November 3, 2024, Message by P. Kevin Clancey
All right, we’re going to look at John 13:1-17.
1 Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. 6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” 8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” 9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” 10 Jesus replied, “A person who has 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.” 11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. 17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them. (John 13:1-17, NLT)
God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer. Amen.
All right. So Jesus had 24 hours to live, and he knew it. If you had 24 hours to live and you knew it, what would you do? What would you do with that 24 hours? Would you call all your loved ones and tell them goodbye and tell them that you love them?
That would be a reasonable and good thing to do. Would you just go and fill up on all you know? It always struck me as interesting that People on death row, they give them, you know, what do you want for your last meal? I’m thinking whatever it is, it ain’t going to taste good. But you know, would you fill up your life with pleasures? I got to grab all the pleasures I can. I’ve only got 24 hours to grab all the pleasures. Would you pray? Would you fast? Would you repent of your sins?
I don’t know what I would do if I only had 24 hours left. I know what Jesus did. He washed his disciples’ feet. He humbled himself, and he continued to teach them the truths of the kingdom of God. He didn’t deter from his Father’s will, his Father’s message, and his purpose.
And so he washed his disciples’ feet. The Bible says that Jesus knew, he knew the hour. He had come into the world for this hour. He says this is my hour.
But he even asked the Father later in the garden that this hour might pass from him because he knew how grueling the hour is. Not just a literal hour here. For those of you who are biblical literalists, it’s the time. It means this is the season. This is the time where he’s going to go to the cross. This is the end of his earthly ministry. This is the climax of these three years that he spent with his disciples.
He knew that his hour had come. Jesus knew that his ministry on earth was finishing up. He knew the hour. And so it’s very important. And he tells his disciples, I long to be with you in this hour. Isn’t that precious that the relationships, the, the friendships that Jesus had on earth were the most precious things to him.
I want to tell you something. I have been by the bedside of people who were dying and it’s very interesting. None of them want more money. My mother in law, it was very interesting when she passed away in our house this last year. And my mother in law was a staunch Republican.
She may have been a registered Democrat, but for the last 40 years she’s been a staunch conservative. And you know, Irish Catholic or back eastern. She wasn’t Catholic or she wasn’t Irish, but Catholic from back east.
And they all grew up, you know, Democrats. But she, you know, she had enough of that. And boy, she would just always say those Democrats have no common sense. And she would, she would be all riled up.
And it was very interesting that she was dying. She had her TV on and she’d always watch Fox News. And she said I’m done with that. All she did was listen to music to God, music to worship music. That’s all she wanted to do. She knew her hour was upon her, and all that stuff that she used to get so riled up about just disappeared.
What she wanted was her family. She wanted to pray and listen to that music and prepare her heart. I’ve been by the bedside of a lot of dying people. I have not to this point ever heard one of them say, I wish I would have worked more hours and made more money. I’ve never heard one of them say, I wish I would have cheated on my wife more.
I’ve never heard one of them say, though I can imagine a few. You know, I wish the Seahawks had won that game against the Patriots. I might come close to saying that, but I don’t know. I wish the Cubs would have known. No. People always say, I wish my children were here. I want to see my family one more time.
And I want to be right with God. And Jesus knew the hour. And he said, he told his disciples, I long to be with you and the reward of heaven. Here’s the reward of heaven. It’s not riches, it’s not mansions, it’s not luxury. It’s that where you are, where you are. I will be there with you.
Life is 100% about relationships. It’s not 95% about relationships. It’s not 99% about relationships. It is 100% about relationships. Jesus knew the hour and he knew his disciples. And he loved his disciples.
Do you know you can love fallible people? You can love less than perfect people. You can love.
Listen, the greatest lesson I ever learned in love was getting married. It is a good lesson in love, but not nearly as significant as having children. Having children is great. Because by the time you get married, you’re attracted to that person. They have qualities that you like.
But you have kids, and I don’t care. Oh, they’re so precious. They’re so sweet. No, you had a little original sinner. All right. And you know their first word isn’t, oh, mother, father, thank you for birthing me, feeding me and taking care of me with such care and attention.
I am forever in your debt. That’s not what they say. Their first word is no. And their second word is mine. I remember the time. I remember the time my wife’s father, my father in law, bought a tape player, a little cassette player for my kids. This is 35 years ago.
