Christ Church at Grove Farm

Rev. Craig Gyergyo: Good morning, everyone. My name is Craig Gyergyo, and I serve as a pastor here at Christ Church. If we haven't met yet, I would love to meet you and put a face with your name and welcome you to the family of families. Happy Labor Day weekend. I’m excited that we're here at the end. I’ve got lots of stuff on my table already. Wow, let's get some of this out of the way here. It's a Bible; that's a good thing. I'll put this right there.

Awkward moment. How's everyone doing out there? Thank you. Appreciate it. Again, I was saying Happy Labor Day weekend. I’m glad to have you with us for this weekend. Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end of the summer, I suppose. If you were here a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned this: it's right for us to consider all that's happened this summer personally for you, but also corporately as a church. It's right to give thanks for that.

So, we're going to do something. I just want to give you a little bit of coaching because we clap sometimes at church, and sometimes we don't clap, and we don't know when to clap. It's a good thing corporately for us to join together. One of the ways we can express gratitude and thankfulness to God is to celebrate with our hands and say, "Thank you, Lord." Think about God's goodness. Think about the ways He’s drawing us to Himself, to His own heart, the ways He’s doing that in your life. Let's celebrate God's goodness this past summer. It's been good, everyone. Let's thank God for it. Thank you, Lord. We have grateful hearts, and we know we give Him praise. It's not our ingenuity; it's not our strength. This is from God. So, it's right for us when we're together to say, "Thank you, Lord for that." Thank you for the ways You're touching us and moving us. He’s just getting started. The fall is just about here. It's not quite here yet, but it'll be here, and we're going to see God do more.

Gideon read another one of the standout passages in the Holy Bible, and that comes from Philippians 2. Let me take you back to some of what you heard Gideon read for us. Let's pick out a couple of lines. It's a powerful passage, Philippians 2. At Christ Church, we consider this one of our favorite passages. What it does is give us this great backdrop of Jesus. The Scripture says, "Be like-minded, having the same love, being of one in spirit and one mind." Then it goes on and says, "In humility, value others above yourselves." Then this: "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus." Then it goes on to tell us about that mindset. Those are beautiful words. It is powerful. They're also really difficult words, especially when you consider "have the same mindset as Christ" because be honest, that is not always how you live.

We all know that. Maybe you have your moments where you're feeling the Lord's presence, but it's not always how you live because you've lived long enough to know you don't naturally look to the interest of others. That doesn't come natural to you. In fact, you look to your own interest, don't you? That's a struggle. You keep score even. You remember what people said. You remember what people did. This is the struggle with the flesh. You remember who apologized. You remember who got their own way in a matter. Sometimes you don't just notice these things; sometimes you want payback. You want them to pay. So, you'll go cold. You'll withdraw from a relationship. You'll even maybe sometimes say the thing that you know will hurt the other person.

I’m describing the human condition here, right? Because somewhere inside of you, there is this thing, this instinct. The instinct is this: "I will not put myself beneath you." That's a very human thing. "I won't be the first one to make the first move. You do it." The way our flesh works is you want grace. You want to receive grace when you fail. Then when you're wronged, you want justice. You want justice when someone else fails. It's like you want to understand and be understood without understanding yourself. You want to be loved without lowering yourself. This happens in marriages. This happens in families with parenting. This happens in the workplace. This happens in friendships. Yes, this even happens in the church, doesn't it?

We're talking about life together. We're talking about community, and we want community, but we want that community on our terms. We want to decide how that goes. Here's what I’m saying: we do not naturally have the mind of Christ. The Scripture says, "Have the same mindset of Christ." That's not the natural thing to us. But the Bible isn't telling you "just try harder." That's not the message of the Bible. The Bible instead does something beautiful: the Bible gives us Jesus. The Bible gives us Jesus. Philippians 2 that you heard read says this: that being in very nature God, what did He do? He went low. He went low. He went down into flesh. He went down into servanthood. He went down into obedience, emptied Himself all the way down to death. As Philippians 2 says, "even death on a cross."

