Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
2/15/98 am
Servanthood - The Second Incarnation
Reading – John 13.1-17
We’ve come to a very important time in the life of this church. A time when, if we are going to continue to grow spiritually and numerically, that we must have more servants among us. Now church, we can do this in one of two ways:
- By adding to the church staff
- Or we can ALL say yes to serving in the Kingdom.
I believe the latter is the preferred method.
Will you say yes this morning?
- Yes, I’ll serve in one or more of our ministries.
- Yes, I’ll visit newcomers who visit our services.
- Yes, I’ll visit the sick.
- Yes, I’ll take the responsibility of taking care of one or more of our shut-ins.
- Yes, I’ll serve as a teacher in our Bible school program.
- Yes, I’ll serve our young people by having them into my home and planning activities for them.
- Yes, I’ll serve in the church office one day a week.
This morning, we are going to spend time with somebody that knows more about serving than any of us do... THAT’S JESUS.
I believe John thirteen has some things to say to us about serving one another.
Access a worship bulletin and let’s see what we can lean.
FIRST, SERVING OTHERS IS HOW WE RESPOND TO WHAT JESUS HAS DONE FOR US.
Church, when we genuinely understand, when we really come to a realization of what Jesus has done for us, we will serve Him, by serving others. When a church comes to that point in their existence, no one, NO ONE including Satan, can hold them back from serving the Jesus in others. You see, here it is, the reason we don’t do more in the church is simple. It is because we have yet to comprehend what God through Jesus Christ has done for us.
In our reading John is trying to tell us something about the Lord’s Supper. Something that I don’t think some of us have considered. And it is time in our spiritual maturity that we give it some thought. Chapter 13 is John’s account of the Last Supper. It is the night before Jesus’ arrest, trials and crucifixion. Jesus and His apostles are celebrating the Passover meal together. It is in this event where we get our idea of communion each Lord’s Day. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all speak of this event.
Matthew, Mark and Luke focus on the bread and wine. Their concern is on the meal. I want you to notice something different about John’s narrative. John doesn’t mention bread being broken, or wine being passed among them. Nothing is said about this bread being My body and this cup being My blood. John only mentions that the meal has been served. John is focusing his narrative on WHAT?... A basin of water and a towel.
I am suggesting this morning that, when we put the four Gospels together, we will find that the Lord’s Supper is more than broken bread and a cup of wine. It also includes a basin of water and a towel.
Here is my point, maybe we haven’t completed the Lord’s Supper this morning. Perhaps John is telling us that there is more to the Lord’ Supper than what we’ve done around this table. The bread and the wine are only two elements of this communion feast. John says there is another... FELLOWSHIP and SERVING... Washing one another’s feet.
You see, we start the Lord’s Supper with the bread and wine in this communion service and we finish it by serving one another. We come to the cross in communion, but we exemplify the cross by serving one another. The bread and the wine are here to remind us of what Jesus sacrificially did for us on the cross. The basin of water and the towel are reminders of how we are to sacrificially serve one another.
Listen to me church, this is exactly what John says to us in:
1 John 3.16, This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
1 John 4.11, Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
There was more going on that night in the upper room than breaking of bread and passing of the cup.... There was FELLOWSHIP and SERVING. We have started it this morning, will we finish it this week? Question!... How many times have we left the Lord’s Supper unfinished? The time has come in this church that we finish what we start here each Sunday. Yes, Jesus wants us to come to the cross in communion. But He wants us to exemplify the cross in daily service to one another.
Another question... Can we really respond to the cross without serving the Jesus in others? Yes, we’ve celebrated the cross and what happened there this morning. But Jesus tells us that we must take up our own cross and follow Him.
- That includes the basin of water and the towel.
- That includes washing feet.
- That includes serving one another.
There comes a time when we must get off the pew and on our knees in SERVICE to Him and others.
Now, before you turn me off saying, Randall, you can’t make fellowship and serving a part of our worship around the Lord’s Table, let me point you to some other scriptures where they ARE put together.
First, Acts 2.42-44 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer... And all the believers were together and had everything in common. Here we see the Lord’s Supper and serving one another in the same context... RIGHT?