And if you don’t know what a cassette player is, you know, just, you know, this old ancient way of making music. And he brought this cassette player, but it was only one. It had two speakers, but it had handles on both sides.
And he brought one and he bought them this wonderful little Christian tape, this cassette tape. And it had this little angelic kids choir. And one of the songs went like this. If you share and share alike, love makes it right. If you share and share alike, God’s love is there for everyone.
Little angelic voices singing that chorus. And as these little angelic voices are singing that chorus, each of my children, my two children, each of them has an iron clad grasp on one of the handles on the opposite sides of that cassette player. And they are wishboning that thing they are both pulling with all their might. And they are screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. Mine. If you share and share alike, love makes it right. And I yelled out to my wife, I said, we did it, honey.
And she said, we did what? I said, we beget original sinners. All right. This is as much our fault as theirs. And yet he knew his disciples and he loved them. Isn’t that comforting? Because guess what? He knows you and he loves you. He knows you and he loves you.
That nagging voice of perfectionism in your head is not the Holy Spirit. It’s the devil. God will only love you if. Nope. And if you had children, you get it. You get it. Because you have loved as a parent, less than perfect, selfish little creatures.
And you have allowed them to survive. Good for you. Good for you. He loved his disciples. He knew his disciples and he loved them. Jesus knew who he was. He knew that he was the hope of the world. He knew the burden that was on his shoulders. He knew he was the Father’s only begotten son. He knew he was the Messiah. He knew he was the eternal God. He had his identity down. One of our biggest problems is we don’t know who we are. We let the world tell us our identity.
Let God tell you your identity. Not the devil or not the world. I don’t know about you, but maybe some of you have called yourself names over the years. I’m a loser. I’m a jerk. I’m an idiot. Anybody else? Those words ever come out of your mouth or your consciousness?
Thank you, Karen. Thank you. At least one of you acknowledged it. We are brother and sister. We are brother and sister. The rest of these Pharisees, they don’t know. They’re pretending that they don’t do that. But we know. All right. But Karen, I’ll tell you what I tell it ain’t true. It’s a lie. Jesus knew who he was.
I’ll never forget the day I was walking to seminary. I’m studying about God. I’m studying about the gospel. I’m studying to go into ministry. I’m walking to seminary, and I’m just walking there, and I’m just repeating those names to myself. Kevin, you’re such a jerk. you’re such an idiot. you’re such a, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Just walking to school, just repeating those names. And all of a sudden, another voice broke in.
And the voice said, Kevin, now here’s an interesting thing in my life. I don’t know why. I’m sure the devil knows what my first name is, but when the devil talks to me, he never uses my first name. And when God talks to me, he does. Isn’t that interesting?
Now I’m not going to make that a hard and fast biblical rule, because I suppose the devil could trick me and use my first name sometime and tell me to do something. Oh, that must be God. God just told me to commit adultery.
You still follow the word, right? But anyway, never in my life has I ever. But God uses my first name. And I hear this, Kevin, you know my book, don’t you?
I said proudly, not only do I know your book, Lord, I’m going to school to know it in the original languages. I know it in Greek and Hebrew. Now I’m a biblical scholar.
And the Lord said, good. All those names you were just calling yourself. Do I ever call you one of those in my book? No. In my New Testament, what do I call you?
Son, Child of God, Royal priesthood, Temple, part of the Bride of Christ, beloved? Huh? Then I hear this. Where do you think those names that you’re repeating are coming from?
And I got to confess my age and confess my old television viewing habits. Immediately what flashed in my mind was Dana Carvey, the church lady from Saturday Night Live. Anybody old enough to remember that? This self-righteous, pompous church lady, a mockery of Christian pharisaism. And she would get these guests on her show and she would interview them and shame them.
And then when they confess their sin or confess something that they did, her little voice, Dana Carvey’s cross-dressing voice, would say, could that be Satan?
And so God says, where do you think those voices are coming from? And isn’t it great the way the Holy Spirit speaks? The picture of Dana Carvey flashes in my head. Could it be Satan? Maybe. Yeah, maybe.
