Before we look at this, if you're new, we've been walking this summer through the Gospel of John every Sunday taking a look at a chapter. And now we come to kind of an unusual chapter, although it's really well known. One of the stories in this chapter that we're going to look at is the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. And when we look at it, oftentimes we read it kind of through a devotional lens. But what Jesus is doing here is not devotional.
He is giving them... a very practical, intentional training. He'll actually say, now that I've done this for you, you've got to go do this.
It's a training for how they should live out their lives as disciples of Christ. And in that sense, it's a training for us as well. So we're going to look at it that way in terms of a training for what I should do. And I've got to forewarn you that it may be the hardest thing that the Lord is asking you to do. It brings you to a place of dependence where you go I can't do this without your power and without your grace and goodness but nonetheless it is this really intentional training but he builds it around foot washing which we don't do in our society today personally I'm really grateful it's no longer a practice we do in our society I've seen your feet I don't want to wash your feet but to understand the training and the teaching we have to understand the context In the ancient world, they lived in a very dry, arid, dusty kind of environment.
And if you were going to go over to somebody's house for a meal, before you went, you would bathe yourself to be clean, and then you would walk over to their house. But everybody wore sandals. So by the time you got to their house to go in to eat with them, your feet would be dirty.
They'd be covered with dust. And when you sat down to eat... Normally it was a dining room area, but the dining table is usually only about two feet off the ground. And people would recline, oftentimes even leaning on an elbow. And they would recline and your legs and your feet would kind of be outstretched so they would be exposed.
So filthy feet would just be kind of disgusting while you're trying to eat. So every time you walked into a room to eat, like the disciples are going to do in this upper room picture, at the doorway would be a servant. But this would not just be any kind of a servant.
Roman law, Jewish law, most ancient law said this is such a menial, such a disgusting task that most servants, even slaves, were not required to do this. You couldn't force anybody to do this. Only the very lowest, absolute lowest slave would be the person to do this. In one way, you can see why the disciples are so shrewd.
shocked when Jesus takes on this role. The only analogy I can think of, and it's not even fully complete, is imagine coming to church on a Sunday. You're a guy, and you're here a few minutes early, and you have to use the toilet.
So you go into the men's bathroom, and you're going to go into a stall, and there at the stall, kneeling by the toilet, is Pastor Bayless. And he's got a janitor's uniform. And he's at the toilet you're going to use, and he's got a brush, and he's brushing out the toilet.
And you're going, wait, this can't be right. This is Pastor Bayless. He's the founding pastor of this church.
He's a man of God. He's got this amazing ministry, and he's cleaning out the toilet with a janitor's unit on. Some of you just in hearing that illustration are offended. You're like, Joel, don't go there. And you're beginning to get just a hint.
of what it meant for the disciples. You can see why they argued against him. Only the lowest of slave does this.
These disciples, they walk into the room and there's nobody there to wash their feet. You can imagine they're upset about this. The conversation kind of even flips over to where they now start to talk about who should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Maybe it came out of that. How dare this take place? Who dropped the ball on this? Who should be greatest?
And here's Jesus, and he hears what they're talking about. Now, he is going to go to his death in a matter of hours. He's at his greatest point of need.
If he ever needed his friends to be with him, if he ever needed his friends to say, we are here for you, this would be the moment. But they are not there. And he doesn't say a word.
He simply gets up and he takes the bowl, takes the cloth, he wraps it around his body, and he goes person to person and he begins to wash their feet. And there's some conversations that go on that they're kind of blown away by this. They represent us. It's like, no, no, no. And when he's done with the process, he looks at them and he says, this was all a training.
You may not quite get what I've done for you right now, but you will. But understand, this, this what I've done for you, now you have to go do it. And as we look at John 13, don't look at it through the filter of a devotional teaching. Look at it through the filter of a training.
And Jesus is saying, listen, I want to train you for what you are called to do. And then I want you tomorrow to go do it. So open your Bibles to John chapter 13, and let's read this passage.
We're going to start in verse 3. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power. and they 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.
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 him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus replied, you do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand. No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet.
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 also should 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, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed. If you do them. Whenever you are learning a practice, there's kind of two dimensions to it. There is theory, and then there's the application.
And if you don't know the theory, then the application gets much more difficult. A few years ago, I wanted to learn how to play the guitar. And my instructor said, Joel, I just can't teach you strumming and chords.
You need to know some music theory. Once you know the music theory, it'll really help you in your skill in being able to play the guitar. If you want to learn how to work a computer, it's not just...
key strokes you want to know, but you want to understand how does a computer work that will help you better work a computer. Jesus does the same thing here. He says, you need to know some theory.
