Serving My Neighbor

If only serving were that easy? As we continue in our sermon series, Neighboring, looking at how we can live out the great commandment of love your neighbor as yourself with our literal neighbors, today we are going to look at serving and the transformation that Jesus brings in both your neighbor and yourself through serving. We will get to that.

But first, serving isn’t always easy. If I tell you to just go home and serve your neighbor. That might be challenging. Much more challenging than something like praying for your neighbor or listening to them. Because there is a certain intimacy to serving. In order to serve someone, you have to know them - know what they need. And you have to be willing to sacrfice yourself, your time, and maybe even your pride in order to serve them. This becomes a real struggle when you think about the culture we live in. I’m sure you all have heard the phrase “The American Dream.” One way of defining it is, “The belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or their socio-economic status, can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone.” (Somer Anderson) Now whether you believe that is actually true or not, that is a foundational belief of our culture. That the ideal life is one of ascension. Moving upward. It starts as a kid. You are ascending from one grade to the next. And I remember what it was like being an 8th grader. You feel like the top dog. Like you are so much more mature less weird than those grades younger than you and all the adults around you agree with you, right adults? But then you ascend to high school, and now 8th graders? They are so last year! (See what I did there). And then you graduate and maybe you start working or maybe you go to college. But regardless, you keep ascending. You start your career. And what’s the whole point of your career? To ascend! To work hard, get promotion after promotion, and the rest of your life is dedicated to being productive, making a name for yourself and ascending as high as you can get. That’s a basic summary of the American Dream.

Now there is nothing inherently wrong with working hard and achieving a lot. We were created by God to use the gifts that He has given us. But notice why that mindest is going to make this call to serve your neighbor difficult. The word “serve” comes from the Latin word servire which literally means to be a servant or slave to someone. Doesn’t sound too great. Now put that in a culture where the purpose of your life is to ascend out of being lowly, then you are going to operate with a predisposition of not wanting to serve. “I am above serving them. I have more important things to do. Serving them won’t make much of a difference.” For many of us, the default for our lives is not serving our neighbors, and then we have to come up with enough of a compelling reason just to go out of our way to serve.

Now…let’s take that struggle that each one of us has to some degree or another, and let’s not leave it, but let’s bring it with us into John 13. Let’s let Jesus speak into that heart struggle that we have. The passage begins, John 13:1 “Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.”

This is one of the most significant moments in Jesus time on Earth. This last meal He was sharing with His disciples. And it says that he loved his disciples to the very end. That phrase is fascinating in the Greek because the same word translated as “end” is what Jesus speaks from the cross when He says “It is finished.” In a sense, this is saying that what is about to happen next is the fullness and most complete picture of His love. John 13:3–5 continues, “Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.” These verses are just incredible. First, Jesus knew that authority over everything had been given to him. There are many people who spend their entire lives trying to gain the power and authority over one specific thing - a business, a position, a status before others. Jesus has it all. Full power and complete authority over everything. He is at the top of the corporate ladder if you will. And how does he follow that up? “So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.” He does one of the lowest and most humiliating acts there were. He kneels down, grabs his disciples dirty stinky feet, and he begins washing them.

Imagine being the disciples in that moment? Watching God in the flesh wash your feet. We know how Peter felt. Like always, Peter voices his mind. John 13:8a “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Peter isn’t just trying to be difficult. He knows what this act meant. This was Jesus giving up his status and authority that He deserved and taking the lowly place meant for a servant. And Jesus knows that. John 13:8 Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” Unless I take the lowest possible place and wash you clean, you won’t belong to me.

It’s now that you are starting to see that this act of Jesus is so much bigger than a simple act of feet being made clean. Jesus' act of washing the disciples' feet was not simply a lesson in humility, but a powerful enacted parable of his entire mission. It’s who He is. It’s what He came to do, and it’s a foreshadow of what would come later that night - the greatest act of service that this world has ever seen. You want to know a pretty compelling reason to follow Jesus? It’s because no ruler, no government, no politician has ever had as much power as Jesus had, and simultaneously, no ruler, no government, no politician has ever given up that power and authority in total and complete service to others like Jesus did. Why are we drawn so much to servant leaders? Leaders that are humble and selfless? Because it is picture of who our God is. What kind of response does this invite from you and me?

John 13:12–15 “After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.” Jesus makes this abundantly simple and yet remarkably challenging. “Do as I have done to you”. It’s not optional. Do to others as Jesus has done to you. Serve and invest in your neighbors with the same intentionality and love that Jesus has shown to you. Why? 2 Reasons. Because they need it, and because you need it.

First, serving like Jesus impacts your neighbors. One of the greatest challenges that your neighbors face regarding having a relationship with Jesus is living in a culture where the reputation of Christianity - whether fair or unfair - is people who say a lot to their neighbor but do very little for their neighbor. The reputation of Christianity is a bunch of pompous, pious people who are sitting up here looking down on everyone else. This is why serving is so powerful. It shatters the illusion that you’re sitting in judgment from above, and while many in our world serve as equals, something extraordinary happens when you take the posture of Jesus and serve from beneath someone - radically, unconditionally, from a place of deep humility. That kind of service stands out. It leaves the person wondering, ‘Where does love like this come from?’ Could it be that God is waiting to spark that very question in the heart of one of your neighbors through you?

And second, serving like Jesus transforms your heart. It might be easy to look at this text and say, “Well, of course Jesus could serve his disciples like that. They were His closest friends! He loved them deeply. I’ve got neighbors I don’t know. I’ve got neighbors who are actively rude and mean to me!” Until you consider Judas. Until you imagine that moment as Jesus knelt down, grabbed his towel, and began washing the feet of Judas. Looking up into the eyes of the one who was going to betray him for monetary gain. You don’t think that was painful for Jesus? Knowing what was about to happen? Knowing the hurt this person was going to bring him? You see, we often wait for serving others to flow out of a loving heart towards that person. I’ll serve them once I love them enough. But what if serving is the very means to a loving heart? What if serving someone is the very thing that God is using to produce a love for them in you? I heard this phrase last week, “It’s hard to cast stones when you’re busy washing feet.” It’s hard to hate people who you are actively looking to serve.

So as you look at your neighboring grid - the eight neighbors living nearest you - which one could you take a step and serve this next week? This could be spontaneous or planned ahead of time. Start simple and be creative. You could bake cookies for someone. Offer to rake their leaves. If any of you live in my neighborhood, I’ll gladly let you. Maybe you can offer to babysit. Just like washing feet, they are such simple acts, and yet they can lead to profound impact as people begin to see Jesus through us. Let us pray.