WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:02.200 I'm going to invite you to John chapter 13 today. 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:04.400 John chapter 13 is where we're going to be. 00:00:04.700 --> 00:00:06.990 And we're going to answer this question, what you should do with clean feet? 00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:09.320 That's where we're at in this story. 00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:15.780 This is the famous passage of John, where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. 00:00:16.200 --> 00:00:23.580 And I've told you this last couple of weeks for me, John 13 to John 17, I think is my 00:00:23.580 --> 00:00:26.820 favorite section in all of scripture. 00:00:27.580 --> 00:00:32.060 And it's because these are the last moments Jesus spends with his disciples. 00:00:32.540 --> 00:00:37.410 He chooses to spend his last six hours before he goes to the cross for six hours. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:45.580 He spends his last six hours in the most intimate of settings in the upper room with his closest friends, teaching some of the most deep, deep 00:00:45.580 --> 00:00:49.960 lessons on discipleship in pursuing Jesus with your life. 00:00:50.480 --> 00:00:56.000 These sections for me, I don't know, I've always clung to last words, someone's last words. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:03.200 I feel like if you know your time is coming to an end and you're lucid enough to just share some 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:05.580 parting thoughts on your way out. 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:11.680 This is Jesus' parting thoughts for us, and they are a beautiful, beautiful section of scripture. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:14.520 In John 13, it kicks off with the washing of feet. 00:01:14.800 --> 00:01:20.980 And I talked about the significance of this last week and what it means to be a servant leader for the Lord, just how that represents. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:23.920 And we're going to continue to move through this passage this week. 00:01:23.940 --> 00:01:26.080 We just looked at first five verses last week. 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:29.540 So we're going to pick up in verse five today and talk about this. 00:01:29.580 --> 00:01:36.620 But I do want to carry on the idea of last week that set the tone for what we're going to engage in this 00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:36.880 week. 00:01:37.800 --> 00:01:45.040 And that is you will never do what Jesus has called you to do in this world, and you will never live the way Jesus has called you to live 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:52.340 in this world until you walk in a confident identity that he gives to you, because you're 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:59.680 never going to want to stoop to the idea of being a servant to help others without being confident in your own position 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:03.320 as who God designed you to be. 00:02:03.980 --> 00:02:10.860 Because when we are not confident in who we are, we are constantly looking at things and other people to affirm us in our position. 00:02:11.540 --> 00:02:18.080 And we'll treat things and people as if they are to serve us because we lack security in our own identity. 00:02:18.920 --> 00:02:26.300 But when you are secure in your identity in Jesus and you find your purpose and worth and meaning in him, you 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:29.280 don't need things and you don't need people to affirm you. 00:02:29.720 --> 00:02:31.060 It's nice to be encouraged. 00:02:31.140 --> 00:02:37.620 We should all encourage one another, but you find your identity and your confidence and everything that God made you to be. 00:02:38.340 --> 00:02:42.040 And it's in that position that you can do what Jesus calls you to do. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:46.680 And Jesus says as much in John chapter 13, verse 14, right? 00:02:47.240 --> 00:02:48.540 We pointed this out last week. 00:02:48.540 --> 00:02:56.320 He says this, "So if I, the Lord and the teacher washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." The 00:02:56.320 --> 00:03:03.500 only way you will ever take such position is to find your confident identity in your position 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:04.780 in Jesus. 00:03:05.580 --> 00:03:06.380 And that's so important. 00:03:06.460 --> 00:03:10.830 In fact, I would even argue this way and I was reminded of this morning in my own devotions. 00:03:11.880 --> 00:03:15.380 The first book of the Bible is the book of Genesis. 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:23.940 The book of Genesis was written by Moses and Moses was called to lead the children of Israel, 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:31.780 and the children of Israel, when Moses was called to lead them for hundreds of years before he led them out of Egypt, their 00:03:31.780 --> 00:03:32.980 identity was slavery. 00:03:35.040 --> 00:03:37.280 They found themselves as being slaves. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:44.440 And you can imagine in a position like that, the kind of value you may feel, or the 00:03:44.440 --> 00:03:47.200 lack of value, I should say that you may feel in your life. 00:03:47.480 --> 00:03:54.200 And so when you turn to Genesis, I know so often in our times today, we like to turn to Genesis and turn it into a science book. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.980 And I think there are things to learn about creation as it relates to science from Genesis. 00:04:00.040 --> 00:04:05.120 I don't want to slight that, but I don't think that's the primary reason Genesis was written at all. 00:04:05.480 --> 00:04:12.580 In fact, when you look at the story, you see God's grand story unfolding in the very beginning of Genesis, but you also see within that 00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:19.800 story, how God has created human beings uniquely, how God fashions humans different than any other creature breathing 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:20.920 in the breadth of life. 00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:26.440 And really we find our identity in His identity because God makes us in His image, right? 00:04:26.880 --> 00:04:34.340 And so different than any other creature, God, and from the very beginning of the Bible is showing your identity in Him, your purpose in Him, so 00:04:34.340 --> 00:04:37.300 that we understand why we're to live in this life. 00:04:37.300 --> 00:04:41.400 Your identity matters tremendously in everything that God calls you to do. 00:04:41.460 --> 00:04:47.280 You will never do what God calls you to do until you find yourself resting securely in your identity for Him. 00:04:47.580 --> 00:04:49.500 Now, I'm not saying it's not a struggle for us in life. 00:04:49.780 --> 00:04:56.480 There's always a battle there in finding our worth in other places, because we're always being discipled by something. 00:04:57.080 --> 00:05:01.340 So sometimes we will see our worth or value given to something else. 00:05:01.340 --> 00:05:03.780 And we've got to remind ourselves of where it comes from in God. 00:05:03.840 --> 00:05:04.300 So there's a struggle. 00:05:05.140 --> 00:05:06.240 There is a spiritual battle there. 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:12.340 Adam and Eve, as soon as that started in the Garden of Eden, as soon as they walked in the Garden of Eden, it's like there was a spiritual battle taking place with Satan. 00:05:12.660 --> 00:05:13.680 And the same is true with your life. 00:05:14.460 --> 00:05:16.680 That's not a story distinct to Adam and Eve. 