The antidote to disunity is...

On the heart of Jesus

Last week we read the longest recorded prayer of Jesus, as can be found in john 17. We looked at Jesus’s heartfelt desire for unity to reign in the church, in our hearts and in the world that we interact with. A unity between God and Us, A unity within the church, and a unity with the wolrd.

You will remember me telling the story of the night that Jesus was arrested and how Peter was so quick to rush for the sword, in the temple garden - cutting off the ear of Malthus the High Priests servant and how before Jesus could heal hurting humanity he had to stop a sword swinging disciple.

I mentioned what a normal bunch the disciples were, with their infighting, their ambitions, their family squabbles and how they often the did not meet the expectations that we as Christians some two thousand years later seem to have applied to them. Seeing them as some form of ‘superhuman christian’

I find it kind of liberating that these 12 were so much like me and I suspect like you. We hold the apostles up to be something amazing and in some respects they were. They were walking so close to Jesus, they were his friends, his pupils and they experience his power and his glory. After his death they encountered and were empowered by the Holy Spirit to do signs, and wonders and to take this good news that is Jesus - the source of hope and salvation to the nations.

But when Jesus was alive they were kind of normal, in fact they at times were quite clueless.

I take great comfort from that fact. There are lots of times that I have not got a clue what I am doing. But the same Holy Spirit that empowered the disciples is available to each of us when we rely on God.

That is kind of Amazing.

It is really easy to elevate the disciples to something akin to super heroes to people that we could never aspire to be, in doing so we downplay the Dynamis power of the Holy Spirit.

We seem to form the opinion that all the amazing things the apostles did was 90% the person and 10% the power of God. When in reality it was the power of God despite the imperfections of the person.

The Holy Spirit empowered them to do Amazing things not because of who they were but because of their availability to be be used by God.

The is empowering and some what scary. The only thing that stands in the way of each of us being used by God in amazing ways to affect the people around us is is out availability to be used. It is not our abilities that make us available but our attitudes.

The disciples were not skilled

You know the disciples were not skilled at life. Littered throughout the gospels are times when Jesus told stories to pass on wisdom about the Kingdom of God to the people who flocked to him, we call them parables.

Jesus would tell a story maybe about Sheep and Goats, or Seed falling on good land, weedy land or the path and the people he told it to would get it. Time after time the disciples didn’t get it and booked themselves into after school ‘booster classes’

“Hey Jesus, that story you told earlier, at the lake. You know the one that thousands of people heard and the went off nodding and praising God - What was it about? tell us what it meant.

In many ways I think I most of you are more life skilled than the disciples.

Don’t believe me?

Let me ask you a question, who arranged a meal this week?

there you go, you are more skilled than the disciples. After three years of living with Jesus they couldn’t even arrange a supper.

Luke 22:7–9 NLT

7 Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.” 9 “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him.

I have ordered curries with my iphone. They couldn’t even arrange a supper without divine guidance.

Luke 22:10–14 NIV

10 He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.” 13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. 14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.

Pick up on men not fetching water.

their lack of skills the disciples had was made up for by the power that is in Christ.

The disciples had attitude.

It was as another meal that we see an event that was clearly on Jesus heart as he prayed for his disciples and believers in John 17.

The account is in John 13

Jesus and his disciples were in an upper room having supper. Now it was the custom of the day that you would not wear you sandals inside the house.

There was a real good reason for that you see the roads of the time were not paved. The polite interpretation of this was that they were dusty. The reality of the situation gives even more impetus to not wearing your shoes indoors. The roads of the time would have been congested not with cars but with other modes of transport. Transport who’s emissions did not float in the air like a puff of smoke but instead drop to the ground.

Over multiple years the roads would be squidgy in the wet and dusty in the dry, but whatever the weather they were in reality an open sewer, the only difference would be if it was wet you got donkey pollution squishing through the gaps in your sandals like a play-dough machine and when it was dry, dried camel waste being carried on the wind to give you a fake tan not to be proud of.

It didn’t matter how good your sandals were it would still get on your feet. It doesn’t matter how careful you walk the roadways of life you're going to get some debris from the journey on you and you need to be a part of a group of believers that know how to wash away the dirt.

It was customary for sandals to be removed and feet washed so you did not bring the mess into the room. The lowest servant would have been assigned to carry our the washing.

it is clear from the passage that this had not happened. Jesus had sat through the meal, with the stinky, poo encrusted feet of the other disciples next to him, with the stench of life outside permitting his meal. He gave you get them every opportunity to be the one who washed the feet.

Maybe they were thinking:

It not my turn I did it last time

Or

I’m too important, I’m going to sit at the right hand of God, my mum has asked

Or

I’m not doing it I’m the older brother

Or

I’ve already organised the food,

Or

I’m too busy

Or

Not one will notice if that job isn’t done,

Jesus would be aware of these undercurrents within his followers. It would be easy to see these as excuses but i think Jesus saw them as the divisions that break unity.

Every church is in one of three states - Disunity, coming out of Disunity or going into disunity - The same is true of every family, every organisation, every relationship. Why? because no mater how carefully we tread through the world the debris of this imperfect world stick to us.

