Latest / The Speak Life Podcast / The Coronation and Looking Bad in the Presence of Love || SLP460

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The Coronation and Looking Bad in the Presence of Love || SLP460 · The Speak Life Podcast

0:06
SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome back to the Speak Life podcast.
0:09
SPEAKER_02: My name is Thomas Thorgood, Media Producer at Speak Life, and today we bring you a sermon that was recorded at All Saints Crowborough on the 14th of May 2023.
0:20
SPEAKER_02: Glenn Scrivener preaching from John 13, talking about the coronation as a ritual humiliation.
0:28
SPEAKER_02: He also talks about the power of the cross to shape cultures and the healing that comes from looking bad in the presence of love.
0:37
SPEAKER_02: Intrigued?
0:38
SPEAKER_02: Well, keep listening, and I will catch you at the end.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: So, Rachel, a member of the church family of All Saints Crowborough, is going to read the passage and then Glenn is going to preach his sermon.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: Our reading this morning is from the Gospel of John, chapter 13, beginning at verse 1.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: It was just before the Passover festival.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: 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.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet?
2:16
SPEAKER_00: Jesus replied, You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: Then Lord, Simon Peter replied, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet, their whole body is clean, and you are clean, though not every one of you.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: For he knew who was going to betray him.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: And that was why he said, Not everyone was clean.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand what I have done for you?
3:19
SPEAKER_00: He asked them.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: You call me teacher and lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, great, yes, I'm Glenn.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm married to Emma.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: We've got Ruby and JJ as our children down in Eastbourne, which is where Speakwife's officers are.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: And uh just thrilled to come and preach God's word to you this morning.
4:21
SPEAKER_01: Thrilled that we've got Stephanie Staples here as well, singer-songwriter from Music City from Nashville, Tennessee.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: And she's here.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: Is this your first time in Crowbra?
4:31
SPEAKER_01: From Nashville, Tennessee to Crowbra?
4:34
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: Alright.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: And after you hear her sing, you're gonna want to uh pick up one of her albums at the back.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: Um also at the back, uh, there are a couple of books um I just want to draw your attention to, just so you can take some of these things further.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh, for instance, I wrote The Air We Breathe last year, which is a book that kind of explains why there are all these crosses around the building that are actually national emblems.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: You don't usually have Union Jacks up in the church, do you?
5:04
SPEAKER_01: No.
5:05
SPEAKER_01: No.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: It's part of the coronation celebrations.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: And you might think, why are these national symbols kind of inside the church?
5:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, do you notice how mixed up we are?
5:15
SPEAKER_01: That our national symbol is two crosses, a cross of St.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: George and the cross of St.
5:20
SPEAKER_01: Andrew is put together because culture has been so Christianized over the course of the last 2,000 years that we don't even think about it.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: It's the air we breathe.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: The Christianity that has sort of eked out from the church into the world has made its impact, and it's eked back into the church, and it makes its impact.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: It's a really interesting mixture, isn't it?
5:41
SPEAKER_01: That the idea of service and sacrifice and Christ-likeness has made its way throughout all of Western society.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: It is now the air we breathe.
5:51
SPEAKER_01: I've written a little book about that.
5:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, what I'm gonna speak to you today about is love story, how actually Jesus uh is the central character of the great love story on planet Earth.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: And uh one of the chapters in this book is what I'm gonna be saying to you uh today.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: If you want to take things further, that might be another book.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: And then tonight I'm gonna be talking about what is life.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: Is it a comedy or a tragedy?
6:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, you can either come tonight and hear my talk, or you can uh get the book afterwards and uh figure out whether life is a comedy or a tragedy.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: One last thing to draw your attention to, uh, and it's these courses, Hope Explored, uh, there's a four-week course that will help you to go deep into Christianity 101, right?
6:31
SPEAKER_01: What are the basics of the Christian life?
6:33
SPEAKER_01: And it's at the back here in the Hope Cafe, Monday nights for the next four weeks.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: And if anything that I say this morning makes you think, hmm, I need to I need to go deeper with this stuff.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: I need to figure out this Jesus.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh we would love to see you Monday nights uh at the Hope Cafe at the back for Hope Explored.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me pray for us, and then we'll dive down into John chapter 13.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: Our Father, please, uh, would you speak to us now through your word?
