good looking but they are not.

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They are proud of being richer or cleverer or better looking than others.

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If everyone else became equally rich or clever or good looking, there would be nothing to

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be proud about.

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It is a comparison that makes you proud.

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The pleasure of being above the rest.

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Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone and that's why I say that pride

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is essentially competitive in a way that other vices are not.

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Tim Keller sums this up by saying this, pride is the pleasure of having more than the next

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person.

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Pride is the pleasure of being more than the next person.

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What an exhausting process of jostling and competing and comparing ourselves with others

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to work out where we fit and for all our troubles, all we get is a sense of pleasure because

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we think we're better than others or a sense of despair because we feel we're worse than

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others.

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Depending on what we do and who's around us and what we value, we're either crushed

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or puffed up with pride.

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In order to lift ourselves up and to feel better about ourselves, we have to put others

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down.

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We have to say, I am more than you.

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Surely there's a better way than this.

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Surely there's a better way.

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Surely there's a way off this exhausting jostling and competing for position.

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Surely the constant comparisons are stealing our joy.

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Surely Jesus has a better way for us.

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This dynamic of jostling for position that goes on internally for us was very much out

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there and in the open for Jesus in the culture he was immersed in.

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It's difficult for us in the Western world to understand the differences in our culture

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with the culture that was present in the time and place where Jesus walked the earth because

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in Australia, generally speaking, our Western values, even the most secular atheist, anti-Christian

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movements of our time are so deeply rooted and heavily rooted in the teachings of Jesus

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that we miss how radical and subversive Jesus actually was.

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Jesus lived in, like most societies in his time and some societies still to this day,

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in an honour, shame culture.

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Now ancient historian John Dixon says this about honour, shame, culture.

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Honour was universally regarded as the ultimate asset for human beings and shame was the ultimate

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deficit.

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Much of life revolved around ensuring you and your family received public honour and

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avoided public shame.

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Honour was a kind of social currency that determined your place in the social hierarchy.

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The more honour you had, the more social currency you had in society and if shame was brought

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to you, it wasn't just your shame, it was upon your entire family and your whole family

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descended the social hierarchy.

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To give you an example of just how significant honour is in honour, shame cultures, well let's

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talk about honour killings.

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Honour killings which still happen in some cultures in the world today are when members

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of a family will murder one of their family members and it's usually a woman for bringing

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shame upon their family.

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It's hard for us to understand in the West how could you murder anyone, especially a

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member of your own family.

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But that's because we have a different, far more individualistic culture and our culture

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turns on different principles.

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Within the framework of an honour, shame culture honour killings make logical sense because

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when one of the family does something shameful, your whole family is ashamed and they just,

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your whole family descends the social hierarchy, they face ostracisation from the community.

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A loss of friendships, loss of business deals, one person's actions negatively impact the

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entire family.

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And so to restore the honour of the family, they put the shame bringing family member

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to death and the logic is sacrifice one for the good of the many.

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And this makes very little sense in our culture.

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If someone within our families brings shame upon themselves, they bring shame upon themselves

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and we're like, you do you, boo boo.

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Doesn't affect their ability to get a job or friendships or a reputation.

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To be humiliated and publicly shamed is the greatest fear a person has in an honour, shame

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culture.

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John Dixon in his great book Humilitus uses this, an example of an affair to illustrate

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that.

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So in an honour, shame culture, the public shame of having a partner that's been mixed

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up in an affair would do you more injury than the private heartbreak of a partner who's

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betrayed you.

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The public shame would hurt more than the private betrayal.

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So in the sense of competitive pride and comparisons that we make internally, they existed externally

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for Jesus.

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There was a social hierarchy and everybody knew it.

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And we have to keep this in mind when we come to our teaching text today.

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The hierarchy was clear.

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We haven't had the teaching text today.

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Our teaching text today comes from is John 13, 1 to 17.

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Thank you, my lovely wife.