Jesus would have heard the excuses as:

It not my turn I did it last time, it’s my time to be served, I deserve it.

Or

I’m too important, I’m going to sit at the right hand of God, my mum has asked. Someone less important should do it.

Or

I’m not doing it I’m the older brother, he should do, it some one younger.

Or

I’ve already organised the food, let someone else do it, some one who does less should do it, I’ve earned my way to the top.

Or

I’m too busy doing important things to do that menial task.

Or

Not one will notice if that job isn’t done, it is not important to serve others, I’m happy as I am.

Having watched them Jesus stood up and as the magnificent Scripture in the king James version says He,

John 13:4 NKJV

4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.

He he laid aside his garments he laid down his glory to pick up humility any picked up a towel and wrapped it around himself.

How ironic it is that we are quicker to pick up swords then we are to pick up a towel.

Unity is not achieved by swinging a word at everything moves. Unity is created when we pick up towel.

I am not saying we should put down the bible or compromise our faith, but I am saying we should put down whatever causes division and called to pick up whatever we need to drive unity, whatever is needed to bring about Jesus heart felt call in John 17 that we looked at last week.

Action movies are great everyone loves a gun toting all action hero in film but but this world cries out to be associated with those who understand the power of the towel.

Jesus could bear the smell of the Feet and the stench of this brewing disunity no longer, without fuss or he picked up the towel

John 13:5 NIV

5 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.

Can you imagine the awkwardness in that room as Jesus start washing the disciples feet.

As Jesus touched the very dirt that was smeared on those feet, as they travelled through life.

Do you remember the dirt that covered you before Jesus wiped it away?

Did the disiples suddenly realise just how smelly the room had become because no one had served their brother?

You can ignore the smell but it is still there and others notice.

Thats the problem with smells, they build up.

OFFICE

I wonder how many churches are sitting around either not noticing the smell or pretending there is nothing wrong while the stench of disunity floats around with everyone ignoring it.

Last week I said that I would give you the secret to unity - well here it is. There is only one answer to disunity, it is highlighted in this story and in Jesus prayer in John 17. It makes no sense in the natural world, the antidote for disunity is servanthood.

I wonder how may relationships are one act of servanthood away from being restored. And yet egos stand in the way.

Ego is probably the biggest enemy of unity. Egos get in the way of His agenda

Jesus prays for Unity and models the path in this story. When you connect the prayer and the action of Him picking up a towel you see the heart of Jesus. Unity is not something that magically happens. you can pray all you want to create unity but unless you or I take an action, pick up the towel, get on our knees at he feet of others, get our hands in the mud and worse, and serve unity will only every be an elusive thing.

As christians maybe we should swap our little fishes, our doves, and adopt the symbol of the server, the towel as the symbol of christianity.

Disunity is bad but the disunited are not.

I love Peter because he always says what the others are thinking.

Peter says you're not washing my feet.

And Jesus replied you're not one of mine if you do not let me.

This is the only time I know where it is recorded that Jesus threatened to kick somebody out. I don’t find any record of Jesus threatening to kick disciples out for not understand, not praying, not spending enough time with him, for listening to the wrong music, associating with the wrong people (heck he actively encouraged that) but here he is declaring “unless you let me serve you, unless you accept me washing the rubbish of of you, you are not mine

This is how important Servanthood and the unity it bring was to Jesus.

Peter goes to pieces at this and asks Jesus to practically give him a bath.

John 13:9–10 NIV

9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10 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.”

Jesus’s words go to show

Although Disunity is bad the disunited are not.

If you want unity

The key to unity is Grace, the way we exhibit grace is servanthood.

Does that mean we have to go and wash each others feet. Symbolically yes. Physically - maybe.

What we have to do is not pick up the sword at every occasion, and seek to serve. some battles are not worth fighting when the prize of unity is is at hand.

The unity that Jesus prays for is not one that is brought about by diluting our faith, but by applying our faith through the lens of God’s grace and his glory, it allows us to serve others to demonstrate this Grace - there is a cost to unity. but it is a cost that is insignificant compared to the cost that was covered on our lives.

Unity is not simply compromise. The scriptures of the new testament are clear, that outside of heresy we are to be accepting, that is not to excuse sin and the behaviours that a fallen world brings about but to offer hope and peace.

In this turbulent time. the world is looking out not for action heroes swinging yet another sword - but for towel bearers bringing comfort, willing to join people in their place in life, not put off by the stench and sight of the mess of life. Willing to serve them as the grace of Jesus starts to wash away that mess.

The antidote to disunity is servanthood. put away the sword, dispose of the ego and pick up the towel.

Ephesians 4:3 NIV

3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Prayer

Jesus you prayed for our protection as we are left in this world. So we echo that prayer Holy Father protect us by the power of your name, so that we may be as one with You, Father, Son and Holy spirit and through Grace and Fellowship that we should be one body together, one church, one people. Give us that full measure of your Joy within us, Holy Spirit dwell in us in power this week and always. Help us to place aside our egos, and give us the opportunity to serve each other and the world. Continue to give us your glory that we may be one with You lord and with each other let us be be brought to complete unity. So the world will know You, Lord and they will know your love for the world as we know the love you have for us.

Practical action.