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:24.380 That's a story that is for all of us, because all of us face spiritual battles and things are constantly tugging at you to 00:05:24.380 --> 00:05:30.160 find a different purpose or meaning in life other than what God has created you for. 00:05:30.220 --> 00:05:34.420 And the world won't even tell you that it will bring you happiness, or it will bring you joy. 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:40.180 And the truth is it will for like five minutes, like the Bible tells you, sin is fun for a season. 00:05:40.940 --> 00:05:45.280 And for a season you will find joy in following a path of destruction. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:52.040 But then one day you'll wake up and realize, "Hey, I think I'm on a path of destruction." And you'll try to find something else to fill it. 00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:55.020 And your choices are another false God or the Lord himself. 00:05:55.840 --> 00:05:56.920 And so that identity is important. 00:05:56.960 --> 00:05:57.640 I should get off that. 00:05:57.840 --> 00:06:03.900 And just let me dive back into this and say this, John 13, 14, Jesus here is talking about the washing of feet. 00:06:03.900 --> 00:06:11.080 And very broadly, we see this as an attitude of a servant, a very unique step Jesus has taken because we've 00:06:11.080 --> 00:06:15.040 talked last week that this is the servant, the servant of servant positions. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:19.860 This is the lowest servant in a household would perform this act for dinner guests. 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:25.100 One of the first acts of hospitality when dinner guests would show up would be to wash their feet. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:32.160 The servants of servants would do this, and Jesus is taking that position, King of Kings becoming the servant of servants for you 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:35.180 and for me and calling us to mimic him in this world. 00:06:35.380 --> 00:06:41.240 Now I'll say, when you study this, here's an interesting thing, is that a lot of Christians take this metaphorically. 00:06:41.740 --> 00:06:43.770 Most Christians, I would say, take this metaphorically. 00:06:44.660 --> 00:06:50.800 And then there are actually some Christians throughout history who have not only taken this metaphorically, but have also taken this literally. 00:06:51.420 --> 00:06:54.140 And I will tell you, I'm not one of those that take this literally. 00:06:54.660 --> 00:06:57.120 I am not touching your feet and you're not touching that. 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:00.160 It's gross. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:07.260 But when you think about this, I do want to give a little credence to brothers and sisters in Christ that gather, they gather on Sunday and they will 00:07:07.260 --> 00:07:09.140 literally at times wash one another's feet. 00:07:09.700 --> 00:07:16.890 And there's something about that I think is important to learn from, though I don't think it's a mandate in scripture for us. 00:07:17.620 --> 00:07:23.150 And the reason is because when you think about the ordinances the churches observed, I'm getting a little geeky here for a minute. 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:26.640 So hold on to this and then we'll jump into the broader picture of this lesson. 00:07:26.640 --> 00:07:33.420 But when you think about the ordinances that God gives His church, I believe there's two primarily, baptism and communion. 00:07:34.200 --> 00:07:36.000 That doesn't mean communion God calls us to do. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:41.940 And the reason God calls us to do I believe is because it's a picture of the gospel. 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:46.400 Baptism is a picture of what Jesus has done to me inwardly. 00:07:46.440 --> 00:07:47.360 He's transformed my life. 00:07:47.400 --> 00:07:47.940 He's cleansed me. 00:07:47.940 --> 00:07:48.720 He's made me new. 00:07:49.020 --> 00:07:54.960 And I demonstrate my faith in Jesus for that, by being physically baptized, to say to the world, "I belong to Jesus. 00:07:54.960 --> 00:07:56.340 Jesus belongs to me. 00:07:56.460 --> 00:08:03.580 He has cleansed me and forgiven me of my sins and my hope is in him." And so we have this outward profession of baptism that symbolically 00:08:03.580 --> 00:08:05.600 represents what Jesus has done in my life because of the gospel. 00:08:06.140 --> 00:08:13.140 Communion is the same thing, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus symbolized in the blood that was shed and the body that was broken and the cup and the 00:08:13.140 --> 00:08:13.440 bread. 00:08:13.880 --> 00:08:16.680 And this becomes a picture for us of the gospel. 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:21.420 And I think washing of the feet is very symbolically representative the same way. 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:28.480 And that's what brothers and sisters in Christ that wash one another's feet in church service, I think that would be their argument for Jesus says, "Mimic me." We should mimic 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:28.600 him. 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:34.020 And what he did here was he literally washed feet and it was a symbol of the gospel. 00:08:34.260 --> 00:08:36.919 It's this cleansing that Jesus has done to us. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:44.240 And I would say that's a great argument for doing this, but I would then say, but the only reason I say it's not a mandate in scripture, 00:08:46.060 --> 00:08:49.100 it's because when you read the rest of the New Testament, nobody does it. 00:08:50.380 --> 00:08:53.540 I think that the church took this as a metaphorical picture. 00:08:53.640 --> 00:09:00.080 So when you read the rest of the New Testament, you see people continue in baptism, you see people continue in communion. 00:09:00.140 --> 00:09:00.920 Communion is talked about. 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:04.010 You don't see people continuing in the literal washing of feet. 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:11.960 There is one reference in I Timothy 5:10 that says to give honor to this widow who washed the 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:13.160 feet of the saints. 00:09:13.620 --> 00:09:20.800 And I think in I Timothy 5:10, it's a metaphorical picture of a lady who is just saying that she honored and served God's people 00:09:20.800 --> 00:09:21.600 well. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:29.800 And so that's when I come to this passage, I don't think it's another ordinance the church needs to add, but I do think it is a beautiful representation of 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:33.400 metaphorically the attitude God's people is to care. 00:09:33.760 --> 00:09:40.880 Now, if you hear that and you're like, "Yeah, but I come from that kind of tradition where people will wash each other's feet and I want to keep doing that.", I'll say, "More 00:09:40.880 --> 00:09:45.470 power to you." As long as you won't create some kind of environment that it just gets really strange for everybody. 00:09:46.420 --> 00:09:51.960 If it just feels like it fits the moment and really honors Jesus and points to the gospel, I would say, "Go for it, man. 00:09:51.980 --> 00:09:57.750 Go do that." I think it's a beautiful picture in John 13 as a powerful story. 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:06.360 And that's what I want us to see today as we look at this passage, starting in verse five, I want us to see two gifts that 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:08.670 God gives to you through this symbolic representation. 00:10:09.700 --> 00:10:12.740 One gift that you then can give in return. 