Serve

We are in a series of sermons entitled “Love Your Neighbor.” We have been focusing on how we have been blessed by God for us to be a blessing to those around us. The principles we are looking at spell out the word BLESS.

So far, we have seen the importance of beginning with prayer, listening, and eating with those that God has chosen for us to bless. You can find each of these sermons on our You Tube channel.

This week is the first “S” which is service. Our scripture comes from John 13:1-17. The words will be on the screen.

13 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. 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.”

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.

Please pray with me…

Martin Luther King Jr. in his sermon “Three Dimensions of a Complete Life” made this statement “Light has come into the world, and every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?”

This quote offers us a good place for us to begin our examination on the importance of serving those around us. We have been blessed, and we are to be a blessing to others. We do this when we are willing to serve those around us.

(Transition)

Those of us who are followers of Jesus call him what? Our Lordand Savior. We tend in modern times to focus on the idea of Jesus being our Savior. We like the fact that Jesus has saved us from the weight and power of our sin. He has removed guilt through his grace.

The portion of the statement that he is our Lord is often much harder for us to choose to live out. A Lord was someone who a person under his reign was entitled to serve. This means that we are supposed to serve Jesus. This means that we should be listening and responding to what we hear from God.

We are blessing those around us when we are willing to serve them. We are showing those around us the love that God has for us and for them through our willingness to be the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus.

Jesus showed us throughout scripture what it means to serve those that we meet. He allows us to view his words and actions as an example of the words and actions that we should choose to use. We have an example for us to follow. That example is Jesus.

(Transition)

It could be said that Jesus caused a paradigm shift to occur within Jewish society. A paradigm shift is a fundamental change in an approach or underlying assumption. Jesus attempted to make a change in how the Jewish people viewed those around them.

The book we are using entitled “Bless” by Dave and Jon Ferguson offers this example of another paradigm shift.

By the year1900, the Field of Physics had taken incredible strides forward. In fact, the science had made so much progress that there was a growing group of physicists that thought they had nearly exhausted its limits as a discipline.

One of these physicists, Lord Kelvin, was a keynote speaker at the annual assembly for the ‘British Association for the Advancement of Science.’ And yes, I’m sure this event was absolutely as exciting as it sounds at least to most of us.

Lord Kelvin took the podium surrounded by a group of people who were convinced of their own brilliance and made a statement that is now infamous. He said, “There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.” You could call this Lord Kelvin’s drop the mic moment,

But here is what makes his statement infamous. Five years later Albert Einstein bursts onto the scene. He publishes a paper on “Special Relativity” that turned everything that physicists were so sure of on its head.

Einstein’s work literally changed the way we understand our world. For two hundred years the science of physics was going one way and after Einstein’s paper it was going in the opposite direction.

(Transition)

But, as revolutionary as Einstein’s research was, the paradigm shift we are looking at today is even more astounding. It’s a paradigm shift that is going to re-frame an even older misconception…a misconception that has been plaguing humanity since the Garden of Eden.

Today we’re going to see Jesus take the idea that the higheryou rise, the more power you have, the more wealth you accumulate means the more leverage you have to get others to serve you. Jesus is going to take that idea and turn it on its head.

Jesus is going to take that paradigm, a paradigm that most people in our world still seem to be living out today, and he is going to flip it upside down. Today’s scripture has Jesus in the upper room with his disciples.

It was common for someone to wash the feet of those entering a house. This would have been the responsibility of a slave or the person who was considered lowest in attendance. Washing feet was a gross job!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m glad to point it out…Feet can be nasty! And 1stcentury feet were even nastier! Just imagine…no nail clippers, no pedicures, no socks, no shoes, sand everywhere…you get the point. Disgusting!

(Transition)

For this meal, the disciples would recline at a table and sit on the floor. All those nasty feet, right there in your face. Can you also imagine how awkward it will be when the disciples realized no one was there to wash their feet. They may have been looking around expecting someone else to do this gross disgusting responsibility.

No one in attendance at the meal believed that this was their job. Meaning that no one that was there believed that they were less important than others that were in attendance. All the disciples were unwilling to lower themselves below the rest of the disciples.

They each believed they were above a task that was this demeaning. The person who would have bent down to wash the feet of the other disciples would be admitting that they were the lowest of their fellow students.

But things became really awkward, because Jesus…their Leader, their Rabbi, their Lord…takes his shirt off, ties an apron around his waist, and starts washing their feet. It wasn’t just the grossness of the task that left them stunned; it was also the shame.

