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Episode 41 — Humble Service (John 13) - #Faith4TodayPodcast · #Faith4TodayPodcast

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Jesus is a cleansing sacrifice. He does that at the cross.
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Jesus is the suffering servant for all who would accept it and
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believe that was his blood on the cross, not his hands and
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some water washing the disciples feet.
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Think that there is some distinction that is important
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for us to hold so that we think biblically, not emotionally.
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Hey, welcome to another episode of the Faith for Today podcast.
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Today is episode 41. We're talking about humble
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service based out of John chapter 13.
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Now, this was a message that I preached a couple weeks ago here
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at Faith Church and we did Part 1 kind of of this where we
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looked at like costly worship in episode 40 talking about John
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12. But then the second-half of the,
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the actual message that we preached, we looked at John 13
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about Jesus modeling humble service and both our worship and
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our service, our ministries that we bring to the Lord and to the
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people of God. And it was a great, great
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message. We'll link to that in YouTube
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here here in the description. But today we want to tackle this
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idea of humble service. And as always, here on the Faith
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for Today podcast, we want to help you integrate your faith on
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Thursday, not just feel inspired on a Sunday.
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Now, let's get into a little recap.
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Then I'll share some bonus content and then respond to a
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few questions #1 the recap. Let's go.
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Now, In John 13, we read a section of Scripture where Jesus
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was doing something that kind of stunned the disciples.
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He got out from the table, took a towel, and he washed their
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feet. Now in their world this was
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unheard of. Masters never wash their
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disciples feet. But Jesus kind of flips the
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script, if you will. The one with the most power in
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the room takes the lowest place, showing that in this in his
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Kingdom, leadership means service.
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It wasn't just practical though. This was deeply symbolic,
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pointing to the cleansing that He would ultimately provide, not
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just through the cross, but through ongoing forgiveness and
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life in the Spirit. That same spirit of humility
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that Jesus demonstrated still speaks today.
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Washing feet might not look the same for us, but the heart
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behind it is just as real. Whether it's business leaders
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who organizational leaders parking cars, teenagers running
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cameras and making coffee. It's business owners ministering
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to kids and small groups. It's farmers and retirees giving
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financially in a sacrificial way.
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It's honoring each other through service.
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Love expressed in an active way. And Jesus makes it really clear
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if serving is beneath us, then leaning, even following him,
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it's kind of beyond us because it is the way of the Kingdom.
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Humility is the way of Jesus. Humility connects us where pride
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will try to divide us and disengage us.
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Humility has a way of breaking down walls of entitlement and
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self-interest and reorients us towards one another in love.
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There's kind of another layer here when Jesus tells Peter that
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unless he washes him, Peter has no part with him.
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Foot washing wasn't just about hospitality.
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It became a picture of ongoing cleansing, of being washed daily
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from the dirt that we pick up as we walk through this broken
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world. For disciples then and for us
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today, this is about letting Jesus minister his love, his
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presence, and his forgiveness to us so that we have a union with
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him can minister to others. When we show up in worship and
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in our communities, it's not just to receive, but to give, to
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serve, to love, and to point everything back to the only one
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worthy of our rich and real devotion.
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All right, let's get to a little bit of bonus content.
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Dive a little deeper into this. Jesus washing their feet was
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both countercultural and spiritually formative.
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I want to talk a little bit just kind of about this idea of kind
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of the, the symbol of the cleansing itself, right?
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So washing was often associated with kind of ritual purification
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in Scripture. So like before entering a sacred
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space or eating a sacred meal, water rights were often common.
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Washing was required, and by washing his disciples feet,
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Jesus is symbolically preparing them for participation in his
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covenant meal and his sacrificial work.
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Jesus makes it clear that the ACT is not just about hygiene,
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but about spiritual cleansing. He says Unless I wash cleansing
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you, you don't have any part of me.
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Foot washing became this metaphor for ongoing cleansing
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of sin. They are clean by his word.
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John 15 three will tell us, but it's still needed continual
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washing as they walk into a defiled word.
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In other words, that we've been washed by his love and thy his
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blood right. What Jesus does at the cross
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washes us spiritually. The significance of that the
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atoning work. It is clear in Scripture and
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something we know we've been washed in that way, cleansed and
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made right with God justified because of his sacrifice on the
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cross now, but that doesn't take away from the ongoing
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forgiveness, the ongoing healing, the ongoing cleansing
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that we need. That's what Jesus says.
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He said listen, if you're already washed clean, you don't
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need to wash your whole body again.
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You just need to clean The Dirty parts.
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And in other words, there's an kind of AI think what Jesus is
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hinting at is kind of this idea of forgiving the sins of others
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and having our sins forgiven. Not not in the sense of the
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atonement work that puts us positionally in the family of
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God. So like every time you sin, you
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don't get re saved, right? Like I committed a sin, I lusted
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in my heart, I lied, I cheated, I I stole, I was angry, I lost
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my temper like I got to get saved again.
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No, that's not that's not what Jesus Jesus actually saying.