00:10:13.580 --> 00:10:14.960 And then I want to encourage you. 00:10:14.980 --> 00:10:19.020 And by encouraging you in that gift that God can call you to give. 00:10:19.060 --> 00:10:26.180 So there's some encouragement because I think the gift that God desires for us to give is not always easy to give, especially when 00:10:26.180 --> 00:10:33.180 you think in terms of this is a very lowly position of service, and you've got to swallow your pride to take this 00:10:33.180 --> 00:10:34.920 position, find your confidence in Jesus. 00:10:34.920 --> 00:10:36.740 So some encouragement helps us get there. 00:10:36.740 --> 00:10:43.760 So let's look at this together in John chapter 13 in verse five. 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:48.300 So I got to find the page, two gifts to receive in Jesus. 00:10:49.300 --> 00:10:56.620 And in verse five, it says this, "Then he poured water into the basin and began washing the disciples' feet and wiping them 00:10:56.620 --> 00:11:03.620 with the towel, which he had tied around himself." So he came to Simon Peter and said to him, "Lord, you're washing my 00:11:03.620 --> 00:11:11.160 feet."So when you start to see how this story unfolds, Jesus, you can imagine, goes to the dinner table and 00:11:11.160 --> 00:11:18.360 the way that they had positioned themselves in the ancient world, the way that they would sit around a table to eat, their legs would have been, they would have been in a table 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:23.340 really more like a U shaped and the tables were lowered to the ground. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:26.700 And they more leaned rather than sit in chairs like we think about. 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:31.870 Today, when we sit around the table, they had lower tables and more lean under it and kind of put the rest of their arm on a pillow. 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:35.960 And all of their feet would have been sticking into the middle of this table area. 00:11:36.020 --> 00:11:43.180 So this would have been a very, if this was the area Jesus washed the feet, a very easy way to get to all of their feet because it all would have been together in this U shaped, 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:45.100 around this U shaped table. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:46.960 And Jesus goes in and he washes their feet. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:54.640 And Simon is immediately uncomfortable with this because he knows what 00:11:54.740 --> 00:11:56.360 this represents. 00:11:57.880 --> 00:12:00.500 He looks to Jesus as Lord and rabbi. 00:12:00.520 --> 00:12:02.570 They're going to refer to Jesus as much in this story. 00:12:03.280 --> 00:12:10.540 And yet the person of the highest position, the one that all of the disciples have chosen to follow, the one that the world is now going after and chanting Hosanna 00:12:10.540 --> 00:12:14.960 blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord is the one who's taken the lowest position. 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:19.760 And Simon gets uncomfortable with Jesus doing this. 00:12:19.860 --> 00:12:27.380 Now I would say for us, this is an important part of reflection for us because I 00:12:27.380 --> 00:12:32.960 think in our relationship with God, it's when Jesus gets us uncomfortable, that we tend to grow the most. 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:40.790 Christianity is not a faith that we follow for the purpose of convenience. 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:48.500 In fact, if your thought is, if I follow Jesus, Jesus is going to make my life easier, Jesus is going to do certain things that I want him 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:51.960 to do, I would just encourage you to read the gospels. 00:12:52.520 --> 00:12:59.700 That's like the Bible says, or Jesus very plainly says, "Take up your cross and follow me." I mean, just reflection on 00:12:59.700 --> 00:13:05.660 that ought alone should say to us, sounds like following Jesus isn't always roses. 00:13:05.660 --> 00:13:09.940 There's some challenge to the experience of pursuing Christ. 00:13:10.160 --> 00:13:17.220 And I think when we are willing to believe that God is greater than the challenges I face and I can be secure in 00:13:17.220 --> 00:13:24.300 Him though, the road might be rocky, that uncomfortableness and willingness to still follow Jesus because 00:13:24.300 --> 00:13:31.460 he's true despite circumstances is a place we oftentimes find ourselves growing in the Lord. 00:13:31.560 --> 00:13:37.360 We're just reminded last this past Saturday of men's breakfast, just the story of Peter walking on water. 00:13:38.740 --> 00:13:45.380 And that would have been a moment, I think, written in scripture because if the disciples center on what stories should we include in the gospels? 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:47.830 And Peter's like, "Oh, the one that taught me the most, the one that made me really uncomfortable. 00:13:48.340 --> 00:13:55.480 Remember when I was about to drown?" It's those moments in pursuing God that grow us the most because I think what we tend to 00:13:55.480 --> 00:14:02.520 find as we follow the Lord, even in adversity or we always find, I should say, 00:14:03.640 --> 00:14:04.280 because God is faithful. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:06.670 God is faithful. 00:14:06.760 --> 00:14:12.880 And it's not until we're willing to step out in the things that make us uncomfortable in following after Jesus, that we can find that experience to be true. 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:22.860 For us, all that we discover until we're willing to be uncomfortable for Jesus is just words on a page that might tell us as such, but 00:14:22.860 --> 00:14:29.860 when we're willing to step out, that's when we discover it experientially and our heart can affirm it and validate 00:14:29.860 --> 00:14:31.420 it because we have stepped out. 00:14:31.420 --> 00:14:38.520 And so Peter is uncomfortable here, and our hesitancy as people is to come to this 00:14:38.520 --> 00:14:40.330 and try to make others feel comfortable. 00:14:40.520 --> 00:14:41.580 Let me step in. 00:14:41.640 --> 00:14:47.980 I'm sorry that you feel uncomfortable, I'll help you not feel comfortable, but Jesus is completely okay with Peter not being comfortable here because he understands this is where Peter grows. 00:14:49.020 --> 00:14:56.020 And if I added another thought to this, if you look at this for a minute in the Gospel of Mark chapter nine, and it happens again in 00:14:56.020 --> 00:15:03.220 the Gospel of Luke, just before Jesus is in this upper room with the disciples, what makes this so much more powerful 00:15:03.220 --> 00:15:10.200 is just before the disciples are in the upper room with Jesus, the disciples are arguing about who's the most awesome disciple. 00:15:11.520 --> 00:15:18.520 In Mark chapter nine, verse 34, "But they kept silent for on the way they had discussed with one another, which one of them was the greatest." Could you imagine 00:15:18.520 --> 00:15:19.020 that? 00:15:19.520 --> 00:15:25.620 This is the backstory to Jesus watching your feet is the disciples run around talking about, "I'm better than you. 00:15:25.700 --> 00:15:26.600 No, I'm better than you. 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:27.680 No, I'm better than you. 00:15:27.800 --> 00:15:32.400 I'm going to be Jesus' VP." They're all arguing about this. 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:39.180 And then they walk in the room and then it just gets really awkward because Jesus is willing to take the lowest position among the group. 00:15:40.800 --> 00:15:44.960 How humbling that is, because it reveals our weakness. 