Servant Love

Well, good morning, and welcome to The Crossing. My name is Kimberly. I'm one of the pastors here, and we are in the middle of our series called More Than You Think. And I want to welcome those who are at the sites, at Grants Trail, at Mid Rivers, my friends at Fenton, and those of you that are online, we're so glad that you are here. It's right now, this weekend, it's been about one month since baptism weekend here at The Crossing. And I know, right, it was a great time, and it was wonderful to see all of these people. I forget what it was, maybe it was 503, I think, I can't remember. But I'm one of the people that gets to see all the stories that come in right away when people want to get baptized, and they share their relationship with Jesus and what God is doing in their life. And you may remember, Pastor Greg mentioned one during his message that weekend, and he talked about a young boy who's in Kids Crossing, and he said that he wanted to be baptized, that he had found Jesus as his Savior, because Jesus was the goat. The goat. And in parentheses, it said, greatest of all time. And I thought, he must know I'm reading it, because I have not always been familiar with that term. I don't think I really knew what it was until Tom Brady was like retiring, and everybody was talking about that. Because I'm a football person, I mean, Tom's not my favorite, but I'm from Pittsburgh, so if you know anything about football. And then I think that Taylor Swift did her Heiress tour, and I think we referred to her as the goat. No matter your music preference, I mean, certainly, she is someone. And so, just as we get started, as we get started. I just want you to turn to your neighbor, and I want you to share with them, who is the goat to you?

Whether it's in music, or sports, or business, leadership, could be someone in your family. Who is the goat? The greatest of all time. There is something about being a goat, right? I mean, we have kind of an amazement about these people. We have almost a reverence for them. I mean, they really are people who are set apart from everyone else. And so, I agree with this boy from Kids Crossing, that Jesus is the goat, the greatest of all time. From the beginning of creation, when the God of the universe, the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, created this world that we live in, His greatness was on display. And the Scripture says, great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise. His greatness, no one can fathom. And we believe this here, at the crossing, that the triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, the Creator of the world, the Savior of the world, that He is great. But I wonder if sometimes, do we really understand all that that means? More so, sometimes I'm concerned, for those who might be seeking God, and that might be someone in this room, that if I say that God is great, that you might get the wrong idea of what I'm talking about. Because sometimes people who are great might be arrogant, or they might be controlling. They're trying to get everybody to do what they want them to do. Greatness sometimes brings power, and people sometimes abuse their power. And so, if you don't know God yet, you might be asking, if God is great, then is He like that too? Or, if you are a believer, and you've been a person of faith for a long time, I have followed Jesus more than I've ever known Him. and 30 years of my life, and I have this admission to make to you, that I think sometimes I forget how great God is.

I forget why he is so great. I don't know, maybe you can relate. And sometimes I need to be reminded, and the best way to be reminded is to look at the scripture. And so here's what I want us to do today. I want us to feel like we are in this book as we walk through some passages. Recently, we were at the Chattanooga Aquarium, and we're walking by, and you see, you know, through the glass is all the sea life, and they had these like domes that you could kind of lean back and look up, and it was clear glass, and you kind of felt like you were in the water. And so that's the kind of space that I want to invite us into. I want us to feel like we are in these verses. I want you to lean back. I want you to look for the greatness of God. So let's pray first. Lord God, we ask, would you be present with us here? Would you show each one of us, what of your greatness do we need to know about today? It is more than we can fathom, as the verse says, and yet you have made yourself known to us. So may we see you, see pieces and parts of your greatness. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So throughout scripture, God is referred to and worshiped as the great God.

And in the Old Testament, it is said, before me, no God was formed, nor will there be one after me. So from the beginning, this God of Israel is known to be set apart. He is the one and only. And in Deuteronomy it says, acknowledge and take to heart this day, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below. There is no other. God is infinite. He is omnipresent, meaning he is everywhere. And he is omnipotent. He is all powerful. In Exodus 15 says, who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory and working wonders. And there is no one like him. And as you travel through the Old Testament, we can see this. He is just and he is merciful and he is gracious and he is glorious and he is good. That is his very character. That is the very nature of God. And throughout the Bible, we can see people worshiping him, centering their life on him, praying to him, praising him, singing songs to him. But you can also find through the Old Testament and through history, people who did not do that.

