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What if the secret to true joy and freedom from self-centered frustration lies in one of the most surprising acts in all of Scripture? How can the Creator of the universe, while stooping to perform the lowest task possible, completely reorient the way we view our relationships and our purpose? The answer will challenge everything you think matters most.
📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/unlearning-selfishness
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📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/unlearning-selfishness
#mlcc #church #churchonline
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LearningTranscript
00:00The older I get, I'm reminded constantly of my fallenness.
00:05And it's maddening.
00:11Selfishness, unkindness, self-exaltation, control, power, giving in to temptations.
00:23I get disgusted with myself.
00:27And at these times that I just maddened about my humanness, my fallenness, I want to cry out,
00:34Even so, come Lord Jesus.
00:38Is that your experience too?
00:43What happens when we get selfish and we let unkind words slip out of our mouth?
00:48Or we get to be self-centered and self-exalting and giving in to temptations?
00:54How can we, what can bring us back again?
00:57I mean, this is what we see in ourselves and we hate it.
01:01But what can bring us back again?
01:03What can refocus us?
01:05What can recenter us?
01:06Back to what is really important.
01:09And it's not me.
01:11It's not me.
01:12This world does not revolve around me.
01:16I think it does sometimes.
01:18But what can bring us back to focus?
01:21What do we need to hear again to remind us of what's truly important in life?
01:27I was reminded of my youth today when I was describing a situation that took place in the 60s in
01:34a district of San Francisco.
01:36It's spelled Height Ashbury.
01:39But I found out it's not Height Ashbury.
01:41It's Hate Ashbury.
01:43And I'm thinking, how do you get hate out of that?
01:46But that's what it is.
01:47Hate Ashbury.
01:48In the 1960s, there were a group of hippies decided they wanted to live together in a communal kind of
01:53life.
01:53So they gathered around this district outside of San Francisco in Haight Ashbury to throw off all forms of establishment.
02:00To throw off the middle class chains that held them bound and to just live a free life.
02:05And so what they decided to do was to discourage bathing.
02:11They didn't forbid it.
02:12But they said, you know, it's really not important to bathe because that's the establishment.
02:16They're just trying to keep us down.
02:18So they said, let's not bathe.
02:20So they didn't.
02:22Tom Wolfe is a writer.
02:25He decided to go down and do a little research on them and find out what's going on here at
02:28Haight Ashbury.
02:29And so he went down and watched and he said, you know, what would cause all of them to sweep
02:33aside all the codes and restraints of the past and to try to start off from zero?
02:37What would cause a person to do that?
02:38So he went down and looked at it.
02:42Well, these hippies, there was an unfavorable result for them throwing off this restraint of bathing.
02:50And that is something that we have learned over the centuries about personal hygiene.
02:54We know how important it is.
02:56And so what was happening is they started showing up at the clinics in Haight Ashbury with all kinds of
03:01diseases that doctors had never even seen before.
03:04As a matter of fact, they were so ancient that the doctors had never learned the Latin terms for these.
03:09Stuff like the mange, grunge, the itch, the twitch, the thrush, the scoff, the rot.
03:17They had never seen these things before.
03:21The itching and the manginess eventually began to just vex the hippies.
03:25And so they started going to other clinics to try to get some help.
03:28And step by step, they had to rediscover what we have learned over the centuries, that bathing is important for
03:33personal hygiene.
03:34If we don't bathe, we get all kinds of diseases.
03:36We have learned that.
03:38So they had to relearn this principle.
03:41And Tom Wolfe called it the great relearning.
03:47And that's what we need today.
03:49We need the great relearning.
03:51We need to go back to something that you and I have all heard before.
03:55And we're familiar with this.
03:56But we need to go back through it and relearn what we have forgotten.
04:01Even though it's been handed down to us over ages and we have seen it, we've known it.
04:05But when you get like me, that just as selfish and arrogant and control freak, expecting the world to revolve
04:15around me, see, I had forgotten something.
04:18And that's what the words of Jesus wants to recenter our lives today.
04:24Wants to refocus what's really important and how we should live our lives.
04:29So if you're in John chapter 13 with me, I hope you already are.
04:33John chapter 13, the next couple of weeks as we move to the cross and the resurrection, we'll look at
04:38some events in the life of Christ prior to the crucifixion and resurrection.