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All right, John 13, 1 to 17.

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Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world

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and returned to his father.

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He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth and now he loved them to the very

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end.

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It was time for supper and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon, is correct to

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betray Jesus.

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Jesus knew that the father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from

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God and would return to God.

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So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist and

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poured water into a basin.

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Then he began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with a towel he had around him.

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When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet?

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Jesus replied, you don't understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.

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No, Peter protested.

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You never, ever wash my feet.

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Jesus replied, unless I wash you, you won't belong to me.

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Simon Peter exclaimed, then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet.

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Jesus replied, a person who is bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the

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feet, to be entirely clean.

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And new disciples are clean, but not all of you.

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For Jesus knew who would betray him.

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

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After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, do you understand

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what I was doing?

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You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, because that is what I am.

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And since I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's

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feet.

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I have given you an example to follow.

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Do as I have done to you.

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I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their masters, nor is the messenger more

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important than the one who sends the message.

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Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

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This is the word of the Lord.

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Thanks be to God.

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All right.

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We're back.

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So we have to keep in mind, as we think about our teaching text, that the hierarchy, the

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social hierarchy is clear.

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Jesus is the famous traveling rabbi.

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And although he did things that sort of flirted with him, bringing shame on himself, like

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eating with tax collectors and prostitutes, great was his honour because of his teachings

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and displays of power in healings and miracles.

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So Jesus was at the top of the hierarchy at this meal.

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And next was Peter as the leader and spokesperson of Jesus' disciples.

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And then James and John were next as the other members of Jesus' inner circle with Peter.

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And then there's the other eight that we always forget their names, the make up, the other,

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the 12 disciples.

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And then there was anyone else who was following Jesus and who happened to be present.

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In the room, the hierarchy was clear to everyone, and Jesus does something radical.

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He inverts the social hierarchy, and he does it by humiliating himself.

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He takes off his outer clothes, ties a towel around his waist, and he stoopes low and begins

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to wash his disciples' feet.

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And in our culture understanding, we look at what Jesus does here by washing his disciples'

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feet and going, oh, Jesus is really nice.

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He's a great guy, great leadership Jesus, serving, washing their feet.

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I mean, feet are gross, but it's beautiful.

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It's a beautiful sentiment.

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Good job, Jesus.

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You've invented servant leadership.

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Someone's going to write a book about it one day.

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Like, great job.

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But to the culture of the time, they would look at what Jesus does here and be absolutely

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stunned.

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Absolutely stunned.

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Why are you doing this, Jesus?

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You are utterly humiliating yourself.

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It would be like Prime Minister Anthony Albanese doing a naked song and dance number on the

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steps of parliament house in front of foreign dignitaries.

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But that's the kind of humiliation that would be going on, but maybe not that humiliating,

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but close.

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Washing of the feet was necessary as anyone who's worn sandals for a day knows.

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Your feet get dirty.

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The rest of you might be clean, but your feet are not.

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And it was custom to wash your own feet, but washing another person's feet was what slaves

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did.

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And not just any slave.

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To wash another's feet was considered so demeaning that Jewish slaves were not required.

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They were forbidden from washing another's feet.

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Only Gentile slaves, only foreign non-Jewish slaves were required to wash another person's

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feet.

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For Jesus, the leader, the master, the teacher, to strip down stoop low and wash the feet

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of his followers of those below him was an utterly humiliating thing to do.

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He was demeaning himself, doing a job only reserved for foreign slave beneath him.

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And he does it for those beneath him in the social hierarchy.

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Peter is shocked and confused.

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He does not understand what Jesus is doing.

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So Jesus explains, verse 12, when he had finished washing their feet, he put on his

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clothes and he returned to his place, do you understand what I have done for you?

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Who asked?

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You call me teacher and Lord and rightly so, for that is what I am.

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Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet.

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I have set you this example that you should do as I have done for you.

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Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater

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than the one who sent him.