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Listen, you've already been clean clean.
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Now we just need to clean a little.
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It's, it's like upkeep. It's things that are going on.
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It's, it's the idea that each and every day we pick up stuff
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along the way and we need to be renewed by His love, refreshed
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by the living water, allowing the spirit of the deep well of
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God inside of us to flow and clean and make whole and wash us
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in his love continually to to be washed by his word continually
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to be washed in his love and presence continually.
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This is what Jesus is doing in the washing of the disciples
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feet. Listen, you're already my
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disciples. You just need to have some
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upkeep of the things, things that you're holding that you've
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picked up along the way. You don't need to hold the dirt
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of walking in this world. You just need to clean it off a
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little bit. There's ongoing repentance,
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ongoing healing, ongoing forgiveness, ongoing
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restoration, ongoing cleansing that is taking place.
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And, and I think one of the things that happens in this
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moment when Jesus comes like to Peter and he's like, I don't
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want you to wash my feet. I I think is true of of all of
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us. Think about it.
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Do you ever have a hard time receiving God's forgiveness?
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Like not initially, like you got saved.
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You believe in Jesus, you know you've been cleansed in that
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way. But what about some of the
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things you've done since you've been saved?
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What about some of the ways in which the union with God has
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been disrupted where where you have a hard time kind of looking
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God in the eyes? What about that?
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It's not about getting re baptized into the salvation and
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the saving work of get Jesus, but it's about us not being
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Peter saying, Laura, would you go ahead and wash my feet?
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I I sometimes, you know, playing continuing on with a metaphor of
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washing feet, like when it comes to serving other people, being a
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blessing to them, man, I have no, I will do that all day long.
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Like I will serve. I will even literally wash
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someone else's feet. But to let someone else do that
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to me, to receive serving in that way, to, to allow someone
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else to pour out love towards me.
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No, I'm not. No, no, no, no, I don't, I don't
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need that. And so many of us do that we,
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we, we want to do, but not receive of the love of God.
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And, and I think there is a powerful thing that Jesus is
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modeling that Peter submits to in this text where Peter no
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longer says, Lord, don't just wash my feet, but wash, wash
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like all of me. Lord is that we need to allow
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the loving presence of Jesus to wash us each and every day.
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Like what would it look like for us just to sit for one minute
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every day just receiving, being washed in the loving presence of
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Jesus, just letting his peace wash over us?
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The truth of his word set us free some more to to remind
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ourselves that we've been forgiven and that our tribunal
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authority isn't higher than God's.
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That God's authority to declare us righteous and declare us free
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is a word that has more authority than my opinion about
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myself, about my sin, about my life.
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And I need to literally allow the Word of God, his love, wash
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me each and every day, wash my feet clean as I walk with Him.
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I think that's something powerful that is symbolically
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being represented in the cleansing of the feet.
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We need to be cleansed in our lives day in and day out with
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the love and the presence of Jesus.
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Otherwise we just walk around dirty and grimy and there are
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moments of repentance that we need to do not to rewash all of
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us, but just to wash off the hand, our hands that have gotten
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a little dirty in our feet that have picked up stuff, offenses
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and frustrations and annoyances and just be washed in the the
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abiding presence and love of of the Spirit.
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You know, the foot washing that Jesus does in this passage
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anticipates Jesus greater act of humility where he lays down his
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life. In Philippians 2 tells us that
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Jesus in his humility lays down his life.
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Just as he takes the servant's towel, He comes and takes the
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role of the suffering servant mentioned in Isaiah 53 on the
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cross. In washing their feet, Jesus
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shares a profound kind of intimacy too, the touching of
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the Master on the disciples most shameful dirty parts.
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This is the spiritual cleansing that we experience by the love
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of God. Spiritually, this foreshadowing.
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It foreshadows how Jesus will bear our sins, touching the
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deepest shame of humanity and bringing a real cleansing.
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What Jesus does is a great act of humility and demonstration,
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foreshadowing some beautiful, beautiful things.
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I think having your feet washed again is a symbolic way of
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talking about receiving the cleansing ministry from Jesus.
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It becomes a a a metaphor for this ongoing being cleansed by
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his word from the defilement of the world in which we we live.
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Have you ever found yourself in a moment realizing that you've
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picked up an idea, you're a follower of Jesus, you love
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Jesus, you believe in the Word, you're living according to it,
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you worship him, you, all these things, but you, you have a
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mindset or a perspective that needs to be corrected according
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to the truth of God's Word. What is that?
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You need to have your mind washed or renewed or cleansed by
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the truth of God's Word. It's like having your feet
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washed. I think we all have these
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habits, ideas and patterns in our lives that have left a dirty
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residue in us. It's not that we're not saved.
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It's not that we're not justified.
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But there's still some some some daily cleansing that we need
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there. There are things that you do
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throughout your day that disrupt, distort, or disconnect
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you from having rich, abundant life union with Father, Son, and
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Spirit. And we need to allow Jesus to
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wash those things so that our union with him is restored.
