When I was a kid and I can look around here at the ten o'clock service, I'm gonna say you know some of my young friends don't remember this But you all remember how big of a deal like a VHS tape was back in the day You remember the first time you bought a tape like you got your own tape like you didn't rent it like you got your own tape Now this is how it worked for me. It was pretty much after like the ninth weekend in a row where I rented Wayne's world I was a six year seventh grade seventh grade and my dad's like, excuse in my mom's sousie Sousie we just got to buy him this tape which was spent in five dollars every weekend on this movie And I burned through that copy of Wayne's world But what I remember the most I remember Remember you know it remember back in the day when you had a tape there's previews in front of that tape, right? And you guys point you knew those previews, right? And particularly the Wayne's world preview was like my parent I thought about this yesterday about to show quick from a movie my parents would not let me see But they bought a copy of Wayne's world for me as a 12 year old So but this is a preview of a movie that I actually did not see until college But I had all these ideas because of the little two and a half minute clip But there's one scene in it that intrigued me more than anything else just like 15 seconds.
Let's roll this and think about this Do you think perhaps just once I might use it by myself? Most amusing, sir I like it's a family realized after like six months of watching that trailer I realized the guy was clapping and saying wipers Can we talk about an awkward situation there? Like I it's like a 13 year old. I was like oh my goodness You know that awkwardness is interesting, but what I've also realized especially in my line of work that there are times To where if you're with a stranger, you might be in a very awkward situation But when you're with somebody that you care about Somebody that matters to you sometimes the awkward has the ability to become intimate Because you trust that person and because you open yourself up to that person away Sometimes you realize that it's a I really need somebody to do this for me right now And sometimes it's just a situation to get yourself into but as we jump off into these conversations about Jesus last conversation Today I want to talk about when the awkward becomes intimate and what that might look like John John's gospel is very very different We've not read John's gospel at all this year yet When we're doing all gospel readings all the sayings and stories that Jesus But besides our little quick overview we took the very beginning this we've not gone into John's gospel Yeah, John's gospel is different.
I don't want to play favorites, but I love John's gospel It's just different and it's different for many reasons It's different because it was written a lot later John was older John's only disciples to not be martyred and they tried they boiled him an oil one time and he lived through that He was exiled on to an island called Patmos He lived there for a long time. He wrote the book of Revelation while exiled They finally realized that he's not gonna die out there so let's come back to civilization I mean he lived to be a very very very old person He wrote his gospel most scholars think his gospel was written pretty pretty late in his life Pretty late in the history of the church You know a lot of times what people say is that it's John wrote these things not to talk about historical truth or historical factor to add to those Those stories have been written that instead He's trying to share the spiritual story of Jesus and the deep desires of Jesus heart for the people that he loves And that's really prevalent in these these five chapters that we're gonna take time to do over the next five weeks I'm gonna store Jesus last night is the very beginning of that last night He has with his disciples the moments before he is betrayed so a couple things going on with this I said first we're gonna do this for five weeks second I put up a Bible reading plan for these five chapters and if you go on my foundry.life There's message notes. There's a download link for that and five chapters They're seven days a week and so it gives you five days a week and two great stays and there's questions What is it really asking folks? You know what does it mean to read one chapter a day for five days and read the exact same chapter exact same days the next Week and for all of us to spend time doing a really really just a deep dive and a deep read Into these the stories of Jesus about those last conversations you think about it the last time you see somebody and by now Many of us right the age or we might have had a last conversation with someone think about what those are like Think about what they tell you I think the last time I remember the last time I talked to my grandfather Maris and I went to drove to see him before we moved to Kentucky I remember that conversation very very well and he knew and we knew what that was But think about that.
There's a last time you see some what would you say to the people you care about the most if it was your last night alive? I imagine that you wouldn't spend time on silly things. I know that I wouldn't so what would you do with it? Who would you want with you in those last moments?