00:15:46.540 --> 00:15:52.480 I have dirt on my feet and Jesus is the one who's willing to wash it. 00:15:53.800 --> 00:16:01.140 They revere him, and to see him take this position, it's uncomfortable 00:16:02.900 --> 00:16:11.080 because can I tell you that the thing that drives us further from Jesus than anything else in this world, it's 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:11.410 your pride. 00:16:13.380 --> 00:16:13.940 It's my pride. 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:23.900 It's thine unwillingness to sit before God and allow myself to be exposed in 00:16:23.900 --> 00:16:31.100 my guilt and shame, my dirty feet, to let the Lord take 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:32.220 care of that. 00:16:33.540 --> 00:16:34.650 That's why he came. 00:16:36.500 --> 00:16:41.740 Pride brings destruction, and this is what Peter learns in the story. 00:16:41.800 --> 00:16:44.240 So this is where Jesus gives them then a couple of gifts. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:48.280 He wants us to recognize, look at the next verse in verse seven and eight. 00:16:48.280 --> 00:16:50.610 It says, this is the next blank on your notes. 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:54.060 If you've got notes, this is actually the first blank in your notes. 00:16:54.800 --> 00:16:57.560 Number one gift is forgiveness for salvation. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:02.220 Look in verse seven, "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'What am I doing? 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:09.520 You do not realize right now, but you will understand later.' And Peter said to him, 'Never shall you wash my feet.' And Jesus 00:17:09.520 --> 00:17:17.280 answered him, 'If I do not wash you have no place with me.'" 00:17:19.900 --> 00:17:26.930 You see in this story that Peter is trying to brush away the importance of this moment, right? 00:17:27.260 --> 00:17:28.200 God, you're not going to do this. 00:17:28.560 --> 00:17:31.960 God, there's no way, out of everyone in this room, you're the last one. 00:17:31.960 --> 00:17:39.180 And I think Peter has enough humility in his life to see what Jesus is doing as the King of Kings, becoming 00:17:39.180 --> 00:17:40.320 the servant of servants. 00:17:40.420 --> 00:17:42.460 There's enough humility in his life to recognize this. 00:17:43.040 --> 00:17:46.750 But unfortunately, there's also enough pride in his life to embrace this. 00:17:48.300 --> 00:17:51.860 And Jesus wants us to realize just how important this moment is. 00:17:53.760 --> 00:18:01.080 And guys, I want us to say in this room, these couple of verses, where Jesus is explaining that the picture 00:18:01.080 --> 00:18:08.400 of what he's trying to create by washing their feet is so important for us not to blow by what Jesus is 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:15.720 saying in the statement, because this is everything that Jesus has come to do in your life to contextualize them to just two verses 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:23.520 and [inaudible 00:18:17] the washing of feet, your heart would 00:18:23.580 --> 00:18:30.820 let go of pride and performance before God and embrace what 00:18:30.820 --> 00:18:38.020 he wants to do for you, cleanse you, wash 00:18:38.020 --> 00:18:40.920 you, make you new. 00:18:43.160 --> 00:18:50.420 For you in these moments, if you've never come to a place in your life where you look at this God who has furiously 00:18:51.220 --> 00:18:58.580 pursued you like the great hound of heaven for your soul, that you could be set free, 00:18:58.580 --> 00:19:06.900 that he was willing to go to the point from king of the hall, to the servant of servants for your life, that 00:19:06.900 --> 00:19:13.940 you would let him cleanse you and Peter seeing how important this was, then 00:19:13.940 --> 00:19:21.240 responds, "Never shall you wash my feet." And Jesus answered, "If I do not wash you have, you have no place with me." This 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:28.320 is important to just the Lord, do what the Lord has desired to do for you by giving 00:19:28.320 --> 00:19:30.490 his life to cleanse you. 00:19:32.120 --> 00:19:38.620 And then the second gift Jesus gives to us, look at this in verse nine to 11. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:40.070 This is the blank that you have. 00:19:40.560 --> 00:19:47.220 It's forgiveness for continual relationship, forgiveness for continual relationship. 00:19:47.220 --> 00:19:54.360 He says that Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head." And Jesus said to him, "He who 00:19:54.360 --> 00:19:57.080 is bathed needs only to wash his feet. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:04.300 Otherwise he is completely clean and you are clean, but not all of you." For he knew that one who was betraying him, it was for this 00:20:04.300 --> 00:20:05.960 reason that he said not all of you were clean. 00:20:06.260 --> 00:20:10.660 So I'm going to tell you next week, I'm going to talk more about Judas as it relates to this story. 00:20:10.700 --> 00:20:12.560 But I do want to highlight what Jesus is saying here. 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:17.980 Jesus is not talking about a complete cleansing for forgiveness of sins, for salvation. 00:20:18.540 --> 00:20:19.060 That is important. 00:20:20.220 --> 00:20:27.260 But Jesus also here is talking about a forgiveness of sins for continual relationship, meaning he says to Peter, Peter 00:20:27.260 --> 00:20:33.440 responds back, "Well, if I have no part in you, Jesus, by not letting you cleanse me, cleanse all of me." Jesus says, "No, no, no. 00:20:34.420 --> 00:20:39.860 Some of you have all been cleansed, but what you need is just your feet to be washed." Let me give you an example, what Jesus is saying here. 00:20:41.180 --> 00:20:48.460 In Jesus' day, remember we're talking about the Passover celebration and the Passover celebration, someone would go through ritual cleansing 00:20:48.460 --> 00:20:51.620 before they fully engaged in the Passover celebration. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.280 And literally, they would clean themselves to journey into Jerusalem. 00:20:56.780 --> 00:21:00.640 And on that journey, what would happen is they would get a bit of the world on them. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:01.760 They would get some dirt on their feet. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:09.520 They'd already set themselves apart for the Lord to go to Jerusalem, to celebrate this Passover, but on the journey, they would get their feet a little 00:21:09.520 --> 00:21:09.760 bit dirty. 00:21:10.100 --> 00:21:13.560 And so when they would partake of a meal, before they partake a meal, they would clean their feet. 00:21:13.560 --> 00:21:17.560 There was this act of hospitality that would take place as they would enter into home to celebrate Passover. 00:21:18.820 --> 00:21:22.540 And Jesus is taking that illustration to metaphorically represent our lives spiritually. 00:21:23.420 --> 00:21:30.420 He's saying, "Look, when God comes into your life, when you humble yourself before the Lord, that you no longer embrace your pride, that you try to work 00:21:30.420 --> 00:21:37.420 your way to the Lord and you understand that you can't achieve that, when you lay your life down, you allow the Lord to cleanse you because the Lord has come to cleanse you and 00:21:37.420 --> 00:21:38.800 he's died for your sins on the cross. 00:21:39.040 --> 00:21:46.520 When that is happening in your life, you are bought by Jesus blood." This is why it says in John 19:30, "It is finished. 00:21:46.760 --> 00:21:48.390 Jesus says you are paid in full. 00:21:48.560 --> 00:21:52.960 The debt that you owed, Jesus has completely paid for your life." So you belong to him. 00:21:53.900 --> 00:22:01.320 However, what happens then in your walk with the Lord is that as with all relationships, when sin enters, 00:22:01.520 --> 00:22:02.640 it creates distance. 