An epic song from the 80s, was Freddie Mercury and David Bowie's hit, "Under Pressure." It was so popular, there's even a Muppets &Disney Ice Age version. But I wonder if you can relate to their lyrics. . .
"Pressure pushing down on me... Pressing down on you... no man ask for..." The video for Under Pressure features stock footage of national upheaval... traffic jams, commuter trains packed w/passengers, explosions, riots, cars being crushed. What images would you say best capture pressure we feel on the world stage today?
"[Pressure...] It's the terror of knowing... What this world is about..." The older I get the more I'm asking... Who has character anymore? What's true? Who can you trust? Who has your best interests at heart? Does Donald Trump? Does Hillary Clinton? But really. What about faceless gov't agencies? Bureaucrats? Educators? Bankers? Wallstreet? Google? NSA? Media? Insurance companies? There is a terror to realizing how much everyone looking out for themselves.
"Under pressure... that burns a building down... Splits a family in two... Puts people on streets..." Have families ever been under more pressure? Marriages failing. Divorce. Separation. Endless court hearings. Families being torn apart. Kids split between parents, children thrown into foster care. I feel sad every day about this.
The lyric that most caught my attention was this one: "These are the days - it never rains but it pours." Rain tends to be gentle, nourishing everything it touches. But a downpour is often violent, devastating everything in its path. For Freddie Mercury it never rains, it always pours.
Are you experiencing a "gentle rain" or a "violent downpour" right now in your life?
[We're like crinkled water bottle under pressure... ready to explode]
You know Jesus, more than Freddie Mercury, more than David Bowie, more than any of us, understands what it is to be "Under Pressure." No portion of Scripture better captures the pressure Jesus felt than what's known as the "Upper Room Discourse." The Upper Room Discourse is found in John 13-17, and includes the final words Jesus spoke, and actions he took, before being arrested & crucified.
Now we imagine ourselves to be carrying the weight of the world, but Jesus actually did. In fact, Jesus is going to Jerusalem to die for sins of the world. We imagine things cannot be any harder for us, but Jesus' felt so much pressure at the end of his life, we're told his sweat became like drops of blood. In John 12:23-23 Jesus says, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds." In John 12:27 Jesus says, "Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour." Gentle rain or violent downpour... I don't think anyone can relate more to being under pressure than the Son of God.
So what should we do under pressure? What great thing does God call us to in the face of pressure? What did Jesus teach us to do? What great thing does more to alleviate the pressure than anything else? Do you know what it is? In ‘Under Pressure', there is this profound lyric where Freddie Mercury sings:
Keep coming up with love but it's so slashed and torn...
Can't we give ourselves one more chance? Why can't we give love that one more chance? Why can't we give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love? [8x]...
(1) 'Cause love's such an old-fashioned word... (2) And love dares you to care for... The people on the edge of the night... (3) And love dares you to change our way of... Caring about ourselves.
I don't know whether Freddie Mercury or David Bowie ever came to know Jesus, but I can sure tell you one thing... they were definitely searching, longing Jesus' kind of love. Let me share three characteristics of Jesus' love from John 13...
[Symbol] Jesus fully loves. Jesus authentically loves. Jesus completely loves.
In John 13:1 we find this simple description of Jesus' love. It's so simple I've probably read over it dozens of times without thinking about it. John 13:1 says, "It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had 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 very end."
What I want you to see here is that authentic love has two components. (1) There is the moment where love begins, and love initiates. Think of it in the context of a love relationship. A couple meets, go on a few dates. Their affection for one another grows. They dream together, begin sharing life, get engaged. Eventually, they stand before God speaking vows to one another, "We promise to love for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. . ." There is part of love that promises....
(2) But the other component of love isn't just where love "promises" but also where love fulfills its vow, where love finishes well, where love crosses the finish line. Jesus didn't just love those given to him, he loved them "to the very end." His love endured, it persevered, it went the distance, even in face of extraordinary pressure.
But the point John 13:1 is making is actually much more profound. Moments earlier, in John 12:44-45, Jesus told his disciples, "Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me." Jesus point to his disciple is "In loving you, I am perfectly, flawlessly, completely, showing you the father's kind of love. My kind of love doesn't fail."
