They will Know.

Introduction

I was no good with girls. I know you might not believe that by looking at me now in all of my glory. “Juston you must have had them calling all the time.” But friends you have not idea who I was back then. Girls were interested in me but I didn’t really understand why? Like I wasn’t stupid or anything I just didn’t really think I had anything to offer. Don’t get me wrong, I walked around with a great deal of undeserved confidence that I still don’t really know where it came from, but in the quiet in my head I realized it was all a show and I didn’t “really” have anything to offer anyone.

then I started dating this really strange girl who asked me questions and had conversations with me that I usually only had with myself. Look at us, we were just babies. She made me really question not just what I thought relationships were, or where for, but myself as well.

I remember one day I came back from school and found a package at my front door. It was a bag with a Owensville Dutchmen hoodie in it. A week ago Amanda and I had gone to a Friday night game together and she commented that I wasn’t wearing any of our teams gear. I, being pretty well poor since my parents split didn’t have money for such things. little did she know that I hand washed and dried the pair of jeans that I was wearing that night with a hair dryer. That I used some painters tape to get all the dog hair off of the shirt I was wearing just to try not and look as poor as I was. We didn’t have a drying and the washing machine was hit and miss. The hoodie I held in my hand was not just nice, it was expensive and I was mad. No one should spend that kind of money on me ever. I wouldn’t let it stand. I went to talk to my youth pastor about it, to tell him how ridiculous it was that this girl would spend that kind of money at all on such a thing, let alone on a boy that she had only been on like a couple dates with. Tom’s words shook me. “Juston, this is one area where your life will be better faster if you learn now, how much of an idiot you are. If the girl wants to get you a hoodie because she thinks you’ll appreciate it then take the hoodie you idiot. She probably likes you which I think is a miracle because she’s heard you talk.”

Tension

My issue, if you want to call it that is that relationships and love in general had been shown to me in very broken images. Not whole or working models but theoretical ideas. It was like looking at art through a kaleidoscope. Sure you can see it, kind of, but its all wonky and blurry and looks different every 5 seconds. Love was often a game of give and take in which someone, usually takes a lot more. Love was an excuse for a lot of stupid choices that often have destructive consequences. What some called love was actually a lot more like gifts with strings attached.

Over the years I’ve had many better pictures given to me and still, looking to the word of God, I think I find that this concept comes deeper, clearer, and stronger for us. Not that alone, but we find that love actually has great implications for you and I as followers of Christ. perhaps, I would argue, it is the most important thing we can do as his disciples. Today’s text should be familiar to you as we turn to John 13:34.

Truth

John 13:34–35 (ESV)

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Pray

This is famously one of the most quotable passages that Jesus gave to his dicisples before his crucifixion and for good reason. It outlines so very clear and strong implications for them and subsequently us. However, I want to plug this often quoted passage back into its context and then have it ask so deep questions of us this morning as we go through the entire 13th chapter of John’s gospel. You’ll see why in a minute. Read along with me, if you would.

John 13:1–11 (ESV)

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,

4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

So the setting and the players have been announced and we get a brief peek behind the scenes. Passover has come, Jesus death is rapidly approaching and he has been looking forward to this evening with his disciples. Little did they know this would be their last meal before the cross. Judas has already in his heart given up Jesus, the mind is made up the deed is still to be done. However, Jesus, instead of using this time to try and enact justice of call our Judas’ betrayal, instead, sends another message. Curiously he gets us and ties a towel around his waist. Continuing on.

5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

Again, this is one of the most easily recognized passages where Jesus washes the disciples feet. I’ll let you know that if there were a Baptist Pope, and I where he, I think we have grounds here for us to actually have 3 ordinances in the New Testament Church. Lord’s supper, Baptism, and foot washing. However, I am not the Baptist Pope and to that many sigh relief. Jesus washes their feet to set up a precedent for them. We will get to this more later but lets continue on.

John 13:12–20 (ESV)

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?

13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’

19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.

20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

John 13:21–35 (ESV)

21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.

23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side,

24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.

25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?”

26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.

29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.

30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

So, a bit of drama unfolds at the dinner table. Jesus announces that there will be a betrayer and you must have had to been there because to my surprise, every time I read this, no one immediately suspected Judas. I get that it says they thought he was off to pay for dinner or something but really? I mean no one? Anyway, after his departure, the buzz around the table is one of unease and tension as the disciples contemplate who could betray him. Who would do something like that to the one we know to be the Christ? Definitely not me, that’s all I know. However, curiously, Jesus continues on this message when Judas leaves the room. Almost as if its just him now and those that really mean to follow after him. Now it’s him and his real followers and the lesson hits the meat and potatoes of Jesus’ intention.

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus words here echo the goal of this supper and this intimate time with those that would carry on his message in his name after his death. Those whose goal it would be to teach and preach the message of the Gospel, to baptize them in his name and for his purposes. Just a demonstration and a goal. Love one another like this.

I struggled for a long time really knowing what genuine love was and how to express it or better yet receive it. Our world is not helpful either. Love is something you fall into like an unsuspecting trapped pit. It stands to reason then that if you can “fall into” it then you could just as easily “fall out” of it. We talk of love describing our mom, our dog, our spouse, our cars, and that burrito place down the street. We’ve all heard the Greek stuff too: agape-unconditional love, phileo-brotherly love, eros-romantic love, storge-natural love like a parent and child. However, these can often act as the weeds we get lost in around the conversation. I will suggest to you instead, that the real definitional tweak that must be made in order for us to grasp this starts by us admitting that Love is first and foremost a choice.