You need to know some essential truths that then will help you when you live this out and practice it. Because he's asking us to do something that is incredibly challenging. So we're going to look at this in training in two parts.
First, the theory, what he teaches us. And then the practice, how we actually begin to live this out. Because that last sentence, he says, listen, if you do this, you're going to be blessed.
You are going to find a rich life full of such joy and blessing and all those things that you struggle with. If you do this, but what he's asking is stuff. So first, the theory. There are a couple of essential truths that come out of this passage. Here's the first one.
You've got to live in your sacred story. It says in verse 3, Jesus knew that the Father gave him power. And then it says he knew he had come from the Father. He knew he was going to the Father. Jesus knew that this is not just a story about 13 guys having a meal in a room.
There is this other dimension of what's going on in terms of the sacred spiritual world. We live in these two dimensions. We have the natural life we live in. Tomorrow you're going to go to work.
You're probably going to have breakfast. You're going to drive on the 405. That's kind of the natural realm, and it's not bad. There can be good things in that. But then there's this sacred realm that you can't always see.
But God is using you, and God is working through you, and there's this whole other realm of existence and this sacred identity you have as a child of God. Where do you live most? Do you live most in the natural world, getting through another day, kind of living things out in the normality, 13 guys having a meal? Or do you live as exemplified by Christ in the sacred story of your life? I am a child of God.
He has a call on my life. He has a purpose for me. of God lives in me. What does that look like?
Jesus knew I've got the power. I came from there. I'm going from there. Which world do you live in most?
Because if you want to live out what he's told you to do, you can't just live in the natural world. You will find that trying to wash people's feet while you're pretty much living in the natural world is almost an impossible task. You've got to live in your sacred identity of knowing who you are as a child of God in the power he has given you. And do you know how you live in your sacred identity?
You got to know where home is. For Jesus, home was not this earth. I came from the father. I'm going back to the father.
And when we know where home is, my identity is not defined by the natural world. My identity is defined by my sacred identity. That's where home is.
That's where I want to live now. All of a sudden, I discover the presence and the power of God that enables me to wash somebody's foot. For those of you who are Los Angeles Dodgers fans, there's a few of you. When a guy gets up to the plate and hits, and he hits a single.
There's one objective, get him home. If we can get him home, we can be victorious. And this is what Jesus is teaching them, even through his own example.
Where do you live? Which one do you feed the most? And you go, oh, I need to live in my sacred identity.
I need to feed my sacred identity. Now I am positioned to have victory in being able to do what Jesus taught me to do, which is to wash people's feet. Then he gives a second principle in this. This is the principle, really important to get a hold of. Jesus'grace to you enables his grace through you.
In verse 12, he says this, do you understand what I did for you? He says, you're not going to quite get it now, but you will get it after his death and resurrection. And you got to do the same.
for others. And he's not just talking about the act of washing his feet. That act is a picture of what he does in his death and his resurrection. Jesus took on the nature of a servant and he took on death for us.
He goes, I am doing this for you. So when he gives you the training to go out and serve people and to help them and to love them and to wash their feet, If you try to do that out of your own volition, if you try to do that out of your own energy, you will find it almost impossible because they won't respond the way you want them to respond. That's why Peter, when Jesus comes to him to wash his feet, he fights him. He says, no, I don't want you to do this.
And Peter is a picture of us because oftentimes we don't want to acknowledge where we were before Christ came and died and resurrected for us. It's one thing to say, I need Jesus because he'll help my life be better. It's another thing to say, I need Jesus because I am a hopeless wreck.
And I cannot help myself. There's nothing I can do to save myself, to improve my situation. And when you discover his grace to you, then now you have the ability to have that grace flow through you to others. But if you try to do this for others without the starting point of this is what he's done for me, you know the golden rule, do to others as you would have them do to you?
Christ actually had a better rule. He said, do to others as I have already done to you. And what I have done to you, now you can do it to others. But it starts from understanding this essential principle. I will wash people's feet.
When I realized what it meant for Jesus to wash my feet. That he gave himself to me. I'm not going to wash people's feet because there's some kind of hidden benefit for me.
If I wash their feet, there's a payoff for it. No, the payoff has already come. Jesus died and resurrected so your eternity could be sealed.
So you could have a relationship with God. He owes you nothing. You owe him everything. And when you have that position. When you get to that place of gratitude, you go, now I can wash somebody's feet.
I can do this. It's funny because a lot of times when we look at this passage, we see ourselves not as Peter. We see ourselves as Jesus.