And so Jesus, he knew who he was. And we need to know who we are. And he knew where he was going. He is going back to the Father.
He is accomplishing his purpose. His mission is going to be complete. It’s good to know when you’re going, especially when you’re facing a cross. This was not an easy night for Jesus, but he’s still ministering to his disciples. It’s good to know where you’re going after your suffering. The suffering is not permanent. The reward is.
And Jesus, the Bible says, could endure the cross for the joy that was set before him. You know what the joy was that was set before him? Zach, you were the joy that was set before Jesus. Your mom, too.
And Mark back there, the world’s greatest answer was the joy that was set before Jesus. And Emmy was the joy that was set before Jesus. It was you.
And he could endure the cross because he knew he was going back to the Father and he was taking us with him. And so Jesus knew where he was going, and therefore he could endure the cross.
And so at this moment, what did he do? He humbled himself. He humbled himself. Now, here’s the key to being able to be humble. Know who you are and whose you are. And then you have nothing to prove. You have nothing to prove.
In my life, I want to vindicate myself. I want to be right. You know, if I’m arguing with my wife, I want to be right. Dear Lord, just once in 50 years, I would like to be. I want to be right. I want to vindicate myself. And time and time again, because I do like to argue. I like to debate. Time and time again, I hear the Lord say, quiet.
If you read the Psalms. Here’s one of the most oft repeated phrases in the Psalms. Vindicate me. And here’s something that’s never said in the Psalms. Lord, allow me to vindicate myself.
When you know that God will vindicate you. When you know that your sins are forgiven, when you know that in the last day it will be well and you will receive well done, good and faithful servant. You have nothing to prove before people. And you can be humble. You can be humble. The only person’s opinion who matters at the end is God’s.
I remember one time, I forget, I was in a debate with somebody. I said, God, I’m going to go tell them. I’m going to go set them straight. And he said, don’t do it. Just let them get the last word. Oh, I hate. Gosh, I love to get the last word. Here’s something. I bet this is true for all of you. I bet you’ve never lost an argument with somebody who wasn’t there while you were taking a shower, right? Have you batted a thousand of those arguments? I have.
I always put in the zinger and prove myself right. And then I say, oh man, I’m going to tell them. And it’s like, no, don’t do it. It won’t work out.
And there’s this time and time again, you know, the Lord’s just like, Kevin, you don’t need to get the last word. You don’t need to get the last word. Just humble yourself. You know who you are and whose you are. And therefore you can just serve.
Jesus humbled himself to the point of obedience. Even death, death on the cross.
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8, NLT)
And then Philippians says, therefore God highly exalted him.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, (Philippians 2:9, NLT)
Do you want to exalt yourself, or do you want God to exalt you? Who can lift you higher? Who can lift you higher? Humble yourself and let God exalt you. Let him vindicate your name and then serve others.
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. (1 Peter 5:6, NLT)
And it’s not clear here whether it says the devil had already entered Judas, but it’s not clear. The rest of the passage seems to imply that Judas was still there when he was washing his disciples’ feet.
And so we’re not clear on whether or not we know Judas left somewhere during the Last Supper. But John’s account is different than the synoptic accounts. And so we don’t have a timeline. I believe that Judas was still there. I believe that Jesus washed the feet of his betrayer.
He loved his enemies. Why? Because he didn’t have to vindicate himself. He knew whose he was and where he was going. And so he served even his betrayer. And then Peter comes along and I just love Peter. Peter’s so good.
He’s like Jesus, Peter, this is not working in his head. you’re the master, I’m the servant. I should be washing your feet. This is how this works, right? you’re the king, I’m the slave. No Lord, you can’t wash my feet. I need to wash your feet. you’re way above this. Don’t do it.
And then Jesus says something that we all have to get. Unless I wash you, you have no part of me. You have good hearts, people. You want to serve Jesus, you’re here because you want to serve Jesus.
You want to do the right thing in your workplace, in your neighborhood, in your marriage, and in your parenting. That’s why you’re in church, right?
You’re not in church. you’re getting paid well for being here. You want to serve God, and good on you. you’re supposed to want to serve God, and you’re going to have all sorts of opportunities to serve God, but you can never, and I can never, serve God until we admit we need his serving. We need him to do something for us that we could never earn or deserve.