7:07
SPEAKER_01: We pray that we would see Jesus.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: And when we see him, may we know who we truly are and who you truly are.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: We pray in Jesus' name.
7:21
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, did you see on Saturday the ritual humiliation?
7:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh, eight days ago now, hundreds of millions of people tuned in to watch the ritual humiliation of a pensioner.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: And we called it a coronation.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: Here comes King Charles, your undoubted king.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: And he's met by a kid.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: Did you see how the whole thing kicked off?
7:52
SPEAKER_01: This little kid.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: And he comes and he says to Charles, what does he say?
7:56
SPEAKER_01: Your Majesty, as children of the kingdom of God, we welcome you in the name of the King of Kings, right?
8:04
SPEAKER_01: Know your place, Charles.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: Know your place, says a kid to your undoubted king.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: And did you notice as they kind of laid him heavy with the bling, all the regalia?
8:18
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't even figure out how to get the crown onto his head.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: They had to screw it on in the end.
8:23
SPEAKER_01: I think it's righty tighty lefty loosey.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: I think that's what you need to remember when you crown a king.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: And it looked so incongruous, didn't it?
8:32
SPEAKER_01: Here's this 74-year-old man who has seen better days.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: And as the choir sings, King live forever! He is handed these jewels that are beyond pricing.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: I mean, five billion pounds perhaps for the crown jewels.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: He's laden, laden heavy with the regalia.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: And you're thinking, goodness me, this is so incongruous.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: A single human is being laid with the heavy burden of the crown and the jewels and the robes.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: But of course, before he is given all these crowns and jewels and robes, he is stripped bare in front of hundreds of millions of people.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: Wasn't that the most moving part of the ceremony?
9:17
SPEAKER_01: Just before the anointing, all the robes come off, and we see this pensioner in his undershirt.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: Behold your king.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: And what are we being told?
9:29
SPEAKER_01: We're being told that here is a servant king, right?
9:35
SPEAKER_01: Here is someone who, in themselves, has no authority or power, but in service and in the way of Jesus, there is some kind of royal glory, I guess.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: When the child at the beginning of the service said, Your Majesty, as children of the kingdom of God, we welcome you in the name of the King of Kings.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: Charles said, In his name and after his example, I come not to be served, but to serve.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: Mark chapter 10, verse 45.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: The verse goes on.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, I come not to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: So interesting to think that the coronation was actually a humiliation.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: Because according to Jesus, his coronation was his ritual humiliation.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: His crown was his cross.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: His crown was twisted out of thorns.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: The way he was lifted up as our great king was lifted up to die.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: Where do we get that idea from?
10:59
SPEAKER_01: Where do we get the idea that to crown someone is to humiliate them?
11:04
SPEAKER_01: To be glorious is to serve, to be lifted up is to be a savior with sacrificial love.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Where do we get this idea from?
11:11
SPEAKER_01: It's all come from Jesus, it's all come from the scriptures.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: Christians believe that the way of greatness is the way of service.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: Why?
11:21
SPEAKER_01: Because the greatest ever, Jesus Christ, is the great servant who came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: When you see human service, you're getting a picture of the divine.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: Because when we saw Christ serving even to the point of death, we saw the most godlike thing the world has ever seen.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: If you were to picture God in all his godness right now, what would you picture?
11:51
SPEAKER_01: I've got a friend who, whenever she thinks of God, she thinks of just this bright shining light.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: Other people kind of think of a bearded individual on a throne, maybe with a thunderbolt ready to hurl.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: I hope you know that's Zeus rather than the living God, right?
12:07
SPEAKER_01: What should we picture when we picture the living gods?
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, throughout John's Gospel, that is the question that is answered.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: The very first sentence of John's Gospel says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: He was with God in the beginning.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: It's a title for Christ.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: He is the communication of God.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: That's what the word of God means.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: He's the communication of God, he's the expression of God.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: Everything that God wants to say is wrapped up in the person of Jesus.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: So what's Jesus like?
12:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, Jesus, throughout John's Gospel, keeps saying, you'll see what I'm really like when my hour comes.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: And you think, well, when is his hour?
12:52
SPEAKER_01: When is he going to be most glorified?
12:54
SPEAKER_01: He says, Yeah, when my hour comes, I'll be glorified.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: When my hour comes, I'll be lifted up.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: And as you're reading through John's Gospel, you might think, how is he going to be lifted up?
13:03
SPEAKER_01: On a throne?