They worshiped other entities. Sometimes people worshiped the emperors, the leaders of the city, and they worshiped for just political reasons and they were rewarded for it. There was idol worship. People had man-made images carved from wood and stone and other things. There was pagan worship. That was the cultural thing to do at the time. You worshiped nature and there were multiple gods and goddesses and they all represented something. They had names and they were in charge of something like Zeus was the ruler of the sky. Venus was in charge of prosperity. There were many of these little g gods and they all had something specific to themselves. And people believed that these gods were the ones who protected you. These were the ones who delivered blessings. But the truth was that these religious entities of these pagan gods, the people and the priests on the ground, they really had little interest in the people. They had little interest in you. They didn't necessarily really care what they wanted or what they needed. It was really a completely impersonal system. However, the God of Israel was different.

He was one God, but he had different names like El Shaddai, the Lord God Almighty. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that heals. Those names are a little bit different than the others. But you know what is most interesting to me is that God knew the names of the people. God called out to Abraham. God called out to Moses because our God is not impersonal. He is personal. He is relational. All through the Old Testament, we can see Him interacting with humanity. He cared about what people needed. He cared about what they were going through. The one true God was different. And in this way of being personal, it is what made Him great. Now when we get to the New Testament, when Jesus is born as a human, everyone gets a front row seat in a new way to see the nature of God. In John 1.14, it says, The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. So grace and truth. Some translations say faithfulness, unfailing love. And these terms described Him and only Him. And when we read about the life of Jesus, we see Him walking with the people. He is eating with the people. He's talking with them. He tells them that He cares about them.

He calls His followers friends. And we see all of this especially towards the end on the last evening when He has this last meal with His disciples. And that's our text for today. We're going to look in John 13. And you've got to understand that during this time, if you walked around the region, if you looked up, you would see these graven images, statues, things carved out of these little G gods. And they were trying to make themselves known. This group trying to say, hey, we have the power. We are the ones you should be worshiping. And they would elevate themselves above everything else. But the fact is, if you wanted to find Jesus, you had to look somewhere different. So let's look at John 13. It was just before the Passover meal, Passover festival. And Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. And Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God. So He got up from the meal. He took off His outer clothing. He wrapped a towel around His waist. And after that, He poured water into a basin, and He began to wash His disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. Now if you were living at that time, you could go to any temple, and there would be a basin and a jug of water. And the priests, before they started ministering, they would wash their hands and they would wash their feet.

But you would also find a jug of water and a basin at the door of most homes. Because as you know, like in the Near East at that time, people are all wearing sandals, the roads are dusty, people's feet are getting caked with dust and sweat, and they're walking in waste a lot of the times. And so when they got to someone's house, oftentimes that person would wash their own feet before they went in. But if you were an honored guest, the household servant would wash your feet for you. And this is what Jesus does with the disciples. He washes their feet as if He is the household servant. And He treats them as the honored guest. In the first century Mediterranean culture, foot washing was ranked as the most demeaning task that any household servant could do. And yet this is what Jesus does. And we need to realize that in this moment with His disciples, as the text says, Jesus has full awareness of His absolute power the Father has placed on Him. Jesus is God and He is preparing to lay down His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. In this last meal together, He could have stepped up on a podium, He could have stepped up on a table, and He could have explained to the disciples, hey, I am powerful. Let's make sure you understand. And He could have given a little message on that. But He doesn't. He doesn't elevate Himself. He doesn't do it in that way. Jesus kneels down. He voluntarily puts Himself in a lower position than His disciples. And I'll just tell you, there's no master, there's no emperor, there's no king, there's no leader in the ancient readings who ever did something like that with their subordinates. It is unheard of. His action violated the social customs of the day so radically that you couldn't even