We can’t serve him to the point where we gain his approval. We have to simply, humbly admit, lord, I am in desperate need of the cleansing that you bring. And without that cleansing, I am lost. And we have to humble ourselves and let Jesus serve us. I’ve done foot washing ceremonies. Anybody ever been to a foot washing ceremony where, you know, you’re in a group, a small group, and you wash each other’s feet or the pastor comes around and washes your feet? I honestly have no problem washing people’s feet. That’s not a problem.
I have a problem having other people wash my feet because that’s humbling. And I’m also terribly ticklish on the bottom of my feet. But Jesus says, unless you humble yourself and let me serve you, you have no part of me. And then I love how Peter does a full 180, right, well, then just give me the whole bath. And Jesus. Calm down, Pete. It’s already been done. you’ve got the whole bath. And this is really a lesson for our Christian life. The cross of Jesus is the whole bath.
And so we’ve been cleansed from our sins, and yet there’s still a need for a daily cleansing. And people don’t get this. They think, oh, so you’re going to lose your salvation unless you get daily forgiven. No, no, no, no, it’s done. It is finished. God cleansed you. But there’s still, right there, still that ongoing relationship. And dear ones, if you’re carrying guilt and condemnation in your life, you got to take it to Jesus and get forgiven. Not for your eternal salvation, not because he won’t forgive you, but because it’s marriage, right?
My wife and I are married, and there are times we are gloriously and wonderfully married. We laugh together, we joke together, we tell stories on our kids together, and we just have a great time, and everything’s going well.
Then there are other times where, like, there’s tension in the room. You know, for some reason, unbeknownst to me, I don’t know what I did, but for some reason, she’s a little miffed, guys. Has anyone ever been a little miffed? Don’t nod your heads if she’s here. Just blink twice. Good.
Brian, don’t look over at Ats. I’m checking it out. She’s a little miffed. And I’ll ask her a question. Are you okay or no? Is everything okay? And this is actually 40 years. It still goes this way. Is everything okay? Because I don’t know. I don’t know what. I have no idea what landmine I stepped on.
I did one today. I did one today. We had a potluck at church in Bremerton. And there’s a little pumpkin pie left over, right? And the ladies are cleaning up, and there’s like, two slices of pumpkin pie left over.
And one of the ladies goes, oh, there’s some pumpkin pie left over. And I go, oh, okay. Maybe we should put it in the fridge. And I thought, no, it’s dumb because it’ll sit in the fridge for six years, right? You know, church refrigerators. I said, I’ll just throw it out. And she goes, yeah, good idea, right?
So I walk out to the car. My wife’s still in the car. She sees me carrying the pumpkin piece. What she doesn’t see is I walk past her and I put it in the dumpster. We’re going home.
And she goes, oh, boy, I love pumpkin pie. I said, you put that pumpkin pie in the back of the car, right? I go, no, I threw it away. She goes, you know, I like pumpkin pie. I guess if that would have been that cheesecake that you liked, I would have put it in the car. I wouldn’t have thrown it away. I threw away the pumpkin piece.
And at times I’ll ask her, I’ll say, is everything all right? And she’ll say, yes. Or she’ll say that word that. Oh, that word. That word that just pierces like an arrow. Are you okay? I’m fine. Fine.
But here’s what always works. I don’t know why I’m not recommending this. This works for me. I say this. If something were wrong, what would it be? You threw away the pumpkin pie, and I had my eye on that pie. I just want to tell you guys, right now, in the back of my car is pumpkin pie, and it’s going home with me. I’m making amends because I threw away the pumpkin pie. I don’t even know what my point was about this.
Oh, the relationship. Because she’s miffed that I threw away the pumpkin pie doesn’t mean we’re not married. Doesn’t mean everything is lost.
And just because you sin and you fall out of fellowship with Jesus doesn’t mean you’ve lost your salvation and you’re not covered by the blood. But it does mean until you confess that sin and talk to him about it, the next time you go to prayer, right, there’s something that’s not connecting.
Jesus, I want to talk to you. Good. I want to talk to you.
And here’s what I want to talk to you about. Oh, I don’t want to talk about that. Yeah, but that’s what we’re going to talk about. No, we’re going to talk about something else. No, I’m God. you’re not. This is what we’re going to talk about. You cannot talk to me or you can talk about this, but this is what we’re going to.