We're going to look actually at what I would consider to be a parallel passage in the New Testament. It's John chapter 13, the Gospel of John, chapter 13. Here's what you see: you see the descent of Jesus actually happen in this passage because Jesus gets up from the table and He takes a towel. So, let's go there. John 13, the Gospel of John, chapter 13. We're going to begin in verse one. I encourage you to have a Bible open in front of you and be engaged in what God is saying to us because I know He wants to speak to us. So, Father, thank You that You're here with us, Lord. Thank You, Lord, that You teach us through Your word. Right now, Lord, we open ourselves up. Lord, we recognize that we don't measure up to this call to have the same mindset of Jesus. So, God, would You teach us right now how to live this way? We're eager for You to instruct us. Thank You, Father. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let's pick up in John 13, verse one. I’m going to read the first five verses. 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. 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. 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.

There's a phrase here that I really love: "Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." He loved them to the end. That's Jesus. He loves to the end. I want you to see something here. This is really blessed me, and I want to just slow down enough so it'll bless you too. Because think about this: in this scene, Jesus knows what's coming. You know it's coming now. In real time, He knew what was coming. He knows that these men that He’s with are about to falter. Even though He knows how badly His closest friends are going to fail Him, He loves them. He loves them. He's not fed up with them. He's not finished with them. He doesn't say, "You've had enough chances." That's not what He says. He loved them to the end.

Listen, this is what makes Jesus different. This is what makes Jesus different. People will love you as long as you perform, as long as you meet their expectations. People will love you as long as you don't disappoint them. But Jesus knows you completely and He loves you completely. He knows your inconsistency. He knows your weakness. He knows your sin. He knows the places even this morning, yesterday, in the history of your life where you have failed Him. He knows them. Still, He loves you. He forgives you. He pursues you. Still, He stays even though He knows all of this. Because those whom He loved first, He loved last. That is the love of Jesus. There's no one else like Him. There's nothing else like His love. You hear God loves me; it's deep. It covers all of your sin. It's beautiful. I pray God helps us to receive this love.

Jesus demonstrates His love now in memorable fashion. He's approaching His last hour. Look at verse three again with me. Approaching His last hour, it says: "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 knows where He came from. He knows where He’s going. That's Jesus. He knows that the Father has placed all things, not just some things, not just a few things, all things into His hands. Precisely because He knows who He is, He's free to give Himself away. This is different than the way the world thinks. Think about it: He gets up, He takes off His outer garment, He wraps a towel around Himself. This is all so humble. He pours water into this bowl, and He washes their feet.

Think about the last thing you'd want to wash on another person. There are a couple of things that come to mind. Feet would be in the top three, I would think, right? Jesus washes their feet. Feel the weight now; feel the weight of the paradox. Think about it: the one into whose hands the Father has placed all things, that person puts His hands around the feet of the disciples. That's a paradox. The Master takes the position of a servant. I think this gets underneath one of the deepest problems in life together. By the way, do you know why we're talking about life together? Because it's hard. It's hard on every level. It's hard in the church. It's hard in your community. It's hard in your family.

Life together is difficult. We're constantly trying to establish our significance in relation to one another. That's one of the aspects that makes it tough. There are these thoughts: well, who has the authority here? Who's the one who's getting noticed? Whose needs matter the most? Who should be serving whom? There are all these kinds of things. Look, when you're unsure of where you stand, you will end up spending your energy protecting your turf, your place. When you don't know where you stand, that's what you'll do.

So, Jesus here shows us something radical. This is radical. What Jesus is showing is this: the more secure you are in the love of the Father, the more that that is your rock, your foundation, the less you will need to establish yourself above anything or anyone else. That's radical. In other words, when you know who you are, you don't have to spend your life proving who you are. Do you know who you are? When you have nothing to prove, you actually become free to stoop and go low.

Jesus isn't washing feet because He's forgotten who He is. He actually washes feet because He knows He is the Lord. Do you see this? It's the radical nature of Jesus. His humility in this instance is not a denial of His glory, of His Godhead, of His deity. It's actually an expression; it's a way of expressing His glory. The world says greatness is demonstrated by how many people are beneath you. No, Jesus is showing us a greatness that is demonstrated by how low love is willing to descend. This is the greatness of Jesus. The greater Jesus knows Himself to be, the freer He becomes to give Himself away. Jesus knows exactly where He stands, and that makes Him free to take the towel and to wash those feet because love lowers itself. Hallelujah. Love lowers itself.