13:05
SPEAKER_01: On a stage?
13:06
SPEAKER_01: On a platform?
13:09
SPEAKER_01: And as we get closer and closer to the end of John's Gospel, John finally records in John chapter 12, Jesus says, I will be lifted up to die.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: But oh, that's how he's going to be lifted up.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: The great servant will prove his glory by stooping, by loving, by bleeding.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: And at the end of John chapter 12, Jesus says, anyone who sees me, John 12, verse 45, is seeing the one who sent me.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: What should we picture when we picture God?
13:46
SPEAKER_01: We should picture Jesus.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: And in particular, we should picture Jesus stooping, serving, suffering, bleeding, and dying for the world.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: So John 12, verse 45, Jesus says, Anyone who sees me is seeing the one who sent me.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: To see Jesus is to see God.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: And then with all eyes on Jesus, what does he do?
14:11
SPEAKER_01: John 13, verse 1.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: It was just before the Passover festival.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like when God shows up?
14:29
SPEAKER_01: I once preached a sermon on that title.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: In Eastbourne, it wasn't my home church that I usually preach at.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: And they obviously had a very zealous publicist because halfway through the week somebody phoned me up and they said, What is your title for your sermon this Sunday?
14:44
SPEAKER_01: And I said, My title is What Does It Look Like When God Shows Up?
14:47
SPEAKER_01: He said, Right you are, good.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: I'll prepare the publicity.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: Publicity, goodness, this is unusual.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: I put the phone down, I think nothing of it until I show up at the church on Sunday morning and realize what a what a mistake I had made.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: Because there's a poster up outside the church with the big sign saying, What does it look like when God shows up?
15:07
SPEAKER_01: And a picture of me next to this.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: Which must have been a profound disappointment to people, you know.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: This, this is what it looks like.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: But interestingly, I was preaching at that point on a part of the New Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where the Apostle Paul, who's written half of the New Testament, says, you know what it looks like when God shows up?
15:33
SPEAKER_01: A man on a cross, choking to death.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: That's the power of God.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: That's the wisdom of God.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: It's a very subversive thing.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: If you think this is ridiculous, well, what about a choking victim?
15:46
SPEAKER_01: Arms wide open to the world, bleeding for his enemies.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says you've never seen anything more divine than that.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like when God shows up?
15:57
SPEAKER_01: Well, here comes Jesus and he says, You're about to see divinity at full strength.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: This is the night before Jesus dies.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: This is the Passover at which Jesus dies.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: He'll be dead within 24 hours.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: The hands that wash these disciples' feet would soon be nailed to a Roman cross.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: This is what it looks like to be God because this is what it looks like to be love.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: Notice that, end of verse 1.
16:25
SPEAKER_01: Having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end.
16:28
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like when God shows up?
16:31
SPEAKER_01: It looks like love.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: It looks like love poured out.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: Skip on to verse 3.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: I love verse 3.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: So.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: He got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: I love the word so there at the beginning of verse 4.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: How do we move from verse 3 to verse 4?
16:59
SPEAKER_01: It's fascinating, isn't it?
17:00
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew that he'd come from the Father, he was returning to the Father, he knew that he's the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17:07
SPEAKER_01: He knows that he is the Emperor of the Cosmos, therefore, he stoops, he serves, he cleanses, he's humiliated.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that word so mind-bending?
17:21
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't say Jesus, in spite of being the emperor of the cosmos, decided, in spite of all that, decided to do a bit of service.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if that's what the Bible said, that would be astonishing enough, wouldn't it?
17:36
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus took a holiday from his divinity in order to serve.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't that be that would be lovely?
17:42
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what a what a nice gesture.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: That the king of the cosmos might do a little bit of serving every now and again.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that would be mind-blowing enough, but that's not what this says.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: This says, because he's the king, therefore he serves.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: Because he's God, therefore he stoops.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: Is that interesting?
18:01
SPEAKER_01: Because he knows he's the prince of heaven, he's the emperor of the cosmos, therefore he gets up from his place.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: And he removes his outer clothing.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: It's literally the word for a robe.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: So he's at the honored place.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: He leaves the honored place, he takes off the robe, the clothing of a king, puts on a towel, the clothing of a servant.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: You recognize at this point, this is a parable, isn't it?
18:31
SPEAKER_01: This is an enacted parable.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: This is a dramatization of everything that Jesus is about.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: What is Jesus all about?
