The Badge of Discipleship Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Badge of Discipleship Part 2. He will be in John 13:1-11.

And to serve one another means that we must do it sacrificially as you are trying to discern. Who should I submit myself to? In leading the church, real leaders are those who are willing to serve others.

Well I hope you’re having a great day. This is Pastor Mike. It’s hope worth having time and it’s time for us to really get connected to God’s Word. Thank you for tuning in to our broadcast today and we’re gonna be back into the Gospel of John chapter 13.

We’re still learning about the badge of discipleship. You know there are times that our life we’re always just thinking about ourselves. We’re so focused on us that we forget Christ has called us to think about others and nobody modeled that better than Jesus Himself and that’s what we’re gonna look at today as we see Christ modeling humility to us.

You know Jesus, He’s the one that should have had His feet washed right? But yet He washed the disciples feet even as they were debating who should be first in the kingdom of heaven. That’s the way we are.

We’re always trying to be better than somebody else and we’re always trying to manipulate our opportunities but Christ teaches us how to show true love through humility and so today as we get into the Bible let’s just open our hearts to His truth as we study together.

We are His bride. We are His children. We are His building. He is merciful to us. He bears with us. He is patient with us. He keeps us. He blesses us. He sustains us. You are loved by Jesus Christ. His love is unchangeable.

It is unto the end. Some of you say man Mike I have messed up. Mike I have made some really bad decisions. I have fumbled the ball in life. Let me tell you something. Whether you live this perfect life, which no one does, or you lived a messed up life, the love that Jesus has for you never changes.

And you got to remember that. Because in our human relationships, there are many relationships we have. As long as you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. And as long as you take care of me, I’ll take care of you.

But this is not true with God. That even in our failures, we are loved by God. It does not excuse. Now listen, God is not always happy with Mike. And this is true because you’re not always happy with your children, right?

But you always love them. God always loves us. And sometimes He has to deal with us. And sometimes He has to correct us. And sometimes He is changing us. And He’s allowing things in our lives. But I want you to know that whatever and all that God is doing in your life, simply a manifestation of His grace and love towards you and He will not and has not given up in you.

He loves you until the end. He loves you in life. He loves you in health. He loves you in sickness. He loves you in death. He loves you forever and ever. His love is abiding in your heart. His love is everlasting throughout your life.

How privileged are we to experience the particular love of God? Paul prayed in Ephesians chapter 3 that the people of God would know and understand the depth, the breadth, the height of the love of God.

And I pray that when you leave today that you have a greater sense, knowledge, and understanding that you are loved by Jesus Christ. And I don’t want you to ever walk away from that. Many times adult children will say to me, I don’t think my parents love me.

And I know their parents and I know they love them. But I want you to know that sometimes the way we sense love and feel love can be different for all of us. And that’s why it’s important for us to not only teach our children that they are loved by us, no matter what they do, no matter what they say, not always happy, not always agreeing, but they will be loved by us.

That’s important because it impacts their relationship with God. For as they understand that they are loved by their parents, no matter what the circumstances are, then they begin to understand and perceive that they are loved by God in an everlasting, unchangeable way.

That’s foundational in the heart of every believer. A lot of Christians are out of church today because they think God is up there ready to whack them over the head. Because they think every move they make could be a mistake.

And they live in this constant fear that somehow they are not loved. And so why go where they’re not loved? Or at least they don’t sense to be loved. That’s why it’s essential for us church that if we’re going to display the love of God that each of us first enjoy the love of God.

For you cannot give what you have not and are not receiving. And so in your life I want you to enjoy the privilege of being loved by God and to know this extent of it and to grow in it and to revel in it and to learn it and to rejoice that you are loved by God.

Number two. How do I demonstrate? this badge of discipleship, which is love, through modeling humility in my life. Now, verse 14, If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s.

Now we know from the Gospels, the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that the disciples had been arguing. They were squabbling among themselves. They were jockeying for position. Luke tells us that as they were in the upper room, they were arguing about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And so Jesus Christ, in the midst of all of these men, who were trying to claim superiority or arguing who is the greatest, Luke tells us in Luke 22, verse 24, that there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.

