JUMPING INTO THE MESS FEET FIRST HE AIN T HEAVY // WHO SHARES MY TOUGH STUFF? JOHN , 12-15, 34-35

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1 JUMPING INTO THE MESS FEET FIRST HE AIN T HEAVY // WHO SHARES MY TOUGH STUFF? JOHN , 12-15, INTRO Good morning! Welcome to Christ Community! If you re new today, we are so glad you are joining us! I hope someone has found you and helped you feel welcome! Iowa State students, welcome back and/or welcome for the first time! If you are a regular attender or a member here, glad you made it I hope you ve met someone new and welcomed them in! My name is CALEB WHITE, and I am the Middle School Pastor/Director, and I have the honor of bringing the Word to you today. "EXPERIENCE" [EXODUS 3] As Moses was tending sheep for his father-in-law he encountered the strangest thing Exodus 3 says, the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flaming fire - out of the midst of a bush. Moses looked and saw that the bush was on fire, but it was not consumed - (the bush was engulfed in flames yet it wasn't burning up!). So, Moses does what any middle school boy would do, and says to himself: "I'm gonna go check that out " When God saw that Moses turned aside to check out the bush, He called: "Moses! Moses!" "Uhhh here." "DO NOT COME NEAR TAKE OFF YOUR SANDALS, FOR THE PLACE YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY GROUND." Now, it is my intention that this passage lay the groundwork for where we are going today. I m going to ask you to partake in an experience with me this morning. I want to invite you to jump feet first as we look at JOHN 13 this morning. In order to grow in faith and to practice living it out, we have to take risks/do hard things. I invite you to take your shoes and socks off this morning - as we meet in the house of the LORD, we are on holy ground we are in sacred space seeking to hear from the Creator of the universe. As we look at this story, familiar to many of you, perhaps new for some, I hope that being barefoot might help us step into the story a little better. This is an open invitation: you may choose to take part, you may choose not to take part.but, I feel that if you choose to jump in, you will experience this story with a depth you may not have before. So, shoes and socks off, just slide them under the chair in front of you. There we go. GREAT! Can we take a deep breath, please? Our series this summer is called HE AIN T HEAVY, and it has addressed various tenets of one of our guiding questions: Who shares my tough stuff? That is to say: who in my life do I share my hard things with? And who in my life shares their hard things with me? Would you pray with me? LORD Jesus, help us to experience your presence in this place. Open our eyes to any blind spots we have. Help us to do hard things. Draw our hearts near to you that we might know you more. Amen.

2 Now that your shoes and socks are off, anybody else here a little subconscious about their feet? Why is that? I am - I'm a little better now, but I have ugly feet. My toes curl in a funny way; I've got a couple of toenails that, honestly, I don't know what's going on. But, I generally keep my feet hidden from people Anybody else in here? Feet are a funny thing they are so functional, they help us get from Point A to Point B, they help keep us balanced, etc. Some people have cute feet babies, babies have cute feet. Some people uh.do not have cute feet. However, when someone no matter who you are wears shoes for an extended period of time, they begin to acquire an odor. Come to find out in my research and preparation as a pair your feet have 250,000 sweat glands that make about one cup (about half a pint) of sweat every day. That means your feet produce more sweat per square inch of skin than any other part of your body But, it s not the sweat that makes your feet stink it s the bacteria that eat amino acids and dead skin cells on your feet that allows someone the ability to clear a room when he or she takes their shoes and socks off. So, why feet? If you would, please turn in your Bibles to JOHN 13. If you are using the Bible from the chair in front of you, we are on page 900. If you don t own your own Bible, please take this one home with you! If you are more tech-minded you can pull up your Bible app OR(!!) if you ve downloaded our very own CC Ames app which you should, you can find the passage under Message Materials Also, you ll notice the number at the bottom of the screen you can text in questions, and we ll try and answer a few at the end Today, we are going to break chapter 13 into a few chunks, and we ll use 4 questions to guide us along. You can write these down on the side, to help you keep track Who is Jesus? What has Jesus done? Who am I? What do I do (now)? These questions are really good to use if you are asking the question: How do I read the Bible and get anything out of it? EXPOSITORY Let s set the stage here John is one of Jesus disciples, often referred to as the disciple Jesus loved He was close to Jesus. And he depicts this story in short, staccato-like sentences the highlights that left an incredible imprint on him! My senior year in high school, we played in the state baseball semi-final. Exciting right?! Here is my recap: We had 11 errors. Gave up 17 runs. The game lasted 5 innings. The team that beat us ended up winning state for a perfect 42-0 record. I cried. My dad wrote me a really cool note. This is what John s doing here - He s describing the things you need to know about that night and he s sharing them because what Jesus did was unprecedented!