Let's keep going. So, Jesus is taking the towel with these men. It says this: "He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, 'Lord, are You going to wash my feet?' Jesus replied, 'You don't realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.' 'No,' said Peter, 'no, no, no, You shall never wash my feet.' Jesus answered, 'Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.' Simon changes his mind: 'Then, Lord,' Simon replied, 'not just my feet but my hands and my head as well.' He makes a swift change. Oh, Peter. Jesus answered, 'Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.' For He knew who was going to betray Him, and that was why He said not everyone was clean."

Peter, you gotta love Peter, right? He goes from one extreme to another. On one hand, he says, "I cannot allow You, Jesus, to wash my feet." Just like that, he says, "Never, will never let that happen." Then just like this, he changes his mind. He says, "I tell you what, actually wash me from head to toe, Jesus, all of me. I want all of it washed." Peter's instinct actually is understandable. Here's what's happening: he still doesn't understand the kind of Lord that Jesus is.

This is one of the hardest things about following Jesus. Listen: sometimes He is doing something in your life that you cannot yet understand. Do you have a scenario like that right now? There's something that God's doing in your life, something Jesus is doing in your life that you just can't yet understand, wrap your arms around. Here's what Jesus says; here's how Jesus puts it: "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." This is a difficulty in following Jesus.

Now, Peter would eventually understand. He would understand. If you fast-forward, the resurrection assures you that one day in Christ, even the darkest pages of your life, the darkest times, or the kind of time you're living through right now that's really difficult, even those will be understood in the light of His glory. Do you see? There's a day coming when you'll understand. I digress; let me get back to the real point here because Peter is revealing something even deeper to us, and that's this: one of the great obstacles to love is refusing to receive it. A great obstacle to you experiencing the love, real love, the love of the Father, is refusing to actually receive it.

So, think about Peter. Peter is willing to follow Jesus. He's willing to serve Jesus. Now here's Jesus, kneeling at his feet, and Peter says, "No way, that's too much." Jesus says, "Peter, unless I wash you, you have no part with Me." Before Jesus calls Peter to serve, Jesus calls Peter to what? Receive. To receive. Before you can become a person who gives grace, you have to be a person who receives grace. Before you can pour it out, you gotta receive it yourself.

We all, every person, everyone needs to be washed by Jesus Christ. Everyone needs to be washed by Him because there's nothing you can do to make yourself clean before God. Everyone needs to be washed by Jesus. I'll tell you this: even those who are washed, meaning you have come to the fountain that is Jesus Christ and you've been cleansed by the power of His blood, even those who have been washed, when you've been forgiven, you still have to live every day under the cleansing blood of Jesus.

Here's how Jesus says it: "Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet." He's talking about an ancient cultural phenomenon. In those days, think about their homes; they weren't equipped with running water per se, and the conditions were filthy around them a lot of times. So, let's say a person's going to a dinner party. They'll get cleaned up for the dinner party, and then they head out on the road to get to where they've gotta go. What happens? Man, their feet get dirty. Whether they're wearing sandals or going barefoot, whatever the situation is, they find themselves dirty. So, the custom was this: you show up for that party at the house, and one of the servants would be fetched to wash your feet. Not to give you a complete bath; you already had that, but to wash feet.

So, what Jesus is saying is this: your feet also need to be clean. I know this: there are some dirty feet here today, including these ones. Of course there are dirty feet because you don't walk around through life without getting dirty. So, here's the invitation today. Here's the word of the Lord for you today: not a day will go by that you don't need a fresh supply of God's mercy. You don't need to be born again every day, but you do need to get a fresh supply of God's mercy and grace. So, here's what I would say to you today: come and get it. You got some dirty feet? You feeling the weight of sin, feeling the weight of "man, I’m not right"? Jesus wants to wash those feet. Come to Him. Get a fresh supply of that mercy.