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It's fresh, it's vibrant in all these things.
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There there is this element that washing, I I think the washing
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of our feet isn't about salvation.
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That's what Jesus does on the cross.
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The washing of our feet is the service as an act of love that
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restores our union with God and our communion with the brothers
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and sisters in Christ. I think this is one of the
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reasons why I think I, I kind of had a bit of a problem with one
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of the He Gets us videos. Now.
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Ultimately, the videos that this organization He gets us has been
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putting out has, has at least started people having
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conversations about who is Jesus, What has he done?
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I think that that's a good thing.
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Anything that gets us talking more about the Bible and about
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Jesus. I, I, I think that God can use
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that in a good way, but not every one of the videos or every
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one of the components or statements in any one of the,
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you know, he gets us videos, I think are aren't necessarily
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something that I would 100% say is biblically accurate.
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And they have one that they aired during, I think it was the
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Super Bowl. And it's, it's aired a few other
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times since then, obviously. But it's the, like Jesus would
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wash these people's feet. And then it would show like
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police officers and a black man and an LGBTQ person, kind of the
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symbolic of like maybe a pregnant woman out of wedlock.
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Like Jesus would wash the young and the old and the priest and
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the like all of these people, Jesus would wash their feet too.
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And the idea was that like, let's just love one another and
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serve one another and and then it'll all be OK.
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And, and, and the, the, the, the, the part that I don't agree
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with is Jesus isn't washing sinners feets in the sense of
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people who haven't been brought into his his fault.
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He's washing disciples feet. He's not washing unrepentant
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people who are refusing to follow Him's feet.
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He's actually washing his disciples feet.
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And so yes, we are kind. Yes, we let the fruit of our
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life be generous and kind and patient and loving to the people
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around us. The idea that Jesus washing our
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feet was somehow a cleansing act of acceptance into the family of
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God, I think is a misapplication of what Jesus is doing in this
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moment. Jesus is a cleansing sacrifice.
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He does that at the cross. Jesus is the suffering servant
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for all who would accept it and believe that was his blood on
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the cross, not his hands and some water washing the disciples
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feet. See see the foot washing wasn't
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the the the video was trying to just tell us to love our
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neighbor. I think loving our neighbor is
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good. I think it's right.
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It's a command of Jesus, but it's just to love your neighbor
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as you love yourself. And it's actually the second
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commandment. It's the first one that powers
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the second one, though. The first commandment is to love
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the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,
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and to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
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I think if we don't start with loving God with all our hearts,
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soul, mind, and sorry, we'll never love our brothers and
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sisters in Christ. And again, loving your neighbor
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as you love yourself. Jesus talking about loving the
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least of these. He's actually talking about
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brothers and sisters in Christ. Not every human being is in the
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family of God. And so we're we're kind of
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amalgamizing some ideas. And I think that there is some
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distinction that is important for us to hold so that we think
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biblically, not emotionally. Emotionally, I would say, yeah,
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I want to be kind to everybody. Yes, I want to serve people.
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I'm not just going to serve people that I like.
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I'm going to serve. I'm going to be kind.
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I'm going to let other people get in front of me in Walmart,
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even if I don't like who they are or agree with their
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political views. OK, Like like being kind in
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general I get and I'm all for I think that's right.
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But the power of what Jesus is getting at points to something a
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little more specific. It's so important that we think
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biblically about these things. Yes, Jesus washed the disciples
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feet but made sure they knew that non disciples needed to be
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fully washed. You said you only need your feet
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washed because you're already cleansed.
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The people who aren't already cleansed, washing their feet
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doesn't really do them any good in a salvific way.
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Now Jesus provides that kind of washing too.
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That's through his blood. Washing your feet is how we get
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washed ongoingly as Saints who have already been washed in the
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blood. It washes our union with Jesus,
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allowing us to have communion in an undefiled way.
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It washes us with the living water of the Spirit.
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It's his loving Princess that cleanses us from the dirt of the
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of the day. Listen, we love Jesus through
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loving other disciples. That's what he was getting at.
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That's why he modeled serving one another.
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The one anothers aren't you and everyone in the world.
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The one anothers are you and the people of God, you and other
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brothers and sisters in the faith.
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That's the biblical understanding of what it means
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to to love one another. Jesus says this that I'm doing
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you go do for each other. He doesn't say this that I'm
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doing for you. You go do for every person,
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everywhere, all the time. It's not what he's saying.
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Why? Because the the washing of the
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feet meant something specific. It doesn't mean what he did on
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the cross. It's not it.
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He is a servant. He did suffer.
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He does provide that cleansing too.
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But this was a specific different type of cleansing.
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And, and we need to be careful that when we talk about washing
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each other's feet, I understand that most of the time we're
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talking about just serve people. Be have a servant heart, be
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humble. I think that's a good thing.
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I think that's AI think that's probably the point the video of
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he gets us was trying to make to be humble and be willing to
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serve people that you don't like.
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Be kind to people that you don't like.