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Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

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Jesus has inverted the social hierarchy and even though he's the master, he has served

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the servants.

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But then he invokes the social hierarchy to call them to do the same.

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I am your Lord and master and you're not better than me, you're not greater than me, so you

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should do as I have done.

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In Matthew 20, Jesus says this, you know what the rulers of the world do?

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They lord it over people and officials flaunt their authority over those under them, but

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among you it will be different.

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Whoever wants to be a leader amongst you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first

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among you must become your slave.

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For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as

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a ransom for many.

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Jesus here in the washing of the feet and indeed through his whole ministry and teaching

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he does something astounding, something world changing.

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Invents humility.

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Jesus invents humility.

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Today we see someone stooping low, serving, even humiliating themselves with the good

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of another and we see that as honourable.

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We see that as a good thing.

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But John Dixon in his book Humilitus argues that we think this way because their entire

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Western worldview is rooting the life, teachings and example of Jesus.

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Before Jesus' humility was basically just humiliation.

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The root Latin word for humility is humilitus which is why the book is called that and it

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means low.

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To stoop low to the ground.

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There's a sense of lowering yourself which Jesus does as he washes his disciples feet.

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And Dixon defines humility as this, the noble choice to forgo your status, deploy your resources

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or use your influence for the good of others before yourself.

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Humility is lowering yourself but it's for the good of another.

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There are three things that Dixon highlights and we need to know about humility.

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The first one is this, humility presupposes dignity.

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For one to be loaded they must come from our height.

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To show humility one must have the strength and dignity that is then put aside for the

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good of another.

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Acts of lowering yourself without holding your worth or dignity are not acts of humility,

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they are acts of low self-esteem.

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Humility presupposes dignity.

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Humility is willing.

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The Latin word humilitus in a negative sense means to be put low which is where we get

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the word humiliation from.

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If humility is not a choice it is humiliation.

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The third thing is this, humility is social.

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Humility must be for the sake of others.

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To lower yourself privately or internally is simply just modesty.

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Humility must benefit the other.

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In the midst of our jostling and competing for position to build up our sense of self

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and sense of pride of lowering others in order to elevate ourselves, Jesus here takes a radical

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path and invents and takes the path of humility.

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He lowers himself in order to elevate others.

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It would be easy to finish the sermon here and just say, well Jesus, he lowered himself

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to elevate others.

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So to deal with the pride that we have in our lives and get off this rat race of comparison,

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we just need to do the same.

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We need to lower ourselves to elevate others.

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But how do we even do that?

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Maybe we could declare from now on, I'm going to elevate others both internally and how

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I think about others and externally and how I treat others even if it costs me.

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That would be a noble declaration.

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Maybe that would even help us if we weren't so proud as people.

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If we are honest, most of us are very proud people.

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Even those who try really hard not to be proud, hi, hello, that's me.

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I'm very proud and I'd hate you to know that.

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So can we just cut that from the pod?

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No, it's live streamed.

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Oh yeah, okay.

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I'm proud.

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You might be proud too.

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And we are proud because we are insecure in who we are.

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At the heart of a prideful person is an insecure person.

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We don't have security at the core of who we are.

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We don't know where we fit in.

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We don't know if we are okay so we compare ourselves to others.

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We judge ourselves against others in order to find that security.

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But it is not true security.

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We are proud because we are insecure.

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So how then do we find the security to walk the path of humility?

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The greatest act of humility the world has ever seen or will ever see is a son of God

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hung on a cross like a criminal.

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There's a great hymn in Philippians 2.5-8 which says this, Christ Jesus, who being in

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very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own

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advantage rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being

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made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man.

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He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

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Jesus who had equality with God, he had all the dignity in the world.

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He was top of the universal hierarchy with the Father and the Holy Spirit did not use

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his power and authority for his own good but he made the choice to lower himself.

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Take the nature of a servant, God in human flesh, God who chose to hunger, thirst and

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experience suffering and pain, God lowered himself even to death on a cross.