Oh, I got Peter in my life. I got to wash their feet. I have to be honest.
I'm married to my wife for 38 years. There's a lot of times I'm Peter to her. I'm just a pain in the butt for her. And she's got to wash it.
my feet and she does that because she knows what Jesus has done for her he says you got to get this down because when you have that gratitude and that overwhelming grace in your life you will discover actually an ease in washing the feet of people who are difficult then he gives us this third principle the third principle is this Honor Jesus by serving others to him. You know, we oftentimes say, are you leading somebody to Jesus? Have you led somebody to Jesus?
I'm trying to lead my neighbor to Jesus. Jesus teaches this passage. I think that you're better off serving people to me.
Because that's what Jesus does here. Verse 16 says, no servant is greater than his master. What Jesus is training the disciples is this. Your job is to go out and let people know my love for them.
Let them know the gospel. Let them know what I have done for them. But the best way that they will discover my love for them is through experience. So serve people to me the way I have served myself to you.
In your world right now, many of you have family members and friends and coworkers. And they don't know what Jesus has done for them. They're not aware of the amazing love that he has for them.
They're removed from that. And then God puts you in their world. And when he says wash their feet, he's saying be a living example of my love for them. Let them discover me through how you engage with them.
Serve people to me and watch. how I will work through that so that you are this living witness of this love. I worked for many years with the underground church in China and I was there one time doing a pastor's training and I met this pastor, this lady, and she was telling me how just a short while earlier she had gotten thrown in jail because she had been preaching the gospel in these villages. And so they threw her in jail.
So she called her husband up and she said, you gotta come to the... Jail where I'm at in these villages and you have to pay a fine and then they'll release me But while she was there in that jail for a couple of days waiting for her husband in the jail cell with her was a teenage Girl this teenage girl was in jail for prostitution. This girl hadn't asked for that job She didn't want that role.
She had been forced into it and yet very unjustly She was the one who was being punished for that in that community in that society this girl this teenage girl was was just completely forgotten about. She was nothing. She was less than nothing. She was a disgrace to her family.
She was horrible. Just throw her away. And yet God puts her in a cell with this Chinese pastor lady.
When the husband showed up with the money to pay the fine so the Chinese pastor lady could be released, the Chinese pastor lady said, don't pay my fine. Pay her fine. And let's set her free.
So the husband pays her fine, this teenage girl, and she gets out of the prison and she goes with the husband to their family and to their church. And this teenage girl ends up becoming a pastor and now pastors over this wonderful church because there was a lady, there was a lady who knew this training. There was a lady in a prison cell who said, it doesn't have to be about me. Because of the grace of Jesus in my life, in this moment, I can serve this girl to Jesus. You go, well, what happened to this pastor lady who was left in prison then?
About three weeks later, the jailer, true story, came to her and said, too many people in the prison are getting saved, you have to leave. And he literally just kicked her out of the prison. When Jesus gives the disciples this training and when he gives us this training he is making this declaration you have the power, you have the love, you have the grace because of my spirit in you to be able to wash the feet of people who are right now difficult in your life. You have the ability to go counter cultural and a culture that says take care of yourself first Watch over yourself first. Create healthy boundaries.
You have the ability to wash their feet and see something tremendous take place and when that happens, you will be blessed. But it begins by understanding, I gotta live in my sacred life. I gotta realize that it's his grace in me that will enable his grace to come through me.
And then I have to fully discover that my job is to serve others to him. And then he goes, He gives this final principle, that is embrace being blessed, the kingdom way. In verse 17 he says, you'll be blessed if you do this. You will have this rich, happy, joyous life if you do this, completely contrary to society.
You see, in the kingdom, everything seems backward from society. In the kingdom, you know what? If you give, then you'll receive.
The last will be first. You will find the most happiness in life when you make it your agenda to lead other people to happiness Everything is kind of backward in the kingdom. He goes listen if you trust me and you put your own self aside And you rely on my grace and my power if you wash people's feet you know what's going to happen You're going to discover the richness of life the beauty of life the joy of life And he's talking to the disciples who have just seen it illustrated. Because the chapter before in John 12, if you were here last week, we learned about a Mary, a lady named Mary, who actually did the first foot washing.
Jesus is at another dinner. And the disciples are there and Mary comes into that room. And she takes this perfume bottle and she pours it over his feet. And you look at this picture of Mary. And that story in John 12 is to give us a living illustration.
of what Jesus means in John 13 when he says, you will be blessed. Because every one of us wants what Mary has. Mary comes in and she doesn't care what other people think about her. She knows they may criticize me, they may judge me, they may condemn me. I don't care.
