The Parable of the Wedding Feast
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
Have you ever thought about the difference between 'humility' and 'humiliation'?
There is a significant difference.
Humility is the voluntary and willful choice to accept one’s place and position, whereas, humiliation is the forcing of an unwilling participant into their place or position.
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For the believer this carries great significance.
Are we willing to submit to Christ and the place and position of His kingdom that He chooses...
Humility!
OR are we constantly striving for our own desire only to be humiliated by the Holy Spirit as God’s will and purpose will not be foiled.
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The basic premise from Scripture has always been, Honor God and God will honor you!
And that right there, Beloved, will be the subject of our message today.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 14 and focus on verses 7 through 11.
Our message this morning is titled “The Parable of the Wedding Feast.”
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As you are turning to our passage today please keep in mind this fact...
Jesus will use a parable to help us understand one of the most important aspects of the Christian life...
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
1) The Place of Honor
2) The Shame
And...
3) The Humble
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
You are so great and mighty...
Who are we that You should even consider us...
Who are we is the whole of creation that You would pay attention to us in anyway.
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Thank You for Your patience in dealing with us...
Thank You for Your love for us that lead You to send Your Son to live and die for us.
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Help us to never take for granted the wonderful blessings that you shower us with...
Help us to walk faithfully at all time on the narrow road.
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And it is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,
8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him,
9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.
11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Place of Honor
1) The Place of Honor
Verse 7: Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,
Beloved, this parable that Jesus shares is actually the first of a set of three that He will be sharing back-to-back...
You see, Jesus delivers three parables while at the Pharisee’s house which is the current setting of this passage.
As you may recall, we first read that Jesus was dining at a Pharisee’s house back in Luke 14:1-6 which we covered last week...
That passage says:
1 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.
2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.
3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
4 But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.
5 And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”
6 And they could not reply to these things.
Now, this first parable is directed toward the Pharisee’s guests and we will cover that today while we study Luke 7–11...
The second parable was addressed to the Pharisee himself and we will cover that in Luke 12–14...
And the third parable is told to the entire gathering which we will cover in Luke 15–24).
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All three parables serve this one common call...
And that is a call to humility.
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Now, after instructing the Pharisees about the obligation to be compassionate on the Sabbath, Jesus turns to another problem:
Pride.
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His teaching results from watching the guests of the Pharisee head for the seats of honor.
Additionally, we notice that the tables are reversed from what Luke 14:1 says:
1 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.
Now, it is Jesus who is doing the watching here.
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So, let’s take a look at a key term we need to define in order to progress properly through our study...
The phrase “places of honor” are the best seats at the table...
Which would be the equivalent today of the “speaker’s table” which we have at some events.
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Now, these were prominent seats where attendees were highly visible and likely close to the host or other distinguished guests.
Precedence in seating was usually based on rank, reputation, or age.
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The Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Luke puts it this way:
“In his time the guests at a formal dinner reclined on couches, several on each one, leaning on their left elbows.
The seating was according to status.
The ‘head of the table’ was the couch at one end with other couches extending from it and facing each other like the arms of a ‘U.’
The important places, the places of ‘honor,’ were those nearest the head couch position.
If an important guest came late, someone might have to be displaced to make room for him.”
So, the U-shaped table had a three-person couch located on each prong of the table.
The host sat at the bottom of the U, in the middle between the two wings of the U;
The most honored seat would be to the left and the next honored seat would be to the right.
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Now this love of the Pharisees for the places of honor...
This was a common attitude that they had...
So much so, that Jesus addresses this issue head on in other parts of the Gospels...
Just take a look with me at Matthew 23:1–7, which says:
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat,
3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,
6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues
7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
Furthermore, I want you to realize that the religious leaders of Jesus day where far more concerned with the praise of mere men than the praise that would come from God if they followed Him instead...
A perfect illustration of this is found in the words recorded by John the Beloved...
Just take a look at John 12:42-43, which says:
42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
What was so sad about what we just read is that some of those in positions of authority actually believed what Jesus was preaching...