How about Acts 20.7-12, Luke tells us that there was both fellowship and serving around the Lords Table.
- On the first day of the week they came together to break bread.
- Paul served by preaching until midnight.
- He raised Eutychas from the dead.
- And verse 11 tells us that afterward the y talked until daylight.
Note that they came together to break bread, but Paul served them by:
- Preaching.
- Raising Eutychas.
- And by visiting together till day break.
Doesn’t this indicate both FELLOWSHIP and SERVING?
Then there is First Corinthians 11.17-30 where Paul writes the Corinthian church about their abuse of the Lord’s Supper. Remember what his main complaint was?
- A lack of unity and fellowship.
- A lack of honoring and serving one another.
Note that immediately after his discussion of the correct way to observe the Lord’s Supper, Paul begins chapter twelve by talking about serving one another by using our God given spiritual gifts. Listen as I read chapter 12, verses 4-6:There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
With these scriptures in mind is there any doubt that fellowship and serving are directly tied to the communion service? Let me suggest that there are two basins of water, two towels in the gospel narratives.
- One is found in Pilate’s hall. He used them to wash his hands of this Jesus.
- The second is found in the upper room. Jesus uses it to serve His disciples... To wash feet before His death.
You see, each of us here this morning has his or her own basin of water and a towel. What will we do with our basin of water and towel? Will we wash our hands of Jesus? Or wash feet in serving and fellowshipping one another? Church, in light of what Jesus did for us, how can we refuse to serve Him by serving others?
Secondly, our love for one another is explained and expressed by serving.
Note verse one of our reading, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. How do we tell somebody we love them? Its not with the tongue, but with a towel. John says, He shows the full extent of His love by washing their feet, by serving.
Later Jesus will say, if you love me, your will keep my commandments, you will serve me. Here it is church, we show:
- The full extent of our love to Jesus,
- The full extent of our love for one another,
- The full extent of our love for the sick,
- The shut-ins,
- The lost,
- Our spouse,
- Our children, by the way we serve them.
Listen to these scriptures that speak of love and service:
- God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten.
- This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
- Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
The Bible teaches that we love when we serve.
- Valentines Day is not celebrated with the tongue but with a towel.
- Serving expresses something that words cannot say... Cannot express.
- A picture is worth a thousand words.
- An act of service is worth a thousand sermons.
- Jesus said, the world will know you are my disciple when you love one another.
Bella Vista, Bentonville and Rogers will know we love Jesus when we serve one another. The poet was right when he wrote:
“A bell is not a bell until you ring it.
A song is not a song until you sing it.
Love is not put in our heart to stay.
Love is not love until we give it away.”
Jesus said, as I have washed your feet, you are to wash one another’s feet... I have set an example for you that you should do as I have done. Church, aren’t we the extension and representation of Jesus to the world. Aren’t we the second incarnation? Paul says, it is no longer me, but Christ living in me. The world will see Jesus in His church, this church, to the extent that we serve. Yes it is true, we can serve without loving, but we can’t love without serving. Serving exemplifies and explains the extent of our love. This is Bible... This is our text this morning.
Thirdly, when it comes to serving, Jesus and His followers do not show favorites.
I want you to consider whose feet Jesus was washing:
- John... This is the same harsh, old hearted John who earlier had begged Jesus to send fire down from heaven to destroy people for rejecting Jesus.
- James... He, John and their mother had asked Jesus for special and discriminating positions of power and authority in the Kingdom.
- Thomas.... He’s going to call Jesus a liar, saying I won’t believe you and your resurrection until you show me your death wounds.
- Peter... In less than twenty four hours, Peter is going to deny Jesus, not once, but three times, not because is under a death threat, but to save his own pride and ego.
- Judas... He was there and Jesus washed his feet.
How about the rest of the disciples?... They are all going to forsake Him, abandon Him to face death alone in the garden before this night is over.
Question!... Ever had friends like Jesus’ friends? They said one thing and did another.
- The world says, do it to an other before they do it to you.
Jesus says, treat others as you would have them treat you.
- The world says make them pay.
Jesus says, wash their feet.
- The world says me first.