This is very difficult for some of us. Peter reminds us of it because we're comfortable in giving, but receiving grace, that's harder. That's more difficult. Because receiving love when you know you haven't earned it, receiving forgiveness when you know what you've done, you know it, you know the thoughts of your mind, you know your heart's inclinations, letting Jesus come into the places where you're ashamed, that's hard. You've got to receive it. Peter wants to give Jesus something. Jesus says, "Hey, first let Me give you something." Jesus says to you today: "First let Me give you something."

Think about this: who are the people, this is amazing, who are the people that Jesus wants to give this cleansing power to? Who are the people that Jesus wants to clean up? Look around the table. Peter. Peter is about to deny Jesus. This moment's happening; not long after, he's going to deny Jesus. Not just once, not just twice, three times. Think about Judas around this table. Judas will perform the ultimate betrayal. The rest? They’ll abandon Him. Still, what does Jesus do? He kneels. He goes low.

It kind of tells us this if you're thinking about it: Jesus doesn't love some imaginary, idealized community of people. He loves actual people, real people, people who misunderstand Him, people who fail Him, people who hurt Him, people who need mercy again and again and again. People just like us. Jesus loves, and He gives us mercy. The foot washing, listen, this is more than just some example of humility. No, it's bigger than that. This is a picture of the cross. Think about who's kneeling. Jesus, the Son of God. The same Jesus who takes the towel and is ready to serve, that same Jesus is about to take the cross. The hands that are washing those feet are hands that are going to be pierced. The one who pours out the water over the feet is the one who's going to pour out His blood on the cross. He’s showing them what love is about to cost Him.

Here's what gets me: they need more than an example. They need to be washed. So do we. So do you. Before Jesus tells you to wash someone else's feet, here's what He says: He tells you, "Let Me wash your feet today." That's where the Christian life begins: letting Him wash us, forgive us, letting Him love us even when you know you don't deserve it. When you've been loved like that, when you've been forgiven like that, when you realize that the Lord of glory is willing to kneel down for you, then you will be ready to kneel down for someone else.

That's how Jesus is forming His people. Grace comes first. Love comes first. Then from the place we've been loved, we learn to love. Here, John 13:12-16: "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 should also wash one another's feet. 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.'"

Follow the logic. Jesus says, "I’m your Lord, and your Lord kneels." He says, "I’m your teacher, and your teacher takes the towel." So, He’s given them what? He’s given them a posture. He’s giving them a pattern. He’s giving a way of life. The question isn't do Christians literally wash feet. Here's the question: is the posture, the pattern of Jesus' self-giving love, is that posture, is that pattern becoming characteristic of your life, of our life together, our community? Is that posture more and more who we are? Because foot washing is, in a way, that's how we're to be with one another. It's what happens when real greatness actually looks like self-giving, when love, instead of running away from a need, moves towards a need.

What does this kind of love look like? It's amazing for those of us who were alive when this happened. It's amazing to think that this week, the 25th anniversary of 9/11 is going to happen. It's hard to believe that that's 25 years ago. Everyone's seen the footage and knows about this. What you know is this: of course, people were flooding out of the building. Those who could were flooding out of the building, getting out of there as quickly as they could. But then, this is the amazing thing, this is one of the powerful things about this moment in American history: at the same time, what else was happening? There were people rushing into that building. People were flooding out of the building, of course, but then there are these people who don't know if they're ever going to make it out of that building, who are actually choosing to run into it. That's love. That is an expression of love for sure. That's a self-giving, self-sacrificing kind of love.

This kind of love does this: it shows up when it's inconvenient. My wife was telling me about this this week, a moment she had when she was inconvenienced and struggling with what to do. You know when someone interrupts your plans, when someone needs more time than you have, when someone wants to have a conversation that you don't want to have. But love says what? Love says have that conversation. Or it shows up when no one sees it. When there's no applause, when there's no recognition, when no one knows that you did it. That's how love shows up. It shows up when it costs you something, when it costs you your time, when it costs you your comfort, when it costs you your money, when it costs you your reputation, your sense of control. That's what it looks like when love gets into your hands, our hands.