I'm going to wash his feet with this perfume. How amazing would it be to live every day of your life and not care what other people think about you and not your words or your actions to say, I'm free of that. I don't have to worry about that burden. I will not judge my identity by other people. I'm free to do that.
Mary, she had no fear of the future because she's taking literally what the family inheritance is. She's kind of taking her 401k and she's just busting it on Jesus'feet. But she's not afraid of the future. How amazing would it be to live the rest of this year without fear about what it's going to look like financially next year or five years from now or when you retire?
That's Mary. She has this liberty and this faith. She has this freedom.
She doesn't care what other people think about her. She doesn't have the issue financially. And she's full of joy. She wasn't outside the room having somebody say, you got to go do this. There's no religious obligation here.
Mary's not thinking, wow, if I do this, how much am I going to get back? Actually, in Mary, that story is taught. And here's what Jesus says.
She did something beautiful to me. Mary's living in beauty. She's living in joy.
Jesus looks at his disciples in John 13, and he says, you will be blessed if you do this. Mary. Freedom from other people's thoughts, faith, joy, generosity, peace, all that Mary had, living in my beauty, that's all available for you. But it's not going to come society's way. It's going to come when you position yourself as a servant and you wash people's feet.
Now that's the theory. That's the principles and Jesus knows you got to know this live in your sacred identity No, my grace in you flows through you honor me by Serving people to Jesus and know that there's going to be this rich life that comes then we move into the practice Jesus does these three things? How do I actually do this? How do I live this out because it sounds great? But it's really hard when you get into it and he gives us these three actions of what he does he takes on the robe, he washes his feet, and then he resumes his position.
Now, I don't want to teach this to you alone. I'm going to ask Pastor Robert and Natalie to come up here, and they're going to join me, and we're going to look at the practice aspect. For those of you who don't know Pastor Robert and Natalie, they're on the team here, and they, you know, they clap more for you than they did for me. They oversee the two areas where most of your foot washing is going to take place.
And that's why I want to have a conversation with him on the practical element. Remember, John 13, it's a training, not devotional. Go do this.
When you go do this, it's going to happen in two dimensions. One dimension will be with family and friends, people you know. Robert oversees all of our communities. At Cottonwood, we have all these communities.
where people really do life together. Young marrieds, young adults, men, women, seniors, all these different communities where they do life together. And when you wash somebody's feet, oftentimes it will be with a spouse, or a teenage child, or an uncle.
It'll be that kind of community that's there. And then the other world, other dimension where you will wash people's feet, is in mission, in outreach. People who aren't necessarily... in your world, but you choose to go into their world.
A co-worker at the office. A person you see in Vons and God just taps you on the shoulder. A homeless person who smells and is not fully quite there, but somebody has to wash their feet.
Somebody has to serve them. And serve them to Jesus. That world.
Natalie oversees all of our hope teams every week. Hundreds of Cottonwood people are going out to wash feet in different environments such as nursing homes, prisons, foster kids, all that kind of stuff. So I thought it would be good to hear from them as well when it comes to let's talk about, okay, how do I do this? I know the theory now, but what does it look like in terms of how I do this?
And Jesus does these kind of three things that he does. The first thing he does. Robert and Natalie, let's talk about this, is he takes this on and he actually wraps himself in it, which means he takes on the identity of a servant. This is not just a task.
It's not something you do just because you're a Christian. It's not duty or obligation. It's who you become. You can't fake it. It's got to be genuine.
But you can start so that the Holy Spirit can work within you. And I guess my first question to you guys is when you... When people hear this and, you know, it's daunting. Give us some coaching and some recommendations. How do we get started in this when it seems overwhelming?
Because we're not just talking about being nice to people. And we're not just talking about not being unkind to people. We're talking about an intentionality of reaching out to people to really serve them. Where do we start with this?
Yeah, I think a couple things that I noticed from a story here on campus has to do with what's in your hand and who are you surrounding yourself with. So there's a gentleman on the men's team who was getting rooted in men's and he owns his own business. So for many of you who say you have busy lives, this man could say he has a busy life.
But in getting rid of the church, just automatically just began to find out, okay, what do I have to give people? And with regards to his goods and his services, he began to serve from there. But a new thing started to happen.
When he started to get connected with hope, he started to attract men to that place. And he began to become a magnet, if you will, for other men to realize, oh, this is what it looks like to serve, not just in my own world, but here at church. And so.
