MPC
24th February 2019.February 24 - John 13:1-17 - "Love"
MPC
24th February 2019.
Phil Campbell
Hey we just love love, don't we? As a culture. Love. Is all we need.
Valentines Day last week on the Today Show, that was their tag line. With some random bloke reading love messages that you could send in. On Facebook or Twitter. Not sure if the message on the screen is the Ray and Gay I know, but if it was, good work Gay.
So romantic. Because we love, love.
We're in part 3 of our series on our four big words as a church. The four words that are going to shape our church priorities.
We're going to invite others to follow Jesus with us. We're going to be growing more like Jesus. If you missed those talks they're online. Today we're going to love. Next week, it's send.
The problem is, though, as one of our big four words, love is a risky one because it seems what we might mean by it and what the rest of the world might mean by it in the 21st century are two very different things.
And so can I ask you this morning. To keep pushing yourself; keep pushing yourself to define love Biblically before you fall down the rabbit hole of the kind of love we love in the world around us. The kind of love that means when twin sisters both love the same guy and are pushing for marriage laws to change so they can both marry him at the same time, we just bend over backwards to say yes because love is love. I guess that's a plebiscite for next year!
Trouble is, in the English language we've only got one word for love. Whether you love cricket. Or you love your mum. Or you love chocolate. Or you love Ariana Grande.
Or you're in love your new wife, even if it was only yesterday you were married at first sight.
Whereas ancient Greek, which is the language of the New Testament... had four popular words for love.
The more words you've got for a concept, the sharper you can be in your thinking. Icelandic has got 48 different words for snow. That's a lot of nuance. They do a lot of thinking about snow.
Ancient Greek. The language of the new testament. Had four major words for love.
We've got one.
Which is why love is love is about as deep as we can go in a philosophical debate about the nature of marriage.
Let me give you the four key Greek words. And then we'll get started with unpacking our key passage. Because if as a church we want to be committed inviting, growing, loving and sending, we've gotta know exactly what we mean. By love.
First, there's the Greek word eros. From which we get the word erotic. The love that's expressed in sexuality. Our primal urges. And look, I'd have a guess and say 90% of the time, that's the only sort of love our 21st century culture is interested in. It's a love that demands personal fulfilment. A love that's a hunger that can never be satisfied. And interesting fact... it's the one word for love that you never find in the whole of the New Testament.
Stor-gey. Love number 2. It's the Greek word for family love. It's a word that when it does come up in the New Testament, is usually equated with affection. But nuanced. As in Romans 12 that almost defines it: Romans 12:10 "be devoted to one another with mutual affection."
And as a church family, we're meant to have that kind of mutual family devotion for one another. Because we're related.
Number 3. There's philia. Or in the verb form, phileo.
Which is friendship love. The bond that comes from common interests or values. Not just family loyalty. But emotional fondness.
It's the root of English words phil-anthropy, which doesn't literally mean giving away money, but love of fellow man. And phil-osophy, which is love of wisdom.
And phil-adelphia, which means brotherly love.
Which is the word used in places like Hebrews 13:1: "Let brotherly love continue."
The love that makes a church not a club. But brothers and sisters. Deep friends.
Finally, the Greek word ag-a-pay. The love that serves and sacrifices. The love that's about self giving. Rather than getting.
The definition is, "The unconditional love that serves regardless of changing circumstances. A love not so much rooted in attraction as moral good will."
It's loving someone who you know you'll get nothing back from. And so maybe it's no surprise when you read the famous words in 1 John 4:16 that "God is Love" it's no surprise. that's agape.
Not just that God's your best mate. Not just that he's fond of you. Not that he's somehow attracted to you. But that he's constantly wanting what's good for you.
It's the kind of love. That comes from a servant heart.
And you get to see it most clearly in the example of Jesus. And especially in John 13. The famous passage where Jesus strips off his shirt and gets down on his knees. And starts washing his disciples' feet.
Which is an incredibly vivid visual aid. Of what loving with a servant heart actually looks like. Although in the end, just a pointer to the even bigger visual aid. At the cross. Let's set the scene.
It's just before the Passover. The time when Israelites sacrifice a lamb and sprinkle its blood on their door-posts to remember the time God's judgement fell on the Egyptians. And spared the Israelites as they shelter under the blood of the sacrifice. For John as he writes, that's perfect timing for what's just about to happen. Because we're told in verse 1, Jesus knows that the hour has come for him to leave this world and go to the father.
Because, says John, having loved his own who were in the world, says John, "he loved them to the end."