The kind of people that Jesus is forming us to be at Christ Church at Grove Farm is a people who stop keeping score. It is a people who stop asking, "Well, what do I get out of it? What do I get out of this relationship? What do I get out of this investment of my time?" We stop asking that. It's people who actually start asking, "How might the love of Christ move through me toward another person?" That's what this love looks like. We're not there yet. We got a ways to go, but this is who Jesus is calling us to be. A people whose love goes deep, a church where His posture becomes our posture. That is life together because once you know you're loved by the one who took the towel, you're finally free to take the towel yourself.

I gotta finish this. Verse 17, one more verse here: Jesus says, "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." Hey, He says knowledge isn't enough. No, recognition is not enough. Admiring what Jesus has done is not enough. Love becomes embodied. You can know what Jesus teaches; you can know it up and down, back and forth. You can recognize the beauty of His humility. You can admire His way. But Jesus says, "Now do it. Now live it out yourself."

How do we do that? The love of Jesus takes shape in the lives of people who've received His love by the Holy Spirit. You don't have to strongman this or strongwoman this. Through His love received in you, the Spirit indwelling you, you live it out. Let's go to this: Philippians 2:5 as we come to a close here. The Scripture says this: "In your relationships, life together, in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus." John 13 shows us His mindset, does it not? Jesus loved them. He lowered Himself. He washed those feet. He went to the cross. He took it to the end, and He did it for people like them. He did it for people like us.

Now, this is what's happening: by His Spirit, Jesus is forming us to love like Him. So, I was thinking: how do we respond to this? I don't want to give you another thing to do. That's hard. I want to invite you to listen instead. I want to invite you to get quiet, to give attention to the Holy Spirit, who is with us right now. I recognize that this may be new for some of us, and that's okay. I’m going to shepherd you through this. But I want you to think about this: let's ask the Holy Spirit to take what Jesus has shown us today and make it personal for each one of us. To be clear, we are not asking Him to tell us something that contradicts Scripture. No way. We're asking Him to take the truth He's already revealed to us and to bring it home to our hearts.

This is going to be a fun exercise for us to do together because, again, the Holy Spirit is present with us and He has been given to us to form us into the likeness of Jesus. So, we're going to ask a very simple question. I’ll put this question on the screen, and then you can begin to kind of get quiet and take a breath and listen. Here's the question: Holy Spirit, where are You inviting me to lower myself in love? Holy Spirit, where are You inviting me to lower myself in love? Maybe a person's going to come to mind. Maybe it's an apology that you've been resisting. Maybe it's releasing forgiveness. Maybe it's some preference you've been holding really tightly and fighting against. Maybe it's an act of service that you've been avoiding because you want someone to notice. Maybe nothing comes to mind, and that's okay too. We're simply going to make ourselves available to God. So, wherever you are, here we go. Take a moment. Just be still. Take a breath and just pray silently. Holy Spirit, where are You inviting me to lower myself in love? The Lord will speak to you.

If someone comes to mind, simply hold that person before the Lord. You don't have to decide in this moment whether every thought or feeling is from God; that'll come through. Just take note of what comes to mind and do this: hold it before the Lord. Oh, Jesus, what would it look like for me to love this person in the way that You've loved me?

This is personal, too, because there's a question for you: are you willing to let Jesus love you first? Lord Jesus, wash me. Lord, wash my feet. Lord, make me clean. I need Your mercy. I need Your grace. I want to pray. This is going to lead us into communion, which is perfect because Jesus is setting up communion in the Scriptures here, and we're going to follow His lead in this place today.

Holy Spirit, form in us the posture of Jesus. Lord, make Jesus' love visible in us. Thank You, Lord, that Jesus lowered Himself for us. Lord, as He asks us to lower ourselves, we pray, Lord, that these hands that were pierced for us would beckon us, call us, and empower us to take the towel in our own hands, not to earn Your love, Lord, but because we are recipients. We've received it. So, Lord, make Your love visible in our marriages, in our parenting, in our friendships. God, make Your love visible in this church. Where You're inviting us to lower ourselves in love, oh, Lord, give us the courage to take the towel. Thank You, Jesus, for washing us clean. Thank You, Jesus, for loving us. All this we pray in Jesus' powerful, wonderful name. Amen.