compare it to anything. Here the one with all the power kneels before those with no power, because Jesus is humble. And that is one of the things that made, that makes Him great. In verse 6, the story continues. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? And Jesus replied, you do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand. No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet. And Jesus answered, unless I wash you, you have no part with me. And then, Lord, Simon Peter replied, then not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well. And Jesus answered, those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet. Their whole body is clean and you are clean, though not every one of you. For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to the place. He said, do you understand what I have done for you? He asked them. And I'll just tell you, the disciples did not fully understand what he had done for them. They didn't understand what was coming next exactly, but Jesus knew. It would be just hours now before he would go to the cross. He washed their feet knowing the sacrifice that was coming. Some scholars would say that when he laid down his garments, he washed their feet and then he took back the garments, that that is symbolic of the fact that he was going to lay his life down and that he was going to pick it back up. The entire picture is one of humility and it is one of love. And this is what set God, our great God, the triune God, this is what sets him apart, Old Testament and new, from everybody, everything, every entity. His greatness is totally different. I want to give you an example of what I'm talking about. So lean back, look around.

Dave and I went to Greece several years ago and one of the cities we visited was Delphi. It's an ancient Greek city and it's famous because the temple of Apollo is there. And that's a popular God in Greek mythology, you might remember that. But the temple also housed this high priestess who was an oracle. This is kind of what it looked like right here. She sat up on this tripod and she would give messages. She was the one believed to interpret what Apollo wanted to say to you. And sometimes you could understand her, sometimes you couldn't. When you couldn't, the priests who were there, they would interpret and they would tell you what she was saying. And kings and generals and ordinary people, they traveled from all over Greece seeking guidance. They needed an answer to a question. They needed some kind of assurance for their situation. Some came seeking power and influence. Some came for a quick fix of this desperate circumstance in their life. And upon entering the city, they were met with a temple worker who would walk them to the oracle. And you had to bring an offering. You had to bring a sacrifice. You had to have something with you to bring. And as they walked and talked with the temple worker, so often they just became convinced that the person coming, you know what, I'm just not sure I'm bringing enough. Maybe I need to give more. And it seemed like every step towards the center, the price just went up. But in the end, they were amazed by what the oracle had to say. Because she knew just what they wanted to hear. And she said it. How could she know? Do you know?

There's a lot of walking and talking going along with those temple workers. And that information traveled faster than they did. They got it all the way to the oracle before you actually arrived. She knew exactly your situation. She knew exactly what you were looking for. And the priest interpreted for her and said it. And I thought, do people in Greece not pick up on this? Would you not eventually know? But part of it, besides the culture of it, besides their deep belief in this also, maybe you can relate. When you are desperate. for a divine intervention. Sometimes we will do anything, and we will hear anything to go and get that answer because we just want to believe that. So I hope you're getting what I'm saying. The Greek and Roman gods and their priests, they required payment to be involved in the lives of the people. If you wanted their help, you had to bring sacrifices, offerings, and if you didn't, you might get punishment. Besides the fact you wouldn't get what you were looking for. And it really was a system that exploited people. Those with status and money could go straight on in. Those who had needs, who didn't have as much, maybe had to beg for an answer. So I want you to understand this is not God. This is not the one true God. Our God kneels down. He reaches out. In the book of Philippians, it says of Jesus,

who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. See, our great God's first concern is not what we can do for him. It's about that he wants us to understand what he did for us. See, God is not about a contract with you. If you'll do this, he'll do that. Nor should you look to him and say, hey, I'll do this if you do that. It's not a contract. Our God is about a covenant. He's about a relationship with people that he initiates. And it's based on grace. It's based on love. And anyone can have it. It doesn't matter your economic status. And it also doesn't matter your background. If you know there are things in your life that would keep you from this most perfect Holy God, he still loves and cares about you and is still trying to draw you in. The one true God loves us unconditionally. And I hope you understand. If you had been in that room with the disciples on that last night, he would have washed your feet. Jesus would have washed your feet. Because he is just. He is merciful.