But they still chose the approval of man verses the approval of God.
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As sad as this attitude was...
It was not just limited to the religious leaders and those in authority...
We also see that initially, even Jesus own disciples seek glory for themselves as recorded in Luke 22:24-26:
24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.
25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.
26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.
In that same light, take a look at Matthew 18:1–5 which says:
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them
3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,
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So, as you can see from our review of Scripture...
A lack of humility is a major problem for all kinds of people...
However, to seek one’s own glory is to flirt with disaster...
And Jesus lays that out for us as He begins to share His parable of the wedding feast...
And that takes us to our second point.
2) The Shame
2) The Shame
Verses 8-9: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
Now this needs to be understood...
Jesus’ discussion has little to do with dinner etiquette.
What is happening here is that Jesus is calling for His followers to show humility in every aspect of life...
Jesus is indicating that we as His followers must put the needs of others first and act as a servant to all.
As pastor John MacArthur says:
“But Jesus was not merely advising the Pharisees on the proper etiquette for being a successful hypocrite.
In reality, His words were designed to picture those who, in a display of spiritual pride and self-righteous arrogance, clamor for the chief places in the kingdom of God, only to be sent by God, the host of heaven’s banquet, to the remotest place in His domain.”
So, Christ wants us as His followers not to seek our own glory or to lord our status over others...
Instead, we are to seek humility and the glory to God alone.
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Now, attempts to ignore Jesus’ command here is to put oneself in a position where we will experience shame...
As the wisdom found in Proverbs 25:6–8 says:
6 Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great,
7 for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. What your eyes have seen
8 do not hastily bring into court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame?
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Many who seek their own glory will be put to shame...
In the parable Jesus shared it will be shame and embarrassment for believing we were a more important guest than we really were...
However, the greater warning of this lesson is related to the shame one will feel at the Day of Judgement...
All those who are prideful and seek their own glory will not enter the Kingdom of God!
And, to be put to shame in that context is to miss out on eternal life and instead experience eternal punishment.
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So, Beloved, meditate on these words found in Proverbs 25:27:
27 It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.
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Instead, we are called by God to be humble like our Lord and Savior...
And that takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Humble
3) The Humble
Verses 10-11: But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Now, the phrase “will be exalted” implies being exalted by God at the final judgment.
As the New American Commentary on Luke says:
“In the parable the honor came from the host who publicly acknowledged the humble guest.
In the reality part of the parable the honor came from God, for the passive ‘will be honored’ is a divine passive.”
So, in the context of biblical Greek, the “divine passive” refers to a grammatical construction where a verb is used in the passive voice, but the implied agent of the action is God.
This structure is used to emphasize God's active role in an event, without explicitly stating who is doing the action.
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So, it is God who shames the proud...
And it is God who exalts the humble.
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Likewise, it is God who condemns the proud...
And it is God who gives saving grace to the humble.
As 1 Peter 5:5 says:
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
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Now Beloved, do not be surprised when those in our world who are first become last...
And when those who are last become first.
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In the first century the Pharisees where treated with the upmost respect as they were the religious elite of the day...
And on the other end you have tax collectors who were considered as the scum of the earth...
So, it was truly shocking when Jesus gave a parable where the one who is so despised by the culture is the one who is justified in the eyes of God.
Just look with me at Luke 18:9–14, which says:
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
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Being humble is a true mark of a believer...
That is why there are so many commands in Scripture to humble oneself...
And a great way to humble oneself is to not seek titles.
Instead of desiring others to serve you...
Take the initiative and serve others...
For to do that is to follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior.
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So, with that in mind, take a look at what this passage says as recorded in Matthew 23:8–12:
8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.
9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
11 The greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
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Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to consider the needs of others...
Especially those in the Body of Christ...
For Christ, our perfect example, came into our broken world to serve it as sacrifice for His followers...
And He did not seek to be serve like the true king that He is even though He is the King of Kings...