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The most barbaric and humiliating and inhumane way to murder a person humanity has ever come

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up with.

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The most barbaric and inhumane way.

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You're strung up on a tree for hours with no bathroom available, hung by the nails in

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your wrists with your knees bent at an angle and your feet were nailed together so to take

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a breath you had to pull yourself up by the nails in your wrists which was agony because

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of all the nerves in your hands and feet to pull yourself up just to breathe.

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After days or hours or days, probably more like days you died not from loss of blood

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but from a lack of oxygen.

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It's ironic the one who breathed life into the clay to create humanity was strung up

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by humanity until the breath of life could breathe no more and the life that gave us

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breath and life left the body of the Incarnate God.

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Hebrews 12 says this because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross disregarding its

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shame and now he is seated at the place of honour beside God's throne.

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What was the joy awaiting him?

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A universe restored and healed from the destruction of sin and death and you and me.

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We are the joy awaiting Jesus.

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Jesus went to the cross so that our sin could be dealt with and God raised him from the

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dead so that we could be raised with him and come home to God forever.

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Jesus, with all the dignity of God made a willing choice to be humiliated for our sake.

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It's this act of humility from Jesus, this completed work on the cross that ultimately

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deals with our pride and here's how.

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The work of Jesus on the cross is complete.

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Paul says in Ephesians 2, for his by grace you have been saved through faith.

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This is not from yourselves.

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It is a gift of God not by works so that no one can boast.

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We are saved from sin and death and we have a seat at the party at the end of the universe

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by the grace of God because God has treated us better than we deserve.

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We have been saved.

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It's a gift from God.

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You haven't had to work for it.

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If you did then you would be proud about it wouldn't you?

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All it requires is faith.

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All it requires is to accept the gift of God.

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You know what this means?

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The reward comes before any behavior on your behalf.

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The gift has been bought and paid for.

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You actually can't earn it.

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You can't pay it back.

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That's not how a gift works.

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The work of Jesus is complete.

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So to think that we earn salvation by God's love, or God's love by our behavior is just

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straight heresy.

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It's just not true.

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And it's pride.

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If salvation had to do with what we did or do or don't do then we would just be ranking

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ourselves against everyone else all over again.

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But it's God's gift to you and to me.

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When we really get this not just in our heads but in our hearts that we've been loved, chosen,

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stopped, and saved before we even did a thing.

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Good or bad, honoring of God or not.

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We can settle the insecurity in our heart that leads to the rat race of comparison and pride

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and judging others.

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We can settle it and we can walk the path of true humility.

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Knowing that we have this priceless gift that we didn't earn and that we don't deserve,

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it gives us two things.

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First one is this, an honest soboness about ourselves.

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Yeah, I ain't that great.

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Yeah, I'm boarding and it's not a choice.

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Yeah, like I lose my cool at my kids sometimes.

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And yeah, I probably wouldn't have been very high on the list of people that I'd asked to

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speak at something.

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Gives us an honest soboness about ourselves.

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That's okay.

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But it also gives us this, a confidence.

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These things might be true about me, but I am beloved by God.

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And he has done all of this so that I can come home to him.

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I have a seat at the party at the end of the universe and nothing, no one can take that

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away from me.

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Even if I die, I live.

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I don't have to worry or care about where I fit in or if I'm good enough or if I have

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enough or if someone is better than me or they have more or less hair than me.

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I don't have to lower others in order to elevate myself.

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God has settled where I fit in.

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I fit in with him.

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I'm with him.

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I'm loved and I am okay.

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I am safe.

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Friends, understanding the gospel makes you truly humble.

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Truly humble.

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Believe yourself for the good of others because you can step out of the comparison game of

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pride.

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You are secure.

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You don't need to compare yourself to others.

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You don't need to worry about how things look on you.

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You don't have to worry if this makes you better or worse than anyone else.