He is all-powerful. He is all-present. He is humble. He is about love. He initiates with us. It is all these things that make him great. So, I want you to take a moment and I want you to consider for you, whether you are a believer or a seeker and you're looking for God still, what is most interesting to you about the greatness of God? Something you didn't expect. Something that really captures you. And I want you to turn to your neighbor again and answer that question. What of God's greatness is the most interesting to you? Go ahead and do that. You know, I've been in that room with the disciples on that last night. And I hope you understand. If you had been in that room with the disciples on that last night, I want you to consider for you, whether you are a believer or a seeker and you're looking for God still, what is most interesting to you about the greatness of God? Something you didn't expect. Okay. So now I want to make a turn right here. And I want to go back to the admission that I kind of made earlier in that, why is it that I forget how great God is? And I don't know if you can relate to that or not. And if you're seeking God, maybe you're thinking, I don't understand why it's taken so long to find Him. I'm trying. And I think on both accounts, it's probably the same kind of thing.

I think that we get distracted. Right? You can put on the news. You can look around. There's all these global circumstances, all these issues. And you think, I do not see God doing anything about this. These big things. inward and you have some personal disappointments and you think, where was God when? Because that'll kind of distract you. You might have some unmet expectations and you think, God promised, I thought. Or maybe you have hurts or you have wounds in your life and some of those might even be from God's people themselves. You might have a hurt that is from a church. That's my story. I have a church hurt. When we deal with these things, we can get distracted because we start asking the question, is he really great? Is he? And I think once we get distracted, we can get a little disoriented. Things can get a little out of balance. Where is God? Does he really love me? What's he going to do about this situation I'm in? And at times it is hard to have faith in God because we cannot see him. We can't touch him. He's not right there. It's not tangible. So if we get distracted and we get disoriented, I think there's times then we might start to look for something that we can see, that we can touch, right? And some of those things, like for example, we might think that dating that person, there's a person and I think they'll give me the love and acceptance I really need and they're right here. We think that this career is going to give me the identity and worth that I just need. We think this bank account, and a healthy bank

account is a good thing to have, but we think that is the bottom line of security for us that we're looking for. And we put these things in there and we start thinking, you know what? Those things, they're great. They're great. I can see them. I can touch them. And the fact is, I think that at that time, if we do that, there's a shift that occurs. And I'm not saying that if you're a believer, like you let go of God, but I think where he might have been at the center, now he's a little maybe off-center. Do you know what I'm saying? Pastor and author John Tyson calls this contending with disordered loves. Contending with disordered loves. That we start to love something more than we love God. That we think something is greater than he is. And then we start to ask, you know, is he trustworthy? We wonder if he's dependable. And pretty soon, maybe we forget that he is a great God. So I don't know if you've had an experience like that. It might not be today, but maybe you've had one or maybe you will. So I don't know. But I want to suggest two things that I think would help us if we get ourselves in this situation where we just start forgetting how great God is. I'm going to tell you two things and I'm going to give you the first one right now and I'm telling you up front, you're not going to like it. Okay? You're not going to like it. So get ready. Do you remember when maybe you were little, did anyone ever tell you what your first word was? If you're a parent, do you remember what your child's first word is? Or if you're a grandparent, have you heard your grandchildren's first word? I mean, if they say, research says it's mama or it's dada or whatever native language you were raised in, it's that. If you have a dog, it's dog. If you play ball, it's ball. It might be hi. Research says it's never bi. Bi just is. That's all bi gets, they say. But after that, do you know what the next word is for most people? The little children, they say it with a great emotion. That is