And in the midst of that argument, Jesus stands up, and he begins to wash their feet. The disciples were only thinking of themselves. Jesus was thinking about others. We are reminded in Philippians 2, 3, as believers, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves.

At the heart of humility, God is not asking you to have a low opinion of yourselves, but he is asking you to have a high opinion of others. And the problem in Christianity is that we’re not displaying love through humility, because we just think a little too highly of ourselves.

we deserve that position at the job. We deserve this position in the church when the truth is we should be humbled by any opportunity and any privilege to do anything for the Lord Jesus Christ. God is calling us to show our love for others through humility towards them, the job of washing people’s dirty feet.

Was always to the lowest slave. Even in this system of slavery in the Roman Empire, there were tears and there were slaves that managed great assets and households. There were slaves who had different tasks and responsibilities.

And then there were the lowest slaves who every person that came into their home was responsible to wash the feet. of the guests and to wash the feet of the homeowner. And you would think that when Jesus entered in to this upper room, that his disciples would have immediately washed his feet, recognizing and understanding the intimacy of this moment as they are getting ready for the Lord’s Supper,

the Passover, to transition into the new covenant. You would think that there would be a sense of humility among the disciples, God’s people, but there was a sense of pride when they gathered. And Jesus got up and he began to wash feet.

It is a beautiful picture of what Paul taught us in Philippians 2 .7. That Jesus made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men. When Jesus took the outer garments of his clothing and he laid it aside, it wasn’t necessarily so that he could disrobe himself, but Jesus was making a point.

He was girding himself with humility. And that’s what Christ did when he came to this earth. He stepped aside from his glory. He laid aside his majesty. He laid it all the glory and goodness and grace of Jesus Christ was set aside so that he may take on the form of a humble servant.

The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5 verse 5. You, younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yes, all of you be subject to one another and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud and he gives grace to the humble.

Jesus presented himself as a slave, wearing nothing but a loincloth to wash feet. And the truth is that God is calling all of us to take on servanthood, humility. When Peter instructs the church, the younger people in the church and all the people in the church to have submission as part of how they operate with each other in their relationships, he tells them that the key is to be clothed with humility.

Why do we fight? Why do we have division because of pride? But when God’s people say, I will clothe my heart and mine with humility, you are showing the love of Jesus Christ. It’s easy to get caught up in the world’s competitive spirit and let it filter into your heart as a Christian and become envious of others.

It’s easy for us to hold grudges and to hold on that somehow we are better and above others rather than to see ourselves as servants for Christ. And if we are to see ourselves as servants for Christ, we must be humble.

So here’s the question, whose feet are you washing? In this metaphor, Jesus is calling on all of us in verse 14 to wash one another’s feet. He is challenging all of us to serve others. And so I’m asking you, are you willing to come out of the standoff in your family and serve and wash someone else’s feet?

Are you willing to say, look, the division between me and someone else will only come falling crashing down when I take the first step to wash their feet? The late day Dave Thomas. He was the founder of Wendy’s hamburgers.

And of course, you know that he started a chain of restaurants. And I’m sure that many of you visit him. Dave Thomas was known for his humility. He was a multi -billion dollar businessman. His empire was vast all around the world.

When he was asked what made him a success, he replied, my MBA. But the problem is, he never graduated from college. And he was a high school dropout. What he meant was his mop bucket attitude. In other words, there was no work, no task, too insignificant.

He was a high school dropout, too insignificant. For him to tackle and he simply jumped in and got the job done Dave thomas was a high school dropout. He was always ashamed of that And it kind of was in his heart that he wish that he could graduate But rather than demanding perks and privileges He always lived by the creed of mop bucket attitude Humility is important.

