Here we are, gathered at the start of a whole New Year! Last year, at this time, we began a series called “First Love.” We surveyed the first 12 chapters of the Gospel of John—which covers most of Jesus’ earthly life. You might remember that Jesus worked a series of signs, culminating in the resurrection of Lazarus from a tomb. The Jewish authorities were so shaken, they sought to kill Jesus and Lazarus.
The signs Jesus was working were astounding. Other-worldly. There was no plausible explanation that could be offered. Nicodemus, the Pharisee, said it best. No one could perform the signs Jesus was doing unless God were with him. Jesus didn’t just let loose an unrelenting barrage of signs. He said things that would have been considered blasphemous were they not true!
• Jesus saw himself as “the lamb of God, sent to take away the sins of the world.”
• As the “bridegroom of Israel”—a title reserved for God of Israel, his Bride!
• He said that “Before Abraham ever was, I AM {Yahweh].”
• He told people they would see “heaven open up and angels ascending/ descending on the Son of Man.” (like Jacob did in Genesis)
• Moses parted the sea, but now one greater than Moses is here! Jesus was seen walking on the sea!
• Jesus saw himself as God tabernacling among his people. “Father abides in me.”
• He announced the temple to be his “Father’s house.”
• He even said, “Destroy my temple, and God will raise it up in three days.”
• “The works I am doing testify to the fact the Father sent me.”
This week, I just started flipping through the first chapters of John again. You would probably need to lock up a guy like Jesus:
• “I am the light of the world.”
• “Anyone who believes in me has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life—Instead of the wrath of God remains on him.”
• “If you were to ask, I’ll give you living water {the Holy Spirit.}
• “Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, the Son gives life to whom he wants.”
• “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, will not come under judgement, but has passed from death to life.”
• “I am the bread of life” (i.e. manna from heaven).
• “I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.”
• “Nobody can snatch those the Father has given me out of my hand.”
• “If you can’t believe what I’m saying, believe the works {signs}”
• “I am the resurrection and life.”
If ever people were sharply divided, it was over what to do with Jesus. Spoiler alert. They couldn’t just kill him and bury his body. They tried. His words would come back to haunt them. Destroy this body and I’ll raise it up 3 days later.
In John 12:48 Jesus says, “The one who rejects me and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as judge. The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” Friends, just what are you going to do with Jesus? This morning we are picking up right where we left off. John 13. The last 7 chapters of John cover the final days of Jesus life.
Now, if you knew you only had a short time left, what would become urgently necessary to you? Jesus has some of his most intimate moments, and shares some of the most profound reflections of his whole life... with the Twelve. Please turn to John 13 in your Bible.
First, Jesus Knew Where He Was Going.
John 13:1 says, “Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart this world to the Father” John 13:3, “Jesus. . . knew that he was going back to God.” This isn’t new information. Jesus has been saying this all along. “You will see heaven open up and the angels of God ascending and descending upon me.” “I am not speaking nor acting on my own. I am here for only a short time, then I am going to the one who sent me. You will look for me but you will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.”
Second, Jesus Knew Where He Came From.
John 13:3 says, “Jesus knew. . . that he had come from God.” For twelve chapters Jesus has been telling us he was sent from God! “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. All things were created through him. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. The word became flesh and dwelt among us—we’ve observed his glory the glory of the one and only Son from the Father who came full of grace and truth. No one has ever seen God, but the Son who is himself God and is at Father’s side has revealed Him.”
Jesus had an unshakeable sense of identity. Now none of us were sent directly from Heaven, as God incarnate. But we did come from God, right? He is our creator? He did fashion us from dust, right? He breathed into us the breath of life. He gave us our heart, mind, body, and soul. We were created by God, for God!
Likewise, one day we will return and stand before God. God will resurrect the righteous and the unrighteous. Some will be raised to judgement, but some will be raised to eternal life. The loud mouths of our day spew worldly wisdom. They call evil good and good evil. They appraise evil. They justify their own greed, abuses of power, exploitation of humans, and acts of injustice. They’re not content to merely boast in their sexual immorality, they have set about corrupting the next generation. Corrupting the God given gifts of gender, sexuality, reproductive ability, marriage, and family! They consider their homicidal impulses to kill, destroy, abort, euthanize a good and moral right. Even an environmental necessity.
On the last day, those loudmouths who reject Christ, will lay frozen as dead men, in abject terror, in utter silence, as God’s Word judges them. The wicked will find no excuse, no justification great enough that will help them withstand that dark and dreadful day of judgement.
When you know where you came from (God), and where you are going (back to God), it changes your whole manner of life. How many of you are living in light of where you truly came from or where you are truly going? If we don’t tell our generation where they came from, and where they are going, how will they ever be prepared for what awaits? John 12:48 Jesus says, “The one who rejects me and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as judge. The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.”
Jesus Knew What He Was Leaving.
As a matter of priority, Jesus left a legacy of love. John 13 is a kind of love chapter. John 13:1 is a key verse: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” John 13:3, “Jesus knew that the Father had given everything in his hands.” In light of where you’ve come, and where you’re going, what ought to matter the most now?
This bizarre thing happens in John 13. John 13:4-5, “So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.” John 13:12, “When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you?”
I was talking to my father-in-law just yesterday. I said, “I feel like I’m missing something. It’s driving me crazy.” John 12 concludes with this ominous warning about judgement. What Jesus has spoken will be our judge on the last day. John 13 it can’t be more explicit—Jesus knew he was returning to the Father, he knew he was sent from the Father. But now here is Jesus washing the disciple’s feet. Do you know what I have done for you?
“Jesus, you washed my feet. My toes are zestfully clean. Gee, thank you God, you are so nice. Oh, you want me to love others just as you loved me. Let’s break out a basin of water and wash each other’s feet!” I can think of far more grittier tasks then washing someone’s feet. Follow one of our many nurses, or mother’s around for just one day. You’ll be begging to only have to wash feet. I don’t think I have ever washed another person’s feet. I think it weird when people try, even if it’s in the name of Jesus. Is that what this text is really about?
Don mentioned something he’d read by the late John Stott. John Stott sees in this act a full reenactment of the Gospel. Jesus got up. Laid aside his outer garment. Took a Towel. Bound Himself with it. Poured water out. Washed and cleansed men of their uncleanliness. Jesus knew he’d come from the Father. Jesus existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be exploited. Instead, he stood up, and said, “Here I am, send me.” He emptied himself {of his glory, he set aside garment}. He assumed the form of a servant. And as a man, humbled himself (he bound himself until death) becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross, pouring out his own flesh and blood to cleanse men of their sin, that the wrath of God NOT remain on them forever.
“Jesus, you washed my very soul. My soul is made perfectly holy and righteous through the cleansing blood of your son Jesus. You spared no measure.” “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”
But Jesus knew where he was going. Having humbled himself, binding himself in death, in self-giving love... Jesus stood back up in resurrection. He was clothed with everlasting glory. God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will blow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. John 13:13-17, “13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you. 16 “Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
John 13:34-35, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Stott says John 13 is the Gospel in microcosm. 1) Mission he undertook for us leaving heaven; 2) Mission he accomplished for us in washing (water and blood). 3) Mission he entrusted to us... which is to love yes temporally (Philippians 2: Love is looking not to own interests...) but yes in light of eternity (Philippians 2: Love is pouring out our own life in mission like a drink offering).