“Well juston you can’t help who you fall in love with.” Well friend, yes you can. Because all you are describing there is that I am attracted to that person for reasons I can or cannot explain. Choosing to act on those attractions or not is the choice. Choosing to give your all to your spouse, forsaking all other potential opportunities is a choice. Choosing to honor and care for aging parents in years when they are exceptionally needy and can give very little is a choice. Choosing to let go of past mistakes and move forward is a choice.

Love is a choice and one that Christ put forward to his real disciples as one that would mark them and set them apart. And First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, founded and standing after all of these years, committed to following Jesus with our lives as we serve the community Christ placed us in...

We are to love each other as Jesus demonstrated.

While this passage is tied to the direct context of the foot washing display at the super that night, it’s greater context is felt by the men around the table and the past 3 years of their lives as they’ve followed him. Jesus had time and time again, displayed his love for them. He’d ate with them, took them aside to explain things to them, gave them a new life, in some cases, a new name. He’d cared for them in real and tangible ways. No man there had any doubts about Jesus’ love for them nor his love for the people. It was one of the most noticeable things about him and one of the reasons he was so follow-able.

For you and I the same could be said. Jesus has demonstrated love for us and its a love that he asks us to show to each other. In our church we so many different people. Not just different in terms of individuals but in terms of likes, dislikes, history, experiences, jobs, sports teams, readers, teachers, runners, fishermen, mechanics, loggers, and people that could tell you the exact quote from any line in any Lord of the Rings movie. Yet, as Jesus demonstrated, love is the glue that holds us together. Not just the kind of love the world talks about but the kind of Love that Jesus demonstrated to the disciples and demands out of us today. The kind of love that is a choice to honor God and give love to those that he loves too. How in the world can we as a church, make it in our world in our day if we forget how to love? How can a house divided ever conquer the enemies at the gates?

If we can’t learn to love one another with Christ-like love, we can never display that love to the world.

So what is that love and how should I treat my brothers and sisters in the church because of it?

True love is humble

Christ got up from the table that evening to put on a towel and wash their feet. Not a single man at that table misunderstood that something strange was happening here. For Jesus to do this was clearly to take a stand, just which one? Peter’s tried to circumvent the lesson by humbling himself further than Jesus. But Jesus’ point here was that if a master can stoop and serve his disciples out of love then we surely can. Put another way for us today, Who are you too good to love? What makes you too good? I mean, you surely would never say the words “I am too good to love...” but through your attitudes and actions you convey it if you’re honest?

I am not beating anyone up here. I am simply calling us to a difficult and inconvenient truth. If Christ was willing to humble himself to the station of foot washing to express to his disciples just how much he loved them, and later to death, even death on a cross, to prove his love; how much easier does it make it for you and I to leave our ego, our station, our pride, by the wayside and love others well.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking about yourself less. True love looks like putting on the towel when everyone else forgets to wash the feet because you aren’t too good too. Jesus displays humility found in leadership for his disciples and if we are too love like he did, that humility should be evident in our lives as well.

True love is compassionate

The blind man, the woman with the condition of the blood, the man with the unclean spirit, the Centurion of much faith, the paraplegic and his friends, the leper, the hungry crowds. The list goes on of all the people Jesus saw and took compassion on.

Jesus saw people not as obstacles but took compassion on them. He loved them when others looked the other way and if we are going to show that kind of love we need to turn our compassion switch back on again. That goes for outside the church and to those that share pews with you. Listen to their stories, their struggles, and their stress, and allow the holy spirit to fill you with compassion. Respond as he leads. Its scary sometimes, messy even. But that’s what it looks to follow Jesus. it’s scary, its messy, and its beautiful.

True love chooses patience

The amount of times Jesus must have shook his head at the disciples, once again, missing the point. But he’d explain it again. He’d take them aside again. He’d take the time. Friends, we loose our patience with one another way too easy. We get our feelings hurt so quickly it’s almost like we are looking too. Are there those around the room that you’ve lost it with? People that rub you the wrong way that didn’t used too? Has your patience dried us so much that being around you is a barren and dusty experience? Choose to be patient with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Don’t rush to judgment or anger but choose instead to love. If you stick around here for too long somebody, probably me, will disappoint you in some way. Will hurt you feelings or say something that you disagree with. I tell people all the time that we have to choose to fight for each other more than we fight with each other. Friends, you can’t make me feel anyway about you that I don’t chose to. You could be mean, angry, or downright hateful to me and I can still choose to show patine and love you anyway.

True love forgives

Matthew 5:21–24 (ESV)

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’

22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,

24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Isn’t it interesting that we can taint even our offerings of worship is our relationships with our brothers and sisters in the church are broken? church, forgiveness is beautiful when it’s given out and cancer when its kept. Perhaps there is even a brother or sister here this morning that you’ve wronged, or who has wronged you. What is keeping you from going to them this very morning and give freely the forgiveness that Christ has given you. Pouring out the love that he’s shown you to them. What is keeping us from loving this way other than our fear and pride.

True love shows grace

Forgiveness is one thing, its letting go of consequences and giving them over to the Lord but Grace is inviting your enemy over for super on your dime. Grace is the ultimate expression of God’s love and one that varnishes the church, protecting it and strengthening it from the storms of the world. If we can show each other grace, love each other with humility, service, and compassion, we can reflect the Love of Christ in our community. If we cannot learn to do this, we will reflect nothing but ourselves, and the world has too much of that already.

Landing

Church, in the words of Jackie DeShannon, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love, it’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.” And, looking down the barrel of 2024 and all the unknowns and opportunities that are contained within, we must make a choice. Will we be a church that is known by our love for one another? Will that love reflect the way Jesus loved his disciples? We we be known as humble? Compassionate? Patient? Forgiving? Grace giving?

Today, will you choose love? Will you hand out to your brothers and sisters in this church, what Christ has given so lavishly to you?