18:40
SPEAKER_01: He leaves the place of honor.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: He takes off the clothing of the king.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: He puts on the clothing of the servant.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: And he stoops and he serves, he's humiliated in order to cleanse us.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: And you recognize, ah, it's more than just the upper room one Thursday night.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: This is a picture of God.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: This is a picture of love.
19:06
SPEAKER_01: This is a picture of reality.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: God stooping.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: God serving.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: God being humiliated in order to cleanse you and me.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: I wonder how you would feel if you were there in the upper room that night.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is making his way around the room, getting his hands on his disciples, seeing them at their worst, laying hold of their lives.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: And he's coming around, and he's coming around, and he's coming around, and you're next.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: How would you feel?
19:42
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4.
19:43
SPEAKER_01: He got up from the mill, took off his outer clothing, wrapped a towel around his waist.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: 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.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: And he's about to lay his hands on you.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: And to see you at your worst.
20:02
SPEAKER_01: How do you feel?
20:05
SPEAKER_01: See, things are getting real, aren't they, at this point?
20:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was a table surrounded by a whole lot of blokes.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: One evening, wine was flowing.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure the conversation was light at times.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure they were regaling each other with stories.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure there was laughter.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure there was a familiarity with one another as they met each other with their strengths.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: That's what we do in social situations, don't we?
20:37
SPEAKER_01: I don't lead with my weaknesses.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: I don't lead with my unpresentable parts.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: I lead with my strengths.
20:43
SPEAKER_01: You do the same, and we have a fine time.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: And maybe you come to my house, we have dinner, I come to your house, we have dinner, and we have that reparte, we have that conversation, and it's all going along very smoothly.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: But at some point in those relationships, sometimes people can reveal their weakness, can't they?
21:00
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes people can talk about how they're struggling, sometimes people can talk about how difficult life has become.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: They can talk about suffering, maybe they can even talk about struggles, maybe they can even talk about sins.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: At that point, it gets real in the room, doesn't it?
21:15
SPEAKER_01: It gets very real.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: And at this dinner, things go from the surface level and they get deep.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: And Simon is not ready for things to get deep.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: He's not ready for the Son of God to lay hold of him.
21:33
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6, he came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you gonna wash my feet?
21:38
SPEAKER_01: Jesus replied, You don't realize now what I'm doing, but later you will understand.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand, Simon?
21:47
SPEAKER_01: I understand, Simon, don't you?
21:50
SPEAKER_01: I think I'd be a Simon, wouldn't you?
21:53
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I I know I'd be a Simon.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: I was once in a similar situation.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: Well, not quite with the Son of God, but I was.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Once a guest in a palace in India, and uh I was a guest of a Nawab.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: A Nawab is the equivalent of a Maharaja, uh, the equivalent of a lord in this country, and there there I was at the palace.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: And this Nawab said to me, I will arrange for the servant to come and give you a pedicure.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: When's good?
22:23
SPEAKER_01: Internally, I'm thinking, never.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: How's never for you?
22:29
SPEAKER_01: Because I I don't want I don't want anyone poking around these carbuncled monstrosities.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: Like, like my feet are not my best feature.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Especially having walked around an Indian market all day in my sandals.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: Do I want anyone getting a hold of me at my worst?
22:48
SPEAKER_01: So I said no, and I made a big fuss out of it, and I look back on it now and I think I probably should have just submitted to this, but I didn't.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: I made a real fuss out of it.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want, I didn't want to sit over any other human being.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: While they fussed over my feet, while they saw me at my worst.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: I just I didn't want it for me, I didn't want it for them.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: How is Simon feeling here?
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Well, Simon has got this times a million, doesn't he?
23:16
SPEAKER_01: Because this is the Son of God.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: You know, it would be a little bit like if the Nawab himself had taken off his robe and stooped to my feet to wash them.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: I mean, unthinkable, especially if you know this noab, unthinkable that anyone would do anything like that.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: And here comes the Prince of Heaven, the Emperor of the Cosmos, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: And he says, It's time for me to really lay hold of you.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: It's time for me to meet you at your worst, Peter.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: Rather than having the easy relationship of you display your strengths, can I get a hold of you at your worst?
24:00
SPEAKER_01: And Simon's like, No.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: You shall never wash me.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: I love Simon Peter.
24:06
SPEAKER_01: Don't you love him?