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:06.640 Just like with my children, my children are always my children. 00:22:06.660 --> 00:22:07.380 You're bought by God. 00:22:07.380 --> 00:22:08.940 You always belong to the Lord. 00:22:08.980 --> 00:22:10.340 You're the child of God. 00:22:10.340 --> 00:22:11.720 It says you've been adopted by him. 00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:12.810 That's what scripture promises. 00:22:13.540 --> 00:22:20.940 But my relationship with my children ebbs and flows in proximity relationally and intimacy 00:22:20.940 --> 00:22:22.040 relationally. 00:22:22.100 --> 00:22:22.720 It ebbs and flows. 00:22:23.760 --> 00:22:30.650 And what affects that relationship could be physical distance or just sin for that intimacy, that affects relationship. 00:22:31.460 --> 00:22:38.420 And the way that we find ourselves united again is reconciliation achieved through forgiveness. 00:22:39.760 --> 00:22:42.240 And this is what God is saying to you is like, "I bought you. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:43.220 You belong to me. 00:22:43.740 --> 00:22:50.540 I always want you near." And what happens in your world walk with me is that there tends to be a bit of the world that gets on you. 00:22:51.980 --> 00:22:58.580 And in order to experience that intimacy for what you were called, the continual washing of your feet becomes important. 00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:06.320 It's the refocusing of your life, back to Jesus, to turn things from the things of the world, to turn to Christ and surrender yourself again. 00:23:07.140 --> 00:23:08.380 What I'm saying is this. 00:23:09.020 --> 00:23:16.180 The same act in your life that brings you salvation in Christ should be the continual and perpetual attitude of 00:23:16.180 --> 00:23:17.670 your heart before Jesus always. 00:23:19.360 --> 00:23:21.980 I come to Christ once in my life and I say, forgive me. 00:23:21.980 --> 00:23:25.140 But I come to Christ every day of my life and I'd say, forgive me. 00:23:25.140 --> 00:23:32.300 Not because I'm continuing to seek salvation, but because I'm continuing to seek the Lord of my salvation, that 00:23:32.300 --> 00:23:33.410 I want to know you. 00:23:35.120 --> 00:23:38.870 God, I want to walk with you. 00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:47.920 I hope in seeing these verses, one of the things that really draws to us here is 00:23:48.290 --> 00:23:53.820 seeing what Jesus is calling us to is not religion, but relationship. 00:23:55.360 --> 00:23:59.470 He's not saying go for this legalistic process of doing a foot washing. 00:24:00.260 --> 00:24:07.260 What he's saying is this is a metaphorical picture of how I have come to give my life, 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:14.740 that we may live in intimacy, fellowship for all of eternity, for 00:24:14.740 --> 00:24:20.720 a world that tends to gravitate towards religion, this is a beautiful thought. 00:24:21.820 --> 00:24:26.150 Our natural tendency, our natural bend as human beings is to think religiously. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:35.800 But by the grace of God, what we find here is an opportunity to think different than that, to think relationally, to know God and 00:24:35.800 --> 00:24:36.920 walk with God. 00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:44.560 And this act of Jesus, is I think intended to stir the affections of our heart, to see the goodness of a king who is willing 00:24:44.560 --> 00:24:52.200 to go to this extent for you and for me, to call you through this story into that continual relationship with him, 00:24:52.360 --> 00:24:59.740 to see the importance of this moment, to see the importance of every day, to let this God put His identity on 00:24:59.740 --> 00:25:06.820 you, to see the beauty of who you are not because of anything you do performance wise in religion, but to see the beauty of who you are because 00:25:06.820 --> 00:25:08.610 of what he has done for you. 00:25:08.680 --> 00:25:13.960 He has given an incredible worth of your life that no performance you ever do could add any more to that. 00:25:15.840 --> 00:25:18.640 It is astounding that God would love us this way. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:23.420 And that's I think part of the reason Peter started to be shocked by the fact that Jesus would even wash his feet. 00:25:24.320 --> 00:25:25.890 Who am I in comparison to Christ? 00:25:26.360 --> 00:25:35.440 And I don't even think Peter had a full understanding of who Jesus might be in these moments, but now we know how 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:38.700 precious of a gift that is that this God would want to know you. 00:25:40.100 --> 00:25:45.380 And you can share this to religious world that this church is not an invitation to religion. 00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:52.480 This church is an invitation to relationship to the king who desires to transform your life, to give you an incredible worth and value and 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:52.900 meaning. 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:55.720 It gives the gift of forgiveness in relationship. 00:25:56.560 --> 00:25:58.580 And then let me move on from there. 00:25:58.980 --> 00:26:00.960 You get one gift to give, right? 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:06.100 I could probably highlight more, but I just want to focus on one, one gift to give. 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:08.840 And it's for those with clean feet. 00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:14.750 And that is the gift to serve with a heart of forgiveness. 00:26:16.120 --> 00:26:22.060 Now that you've been forgiven, you have now also been given the gift to serve others with the heart of forgiveness. 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:26.400 Remember we can serve now because we have been given elevated position in Jesus. 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:27.900 We don't need the world to affirm us. 00:26:28.140 --> 00:26:36.260 We have Christ who has affirmed us, which allows us then to serve because we don't need others to come around us, but in that service, we 00:26:36.260 --> 00:26:39.380 can also carry a heart of forgiveness. 00:26:39.600 --> 00:26:43.030 So your blank is to serve with a heart of forgiveness. 00:26:43.360 --> 00:26:50.360 Look at this, in verse 12 to verse 16, it explains this section of scripture, "Then when he had washed their 00:26:50.360 --> 00:26:56.040 feet and taken his garments and reclined at the table, again, he said to them, 'Do you know what I have done for you? 00:26:56.580 --> 00:26:59.400 You call me teacher and Lord and you are correct, for so I am. 00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:07.420 So if I, the Lord and the teacher washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet, for I gave you an example so 00:27:07.420 --> 00:27:10.600 that you also would do just as I did for you. 00:27:10.600 --> 00:27:17.780 Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one 00:27:17.780 --> 00:27:24.940 who sent." So Jesus is saying, look, you should follow my example because I am your master and a master's is 00:27:24.940 --> 00:27:26.020 followed by a servant. 00:27:26.080 --> 00:27:27.420 You duplicate what you've seen. 00:27:27.420 --> 00:27:30.140 You mimic the behavior that has been done. 00:27:30.320 --> 00:27:34.120 And the reason we're able to do this is because of what Jesus has done for us. 00:27:34.120 --> 00:27:35.410 This is what he's saying in this story. 00:27:35.480 --> 00:27:36.790 Now I'll tell you this. 00:27:36.900 --> 00:27:40.890 Let me give you some pushback on what I just told you, that your blank is to serve with a heart of forgiveness. 00:27:41.860 --> 00:27:43.620 Nowhere in this passage is the word forgiveness mentioned. 