right. You are tracking. No. No is our favorite word at that point, right off the bat. We love to say no. And we say it with gusto early on. And it's so great. But you know what I noticed later on in life? We don't like to say no. We like to say yes. Because we think that yes is going to lead us where we want to go. Now, that could be true. But we start saying yes so much. And you know this. We say yes to commitments. And we say yes to people. And we get a little overextended. Because we want to say yes. We don't want to say no. Because we don't want to disappoint anybody, right? We don't want to miss it. We have this fear of missing out. So, we're like, yes. Yes. And that's great until you just can't keep going. And you're exhausted. And you get burnout. All those things. And you wish, like, how come I never say no anymore? And we say a lot of yeses. Next thing you know, if you're here, you take genius of one. You hit your boundaries. And you learn to say no again. That's what we do. Because that's what happens. I don't know. We love to say it so much. much in the beginning, and now we don't know how. And I think the most serious piece of this is that we face temptations in this life, and we need to say no to them, but we don't, because we just want to say yes, because that selfish part of us is interested in whatever that is. We just want that. And I'm talking about more than just buying, you know, sometimes we buy things we can't afford, that's an example, but I'm talking about things that, I'll just say, sometimes they end up in addictions. There's something that the first time that you said yes to it, you knew it wasn't good for you, you knew God didn't want it for you,

but you just didn't want to say no. Sometimes we have friends or relationships, and it's kind of toxic, like that person is not good for me, but I don't know, I kind of like the drama of it, it's kind of interesting, I just keep doing that, I just keep doing that relationship. And we just say yes, when we might not say no, and what I would suggest is, there's things in our life that if we're not saying no to them, they might be cluttering things up in our heart. There's things that start getting in the way that we've said yes to, and now they're blocking our view of God and his greatness. Do you know what I mean? So I want you to think, examine your own life today, you know, maybe go home, think about this, is there something that's in the way that you need to say no to? Now the second thing is something I think we need to ask ourselves, and I'm just gonna tell you, but this is personal for me, sometimes I need to just ask myself, who or what am I depending on right now? What am I depending on? Because I've been a Christian a long time, and I just, I wanna think, well, I'm just depending on God all the time, that's what I know, I'm depending on him. But the fact is, it's not always true, right? Because, and then I'll know it,

because things think they happen in my life, where maybe I placed my dependence on something that I thought, you know what, that's gonna work, that's good, and I thought maybe God thought it would be okay, it looked like it was gonna be good, you know what, it didn't turn out good. And I won't share the personal details, but I want you to look at, this is a picture of what happens right here. Like, it looks like it's gonna work. Like that, resting, that looks good, that is not working. It's the, I thought it would work, this girl, she looks reliable, nope, she is not. I know, I thought I could try, see that? Now, that's just something I'd probably do myself trying to get on a ladder, but I thought the ladder would help me in this thing. Crutches, you need those, they're medical. It looked like it was, it's not working, right? I know, oh, that's how I feel about these circumstances in my life. Cause, oh yeah, that, that's me. You just think, I can sit down on that thing, it'll be fine, no. So, I mean, sometimes it's serious, sometimes it's not as serious, but what I'm saying to you is, I will just move a little off God and think, I can depend on this thing, it looks like it will work,

you know what I mean? Here's the thing, the scripture, it says, in Isaiah, depend on God and keep at it, because in the Lord God, you have a sure thing. So, I'm gonna say it just like that. Here's what I think we need to do, we need to depend on God. We need to keep on depending. He is the sure thing. And I just know about myself that I sometimes have made a mistake in this area, being a believer. Now, let me say, there's, about four months ago, I put this thing in my office, I have a little magnet board and I put one word on it, and here it is right here, it's dependent. It had nothing to do with this message, but you know how God is, here we are. On Monday, I was like, oh, yes. And I don't know if you'll understand this, but if you've been a believer for a period of time, I want you to hear me. I love God's Word, I love biblical principles, I believe God's ways are the best ways. I want the fruit of the Spirit in my life, I wanna do things God's way, and I've been living this Christian life, and I have a framework of how that looks. I am putting that into place. You know what happened?

