1 P a g e (A southern gospel style song Turn Your Test Into A Testimony was sung by a singing group.) Turn Your Test Into A Testimony, huh? Thanks, Praise. It seems that... an older man had serious hearing problems for years. He finally went to the doctor and got fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed him to hear 100%. A month later, he goes back to the doctor for a test. The doc says, Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be very pleased that you can hear again. To which the man says, Oh, I haven't told my family yet. I just sit around & listen. I've changed my will 3 times already! That s what I call, Turning Your Test into a Testimony. Title slide We are talking about community. We began last week with a really good message on what Jesus meant when he said do not judge or you will be judged. With it being a holiday weekend then, I just wanted to say, if you missed it, you should check it out online. 1. The Bible repeatedly calls the people of God a community. 2. In the New Testament the emphasis in that word is on UNITY, because it wasn t easy for them like it isn t easy for most of us to be in relationships in community with one another... hearing aids and all. But, Jesus wanted his followers to be a community! Jesus called 12 young men to be his core group of disciples. There was also a group of woman who repeatedly appear in his stories that also were a part of his core community of followers. And even though Jesus had his ministry to the crowds in the towns, synagogues, and at the temple... he clearly spent an equal or greater amount of time connecting with and investing in the lives of a small group of followers. Their life as followers, as disciples, is the primary example or model for us to show us how to be a community of followers of Jesus Christ. Today I want us to look at the best example of those disciples being a community from John 13. Turn in a Bible to John 13 or on a Bible app we ll be using the NIV 2011.
2 P a g e John 13 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 end. 2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 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. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? 7 Jesus replied, You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand. 8 No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered, Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. 9 Then, Lord, Simon Peter replied, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well! 10 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. 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean. 12 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. 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. 18 I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: He who shared my bread has turned against me. 19 I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. 20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me. 21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me. 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, Ask him which one he means. 25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, Lord, who is it? 26 Jesus answered, It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish. Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, What you are about to do, do quickly. 28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night. 31 When he was gone, Jesus said, Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 33 My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
3 P a g e So often in the NT we have Jesus teaching about the kingdom of God and the disciples are there. Or Jesus is engaged in a miracle or in healing and the disciples are with him. But they are not often the whole story. Here the group is the story. Jesus is about to go to the cross and die, the next day. He knows this. So he has some intentional interactions with his group of disciples and he tells them some of the important things he wants them to know at the end. And in the process we get this extended picture of what it s like to be a part of the community that Jesus had formed with his followers and what one night in that was like. This passage is clearly intended by Jesus to give us a model of how we should be a community of followers of his too. So in order for us to organize our thoughts about what I think God would have us get out of this today, let s ask this question of the text: And I think the answer is We follow Jesus... 1. Feeding one another. This is the last supper. This is a meal. And it becomes the first communion. Jesus dips the bread and gives it to Judas. Only, they didn t have communion in little tiny wafers or squares and two sip cups, they ate a meal. Somehow over the centuries for efficiency and convenience we have simplified communion But early on the new church had a meal, love feasts, after every service. In the Old Testament, worship at the 3 annual feasts was about making sacrifice of animal and eating it. It was a big barbeque. In Judaism, every meal was an opportunity to worship God. And every meal at a worship time was a time for the people of God to be together. Over this past summer, my daughter and I started having lunch together at Cracker Barrel. She was busy taking a class and working. I was busy working. So, we agreed to go to lunch once a week to just have time together. Our conversation over the food was some of my best time I ever had with her.
4 P a g e A couple weeks ago, Richard & Tonya Cox came to share their dream to plant a church in Altoona. I ve worked with Richard for years as that idea and plan has developed. We went out to dinner with our families after they were here, And we had the best time really getting to know him and Tonya. You may think it sounds trivial or not very spiritual, but it s not If you want more out of being a part of Christ s Community, share a meal with others in this community. 1. Feeding one another. 2. Opening up to one another. How did Jesus open up? He took off his outer garment and wrapped himself in a towel in the appearance of a servant. This was Jesus way of deconstructing his wall of authority. How did the disciples open up? They let Jesus wash their feet. They let him into their personal space. Then Jesus told them the foot washing was about sin. He said every one of you is clean, but your feet are dirty. And he was saying they were all spiritual clean with God, because they were Jesus followers. But, each day as they would go out into the world they had the possibility of getting dirty with sin again. And Jesus will wash that sin too. In their community it was okay to admit they were sinners. In effect Jesus was saying, when you guys are together, you have to let your guards down. It s not about who puts on the best impression. It s about supporting one another when the filth of the world rubs off on you. In a good Christian community today, it is good to be able to tell your friends if you are struggling. And to have them support or encourage you. 1. Feeding one another. 2. Opening up to one another. 3. Learning from one another.