04:43And here in John chapter 13, actually for the rest of the book of John, you could say that from
04:4813 on following, it's really just the last hours of Jesus' life.
04:53There's not many more hours here evolved from 13 on and introduces now the suffering of Christ and the exaltation
05:00of Christ and the resurrection and his great death on the cross and the benefits that it brought.
05:04This is now continuing on in chapter 13 of John.
05:07Let's read verses 1 through 11 and I want you to see what Jesus does here.
05:12And again, this is a familiar, you'll say, I recognize this.
05:15I think you will.
05:16Let's read it together.
05:17Verses 1 through 11.
05:18Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this
05:24world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
05:31During supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus,
05:38knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was
05:43going back to God, rose from supper.
05:46He laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.
05:51Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with a
05:56towel that was wrapped around him.
05:58He came to Simon Peter who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?
06:03Jesus answered him, what I am doing, you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.
06:09Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet.
06:13Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me.
06:17Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head.
06:22Jesus said to him, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is
06:27completely clean.
06:28And you are clean, but not every one of you.
06:31For he knew who was to betray him.
06:33That is why he said, not all of you are clean.
06:36So what we see here in this passage of scripture is the event that leads up to what we know
06:41as Jesus washing the disciples' feet.
06:44Jesus is serving his disciples.
06:47At this point, all of the public teaching is over with.
06:51The great sermon on the mountain, the discourses that he gave in the public square, on the sea, or on
06:57the mountains are all passed.
06:59From this point forward, it is a very private ministry to his disciples to prepare them for what he was
07:05about to go through,
07:07so that they would not lose faith and hope, and to prepare them for their future ministry.
07:11So it's an intense preparation time for the disciples here, chapter 13 and following.
07:17Public ministry is over with.
07:19The event centers around a meal that you notice.
07:22It's before the feast of the Passover, so probably on the eve of the Passover.
07:25However, a meal is being served.
07:27There's a meal taking place, and they're all gathered together in this meal.
07:32Now, we would expect this to come, perhaps, in Mark's gospel.
07:36Remember, Mark's gospel more as the servant.
07:38Jesus, the perfect servant.
07:39But when it comes to John's gospel, when John's gospel talks about Jesus, the Son of God,
07:44Jesus, His divinity, Jesus, the one who came from God, going to God,
07:47the creator of all things, John chapter 1, 1 through 3.
07:51You wouldn't expect it to find it in John's gospel.
07:53You would expect it to find it in Mark's, but not John's.
07:56That puts it even more valuable to us, that the Son of God serves His disciples.
08:04This is the hour for which Jesus came.
08:06He came to die.
08:07That was from the very cradle to the cross.
08:10That was all what it was about.
08:11His teaching, great, sure, wonderful, principles to live by.
08:15Also, we see that we see Him displaying the glory of the Father, also very important,
08:19but that's not why He came.
08:21That's not His hour.
08:22His hour was the cross.
08:23His hour was the redemption of mankind.
08:25That was the mission that He was on, to come to redeem us.
08:29His hour now has finally come.
08:32His hour was to come to depart out of this world.
08:35It's an interesting statement, especially when you tie it into what's going on here
08:38in reference to the Passover.
08:40The word has the idea of an exodus.
08:43An exodus.
08:44And when you tie it to the context of the Passover, an exodus was when the redeemed people
08:49of Israel left the bondage of slavery in Egypt.
08:53That's the exodus.
08:54So Jesus says, I am departing.
08:56And what He's saying is basically this, is that I am providing freedom from sin's captivity
09:01to all who will believe.
09:02I'm going to the Father signifying I'm leading a redeemed people out of bondage of sin.
09:07What a great picture.
09:09And He says, I've loved my disciples and I've loved them to the end.
09:12I have such an intense love for these men.
09:15Every one of them.
09:16I love them all.
09:17They're valuable to me.
09:18They mean something to me.
09:20I place their needs higher than my own at times.
09:24And this love that He had, this steadfast love, yes, He came to do the will of the Father.
09:28That is true.
09:29And that's what drove Him to the cross.
09:31But yet the love of His disciples strengthens Him as He realizes all that's going to come
09:36about of His death on the cross and resurrection.
09:39This love strengthens Him.