It's good for you to recognize what do you have to give from your life. Some of you have handy skills. Some of you are really good with kids.
But then others, perhaps the impetus might be to be able to recognize, am I even in a place to where I'm surrounded by people who do this already, to where I can watch them and see what it looks like to be able to be invited into a place of service? Natalie, how would you answer that? I think sometimes going back to the busyness thing or the hurry, which I think is an issue for a lot of us, I can think of one of our volunteers, John, and he's one of those people that is aware of where he's at.
So you're at the gym, you're at the grocery store, you're at your kid's school. Like there's so many spaces that he goes into. And the cool thing is that he serves on one of our regular teams.
But so many of the God stories come from his everyday life. Him just going into the environments he's already in. He's not going, spending hours praying, God, send me to someone.
He's just going about his day and really just asking, God, let me see someone in the spaces I already spend time in. If you listen to Robert and Natalie, they're really kind of identifying two people you need in your world. Robert says you need somebody like this gentleman he was talking about that you can learn from, that you're drawn to. Who do I know who's actually got this and is washing people's feet in terms of being a servant that I can be around and learn from? And Natalie says something really important.
You don't have to find somebody else. They're already in your world. They're family members.
They're friends. They're coworkers. But maybe you just haven't had the filter to be able to see them. And something that works when the Holy Spirit talks to us and leads us is you just got to take one step. So you have this prayerful, what is one step I can take to begin to extend out a way to serve them, to help them?
And the Holy Spirit will give you that kind of a revelation. So you're not trying to take all ten steps at one. You're just trying to take this one step.
Would that be accurate, Robert? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so you kind of take this step.
Now, look at the second thing he does. He's got the identity on. So you're saying, God transform me, Holy Spirit transform me.
Who can I learn from? Who can I reach out to? And then he picks up the bowl, but I want you to think about whose feet he washes.
Peter. Everything we know about Peter was he was always fighting against Jesus. He was just a pain to have around.
Jesus would have an idea, Peter would go, no, that's never gonna work, we need a different idea. Remember the soldier, he cuts his ear off and Jesus is going, really? This is not how the kingdom of God works. Peter was just.
He was always fighting, he was always confused, he was always like, even in this moment, he'd go, no, no, you're not gonna wash my feet. Okay, you're gonna wash all of me. It's just a pain. Do you have somebody in your world that's a pain? Really a pain?
Again, husbands, wives, please don't look at each other. Or maybe do look at each other. Because what happens is when we have somebody in our world who just becomes a pain, teenagers.
Who just are always fighting us. The tendency is to create guardrails. Space. Self-protection. Peter is a pain.
He's always arguing, always fighting. And Jesus picks up a basin and says, I'll wash your feet. And he identifies for us kind of a classification of people. Think of James and John.
James and John, who two brothers were consumed with their promotion. All they did was talk about what rank they would be at, how high they would rise up. Even in this moment, they're having the discussion before this takes place where they're going, which one of us will be greatest?
Will you be vice president? Will you be this? You know, this is all they're consumed about.
Jesus is at his most dire point. If there was ever a time when Jesus had the right to say, guys, could this be about me for just a few minutes? I'm about to die for the sins of the world. Could you just think about me and my hardship for a few minutes? But they don't.
And Jesus picks up a basin and he washes their feet. Do you have somebody in your world? They're close enough that they're aware of the hardships you're going through.
But it's never about you. It's always about them. For once you would wish, would you just ask me how I'm doing?
But they never do. And after a while you just begin to go, you know what? I just, I need some space here.
But Jesus washes their feet. Think about Judas, who Jesus knew he's going to betray me. Do you have somebody in your world who is betraying you? They're lying about you?
They're gossiping about you? They're spreading false rumors about you. And yet in that moment, all you're thinking about is you deserve justice.
Jesus picks up a bowl. And he says, Judas, I know what you're going to do. But I'll wash your feet. Because it's who I am.
So in this second act, my question to you, Robert and Natalie, is unpack that for a bit. How? How do we do that? Where do you find the strength to do that? I mean, he's the son of God.
He has a little advantage over us. But he says, go do this. How would you train us, coach us? Because all of us in here have people like that in our world.
How do we do this? Yeah, it's funny you mentioned teenagers. I think the one challenge around serving people has to do a lot of the times with expectations. I know even in the premarital program, a lot of...
The thing has to do with serving future spouses is expectations. And so at the end of our service, oftentimes we may not even be aware of what are we expecting in return for our service and how long do we think we're about to serve? And so this is paramount in my mind.