Imagine those people that you would love to see during that I imagine there's people that you would not want to see during that Who would you want with you and what would you communicate to them? What would you want to say though? These are all questions that I've been asking myself these last week or so This we jump into this this last conversation John shares this like nobody else John shares this unlike any other gospel It's just one of the reasons think that John is just so different because he is trying to show a different side of Jesus the side of Jesus That speaks to our heart and speaks to our deep understanding where the point we get to in our Christian life We start having serious questions about who Jesus is I feel like John answers those really really really well Sometimes you can confuse this even worse, but he's just showing us this deep deep side of you So John 13 1 through 17 is what we're going to focus on today And it's the very beginning of this conversation This is what it says before the Passover celebration Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his father He loved his disciples during his ministry on earth and now he loved them to the very end It was time for supper and the devil had already prompted Jesus son of Simon and scary That's about right Jesus Jesus knew that the father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God So he got up from the table He took off his rope He wrapped a towel around his waist and he poured water into a basin And then he began to watch the disciples feet drawing them with the towel he had around him When Jesus came to Simon Peter Peter said to him, what are you going to wash my feet? Jesus replied, you don't understand how what I'm doing, but someday you will No Peter said, you will never wash my feet Jesus replied, unless I wash you, you won't belong to me Simon Peter exclaimed, then wash my hands and head as well Lord not just my feet Jesus replied, a person who is bathed all over does not need to wash except for the feet to be entirely clean And you disciples are clean, but not all of you for Jesus knew who betrayed him And that is what he meant when he said not all of you were clean After washing your feet he put on his robe again and sat down and asked you understand what I am doing You call me teacher and Lord and you were right because that's because that's what I am And since I, your Lord and teacher have washed your feet you all to wash each other's feet I have given you an example to follow Do as I have done to you I tell you the truth, slaves are not great as their masters Nor does the messenger more important than the one who sends the message Now that you know these things God will bless you for doing things So we can't jump into this this awkward situation here I mean the idea I won't we won't take another survey But imagine a lot of us the idea of getting your feet washed by somebody sounds a little weird It's very very intimate situation It's awkward in the fact of who is doing this Not that a fact not not it's happening But when you love someone you're willing to serve them no matter what that awkward becomes intimate That action of foot washing is a typical common practice In some ways it's like when someone would come into the house Like right now like anyone got a coffee like back there's like hey Little see your feet washed I mean there's all sorts of reasons why you can think that would be the nice thing to do In that center and at a time where things were just a little bit more messy than normal Typically the first the first thing a person would do when they begin to get a little bit of extra money Is that they would hire a servant for some more menial tasks around the house The only time that a host that would actually wash the person's feet that comes into their house Is if they had no servants whatsoever at all So it's kind of a basic thing also typically happened right when you first came in Not in the middle of the evening So we see Jesus doing this at the non-standard time as well And just the way that this looks and if you're from the last supper that another painting And there's a source in their gospels that's that's where we are in this narrative Jesus is situated as an honored guest as an honored guest of this homeowner And in no situation would it be culturally appropriate for the honored guest to be washing feet And this is a very this is a culture where social stratification men a lot where people's place Matter and where honor mattered there was very specific people to do certain things And there were just ways that it all worked and it kind of just blows a hole in the middle of it And also when seeing Jesus get up from the head of the table John's kind of showing that this is not so much about the act of him like washing their feet But about the whole larger situation at hand for Jesus to step up from the center of the table This is honored guests And see already said you're calling me teacher and you call me war They all had this realization of who he was For him to then stand up and then with his disrobing So it's not just like we wash your feet for it Hey, we take all my clothes off first and then wash your feet I mean it's kind of weird we can say that We see Jesus taking himself down Literally to that lowest level of what servitude looks like Washing their feet And putting all his clothes back on and then resuming his place At the head of the table If you're familiar with Philippians chapter 2 and 6 through 11 With this idea of the passage where Jesus Goes from the highest place to the lowest place of crucifixion And because of his journey to the crucifixion grows back to the highest place See at the right hand of God the Father This passage outlines that journey In fact these handful of verses are outlining the entire mission Of Jesus that he was here on this earth And so it is it's it's it's weird it's it's awkward It's so you're talking about you've got a half-naked person watching your feet who You think someone in charge It changes everything Peter has a lot of questions Peter always has a lot of questions Like Peter is that guy Completely He always wants to take things like 10 times over what they're supposed to be So Jesus comes to him and he's like no no not if you're You're really gonna do this I need you to do everything Not just my feet And there's this tension in this and these passages Between the fact that Judas is there and Jesus knows what Judas is going to do And Jesus tells them that somebody is going to do something There's this tension between Judas and between Peter and the two ways that they're reacting to Jesus In this situation Jesus ultimately tells Peter Just just chill out a little bit And listen to what I'm saying And there's also there's tons and tons of of of Jewish sacrificial like washing Things that are going through this as well for us to realize that this is to read this We have to take a step back and this isn't just about Somebody getting their feet washed This is about the path this is the story of God coming to this earth Blowering himself to the very bottom level In order to do every single thing for us See John it was interesting about this This is Jesus It's about to go in this track for five chapters Are he selling them the intimacy that I have with my father?
