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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
Hi, everyone. And welcome back to the Eagle Community Church of Christ podcast. My name is John Gunter. This week, the sermon is on the story chapter 26, the hour of darkness. And really what I focus on this is a very broad chapter so I hope you read the whole thing.
John:What I focus on in my sermon is, the chapter of John 13. It's one of my favorites in scripture, and really looking at what does Jesus decide to do in his very last hours. I think we should take something, away from this that really what Jesus wants to focus on. So again, thanks for listening in. We hope you'll come see us sometime.
John:Have a great week. Thank you, Francisco. You did a great job even without your helper. Will not tell her that. How many like thinking about the end of your life?
John:How many have a will? Good for you. Good for you. Was that an enjoyable deal? No.
John:It was not. Not for me either. We have 1 and it's something about the finality of certain things in life. You know, when we're young, especially as you're raising kids, you know, you're just ready to get to that next age. But as parents, grandparents, people who have been there, we know pump the brakes.
John:Because once you're there, you can't go back. Right? It's that weird, awkward transition in high school that happens within a few days that, a few days earlier, you better be there. You better be on time in the right place. A few days later, if you're there, you better have permission, or you're gonna get run out of here because you've graduated and you can't be here.
John:Same thing happens in college. You're busting it, getting through finals with all your friends you've known for 4 years, or in my case, the first time, five and a half years, real good friends at that point. Just trying to get through the moment, all of a sudden, you realize you're all headed to different parts of the country. I think it's finality and something else. I turned 41 back in August, and I realized my pro baseball career is probably over before it ever started.
John:There's still a chance. Still hey. There you go. But do you know at the end of your life the legacy you wanna live believe? Do you know what it is that you want the people left here to take away from your life?
John:You think about that as you think about your kids and grandkids and what do I want to leave them? You can have a conversation with everyone before you leave. What would you say? What would be important? What would that that last thing, that mental picture that we're all here together, what would that be for you?
John:Today, as we talk about the end of Jesus' life, that's exactly the scene we're gonna look at. We're gonna go through the chapter of John 13, where Jesus gets a chance to be with all of his friends, be with all of his disciples, those people who had traveled every mile together, shared meals, looked for housing, wondered where their next meal or housing would come from. And Jesus knows at this point that the end is near. It was just before the Passover festival Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and to go to the father. Remember, in the gospel of John, I think it's 3 or 4 times, it says it is not Jesus' time.
John:Remember, he even escapes the crowds, right? It is not my time yet. Jesus knows at this point, this is the time, the hour has 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.
John: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, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter who said to him, lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus replied, you do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.
John:No, said Peter. You You shall never wash my feet, Jesus answered. Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. Then, Lord, Simon Peter replied, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well. Let's do the whole thing.
John:Right? And Jesus answered, Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet. Do not tell my kids this, because they're still counting that one from Monday. 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.
John:When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Do you understand what I have done for you? He asked them. You call me teacher and lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
John:I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. I'm not referring to all of you. I know those who I have chosen, but this is to fulfill the passage of scripture, 'He who shared my bread has turned against me.' I'm telling you now, before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe that I am who I am.
John:Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send, accepts me and whoever accepts me, accepts the one who sent me. Jesus knows that his hour is at hand. So it's good for us to pay attention to exactly what Jesus is trying to teach in this last moment. Would you, in your last moments, start talking about frivolous things that really don't matter? Of course, not right.
John:And so Jesus, as he's come to this point, he looks around at his disciples all around the table, sharing a meal together, and he says, I need to teach you. So Jesus pushes back from the table, and He gets ready and starts washing feet. Now we know that this is helpful in this time, as everyone wore sandals and most certainly were dirty on their feet. This is also Jesus' way of showing that what we're all about is showing love to one another, caring for one another, serving one another. Now pretend for a second this is your last moment here.
John:What would you expect to do? Now when I think about my last moments, I imagine everyone's gonna be gathered around me, or you better be. And what certainly is not happening is for me to do all the serving in that moment, is it? Right? You don't think about that, do you?
John:Like in my final moments, I hope I'm push moe in the yard. No. Nobody's having that dream. But Jesus uses his last moments to serve. Not only to serve, but to serve even those who are going to betray him.
John:And that example worth following. And so times we look and and and in church, if I don't agree fully with you, I've gotta leave or we've gotta separate. And Jesus looks at someone who's about to have him killed and says, you know what I'll do? I'll wash his feet. And that's the example.
John:That's the legacy that Jesus lives leaves for all of us. Because he looks at him and he says, now that I have done this for you, you ought to do so for one another. I thought it was funny if Scott may step out, but one Wednesday night, Scott, Griffin, he said he was about to wear some sandals, I think, up here. And he said, you know what? Right before I left, he said, if I do that, John's gonna have us washing feet or something.
John:I'm not gonna do that. But look at Jesus' eyes. He said, servant is not greater than their master. He said, I have done so to you, so you do so for other people. Yet in our culture in America, we put ourselves up on a pedestal higher and higher ranking ourselves, not going down, but how high can I climb?
John:Jesus says the way to love is to serve. If anyone had a reason, anyone had the clout to be served in this moment, isn't it Jesus? But he chose to do something else. The chapter continues here in 21, After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me. His disciples stared at one another at a loss to know which of them he meant.
John:Isn't that interesting? Because we didn't know it was Judas. But they were so close, again, sharing lives together. But when Jesus said this, they didn't know. They didn't have a clue until later.