24:07
SPEAKER_01: He's just somebody somebody last week actually asked me, what are the funny bits of the Bible?
24:12
SPEAKER_01: They didn't know the Bible at all.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: They said, What are the funny bits of the Bible?
24:15
SPEAKER_01: And literally I said to them, just find any scene with Simon Peter in it.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: Just always hilarious.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: He's just like this Labrador puppy, like full of enthusiasm.
24:24
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus says, I don't think so, Simon.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: And then he then he like reverses course and does the exact opposite.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: We get this here, don't we?
24:31
SPEAKER_01: It's like, you shall never wash my feet.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: And then what does Jesus say?
24:37
SPEAKER_01: Halfway through verse 8.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered, Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: Then Lord Simon Peter replied, Not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: It's like total U-turn.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus is saying, Simon, we need a relationship not based on your strengths.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: We need a relationship where you're open about the depths, the darkness, the uncleanness.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: We all have superficial relationships with people that are based on the clean version of ourselves.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: But it's amazing, isn't it, when you have a friendship with somebody and they know the unclean bits?
25:21
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing, isn't it?
25:22
SPEAKER_01: Just with a friend.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing when someone sees behind the mask and they don't run a mile, and they stay, and they're committed to you, nevertheless.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: You know, we spend our whole lives trying to perform in the presence of judgment.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like to look bad in the presence of love?
25:47
SPEAKER_01: That's transformative, isn't it?
25:50
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, stop trying to look good in the presence of judgment.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: That is a life of pride when you pull it off, and despair when you fail.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: And it's exhausting keeping the act up, isn't it?
26:07
SPEAKER_01: Don't try to look good in the presence of judgment.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: Just look bad in the presence of love.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: That's where the healing is found.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: Because apparently, according to Jesus, we need a bath, right?
26:24
SPEAKER_01: We need a wash, we need cleansing.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: Do you feel that need?
26:31
SPEAKER_01: Do you ever feel unclean on the inside?
26:34
SPEAKER_01: A friend of mine was counseling a guy once who'd made some terrible decisions with his life.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: He'd ruined his family, ruined his marriage, ruined his business.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: This guy says to my friend, I wish I could take my whole life, bundle it up in a big washing machine, put it on the hottest wash possible until all the grit and the grime is gone.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever wanted that?
26:57
SPEAKER_01: I've wanted that many, many, many times.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: And then I think a few years ago I spoke to a woman.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: She came to Christ later in life.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: I said, What's it like becoming a Christian later in life?
27:09
SPEAKER_01: She said, it's like a power shower on the inside.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: Don't you want that?
27:16
SPEAKER_01: A power shower on the inside.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: There's a verse in 1 John chapter 1.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: It says, The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: How much sin?
27:31
SPEAKER_01: All sin.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: Because this is why Jesus has come.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has left his place in heaven.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: He's taken off the clothing of a king, he has put on the clothing of a servant, and he has stooped down not just at the Last Supper, he has stooped down through his life and through his death.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: He has stooped down to our level to cleanse us.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: That's what he does on the cross.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: These hands that wash the disciples' feet, they would be nailed to a Roman cross.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: Why?
28:11
SPEAKER_01: So he could cleanse us.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: How does it work?
28:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, this is how love works, isn't it?
28:20
SPEAKER_01: When love sees the beloved in trouble, love says, I'm going to join you in your trouble.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: Your trouble will become my trouble.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: Your debts will become my debts.
28:30
SPEAKER_01: That's what love says, right?
28:32
SPEAKER_01: Your debts will become my debts, and your darkness will become my darkness.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: Your uncleanness will become my uncleanness.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: Your sin will become my sin.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: Why is Jesus dying such an ignominious death?
28:45
SPEAKER_01: Talk about humiliation.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: It was the slave's death.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: He was treated like garbage.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: Why?
28:55
SPEAKER_01: Because he's descending to our uncleanness.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: He's taking our uncleanness on himself.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: He's becoming sin for us.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: And he takes it all down to the hellish death that it deserves.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: And he rises again and he says, I've joined you in your darkness.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: Do you want my light?
29:17
SPEAKER_01: I've joined you in your uncleanness.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: Do you want my cleansing?
29:22
SPEAKER_01: I've joined you in my sin.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: I've joined you in your sin.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: Do you want my spirit?
