Is Being a Servant Really Admirable? | Mysteries in the Gospel of John

Now here's a question. Is being a servant really admirable? Now we might say yes, because we're believers in Jesus and we know that he told us to become servants, but let's face it, doesn't the world resist that mentality? I mean, if you go into the secular workplace or into a secular environment, do they really believe that being a servant is admirable? Doesn't the world look at being a servant as being weak? The world operates in a completely different way. The world operates by lording authority over people. But Jesus said, let he that is greatest among you be the servant of all. So let's try to unpack that a little bit and understand why Jesus said that and why being a servant really is being the greatest of all. So Father, we ask you today for a spirit of wisdom and revelation, help us to understand why being a servant really shows true wholeness and fullness. So in order to understand this and unpack this, we need to go back a few verses. We're today in the Gospel of John chapter 13 and I just got done covering in a previous episode what Jesus said shortly before going to the cross. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, he knew he had everything. The Father had already given him everything and he knew that and that he had come forth from God. He knew who he was. He had identity and the Scripture continues.

He knew that he was going back to God. He knew where he was going. He had destiny. He wasn't afraid of the future. He knew he had a bright future. So he was full of confidence. So Jesus, knowing these three things, okay? Knowing that he already had everything, he wasn't trying to get, he already had. He knew who he was, he knew he was the Father's own Son and he knew he was going back to the Father to glory, knowing those things, notice what happens next. Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. I want you to think about this. Why does this verse that shows Jesus girding himself with the towel and then humbling himself to wash the disciples' feet? Why does that verse come right after the verse that says this? Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, that he had come forth from God. It was going back to God, got up from the supper and laid aside his garments and taking a towel, he girded himself, then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. How are those verses related? Beloved, the truth is the mystery revealed is is that Jesus was able to serve

because he already knew he was the best. He already knew he was greater than everything else. He was able to focus on giving to other people and blessing them and helping them because he already knew that he was the best. He was completely secure. There was nothing that he wanted that he didn't already have and he knew exactly where he was going. He was going back to the Father. So in that state of being complete, he began to serve. That's the mystery of being a servant. True servants serve out of their fullness. This is why Jesus said, "Let he that's greatest among you be the servant of all." When we're already fulfilled, when we already know we're the best, we're gonna be free to love people. We're gonna be free to serve people. We're not gonna spend all our energy trying to control other people or trying to get something from other people because we're already gonna be fulfilled. That's how Jesus was able to serve. He was already fulfilled. He was already whole. And out of his wholeness, beloved, he was free to serve. Do you get that mystery? A lot of times we're trying to make ourselves religious by forcing ourselves to be servants.

But oftentimes that's just a fleshly effort and it's not even really genuine. I'm not saying we shouldn't strive to be servants. We should, but I'm saying that true servanthood, when it comes out of a pure heart, A lot of us are practicing what I call spiritual cannibalism. We've all heard of cannibalism and we think of people in the Amazon jungle somewhere, some tribe that has never been contacted. We think of people in Papua New Guinea where we have archeological records of tribes, isolated tribes that practice cannibalism, thinking that they're going to get power by eating the flesh of their victims. They would go to war with another tribe, they would kill what they perceive to be, a hostile tribe, and then they would eat those people that they killed, believing that when they ate them, they'd receive power. I know that sounds horrendous to some of you, but it's a fact that it is a real thing. It happens. Cannibalism, it's still going on. I would assume in some isolated parts of the world. But let me propose to you that some of us, now hear me out for a second. I know this is going to be hard to hear, but just let it digest for a second, please, hear me out. Some of us are practicing what I call spiritual cannibalism. What do I mean? I mean, we're using people. We're not literally eating their flesh, but we're using them. We're taking life from them to satisfy ourselves. We're taking advantage of people so that we can become more powerful in our own mind. We're manipulating people so that we can control the situation. We're taking away from other people trying to fill ourselves with that to make ourselves whole, and that is beloved, what I call spiritual cannibalism. It's taking the life of somebody else and ingesting it for your own purpose. I mean, in the most simplistic terms, you could think of a business relationship where somebody is taking advantage of somebody for their own benefit. That's a form of cannibalism. You're praying on the innocent. You're praying on the unsuspecting, but it happens in relationships. It even happens in marriages. It happens in romantic relationships where you try to guilt somebody, to try to manipulate them so that you can feel whole. It's spiritual cannibalism. We do these things because we don't yet feel whole, but we need to break this off and recognize the evil for what it is and stop using people. And a lot of times we do this instead of serving people, instead of loving people, instead of trying to empower people, instead of focusing on blessing people, what we do instead too many times is we try to control