I'm actually thinking of two people right now, Micah and Natalie, who are youth leaders right now who are over in the other building with a lot of your teenagers. And if there's one ministry that will test your patience, it's ministry with teenagers. And even from the stories that they tell me. is being able to realize that when you go and serve people, and as well teenagers, are we really expecting a thank you or a gratitude on the back end? Or are we serving out of gratitude for what God has already done for us so that we're not walking in disappointment?
Another thing is because you're dealing with teenagers, one season can feel really rewarding because there's fruit in their lives. But then the next season, it's like they've lost their mind. And it's like, why am I even doing this?
Did everything I do in the previous year even count? But yet it has to do with the longevity that God gives us. Hey, stay the course.
I've been patient with you. Will you be patient with them? You know, Jesus actually refers to this. He taught this parable of the vineyard manager where there's a tree and it's not very much fruit. And the owner goes, just cut it down.
Get rid of it. And the vineyard manager looks at the owner and says, please, give me one more year, just one more year. And he taught that parable to us for this purpose.
We always talk about grace and truth in serving people, but the Bible really teaches it's grace, truth, and time. I think what Robert mentions is really important, that there is this time that takes place when you are washing people's feet, when you're really serving. Sometimes our demand for immediate change, where it takes people as long as it, took you. So if you've got a friend, give them one more year. If you've got kids, give them 20 more years.
If you have a spouse, give her 50 more years. But it takes time to be able to do that. Natalie, what are your thoughts on this?
We find that a lot of people, as I kind of think through our teams, God will often highlight something in their own story that he'll use to take them back almost to where they came from. So for some of you, if you come from like a foster background, adoption background, substance abuse, whatever it is, as a teenager, you needed more support. I can think of one volunteer specifically who serves teenage girls. And I feel like every time that I talk to her, she's so aware of her own rescue story that it fuels. the way that she's able to serve the girls.
And sometimes you go, and the home that she serves in, they're teenage girls. They haven't been with their family, most of them, their entire life. So you come in, they're like, what are you going to do for me?
But to see this one volunteer, I think she's actually here today, for the past year, she has shown up month after month with Chick-fil-A and art supplies. And... And I'll tell you, there's days even now, 12 months in, the girls are like, oh, you're here again. But if she doesn't come, they're like asking the staff where she's at. So they may not tell her they miss her, but they miss her.
That's so cool. Because it is a place where you're going, okay, Jesus, I hear your teaching in John 13. Make me that first. Who I am. Not just the task, but the identity.
So I have to go. And if it takes a year, then it'll be a year. But it's kind of.
Who I am in doing this gives me the energy and the strength to be able to live that out. Then there's a third thing that Jesus does. He puts on the towel, takes on the identity of a servant. He washes the three. So he's actually showing us the hard, difficult people are the ones that we serve.
And we do that with a faith and a hope of what's going to happen. But then it says he resumes his place. In a sense, he takes the towel off, but he doesn't stop being a servant.
The lesson is done, but he is telling them, I am a servant with authority. I am still the son of God. I have this authority. I have this power. So we look at this story and he says, you'll be blessed if you do this.
And a lot of times society would say, don't do this because it minimizes you. It marginalizes you. It puts you at a place in a sense of weakness. And so he has this authority as a servant carrying it forward in his identity.
How do we? walk in that? How can we learn to walk in this authority that we need to follow his directive? Yeah, that actually makes me think of a leader couple that we have in Young Marrieds, Lucas and Jen. I think it was like a couple of years ago when we first met them.
When they first came to Cottonwood, they were still settling roots. Even when we were singing, I Will Not Be Shaken, they were still trying to get settled because just the dynamic of transplanting, if anyone's moved from another state. just job issues finances all that it wasn't settled yet and if there was any reason to kind of focus on self and to take care of business they had reasons but instead they reached out had conversations and a passion to be able to serve in the ministry and not just that be able to do what they felt God was asking them to do and starting a homeschool small group and I could almost see one domino after another you know three three six months nine months go by and God just started to address every single one of their issues in terms of their daughter having friendships, her getting a job in a rhythm that synced up well with their life. And it's almost like this stabilization and joy started to come from within them that it's like when they could have just focused on, man, you know what?
It's not time to serve right now. I just need to get settled. They were like, I need to get served to be settled.
And it was just very cool to see that in their life. Jesus, Jesus actually taught that. He said, you try to gain your life, you're going to lose it.