Jesus was a teacher. He said that washing their feet was a lesson. He said now that you have seen me do this, you should do it too. He enacted his lesson. 5 P a g e There was some discussion during this lesson, too. Peter dialogues with Jesus about what he is teaching. He asks questions and expresses his confusion. Whenever there is a community of followers of Christ that gathers, there will be Bible teaching and discussion and learning. 4. Loving one another. Jesus tells them here, John 13:34-35 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. Jesus is saying, you are a community one another. And this is the kind of community I want my followers to be loving one another. It is remarkable that He did not give us some standard of sinless perfection Or say that if we had the best, most accurate teaching or doctrine then people would know we are his. He didn't say, You ll be known as my disciples because you go to church on Sundays, or because you'll carry your Bibles the bigger the better. He said, You will be known as my disciples because of how you relate to one another. It is a relational criteria rather than religious criteria. Loving community is the goal Jesus says. So, by now you can see what I m doing. I'm organizing the ideas in this passage around the acrostic FOLLOW. We FOLLOW Jesus. As I was studying this text and asking God to help me say what he wanted, I thought of about a dozen things these disciples do as a community. And then I looked for a way to organize them so that could help you follow and maybe retain some. So I saw the F and L And L and W, and thought FOLLOW.
And then I got the first O easy. I think Opening Up is a good way to see what Jesus did and what we should do to be open and connect in deeper ways. 6 P a g e But then I couldn t see a second O to complete the FOLLOW until I was rereading the passage where John writes: John 13:1 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 end. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. That s beautiful! Isn t it? Jesus had a group he belonged to and who belonged to him his own. people. His own community. And he loved them... to the end. In this way, 5. Owning one another. Belonging to others and others belonging to you. When you belong to others and they belong to you. You are committed to one another. You share life together. And in the negative this speaks to Judas leaving. Jesus didn t make a mistake. Jesus didn t fail to love Judas enough or convince him to be loyal or to stay. Jesus loved his own to the end. But that didn t mean that someone couldn t leave. In a community of Christ followers, some people always seem to choose to go. Sometimes it s for good intentions, sometimes bad. But, Christ-Centered Community is marked by faithfulness and commitment. By belonging and loving to the end.
1. Feeding one another. 2. Opening up to one another. 3. Learning from one another. 4. Loving one another. 5. Owning one another. 6. Worshiping with one another. 7 P a g e As a part of their community as they were gathered, they worshiped. They had communion. They gave thanks to God in prayer during their meal. Later on Jesus prays for them. And in the rest of the story in the moments just after this happens, they sang a song as they left this upper room. They worshipped with one another as a community. That s how you FOLLOW Jesus into Christ Centered Community. Here s the thing. You can get a couple of these by coming to a church on a Sunday morning. We worship. We learn, even though dialogue and questions are difficult in a large group. You can have a sense of belonging, even though you can also be here for years and not really connect with anyone. But it is Christ s design as laid out in this text that his followers would do more than just shake hands and sing and sit side by side for an hour once a week. This is why we have so many groups in our church. We believe that followers of Christ in the Bible and across the history of the church Are healthier, grow more, are more fruitful, and fall away much less When they attend some kind of group or class in addition to a Sunday worship gathering. At one time this was primarily Sunday School classes. In our day and age it has also grown to include groups that meet in different places at different times during the week. Let me share our vision of what we hope to do as a church. We say, It is the mission of everyone at Armbrust Wesleyan Church To help people find and follow Jesus Christ To accomplish this mission, we encourage everyone
To bring seeking people to faith in Jesus Christ. To grow as disciples in authentic community. To serve God out of our giftedness and calling. 8 P a g e Bring Grow Serve. Christ Community Calling It is our vision that we would grow as followers of Jesus in real community together. This week many of our small groups restart... Groups and classes... You are invited to our house this evening...