Jesus says place the interest of others before our own.
- The world says, hate your enemies.
Jesus says love your enemies and do good to them that mistreat you.
- The world says, but they don’t deserve it.
Jesus says neither do you.
Scripture tells us while we were yet sinners, aliens, ugly and ungodly, Christ died for our sins. Church we must know this morning that: Because Jesus is our Lord and Teacher, because Jesus saved us when we didn’t deserve it; then we are expected, commanded, to serve when others don’t deserve it. When it comes to love and service, Jesus and His followers do not play favorites.
Then fourthly, we are never more like Jesus than when we’re serving others.
Read verse 14 with me, Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. Jesus said, I came not to be served, but to serve. Consider this verse from Luke 6.40, A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. This is exactly what Paul has in mind as he admonishes us in Philippians 2. Your heart, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.
Church, the nature of a servant is to serve. This was the heart and nature of Jesus. And if we are going to become genuine disciples, Paul tells us:
- We are to have His heart,
- We are to put on His nature.
Indeed, Indeed, we are to be the second incarnation.
Milton Jones tells of being in Seattle with Randy Johnson, the star pitcher for the Seattle Mariners.... We know Randy best by his nickname, The Wild Thing. They were passing out sandwiches to the poor, down and out in the inner city area of Seattle. As they handed a sandwich to a homeless man, he looked up and said, Milton Jones, Randy Johnson, you’re the last people I would expect to see doing this.
Let me ask you this, if Jesus were on this earth today where would He be and what would He be doing?... Think about it.
- He would be in Bella Vista, Bentonville, Rogers handing out sandwiches to the poor.
- Feeding them loaves and fishes by the thousands.
- He would be visiting the sick.
- Preaching to the lost.
- Lifting up the fallen.
- Comforting the mourning.
- He would be found about the Father’s Business.
- He would be found serving in the Kingdom... washing feet.
Why is it that the very thing Jesus would be doing is sometimes the last thing we want to do? Sobering question... Sobering question. You see, being like Jesus has a lot more to do with serving others than:
- Sitting in a pew,
- Watching,
- Judging,
- Instructing,
- And correcting others.
One of my favorite preachers was Bruce Thielman of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. He is dead now, but I once heard him tell this story about one of the worst ice storms in Pittsburgh’s history. It had closed everything down... Emergency services would not even get out on the icy streets. That night Bruce got a call from a family who’s little boy had Leukemia. The parents said, our son has taken a turn for the worse. He is running a high fever, we must get him to the hospital, can you come take us. They had called the ambulance, but they would not come. Bruce said, I can’t because my car is in the garage for repairs. But he called one of the elders. The elder agreed to come pick up the boy and his parents and make an attempt to get to the hospital. After several fender benders, sliding through red lights and stop signs, over curbs and into telephone poles, with an almost demolished automobile, they finally made it to the hospital. As they pulled up to the emergency room, the elder reached over and pushed the boy’s hair from his feverish face and says, we made it. The little boy looked at him, his eyes wide with fever and fear and he said, “Mister are you Jesus?”
We’ll never be more like Jesus than when we’re serving others. In fact, while serving others, we can even be mistaken for Him. I wonder, I wonder what would happen in Northwest Arkansas, if Bella Vista, Bentonville, Rogers and Jane MO, mistook us for Jesus. Wouldn’t it be great if our church was filled with people who had accidentally been mistaken for Jesus?
Yes, we have come to the point in the life of this church that if we are going to grow spiritually and numerically, we must indeed, become the second incarnation. And this is best done by our willingness to serve as Jesus served. Jesus ended this narrative by saying, Blessed are you, not for just knowing these things, but if you do them.. We must know this morning that serving others blesses us... corporately as a church and individually
What do you need to do this morning to become more like Jesus.
- Do you need, like Him, to become a child of God by faith, repentance and New Testament baptism, immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins?
- Maybe we need to find our place of service within the Kingdom.
- Perhaps you’ve been worshiping with us and as a baptized believer you want to be a part of a church where people are often mistaken for Jesus.
However this lesson has spoken to you, respond to the message as we stand and sing this invitation song together. Will you come?