It is important in all your relationships It is important in the health of the body of christ And humility means it doesn’t have to be my way or the highway And when peter tells us that we are to be subject or submissive to one another He is saying it doesn’t always have to be your way be willing to submit to one another I know in an american culture that says we’re independent and nobody’s going to tell me what to do God is calling us to be countercultural And say be submissive in your relationship Because humility was an important characteristic in the life of jesus Now my third and final point god is good We’re going to make it And that is that we demonstrate love Through demonstrating servanthood So we must not only enjoy the love of god and we must not only take on and put on humility in our life But we must be servants Now in our text today,

jesus Does not give his disciples leadership secrets? But he tells them to be servants Look at verse 16 and 17 Verily, verily. I saying to you the servant is not greater than his Lord, and neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. People say, I wanna be happy, Mike. I say, be a servant. Serve others. Happiness is not wealth. Happiness is not everybody doing your bidding. Happiness is you serving others.

Jesus said, happy you’ll be if you do these things. If you would serve others. Now according to commentator Matthew Henry, many interpreters consider Christ washing his disciples feet as a representation of his whole undertaking of coming into this world.

He knew that he was equal with God, and all things were his, yet he rose from the table. in glory, laid aside his robe of light, girded himself with our nature, took upon himself the form of a servant, came not to be ministered to, but to minister, poured out his life, his blood in death, and thereby prepared a basin to wash us from our sins.

Hallelujah. And we are called as forgiven people to serve one another. And to serve one another means that we must do it sacrificially. Real leaders, church, as you are trying to discern who should I submit myself to in leading the church as pastors and elders and deacons and other pastors and teachers, real leaders are those who are willing to serve others.

If you see in the life of a church leader an unwillingness to serve others, run from them. Stay away from them, for they are stuck on self and they are building their own empire and they are building their own kingdom.

They are not contributors to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. I know they may be famous and I know they may be popular, but they are not the true servants of Jesus Christ. Real leaders are those who are willing to serve.

No task too little, no task too big. They take it all on. Now this is where it gets hard, church. And these are my final thoughts to you. There were two pairs of feet that Jesus washed. There was Peter.

He was proud and he didn’t even want Jesus to wash his feet. Have you ever tried to do something for someone and they wouldn’t receive it? Have you ever tried to help someone and they were too proud to receive it?

Yeah, I have. And there are going to be some people out there like that. But Jesus explained to Peter, you have no part in me if you do not wash. And what he meant simply was this, that first we are washed through the forgiveness and the grace of Jesus Christ from head to toe.

But every day we need our feet washed because as we walk through this world we have struggles, we have sorrows, our feet get dirty, we have problems and our feet need to be cleansed every day. Peter got so excited, he said, just do me head to toe.

Jesus said, you don’t need head to toe. You don’t need to get saved again. You just need to get washed and cleansed. And there must be a continual washing and there must be a continual cleansing. And we must remember that as we are under the fountain of his grace and his forgiveness and cleansing in our life, it helps us to be humble, to serve others.

And there are gonna be people in your life that do not wanna receive it. And let me tell you what it is, because they’re not receiving it. You see, I cannot receive in my heart from you what I’m not receiving from God.

And as I walk with Jesus and I enjoy his cleansing and I enjoy his ministry to me and I enjoy his grace and forgiveness, then as you serve me, I am humble and grateful that you would love me and care for me and that you would want to do something to show God’s love to me.

And so we help our brothers and sisters who are like Peter and they’re too proud. But there was a second set of feet, church. It was Judas. It was Judas. Jesus washed Judas’ feet. Judas stabbed Jesus in the back.

Judas betrayed him. Jesus said in verse 18, he who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me. There are gonna be people who let you down. They’re going to be people who disappoint you, betray you.

They’re going to be people who say things about you that are not true. But let me tell you something, church. Jesus wants you to wash their feet. I told you it’s going to be hard, isn’t it? How did I know it was going to be hard?

Not because I think that you need it, but because Mike needs it. Because Mike has had to learn that. I am just one beggar telling another beggar where the bread is. You want to be healed from your grudges.

