The King Who Grabbed a Towel: Jesus, Servant Love, and a Church That Gets Low

Hey, as we get into the word, if you brought your Bible today, would you wave it in the air like you care? Come on, somebody. Wave your Bible in the air like you care. Get it out. All right. This is the living word of God. And in just a moment, what I'm going to have you do is I'm going to have you shout word when I get to three. Okay? When I say 1, two, three, on three, you're going to shout word. And you're going to put your Bible in the air like you care. And if you didn't bring your Bible, you could still shout word with me. Are you ready for this? Here we go. One, two, three. Word. We're getting into God's word so that God's word gets into us. There has been a question permeating my soul since we've been in the book of John. There's a question that's just been changing my life as we've been looking at the life of Jesus. And here's the question. What would you do if you knew this was your last day on earth?

What would you do if you knew this was your last day on earth? And and really there's some follow-up questions. What would matter most to you and what would not matter at all? As we're looking at the life of Jesus in the book of John, we actually know what Jesus did in his last day. We know how he spent his last hours because of John who was with Jesus. He talked with Jesus. He walked with Jesus. He touched Jesus. We know what Jesus did in his last hours of his life. And what you see with Jesus, the king of all kings, is he didn't ask that people would make him greater. He didn't ask that people would bow down to him. Instead, you have the king of all kings getting low.

And we've been learning in this book of John about the life of Jesus that the way up is not up, but the way up is down. I need you to see this about the king of all kings. He is all knowing. He is all powerful. He He He is able to do absolutely anything. And the king has come into the flesh. He left his throne up high and he came down low to this earth. And what does this king do? He shows us his kingdom. And his kingdom is unlike anything in this world. So what you see in this world, you've got to understand that Jesus just flips it upside down. A king in this world asks that we give him the honor and the dignity and the the greatness that that that that is owed his name. But but not this king.

He's come and he's shown us his kingdom. What does what does Jesus do? The king of all kings. He comes and he loves on little children. When the adults said, "No, little children, you can't come." Jesus says, "No, let the little children come." And he doesn't just let them come. He blesses them. That's my king. My king comes at a time in history when women in the Greco Roman era of his day when Jesus lived, even in the Jewish culture of his day, th this is a time when women were believed to be intellectually inferior to men. And what does Jesus do? He He dignifies women and he defends women and he speaks at them. He shows us that there's inequality between men and women. That's my king.

My king does not do what everyone else does. Because in the days of Jesus, if you were unclean, let's say you had leprosy, if a leper touched someone else, they would then be unclean. But Jesus touched the untouchable. And normally you would become unclean but with Jesus he did not become unclean. He turned that person clean. That's my king. You see this is the one that looks at addicts. He looks at those who have been demon oppressed and possessed for so long and he doesn't cast them out. He doesn't restrain them and say you're going to go out there. You're going to go to the margins of society. No, he's going to meet with you and he's going to rebuke those devils that have been holding you back and he sets you free and puts you in your right mind. That's my king.

[Applause] If you're wondering what kind of king Jesus is, he's the kind of king that will eat with anyone that welcomes him. See, typically if you're a king, you eat with people who are like you. We saw this recently in the news when our very own president got to travel and meet with King Charles. Did you all see this in the news? They dressed in their dapper best. What they would say in Uganda is they look smart. And not only did they dress in their smart clothes that day, wherever they went, they just they they they look like they were somebody special because they are. These these are the powers that rule some of the greatest nations on the planet. A and you can tell who was

great. And as they sat at the people at the table, people would serve them. But but let me just take away this image for a moment. So you know my king, he eats with sinners and tax collectors. In fact, he he eats with the drunkards and the prostitutes and he does it so often people actually think that he's one of them. But when he eats with them, he does not become like them. They become like him. That's what I love about Jesus. That the people who are most unlike Jesus, they actually liked Jesus. We We need a little more of the real Jesus in the world that we live in. Not the pretentious Jesus that nobody wants anything to do with, but the Jesus that actually wants to eat with you and meet with you and touch you and dignify

you and defend you and bless you and pray for you. That's my King Jesus. And today we turn to a text in John chapter 13. John chapter 13 is where we find ourselves. And we'll see that he's the God that did not just step off his throne and come to this earth. He's the God that gets low in his last hours. He's the God that gets low to show you his love. He washes feet. This is huge. This is absolutely huge. I don't want you to miss this. I'm going to read you the text and then I'm going to break this down so we understand the

application for our lives because today someone's going to get saved. You're going to see this is not so much about foot washing as it is about soul washing. That whatever you came in with today that that God actually is so good. You can leave different than the way you came in. You don't have to go try and go get right first, but just meet with God today and you will be forever changed. All it takes is believing. If you would stand for the reading of God's word, John 13:es 1-20. John 13:es 1-20. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

During supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas's scariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from the supper, he laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter who said to him,"Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing, you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash

my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, my not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but it is completely clean, and you are clean, but not every one of you." For he knew who was to betray him, that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean." When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I've done to you? You call me teacher and lord and you are right for so I am. If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an

example that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. This is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated. I need you to understand the seriousness of the context of what we're reading today because things have changed in 2,000 years. Back in the day, they did not have the paved roads that we see today. There was no asphalt or concrete in the ancient Middle East. In this day, most of the roads were dirt. And as they traveled by dirt, they did not have planes or trains or automobiles to get from one place to another. More than likely, the majority of people walked wherever they went, either barefoot or with sandals. So, you got to imagine these dirty, dusty roads that are filled with landmines left behind by animals that also share the roads.

They would travel these roads daily wherever they would go. So therefore, their feet would be absolutely filthy naturally just by traveling from one place to another. They would be so dirty that it was custom in that day that before you entered a home, a servant would come and remove your sandals and then wash your feet before you entered the home. We we need to really place our minds in the ancient context so that we understand the seriousness of this text. It would not just be any servant that would clean the feet of a guest coming into the home. It would be the lowliest of servants or the lowliest of slaves.

You see, we don't really have a cultural context in in our western modern world today for something like this. But you you've got to understand that in this day, the lowest job you could have in all of society would be washing someone's feet. I mean, it's one thing to see feet today like the dogs once they get out of the socks, you know, but I'll tell you in that day in between each of those dogs was manure was layer upon layer upon layer of dirt. So, this was not a job that just anyone would do in the home. This was the most demeaning job in all society. The Greco Roman world would have the lowest of servants do this. But in the Jewish culture, they would not allow their Jewish servants to wash the feet.

They would make sure that it was a Gentile. For not even a Jewish slave should get that low. Which gives us a context that when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, "I'm not even fit to untie his sandals. This guy is so great. I can't even have the lowest of low jobs." That's what John the Baptist thought of King Jesus. And here we are in the very last 24 hours of Jesus life. John's going to dedicate most of his book so that we see the seriousness of who Jesus is in the last hours of his life. And what does Jesus do? He gets down low. The master gets down into the position of a servant. The king comes and he acts like

a slave. And we see here in this act so much more than meets the eye. You you got to understand this. Jesus is intentional with everything he does and he always makes us look forward to who he is and what he's done for us. It was one thing when Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with this costly perfume which she got criticized by the religious for doing such a thing. But now Jesus takes it to a whole different level. I mean seriously when we consider today greatness today CEOs they have the highest office in the building typically the biggest office the corner office. Come on, somebody. Or how about athletes today? When athletes have made it, do you know how you've made it as an athlete? They name a shoe after you so that wherever someone else goes, what's on their feet is the name of the greatness of that athlete.

Jesus says that when you follow him, blessed are those whose feet carry good news. So the Bible says in Ephesians 6 that when you armor up with the spiritual armor of Jesus, your feet are fitted with the gospel of peace. That is the good news of peace wherever it goes with you. So our world is flipped upside down because greatness in our world is it's all about you. But when we look at the greatness of Jesus, it's not so much about you, it's all about others. That's the kingdom of God. So many times in our world, we want to know what's God going to do for me? What's this church going to do for me? What's the government going to do for me? But Jesus flips the script and says, "You've got to see what this is about." So, let me just give you in short what

this story is really about. And then we'll break this down so you see the mis mystery of the greatness of what takes place. Jesus is pointing us to the cross. And we're going to get to this in a moment. I'm going to break down the scriptures in just a second. But before we do, let me just explain this to you. when he removes his outer garment, the outer garment was one piece of of of cloth. It was a it would be an expensive piece of clothing in that day because it was not sewn together. This is the same cloth that is gambled for while Jesus is hanging on the cross. And John says he he removes that outer garment which is a symbol of removing his glory to get low for just a moment. It's what he did when he left heaven. He removed the outer garment and came down and was with us.