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I think that was the right sentiment, but that's not really
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the message of what the scripture was meaning.
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I think it kind of stretched the meaning beyond what was actually
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being said in the text and what is actually Jesus representing.
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See, there was a role reversal of servant leadership that Jesus
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was demonstrating. See, in an honor and shame
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society, greatness was measured by status and service was
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received, not service given. So Jesus as the most powerful in
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that room, he is the rabbi, He is the teacher.
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By societal standards of the day, He was the greatest one in
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the room and his status would deem that others would serve
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him, but instead he stooped down to serve them.
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It was an act that would have been scandalous.
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The master took the role of a servant, undermining the
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disciples cultural expectation of this hierarchy.
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Setting a framework that in the Kingdom of God we steward in a
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way that serves someone else's purpose.
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We serve in a way that that brings blessing and honor.
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We serve in a way that helps other people know their value in
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Jesus, and Jesus reframes, reframes the power of our
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leadership, he says. I've given you this example that
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you should do just as I have done, because true greatness in
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the Kingdom of God is marked by humble service, not dominance.
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And this directly critiques the cultural obsession of honor and
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rank that they had. Just like Jesus in one of the
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episodes of The Chosen in the most recent kind of series where
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he begins to wash the disciples feet, he reorients them towards
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a connection and a desire to serve, to serve each other, to
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be a blessing to each other. Just as Jesus kind of takes a
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towel and takes on the role of the suffering servant, this
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cross that would bring connection with us and God and
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meaning that the closer we get to God because others are
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serving us or or we're serving, there's a rich connection that
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we have with God. In fact, in the I mentioned the
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Chosen and in the in the Chosen, there is this scene where he's
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serving his disciples and something happens as he serves
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them. You begin to see one by one on
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their faces, a breakdown of pride to where all of a sudden
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they are humbled by his act of humility and there's a rich
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connection that takes place with them and Jesus.
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And I think this is, as I mentioned in the sermon, why
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serving and waking up every day to out serve your spouse is a
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great way in marriage to maintain healthy connection and
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a healthy communion with each other.
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Why? Because man, you're, you're,
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when you're walking that out and you're serving one another and
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out serving each other each and every day, you're breaking down
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each other's pride, You're breaking down barriers of
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connection. And you're fostering a rich,
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rich connection with each other because you're serving in a way
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that makes them see an act of goodness that fosters a rich
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connection, fosters a rich way of serving, fosters a rich way
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of, of union. And, and the closer we get to
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God's goodness, the more easy it is to see how entitled and bad
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we were, how unhealthy the previous attachments that we've
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had in our lives are when you really get a glimpse of the
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goodness of God. And I think the disciples were
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getting a front row seat to the goodness of Jesus, watching him
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serve. That just kind of broke down
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their pride. And it allowed for them to
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connect, to be more devoted than ever before.
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And I think that's what happens when we serve one another in the
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body of Christ, when we serve our spouse, when we serve other
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brothers and sisters, when we join a ministry team and we give
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of ourselves to serve other people.
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What's happening? We're we're helping breakdown
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walls so that we can become more connected.
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Why is that important? Because unity is what Jesus
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wants for his church, for his body, that there would be a
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communion, a connection, a common union, that we have a
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bond together. And that happens when we serve
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each other. So when we are serving other
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brothers and sisters in Christ, it creates this bond of unity in
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the family of God. And that bond of unity and that
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bond of love was meant to be a representation that the way of
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Jesus is better than the way of the world.
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So that the world would look and say, I want to have that kind of
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relationship with other humans. I want to experience that kind
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of life that they're experiencing and they then
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repent, are washed in the the cleansing work of the cross, and
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then are brought in and they too can be a part of this common
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unity. I think the implications of
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Jesus washing the disciples feed is pretty profound.
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In fact, Jesus explicitly commands his disciples to
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imitate this same humility In Jewish communal life, where
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roles were often rigid. This meant that the new
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community of Jesus followers were to be radically egalitarian
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in service, to be radically given to serving each other
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regardless of status, regardless of public fair, regardless of
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anything else, that they were to wash each other in their word
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and the truth and the love. And in so doing, there's,
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there's a, a connection that is formed, just like Jesus washed
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the disciples and there was a connection that was formed, an
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understanding, a devotion to one another.
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In Acts chapter 2, we see a glimpse of the early church and
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it says that the early church devoted themselves.
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And one of the things that they devoted themselves to was each
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other, the relationships that they had.
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And that's important. Why?
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Because when we love Jesus, we love Jesus through loving other
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disciples. John 1225 and 26 says the one
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who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life
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in this world we keep it for eternal life.
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Why? Because the way of Jesus is a
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paradox. It's paradox.
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It's upside down thinking. It's different than the way that
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the world thinks. He says if anyone serves me, he
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must follow me. Where I am, there my servant
27:18
will also be, and if he serves me, the Father will honor him.
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John 1334 and 35 says this. I give you a new command.