29:28
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus says to each and every one of us.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: And anyone who turns to Jesus and says yes to him, well, you get his father as your father, and you get his spirit as your spirit, you get his future as your future.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: It's for free and it's forever.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: It's good news, don't you think?
29:46
SPEAKER_01: Is this good news?
29:48
SPEAKER_01: Really good news.
29:50
SPEAKER_01: And it might turn you around like Simon Peter.
29:54
SPEAKER_01: Turn you around from someone who just wants to relate to others and just wants to relate to Jesus at a superficial level, at a surface level.
30:01
SPEAKER_01: He just wants to show Jesus all his strengths.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: But when he sees Jesus for who he really is, he actually wants to show Jesus his weaknesses, his struggles, his sin, his uncleanness.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus takes that sin and he gives Simon his spirit instead.
30:22
SPEAKER_01: Takes his uncleanness, gives him his cleansing instead.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: Is that what you want?
30:27
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus offers even this morning.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: You can take this from Jesus this morning.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: All he wants from you is your uncleanness.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: All he'll give you is his cleansing, his father, his spirit, his eternal inheritance.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: Sounds like a good deal, don't you think?
30:47
SPEAKER_01: And not only will he cleanse us, he'll also raise us up on our feet and send us out into the world in his flow of cleansing love.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: That's what I love about this.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered verse 10 Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet, their whole body is clean.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: And you are clean, though not every one of you, for he knew who was going to betray him, and that's why he said not everyone was clean.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand what I have done for you?
31:21
SPEAKER_01: He asked them.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: What a great question.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand what Jesus has done for you?
31:32
SPEAKER_01: That's the heart of the Christian faith.
31:37
SPEAKER_01: People get this wrong all the time.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: People in church get this wrong all the time.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: Some people sit in church and think this is my opportunity to show Jesus all that I have done for him.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: Or it's my opportunity to show others all that I do for Jesus.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: But that's not Christianity.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is: do you understand what Jesus has done for you?
32:13
SPEAKER_01: That's the heart of it.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: You see, if you spend your life thinking about what you have done for God, what you have done for others, well, you're just trying to perform in the presence of judgment, aren't you?
32:25
SPEAKER_01: That's not Christianity.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is looking bad in the presence of love and receiving that love from on high.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: Martin Luther, 500 years ago, he said, Did you know that God does not need your good deeds?
32:40
SPEAKER_01: God does not need your good deeds.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: Your neighbor does.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: Your friends do, your family does.
32:47
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't need your good deeds.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: The arrow comes down.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: Here we are in our uncleanness.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus meets us in that uncleanness.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: He cleanses us and he says, Do you understand what I've done for you?
33:00
SPEAKER_01: Well, if we do, then he can send us out to the world in his flow of cleansing love.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: Verse 13, you call me teacher and lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should, dot, dot, dot.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: How should he finish that sentence?
33:18
SPEAKER_01: Now that I've washed you, you should wash my feet.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: Is that what Jesus should say?
33:25
SPEAKER_01: I've washed you, you wash me.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: I scratch your back, you scratch my back.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: I do something for you, you just do something for me.
33:31
SPEAKER_01: Is that what Jesus says?
33:33
SPEAKER_01: That would not be very Jesus-y if Jesus said that.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: We never hear of anyone washing his feet.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: He washes the disciples' feet.
33:45
SPEAKER_01: And then what does he tell them to do?
33:46
SPEAKER_01: Now that I have washed your feet, you should pass it on.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: You should wash one another's feet.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: You never pay Jesus back.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: Ever.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: None of us have ever paid Jesus back for the love he's shown us.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: We can't pay Jesus.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: What would we pay with?
34:08
SPEAKER_01: All our resources are his anyway.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: You can't pay Jesus back.
34:12
SPEAKER_01: You just pay it forward, don't you?
34:14
SPEAKER_01: Now that he's cleansed us, now that he's gotten a hold of us at our worst, now he says, why don't you stoop to the feet of others?
34:25
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you love others in the way that I've loved you?
34:29
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you pass it on?
34:31
SPEAKER_01: You should do as I've done for you, let's go to verse 14.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: I've set you an example that you should do as I've done for you.
34:43
SPEAKER_01: Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: Now that you know these things, you'll be blessed if you do them.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: Let's just finish with that.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: The idea of the blessed life.
34:57
SPEAKER_01: You know, blessed is just a word that means happy, right?