00:27:47.740 --> 00:27:52.340 In John 13, the primary theme is certainly to serve. 00:27:53.220 --> 00:27:55.120 Are you going to see that reiterated in verse 20 again? 00:27:55.300 --> 00:28:00.040 That is hermeneutically, if you're really studying this passage, that is the big idea God wants you to take. 00:28:00.320 --> 00:28:08.180 But I do want to hone down a little bit on the idea of in our service to be a forgiving servant, because 00:28:08.180 --> 00:28:11.420 that's what ultimately Jesus' service has done for us, right? 00:28:12.800 --> 00:28:18.810 Jesus' service has forgiven us, which has freed us to then serve ourselves. 00:28:20.460 --> 00:28:26.870 No greater example of service, I think is seen than in your willingness to forgive. 00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:32.400 It is impossible for relationships to exist without forgiveness. 00:28:33.660 --> 00:28:36.460 Your relationship with God would not exist without forgiveness. 00:28:36.500 --> 00:28:43.580 Your relationship with people cannot exist without forgiveness because your relationship with people, it's messy and 00:28:43.580 --> 00:28:45.890 no one in your life has lived perfectly. 00:28:46.340 --> 00:28:48.460 And at some point that you had not to forgive them, right? 00:28:48.780 --> 00:28:55.160 If you walk in life with that sort of expectation to your relationships, your relationships are going to be very short-lived. 00:28:55.740 --> 00:28:59.350 In order for relationships to exist, they require forgiveness. 00:28:59.800 --> 00:29:03.230 And we understand that the way God has called us to live in this world is relationally. 00:29:04.580 --> 00:29:06.240 We are created to love God, love others. 00:29:06.520 --> 00:29:09.400 Those two commandments that Jesus gives us in the New Testament, they're all relational. 00:29:10.040 --> 00:29:16.560 And so forgiveness becomes a primary part of what it means to serve the way that God has called us to serve it. 00:29:16.700 --> 00:29:17.500 But here's the reality. 00:29:19.780 --> 00:29:20.420 We don't like to forgive. 00:29:23.120 --> 00:29:29.760 I mean a life, we want grace, but we tend to be people that demand justice. 00:29:31.340 --> 00:29:34.260 And so it's a struggle. 00:29:34.260 --> 00:29:34.360 I love the way C.S. 00:29:34.360 --> 00:29:35.380 Lewis says, I put the quote here for you. 00:29:35.380 --> 00:29:35.680 But C.S. 00:29:35.740 --> 00:29:43.060 Lewis says like this mere Christianity, "Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until you have something to forgive." 00:29:43.960 --> 00:29:44.660 And Amen. 00:29:44.980 --> 00:29:46.740 That is so true. 00:29:47.060 --> 00:29:49.580 I can set up here and just tell you to do this all day long. 00:29:49.760 --> 00:29:51.100 But the proof is in the pudding. 00:29:51.460 --> 00:29:55.560 Is your life willing to demonstrate this? 00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:04.400 And this is one of the attitudes that Jesus is expressing in the heart of washing our feet, 00:30:06.300 --> 00:30:14.920 and what makes forgiveness hard is that forgiveness demands that the forgiver pay the costs, but 00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:20.880 what makes forgiveness so powerful is that no one deserves the forgiveness they've been given. 00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:22.440 It's a gift. 00:30:24.700 --> 00:30:30.940 The disciples in the room with Jesus did not deserve what Jesus is doing for them, but it's a gift. 00:30:32.280 --> 00:30:36.960 And because of that gift, it speaks powerfully into the hearts of people. 00:30:39.060 --> 00:30:44.500 It's hard enough to get to a place to be willing to freely forgive. 00:30:46.740 --> 00:30:47.280 That's true. 00:30:48.220 --> 00:30:53.280 And at the same time, it's also hypocritical to be a follower of Jesus and not forgive. 00:30:55.520 --> 00:30:58.830 Forgiven people should forgive people. 00:31:00.080 --> 00:31:07.020 How can we claim to be a follower of one who was so forgiving to us and yet not forgive others? 00:31:09.540 --> 00:31:12.220 There is a struggle with that. 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:19.320 I think one of the reasons that we struggle is because sometimes we have a picture of forgiveness that isn't true, and it's important 00:31:19.320 --> 00:31:22.750 to understand what forgiveness isn't and what forgiveness is. 00:31:24.760 --> 00:31:27.620 Forgiveness isn't forgetting. 00:31:30.200 --> 00:31:31.360 Forgiveness isn't forgetting. 00:31:31.660 --> 00:31:38.700 I know sometimes we like to quote that verse in Psalm 103:12, to think that forgiveness means forgetting, but as 103:12 says, "As far as the east is 00:31:38.700 --> 00:31:44.300 from the west, God forgives you." But if you think about it, really, God doesn't forget anything. 00:31:45.620 --> 00:31:46.780 God knows everything. 00:31:47.460 --> 00:31:48.360 God doesn't forget anything. 00:31:48.620 --> 00:31:51.900 How could Jesus die for your sins on the cross if he forgot what your sins were? 00:31:52.220 --> 00:31:53.660 God does not forget. 00:31:53.800 --> 00:32:01.050 But what that passage is saying is God doesn't hold your sins against you because Jesus paid it in full. 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:02.800 He didn't forget it. 00:32:03.400 --> 00:32:10.710 In fact, I would say sometimes forgetting intentionally trying to forget or act like you forget, it's not always healthy for the other person. 00:32:12.260 --> 00:32:19.220 I can think of times in my life where as a young person, I was very thankful for this for my mother, because this helped me. 00:32:19.220 --> 00:32:26.640 But I remember in my life, my mom allowed someone to stay in her home who needed help recovering. 00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:35.720 And I was a little aghast by her decision because I knew just a few months before, this particular person had 00:32:35.840 --> 00:32:37.460 stolen things from someone else. 00:32:39.620 --> 00:32:46.620 And I said to my mom, "Why would you do this?" And she looked at me and said, "Because I forgive them, but I 00:32:46.620 --> 00:32:53.800 am not forgetting." And what she ended up doing in that moment to help this person by not forgetting is she took 00:32:53.800 --> 00:32:54.500 the valuables. 00:32:54.940 --> 00:32:55.740 That would be a temptation. 00:32:56.500 --> 00:32:57.220 And she put them away. 00:32:58.520 --> 00:32:58.900 She hid them. 00:33:00.120 --> 00:33:00.700 Why did she do that? 00:33:01.500 --> 00:33:05.520 Because she cared about the other person, and she wanted the best for them. 00:33:05.520 --> 00:33:08.260 She wanted to do what she felt would help them succeed in life. 00:33:09.520 --> 00:33:10.140 So she did not forget. 00:33:11.400 --> 00:33:16.480 And the reason she did not forget was not to attack the other person, but to help the other person. 00:33:17.380 --> 00:33:24.460 So I say sometimes forgetting is not always helpful, especially if you're trying to help someone who struggles in a particular way, not 00:33:24.460 --> 00:33:26.100 to help them fall into that trap again. 00:33:27.260 --> 00:33:29.760 And so forgiveness doesn't mean forget. 00:33:30.920 --> 00:33:36.040 For us as a people, sometimes that's not even a possibility to forget. 00:33:36.260 --> 00:33:39.180 Forgiveness does not mean be best friends. 00:33:39.340 --> 00:33:44.440 Sometimes people have to take this to the extreme, like just because you forgive someone means you got to be besties when you're done. 00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:46.090 And that doesn't mean that either. 00:33:46.380 --> 00:33:52.960 Forgiveness doesn't mean you have to become best friends, and forgiveness does not mean that law can't be involved. 00:33:53.480 --> 00:33:56.400 People can be held liable for what they do and you can still forgive them. 00:33:57.160 --> 00:33:59.180 In fact, sometimes that's also helpful. 