09:41He has a perfect, intense love for these men.
09:44Nothing lacking.
09:46Now we read that the devil had already come into the mind of Judas Iscariot.
09:50In other words, the devil came and tempted Him.
09:52The devil came and laid lies into his thought process.
09:55And Judas bought into it.
09:57Judas had already determined he's going to betray Jesus.
09:59He already said, I want the money, the 30 pieces of silver.
10:02I'm going to betray Jesus.
10:03He's not that important to me.
10:05So the devil had already entered into his mind.
10:07It's not until verse 27 that the devil actually enters into Judas.
10:11It possesses him.
10:12That's verse number 27.
10:15So here we see this contrast of the Judas who says, I'm going to sell the Son of God for
10:2030 pieces of silver for myself, what I can get out of it.
10:25And we see Jesus who is washing the disciples' feet.
10:29We see one who says, I want everything for myself.
10:33And we have one that says, I am giving of myself.
10:36What a contrast we see here.
10:38One, everything was about Him.
10:40And the other one, it was about the people around Him.
10:45He said, I've come from God.
10:47I've come on a mission.
10:48I'm commissioned by God.
10:49I've got a task to do.
10:50And that's to die for us.
10:52Now you probably are familiar with the practice of washing feet.
10:55I think we've probably all read about it.
10:56Normally, it takes place prior to the meal.
10:59So in other words, before you eat, you would wash the feet.
11:01Normally, when you came in off the roads, you would wash the feet, sit down and eat the
11:04meal.
11:05That's why it says during supper.
11:06The idea of supper has been served.
11:08They hadn't started eating yet.
11:10So their idea was someone was supposed to wash the feet.
11:13Well, apparently the host of the house did not provide a servant to wash any of the feet.
11:17And all of the disciples were sitting there thinking, I want Him to wash my feet.
11:24I think He should wash my feet.
11:27I'm going to wait until somebody washes my feet.
11:30You see, all they were thinking about were themselves.
11:33And you say, how do you know that?
11:34It doesn't say that in the Bible.
11:35Yeah, it does.
11:36In Luke chapter 22, you know what they were fighting about?
11:39Who was the greatest among themselves?
11:42That's all they were thinking about.
11:43They were waiting for someone to get up and wash their feet.
11:46Hey, I'm Peter and Andrew.
11:49I'm one of the first disciples to come to Jesus.
11:51Jesus has got to love me.
11:52I've got to be great.
11:53But I'm John.
11:53I'm the one that says, I'm loved by Jesus.
11:55I must be greater than...
11:56I'm great.
11:57Who's the greatest among you is what they were arguing about.
12:01Not, who's the servant among you.
12:05Now, Luke in his chronological order, it's tough to tell exactly what we place it.
12:11Luke places it after the meal.
12:13Now, whether it's out of chronological order, I'm not sure.
12:15But this teaching is even more important if you think about it.
12:19He just washes the disciples' feet.
12:21He gives them an example to live by about serving other people, honoring other people,
12:25loving other people.
12:25And then after the meal, they get into the dispute about who's the greatest among themselves.
12:29It's like, hello, you didn't get it.
12:32If it came at the time of the meal, I don't know.
12:35Chronological order, I'm not quite sure where to place it.
12:36It's just hard to put it in order.
12:39But nevertheless, whether it was after the meal or before, Jesus knew what was in their hearts.
12:43He knew what was in their minds.
12:45It's what they were thinking about.
12:46Who's the greatest?
12:46Who's going to wash my feet?
12:48So what does Jesus do?
12:51Takes off his outer garment, wraps a towel around himself, gets a basin of water, and begins in the row.
12:57Now, I'm not sure how they were ordered, laying, actually reclining around the table.
13:00I'm not sure what the order was, but he begins at the first one, and he takes the sandals off,
13:05and he washes the feet, and he goes over to the next one, and takes the sandals off,
13:08and he washes his feet, and he goes over to the next one, takes the sandals off, and washes his
13:11feet.
13:13Then it comes to Judas.
13:17He takes the sandals off.
13:20He begins washing the dirt off of Judas' feet.
13:24Now, the Bible doesn't say, but I know the character of Jesus, and I do not believe that Jesus looked
13:29at Judas in anger.