Aga-pay love. In the original. That's in a sense John's summary; looking back as he writes. That's what the cross was all about. Servant hearted love. A love that gives everything to the very end. With nothing in return.
And we're about to get a hint of that. In what happens at the Passover dinner. The night before. Let's track the story as it unfolds.
Dinner is in full swing. They're eating, they're drinking, they're laughing.
Jesus knows the hour is come. But everyone else is unaware. With the exception of Judas; who knows exactly what he's planning.
But the astonishing thing you see in verse 3 is that Jesus knows not just that he's about to be betrayed; but he's fully aware, verse 3, that the father has put all things under his power.
That he's not operating out of weakness as a victim. But at this point he's fully. In command. That all the power in the universe, is at his finger tips. Should he want to use it.
Which makes it all the more astonishing what he does next.
You know you've got all the power in the universe. What are you going to do with it? Even in your own small universe.
You finally get to a position of authority at work. Head of your section. How are you going to use it?
You've finally paid off the house and the school fees and you've got financial independence. What are you going to do with it?
You've just been elected school captain. How's that going to change things?
You're president of the United States. How are you going to use the power?
There's the old saying, isn't there, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Read from verse 3, and see what you do if you're the Lord of the universe.
3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5 After that he pours water into a basin and begins to wash his disciple's feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Which seems, doesn't it, entirely backwards?
He knows God has put all things under his power. So he gets up. Takes off his clothes. Wraps a towel round his waist. Pours water in a basin. Gets down on his knees. Peels off the smelly sandals of the guy beside him. And starts sponging his stinking feet; and then wipes them dry with his towel.
In ancient cultures, that's what you had slaves for. The junior apprentice slave. The one right at the bottom of the pecking order. Because there's nothing quite so demeaning. You can't, physically, get any lower to the ground.
Can you feel the elastic stretching? Can you feel the tension? The distance between having all things under your power... and getting down on your hands and knees and wash smelly feet?
Peter can feel it. Doesn't make sense. And he's not going to be part of it. The other guys can let Jesus disgrace himself. But not Peter. Because Peter's the guy who always knows better. "Surely you're not going to wash my feet?" Jesus says, you won't understand 'til later. Verse 7. Peter says, never! You'll never wash my feet.
And Jesus says to Peter, verse 8; and here's the hint of what it's really about; Jesus says to him, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
In other words, that being with Jesus, that following Jesus, it's not just a club for good people. It's not just a thing where you do your best to impress. It's that you're prepared to come to him unclean, and be washed by him.
Which again, John as he writes is setting up as our understanding of what's going to happen at the cross. The sacrifice that through the incredible humbling of the Lord of the universe is going to wash us clean.
That it's not so much about us serving him. As him serving us. Through his death for us on the cross. And the free forgiveness, the washing, the outpouring of his spirit. That comes from that.
And at this point can I say that if you're not clear on that yet, please don't feel compelled to listen to anything else this morning. And just sit there for the next ten minutes reading verse 8. And thinking it through.
Because as I go on to talk about the way we're meant to love with servant hearts, the point is that it's all meant to flow out the fact we've had not just our feet but our hearts washed. By Jesus. And is not in any way a merit or a good work that somehow saves us or gets us right with God, in spite of generations of Christians losing sight of that.
Verse 9, Peter says, in that case, I'm all in. Wash all of me.
We'll skip over the next couple of verses that pick up on the dark undertone of Judas again. The shadow in the room.
And link back at verse 12. He's finished washing their feet. Puts his clothes on. Goes back to his seat. Asks them if they've figured it out. Which I don't think they do until later.
And then this. You call me Teacher and Lord. Which I am. Verse 13. Guess what. Now that I've washed your feet, verse 14, now that I've shown you what serving looks like, now that you've seen your Teacher and Lord inconveniently on his knees; you also should wash one another's feet. I've set you an example, so that you should do as I have done for you.
Which means a lot more than just washing feet.
I mean, these days we keep our shoes on at dinner, and our feet aren't crusted with dust and donkey dung like they were back then. But his point is, our love for one another is going to be shown by the way we serve one another. As people who have been washed clean by Jesus at the cross.
You're not somehow greater than me. Verse 16. Do you think?
Like, it's not that you're somehow here this morning and you've put your trust in Jesus and you've been forgiven and washed clean because he's died for your sins, and you're sitting there thinking, yeah but I'm too important to actually serve anyone. I mean, it's beneath my dignity. To help with the morning tea wash-up. Or turn up to a working bee. Or help set up the coffee cart. Or to clean the church toilet.