There are days I start depending on the framework, and not on God, who made the framework. It's like my faith at different times has become this filter. I know how to think about things according to God's ways, I've been doing this a while. And I'll take this situation, this circumstance, and I'll just run it through the filter. and I'll think I know what to do about it. But I did not ask God what to do about it. I didn't do that. You see what I'm saying? I've become dependent on the framework, on the filter of my faith. I've lost my dependence on Him. Psalm 73 says, "'Whom have I in heaven but you? "'And earth has nothing I desire besides you. "'My flesh and my heart may fail, "'but God is the strength of my heart "'and my portion forever.'" See, God is. I cannot forget about the fact that God has revealed Himself to me, that I can rely on Him, that I can rest in Him. He has come personally so that I don't feel like I have to do this life on my own and figure it all out. And when I depend on Him, I'll just tell you, I don't forget His greatness.

I remember. I remember. So I want you to think in your own heart today, where is your dependence in the things going on in your life? Because the great God is there for you in person. It's interesting to me, I feel like Jesus knew we were gonna have trouble with this remembering thing. Because when we go back to that time in John 13, where we read that in the room on the same day, when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, He also started talking about remembering. And He wanted them to remember His sacrifice on the cross. And as they were gathered around the table, He had the bread and He said, this bread is my body given for you. This is it. Do this in remembrance of me. He took a cup of wine and He said, this represents the blood shed for you. When you take it, do this in remembrance of me. We call it the Lord's Supper. We call it communion. And He did it in the same room, with the same people on the same day, as the washing of the feet. And so I want us to take communion today. And I'm gonna lead us through it in just a minute,

but I want us to prepare ourselves first, okay? If you have your elements, I just want you to hold it in your hand. To take communion is for those who are followers of Jesus. And so you might not be a follower of Jesus here today. And so this would not really have any meaning for you. And so you don't need to do that. But I hope you heard what I said today. Anyone, anyone can come to Jesus. Anyone can come to this table. Today could be the day where you say, I believe in this great God. And you would just say, Jesus, I trust you. As my Savior, I trust in you to forgive me of my sins. I want a relationship with you. I wanna walk with you. I surrender my life to you. If that's your prayer today, this could be the day, the first time you take communion. And you are invited to do that. Now, if you're here, and maybe you struggle like I do sometimes, and you have forgotten how great God is, listen to me. Our God never belittles us. He doesn't demand us to bring an offering, something to Him. He wants us to come back to Him. He's waiting. And all you have to do is put Him back

at the center of your heart. Is put Him back at the center of your heart. That's it. He's not gonna make fun of your failures. He's not gonna say, where have you been? He's not gonna have those kinds of questions. He wants to remind you of His forgiveness for you. That's who God is. So, Ashley's gonna sing a little bit over us. You can listen to these words. You can pray a prayer on your own. And then I will lead us in communion before we go, okay? ♪ You have set a table I can come and eat ♪ Even when I'm feeling unworthy of the feast Here is where there's healing, where everyone is seen And just to be with Jesus is everything Come to the table of the Lord Let Him break the bread and pour the wine And all that is broken He restores Here at the table, here at the table of the Lord Return to communion, He has saved your seat The King who is a servant is here to wash your feet I know that it's not simple, the closer that you get But it's a risk worth taking to meet with Him again So come to the table of the Lord Let Him break the bread and pour the wine And all that is broken He restores Here at the table, here at the table of the Lord And so the Lord Jesus took the bread and He broke it And He said, this is my body given for you

Do this in remembrance of me And in the same way, He took the cup And He said, this is the cup of the new covenant It is my blood that is shed for you Do this in remembrance of me On the same day, in the same room, Jesus said this also Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet So you should wash one another's feet I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you And so to imitate, to emulate our great God Is to kneel down and to serve You know the Bible says that there is no physical form That exists and we should not make one That would try and depict the greatness of the living God and His heart It cannot be done and ought not be done But Jesus seems to think that we If we will do as He did, if we will live like He will That we could be ones who would give a glimpse Of God's greatness to the world And so it is my prayer for us as we go That we would be people who depend on God That we would be people who remember His greatness And that we would be people who serve like He did Our great God is worthy of this Amen Go in peace