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Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you
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also are to love one another. By this everyone will know that
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you are my disciples. If you love one another, no,
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Jesus does not say, the whole world will know that you're a
27:47
disciple. If you love the the world, is
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that what he said? He says the world will know that
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you're my disciples by the way that you love one another.
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In other words, the way you serve and wash each other's
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feet, the way you minister to each other and care for each
28:07
other in the family of God is the way the world will look and
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see, oh, they really are disciples because they're caring
28:13
for each other. There was no concept really.
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Now, now to be clear, Jesus said love your enemies, treat them
28:20
well. If they mistreat you, don't
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retaliate. Like Jesus gave us some
28:26
instructions on how to deal with the world and the evil in the
28:28
world and those not in the family of faith.
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But most of the time what we do is we take the Scriptures that
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Jesus says on how we're supposed to interact with the family of
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faith and fellow disciples, and we apply them to the world.
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And we wonder why it's not working quite so well.
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Because we're trying to wash their feet, hear me.
28:47
When the world needs to be washed by the cross and their
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repentance where they need a real purification and cleansing
28:53
work of the Spirit, we're just trying to wash their feet and
28:57
wonder why it doesn't work. That's why loving God and loving
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each other lead the way to others wanting to repent, join
29:06
the family of God, be cleansed by the cross, and then receive
29:10
the Spirit of God and join in into that community.
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I'm not saying be a jerk to the world, that's not what I'm
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saying. I'm just trying to reorient our
29:20
thinking to understand what it means to serve the family of God
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and serve each other. And that's the command.
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Jesus said the world's going to know the way you serve one
29:29
another. The way you care for brothers
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and sisters in Christ, is the way in which they will know that
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you are my disciples. The way you love other disciples
29:38
is how you love Jesus. And so having that framework of
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understanding of men, we wash each other's feet because Jesus
29:47
has already cleansed us in our life and we've been made new in
29:51
him. So we just need to wash each
29:54
other's feet, to give forgiveness, to not hold on to
29:56
bitterness, to let go of offenses, to be kind and loving
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and speak blessing over each other and wash each other in the
30:04
Word. As we read and we study and we
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pray and we bless and we sing and we we cleanse the dirt of
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the world off each other. We serve one another.
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We stoop low in humility to care for the brothers and sisters in
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Christ at the end of the day. In this message we talked about
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two things, ministering to the Lord and our worship and
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ministering to the family of God in serving each other in
30:31
ministry every time we gather. We are a royal priesthood, a
30:35
holy nation, God's special people.
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We are a nation of people of a priesthood, and we minister to
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the Lord in worship, in sacrifice, and in how we live
30:47
our life. And we minister to each other
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and praying with each other and caring for each other and laying
30:53
hands on each other and, and washing each other with the way
30:56
that we speak to one another and in meeting practical needs and
30:59
service like we love the Lord and we love each other.
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That's what the family of God is supposed to do.
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That is the baseline for being a follower of Jesus.
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You minister to Jesus in your devotion.
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You devote yourself to the people of God and you care for
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them and you love them and you serve them along the way.
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And we shared in the message some real practical ways.
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People wash each other's feet, right?
31:26
They real practical ways that we minister to one another in the
31:30
body of Christ and and we as the people of God want to step into
31:34
loving each other and loving the church the way Jesus tells us to
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love the church and love each other and love him, which we
31:44
talked about in the last week's episode.
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All right, let's get into just a few questions and response
31:51
today. Here's here's one says.
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Often I find myself asking, am I serving enough?
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Am I serving my spouse, my kids, my church, my community enough?
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Is this a good thing to examine? Is there a better question to
32:05
ask of myself? Because I find myself struggling
32:08
with pride and I often question whether I'm doing enough.
32:12
How do I know if I'm meeting expectations?
32:14
How can I fulfill the desire to kill my pride through a humble
32:18
heart of servitude while avoiding the check the box
32:22
mindset? Such a great question because I
32:25
think we all feel this tension, right?
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We feel this tension of like at least those that follow Jesus
32:32
and and your heart is for the Lord.
32:34
Like there's this idea inside so many of us.
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This is man I I want to I don't want to disappoint the Lord.
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I want to do everything I can to honor him.
32:43
I want to, I really want to be pleasing to God.
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I want to be that pleasing sacrifice, that pleasing aroma.
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I want, I want to use my life as a as a living sacrifice.
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I think that's a good thing to want to do.
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Like we, we should want to live our life in that, in that way.
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But I would caution us with this idea of am I serving enough?
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Am I doing enough? Do I have it?
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Have I done enough? Enough of what?
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For what? Enough to receive God's love?
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Well, there's nothing you can do.
33:18
There is no grid for enough in that regard.
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Have I done enough to be considered clean by God?
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Well, again, now we're living with a transactional works
33:31
driven value system in Scripture.