You want to be healed from your hurts. You want to be healed in your relationships. That I want you to serve those who have betrayed you. And you say, Pastor, it ain’t happening, OK? You’re not there yet.

We’re patient. But you can’t give what you’re not receiving. There isn’t a person on this planet that is worthy of forgiveness. And there isn’t a person that is worthy to be served. And I don’t serve based on what you’ve done for me.

I serve based on what Jesus has done for me. And when Jesus becomes your motivation and you want to love people like Jesus loved them, then even when you are wounded, and even when there are walls in your heart towards others, you are going to find a way that you can demonstrate servanthood to them.

What kind of home would you have rather than pointing out the flaws of your spouse that you walked in the door every day and said, how can I serve my husband? How can I serve my wife? How can I serve my parents?

What would happen if we went to work every day instead of being mad that somebody else got the position we wanted that we said, how can I wash their feet? How can I serve them? What would happen in our church?

Rather than being mad at this member or that member, mad at the pastor, mad at the deacons, the elders, whoever you want to be mad at, whoever’s on your rotation list, that you came to church every Sunday and your goal was not to critique the sermon, but to serve God’s people the day.

What if you came today to be a blessing instead of saying, Lord bless me? What if you came and said, I just want to pray with somebody, I want to love somebody, I want to encourage somebody. What if you came today and said, it’s not about me but it’s about Jesus and demonstrating his love.

What if you came today and a wounded heart and a searching soul sat next to you and you washed their feet, you listened to their story, you took them to lunch, you reached out and encouraged them, you prayed with them.

What if you forgot about self and you focused on Christ? I’ll tell you what would happen in the church. Revival. What would happen in the church? We just couldn’t get everybody in here. We’d have to have multiple services.

You see church, when people come, I want them to sense and experience the love of Jesus. And that’s only gonna happen when you and I humble our hearts and we serve one another. Whose feet are you washing?

That’s a great question. Whose feet are you washing? Who are you serving? Who are you helping? Who are you reaching out to? You know, so many times we’re always thinking about us. You know, and I understand, you know, we got these COVID rules and we’re not allowed to socialize, we’re not allowed to connect, but I’m just telling you that God does not tell us to socially distance from Him.

The Bible says draw near to Him. And so I’m not gonna socially distance from God and the Bible tells us to bear one another’s burdens, to serve my fellow man. And so I’m just sorry, people are gonna have to just throw me in jail, I guess.

But I feel like we should stay connected and that we should still serve others and help others and be humble about that and really think about that in your own life. Whose feet are you washing? And have you taken time to serve someone else?

Not that they deserve it, not that they’re worthy of it, but that you’re called to be different and distinct and a cut above the world. And the way we do that is not lifting up ourselves, but humbling ourselves and willing to serve others.

So we encourage you to think about these things and keep your mind and thoughts upon that. Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet? Oh, make sure you do that. Go to YouTube, we’re on YouTube and you get to catch up with all the sermons that are being preached every week here at the Open Door Church.

You can catch up with some interviews that we’re doing. Also, we are doing some Q and A’s and there’s a lot of neat stuff on there that you can be blessed by. We have the minute. pastor Mike I always tell people you can get as little a pastor Mike or as much of them as you can stand just go to the YouTube channel because it’s got a lot of neat things there so take advantage because they could help you in your daily walk with the Lord and you can just pull that YouTube up and just get a really good focus on the Lord as you begin your day or even as you’re getting ready and it’s all right there to be encouraging to your life and that’s one of the things I love about my wife is that every morning she’s either listen to Christian music or she is listen to Christian teaching pastors Bible study leaders and she’s just getting all soaked up with the Word of God before she goes to work because I tell you the world’s tough out there and you need Jesus and if you don’t have a good start with Jesus you’re gonna have a bad start with people so we encourage you to take advantage these resources are out there to help you we want you to know we appreciate you you mean a lot and thank you for helping us to stay strong for the Lord and helping us to stay on the air remember that in Christ there is hope worth having.