And then for just a little while, Jesus actually takes a towel and we're going to see that he cleans their feet. And you can imagine 12 men. Come on, somebody. 24 feet. How many toes is that? 240 dirty toes. Could you imagine what that towel looked like after the last guy gets his feet washed? This is symbolic of Jesus takes all of their dirt. Not some of their dirt. He takes every single one of their dirt. And when he's done, what does he do, somebody? He puts back on his outer garment. He puts back on his glory. Are you Are you carrying with me here? Are you going with me?

John tells us, go with me now to chapter 13:1. before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that this was his hour. What's his hour? We know with confidence his hour is the cross. He's a man on mission. He did not just come to teach good teachings. He did not just come to heal with these great miracles. Jesus came with a mission to die on the cross. He says it in John chapter 10 that he willingly gave his life for his sheep. He's the one that willingly went to the cross. He who was without sin took our sin. And John now says, "This is the time. This is the hour. He's going to show us what he will do up to the last hour." And John notes this. Having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end.

Just as John says in the little letter he writes, God is love. He cannot not love because it's who he is. It's his nature. He's a noun. Agape. love is Jesus. And to the very end, even on the cross, why did he die on the cross? He loved you. John 3:16, for God so loved the world. He He loves you. If there's one thing you get today, Justin, it's that God loves you. Jesus came to this earth to show you what love looks like. And his name is Jesus. Amen. Everything he's about to do is motivated by love. So this whole story is framed in love.

Your life is framed in love. Now, how many of y'all know that love does not always look the way you thought it should look? It's why I always struggle officiating weddings. I've been married long enough to know that I'm standing behind in front of this couple that's just going to make these great big vows. I just love you and I'm crying and you're beautiful and I don't want to be like they're not going to be like this long. It's the truth. You're going to see the worst in them and my friends, they're going to see the worst in you. And that's what real love is. So you want to invest in anything in your life? Don't invest in the wedding ceremony. invest in your marriage.

I'd even say don't invest in that other person. Start investing in yourself. Buy a bigger Bible. Come on, somebody. Spend a little more time with the Lord. Because love gets down in the dirt. Love gets messy. Love says, "I'm going to take off my glory and I'm going to put the towel around me so that I could serve you." John lets us know that's why he did what he did. This was not just some cliche example in church that we would show at Sunday school or somehow talk about it. But what Jesus did, we ought to do. You want to love like Jesus, you got to know this. It's messy. It's dirty. And it doesn't happen up high when your needs are met. It happens down low. The cross is coming. And Jesus tells us to pick up our cross daily. Look at verse three. Jesus knowing that the father had given him all things in his

hands, that he had come from God, he's about to go to God. Jesus knows who he is. He is the promised Messiah, the Christ. Which means he could have called an entire army of angels to come sing praise songs to him to show the world who he is. He could have done it, but he didn't do it. He washed his feet instead. He could have made all of his disciples, all 12 of them, he could have just commanded them, I imagine, with a deep Morgan Freeman baritone voice, "Bow down to me, servants. I am the king. Give me the crown." He could have made them bow down and get on their knees because the Bible says, "One day every knee will bow and every tongue in heaven and on earth

will confess the name of Jesus." But he didn't do it that way. He washed their feet. He rose up. It says in verse four, Jesus rose up from the supper. He laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Now, if you read this quickly in the English, you're going to miss so many of the mysteries of what actually happened on that day. If you look at the actual word for towel in the Greek, I I know in the English all of our Bibles say to. And it just does not do it justice. It doesn't do it justice because this is God's story, not our story. So, we're not trying to find ourselves in the story. We're trying to find God. Let me just explain a little more about the towel because it's actually it'll blow your mind. At least maybe one or two of you are uh it blew

my mind. Listen. Listen. This towel in the Greek, you can look this up. Go to Blue Letter Bible. You can look up the original Greek. The word towel actually in the Greek is linen cloth. Linen cloth, which means it was entirely linen. They're like, "Okay, like you got it at Bath & Body Works. What's the big deal about this? like is this the Egyptian kind? Like what what what's so special about this towel? I'll tell you why. Because God's word is so specific of how his people should live their lives that he didn't want them to live like everyone else. Some people make the law legalistic, like you got to do this and don't do that. That wasn't the point of the law. The point was to have a right relationship with God. And in the law, which the law, if you're wondering what that is, the first five books of the Bible, the pentatuk, five books known as the Torah, the instructions of God, these are God's commandments to his people. God gave a whole list of things