(Transition)

Keep in mind; this was an honor and shame culture. Protecting your name, your reputation, your dignity was of critical importance. Your honor was kind of like your social credit rating. The higher your honor score, the more privilege and prestige you enjoyed. If you had a high honor score, other people were expected to serve you.

Let me give you a more modern-day example. Think of someone in power, someone well beyond you in wealth, status, and fame. Now imagine them coming to your house for dinner. You might be a little stressed about having them in your home, but you’re also honored. Imagine if after the meal, this person quietly gets up, goes to your bathroom, and starts scrubbing your toilet.

Would that make you uncomfortable? What Jesus did in that upper room the night before his crucifixion was not just some kind gesture, it was meant to catalyze a seismic paradigm shift. Jesus becomes our example. Power, prestige, importance, none of that matters to God. None of this should affect our willingness to serve.

(Transition)

Peter didn’t fully understand what Jesus was doing but what he did know is that between him and Jesus he was the one who should be performing the task of washing the feet. There was no doubt where he ranked when he compared himself to Jesus.

But do you notice he does not volunteer to wash feet, he only believes that he is unworthy to have Jesus wash his feet. We can sometimes through our actions, cause a paradigm shift to occur among those around us.

We can lead people to decide that it makes no sense for us to serve them. That might lead those around us to ask us why we are willing to do what we are willing to do for them. Our answer is easy; Jesus is our example. We find in scripture that we should be willing to serve anyone around you.

(Transition)

Another reason that Peter possibly responded the way that he did is that in a blessing and shame culture when his Rabbi washes feet, Peter’s reputation would also take a hit. He didn’t want his Rabbi to wash his feet because he knew the shame placed upon Jesus would eventually be placed upon him.

Jesus followed up his actions with these words to his disciples: “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.”

(Transition)

We should choose to serve people because of who they are and what they mean to God instead of focusing on how they are viewed by the world. Jesus is making this point, if I can serve you there is no one that you should be unwilling to serve.

Our first reading should make this point even more clear for us to understand. Paul states that he has “made himself a slave to everyone.” He is stating that there is no one that he considers himself to be above.

He desires to be the hands and feet to those that he meets no matter what their position in life. Social hierarchy should not exist to us who are followers of Jesus. There is no one that Paul considered himself too good to serve.

The scripture continues by pointing out the importance of meeting people where they are and serving them as they need served. We have spoken of this before. The church is known for helping people the way we want to help them instead of the way that they want help.

(Transition)

Paul recognizes that someone who is Jewish may need or desire assistance in a different way than someone who was a Gentile, or who is not Jewish. He sees the differences but also desires to treat them the same.

Christian, atheist, Muslim, Hindu, none of these labels would matter to Paul therefore they should not matter to us. Rich, poor, female, male, , gay or not, Democrat, Republican; none of these social norms should affect our willingness to serve those we meet.

Paul meant people not to change them but to be a blessing to them. Christians often want people to become Christians before they even believe. They will want those outside the faith to follow the same guidelines that we think they should follow even though we often fail to follow them ourselves.

(Transition)

We should instead choose to love all people as they are. God loves the imperfect. We know this because God loves us. What doesJesus say, “the one without sin should cast the first stone.” None of usare without sin.

God loves each person that walks the earth despite our weaknesses and failures. We should choose to love those around us as they are instead of trying to have them become who we want them to be. We shouldremove our expectations and focus on loving like Jesus.

Paul says, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” We don’t listen. We don’t eat with people. We don’t serve those around us because we want to convert them.We listen, eat with, and serve so that we can be a blessing to them.

But guess what, what may happen after doing these things is that we will be asked the question “why?” We then may get to as we will speak of more next week get to tell them our story of a God that loves us and also loves them as they are.

(Transition)

When we had spoken of the previous practices that form the acronym BLESS we have offered possible excuses for not beginning with prayer, Listening, and eating with those that God has called for us to bless. I think today’s scripture removes any excuse that we could make.

If our Lord and Savior, if the one who came down to die for our sins. If he can come down and serve, then we should be willing to follow his example. We should accept that a paradigm shift has taken place, and we should be willing to bless others because of the blessing given to us by God.

Jesus set aside his crown and put on an apron. Do you know what motivated him to do that? It was right there in the beginning of the story. It’s easy to miss:

“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.”

This man had hours left to live, and what does he do? He loved humanity to the end, setting aside his crown to put on an apron. It was love that moved Jesus to stoop low before his disciples. It was the love of Jesus that frames this entire story.

This is the love that’s been changing the world for the last 2,000 years. We get to continue the story. We get to be the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus to those around us. We are blessed by God so that we can be a blessing to those we meet.

Let us pray…