I was talking to a guy after second service a few weeks back. It was right at the end of morning tea. And he came out through the hall to the courtyard. And his wife said, where have you been? And he said, I was walking past the toilet. And there was a terrible smell. Someone had changed a dirty nappy. And left an awful mess. So he said, I cleaned it up. And you know the thing was, he wasn't complaining. And he wasn't saying somebody else should do it. It was just, why not me?
That's what loving with a servant heart looks like. Cleaning up the poop. From someone else's kid.
Or choosing to park on the street. So somebody else gets a carpark. Serving morning tea. So your church family gets to spend time together.
That's the kind of stuff Jesus is asking of us. If we're going to be his disciples. If we're going to part of the servant kingdom of the servant king.
That's his new commandment. Verse 34.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
As I have washed your feet, so you must love one another. As I have hung on a cross for you. So you must love one another.
And again, the Greek love word there is aga-pay. The love that asks nothing in return. The love of giving. And not getting. That's how. The world's meant to see that we're disciples of Jesus. That's how. The world's meant to see something different. And how powerful it is. When they do.
It doesn't come naturally, does it, that kind of love? But it does come. It comes by learning from the example of our master and our teacher. And not putting ourselves above him. It comes most of all as a fruit of the Spirit. As a change of heart from outside of us. Through the Spirit Jesus pours out on us.
Paul says it in Galatians 5... The fruit of the spirit, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
There it is. Top of the list. And so if you're washed by Jesus... that's you. That's your heart. I mean, you can ignore your heart sometimes. Tell it you're too busy. Too important. But when you do that, you're going against who you really are. In Christ.
People keep saying these days you've got to be true to yourself. When you've been washed by Jesus; that's what being true to your new self is going to look like. And ignoring your heart... isn't smart.
Because did you notice what Jesus says back in John 13 verse 17? He says, in washing your feet I've set an example for you. You're not greater than I am. So you're meant to humble yourselves and serve too. Verse 17...
17 Now that you know these things, you'll be blessed if you do them.
It's actually going to be good for you. To be true to yourself. To not just hear this stuff. But to do something to serve.
Jesus actually says that. Jordan Peterson would agree with him, if that makes a difference to you. But Jesus says it first.
Valentines day last week, we posted a link on Facebook to an article by Paul Tripp called 24 Things Love is and Does. It's worth a look. Let me finish with a few of my favourites from his list. All challenging. But this is loving with a servant heart. This is what we want to grow to. You can use them in your marriage. You can use them as a church.
Paul Tripp says,
Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation, or that the person being loved is deserving. (Just wash their feet anyway.)
Love is being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others without impatience or anger.
Love is the willingness to make regular and costly sacrifices without asking for anything in return or using your sacrifices to place the other person in your debt.
Love is refusing to be self-focused or demanding, but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage, even when you are busy or tired.
Love is daily admitting to yourself, the other person, and God that you are unable to be driven by a cross-shaped love without God's protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace.
Look, there are 19 more where those came from if you have a look on the article on our Facebook page. But the points the same.
That's loving with a servant heart. That's loving like Jesus.
And in the way that plays out in church life, there are some key areas.
As we focus on building family love. A church full of philadelphia. Mutual affection. A place in our hearts for the awkward uncles and the difficult teenagers. Having fun together. Sharing burdens together. Eating together. Because we're family. As a church we've gotta plan and prioritise for that. And we need you to be part of it.
And as we focus on practical care. As we serve one another. In the way Jesus is talking about. Our home visits for elderly family members. Helping one another get to doctors appointments. Stepping up for one another when the hard times hit.
And we want to encourage you to be part of that in whatever ways you can.
I want to encourage you this morning to have loving with a servant heart at the front of your mind as you turn up to church on a Sunday morning. Or before that. As you weigh up whether you're going to even bother.
As we grow as a family, who can you love today? Just by leaving them a spot in the car-park. By parking across the road.
Just maybe by sitting next to them for a chat, when nobody else does. And actually Listening.
Maybe by washing cups after morning tea. So other people can keep talking.
Maybe getting involved with our Village Church refugee care program we call Mosaic.
Maybe just by doing something you like doing and you're good at that's good for everyone else.
Maybe by doing something nobody else likes doing. But you've got a servant heart. Because you're following Jesus.
Maybe by just turning up and being here instead of going to the beach. Because we can't have a loving community without you.
We'd love you to take the serving form today; to fill it out. To bring it back next Sunday. Or just do it online.
It covers ways you can be part of serving in all four of our key areas. Inviting. Growing. Loving. Sending. Because the list's endless. And Jesus says, when you've been washed already. By the love of a servant king. Then he's left you an example. And you'll be blessed by it. When you do some servant loving too.