But you want to really you really want to gain life then lose it for others It's the kingdom and how it works counter culturally But he says if you trust me You'll be blessed if you do you'll find a richness of life if you choose to take on this servant and serve people Natalie how do you see this it makes me think of actually two of our volunteers? One of them she actually lost her husband tragically and when I met her it was like a year after and She's going through like court stuff and all of this, but when I met at her, there was a part of her that almost felt like in her tragedy, her purpose had gone. And she just said, like, I'm going to bring what I can offer and I'll come when I can show up.
And it's been neat to see how much comfort God has brought to her as she's gone to serve the children in the space that she goes to. And really allowing God to not only comfort her, but allow her to be a comfort to other people. It's the, I receive, so now I give part. And there's another volunteer that made me think of, you know, sometimes in this political climate, you can get into conversations with people about what you think about this or that. But we had an opportunity to serve unaccompanied minors.
So children that are dropped at the Mexican, the Mexico-California border, they get brought into the country. And you can think what you want about it, but they need care. So we had a team that we took with us to serve.
And there was one volunteer in particular that said, you know, before I came. These were just people that I scrolled on a screen about. They're stories you see in the news, but it's really hard to lack compassion when you see the faces of children that are here completely by themselves and just need care and just need to feel safe.
So I think for us, when I think about those two volunteers, there's definitely God using the experiences, their willingness to go out, to bring comfort. for the people that have loss and brokenness, and for other people, it's just a compassion. It's seeing people as image bearers in a completely different way. Jesus made this statement.
He said, if you do this to the least of these, you're doing it to me. We think we bring Christ to people. They actually bring Christ to us. That when you wash somebody's feet, you're going to discover more about Jesus.
It would just be a matter of hours till the disciples had to really begin to apply this. And it is a challenging... Training for us it causes us to have this deep faith that this is Jesus's pathway to really a rich life And he puts people in our world who are broken and hurting friends family co-workers Kids at a border of the nation.
He says if you will wash their feet in my power But if you'll do it, you'll find the richness of life that we are all kind of clamoring for Every one of us, Robert and Natalie, we can immediately think of people as we go through this teaching. We can immediately think of family members or other people. Just give us a final word of encouragement in terms of how we begin to follow Jesus'model for our lives. Yeah, I think the way, one thing I would say is that you were made for this. There's probably arguments in your mind right now that perhaps are bubbling up as to why you're not fit, why you're disqualified.
Every single one of you was made for this. And in fact, how you live your life, as scriptures would say, as living stones, is we strengthen each other. So I think of one story, and then I'll give it back to Joel.
In our young married community, there's a couple where last year his sister passed away. Completely rocked his world. She was very young.
And instead of disconnecting or maybe taking some time to themselves beyond just the immediate grieving period, they stayed knitted in community. And they journeyed with their couples. And then now this year, they're journeying with a couple where they just lost their sister.
And I can't tell you how many times in life, not just from the passing of a loved one, but from the grief and the pain that we can't avoid, that Jesus said, in this life, you will have trouble. He's knit us together so that in serving, our trouble's never wasted. that actually we get to encourage one another, lift each other up, give each other hope, keep our eyes on Jesus together, because you can't do it by yourself.
Yeah, we are fully aware that in a room like this and online, there are many of us who are going through real difficult times. And you got to know, as Robert said, God never wastes that. And that can be the story, that sacred story, your sacred story.
And God will connect you to the right person because that sacred story of yours and washing their feet is what will lead them into a knowledge of how much Jesus loves them. And that's kind of where you start from. Natalie, what do you think? I think what I love about this, the chapter that you're teaching on, Joel, is that it's not a it's not a chapter that says you need to know more to do more.
So for all of us, we can go out. You don't have to know that much about the Bible to serve a meal, to babysit, to. just be there for someone who's going through a loss, whatever it is. So I would just say, whatever you know right now is enough for God to use it. So if you think about, you know, the boy with the fish and the loaves, like you show up to the homeless shelter, to the women's home, to the foster group, and you think about, you know, what's going on with the Say, Lord, this is all I have.
I got saved two months ago or two years ago or 20 years ago, whatever it is. And you bring that and it's amazing how much he's able to do if we just offer what we have. But I would just say, if you're out there right now and you're like, I don't know that much.
If someone asks me a question, I don't know. It's okay to say you don't know. There's a lot of things we still don't know.
Mainly you. But take what you have and offer it to God and just let him show you what he's able to do with what's in your hands. Yeah.
Yeah. Would you would you stand to your feet with me? I just want you to take a moment and kind of do a bit of a self-assessment Jesus was very intentional in training his disciples about what they should do and He's just as intentional for us this morning in training us what we should do The theory parts really important if you're here and you're going wow I'm spending too much time living in my natural story.
