Serve

Manuscript Template

Title:  Serve

Focus Statement:  

Function Statement:  

Tweetable Phrase:  

Main Text:  John 13:1-17

Supporting Text:  Matthew 20:20-28, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 6:27-36, John 21:15-25, Matthew 26:22-25

Redemptive Closure (point to Jesus):  

Benediction:  Galatians 5:13-14

WELCOME

Good morning!!! My name is Ryan Hanson, and I have the honor of serving here at The Light KC as the lead pastor. I’m so glad you’re here with us.

‌Welcome to those joining us online. We hope you're doing well and hope to see you in person in the coming weeks.

And a special welcome to those joining us for the first time. We’re so glad you chose to be here.

ME/INTRO - Tension

What would you do if you only had one day to live?

I looked up the most common bucket list items for people in the United States, and they fell into three categories.

Places people wanted to go

Redwood forest in northern California

Las Vegas

Alamo

Europe

Australia

Events people wanted to experience

Marti Gras in New Orleans

Indy 500

Kentucky Derby

Ball drop in NYC on New Year’s Eve

Tailgate an NFL game

Things people wanted to do

Bike across the Golden Gate Bridge

Camp in the Grand Canyon

Drive Route 66

Visit a volcano in Hawaii

See Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone

My bucket list is a little different

Complete a 100 Mile running race and get a belt buckle

Go skydiving and complete an IronMan with Ellie

Walk both my daughter’s down the aisle

Watch Wyatt accomplish all the big dreams he has

Watch my kids grow in their faith and be there to see where the Holy Spirit leads them

Grow old, tackling life’s adventures with Andrea

WE - Tension

I don’t know about you, but I find bucket lists interesting.

They shine a light on what people value.

I value adventure and shared experiences with people I care about.

What’s on your bucket list?

What does the items on your list say about what you value?

Today we’re going to continue our Discipleship Series by looking at a passage in scripture that tells us what was on Jesus’ bucket list and what Jesus valued.

Because as disciples of Jesus Christ, we all should value what Jesus valued.

And Jesus valued SERVICE.

To set the foundation of our discussion today (as we have done every week this series), we’re defining a discipleship as:

Discipleship is the process of slowly giving over pieces of your life to God, allowing the Holy Spirit to shape and mold you into a person with a Christ-Like character.

We’re in the 4th week of our series on discipleship.

Attend - learn facts about who Jesus was and what Jesus did (discipleship starts in the HEAD)

Believe - put faith in Jesus as your LORD and savior based on what you know (discipleship moves to the HEART)

Grow - start living out your faith, applying what you learned

Serve - allow God to work through you to serve those hurting around you (discipleship is lived out through your HANDS)

Give - support others doing Kingdom work by giving back to God what He gave you to steward

Invite - offer the life change you’ve experienced to others by inviting them into the community

I’ve had quite a few conversations with people about the order of these steps. I didn’t steal these steps from anywhere. I looked at many different discipleship pathways that are out there and (with a lot of prayer) put this one together specifically for our church.

I agree with many of you that the order is flexible, but only on the second half of the path. As the Holy Spirit shapes and molds us, serving, giving, and inviting others can happen in any order, but they all flow out of the first half of the pathway.

If our service, giving, and inviting doesn’t come from our knowledge of, faith in, and growing relationship with Jesus we have a problem.

Faith is not about what we DO, it is about WHO we FOLLOW.

That’s why the DOING steps of our discipleship pathway have to come after the FOLLOWING steps.

My prayer for this series, is that each and every one of us hears from the Holy Spirit at least once and chooses to take that next best step toward Christ.

This week, we’re going to talk about STEP 4: SERVE

We’re going to talk about. How God wants to partner with us to do His work on Earth now?

Today we’re going to look the story where Jesus shares the Passover Meal with his disciples and through the act of washing their feet, teaches the disciples a lesson on what He valued and how He wants us to follow Him in SERVING others.

If you missed the previous messages, please feel free go to our website, TheLightKC.org, to catch up.