A friend of mine, he got in a fight with his wife, and he left to go off to do church. And the Lord spoke to him and said, go back and apologize to your wife. And he said, after my meeting. And he says, fine, go to your meeting, but I’m going to be in the house with your wife. you’re going to go to your meeting without me. He’s like, okay.
He went back, apologized to his wife. You got to deal with it. That’s what it means. The continual cleansing. We have to continually have our feet washed. We have to confess our sins before God. Confess your sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (1 John 1:9, NLT)
Keep the relationship healthy, keep the relationship fresh. Continual cleansing. Peter, you’re already clean. You believe in me. I’m going to the cross for your sins.You’re saved. But, Peter, you’re a knucklehead. And for the rest of your life, you’re going to have to come to me and say, you know, Jesus, I was a knucklehead here. Continual cleansing.
We do that in church. How many times have you baptized? Once. People say, no, I got baptized twice. No, you didn’t. You got baptized once. No, I went twice. I said, no, you got wet twice. You got baptized once. There’s one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Now, you could have recommitted your baptismal vows in water.
People do that all the time with their marriage, right? They come. It’s our 25th anniversary. We want to do a renewal of your vows. All right, but I’m not remarrying those people. We’re doing a renewal of their vows. One of my favorite ones was this young couple. They were rowdy partiers.
When they got married, they were just drunk, stupid kids, and their marriage completely hit the rocks as it was completely failing. They came to the Lord, and they got radically saved, and their marriage got saved. So they said, you know what? We were both drunk at our wedding. We want you to do a wedding for us. We want to do it right before God and serious and the whole thing.
This guy wasn’t that serious. He was a complete joker. And so we do. But I didn’t say, we’re remarrying you. I said, we’re doing a renewal of your vows. I said, yeah, that’s what we want. So we do a renewal of vows.
And I said, Joey, will you take Katie to be your lawful wedded wife? Will you love her, comfort her in sickness and in health, till death do you part? He says, wait a minute. Reaches in his pocket, takes out a quarter.
Yeah, that was hilarious. She didn’t laugh, but I thought it was hilarious. I don’t know, guys. Depends on your wife whether you want to do that at your renewal of vows ceremony.
All right? Continual cleansing. You can renew your vows. And that’s what we do. We get baptized once. We have communion every week, right? We get brought into the relationship. Once we’re cleansed, we’re forgiven. We’re made whole. The Holy Spirit fills us.
But weekly, we come to this table and say, yeah, I receive your mercy. Yeah, I remember the covenant. Yeah, I need to be daily fed on the Word and the blood of Christ. Continual cleansing.
And then we have our call. We need to know the hour. We need to know the hour. Now, two things I want to say about that. One is going to be very culturally specific, and the other is going to be very broad and general. All right?
We always know the hour. And here’s the hour. you’re dying. Even young people in this room, I got to tell you, you think, I got a lot of time. You probably do. But it ain’t infinite. And it goes quick.
I’ll be 66 next month. I think about dying more than I used to and not in a morbid sense. I just realized that most people don’t. I’m in the second half. I’m probably in the fourth quarter. Most people don’t live to be 132, right? I’m 66. It’s not halftime for me. Most people in my physical condition don’t make it to 90 or 100, all right?
My parents were overweight. They made it into their 80s. It’s good for me. That’s what I’m shooting for. I read recently, just last night, I read this. How long you can stand on one foot is an indicator of your potential lifespan. Yeah, because old people fall and they break stuff.
And so your balance is one of the indicators. So I put it to the test. Yeah, it was not good, Mark. It was not good. Yeah. People your age should go about 30 to 40 seconds. People my age, if you make it over 10, you’re good. It took me several attempts to get over 10 seconds. So I think about death. I don’t dwell on it. I’m not morbid about it. I just realize it’s coming. Know the hour. Know the hour.
And if you’re young, you may think you got lots of time and the odds are you do. But I’ll tell you this, you’re one drunk driver away from being wrong. Know the hour. This life is temporary. Get right with God. Know the hour. Come to Jesus, have your sins forgiven. Be baptized, become a disciple. Live life for eternity, not for the passing things of this world. The second thing I want to say is, in two days, we’re going to have an election. Know the hour. Know the hour.