13:32Knowing the character of Jesus, I would think that Jesus would look up at Judas right in his eyes with
13:37the most intense love,
13:39and the sadness thinking you missed it.
13:44Jesus at the feet of a traitor.
13:46What a picture.
13:49I mean, when we read this story, we don't have a problem with him washing Peter's feet.
13:53Here's a guy that speaks up for Jesus.
13:55Well, he kind of gets his foot in his mouth occasionally, but he's still a faithful guy.
13:58Or Andrew.
14:00Or John, one of those that are close to Jesus.
14:02We have no problem with Jesus going along, washing there.
14:06We have no problem with that.
14:09But to wash the feet of Judas.
14:13Here, Jesus performing one of the most menial tasks.
14:17And the person who's going to betray the creator of the universe is sitting right there, and Jesus washes his
14:23feet.
14:26The one who is to be known as a servant of the world washes the feet of the one who
14:31will be known forever as a betrayer of the Son of God.
14:36Jesus gets his hands dirty to serve the one whose name will stand for that betrayer for all time.
14:45Doesn't that tell us something about service?
14:49See, we're not called to serve only those who like us.
14:53Who want our good.
14:55Jesus said, love your enemies as yourself.
14:58Pray for those who persecute you.
15:00Do good to those who hate you.
15:03Service is a much higher thing than just those people who like us.
15:07Jesus said, no, serve those who don't like you.
15:10Those who love you and those who hate you.
15:13Those who want your ill and those who want your good.
15:16This raises service to a whole new level.
15:19I had to think to myself, when was the last time I actually washed, spiritually speaking, someone's feet like Judas?
15:28I'm more like the other disciples, fighting about who's the greatest among us.
15:34Peter says, I mean, I can imagine Peter when Jesus comes to him and he says, Lord, no, don't wash
15:40my feet.
15:40I think he had a good heart.
15:42I don't think he did it like, don't touch me.
15:43I think he really meant, this is out of order, Jesus.
15:46You're the creator.
15:47You're the Messiah.
15:48You're my Lord.
15:49What are you doing washing my feet?
15:50I think that's probably what Peter was thinking.
15:52I think it's, his statement is honorable even.
15:55No, Jesus, not my feet, please.
15:56I mean, you shouldn't be doing this.
15:58I should be doing this.
16:01And then Jesus said, listen, if I don't wash you, you have no share in me.
16:07And knowing that he wants to share in Jesus, that's his response.
16:10Okay, well, not only my feet, but my head, my hands, the whole thing, Jesus.
16:13I want it all.
16:14I want to be part of what's going on here.
16:17Jesus said, no, listen, if you've been bathed, you don't need to wash except for your feet.
16:21The idea is, public bathhouses, you would go and bathe, then you would leave and come
16:25to your house.
16:25You'd walk on the dirty streets with sandals with no socks, your feet get dirty.
16:29You just need to wash your feet if you've been bathed.
16:34To share with Jesus, what he is saying basically is this, is that Peter's saying, I want a part
16:39of your work and I want a part of your reward.
16:40I want a part of what's going on, Jesus.
16:42I want to be counted among those who love you.
16:45I want to share in that.
16:47And Jesus said, you know, listen, if you've been bathed already, you don't need to wash
16:51again.
16:52That's fine.
16:53If you've been bathed, it's a complete bathing.
16:55The spiritual cleansing is complete.
16:57It's taken care of.
16:59But you know, Peter, you've got to have your feet washed every now and then because your
17:02feet are going to get dirty.
17:04The spiritual cleansing is complete in Christ, but the believer that's battling daily sin like
17:09you and me, we need to have our feet cleansed in that sense.
17:14The defilement of this world, the dust that clings to our feet as we walk through this
17:17world, we need that daily cleansing.
17:19We need to be washed.
17:23You and I who struggle with sin, we need that cleansing.
17:28Comedian Jerry Clower was talking about a woman who had 16 children, lived next to a construction
17:34site.
17:36One of her children went playing at the construction site and she went looking for him.
17:40She found him in a 55-gallon barrel of tar that they were using to tar the roof of the
17:45building.
17:47She went in there, she grabbed him, she pulled him up out of the tar, she looked at him and
17:50she shoved him back in the tar and then she said this, boy, it'd be a whole lot easier
17:54to have another one of you than to clean you up.