As we begin, please turn with me to [John 13:1-17: Sanctuary Bible Page # 874]

We’ll have the scripture on the screen, but if you have a Bible with you, or Bible app on your phone, I’d encourage you to turn to the passage and follow along. There is nothing that replaces having God’s word in your hand.

AND... if you don’t have a Bible, we have Bibles under the seats. If you don’t have a bible and would like one, please come see me after the service and I’ll get you one you can keep.

Let's dive in.

GOD - Text

John 13:1 NIV

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

I’m not sure I can comprehend how hard it must have been for Jesus to be both Fully GOD and Fully HUMAN while He was on earth.

Jesus not only had to go through everything we have to go through as people; love / heart ache, joy / pain, temptation / doubt, etc.

Being FULLY GOD, Jesus knew what was going to happen.

He knew that he was going to be betrayed by Judas

He knew he was going to be arrested

He knew he was going to be beaten

He knew he was going to be falsely convicted

He knew he was going to be crucified, and die one of the worst deaths the Romans could conceive

Yet, knowing all this, Jesus’ BUCKET LIST was vastly different than what mine, and maybe yours would be

Knowing it was His last day on earth, Jesus bucket list was to:

Fulfill His mission from the Father to save humanity from Sin

Spend the night serving His friends

Let’s be honest, our bucket lists are mostly selfish. At least mine is. It’s all about what I want to do, what I want to accomplish, and what I think would be fun.

Jesus’ bucket list is completely focused on others, what He can do with His remaining time to make sure His friends, the disciples, are fully equipped for what’s to come.

And Jesus fulfills His bucket list, in a way that even surprised the Disciples.

Continuing in John 13:2-5:

John 13:2–5 NIV

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

For context, washing feet was not a task anyone would ever volunteer for.

Back in the 1st century people walked everywhere, the roads were filthy. They were covered in dirt and animal waste, think of the road after a parade.

And with those dirty roads, everyone wore sandals. So their feet got coated in everything.

It was customary when you went somewhere for the host to offer water for you to wash your feet.

Or in some cases the host would have their lowest slave wash their guest’s feet.

Washing feet was not something that people did for each other.

YET

Jesus chose to wash the disciple’s feet

And He knew who He was, He was not a slave

Jesus knew His...

Origin - He came from God

Destiny - He was going to return to God in Heaven

Authority - the Father had put all things under His power

AND

Knowing all that, Jesus humbled himself, took the place reserved for the lowest of slaves, and SERVED His disciples

Matthew 20:28 NIV

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

And in the middle of this selfless, humble act that Jesus was using to teach His disciple’s a lesson...

...Peter completely misses it.

John 13:6–9 NIV

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Throughout the Gospels, Peter was always the disciple that spoke first, thought second.

He regularly had his foot in his mouth and found himself missing the point. One time Jesus even called him Satan for how badly he missed the point.

But in this case, I think we need to give Peter some slack. Peter and John were responsible for arranging the Passover meal, and realistically could have felt pretty embarrassed that they forgot to provide the water for everyone to wash their feet. Maybe when Jesus started washing feet, Peter simply realized his mistake and overcompensated, feeling bad Jesus was doing something he should have taken care of.

BUT...as Jesus always does, He uses this as a teaching moment.

Jesus’ washing of the disciple’s feet is a picture of salvation.

When Jesus says “You don’t realize now what I am doing”, He’s giving them a picture of Jesus entire mission on earth.

As part of the triune God, Jesus spent eternity sitting on His throne in heaven, being worshipped 24/7 by angels

He sees our dirt / sins / need of cleaning

Jesus gets up off His royal throne in Heaven, takes off his royal robe, dresses himself as a servant (human baby in a manger)

Jesus serves humanity for 33 years

He serves us to the very end, by pouring his blood out, washing away our sins, so anyone who would believe in Him would be made clean in the eyes of God

He then put his royal robes back on, went to heaven, sat next to the Father, and continues to intercede for us to this day

Jesus didn’t just serve the disciples for 33 years while on earth.

Jesus greatest act of service was sacrificing Himself on the cross to pay the price for our sins.

My sins.

Your sins.

Even though none of us deserve it.

Because Jesus knows every one of our sins, and yet CHOSE to pay the cost for them anyway.