I am now giving to you Every single thing that I have said and done I'm now giving that to you and my relationship with my father Will now but me but your relationship with my father as well Without a last action that Jesus wanted to show his disciples was one of servitude And it was one of humility What's also interesting is passages John does not talk about communion or the word supper This is typically where we get that story from that idea from it's from this last supper And John doesn't talk about it whatsoever at all The early church adopted the idea of communion very very quickly That was part of their regular worship practice And I just kept thinking back about this whole foot washing thing How might it have been different if foot washing If this idea of willful service And intimacy with others had been picked up as well as a regular practice I think it's probably just as awkward to them as it would have been to us There's been one time I was talking to somebody about this message a couple of days ago They're like oh we're gonna watch their speech and I said no we're not Because I don't want to do that Because I don't want to watch my feet It was all those awkward situations I've had in ministry One time when somebody got the wild idea to do that last minute and it was like I'm gonna say well That's as awkward and weird to us as it was to them back But what would happen if the church That quickly we're taking on this practice of servitude and fumility towards the people that they are closest with How might that have changed some things as well? So there's just all sorts of stuff going on here There's this awkwardness of intimacy But when we love someone and we're willing to serve them no matter what We're willing for the awkward to have come into man That's what we kind of find ourselves in the story Because we think back to those questions about about these last things about these last times these last conversations But also this situation and trying to find ourselves inside of that Not just to understand it in like a cognitive way from 2000 years ago at the bible But also how's this gonna affect me on a Tuesday afternoon I think those lessons are found as we think about that awkwardness and intimacy The first thing and the thing that you're gonna if you're gonna fall on that reading plan And you'll be your own son who wants you'll find out is these five chapters are about love They're deeply deeply about love we read it In verse two says he had loved his disciples of verse one his love his disciples during his ministry on earth And now he loved it into the very end love is a huge thing But what's so interesting is in the body of God's love John Love is a preference Love is a choice so much of John is about someone's willful decision to follow and willful decision to bully And love is part of that For Jesus is saying I chose to love them and I'm choosing to love them now And I'm choosing to love them forever And when love is made known God is made Perfect love casts out all fear I think if we jump into that whatever we feel when things get awkward I think that first thing is fear like what on earth is going on? I need to figure something out real quick I need to be back in charge. I need to know where this is going next I need to know how this is going to affect me Think about all those ways that fear can run through this and this is this is where it's so easy for us to enter in This is probably confounded the disciples and it's it can be confounding us now But we think about this this exchange that Peter's just as far as fears concerned this exchange that Peter had with Jesus This is going to change everything.
I need you to make sure it's going to change everything completely So can you just hit a couple more areas than my feet What's so interesting though is Peter says my hands and my head and my feet And these are all the places in the Old Testament where the priests would become anointed with oil in order to perform before the temple service So Peter knew that this was about purification that this was about relationship that this was about being fully in the presence of God He was fearful. He showed his feet Now where we get I think a lot of times awkwardness to it we're scared because we can tell things are changing We can react in ways to try to deflect that change because we feel disoriented We open ourselves up to this level to Jesus sometimes we feel this is okay This is taking me passways. I'm comfortable passways. I can control passways that I can communicate easily right now This is really really different In verse 15 and 16 Jesus says I've given you an example to follow do as I have done I tell you the truth slaves are no greater than their master.