And here’s what I want to say about that. Couple things. It’s kind of a tense election, though. I’ve gone through enough of them that I no longer believe this is the most important election of our lifetime rhetoric. I actually got caught up in the last election and believed it. I don’t believe it anymore.
I don’t know what the most important election in our lifetime is. I think the most important election in our lifetime is receiving Jesus. And so you are one of the electricians. But know the hour. You still. You still on. Oh, you’re cheating.
You’re holding. Well, no, it’s not cheating. All right. You know what? You ought to vote. If you’re an American, you ought to vote. I think. I just think you ought to vote.
People died for your right to vote. If you don’t vote, don’t complain. All right? At least voting gives you the right to complain. So if you like to complain, vote. So you can complain. I didn’t vote for that guy, all right?
So I’m not going to tell you who to vote for. Lots of churches, they do.
I’m going to say your prayers, vote your conscience. Let the Holy Spirit lead you. I know how I’m going to vote. If you want to know, ask me afterwards. I’ll tell you who, and I’ll tell you why. But do that.
But you know what? You know what day I’m more concerned with? Because of the hour we live in, the next Tuesday, next Wednesday. And here’s what I want to say about next: Love your enemy. Love your enemy. Let the church shine as the place. If they get their way, they don’t gloat.
And if they don’t get their way, they don’t throw a fit, but they love their enemy. I remember the last election. This might give you an indication of who I’m probably going to vote for in this election, but I’m not telling you. But the last election, things didn’t go my way, and I was listening to prophetic voices, and I thought those prophetic voices were saying things were going to go my way, and they didn’t. And I held out and I kept praying, which is fine.
But I’ll tell you, the day the president and the vice president were inaugurated, I prayed for them. I didn’t go where I’d seen other people go and say, they’re not my. This is not my president.
So this is my president. God bless my president and God bless my vice president and God bless the people who, out of good conscience, voted for people that I, out of good conscience, didn’t vote for.
And I tell you, I’ve never voted for a candidate that I didn’t have to hold my nose a little bit, all right? I mean, if I voted for me, I’d have to hold my nose, all right? I think the only person I would vote for unabashedly is Brian, but he’s not running. I almost wrote you in. Just saying. I almost wrote you in. All right. Know the hour. Dear ones, love your enemies. This country may erupt. It may. There may be violence. There may be. Don’t listen. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Make every attempt to be merciful to people who are different than you and hold different opinions to you and cast different votes than you. You don’t have to. It’s more important to be good than to be right. It’s not wrong to be right. Listen, I am the most opinionated person I know. I have strong opinions on theology, on sports, not so much on politics. But that might be. It’s in the top 10. But theology and sports, I got strong opinions.
But I have learned long ago that I am okay with if you and I disagree theologically. I am okay with you being wrong. I’m fine with that. And if you want to be wrong about your sports opinions, I’m fine with that.
And if you’re the kind of person who likes to argue those things and debate those things and doesn’t take those things personally, but like the exchange of ideas. And you actually learn from other people’s ideas. I’m your huckleberry. I love doing that kind of stuff. And I don’t get mad at people.
I got friends who are Calvinists, for goodness sakes, if you can believe it. It’s interesting because they have a harder time believing it than I do. And they were predetermined to believe it. I don’t know why I made a choice to love them. They had no choice on the matter. All right, know the hour. Know the current hour, but also know the big picture hour. We’re playing a game we’ve already won. Know your father, and if you know your father, you’ll know your identity.
You know who you are when you know who you are in Christ. You know who you are when you know who you are in church. People. We know ourselves in the context of relationships. God put us in families. We know who we are in our family. I knew exactly who I was in my family. I was the brother with three sisters. I was saying they were crazy. I knew exactly who I was and who they were. It’s very clear.
And you could tell by just some of the comments I’ve just made recently how I also knew myself to be humble. But, dear ones, seriously, we know who we are. One of the reasons we go to church is we know who we are and we’re known. And we’re known in our families, and we’re known in our relationships, and we’re known by God. And here’s the amazing thing. He still accepts and loves us. He just does. Just like you know your kids and you accept and love them.