John 13:10–11 NIV

Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

What I find humbling is Jesus washed all of the disciple’s feet.

Knowing what each and every one of them was about to do, Jesus still washed their feet.

Judas was about to betray Him to the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling body)

All of the disciples were about to flee when the Jesus was arrested by the Roman soldiers and Jewish leaders

Peter was about to publicly deny knowing him three times

Thomas was about to doubt the resurrection

Yet knowing all this...

Knowing that each and every one of His best friends for the last 3 years were about to betray him...

Jesus served them.

Jesus lived out His teaching in Luke 6:27

Luke 6:27 NIV

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

If you ever think you’re too far gone for Jesus to welcome you back with open arms, you don’t know Jesus.

We are called to serve everyone, no matter what type of person they are, what they’ve done, or what they are about to do

Jesus drives this lesson home with the disciples.

John 13:12–17 NIV

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

We are called to follow Jesus’ example.

Because that’s what discipleship is...

Doing what Jesus did, being who Jesus was, having a character that matches that of Jesus.

Jesus asked His disciples to follow Him, and He asks the same of us

Yet...the disciple’s didn’t get it.

In the entire retelling of the events of that night, not one of the disciples reciprocated Jesus’ act by offering to wash Jesus’ feet.

And doesn’t that sum up a harsh truth about all of us

Everyone says they want to serve, until they have to get their hands dirty.

Peter didn’t get it until after the resurrection.

Remember, during Jesus trial, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times.

Jesus was then crucified, buried, and rose to life again on the third day.

Peter had given up and gone back to his pre-Jesus profession of fishing

In John 21:1-25, Jesus find Peter, guides him to a miraculous catch of fish, and after sharing a meal on the beach has a conversation with him.

John 21:15–19 NIV

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

It is here with Peter that Jesus finishes the lesson He started on that Passover night by washing the disciple’s feet.

Loving Jesus means that we serve His children.

As disciples, we are called to serve.

Not to earn anything, but serve out of the Love that we have for Jesus.

We serve others because we know what Jesus has already done for us.

We know the price that Jesus paid to save us from our sins, and out of the love that we have received, we can’t help but share it with others.

We can’t help paying it forward.

John Wesley, the man who started the Methodist denomination, that we (as Wesleyan’s) come from put it this way.

“The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness”

This SOCIAL HOLINESS, John Wesley was referring to belief that personal faith MUST lead to social actions.

To John Wesley, living a holy life requires both person piety (not sinning) AND active engagement in supporting and improving the community and the world.

As Wesleyan’s we believe that Christians cannot live isolated lives, we need to be engaged in and actively working to help others, improving our communities, and advocating for social justice.

YOU - Takeaway

So I ask you...

Who do you serve?

What you want to do

What you want to accomplish

What you think would be fun

Or...

Knowing what Jesus has done for you, what you have been forgiven of, the price that was paid for your freedom from the shackles of sin, do you pass it forward by serving others?

No matter who they are

No matter what they’ve done

No matter how inconvenient

Many of you serve regularly, here at the church, and out in the community, and for that I want to personally say THANK YOU.

The Light KC would not be the place it is without everyone who shares their gifts, talents, and passions with the rest of us.

From greeters, to those who manage the cafe, to people who field questions at the info desk, to those to help shepherd our kids and students, to those to run tech, to those who lead worship, to those who lead groups, to those who clean, to those who process the offering and pay the bills, to the many of you who came over the last few months to help paint the second and third floors.

And to the many who have served outside the church, helping at Habitat for Humanity, adopting a family with Single Mom KC, mentoring a child at Apache, or helping to fulfill needs with CarePortal.

You all make a huge difference. THANK YOU.

And if you don’t yet serve, and don’t know where to begin.

You can jump into any of the areas I just listed by signing up on the app.

NEXT STEPS

VOLUNTEER

Fill out the form that outlines where you feel God is leading you to serve, and we’ll work to get you plugged in.

WE / JESUS - Redemptive Close - Call to Action

But I want to end today with a warning that Jesus gave during the last supper that we previously skipped over.

Please turn back with me to John 13:2...