35:01
SPEAKER_01: What is the happy life?
35:03
SPEAKER_01: What is the secret of contentment, the secret of joy in life?
35:07
SPEAKER_01: This story tells you the secret of happiness is drop the act.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: Don't perform in the presence of judgment.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: Don't look good for the eyes of others, look bad in the presence of love.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: Let Jesus catch up with you, let him take hold of your life, let him heal you, forgive you, cleanse you, and then let him set you on your feet so that you can pass it on to the world.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: In a sentence, receive the love of Jesus and pass it on.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: That's the happy life.
35:50
SPEAKER_01: That's the joy-filled life, that's the blessed life.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: What's the opposite of blessed?
35:56
SPEAKER_01: Cursed.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: Cursed, yeah.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: The opposite of blessed is cursed.
36:01
SPEAKER_01: What's the cursed life?
36:03
SPEAKER_01: The cursed life is just keep performing in the presence of judgment.
36:11
SPEAKER_01: Never drop the act.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: Never let Jesus catch up with you.
36:18
SPEAKER_01: Never let him get hold of your life.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: Never show him you at your worst.
36:27
SPEAKER_01: Just keep on showing him you at your best.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: And shrink your world ever further.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: That's the cursed life.
36:39
SPEAKER_01: But nobody needs to live the cursed life.
36:43
SPEAKER_01: We can live the happy life, we can live the blessed life.
36:46
SPEAKER_01: This morning.
36:48
SPEAKER_01: We can just say, Jesus, I've had enough of looking good in the presence of judgment.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: I I now look bad in the presence of love, in the presence of you.
36:58
SPEAKER_01: Because you are the stooping king.
37:01
SPEAKER_01: You're beautiful and you're kind.
37:05
SPEAKER_02: Well, there we go.
37:06
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for listening.
37:07
SPEAKER_02: I just want to draw your attention once again to the upcoming Speak Life Intensive.
37:12
SPEAKER_02: It's from the 18th to the 22nd of September.
37:16
SPEAKER_02: And if you're new to Speak Life or you're new to uh the training that we offer, the Foundry Intensives that we do every well, we do one a term, and the next one will be uh September.
37:28
SPEAKER_02: And they're a chance to meet the team, catch the Speak Life vision, and learn the craft of captivating proclamation via a range of seminars, tutorials, and hands-on practicals.
37:40
SPEAKER_02: So the training is it's given by uh Nate and Glenn on the Speak Life team.
37:46
SPEAKER_02: I do a bit of practical filmmaking, media producing type stuff.
37:50
SPEAKER_02: We also have uh Max Patterson, who's an incredible director of photography, cameraman, uh, who used to work at Speak Life and is now doing freelance work in London, and so he he tends to come down for the intensives to share his insights.
38:07
SPEAKER_02: And we have guests attending as well from all sorts of creative areas.
38:12
SPEAKER_02: So if you're interested in any form of creativity, writing, singing, songwriting, uh, craft, any form of of art really painting, sculpture, or filmmaking, I suppose Speak Life there's a particular uh focus on filmmaking and making YouTube videos and that sort of thing, but don't feel you have to be into that to enjoy a Speak Life intensive.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: If you're interested in thinking about a theology of creativity and how you can use your creativity to proclaim Christ, I think the intensives are a great opportunity for you.
38:45
SPEAKER_02: And that the upcoming one, the theme of the September one, is proclaimers and storytellers.
38:51
SPEAKER_02: So we're going to be thinking about the power of stories and storytelling and a theology of storytelling from the Bible.
38:58
SPEAKER_02: So if that sounds intriguing to you, why not sign up?
39:01
SPEAKER_02: Intensives are best experienced over the whole week, so if you can make it down to our studio in Eastbourne and the south coast of England, that would be great for the whole week.
39:11
SPEAKER_02: But even if you can only come for a day or two, we'd love to welcome you.
39:15
SPEAKER_02: To find out more and to sign up, go to speaklife.org.uk forward slash foundry.
39:22
SPEAKER_02: So foundry is the name of the training we do at Speak Life, the umbrella term for the various training things we offer.
39:30
SPEAKER_02: So if you go to that page and scroll down, you'll see intensives, and then there's a sign up button, and when you click on that, you can find lots more information and sign up.
39:41
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think that's all from me.
39:43
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for listening.
39:45
SPEAKER_02: God bless, and we will see you next week.