K4: Loving Extravagantly

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Introduction

Betty is spoiled

She is loved, gets all my food

The other day, she got a bone and snapped at me

I ALWAYS share food, and she snaps...

That’s okay, I don’t have any real expectations of her

Tash says I discipline kids all day, I’m not disciplining the dog

I don’t recommend raising your children that way

Kids have expectations

Character, showing Godliness, participating in society, working hard

Not like Betty, who only has to look cute! She’s just a pet

But we try to pull that junk with God all the time

His calls us His children, we want to be God’s pet

All we have to do is be cute, we don’t have to try

He loves us wildly, and we snap whenever He takes something away

YouVersion: K4: Extravagant Love

We’re in John 13:1-17

Let’s do a quick run-through of our formula

(TW+K4)xD3

TW is TIME WITH

Discipleship is relationships, so it’s always done by spending time

K4 - K is Kavanagh

Means an intentional set of goals

Discipleship requires 4

Scripture

Prayer

Love

Worship

D3 is multiplication

D1 is me growing alone

D2 is us growing together

D3 is us growing, and encouraging to go after others

Today we’re talking about “Loving Extravagantly”

There’s a systematic view of love:

1 John 4:19 ESV

19 We love because he first loved us.

Does God love us? Absolutely!

CS Lewis: “God loves us not because we’re lovable, because He is love. Not because He needs to receive, because He delights to give.”

He has an unconditional, unchanging love that cannot be earned

He showed that best when He have His own Son to die for us

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

For the systematic part, there is a response:

1 John 4:9–11 ESV

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

God loves us extravagantly, and so we should love also!

But love who?

When the Pharisees asked Jesus the greatest commandment, He told us who to love:

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And so it’s simple

God loves us extravagantly, therefore we love God and others extravagantly

That’s the entire point of todays message!

But I want to break it down a bit

Let’s look at an example of Jesus loving extravagantly

Of course, the cross is the best example

But we can’t do the cross for others, can we?

So let’s look at an example we can emulate - washing each others feet:

John 13:1 ESV

1 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.

Jesus is essentially at the end - He’s a day or so from being crucified

Notice what it says about Him:

He loved His own who were in the world - His disciples

And He loved them to the end

Today, we are also “His own”

And He loves us to the end as well

In this context though, He’s almost certainly talking about His boys - and ladies

His friends, the ones He spent everyday with

Doing life with

Walking everywhere with

Knowing each one intimately and personally

Here’s what Jesus does

John 13:2–5 ESV

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.

Right before Jesus dies on a cross, He shows them this

Doesn’t seem like a big deal, washing feet...

However, as John wrote this down probably years later, he remembers every detail

The basin, the towel, most importantly His words

Extravagant love is... in the details

Again, when Jesus dies on a cross, He reveals a wild and elaborate display of love

But when He shows us what to do, its simple, but important

It is done well

Illustration: Soul Food SB versus Memorial Park

Which one is done right? YES!!

Both are concerned with the details, just differently

One wants to make sure nothing goes to waste

One wants to make sure no expense is spared

Peter says this:

John 13:6 ESV

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

In modern English, we’d say, “Lord, what are you doing?”

This was shocking to Peter!

When I became the facilities director in NC, one thing always stuck in my head

Illustration: Glenn wanted more duties

His boss said, start cleaning toilets

He wanted youth ministry, a Bible study, preaching time...

He didn’t want to clean toilets

His mentor said, “When you become a pastor someday, there will be many things you have to do. Through all of them, you will never be too good to clean a toilet.”

So as I cleaned toilets, I ran that statement through my head constantly

Believe it or not, I found joy

I also learned from Frankie Westwood

“When our people walk into a restroom, I want them to know and feel like I cared about them.”

To an ancient Jew, feet washing was humiliating

Kiss my feet peasant

It was so looked down upon, there was a special rule for disciples to not wash your rabbi’s feet

You follow him, but you should never do that

So for Jesus to do the reverse was shocking! But...

Extravagant love is… humble

When loving others extravangatly, know how you can tell you’re doing it right?

When they respond to you like Peter!

“Wait, what? What are yo doing? Why would you do this for me?

That’s when you know

Let’s see how Jesus responds to Peter

John 13:7–8 ESV

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.”

Why did Peter say, “You’ll never wash my feet”?!

It’s a proud sense of humility

Like saying, “No one is more humble than me!”

You ever heard the phrase, “Robbing someone of their blessing?”