3 Jesus and His disciples are sharing the Feast of Passover, a celebration when God s people remember how God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt. At the table are at least His 12 disciple; at the table with Him is a friend who's about to betray Him. This was a group that has seen and experienced miracles, and really been with Jesus been through some stuff. There is some dissension this night. The disciples walked into the room fighting for the spot next to Jesus, arguing over who is His best friend. I imagine this to be kind of like my brothers and sister and I, fighting over who was going to sit in the bucket seats in the van it s a mad dash, feelings and people get hurt, there s taunting. And pride for the winners I got the seat and you didn t [[fart noise]]. Already Jesus has told them He is going to be leaving them, so tensions are that much higher Who is going to sit in the place of honor by Jesus? They might not know it yet, but this group is going to go through some tough stuff - things are about to get pretty messy. JOHN 13 Here we go! JOHN Who Is Jesus? In this passage Jesus gives us the ultimate example of Servant King, and here He is, kneeling down at his friends' feet. Now, we have to think culturally here for a moment. What were the road conditions like? Paved? Who or what was on the road? People and animals shared the roadways. Do animals care where they go to the bathroom? The Jesus Storybook Bible puts it this way: the thing about feet back then was that people didn t wear shoes; they wore sandals, which might not sound unusual, except that the streets in those days were dirty and I don t mean just dusty dirty I mean really stinky dirty. With all those cows and horses everywhere, you can imagine the stuff that ended up on their feet! Taking these dirty, smelly in His hands; pouring water over them, scrubbing with His hands the dirt, the mud, the sweat, the animal waste pouring more water to wash them; taking each foot in the towel, and drying them off with care. The King of the universe takes the duty, usually reserved for the lowest servant in the house, and He does it without giving up His power / His identity as the Son of God. He enters into the mess of each of His friends He takes their stinky feet in both hands, with love and compassion, not in weakness or with a debt to owe, but in love. 2. What has Jesus done? Having loved His own, He loved them to the end. Jesus had loved His own already, but He hadn't finished loving them yet. The phrase "to the end" means that Jesus loved His people to the fullest extent His love has no limits.

4 3. Who am I? Who are we? We are recipients of this miraculous grace and humility. We are Judas invited to the table, but betraying the Son of God with our thoughts and actions We too, can receive the blessing of Jesus entering into our mess laying bare and exposing the secrets we carry, the sin we hide, and freeing us from the prison of our own guilt and shame because He knows our mess and loves us through it. Jesus didn t invite perfect people to the table, he invited messy people with dirty, stinky feet people that need to be washed and restored. Jesus invites us to sit, and receive His feet washing. 4. What do I do now? What do we do now? In order to follow the example of Jesus, we need to know that ENTERING INTO TOUGH STUFF STARTS WITH LOVING ENOUGH TO JUMP IN. Let s keep reading JOHN Who is Jesus? Jesus is still in charge. Despite taking on this role of foot washer, He doesn t exchange His power or His God-ness, but rather reveals it through serving. You see, Jesus came to show what God the Father is like. By serving, Jesus reveals a piece of God s character as laying aside titles and prestige to love His friends. 2. What has He done? Jesus is making His way around the table, washing disciples feet stopping and washing the feet of Peter, Andrew, James, and John; Philip, Mathew, Thomas the other James, Thaddaeus, Simon, and Judas and don t forget Bartholomew. If He had wanted His friends to merely see what a servant is like, He would have brought in a servant to do the feet washing and explained, probably in a 3-point sermon what happens when we serve. INSTEAD, Jesus prepares to do the work Himself. He readies the towel. He grabs the water. He stoops down. He washes the feet. All of them. He gets to Peter, and Peter responds with: Lord, do you wash my feet?! Let s put this into perspective the disciples may have gotten down to wash Jesus feet. After all, He was their Teacher, their Lord. But no way would any of them have gotten down to wash each other s feet to do this job would be a MAJOR blow their pride. So, what Jesus does here is MIND-BLOWING! Jesus just volunteered to clean all the toilets at Jack Trice after the football games. 3. Who am I? Who are we? I am Peter. I am self-conscious about my stinky, dirty feet. I don t want this person who I love so much, and have so much respect for to see my feet, much less touch them! I am stubborn. Hard-headed in hiding my brokenness. But I want Jesus. So, I say, not just my feet, but how about a shower my head, and my hands too! This may sound like a humble desire but, Peter still doesn t get it. While having the appearance of obedience, Peter is trying to steer Jesus eyes and hands off of his dirty feet.