people. Why do we try to control people? Oftentimes it's rooted in fear. We're so focused on trying to control our environment because we feel secure if we feel that we've controlled the environment, that we find ourselves sometimes trying to control people forcing ourselves on other people, not letting them be who they are, but trying to force them in to who we want them to be, or who we expect them to be. Jesus was the exact opposite. He didn't need anybody. He didn't need anybody. He didn't need to control anybody. He was free. He let them do whatever they were going to do. He didn't need them to fit into his world. And we need to get this same kind of mindset rather than trying to control everybody, shaming our kids, shaming our grandkids because we feel they're an embarrassment to us because maybe their behavior isn't what we think it should be, so we try to manipulate them and coax them and change them to get them to be how we think that they should be so that we can feel better, so that we're not embarrassed because of them. But do you see the whole thing? Beloved is something that's demonic and we need to break free of it. I'm not saying that we shouldn't exert our influence in the situations when the Lord calls us to. I'm not saying that. I think that there's balance to this truth, but too many of us are guilty of trying to control everything and everybody because of our own fear and insecurity. And we try to make people and our circumstances be what we expect them to be and what we think they should be. And it's so futile because you know what? The truth is we can never really control somebody else. At the end of the day, we can't really control them because people are who they are. At the end of the day, they're going to do what they do based on who they are. So a lot of times we just need to let people be free. We just need to let them go and switch from trying to control them to just letting them go and focusing instead, beloved, on serving them. Jesus serve people because of you. He knew who he was. I used to try to know who I was through wrestling. And I thought if I become state champ and they raise my hand in St. John's Arena at Ohio State University where the wrestling state champions were held, then I would know who I am, that I would know that I'm the best. I will have proven to myself that I'm the best. And I live for that. I trained all year long. I focused on it all year long. And I was so in that groove. But you know what? When wrestling ended, I didn't know who I was anymore. Because I based my identity on the wrong thing. I based my identity on something that could never really give me identity. Wrestling could never really give me true identity. I felt good when I was wrestling. I felt good when I was winning. But it was just

an illusion. I felt good when I was wrestling because I believed that it made me more valuable that it let me be in my own mind who I wanted to be. But at the end of the day, it was an illusion. I believed in an illusion because at the end of the day, it was just a puff. It didn't last. It wasn't true reality. It was a false reality that I believed was reality. But Jesus had true reality, true identity. He had an identity from the father. He knew he was the best. And it was never going to leave him. That's why he could serve. That's why those that serve are the greatest of all. That's why Jesus girded himself with the towel and washed the disciples' feet. He knew he was the greatest of all. He was free to love people and free to serve. And that's what I'm trying to communicate to us, beloved. We need to break off the demonic strongholds of trying to control everything and make everybody be what we want them to be because we think it's going to make us feel whole and it just won't work. It just won't work. Everything comes from the father. Identity comes from the father. Completeness comes from the father. Destiny comes from the father. Some of us are trying to feel whole through our relationships, especially romantic relationships. And we enter into these relationships with people and there are some type of mystical thing that takes place in the realm of the Spirit when we quote, "fall in love." And we have, some of you have had an experience where you fell in love with somebody and it was like it was so beautiful. It was such a beautiful feeling, right? But did that feeling of first falling in love last? No. Why didn't it not last? Because it was based on a delusion. You had an image, a fantasy of what you thought this person was, but it was all based on a fantasy. You were in love with your fantasy and it was bound to crumble. So what do you do when you fall in love with your fantasy and you project your fantasy upon that person, whether it is your husband or your wife or your boyfriend or your girlfriend? What do you do when you fall in love with your fantasy and project your fantasy onto this person that you're in relationship with? What do you do? You start trying to force that person to live up to your fantasy and it will never work because they're not your fantasy. Are you seeing what I'm saying? All these lies that we believe in, all these delusions, all these illusions, all these false realities that we cling to that we think are real, we need to let them go and we need to realize that true life is found in the Father and in Yeshua. Yeshua said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, but for Me, Yeshua is the life." The Scripture says, "He that hath the Son, hath the life." What do you crave for in your heart? And what do I crave for in my heart? What is peace? What is joy? What is fulfillment? You know what it