Just take a look at Mark 10:42–45, which says:
42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like you to consider this:
Robert Roberts writes about a fourth grade class in which the teacher introduced a game called “balloon stomp.”
A balloon was tied to every child's leg, and the object of the game was to pop everyone else's balloon while protecting one's own.
The last person with an intact balloon would win.
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The fourth graders in Roberts' story entered into the spirit of the game with vigor.
Balloons were relentlessly targeted and destroyed.
A few of the children clung to the sidelines like wallflowers at a middle school dance, but their balloons were doomed just the same.
The entire battle was over in a matter of seconds, leaving only one balloon inflated.
Its owner was, of course, the most disliked kid in the class.
It's hard to really win at a game like balloon stomp.
In order to complete your mission, you have to be pushy, rude and offensive.
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Roberts goes on to write that a second class was introduced to the same game.
Only this time it was a class of children with special needs.
They were given the same explanation as the first class, and the signal to begin was given.
But the game proceeded very differently.
Perhaps the instructions were given too quickly for children with learning disabilities to grasp them.
The one idea that got through was that the balloons were supposed to be popped.
So it was the balloons, not the other players, that were viewed as enemies. Instead of fighting each other, they began helping each other pop balloons.
One little girl knelt down and held her balloon carefully in place, like a holder for a field goal kicker. A little boy stomped it flat.
Then he knelt down and held his balloon for her.
It went on like this for several minutes until all the balloons were vanquished, and everybody cheered.
Everybody won.
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Who got the game right, and who got the game wrong?
In our world, we tend to think of another person's success as one less opportunity for us to succeed.
There can only be one top dog, one top banana, one big kahuna.
If we ever find ourselves in that enviable position, we will fight like mad to maintain our hold on it.
A lot of companies fail to enjoy prolonged success because the people in charge have this “balloon stomp” mentality.
In the church, the rules change.
Jesus Christ gets top billing.
We're just here to serve his purposes, and we do that most effectively by elevating others and humbling ourselves.
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So, keep the words of Philippians 2:3–5 on your heart, Beloved:
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
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Now, as we live lives in service to others...
We are reminded of Jesus’ ultimate act of service...
His service of laying down His life for those who do not deserve it...
And it is now about Christ’s sacrifice that we bring our attention to.
Communion
Communion
As we begin our communion service, I want to invite every genuinely born-again believer in the room to partake in this act together.
If you do not yet know the Lord and do not have a relationship with Him...
Or if you are under church discipline from this church or another church...
Then I will ask that you wait until you have resolved your issue before participating.
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As you came in, you should have picked up a communion packet if you are joining us.
This has both the bread and the juice in a convenient package.
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If you have not received one of these, please raise your hand, and someone will get you one.
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Before we join in communion together, I would like us to consider John 13:12–15:
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.
Greg Morse, who is a staff writer for Desiring God, has this to say about this passage:
What thoughts raced through the angels’ minds as they beheld their Creator stoop down to wash human feet?
How much those burning seraphim must have wondered.
They themselves blushed to expose such creatureliness before their King — worshiping the Son around the throne with feet wing-covered.
What did they think now to watch the Holy One take water and clean those calloused, sweaty, unbeautiful toes?
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Did they sing with the psalmist, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
Did they sympathize with Peter’s astonished “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
Did they see something right in Peter’s insistent “You shall never wash my feet.”?
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From heaven’s view, this moment must have outstripped Jesus’s many signs and wonders thus far.
The angels had stood by when the Son created the world, when “the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.”
What was multiplying bread compared to speaking the land and wheat into existence?
The calming of a storm to the very creation of seas and wind and waves with a mere word?
They already knew their God had power to raise the dead; they knew him as the God of all life.
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But this sight was different.
The King of kings played the part of slave of slaves.
Had their eyes seen anything like it since he took on human flesh?
Armies of angels watched their Captain — the eternal God from the Father’s right hand — bend before his creatures to wash their feet, hours before those feet fled in fear.