33:36
The works that we do come out of place of honor for the Lord, not
33:41
out of repayment to the Lord. There is a loyalty, A
33:47
responsiveness that we have to the Lord in in exchange, like he
33:52
saved us, he delivered us and our trust is in him and our
33:55
trust isn't an embodied thing. And so we, we give a pledge of
33:59
loyalty to him because his benefactor, as a benefactor,
34:04
he's so good to us, like he is who he said he is and he's
34:08
almighty and we, we want to be on his side and in his Kingdom.
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And so we, we live with that loyalty.
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We live in those ways and we do good works to glorify our Father
34:16
in heaven, as the scriptures say, but it's never enough.
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Enough has like this sense of like, I'm paying back.
34:24
I'm, I'm, I'm contributing in. And so now I'm good and I've,
34:28
I've arrived and I've done the thing and, and, and there's
34:30
something in us that, that often goes in that direction.
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And I, I would say it this way, there's never a time where you
34:39
would sit with God and you would come to him and be like, Lord,
34:43
I, I, I want to just spend, spend a few moments with you and
34:46
you just think about his goodness and his love.
34:49
And then, then, then you know, it's only two minutes and the
34:52
Lord's like 2 minutes. That's all you got.
34:54
Like that's not enough. That's never going to be God's
34:57
response, that God's never going to look at you and be like, oh,
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you served twice this week, but you didn't serve three times.
35:05
That's not enough. If you really want to be loving
35:07
to me, if you really loved me, you would X like like that is
35:13
often a projection of how we view human relationships.
35:21
The manipulation is probably a good way of saying it.
35:25
The, the tit for tat, the I've earned this and now I deserve
35:30
this mentality, which is not a biblical framework in the sense
35:36
of how God views us, that there is no enough in that
35:41
relationship. And, and I definitely understand
35:44
the idea, especially for those that are like really detail
35:48
oriented. You're kind of like a, a, a
35:50
taskless person. Like I got to do the things, OK,
35:53
I got to follow the procedure and do it right.
35:55
And I don't want to like do it the wrong way.
35:57
I want to do it the right way. And, and there's a, a real sense
35:59
of trying to honor, but at the same time, there's as much of an
36:04
insecurity about disappointing as there is about wanting to
36:08
honor. Sometimes we feel like, well, I
36:12
don't want to be disappointing. And it's really about I don't
36:15
want to feel like a disappointment versus I want to
36:19
honor. And so when we are approaching
36:23
our life in God, the people of God serving those around us, and
36:27
we're living with that enough, not enough.
36:29
And we're like, well, I just want to be disappointing it or
36:33
it's really about a feeling that we feel rather than a blessing
36:37
we're giving to them. And I, I, I, I too struggle with
36:42
that. And it is an element of pride
36:44
that shows up in our lives of OK, did I, did I say enough?
36:46
Did I do enough? It was like convincing enough.
36:48
I, I, I have that. I kind of had that framework I
36:52
have to wrestle with almost every Sunday.
36:54
Did I say enough? Did I do it right?
36:55
Did I do this? And part of it is an evaluation.
36:58
Part of it is me wanting to be better and wanting to steward
37:01
well. But also part of it is me not
37:03
wanting to be a disappointment, not wanting to do a disservice,
37:06
not wanting someone to miss the point because I wasn't clear
37:10
enough and I was too too caffeinated or too too tired or
37:15
too wordy that they didn't get the point.
37:18
I sometime along the way, you just have to trust God in that
37:22
process. And so should we come with a
37:27
desire to minister to people? Yes.
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Should we look to serve the people in our family, in our
37:34
house, in our community, in our church?
37:36
Yeah, absolutely we should. But we do it not to determine
37:41
our value. We do it to help them experience
37:46
their value in Jesus. We we do it to be a blessing to
37:50
them not to feel good about ourselves.
37:53
We do it to be honoring of the Lord, not to get honor ourself.
38:00
They say that the true test of a servant's heart is how you react
38:07
or respond when you're treated like a servant.
38:14
A servant is just, you know, compensated for doing a job or
38:17
they're contracted to do a task. There's no relationship.
38:22
There's no emotion. We think about this often time
38:26
in in wait at restaurants. Like there's no law that says
38:32
when you eat out at a restaurant, you have to tip,
38:35
right? It's not law.
38:37
I think it's really stupid not to.
38:39
I think it's unkind not to. I think it's ridiculous not to.
38:43
I think you should it's these people are doing a great, great
38:48
service. And so we want to express
38:50
gratitude for that service. But but at the end of the day,
38:55
their job that they signed up for is to wait the table and we
39:02
don't need to treat anyone inhumanly.
39:04
That's that's not my point. My point is this the the test of
39:07
your heart. If my heart is to serve other
39:11
people, how I respond when I'm treated like a servant reveals
39:17
the actual motives and the condition of my heart.
39:21
Last thing we should that needs to It's not some tests.
39:23
Well, let me just test and see their heart.
39:25
It's it's stupid, it's silly. It's going to get tested
39:29
anyways. I think it's not about us
39:32
though. It's about the people we're
39:33
serving, helping them feel value, help, helping them see
39:35
love and joy and lighten and in a way that helps them see Jesus
39:41
in the way we treat them, in the way that we serve them, in the
39:45
way that we're willing to be humble and lowly with them.