5 All of the sudden, Jesus washing my feet isn t good enough. No doubt Peter wants his feet washed, but he s hoping someone else does it. I wonder if Peter felt foolish he was definitely uncomfortable with the situation. Most of us will generally offer to serve, but [especially in our context] we have a difficult time receiving service. I remember meeting with my Uncle Don, and it was a conversation I ll never forget because he told us: If you don t share your need with me, then you rob me of an opportunity to bless you. That s what Peter was doing here. He was feeling awkward and uncomfortable, and tried to turn away Jesus blessing by redirecting Him. Peter was hoping to cover up his brokenness, because that is easier than being restored. But he doesn t recognize or believe is that whatever is broken or messy is still broken or messy even after it s covered up. The one who has bathed doesn t need to wash except for his feet. Once you are walking with Me, you are clean; you ve taken your spiritual shower, but you are always going to be stepping in stuff ; your mind is going to wander jealously and lustfully, you will have relationships that pull you away from Me, you are going to think unkind thoughts about people; you are going to say things and do things that hurt others. Your feet are going to have to be washed every day. If I don t wash you, you can have no part of Me Peter, you need me to wash you. You can t hide from Me. You can t clean yourself, and you are too full of pride. If you refuse to admit you need me, you can t have Me. 4. What do I do now? What do we do now? I have to admit that I am a wreck I am lost incomplete. I have to admit to someone else that my feet stink. Jesus knows my feet stink, but He s willing and insistent to wash my feet. Will I let Him? JOHN Who is Jesus? Jesus sits back down and asks the question, Do you understand what I ve done for you?. And the answer is, I ve just rocked your world! Jesus will take this one step further in the following hours on the cross, when He, an innocent man will be sentenced to death, be nailed on a cross, the ultimate and eternal way of cleaning us up and making us right and whole. And, after three days He rises again, defeating all the dirt Who is Jesus in my mess? We know the full answer to this question. Jesus is the only one who is able to restore me to my real, whole self. He is the only one who can restore you to the person you are supposed to be: clean-footed and walking with Him.

6 2. What has He done? Jesus provided an example of ultimate humility. As I have done this for you, you need to do it for each other. And, in washing His friends feet, He created a safe place to have stinky feet. I highly, doubt He took each foot and described what was wrong with it. I don t think He commented or remarked or compared whose feet were the worst. In strength, in power, and in love, He took each foot, and washed it clean. He restored it to the way it should be. 3. Who am I? Who are we? It s hard to comprehend the length that Jesus went to wash my feet and make me clean, how His grace still sustains when I continue to make mistakes. I want to. And I want each student I lead to understand that God made them, and He loves them, and that their sin and their short-comings will never outweigh His grace. I want you today to understand that Jesus went to the cross and emptied Himself, so that you could be free. 4. What do I do now? What do we do now? As I have done this for you, you need to do it for each other As I am getting ready to leave you, you are responsible for cleaning each other up, for washing each other s feet. Often Christians wonder, Why didn t Jesus just tell us what to do? Friends, Jesus tells us what to do: you need to do for each other what I just did. What was that? How would we put into words what Jesus did? Jesus jumped into the mess. When His friends protested, he waded through their insecurities, their false humility, and got to the heart. Verse 17 says: If you know these things listen to what I m saying blessed are you if you do them. If you open up and share your stinky feet, you will be blessed by the freedom that comes from facing your mess rather than hiding it. JOHN Who is Jesus? Jesus is One who has authority to give commandments. His disciples know Him as Teacher and Lord, and they honor Him as their Master. And when He speaks, they know they should listen and do what He says. 2. What has He done? He has laid out clear directions for His followers. Love each other enough to jump into each other s mess. Care for one another as I have cared for you. Serve one another as I have served you. But you have to know, like the disciples learned, how to receive it first. Receive the blessing of being served. Don t hold back. Don t hide your need or hold tight to your mess