Here bowed an act beyond omnipotence, an act Matthew Henry named a “miracle in humility.”
Former wonders proved he was God;
This proved what kind of God he was.
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Oh, to see this act as angels did.
Or better, to see this act as God does.
Thankfully, the Holy Spirit moved John’s pen to capture it...
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For years, this is how I (and perhaps you) recalled the spectacle:
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Jesus . . . rose from supper.
He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.
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.
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We remember merely the external act.
Jesus washed feet, and so should we.
But how much better is the Bible’s telling than our remembering....
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During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 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, rose from supper . . . and began to wash his disciples’ feet.
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The Holy Spirit, who searches even the mind of God, gives John insight into the very thoughts of Christ just before he bent low to serve.
We get an open window into Jesus’s meditations of soul.
These cannot be irrelevant details.
John will not allow Jesus’s hands to wash until we know what sceptered him for service.
The Spirit gifts us with the psychology of Jesus’s heavenly servanthood as he foreshadowed the coming cross...
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Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands . . . rose from supper . . . and began to wash the disciple’s feet.
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Christ’s service, here and from the beginning, was not an impoverished service.
He did not consider that he had nothing in his hands, or had nothing better to fill them with than human feet.
He never needed from his disciples; thus, he could give richly to his disciples.
A rich King condescended.
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That night he prays “for those whom you have given me”:
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I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me.
I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
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The Father had given him a people.
Later that evening, he steps in front of them at his arrest to fulfill his promise: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”
He was no hired hand — he laid down his life for his sheep.
He had to, if they would be saved.
He went low to his knees to wash his Bride’s feet — and down into the depths to raise her to himself and to the Father in heaven.
“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”
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During dinner, Jesus’s thoughts fed upon his future with his Father.
A few verses earlier, John summarizes the whole brutal cross with a most beautiful phrase:
“Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father.”
Jesus viewed his coming death, even the most horrific, shameful death, as the ferry to bring him home to his Father.
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Christ, our great Master and filth-washer, has left us an example — not just in his actions, but in his considerations.
In the psychology of the God-man’s service, he shows us that we too must serve from knowing our fullness and our future in him.
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We often do not serve because we think ourselves wanting.
To serve others, we believe, increases our deficits.
Yet consider that in Christ, all things are yours.
Remove your outer robe, and you have not removed God’s favor.
Tie the servant’s towel around your waist, and you have not forfeited your room in your Father’s house.
Take in your hands the mud-stained, smelly, unlovely feet of fellow saints and sinners, and you shall still take hold of your place next to the Son to reign.
What can separate us from the love of Christ?
While you and I are enveloped in such blessing — the least of which is experienced now — whose feet can we not wash?
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Peter writes of the cross, “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.”
Born of God, our destiny is to be with God, forever.
What service is too low when you consider a future so high?
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You are rich in God now, and richer still as you head to God, your full inheritance.
Whom can we not serve along the road to such a glory?
The angels saw the Son wash human feet:
May they see such beautiful service replicated by his people throughout this selfish world.
May they see our satisfaction in God performed in our service of others.
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So, Beloved...
Let’s all take a moment right now in silent prayer to thank the Lord for all He did for us...
(MOMENT OF SILENCE)
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Tom, will you pray before we partake in the bread:
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The Word of God says in Luke 22:19:
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
(TAKE THE BREAD)
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Adrian, will you pray before we partake in the cup:
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The Word of God says in Luke 22:20:
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
(TAKE THE CUP)
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With that, we conclude the communion portion of our service.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray...
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Heavenly Father...
If anyone hearing this message right now does not know You in a saving way...
Then give them the desire to seek the things that You seek...
And may they repent and surrender their lives to You.
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I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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For those hearing this message who already know You...
Remind us of the importance of staying humble...
And take away any desire to seek our own glory...
For the only glory we should seek is Yours, Lord.
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Again, I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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It is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
To God be all the glory.
Amen.