18:00And I'm so glad God is not like that.
18:03I mean, I think he probably thinks about that sometimes about us, you know, it'd be a whole
18:07lot easier to give birth to another spiritual baby than to clean you up, but that's not
18:10what he does, does he?
18:11He says, great, let's go.
18:13I'll wash your feet.
18:15I'll cleanse you.
18:16I'll take care of it.
18:17Come to me.
18:18That's what we read when we get to 1 John chapter 1.
18:21But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another
18:24and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.
18:27If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
18:31If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
18:35us from all unrighteousness.
18:38That's the daily cleansing you and I need.
18:40We've been bathed already in Jesus.
18:42That's not what we need.
18:43We need that daily sanctifying cleansing, the defilement of this world.
18:48Now, I read this statement and I had to actually go and do some research to make sure it's true
18:51because I couldn't believe it.
18:53But I found multiple sources to confirm this.
18:55And if you'd like to know, just Google Isabel, Queen of Spain and personal hygiene.
19:01She bragged, Isabel, you know, that's the one who commissioned Christopher Columbus to
19:04go sail out and find whatever he was supposed to find, married to Ferdinand.
19:08She bragged and boasted that she only had two baths in her entire life.
19:13One she was born and one the day she got married.
19:16Now, they bathed her after she died, but that didn't count, but she didn't know about that.
19:19But she boasted, I've only had two baths in my entire life.
19:24You know what?
19:25Spiritually, I don't want to be like that.
19:28I want that daily cleansing, don't you?
19:31I don't want to just wait six months and then go with this major clean.
19:34I want daily to be cleansed of the sins that so easily attach themselves to me.
19:39When I get self-centered and self-exalting, when I get unkind, my attitude is askew.
19:45I want that daily cleansing that's found in the blood of Jesus.
19:50We are cleansed by his word, Jesus told us.
19:52And if we neglect his word, if we neglect his Bible, the defile one of walking in this world will
19:57just cling to us like dirt and it just piles up and it piles up and it piles up and
20:01cleansing is found in his word through his blood.
20:07The character we see of Jesus in this event, in the washing of the disciples' feet is simply this.
20:12He's a servant.
20:14He's the Lord of creation, the Messiah, and he is a servant.
20:19Brad, you actually, where are you at?
20:21You actually read my verses.
20:22Excellent.
20:23I'm going to read them again.
20:25Philippians chapter 2, so describes the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was in the form of
20:31God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of
20:37a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming
20:42obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.
20:45That was his character.
20:49Now, he sits down and he says, did you get what I'm going to talk about here?
20:53Did you understand that?
20:54And they kind of go, uh, and so he's going to teach them.
20:57That's the rest of the verses here, 12 through 20.
20:58Let's read them.
21:00When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them,
21:05do you understand what I have done to you?
21:08You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.
21:13If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
21:19For I have given you an example that you also should do as I have done to you.
21:25Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than
21:31the one who sent him.
21:32If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
21:35I'm not speaking of all of you.
21:37I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled.
21:41He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.
21:44I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that
21:49I am he.
21:51Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the
21:57one who sent me.
21:58So he's taking now this event, the washing of the disciples' feet, and he's going to teach them the value
22:03of refocusing their lives on that which is important.
22:06And it's not them.
22:09It's not who's the greatest among them.
22:11It's not a self-serving, selfish attitude.
22:14Something greater than that.
22:16So he takes this as a teaching opportunity.
22:18He has already set the pattern of loving humility.
22:20He's already shown them.
22:22He is Lord and teacher, and yet he's bowing before each one of them in that sense and washing the
22:27dirt off of their feet, even the traitor's feet.
22:30He's already shown this pattern of humility.
22:34And then he says to them, do as I have done to you.
22:38He didn't say, do what I have done to you.
22:42He wasn't trying to set up some ordinance in the church that we were to go around and wash each
22:46other's feet.
22:46Now, if you want to do that, I have a problem with that, but that's not what he's doing here.
22:50He's saying, do as I have done to you.
22:53Do it in like manner.
22:53In other words, as I, your Lord, humbled myself, I served you, I loved you, I honored you by washing
23:02your feet, which was really not my task to do, but I did it because I love you.
23:06Do as I have done.