39:48
And so I think it is good to examine like, am I doing
39:53
anything for anyone or is everything about me in my life?
39:57
I, I think that's a good question.
39:58
You need to examine that, But I wouldn't necessarily do it under
40:02
the lens of am I doing enough if I most of the time, if we're
40:05
asking ourself the enough question.
40:08
It really comes down to a motive check and it comes down to a,
40:12
why am I doing it? Not necessarily a should I do
40:15
more? We need to check our hearts to
40:17
see if am I doing what I'm doing for value in me or to help
40:22
reveal value in them. And I think that's the the rub
40:26
and the way in which we want to go about it.
40:30
And ultimately, again, the reason we serve and love other
40:37
people in the household and community of faith isn't to
40:41
check a box, to be religious, to do our duty, to just do the
40:45
right thing as the lowest barrier.
40:47
No, we do those things because we love the Lord.
40:53
And the more your love for God grows, the more you're expressed
41:01
love to others by way of humble service will naturally grow.
41:09
Why? Because when you love the Lord
41:12
more, your capacity for love grows, which means you have more
41:17
in you to pour out to others. And that is an understanding
41:22
that we need to hold on to and what Jesus modeled for us.
41:27
Second question, can you define humility?
41:33
Yeah. Just look it up in the
41:34
dictionary. It'll have my picture.
41:36
You'll be good to go. No, I'm just kidding.
41:38
Stupid joke, I know. Can I define humility?
41:41
I I I've heard it said. I think it was CS Lewis who said
41:45
it. Humility isn't thinking less of
41:48
yourself. Humility is thinking of yourself
41:52
less often. I think Philippians does a good
41:56
job of giving us a picture of definition of of humility.
42:00
Philippians chapter 2, starting in verse one, it says, if then
42:06
there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any
42:09
consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit,
42:13
there's any affection and mercy. Make my joy complete by thinking
42:20
the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent
42:26
and on purpose. Do nothing out of selfish
42:30
ambition or vain conceit, but in humility.
42:35
Consider others as more important than yourselves.
42:40
Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the
42:45
interests of others. And then it says adopt the same
42:50
attitude as Christ Jesus himself.
42:54
And then it begins to describe Jesus attitude.
42:56
He didn't consider being equal with God.
43:00
The the card that he played all the time.
43:02
I play in the God card. And he humbled himself to live
43:06
as a man, to be under the constraints that we have to, to
43:09
position himself humble and lowly to serve others.
43:13
He didn't come to be served. The Son of Man came to seek and
43:17
save the lost, to serve those that God sent him to.
43:22
I think that's a great picture of humility, thinking of
43:25
yourself less often. Not doing things with selfish
43:30
ambition doesn't say doing things with ambition.
43:33
It's a selfish ambition. I think there is a difference
43:36
between ambition and selfish ambition.
43:40
He says Don't do things out of selfish ambition, out of vain
43:42
conceit, to only make yourself feel better.
43:46
Don't do it that way, out of loveliness and holiness and
43:49
humility Serve others. Think of them more highly than
43:53
you think of yourself. I think if you want to grow in
43:56
humility, grow in loving God the way He says to love Him, and
44:03
that will grow you in humility. And when you are growing in
44:06
humility, you will grow in humble service to those that God
44:11
loves too. Here's the last question.
44:14
It says how do I know when I should serve someone else if it
44:18
means I will delay or forgo my normal priorities?
44:24
This is a really good question. It has probably some layers and
44:27
some nuance to it. Ultimately, you serve someone
44:33
else when the opportunity to serve comes and you know you
44:36
feel a nudge from God to go. Not every problem or every
44:42
opportunity is specifically yours to meet.
44:46
I do believe in the church, in the family of God, which is the
44:51
context that Jesus was telling his disciples to serve one
44:54
another, fellow disciples. That a need among the disciples
44:59
or among the family of God should be met within the family
45:04
of God or can be met within the family of God to be known, to be
45:06
seen, to be cared for, to be prayed for.
45:09
But it doesn't mean every individual is supposed to meet
45:13
every other individual need. That's why we need each other to
45:18
be serving and having this same mind.
45:20
Because when we're all in this together, we all have something
45:23
we can can carry. We all have opportunities to
45:26
contribute, and we all can bring what we can bring.
45:30
And in so doing, in the family of God, every part has something
45:34
to supply. And so the the discernment comes
45:38
in determining whether or not I need to I have what is necessary
45:44
to meet and supply the need that is present.
45:46
In this scenario. It may or may not be the case.
45:52
I think every person who is sick needs to be prayed for.
45:57
Sometimes that doesn't happen because people who are sick
46:00
don't ask for prayer. Fair enough, but at the same
46:04
time I also don't think every person needs to needs to be
46:12
prayed for by me. They need prayer.
46:15
It just doesn't have to be by me because it's the body of Christ.
46:18
We can pray and care for each other.