00:34:00.280 --> 00:34:07.460 Someone who has a perpetual track record of committing an offense that they may leave your presence and do it to someone else again, by not 00:34:07.460 --> 00:34:10.000 involving the law, you may be hurting other people. 00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:14.080 And so forgiving doesn't mean not involving the law either. 00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:23.080 And I think it's important considering we talk about what forgiveness means for our lives, that there are some things that we often associate 00:34:23.080 --> 00:34:25.320 with forgiveness that isn't always true. 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:30.159 And a lack of understanding with that makes it a struggle for us. 00:34:30.199 --> 00:34:32.280 But it's also important to talk about what forgiveness is. 00:34:32.500 --> 00:34:33.120 So what is forgiveness? 00:34:34.940 --> 00:34:42.100 One, forgiveness models Jesus, and this is what 00:34:42.100 --> 00:34:44.500 we've seen in the story Jesus tells us to mimic him. 00:34:44.920 --> 00:34:46.840 Forgiveness is something that models the Lord. 00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:51.210 It's beautiful for us to demonstrate because it shows that we're not in hypocrisy. 00:34:52.900 --> 00:34:59.320 Two, forgiveness is a release from my past and the burden of vengeance. 00:35:01.200 --> 00:35:08.280 When you think about what forgiveness helps us do as people, a lack of forgiveness tends to be something 00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:10.280 that traps you in your past. 00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:18.320 You live in perpetual replay of your life, meaning you sort of run forward in life, but as you're running forward, 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:20.980 you quickly find yourself thinking about something that you haven't forgiven. 00:35:21.320 --> 00:35:28.320 And before you know it, here you do this giant circle heading back to where you started and forgiveness traps you in this past, where you run this 00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:35.520 perpetual replay, this giant circle, this giant loop, and you hold on to resentment and bitterness 00:35:35.520 --> 00:35:38.100 and it becomes toxic for you. 00:35:38.100 --> 00:35:43.080 So I love, when it comes to the idea of forgiveness, just reading quotes from Corrie Ten Boom. 00:35:43.980 --> 00:35:48.540 Corrie Ten Boom for me is like the modern day example of what forgiveness should represent. 00:35:48.640 --> 00:35:56.060 When she, if you don't know anything about her, when she helped Jews escape in Nazi Germany, she was eventually caught, she and her sister, they 00:35:56.060 --> 00:36:00.680 were thrown into a concentration camp and she faced some horrible circumstances. 00:36:00.680 --> 00:36:03.220 Her sister eventually died in the concentration camp. 00:36:03.300 --> 00:36:10.600 After she was released from the concentration camp, Corrie Ten Boom went on to create a place for four soldiers 00:36:10.600 --> 00:36:17.920 that served in Nazi Germany to help them deal with the things that they were struggling with because of what they did 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:22.800 to the Jewish people, and more than just the Jewish people, but definitely to the Jewish people. 00:36:24.380 --> 00:36:29.560 She helped people recover from the offenses they brought against people like her sister. 00:36:30.020 --> 00:36:37.140 She even talks about stories where people that she knew intentionally harmed her sister and led to her sister's death later come to 00:36:37.140 --> 00:36:42.280 her and ask for forgiveness, and the struggle in her own life to let that go. 00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:44.740 Listen to these quotes. 00:36:45.240 --> 00:36:52.980 She says this, "Forgiveness is setting the prisoner free, only to find out the 00:36:53.080 --> 00:36:54.660 prisoner was me. 00:36:56.360 --> 00:37:03.680 Forgiveness unlocks the door of resentment, the handcuffs of hatred, breaks the chains of bitterness and shackles of 00:37:03.680 --> 00:37:10.920 selfishness." Forgiveness, guys is a release from my past 00:37:11.640 --> 00:37:13.680 and the burden of vengeance. 00:37:15.200 --> 00:37:16.520 It's toxic for your soul. 00:37:18.360 --> 00:37:24.550 Life is too short and your days are too precious to hold onto those things. 00:37:25.280 --> 00:37:32.440 And what Jesus calls you to is far greater than being stuck there, which is why number three, forgiveness is 00:37:32.440 --> 00:37:35.520 an act of faith to move forward by the greatness of God. 00:37:37.600 --> 00:37:40.700 Forgiveness is an act of faith to move forward by the greatness of God. 00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:48.680 Forgiveness becomes this place where you say, "God, I could hold onto this, and I could produce my vengeance 00:37:48.680 --> 00:37:55.740 for this circumstance or God, I can trust in you to handle all things, because you say you will work 00:37:55.740 --> 00:38:02.800 is all together for good." Forgiveness is an act of faith where you believe in the 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:10.080 greatness of God that is bigger than your circumstances when you are not, and better at handling your 00:38:10.080 --> 00:38:11.720 circumstances than you are. 00:38:13.540 --> 00:38:15.880 And do you believe God's big enough to handle it? 00:38:18.540 --> 00:38:20.700 Do you believe that God is for you? 00:38:22.760 --> 00:38:27.200 And last, and this is more of the obvious one is that forgiveness is freeing to the offender. 00:38:29.720 --> 00:38:35.010 Guys, you can never live free to do what God has called you to do without the gift of forgiveness. 00:38:37.040 --> 00:38:42.300 People have no hope of transformation in this life without the gift of forgiveness. 00:38:43.980 --> 00:38:51.420 We as people, even when offenses are done to us, I think our ultimate hope should be that 00:38:51.420 --> 00:38:58.260 whatever is necessary to transform a heart so that never happens again, that God can miraculously do that. 00:38:59.500 --> 00:39:06.740 And forgiveness provides that runway for someone to run free, to allow the Lord the opportunity to 00:39:06.760 --> 00:39:07.520 transform their lives. 00:39:08.420 --> 00:39:09.740 Verse 17, it says this. 00:39:11.320 --> 00:39:18.900 It says, "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." I 00:39:18.900 --> 00:39:26.780 don't want to pretend forgiving is hard and messy, but it also says that 00:39:26.780 --> 00:39:32.400 forgiveness, this idea of serving in a forgiving way, you're blessed if you do them. 00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:33.060 And why is that? 00:39:34.900 --> 00:39:35.300 Why is that? 00:39:37.380 --> 00:39:38.140 I would say it like this. 00:39:40.880 --> 00:39:43.440 Forgiveness is worshipful. 00:39:47.040 --> 00:39:55.340 When your heart is willing to give, it's because your heart is in worship before the Lord, because 00:39:55.340 --> 00:40:02.440 forgiveness is about trusting in a God who is bigger and choosing to walk with him rather than holding 00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:04.940 on as a prisoner of the past. 00:40:07.080 --> 00:40:15.200 This is a place where you're looking forward to your creator God, rather than the things that lie behind you, and 00:40:15.200 --> 00:40:21.900 forgiveness for us becomes an act of worship or reconnect to our creator, and we are blessed if we do that. 00:40:24.780 --> 00:40:30.620 Those that forgive trust in the goodness and power of God, that's greater than their circumstance. 00:40:30.660 --> 00:40:34.010 And if you do this, I think you win every time. 00:40:35.140 --> 00:40:36.680 There's another passage. 00:40:36.720 --> 00:40:41.870 I would say that's kind of like the opposite of this, in Matthew 6:15, look at this for just a moment. 