23:08Not what I have done.
23:09The symbolism is there.
23:10If you want to wash each other's feet, I don't have a problem with that.
23:13But that's not what he's talking about.
23:14What he's talking about is, as I have done this to you, as I have honored you, as I have
23:18loved you, as I have served you, do just that.
23:22As I have done to you.
23:25He says there's a beatitude in this.
23:27Notice that in verse number, what is it, number 17.
23:31If you know these things, blessed are you.
23:34In other words, there's a beatitude wrapped up in this.
23:37So if you know that a life that is self-centered, a life that is selfish, a life that is
23:42self-exalting and unkind is not the kind of life that you're supposed to have,
23:46but a life that is a life full of service and honor and loving one another.
23:50If you understand that, that's great.
23:54Blessed are you.
23:55But then he added something else, didn't he?
23:59If you do it.
24:01It's one thing to know, yes, I'm going to honor this person above myself.
24:06You are more important than me at this point.
24:08You need to be ministered to.
24:10You need to be loved.
24:11You need to be honored.
24:12And I'm going to exalt you above myself.
24:14And when you know that, that's great.
24:16But the blessing comes by obedience.
24:18By actually doing it.
24:20By actually going out and honoring one another and serving one another and loving one another.
24:25That's where the blessing is at.
24:26It's not just in knowing these things.
24:28There's no blessing there.
24:29The blessing isn't actually doing them.
24:32For joy comes from obedience to God's word.
24:35When we know these things, we know the value of another human being.
24:40We know that Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself.
24:43When Jesus said to serve one another and love one another and honor one another.
24:47When we know these things, that's great.
24:49But the blessing comes in doing them.
24:52Joy comes from obedience.
24:54You're probably familiar with the custom in eastern lands that those people who sit at table together and eat together
24:59have a fellowship together or to eat salt.
25:01Even salt was an idea there.
25:03That there's this covenant that kind of takes place between people.
25:06A bond of friendship.
25:07And to ever betray someone's table that you're sitting at is a horrible thing to do.
25:11It really is a bad thing.
25:13So you can see the depth of depravity of Judas here who ate at Jesus' table, had fellowship with him,
25:19and yet it says he kicked against him.
25:22He lifted his heel against him.
25:25He kicked him in the teeth, we would say today.
25:27That's what Judas did to Jesus.
25:30What a contrast between Judas, the self-serving, and Jesus, the self-giving one.
25:40Jesus then tells him, listen, I'm going to tell you these things ahead of time.
25:43So when I go to the cross, when I'm delivered over to the Gentiles, when they beat me and mock
25:47me and scourge me and crucify me,
25:49I want you to know ahead of time that I knew this was coming.
25:52I don't want you to lose faith.
25:53I'm going to tell you this up front ahead of time.
25:55When I'm delivered over, I want you to know this.
25:57Because in knowing this, when it takes place, you will believe that I am.
26:02And you say, wait a second, Pastor Mark, my Bible says he, I am he.
26:07Well, that's not really in the text.
26:10It's put there to help us understand what he's talking about.
26:13But the idea is Jesus is saying, then you will know that I am.
26:17Just like he said to the Pharisees, before Abraham was, I am.
26:23You will know then that I am he.
26:25I am the Messiah.
26:26I am the one that's supposed to come.
26:27I am the great I am.
26:29And you will not lose hope or lose faith when you see these things take place.
26:35And he says, listen, not everyone is going to reject me.
26:39Some will receive you, the one I have sent.
26:42When they receive you, they receive me and they receive the Father who has sent me.
26:45So be encouraged, not everyone will reject Jesus is what he's saying.
26:49There is a rejection here in Judas and that could discourage the disciples
26:53when they see the one that was among them that ate at their table,
26:57betraying the Son of God.
26:59He says, be encouraged, not everyone will reject me.
27:03A pastor of a church was talking with one of his guys.
27:06The guy had a great insight.
27:08They were talking and the guy said to him, you know,
27:11you preachers talk a lot about giving.
27:13But what it really all boils down to is basin theology.
27:18And I scratched my head when I first read that and the pastor did the same thing.
27:22Basin theology, what's basin theology?
27:25So the guy went on saying this very insightful thought.