46:20
So how can we care for each other?
46:22
I, I think when people have lost loved ones and there's a
46:27
funeral, I think someone that has a relationship with those
46:30
people in the church needs to be a part of, of attending those
46:33
things. Not everybody in the church
46:36
needs to attend everything. So I think we need to look at
46:40
generally, everything needs to be covered, but not every person
46:45
needs to cover everything generally.
46:48
So where do I forego? I think that number one, you
46:52
always listen to the Holy Spirit and sometimes the Holy Spirit
46:54
will absolutely tell you to sacrifice what you desire or you
46:58
plan to take care of someone else.
47:00
That's part of following Jesus. So if that's not necessarily the
47:04
case, it's just a general and you have the opportunity and the
47:08
availability and the resource to meet a need to care for someone,
47:12
to serve someone, then by all means do it.
47:15
But that doesn't mean we all get to do it.
47:17
There's there are needs in our church right now for more people
47:20
to lead small groups. We have more people who want to
47:24
be in a group and less people willing to lead a group.
47:27
We need more people willing to do that.
47:29
Now that doesn't mean that I need to lead more groups.
47:33
That could be a like why help? We need more groups.
47:36
So I guess I better lead a third group.
47:37
Well, that's not really what needs to happen.
47:41
What needs to happen is others to hear the call of God in life
47:43
to recognize that they have a gift of hospitality and a
47:46
willingness to to open up space to build relationships that are
47:51
are are rooted in spiritual friendship that are are deep and
47:55
committed to growth and vulnerable and being willing to
47:58
do it. What we need are, are, are
48:00
others willing to contribute their gifts in that way and to
48:03
be trained in that way and to grow into that way and step into
48:06
that way. But it doesn't mean I need to do
48:08
that all the time or you need to do that all the time.
48:10
It just means that there's more opportunity.
48:13
And sometimes one of the ways we help meet a need is by helping
48:19
others be aware of a need that they can meet.
48:22
So that's part of being in the body of Christ, equipping each
48:25
other, growing together, supplying what we can supply.
48:29
And so it's kind of like every person I, I see that would maybe
48:33
need a ride. I, I may not be able to give
48:35
everybody a ride that may not really work.
48:37
That doesn't mean I'm making my decision on, am I serving based
48:41
on convenience? I think that's a terrible way to
48:45
make a decision. It's not really about
48:47
convenience. It's really about what the
48:53
Spirit is leading and, and, and This is why we want to be led by
48:55
the Spirit. I, I, I kind of tend to believe
49:00
that most people never ask the Lord, They just ask their
49:03
schedule. So instead of seeking the
49:05
Spirit, we just seek our schedule and our calendar.
49:08
I think we ought to be seeking the Lord before just living by
49:14
the calendar because there are some things the Lord might say,
49:16
actually, I want you to cancel that and I want you to do that
49:18
instead. But if we never ask the Lord,
49:20
we're not really giving Him that opportunity.
49:22
So I think we need to be willing to forgo our normal priorities
49:27
to serve someone else. But that doesn't mean we
49:30
automatically always forgo our priorities to serve someone
49:34
else. There are things that I will do
49:36
that sacrifice time at home in order to serve other people, but
49:40
I do not make a habit of that. Those are rare.
49:43
There are some priorities I have with my family and time and
49:46
things. I'm not going to forgo those
49:48
every time. I might do it here and I might
49:51
do it there, and I might look for other opportunities to be a
49:54
part or to be a blessing. But then sometimes there are
49:59
other things that the Lord's also asked me to do, and I'm
50:01
doing those. I think it really comes down to,
50:04
are you willing to be interrupted by the Lord?
50:08
Are you willing for Him to move your priority?
50:11
Are you willing to lay that down?
50:13
I think that's the better question that we ask ourselves.
50:17
So if we're willing and the Lord says no, then we're OK.
50:20
But if we're unwilling and the Lord is telling us to, we need
50:24
to change our heart. And sometimes we we're aware of
50:28
a need and we need to be praying that God would help meet that
50:31
need and send the right people or help open our eyes to see the
50:34
right solution to help that way. And so it's a myriad of things.
50:37
It's not a one-size-fits-all all the time.
50:40
I think the the one thing is, we all need to be willing to ask
50:44
the Lord, do you want to change my priorities, change my
50:47
schedule, change my preference, change my comfort zone and cause
50:51
me to step out of it? To say yes whenever you sense
50:55
the nudge. Always follow the Holy Spirit in
50:57
those things because at the end of the day, something beautiful
51:01
happens when we love the Lord with all of our heart and we
51:04
love one another When we show up every gathering to minister and
51:08
bless the name of the Lord. And we show up and we minister,
51:11
and we serve one another with the things that God has blessed
51:17
and put into our stewardship. Hey, I hope this conversation
51:21
the last couple weeks has been helpful as we looked at John 12
51:25
and John 13. I hope our conversations have
51:29
helped you. Have faith for today.
51:32
I love you. I'll see you next time, friends.