is? It's life. Jesus said, "I'm the life." Why is it that when we watch a movie and something is happening and a drama and beautiful music starts playing in the background and we feel this feeling that feels so good? What are we feeling? It's something that's connected to life, but beloved, the life that we crave, where is it found? Ultimately, it's found in the Lord and it's found in relationship with Him. Jesus said, "This is eternal life, to know God and to know Yeshua of Nazareth, whom he has sent to know Jesus Christ whom he has sent. us back to true identity today. I'm calling us back to seek to find out who we are from the Father rather than looking to the world to affirm us and approve us and rather using other people, you try to make them be what we think we need them to be in order for us to feel fulfilled. It will never work. It's a useless lie. It's unprofitable and it will never take you or I to where we want to be. Let's let Yeshua's life be the example. He knew that the Father had given them all things. He knew that He had come forth from God. He knew He was going back to God. And so we girded Himself with the towel and began to serve in Washington's disciples' feet. And the Scripture says there, "Having loved His own that were in the world, He loved them unto the end." Let your mind lock on these truths. Let's stop being distracted by all the glitter, by all the spectacular that's around us. Let's focus on deep truths. Let's stop chasing after new prophecies every day. Let's stop turning into our favorite prophets every day to find out what they tell us is going to happen this month. Let's stop chasing lies. And let's start chasing after eternal truth. So continuing on in the text here, Yeshua came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Peter couldn't handle it when Yeshua girded Himself with the towel and kneeled down at Peter's feet to wash them and to put them in the basin and to wash his feet off with the towel. And Jesus took a hold of Peter's feet. Peter, He recoiled. He could not receive that. It was unfathomable for Him. It was like oil and water. So Peter said to Him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to Him, "What I do, you do not realize now, but you will understand her after." Peter said to Him, "Never shall you wash my feet." Notice how Peter didn't get it. Jesus said, "You don't understand what's going on." Peter said to him, "Never shall you wash my feet." He couldn't receive Yeshua's love. He felt He was unclean. He felt He was unworthy of receiving Yeshua's love. Jesus answered Him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with me." What's the takeaway

beloved church? Some of us are having a hard time letting Jesus love us. Jesus is kneeling at Peter's feet. Peter says, "Never, Lord." He didn't feel worthy of Jesus' love, but she said, "If you don't receive my love, if you don't let me serve you, Peter, if you don't let me serve you, you can have no part with me. My friend, brother, sister, and the Lord, Jesus wants to love us and He wants to serve us." When I say He wants to serve us, some of you are almost reconciling like Peter, like, "Serve me? No. Jesus is a servant. He's a servant. He wants to love you. He wants to wash you. He wants to serve you. And you and I need to stop resisting Him because we feel that we're unworthy. We need to let Him wash us, let Him love us, and let Him serve us." So let's pray that Father would open our hearts to receive His love through Jesus, through Yeshua. In the book of Numbers chapter 6, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over His people. And the Lord said, "When you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them, receive the impartation of the Lord's blessings." [Music] The Lord blessed you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious. Green on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up by His countenance. God bless you, and shalom. You