John:So they looked at their brothers and thought, who in the world would do this? One of the disciples whom Jesus loved. Remember, we always assume this is John, and again, we are never told this, ever. The one whom Jesus loved was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, ask him which one he made.
John:Do you see how they're using Peter here? Peter speaks so, you know, abruptly all the time that they just finally start, you know what? Peter will ask him. It's fine. Ask him which one he means.
John:Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, lord, who is it? Jesus answered, it is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish. Then dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So, Jesus told him, what you're about to do, do quickly.
John:But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival. They're thinking, okay. This is something that has to do. This is, something we have to get done.
John:Right? Instead, or to give something to the poor, as soon as Jesus had taken the bread, he went out, and it was night. This is kind of a, the writer here telling you things are done in darkness differently, aren't they? You ever heard nothing nothing good happens after 2 AM type of thing or midnight or it's dark. The time of evil is is nigh.
John:When he was gone, Jesus said, now the son of man is glorified and god is glorified in him. If god is glorified in him, god will glorify the son in himself and will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me. And just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now where I am going, you cannot come.
John:The new command I give you, love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Simon Peter asked Him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus replied, Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later. And Peter asked Him, Lord, why can't I follow you now?
John:I will lay down my life for you. And Jesus answered, will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me 3 times. Jesus has a couple of, big statements in this section. That way that you show that you are a disciple of Christ is how you love other people.
John:Now I prefer that Jesus said, as long as you show up on Sunday morning, we'll count it. Wednesday night, bonus. Small group, double bonus. But what Jesus said was, the way that you love other people. That's how you show whether or not you're a disciple.
John:I didn't say what I just said to downplay our attendance here, because our attendance here is part of loving other people, that if we don't come here for a show, we didn't buy a movie ticket, we didn't grab some popcorn and say, man, I can't wait to see I'm gonna talk about this on Rotten Tomatoes later. John didn't have it today? One star would have given it a half a star. That was that mad. But we come to be with others, to encourage others.
John:Yes. We draw encouragement. I hope you leave here every time we meet, thinking, man, I was encouraged today. But what I also hope happens is that when you come, in your mind, you're thinking, How can I encourage someone else? How can I show love to someone else in here?
John:Because one of those mindsets props me up. What can I get out of this? The other is, how can I serve? And Jesus' example was, how can I serve? And he said, because I did that and because I am lord and teacher and master and all those things you call me, you go and do that.
John:That's show your disciple of Christ. I just someone, I'm a Christian. Christian. Oh, go love them. I guess some people are hard to love.
John:You know those people? Don't point at them if they're here. But some people are hard to love. The Bible has some very hard teachings about how to love even your enemy. Pray for those who persecute you.
John:That takes some work, doesn't it? Let me be mad for a little while and we'll get to that, right? But when Jesus asked, what are the greatest commandments, lord? Jesus said, love god, all your heart, soul, mind, all those things. He said the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.
John:Look at someone else and find value in them and their life and the walk they have. Don't come into contact with everyone you meet and think, boy, they don't have it like I do, especially people that are on a different part of the journey than you're on. We all the downplay where I was. I must have had it together much more than you. Right?
John:But to look someone and know that you are someone who Jesus loves, you are someone who Jesus would get back from the table and wash your feet. And so as Jesus said that, I need to be that kind of person. I go and I serve. How can you serve someone today before you leave this play? Maybe that conversation you weren't planning on having.
John:Maybe fuss all the way to church and you said, we're leaving as soon as it's over. And as I've told you before, don't ever say that because god works. Oh, Those nights I told Katie, we're going to church on Wednesday night, but we're leaving early, I was the last one there every time. The lady turning off the lights over there tapping her toe, going, y'all gonna leave or what? We go live not profiting ourselves up.
John:That's not what Jesus did either. We find out a way to serve, a way to love, a way to be disciples of Jesus. We talked last week. Just calling yourself a Christian doesn't matter if you don't live the life. And for all of us, that's a struggle.
John:Sometimes it's going well, and sometimes it's not. The key is, what is your desire? Are you desiring that close relationship with God? Are you just okay with having some distance? Are you out there enjoying not serving?
John:Let me have some me time. Let me do me. Let me get mine. All the ways we talk about that. Are you alive following Jesus who would even wash the feet of those who would betray him?
John:I don't know how I would react if I knew how I would die and that you were part of that. That we sit here and I look back, and Scott Gibson, I knew he was gonna betray me. I don't know how our conversations would go after that, Scott. I don't know if I will be bitter, if I would grip my teeth and smile and say I'm doing great today, Scott. That's what Jesus is our ultimate example.
John:Lots of things don't come easy to us, do they? It is easy for me to get through a week thinking about all the things I have to get done, and I realize, oh, I didn't do all those things that I needed to reach out to other people or or to help them or all those things. Right? You've been there? Jesus shows us how much importance every single person has, has.
John:And so I hope that our desire as a church, as we draw close to god, as we pray to draw close to each other, we do exactly that and learn to serve, learn to love, and learn to be, examples and disciples. Princess has a, invitation song picked out this morning. If you have any needs, we'd love to pray with you. We'd love to baptize you into Christ. I want you to begin that walk with him.
John:Don't here just being okay with, whatever. Allow such a part. Allow work on you in ways that you didn't even imagine coming here this morning. So if you have any needs, would you come as we stand and as we sing?