Where's the messenger more important than the one who sends this message? Jesus says it's very simple This is gonna be different But I'm gonna give you this outline of what to follow and what to do you don't need to be scared It's shown you the way and this thing will run concurrently all throughout these five chapters You know I think the next stage sometimes of awkwardness This is really just we see Peter get into is this idea of inadequacy Especially with him saying I need you to to wash more of me now That whole word wash that Jesus even brings up to the person who is bathed all over does not need to wash their feet again And he's specifically right there. It's this idea of bathes talking about the where we get our idea of baptism It's a very specific concept of a Jewish ritual immersion that they would probably do as often as they could and if this house was big enough To have this large of a dinner party most of the Jewish aristocracy had a private Ceremonial immersion pool in their house We found an archaeological habit. Would you feel weird to have a baptistry in your house?
Like or stressful water. It's really cold Like this is a very normal thing in fact Some scholars say if you this is the Passover meal it's all these things They probably all went through that thing when they got to the house that day But Peter's still saying I'm scared that I don't have what it takes Can you prove to me that I will be okay? That's awkward sometimes Especially as we grow up When we realize something's happened we kind of expose ourselves to somebody or the people Our protective layer comes off We all folks to see into where our hearts really add that embarrassment They might come that an adequacy Peter's showing it to Jesus. Am I prepared?
How do I handle what I believe when it's beyond the scope of my ability and sometimes Jesus asked us these things and they just seem utterly impossible This was completely uh happen sense this happened on this weekend I really think three years ago to that much blood I think a lot of us thought the scope of impossibility was a little bit different We go to the personal I remember you call me saying we send bags and French friends And we're pulling up and like what the it was Really how your house was only ones that take on water all around you Is there scopes of impossibility that we cannot understand? Moments to where we know that we're completely in his control And we have to be willing to get to that state of awkwardness in a fear and of abandonment To let him take control sometimes and Peter repeaters realizing this And so we go down further in the story realize that Jesus he has his clothes on now So Jesus has clothes on he's sitting back down and he begins talking to the disciples to sit You understand what's going on? He kind of takes us into this next place where this next journey we move forward this He begins speaking about what his dream is for us Just think about if you were having these last conversations with somebody you'd be talking about what you what you hope for them Right what you dream for them what their dreams are It's all wrapped up. What do we want to communicate to other people even if it is awkward The last thing my grandmother who died three years ago said it was incredibly awkward It was a very adult thing to say she threw me into the family Into the business that was going on But she asked me to do something and only I could do and she knew that it's tough But she was willing for the awkward to become intimate because we're in a situation that mattered No, you might think that what gets left out here What do I need to say to this person if you're on the other side is what do I need to tell you because I think I might not ever Say you again and I'll still be here and you won't be here anymore.
What do I need to tell you in this? No, Peter's freaking out about being inadequate but there's always freaking out But Jesus is making sure they know what's going on If you thought about how your dreams might end up different if you began dreaming about the power that Jesus has given us We think about that we might drop these previous dreams and realize there's new dreams and there's better dreams But the last thing is this is the future that he's desiring for us Verse 14 Jesus says and since I your Lord and teacher the title he gave them they gave him earlier Have washed your feet You ought to wash each other's feet And he's making this point clearly understood. He's saying I've given you a model of what to do Disregard who you might think you are Instead realize you're to take on the nature of the circle To break the world's story of who's in charge and who's in power And Ted step into the story that I have given you You know when you live when you love someone and want to serve no matter what the awkward becomes intimate And we replicate the actions of Jesus in all of the places No, I we don't have cable at the house. We got rid of it when we moved out here because we've never watching it But when I travel uh and go to a hotel, I kind of love to watch cable I love to watch those shows that just I would never watch at the house.
I would not make sense But I'm just entranced by them I love to catch reruns of the show dirty jobs With micro I love that guy and I would we had cable I would flip past that show all the time. I'm like, huh? Okay, you're gonna get really nasty. Okay, but thinking about it You know, he has now gained a huge platform For work and for the power of hard work and for the for the role that these jobs that we typically do not think much of the people that have And showing us how it's actually really truly it's these jobs that make the world go around But some somebody has to be doing this And you don't even realize what it is But somebody has to be doing it.
Oh, Jesus left He came and for a period of time in our world. He changed everything He did things that were radically different that reshaped the course of history When he left he said all right, so I'm gonna have to do this I mean empower you with every single thing that you need but now you need to do this Because this is what changes things I've been remaking things and I will be remaking things and now I'm remaking things through you So it happens when we're willing for the awkward to become intimate for that relational space to change things in our life Let's pray Lord