Sermon Tone Analysis

Who are the hardest people for you to love?

Think about that question and then a few of you give me your answers.

There are no right or wrong answers here; just tell me what come to your mind.

These people that you say are the hardest to love, could you see yourself serving them?

In terms of serving, I mean the lowest societal view of serving that comes to mind?

By the same token, do you have any trouble with serving those whom you say that you love?

How far down the chain in being a servant, are you willing to go for another; even one that you say you love?

OK, here’s another question for you.

If you knew that tomorrow night was the last night that you would be spending time here alive (you had the knowledge ahead of time to know that you were going to die), how would you spend that last night?

(LET PEOPLE ANSWER)

How many of you can honestly say that if it were your last night, you would try to enjoy that last bit of life to the fullest?

(Food, time with family and friends, etc.)

How many people would spend the time trying to make things right between you and God, for fear of past failures and wrong dealings with other people?

The cartoon character Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes once said, “God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things.

Right now I’m so far behind I’ll never die.”

Would you picture your final night of life being spent as a lowly slave and doing the dirtiest of jobs for others, freely and voluntarily?

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER

(Written after she found out she was dying from cancer.)- by Erma Bombeck

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the ’good’ living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later.

Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love you’s."

More "I’m sorry’s."

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute, look at it and really see it , live it and never give it back.

The late D.L. Moody said this as he was about to die and go on to be with Jesus, "Earth recedes.

Heaven opens before me.

If this is death, it is sweet!

There is no valley here.

God is calling me, and I must go."

"No, no, Father," said Moody's son, "You are dreaming."

"I am not dreaming," replied Moody.

"I have been within the gates.

I have seen the children's faces."

His last words were, "This is my triumph; this is my coronation day!

It is glorious!"

"No, no, Father," said Moody's son, "You are dreaming."

How do we view our final days?

Just a thought!

"I am not dreaming," replied Moody.

"I have been within the gates.

I have seen the children's faces."

His last words were, "This is my triumph; this is my coronation day!

It is glorious!"

Tonight, we are going to briefly look at a passage in John’s gospel and then share with one another, our thoughts and introspective look at what is being said and how we apply it to ourselves.

Tonight, we are going to briefly look at a passage in John’s gospel and then share with one another, our thoughts and introspective look at what is being said and how we apply it to ourselves.

Tonight, we are going to briefly look at a passage in John’s gospel and then share with one another, our thoughts and introspective look at what is being said and how we apply it to ourselves.

This may be somewhat group interactive and less, “teaching” per se, depending on how far I get into it!

SHOW YOU TUBE VIDEO OF JESUS WASHING THE FEET

Read

I think that the thing that astounds me of this passage right out of the gait, is the mindset of Jesus.

Here is a man, 100% man, whose death sentence is the next morning and He is only thinking of the wellbeing of that of His closest friends.

He is still working to train and prepare them for what is about to take place.

(He is not going , “OK, look guys, there is going to be a group of really bad men come and take me away later and they are going to torture and kill me, but I am innocent I tell you; I’M INNOCENT!

You have got tot do something to help me!)

Jesus is working to prepare those whom He loved, (prepare them by showing them what the greatest gift of all TRULY looks like! , )

Jesus was about to give all that He had in this passage and yet even then, He was still giving to those He loved for their good!

This whole scene in the upper room, is even more gripping when you understand that the only enemy to Jesus and His Father, the devil, was present!

Jesus, having all authority and having been given all things, as verse 3 says, could have unleashed a holy war right there on the devil, but that was not the will or the way of His Father and this shows the true heart and nature of love; SUBMISSION, HUMILITY and SERVITUDE!

What Jesus does in this passage, went against everything that the disciples believed was going to happen, or could understand.

They were looking, as were all believing Jews, in the messiah who would come and deliver Israel from oppression and Roman rule and forever establish an earthly kingdom!

They were looking to Jesus for this.......not someone who had all of this power and authority who was talking about His having to die and leave them!

Now, to top it all, Jesus does the unthinkable, as we just read in the passage and He gets up from the meal and removes His outer garment and tied the “lention” (a towel or apron that servants put when working), and He gets the basin and fills it with water and begins to wash the disciple’s feet!

What Jesus was starting to do to them, was so unheard of that it probably semi-disgusted some of the disciples!

(The role of one who washed the feet of the guest in the house, was reserved for the lowest of the servants.

Some Jews insisted that Jewish slaves should not be required to wash the feet of others; this job should be reserved for Gentile slaves, or for women and children and pupils

The reluctance of Jesus’ disciples to volunteer for such a task is, to say the least, culturally understandable; their shock at his volunteering is not merely the result of being shamefaced, it is their response to finding their sense of the fitness of things shattered.

But here Jesus reverses normal roles.

His act of humility is as unnecessary as it is stunning, and is simultaneously a display of love (v.

1), a symbol of saving cleansing (vv.

6–9), and a model of Christian conduct (vv.

12–17)

This was totally against anything that they understood from a Jewish Holy man, let alone the messiah!

They would have done well to reflect on the account of the woman at the house of Simon the Pharisee, when she washed Jesus’ feet with hr tears, kissed His feet and anointed them with expensive ointment and dried His feet with her own hair.

(The religious zealots could only think of the unthinkable act that this sinner was doing!)

Yet, Jesus explained that the true love and desire for forgiveness had driven her to regard Him higher than even they with their social rights and rules and because of her great faith and love, she was totally restored and forgiven!

So, here, in this example, we see God incarnate, down washing feet!

“WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?”

Jesus comes to Simon Peter to wash his feet!

They didn't understand it then, but after the crucifixion and resurrection, they would get it.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, was getting ready to take away the sins of the world; that is, He was getting ready to “clean” them of all of their sins!

Unless the Lamb of God has taken away a person’s sins, then they can have no part with Him; as Jesus said to Peter!

.

Jesus was telling them, the same thing that we should understand today; if the Master, the one who sends out the messengers lowers Himself to that of lowest esteemed there is, then the messenger himself, has no right to say that they will not do the same.

The footwashing was to symbolize the cleansing of the work of the Cross that was about to happen.

However, with Peter’s refusal to let this happen, it opened the door for Jesus to make another point and that is selflessness and humility.

And also, that once we are clean, we never need to be “cleaned again” (as in keep going to the cross for cleansing, justification; it is a one-time action), but yet due to daily struggles and sin, we need to continually be sanctified and given a little sponge bath or foot washing from the Master!

The lesson that was to be taken from the act is that TRUE LOVE, which is really the theme of this chapter and through chapter 16, is only possible if a person is HUMBLE!

Simply put, you cannot love one another as God has commanded us, unless you are willing to serve and be humble!

It is not possible to love as Jesus taught us, if we are not willing to give of ourselves and put others first!

Note first of all with this passage, that we are commanded to imitate God, if we are His beloved children.

Well, what does that mean?

It answers this question right after, where it says that we are to walk in LOVE, as Christ loved us.