We don’t know how to receive, we feel guilty for accepting service or gifts...

That’s actually pride - the lesson Jesus is teaching here

This points to a bigger picture, one we still struggle with

Accepting Jesus as your Savior also means accepting you can’t do it yourself

Tash received a text from someone this week

My relationship with God isn’t good and I’m struggling with this elementary school shooting

I don’t know why God would be okay with that, why He’d let that happen

First, I can’t tell you why God allowed it

But I can tell you this:

This isn’t what God wanted - He makes it very clear in His Word

This is the result of willful sin

Do you ever think about what you’re really say when you ask that?

Why didn’t God stop them?

We’re all ugly sinners - should God stop you?

If God were to stop sin, He’d have to wipe us all out

Of course I don’t want God to wipe us all out, but I’ve never murdered 17 children

You’re really saying, “Why doesn’t God stop everyone that worse than me?”

You want God to stop the “really bad people”

Which means, you don’t think you’re really all that bad

Which means, you don’t have a grasp on how bad you really are

I’m not dismissing the evil of that shooter, it’s a horrible thing

I’ve been praying for those parents, teachers and the community

But we have to make sure we don’t convince ourselves that we have it all figured out

Feeling good about ourselves because I’m not as bad as that guy

Extravagant love is… all about what is right

Jesus is telling Peter, “You need to know how to receive my act of love, generosity and service

Don’t pretend like you don’t need it, you’re not that good

We need the help of others, and we are responsible to give it

A loving community is a two way street, don’t get stuck on either side of it...

Sometimes you need help, take it

Sometimes others need help, give it

Watch Peter suddenly flip

John 13:9–11 ESV

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.”

Peter says, You’ll never wash my feet!

If I don’t, you get nothing

And Peter says, “Oh man, then wash everything!”

Jesus is like, calm down Peter

Sit down and let me do my thing...

What is that thing? There’s something that needs to be shown to them

And so Jesus is doing this for their benefit!

Extravagant love is… for the needs of others

There’s a common issue Jesus goes after in Scripture

At one point, Pharisees criticize Jesus and His disciples for not washing their hands

Remember the Seder? We did ceremonial hand washing

What? Your disciples aren’t doing the ceremony?!

Matthew 15:17–18 ESV

17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

Jesus is saying, “The feet washing isn’t what’s important, it’s the heart of it.”

Jesus is showing the disicples He’s willing to do something humiliating for their benefit

It’s because they need to be cleansed, but it’s not about the feet...

It’s about their sinful hearts

And Jesus wants to handle their needs

The truth is, loving someone is about giving them what they need!

That might mean being nice and doing kind things - buying gifts, cleaning their room, bringing food

It may also mean something harder - holding them accountable, discipline (esp. children), letting them hit rock bottom (ie, not enabling)

It might be something you want to do, it might be something you don’t want to...

So let’s talk about THAT...

John 13:12–17 ESV

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.

Jesus is showing them He is willing to cleanse them - specifically by handling their sin

Again, we can’t do that

But Jesus still says, “I have given an example, you should be doing this too!”

What does that mean? Here’s our final point:

Extravagant love is… sacrificial

Jesus wants His disciples to be humble servants towards others

Why? Because we’re not better than Jesus, and we’re not better than others

Alexander Maclaren: “There are too many of us who profess to be quite willing to trust to Jesus Christ as the Cleanser of our souls who are not nearly so willing to accept His Example as the pattern for our lives.”

That should give you something to think about

Is Jesus’ sacrificial, loving servanthood the example you follow

Or just something you like to receive

Closing

A few guys I meet with regularly

We were talking, and I told him my cheap headphones were broken

I always have them in when I’m working on projects at home

We were meeting for lunch, he was about 15 minutes late

When he walked in, he handed me a box

He was held up at Costco

This guy LOVES worship music

Our text thread is full of worship videos

So when I looked at the box, it was a brand new pair of Air Pods pro; with Apple Care!

He couldn’t stand that my audio worship experience was shoddy

So he went out and spend more than a couple hundred bucks

Why? To show Christian love - extravagantly

This is everything we talked about today

He went after one of my needs, rather than his own

He was focused on the details - the way worship sounds in my ears

He was sacrificial, those are not cheap

I was shocked and grateful - why would you do that?

Because that’s the kind of stuff Jesus does

That’s loving extravagantly

Am I telling you to go buy Air Pods for everybody? No

But I am saying we should all be looking for opportunities to love extravagantly

Because that’s the example Jesus set for us

Prayer