7 3. Who am I? Who are we? If I am clean and walking with Jesus, then this is my King giving me a command, as I ve done this for you as I have loved you and cared for you, you are to do this for others. You are to love others enough to enter into their mess. You also, have to give others access to your dirty, stinky feet. Receive the blessing of others loving you enough to enter into, to ask questions about where and how you struggle. 4. What do I do now? What do we do now? As you may have gathered (haha, get it?), the people of Christ Community Church GATHER, CONNECT, and SERVE. You and I are incapable of cleaning our own feet. Much like my kids throw their toys and clothes, and whatever else in their closet, their room is not clean. It has the appearance of being clean, but, being 6 and 4, they need help really cleaning their room. They need me to enter their mess with them, not just point out what s wrong, but help them. We want you to get connected to people in this body, that you can practice caring for others, and so you can be cared about by others. APPLICATION ENTERING INTO TOUGH STUFF STARTS WITH LOVING ENOUGH TO JUMP IN Entering into the tough stuff with others starts with loving them enough to jump in. But what does that look like? What does it mean to clean one another up? I ve got 4 ways to help us answer this question; and like we read from John, it starts with love. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CLEAN ONE ANOTHER UP? 1. I LOVE YOU ENOUGH TO WALK BESIDE YOU IN HARD THINGS Life is hard, we each have difficult situations and circumstances we face often it s the breakdown of our person, whether physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. It often happens in our relationships. What we need from others is to be willing to enter into those hardships with us, not with a laundry list of what we could or should do to fix the circumstance, but to hold our hand through it as we fix our eyes on God together. We need people who love us enough to listen with understanding, to be empathetic to feel what we are feeling. It s easy to walk away or stay out of someone else s hard things sorry, we re busy I wish I could, but To walk beside someone in their tough stuff To do this well, we each have to be humble enough to let ourselves our true selves be known and seen. Then we can walk together to address the questions, the doubts, the sin, the brokenness. Sometimes I need you to love me enough to ask, When was the last time you spent good time with Jesus? When was the last time you took your wife on a date?...or called your parents just because? Those are walk beside moments; these questions show me you care enough to ask about areas that can prove difficult for me. I need you to ask me hard questions to risk offending me - because it s easy for me to float, or skate by it s easy for me to go through the motions and not engage with problems that are in front of me. In the same way, if I ask you, How is your heart? I want to know what you re wrestling with, or doubting. What questions are you asking about God and His work? I want to know how I can pray for you. Tell me what I need to know so if you re stuck, or if you are dealing with something crappy, that I don t let you stay there, I can walk with you!

8 2. I LOVE YOU ENOUGH TO SAY THINGS THAT MIGHT OFFEND YOU IN LOVE AND GRACE My good friend Kim Kosterman, recently, made a profound statement, in regards to fellowship and sharing tough stuff she said: We don't know each other well enough to offend each other." It s so true! Most of us are difficult to get to know. Sure, we may offer some opinions with some people, but we live life close to the vest, putting our best face on, and our shields up. I have to keep my shield up, because I don t want you to see my brokenness or the places I am weak. If you know too much about me you could use it against me. If you don t know me very well, I can be pretty safe from being offended by you I hate confrontation, and I m a people-pleaser, so this is difficult for me to do. On the one hand, I, like most people do not like to offend nor do I want to be offended. I want to give you my best effort, my best look, my best words, my coolest smile, my best wisdom. But I m not perfect. I answer questions holding back my true feelings or opinion, and I fail to return texts or s quicker than you may like. Sometimes I wait until someone else makes a decision for me, or plans an evening together without my input because I just want everyone to be happy and get along. Sometimes I ll tell you I m fine or ok after arguing with my wife, or yelling at my kids. And I need you to say something to me or ask a question I might not like. I hate hearing when I ve frustrated somebody it tears me up inside, because I don t want to let you down. Does that mean you shouldn t tell me? No! Might I get offended by you saying something to me? Heck yeah! But if I don t hear about your frustration with me, then I likely will not change, and our relationship will be strained. Here s my rule though: Don t ask me if you don t have time to listen. If you don t really care, then just keep moving. We have to be willing to listen, and identify whether or not there is truth in the offense. But, let s know enough about each other to step on each other s toes a little bit. On the other hand, I am a people-pleaser; I want you to like me. All the time. Often I don t want to interfere, because, obviously, you know what you re doing with your life. But, if I see something in you that might be detrimental to you, your family, or your witness to Jesus, than I must say something. Or, if I ask you how are you?, and you tell me, Fine. I automatically don t believe you. I ve been there. I ve said that. Some people, I know, just like to offend others. And that s not healthy. It s one thing if you are calling someone up, because you see there is brokenness in wrong thinking, or believing, or acting, and you have a relationship and you want this person to be restored. But, if you are someone who just likes to pick fights, go find a different hobby. 3. I LOVE YOU ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU ACCESS TO MY STINKY FEET This is risky, I know, because to give you access to my stinky feet can be painful, as it can draw up painful memories; it can lead me to feel ashamed, and lonely, and definitely exposed. Our stinky feet represent where our brokenness resides. Things I try to bury by trying hard to be good things like fear what happens if I fail? What if I don t measure up? Things like anger Or jealousy