Just how you know your spouse and you accept and love them. And so our identity is formed. That’s why church is so important, dear ones. We know each other, bouncing off one another in the give and take. All right? We know our gifts. How do you know your gifts? You only know your gifts in the fact that the body experiences your gifts and they give you feedback on your gifts. You know, we used to take spiritual gift inventories. I don’t think we should take spiritual gift inventories.
I think somebody should give me a spiritual gift inventory for Kathleen, and I’d fill it out for Kathleen. All right? Because that’s how we know what. I know what Kathleen’s gifts are. Why? Because God gave her those gifts, not for her, but for me to edify the Body.
So I know she has a great gift of encouragement and intercession, all right? And I know that she’s a joy giver. And I know that Karen is a prophetic intercessor and also has gifts of evangelism. Did you say you were drinking before you? Sorry.
You know how I know you have gifts for evangelism? Because 90% of Christians don’t have a passion for it. And you do. Yeah. See, you know yourself in community, you don’t think that’s a gift of yours, but in community, the body recognizes it. All right? And so that’s how we know each other. In relationships, we know each other. The Godhead is in relationship. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Love has existed for all eternity in the Godhead. Know your neighbor.
I’m just not talking about your physical neighbor, though in our culture, those are some of the most unknown people. We know the people we work with, we know the people we go to church with, we know the people our kids play sports with. But oftentimes we don’t know our next door neighbors.
But know people. Know people who are different than you. Know people who vote different than you. Know people who look different than you. Just get to know people and then know your destiny. Everybody thinks that’s such a big thing. Oh, I don’t know.
Am I supposed to be an apostle, a prophet, or an evangelist? I’ll tell you what you’re supposed to be: who you are, where you are, filled with the Holy Spirit of Jesus, and you have an incredible destiny.
You don’t have to be in a church history book. You don’t have to be one of these guys who stands up in front of people and talks for 30 minutes. The heroes of heaven aren’t going to be necessarily the people we think are the heroes of Christian history.
And the pastors and the apostles and the leaders and the reformers. The heroes in heaven are going to be the people that nobody knew, who prayed for those people, who were intercessors, or the people who just humbly served the lepers and the broken and the poor.
And, you know, maybe not Mother Teresa, but maybe the unknown sisters who worked with Mother Teresa. I’ll tell you, the scorecard is going to look different there than it does here. And you have a destiny. How do you know your destiny? Do the Jesus stuff where you’re at, and if he wants to move you, he will.
People say, I don’t know. Am I to serve God in St. Louis or LA? Well, I don’t know either. But while you’re praying about it, serve him in Poulsbo. Serve them in Poulsbo. And you’ll find out whether you’re supposed to go to St. Louis or LA, or Kazakhstan or Mongolia or the Philippines or Ghana, who knows?
But if you know him and you serve him, you will step into your destiny. Do it with humility. I already talked about it. Just do it with humility. Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. What does he say? Blessed are you if you do this.
I don’t know that you have to take that literally. I don’t know churches do that. They have foot washing ceremonies. We could do that sometime. But really, what washing feet meant for that culture, that was the job of the lowest slave. And so what Jesus is saying is, go low to serve others. Go low to serve others.
In my kingdom, the priorities are reversed. You don’t race to the top, you race to the bottom. And you serve. You serve and you’re humble. Because God, why can’t you? you’re a prince, you’re a princess, you’re a child of the king. your eternity is secured, your status is secured. You don’t need. Listen, this makes life so easy, people.
You only have to please one person, God. Nobody else has the power to say, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter the reward that’s prepared for you. Ladies, I want to set you free. I want to tell you this.
When somebody comes to your house, they do not have to be pleased with how clean it is. You are free, daughter. You are free. And as I’m freeing you, just let me say you are also. I’m also freeing your family from the monster you become.
When people are coming to your house, none of us like it. Oh, dear Lord, she’s a wonderful woman. She actually got. She’s actually. She’s made great progress there. But here’s what I learned when I first got married. I would respond to that thing that I saw when somebody was coming over.