[Symbol] Jesus humbly loves. Jesus lowers himself. He becomes a servant.
The funny thing about love is that it's just as hard to give as it to receive. In John 13:14, Jesus chooses a highly symbolic act to get his disciples attention. They'd all traveled by foot to meet Jesus for Passover. It was customary, when a guest arrived, that they be provided with a basin of water, to wash their feet, and remove any pebbles of sand that might have gotten lodged under the toenails, while walking. It wasn't a pedicure, but next best thing! If a servant was available, it was that lowly person's job to clean everyone's feet. But after the disciples get situated, it's Jesus who takes off his outer clothing, wraps a towel around his waist, and begins washing then drying the disciple's feet.
One of the earliest known hymns, in Philippians 2:5-8 celebrates Christ's humility, "Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather he made himself nothing, by taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself..."
You know I watched that "Under Pressure" video on Youtube several times. It was a spectacular event. The crowds, the lights, Freddie Mercury and David Bowie all decked out in shiny suits, exalted, on the stage, singing about love. But here were told Jesus left the stage, emptied himself of glory, stooped to man's feet, and humbled himself first to wash the disciples feet, but then later to die for them. What impresses you more? An epic music video singing about love or son of God stooping to love? I think a lot of us like to sing about love, but would we stoop, humble ourselves to demonstrate that love?
But it can be just as hard to receive love as give love. Peter has a pride problem. As Jesus begins to wash his feet he says, "You will never wash my feet." When we love people, it can be a subtle way of establishing superiority of others. Let me wash your feet. Let me pay the tab. Let me provide for you. Let me pray for you. But when we receive love, it creates another crisis. It forces us to need others, to receive value from others, to be interdependent, to truly be a community. Jesus was able to love and be loved, to give and to receive. He didn't stand above, apart, but knelt among disciples.
[Symbol] Jesus dies for love. John 13:21.
In John 13:21, we're told after Jesus washed his disciples feet, "Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.' After Jesus said this his disciples stared at him in disbelief, at a loss of what he was talking about. But we know the story. There in the upper room, Jesus was flanked by both his beloved disciples and the one who would betray him.
Do you remember what Jesus said earlier? In John 12:23-23 Jesus says, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me..."
In this world, like Jesus, our love will always be flanked by our beloved and our betrayers. Here is what I mean. You're beloved are people who love you. They are your friends, your family, you spouse, your kids, you mom & dad, your supporters. There are people who love you because you share history with them, you grew up together, you share the same values, the same basic beliefs, the same experiences. There are people you love naturally because they are in sync with you, have chemistry, because they advance you in some way. They wash your feet, serve you.
But then there are the betrayers. Betrayers are people who betray our values, our sensibilities, our faith, our interests. On the surface betrayers might look like every other guy in the room, but in a moment they'll sell you out for 30 pieces of gold. One of thing that strikes me about our nation, is that everyone seems willing to sell the next guy out for a little gold. Isn't that really the root problem? Husbands sell out their wives. Wives sell our their husbands. Politicians sell our their constituents. Children sell out their parents. We're always willing to get ahead at the expense of others.
You know Jesus' love was authentic because his loved passed the ultimate test. He didn't just love his beloved right up till the end... he also loved Judas, his narcisstic, sociopathic betrayer... he loved Judas right up until the end. And you know what else? Jesus didn't just wash the feet of his beloved, he washed the feet of his betrayer. And he didn't just die for the sins of his beloved, he died for the sins of his enemies. America will never be great again until people stop selling interests of others to get a little gold.
What pressure might be alleviated if we were to take Jesus' costly kind of love, and not just sing about, and celebrate it, and marvel about it, but if we were to actually practice his kind of love? By this all men can know Jesus is the son of God--he loved bother his beloved and his betrayer. John 13:34, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men can know that we are disciples... if we love one another..." John 13:15, "I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you"
Love must be authentic (who we are), show humility, and be costly otherwise it's hollow and without effect. The epic love of culture is often void of authenticity, humility, and sacrifice thus its nothing more than a hollow song. But the church's opportunity is to hold out the substantive love of Jesus. Jesus asks Peter, John 13:12, "Do you understand what I have done for you?"