9 If I am to show you I love you, then I need to give you access to my feet. I need to give you permission to reach for and uncover those things I keep hidden from the rest of the world. I need to give you access to these things because I can t fix myself. I need you to bring these things to light where they can be dealt with; so I can experience freedom. 4. I LOVE YOU ENOUGH TO REMIND YOU OF THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL The gospel is this: Because of your sin, you are not and cannot be good enough to please God. You are not capable of fixing yourself, no matter how hard you try. BUT, Jesus was perfect, and out of love He left His place in heaven, took the form of a human being. When the time was right, He shouldered the sin and brokenness of the entire world, and was nailed to the cross with it, and buried with it. Three days later, He rose again, leaving the shame, the guilt, the grime from our feet in the grave, forever so it would not be in the way of receiving His gift of life and freedom. And that by knowing and trusting in Him, we have an opportunity to be cleaned and restored to the way we were meant to be. As we practice sharing the gospel with each other regularly and we should share the gospel even with people who know the gospel we will begin to recognize and understand our need for an every day foot-washing CLOSING Who shares my tough stuff? How do we clean one another up? How do we answer that question? I want to close with this excerpt from Jeff Vanderstelt s book Saturate If we are to be disciples of Jesus who are being re-formed and restored to become more like Him, we need to have people in our lives, up close and personal. We need people who can see where we do or do not yet believe the truth about Jesus and what He has done for us. Then, when the layers are pulled back, we need people to speak the truth of the gospel to our needs. We cannot do this in a classroom. It can't happen in an hour or two a week we have to get into one another's lives, and it is messy, intrusive, and uncomfortable. At times it hurts. It's not easy. But if we are devoted to Jesus and leading others to Jesus in all of life, it is worth it In order to experience a true sharing of tough stuff to jump feet first into the mess we have to admit that we ourselves need every day foot washing, and we have to be willing to wash other s feet as well. LET S PRAY

10 We guard our stinky feet with our life we do what we have to keep people s eyes and hands off our feet. And I know that you have stinky feet that you don t want to show me secret sin, places you need help but are afraid or unwilling to ask, and I m not going to ask you about it because I don t want to step on your toes. We use the illustration in Student Ministry a lot as it comes to conversations about self-harm or healthy sexuality, or even being in an abusive relationship, If you love someone, are you going to just sit back and watch or let it happen without saying or doing something? The same lesson applies for Connect Groups, it applies for your friend groups Christians or non-christians. Love doesn t only exist in Christian circles, Christians just know the source of love. I have to let you close enough, and be myself enough that I risk being offended by you. If you see something in me that doesn t line up with what a walk with Christ looks like, then you need to say something to me! How do you know you love someone? Or, how do you know when someone loves you? One way is by sharing your deepest hurt. What is that one thing that no one else knows about you? Can you share that with someone? In order to show you I love you, I need to give you permission to wash my stinky feet. I need to give you access to those things that I keep hidden from the rest of the world. The things I pile under layers of trying hard and doing good things. Things like fear, anger, and jealousy. I need to give you access to these things because I can t fix my self. I need you. Want to try something scary? Give someone permission to ask you hard questions - about your relationship with Jesus - about how you are loving your spouse Let somebody ask you how you are engaging your family what s your heart/attitude like at work?

11 [[TRANSITION from getting connected to JVS]] [[DO I NEED TO USE THIS?]] *It's a lot easier to cover up brokenness (our mess) than to restore it." - Jeff Vanderstelt, Saturate what is broken is still broken even after it is covered up. Covering up our brokenness, hiding our need for restoration, is much easier than the actual restoration. Or so it seems. The problem is that we're still broken. Covering up doesn't change the problem. It just masks it so that not everyone can see it.