John 13:2 NIV

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

A few verses later in John 13:26-27

John 13:26–27 NIV

Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”

Judas betrayed Jesus to the Jewish Rulers.

The devil entered him.

And this is one of the most sober warnings in the bible.

Because...

Judas followed Jesus for 3 years

Judas was part of Jesus’ inner circle; one of the 12 disciples

Judas in today’s language was a leader within the church, he was the treasurer

Judas saw miracles - even having the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 happen in his hands

If anyone should have been completely sold out for Jesus it was Judas

But...

From the text, Judas never lost his salvation...he never had it

Even after everything Judas had been through with Jesus, he never knew Jesus as LORD

In Matthew when Jesus prophesied that one of His disciples would betray Him, the Bible says...

Matthew 26:22–25 NIV

They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?” Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

To Judas, Jesus was just a great teacher, who fell short of his expectations to overthrow the Roman oppression of the Jewish people.

Judas had an idea of what the SAVIOR was going to be and Jesus didn’t measure up to his expectations

Judas participated for 3 years with the disciples, but never BELIEVED

And that’s the warning for all of us...

Participation doesn’t guarantee salvation

We can ATTEND church every week...

We can SERVE within the church ministries and throughout the community

BUT...

If we don’t BELIEVE in Jesus as our LORD and SAVIOR, we won’t be saved

Because DOING “the right things” doesn’t matter if we don’t

KNOW Jesus as our LORD and SAVIOR

So should we serve within the church...YES

Should we serve within the community...YES

Should we support those who serve globally...YES

But, order matters.

We serve because of our RELATIONSHIP with Jesus, and the work of the HOLY SPIRIT within us to shape us to be more and more like JESUS.

SO...

Where is God calling you to serve right now?

If you have your resolution sheets from last time, this week I challenge you to pray through the next two spaces.

How does God want you to serve your FAMILY?

How does God want you to serve your COMMUNITY?

Write them down.

Tape them to your bathroom mirror and pray through them every day.

Let’s be a church that doesn’t serve because we feel obligated to, but serves because we have such a strong relationship with Jesus that there is nothing else we’d want to do than work with God to bring more of His Kingdom to earth right now.

PRAYER 

Will you join me in prayer...

SPIRITUAL RESOLUTION SHEETS

FAMILY

COMMUNITY

WHITE BUCKET

SONG 

As we enter into our final song, I want to open the steps up front as an altar to anyone who needs God this week. The steps are open for you to pray to the God who is with you, who loves you, you wants to give you His peace.

‌

You may feel a hand on your shoulder as I or one of the elders join you in prayer.

BENEDICTION 

Galatians 5:13–14 NIV

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

This week...

Let’s take an inventory of who we are serving

Let’s stop chasing selfish bucket list items...chasing what we want to do, what we want to accomplish, and what we think would be fun.

But, out of our BELIEF in WHO Jesus was and WHAT Jesus has already done for us, let’s follow His lead, and SERVE.

Let’s serve everyone, no matter who they are, what they’ve done, or how inconvenient it is for us

Let’s join God in bringing His Kingdom to earth now

Who is God calling you to serve this week...Let’s listen to the call and ACT.

Quick reminder...

Digging Deeper Bible Study - Wednesday at 6 PM - Programming for all ages

If you’re new, please stop by our info desk, or see me. We’d love to say “hi” and get you know you a bit better.

I hope you have a great week.

Go in peace.

You are dismissed.

DISCIPLESHIP QUESTIONS (download into APP)

How does understanding Jesus' bucket list challenge your own priorities and values?

How might your relationship with Jesus influence your willingness to serve others?

Reflect on a time you served someone. How did that experience impact you?

How do you think Jesus' act of washing the disciples' feet could inspire you to act differently around your friends?

What are some excuses you might have for not serving others, and how can you overcome them in light of Jesus' teaching?

In what ways can you reflect Jesus' example of service in your daily life?

What specific action can you take this week to serve someone in need, following Jesus' example?

Can you identify areas in your life where the Holy Spirit may be prompting you to serve? What will you do about it?

SWhat does serving others look like in your school or community?

How can you incorporate acts of service into your friendship circles?