27:29He says, remember when Pilate, what he did,
27:32when Jesus was standing before him,
27:34he had the ability to release Jesus,
27:36to side with Jesus,
27:37to be on his side,
27:38to stand for Jesus,
27:40he called for a basin of water
27:42and washed his hands,
27:44basically saying,
27:45I want no part with you.
27:47I'm not guilty of this man's blood,
27:48but I'm not interested also in this man at the same time.
27:51He's not that important to me.
27:53And he washed his hands.
27:56Then consider Jesus,
27:58who the night before his death,
28:00slipped off his outer garment,
28:01wrapped himself with a towel,
28:02and took a basin of water
28:04and washed the disciples' feet.
28:07He said it comes down to basin theology.
28:11Is our theology all about us?
28:15Is our theology siding with Jesus?
28:17Or is our theology a very self-centered,
28:20self-exalting,
28:23unloving,
28:26unhonoring theology?
28:28Or is it a basin theology like Jesus,
28:31who said,
28:32you are important to me.
28:34I'm going to serve you.
28:36I'm going to love you.
28:37And I'm going to honor you
28:39because you're valuable to me.
28:42Either we say,
28:43I want no part of this,
28:45or I want to serve.
28:48Far too many times,
28:49you and I are just like
28:50the disciples at the table.
28:53And we're arguing among ourselves,
28:54who's the greatest?
28:58We come to a church service
29:00and we say,
29:01okay, serve me.
29:04Honor me.
29:06Love me.
29:07I expect you to do that to me.
29:09Just like the disciples.
29:10They expected someone else
29:11to wash their feet.
29:13Instead, Jesus refocuses
29:15and recenters our life
29:16and says,
29:16listen,
29:17that's not what it's all about.
29:20True joy comes
29:21when we come to a worship service,
29:23when we come to a time
29:23when we gather together
29:24as believers
29:25that I'm here to serve you.
29:27I'm here to love you.
29:29I'm here to honor you.
29:30If I get it backwards,
29:31there is no joy and blessing in that.
29:33It's frustration.
29:35But it's all about loving
29:37and serving
29:38and honoring.
29:43What's your theology today?
29:49Pilate
29:52or Jesus.
29:55It's not about us.
29:57It's about the people around us.
30:00As Brad said,
30:01relationships.
30:02I'm sickened of myself
30:04when I see my humanity
30:06and my fallenness in me.
30:08When it comes out in areas
30:10that I am,
30:11it maddens me.
30:14It maddens me
30:15when I get selfish
30:15and self-centered
30:17and self-exalting.
30:20When everything revolves around me
30:21and I get unkind.
30:23I hate that.
30:23I see it too often,
30:25but I hate it.
30:27And I'm glad
30:28for the words of Jesus
30:29that helped me
30:30re-center my life
30:31and refocus my life
30:32and realize
30:33it's not about me.
30:35It's about you.
30:36It's about loving you,
30:38serving you,
30:39and honoring you
30:40above myself.
30:43Let's pray together.
30:46Father,
30:47I'd like to thank you
30:48for this great example.
30:50It is something
30:52that we need
30:53today.
30:55Our society
30:56is so individualistic
30:58that it has bled over
30:59into the church
31:00and church
31:01is all about me.
31:03And
31:05we are captive
31:07to this attitude.
31:09I pray for deliverance
31:10from this attitude.
31:12I pray that we were set,
31:14that we will be set free
31:15from the idea
31:17that it's all about
31:18someone else serving me,
31:20someone else loving me,
31:22someone else honoring me.
31:23That it's about me
31:25honoring
31:26and loving
31:27and serving somebody else.
31:29I want to get
31:30a refocus,
31:31Jesus.
31:31I want to have
31:32that right attitude.
31:33I want to have
31:34my life centered
31:35in what's truly important.
31:36And not only my life,
31:37but the life of this church
31:38as well.
31:39That when someone
31:39walks through this door,
31:40they say,
31:41hey, those people
31:41really love each other.
31:43Hey, look at them
31:44serve one another
31:45and honor one another.
31:46That will speak volumes
31:49to the unsaved world
31:51about your love
31:52and your mercy
31:53and your grace.
31:55So help me
31:57be that kind of person
31:58and help the church
31:59be that kind of church.
32:01In Jesus' name,
32:02Amen.
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