00:40:42.380 --> 00:40:51.340 Matthew 6:15 says this, "But if you do not forgive other people, then your father will not forgive your offenses." That's 00:40:51.340 --> 00:40:52.660 a sobering verse, isn't it? 00:40:55.080 --> 00:40:59.730 If you're not willing to forgive, then your father will not forgive. 00:41:01.660 --> 00:41:03.180 Why? 00:41:05.080 --> 00:41:07.530 I want grace, I demand justice. 00:41:10.100 --> 00:41:11.020 Why God will you not forgive? 00:41:11.660 --> 00:41:17.660 I think the obvious reason is because it's, it doesn't reflect the creator who came to give his life to forgive you. 00:41:18.700 --> 00:41:19.290 Now I will say this. 00:41:19.660 --> 00:41:24.980 Some people read this and they're like, they'll hit the massive panic button in life and be like, "Am I even saved? 00:41:25.060 --> 00:41:26.060 Because I won't forgive them. 00:41:26.140 --> 00:41:27.320 So God hasn't forgiven me. 00:41:27.320 --> 00:41:30.300 Am I going to heaven?" I don't think that's what this passage is saying. 00:41:30.360 --> 00:41:31.600 I think it's just talking in relationship. 00:41:32.220 --> 00:41:36.600 Look, it says this verse that you are, God is already your father, meaning you belong to Him. 00:41:37.340 --> 00:41:39.720 So you're already in the family. 00:41:40.840 --> 00:41:46.740 But what it's saying is you're not experiencing the intimacy of what it means to be in that family because you're living contrary to your father. 00:41:49.020 --> 00:41:50.080 So you want intimacy with God? 00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:53.110 Trust him by letting those things go. 00:41:53.420 --> 00:41:57.080 And if you do, you're blessed because now you're close to God. 00:41:57.200 --> 00:42:01.580 You're choosing to walk with Jesus rather than see yourself as God to execute the vengeance. 00:42:01.620 --> 00:42:02.300 God is greater. 00:42:02.720 --> 00:42:07.320 I promise whatever God wants to do, the circumstances is far better than anything you're ever going to do in your own strength anyway. 00:42:08.220 --> 00:42:12.760 So why waste your strength on things that God is better at handling? 00:42:14.950 --> 00:42:16.820 Forgiveness, it's a gift that God has given you. 00:42:18.160 --> 00:42:25.320 And it's a gift that God continues to give you that you can trust in him to do as you forgive others, because it's you depending on a God who is greater than 00:42:25.320 --> 00:42:25.980 your own strength. 00:42:27.340 --> 00:42:31.460 And the blessing is that now you're close to the Lord as you walk in this and trust in him. 00:42:31.460 --> 00:42:33.740 And it's an attitude of worship before the Lord. 00:42:33.780 --> 00:42:35.150 And I should hurry up and end. 00:42:35.160 --> 00:42:36.840 So let me move past that. 00:42:38.040 --> 00:42:45.060 Some encouragement for you, I'm going to say this as I get to this encouragement is the way you 00:42:45.060 --> 00:42:52.060 get to the place of being able to forgive, which I know is a struggle, we all struggle with it, is by allowing 00:42:52.060 --> 00:43:00.540 our heart to continue to be reminded of the grace we've already been given by the forgiveness we've received in Jesus, to 00:43:00.540 --> 00:43:05.180 let our soul be saturated and filled with what we've received in Christ. 00:43:05.580 --> 00:43:14.360 And so knowing it's a challenge on how can we be encouraged to do that and to forgive, look at these next few verses, verse 18 and 19, "I 00:43:14.360 --> 00:43:15.840 am not speaking about all of you. 00:43:15.880 --> 00:43:22.900 I know that ones whom I have chosen, but this is happening so that the scripture may be fulfilled, he who eats my bread has lifted up my 00:43:22.900 --> 00:43:29.960 heel against me, from now on, I am telling you that before it happens so that when it does happen, you may believe that I am 00:43:29.960 --> 00:43:30.360 he. 00:43:30.460 --> 00:43:34.160 Truly, truly I say to you, the one who receives anyone I send receives me. 00:43:34.180 --> 00:43:39.720 And the one who sees me receives Him who sent me." Let me just say this about this verse 18 and 19. 00:43:39.720 --> 00:43:40.420 I'll talk about verse 20. 00:43:41.740 --> 00:43:49.000 Verse 19, Jesus says, "I'm telling you this so you know when it happens that I was completely in control." Bad 00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:50.060 things were about to happen. 00:43:50.940 --> 00:43:55.580 And I'm telling you the bad things are about to happen before the bad things happen so that you know I was in control of even the bad things. 00:43:56.780 --> 00:44:04.260 And that's really important when you go to forgive somebody, because our tendency as people when bad things happen is either A, 00:44:04.260 --> 00:44:08.770 feel like we've been abandoned by God or B, question whether or not God is actually good. 00:44:09.980 --> 00:44:12.650 It tends to be in a negative way where people go. 00:44:13.320 --> 00:44:18.640 But what Jesus is saying here is I want you to realize I am also the God of the hard things. 00:44:20.100 --> 00:44:24.520 Just because you go through hard things doesn't mean I am bad and it doesn't mean I am absent. 00:44:24.760 --> 00:44:31.880 In fact, the opposite is true because here we see in this story of a Lord who is pursuing us in difficult things, and enduring difficult 00:44:31.880 --> 00:44:33.830 things for you and for me. 00:44:35.380 --> 00:44:41.300 So when we think in terms of serving and forgiveness, yes, the road is hard, but that is not absent from God. 00:44:42.660 --> 00:44:48.160 In fact, Jesus demonstrated that by doing it with his own life and calling the shot as he walked through a hard road. 00:44:50.040 --> 00:44:56.760 So you don't do these things, enduring these things apart from God, but you're enduring these things with God and in the difficulty is where God grows you. 00:44:58.800 --> 00:45:01.480 In the adversity, if we're honest, is where we really seek Him. 00:45:03.300 --> 00:45:10.380 And so when you think about the difficulty of forgiveness, there's this question in your life, will I trust the greatness of God or will I continue to 00:45:10.380 --> 00:45:11.290 trust in me? 00:45:12.360 --> 00:45:16.660 And then in verse 20, "Truly, truly I say to you that the one who receives anyone I send receives me. 00:45:16.660 --> 00:45:24.040 And the one who receives me, receives Him who sent me." Let me help us think about our relationships in terms like this. 00:45:24.280 --> 00:45:31.300 This is something I try to reflect on often in my life, as it relates to God, God created human beings in His image. 00:45:31.980 --> 00:45:35.860 The most unique thing God has created in this world is you and me. 00:45:36.500 --> 00:45:43.880 And what he's saying in verse 20 is this, how you serve others is worship to your 00:45:43.880 --> 00:45:44.340 Lord. 00:45:46.120 --> 00:45:53.180 The way you choose to treat people, Jesus sees that as the way you 00:45:53.180 --> 00:45:54.800 choose to treat him. 00:45:55.500 --> 00:45:55.940 That's what he's saying. 00:45:58.360 --> 00:46:06.380 "He who serves one who sent me is serving me and serving the Father." That's what he's saying, "I've 00:46:06.380 --> 00:46:07.700 made them in my image. 00:46:07.740 --> 00:46:09.980 I've given my life for them. 00:46:11.600 --> 00:46:12.100 Serve them. 00:46:13.740 --> 00:46:21.040 As you serve them, consider yourself Honoring me, consider it as if it 00:46:21.040 --> 00:46:26.620 is my feet you're washing." Consider it as if it is my life you are cherishing. 00:46:28.700 --> 00:46:36.060 That will transform the way you carry your life for others, the way you 00:46:36.060 --> 00:46:43.340 use your life for others, that every human interaction you have is a divine interaction 00:46:43.340 --> 00:46:48.120 because God created that person in His image. 00:46:48.960 --> 00:46:54.900 So church and the beauty of who you are in Jesus, may you honor your king in the way that you serve.