I would respond to it with sarcasm. I discovered that was not helpful, that was not the correct way to respond to it. And I’ve discovered over the years when we had children, there were two ways to respond to it. One was to help her, but the other way was to get the kids out. Which we all appreciated when she was in that mood. Me and the kids, I take the kids away. Say me and the kids are taking. Good, get those things out of here. I’m cleaning. Great. So I take the kids away. Now I just.
And here’s where she’s made progress. Here’s where she has really done great. I used to say, then after I got over the sarcasm phase, which was not helpful, then I would say, well, what do you want me to do?
And her response was right. Her response was, can’t you see? And my response was, no, I have no idea. I mean, the place looks fine. And so now she is growing, and she’ll just give me. I’ll say, what do you want me to do? And she’ll have a list. I want you to clean the bathrooms.
I want you to vacuum the downstairs. Oh, great. And it’s worked out. She’s made progress and I’ve made progress. I’m no longer. I’m no longer sarcastic. I am much less often sarcastic. And she is much calmer, and we’ve made great progress there.
All right. Love your enemies. Let me make it practical. Wednesday morning. Love your enemies. If your side wins, don’t gloat. If your side loses, don’t hate. Love your enemies. Doesn’t mean you have to be happy. If things don’t turn out the way you want them to turn out.
Doesn’t mean you don’t have to pray. If you think there were shenanigans and continue to pursue what you believe is righteousness, never stop pursuing what you believe is righteousness. But we only have one weapon from heaven, and that weapon is love. We have the weapon of love.
And so love your enemies. Be served by Jesus. You will never be a great servant until you receive from the Master. And again, for many of us, it’s often harder to be served than to serve. But allow Jesus to forgive your sins.
If you’ve ever been sick and incapacitated for a season, it’s so humbling to be in a hospital and have a nurse come empty your bedpan. But if you want to get well, you got to do it. Allow Jesus to wash your feet. Or maybe a better 21st-century example would be, empty your bedpan. Allow him to do the lowly job of dying on the cross for your sins and loving you to the utmost.
And then as his spirit fills you, go and do likewise. That’s what he says, right, in John 13. Blessed are you if you heard a good sermon on this message. No. Blessed are you if you’ve read your Bible and meditated upon this. No. He says, you’ve seen what I’ve done. Yeah. Okay. Blessed are you if you. What? Do it.
There’s a novel thought for the church. Do it. Love your enemy. Serve your neighbor. Humble yourself and your family. Just do it and allow God. You don’t have to take care of yourself. You don’t have to be like, what about me? Now, there are some people who.
Who don’t have boundaries and that sort of thing. I’m not just, you know, this is a dangerous message for some people because they actually don’t serve out of the freedom they have in Christ. They serve out of a compulsive need to be the hero and the Savior and get something back out of it. All right, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m just saying be free to let Jesus minister to you. And then what you’ve been given, give it away. You got it free. Give it away for free. All right.
Speaking of giving it away, right after this, not very long after this, because his hour, he knew his hour. And he’s loving his disciples and washing their feet when the cross is looming before him. You know, if the cross was looming before me, I’d be like, get me out of here. Save me, take me away, comfort me, protect me. Give me painkillers.
He’s serving, he’s loving, and he demonstrates his love to the fullest. And he dies. His body is broken and his blood is shed. And God vindicated him and highly exalted him, raised him from the dead, gave him the name that is above every name, and this is a way of letting him serve you.
Jesus says, come to my table tonight. I want to feed you. I want to feed you with my body and my blood. I want to feed you with the sacrifice that I made for the forgiveness of sins and to just reestablish that relationship of the New Covenant.
If you got a guilty conscience about something just before you take this meal, just say, God, you and I both know, forgive me. And then come and eat and let this food nourish you tonight. Let the life of Christ, there’s nothing else.
People. Man. All right, I’m a knucklehead, right? I don’t know a lot, but I. With all my heart, in all sincerity, I just want to tell you, dear few people here, Jesus, is it the life of Christ? Is it. This is the universe. This is what it means to be human. He’s the Savior.
He’s the hope. I’ve studied other religions. If I’m wrong, I’ll just die an idiot. But I just want to tell you as sincerely and as passionately as I can lay hold of Jesus and let this meal feed you with his life tonight. He is good. He loves you and forgives you. And I’m done talking. Come and eat.
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