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You can just wash someone's feet, serve, love, give, follow Jesus, walk the path of

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humility for the sake of the kingdom of God and for the life of the world.

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Yes, Lewis writes this about humility.

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Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble person, they will be what most people call

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humble.

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He will not be a sort of greasy, swarmy person who is always telling you that of course he

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is nobody.

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Probably all of you will think about him is that he seemed cheerful, intelligent chap

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who took a real interest in what you had to say to him.

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If you do this like him, it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems

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to enjoy life so easily.

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He will not be thinking about humility.

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He will not be thinking about himself at all.

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If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step.

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The first step is to realize that one is proud and a big ish step two, at least nothing

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whatever can be done before it.

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If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

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When you understand the gospel, it's no big thing to admit that you are proud.

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You are proud and yet you are deeply, deeply loved by God.

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People who are overtly boastful and proud and those people who try really hard not to admit

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that they're proud and give off false humility are all still focused on themselves and ultimately

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just as proud.

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I know.

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I'm that person.

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I'm that greasy, swarmy person that insists that they are a nobody.

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People will sometimes tell me that they think that I'm a humble person, but I'm not humble.

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I just really don't want to be seen as proud.

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And so I try really hard to respond in certain ways that people will think that I'm humble.

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But I think very highly of myself, if I'm honest.

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And I compare myself and judge myself against others and I'm still mostly thinking about

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myself and I am exhausted.

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I am exhausted.

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Maybe you're like me and you're exhausted too.

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Tim Keller summarizes humility in this way.

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The essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself.

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It's thinking of myself less.

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And it's the solution to pride, how to truly walk the path of humility is to know the security

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of the gospel and to forget yourself.

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Jesus forgot himself, thought only of his disciples and all of us.

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And he stooped down to the disciples and washed his disciples feet.

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And he took up his cross and laid down his life and he commands us to do the same.

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Maybe you know the security of the gospel and it's settled in your heart, but you're

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still running the rat race of comparison, still comparing yourself to others and you

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need to take a step out of that race and walk the path of humility.

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At Encounter Henley we have a very popular sermon segment which is called Henley Homework.

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And Henley Homework is one thing you can do to put the word into action this week.

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So our Henley Homework this week, offer you prospect people, your prospect project.

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Or perhaps an all in assignment is to find a way to do one act of secret kindness this

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week.

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Pay for the next coffee, drop a subway to the person who sits on the street corner.

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Anonymously send a gift to someone, write an anonymous note of encouragement and leave

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it on someone's desk.

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Somebody mow your neighbour's lawns, eat someone a pizza, break into someone's house and mop

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their floors.

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Maybe not that last one, but if anyone wants to mop my floors, you can break into my house.

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There's so many things you can do.

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Do one and tell no one.

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Tell no one.

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Don't post about it.

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Don't do it for the gram.

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Don't tell your mum.

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Don't tell your family dinner or your resi-dee cohort.

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Let it be your little secret with Jesus.

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And this is just the ancient spiritual discipline of secrecy and it helps us to break our pride

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and forget ourselves and choose the path of true humility.

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Because telling others about the good things that you do is for you.

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It's not for the person you did the act of secret kindness for.

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You're doing it for yourself.

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You're still thinking about yourself.

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And the essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of

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myself, it's thinking of myself less.

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So you might need to do something to intentionally learn to forget yourself this week.

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But I also aware that some of us don't have the gospel set it in our hearts.

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We might know it in our heads.

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We might know that Jesus loves me.

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They died for me and that I get to be with him forever.

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It's just an intellectual idea but it doesn't affect me personally.

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It's not how God sees me.

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Thanks so much for tuning in to this week's message.

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If you felt challenged or need prayer, would love to hear from you on Instagram at EncounterHenry.

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Or if you're interested in how you can support this ministry, please go to our website EncounterAdelaide.com.au.

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Thanks again for listening.

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God bless you.