Not my sacred story Maybe there is a repositioning that goes on where you have more gratitude for what Jesus has done for you. And you live in that place of absolute, humble gratitude that he saved you and redeemed you. Maybe some of you, understandably, because the influence is so strong, have tried to find that happiness, that blessing, according to society's way.
The temptation could be going, oh, if I do this, if I do this, then maybe I'll get the reward that I'm looking for from Jesus. You know, we've started the Olympics. You know how Jesus runs with Christians in the Olympics? He says, here's the gold medal.
Now go run your race. He gives you the gold medal before you run because you run out of grace and goodness of what he's done in you, not out of any try to try to achieve anything from him. So.
For all of us, this teaching first starts with kind of a repositioning. Spirit of God, reposition me, where I can now apply it. And I want you just to take a moment and think of somebody in your life.
And I know that in this moment, the Holy Spirit will bring that person to awareness. You've probably been thinking about that person for the last few minutes. There's somebody in your world.
who is really difficult. They're like your Peter. They're hard. And that hardness and that constant drain on your energy makes you want to just create a distance. But maybe for some of you, God is gently tapping you on the shoulder saying, watch my power flow through you if you will position yourself and wash their feet.
Some of you may be here and you have a James and John. You're in a real hard time. You're in a difficult time and you just wish that individual would ask how you're doing.
You wish they would care about you and it's not happening. And there can be a real disappointment and a real hurt in that that can remove you. But maybe in a gracious, gentle way this morning, God is tapping you on the shoulder and says, follow Jesus. And when you wash their feet, watch how much more Jesus will pour into you. And you'll know you're not alone.
And he is right there with you, blessing you and ministering to you. There may be some of you here, and you actually have a Judas. It could be a family member who's not a Christian. And they're always working against you as a person of faith.
It could be a co-worker who is determined to... shuts you down and get that promotion above and beyond you. And you are experiencing a measure of betrayal and injustice. And every fiber of your body is screaming out, I want what is right for me.
And in this moment, God sees you and he knows you. And he feels it. But he's saying, try it my way.
Pick up the basin. Have a cup of coffee. And just care about them.
And discover the rich life, the merry washing feet life. Where what other people think about you, about the fears that you may have, or the difficulties you may have, watch those float away. As you find all of that in me as you give yourself. So just take a moment and think of that person.
Let the Holy Spirit bring that person to your mind. And be willing to say, Lord. I'm ready to do what you have told me to do. It requires a prayer of gratitude.
Thank you for saving me. That's the grace. It requires a prayer of faith. I'm going to trust you. But this week, I'm ready to do that.
And I'm going to ask Pastor Robert to come up here, and I'm going to ask him to pray over us. This is a... training session but the benefit of a training session is only as you begin to do it as you begin to live it out and you discover the absolute goodness of God over time in doing that so would you bow your heads would you close your eyes if you feel comfortable would you lift your hands but you're not lifting that person to the Lord you're lifting yourself to the Lord as a disciple you You've heard his training.
You want to follow. And now we're asking him to fill us with a power and a faith that will enable us to do that. Pastor Robert. Let's pray.
Father, we come before you humbly right now. And we ask you to help us, Lord. Help us to be who we were born to be. You said no servant can be better than the master or above. We're to be like you.
We're your kids. And so we ask you to open up the eyes, Father God, of our hearts. Help us to be able to see with a new sensitivity in the worlds we go into. The spaces that we're so familiar with. The offices.
The neighborhoods. The kids'sports teams. Every single classroom and space. that is so familiar sometimes we are just on autopilot, would you arrest our hearts and give us moments that almost seem in slow motion, where you highlight people? And in those moments, would you help us to recognize what we possess in our hand?
What skillset have you given us? What are we filled with compassion for? What natural thing have we overlooked for decades that perhaps we learned from our parents that is actually something that can meet a need now? Help us not to diminish the most practical of service, knowing that it can lead to your love being expressed both in someone's life and in our own.
Would you also help highlight people around us to be connected to? Would you surround us, Lord, with men and women who live generously, who are not fixated on the culture of this world to be narcissistic? and self-centered?
Would you send in our lives people who just freely give away? And I pray that it would be contagious, that it would get on us, that we would gain a flavor that would never leave us, that would be so easy to teach our kids because it's just how we live. We need you for this.
So fill our spirits that you've given us, God. You are the vine. We are the branch.
We could do nothing without you. So as we leave these doors, do something. in our lives and help us to say yes, whatever it is you ask us to do.
In Jesus'name. Amen,