to do and not do so that they wouldn't be like the other people of this world. It's really important that you know this. God does not want you to behave like all the people of the world. He wants you to behave like his kingdom. And the king has come to show us his way because people really got messed up with this. And so the king here takes a linen cloth, which the Bible says in Leviticus 19 that you're not meant to mix things. You don't mix animals. There's there's clean animals and there's unclean animals. And you're not to mix them like the rest of the world does. You're not to mix your seeds and just say, "Oh, these are all seeds. Let's just go sew all the seeds together." God says, "Don't mix your seeds." He says, "When it comes to fabric, don't don't mix your fabrics. Don't mix linen and cotton together." This has always been confusing me like why would God say this? I love cotton

and the blended fabrics are always the best fabrics. Why why would God do this? It's not about the fabric. It's symbolic of something more. He wants you to be pure, which is what the word holy means. He He doesn't want you to have the glory of God in your life and go ahead and mix a little bit of the world with it, too. So, when you hear a linen cloth, this is symbolic of the law. This is symbolic of the fulfillment of all that God has said in Leviticus chapter 19. Jesus is going to show us what the law was meant to do. And the law was meant to show us God. And what we're going to see here is something great is that you're not meant to just serve the law. That's called legalism. The law was actually there to save you.

It was to help you. And so we're going to see Jesus takes the law, if you will. He takes the linen and he's going to use it in the proper way. And what we're going to see is something awesome. He takes his authority. So what does God do? He grabs a towel. The greatest of the great, the best of the best, the king of all kings doesn't say, "Serve me and wash my feet." The greatest grabs a towel. I need you to see how significant this is because it's backwards to everything you've ever learned in your life. Don't you love the great country we live in? I love America. I love that we have capitalism that that you can go from where you are and anyone can make their way up in America. I love that. But it's a lot like the Greor Roman world in the sense that when we see someone with something greater, we think they're greater. And that's not how it works in God's eyes.

In the Roman world, the more servants you had, the more power you had. So if you had a servant to wash your feet and you had a servant to make you meals and you had a servant to prepare the meals and you had a servant to to rub your back and you you had a servant to clean your house and you had a servant to go run your errands. The more servants you have, the more power you have. And what did Jesus come do? Mark 10:45, for even the son of man, that's his favorite title for himself. It's found in the book of Daniel. The prophecy says that one day the ancient of days, God almighty, will become the son of man. And Jesus now calls himself this very phrase. For even the son of man came not to be served but to serve. Jesus isn't about having all of these servants that does all the work for him.

He's now coming and saying, "Listen, I know what the world says. The more you have, the greater you are, but let me just show you. I'm going to get down and be the least so that you understand that the least will actually be great in God's kingdom." Now he he has said it the last will be first and the first will be last. But many of us are like the disciples and we often don't get it until later on and God shows us and then we get it. So what does Jesus use to wash their feet? Does anybody know? Just shout it out. What do he used to wash their feet? Water. He just used water. He didn't use any uh soaps or any special oil. He just used water and he used a water basin. I want to just tell you what the water symbolizes here. We see this in the New Testament. Water. Jesus said earlier in the book of John represents the Holy Spirit. He says if you believe in me,

Jesus said if you believe in Jesus, he says out of your heart will flow rivers of living water. Now John notes in the text if you read this he says John says he was talking about the Holy Spirit. So he's saying if you believe in him, if you believe in Jesus, your life will never be the same because what's in you is actually going to come out of you. Rivers of living what? Water. So symbolically water is a representation of the Holy Spirit that what's in you is actually going to come out of you. We can do two or three or four hundred sermons on the Holy Spirit here because out of you is going to produce a fruit that you couldn't produce on your own. Love, joy, peace, patience. This is what happens when the Holy Spirit comes upon your life. But it's not just the Holy Spirit that water represents. We also

see that water represents the word of God. which is why we put such a high value on the word of God here at Journey Church. The Bible is very, very important. But, you know, the Bible's only a book unless you have the power and the revelation of the Holy Spirit. There's really smart people that read this book and they miss the main main story in this because they don't have the revelation of the Holy Spirit. But when you have the Holy Spirit with the word of God, it does something amazing. It washes you. We see this in 1 Corinthians. We see this in the book of Hebrews. Let me give you an example in the book of Ephesians chapter 5 when Paul's talking about husbands and wives and he's like, "Listen, now that you believe in Jesus, nothing is the same." He says, "Husbands, come on, husbands, love your

wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." I mean, come on, husbands. That's a big job to do. This isn't a honeydew list. This isn't like, "Hey, know your wife's love language." No, no, no. lay down your life. That That's what Paul says. You know how Jesus to the end loved you? That he died on the cross. How do he demonstrate his love? On the cross. Husbands, I want you to do that. H how? What does that look like? Here's how. Verse 26. That he might sanctify her. Sanctify means to be brought back to your original purpose. You're meant to be holy, but the problem is this world's not holy. So your whole life has been messed up. And by believing in Jesus, the process of sanctification is God bringing you back to your original

purpose. And we think of words like holy and they sound religious, but it doesn't need to be religious. God is holy, completely perfect, no impurities, no sin, no dirt, no darkness in God. He's holy. So to sanctify means to get rid of that which is not holy, not pure, and to make pure. How can anyone be sanctified? Here's here it is. Having cleansed her by the washing of water. Everyone say water. Water with the word. So the word of God symbolically the picture is water. So when you get into the word of God and you've got some dirt in your life, what the word of God does with the spirit of God, it washes you clean.

You're no longer the same person. This signifies something so much more than than what we originally see when we start to apply it to our lives. Because today, you may not be walking on the dirt roads of the day. But if you go on Tik Tok or Facebook or Instagram or all the Snapchats that you're receiving or the text messages or you just turn on the news or you watch the television or almost any movie you watch, if you listen to music today, it's dirt. It's dirtying your soul. And some of you say, "Oh, I don't watch movies. I don't watch television. I don't go on social media." Let me just tell you how you get dirt on your soul today. Just go outside. You go to downtown Bend and you will see things that you wish you didn't see. You will hear things that you wish you didn't hear. And is dirt. And every day

you wake up, your soul is dirty. So, how do you get rid of the dirt that's in your soul? Well, Jesus teaches us. is with the spirit of the living God, with the word of God that's active and alive. It's going to sanctify you and set you free and make you clean. And what I love about the Bible is it tells us we all need to be washed. None of us. And you want to know what kind of deep love God has for you? He gets down in the dirt and then dries it off with the law. Let me put it this way. Jesus doesn't preach God's word. He lives it out. That's what this was meant to be. It was meant to be experienced. It wasn't meant to be just a list of dos and don'ts. It was meant to be in the posture of understanding who God is, who you are, and to have a right relationship with God.

And you want to know how good God is? He will even wash the feet of his betrayer. Twice John notes. Verse two, the devil had already overcome Judas, but Jesus doesn't kick him out of the church. Jesus gets down low and still washes his feet. Now, it's not just Judas. It would just be a few hours later that Peter will deny Jesus three times. And Jesus doesn't say, "Listen, Peter, I know who you are. I'm not going to wash your feet." Instead, Peter says to the Lord, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" You know what I I like about Peter is he just misses it so often when Jesus says, "Hey, I'm going to go to the cross." Peter's like, "No, you won't, Jesus." And Jesus is like, "That

Satan, get behind me." Even in these moments where you think Peter would learn and Jesus gets arrested, he whips out his sword. I'll save the day, Jesus. And the best he can do is cut off an ear. Peter in this moment is missing the kingdom. it. You got to understand if we we put ourselves in his shoes, which we are, it's backwards. Everything Jesus is doing is backwards. The coming king gets down into the dirtiest of spaces. And Jesus says in verse 7, you won't understand it right now, but you will later. Come on. How many of you have seen God work in your life, but it took a lot later on to realize he was working even when you couldn't see it, even when you couldn't feel it? Jesus says in his word, he says, "I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Lo, I am with you

always, even to the end of the age." And how easy is it to be like, "Where are you, God? I don't feel you, God. I don't see you, God." But later on, you're going to see he was with you the entire time. And maybe you didn't see him because he wasn't up. He was down low right where you are. He was weeping with you. He was down in the dirt with you. He was doing what nobody else would do for you, loving you even to the end. Jesus said, "You don't understand now, but you'll see it." And Peter says, "You will not wash my feet, Jesus." I find myself in this text so many times when I try to tell God what to do. I'll tell you what to do, Lord. Just let me win the lottery and let me live an easy life. And I will bless you back, Lord. Just bless me.

Jesus is like, "Hey, I I know you think you know what to do. I know you think you know what would be God's will. I know you think you know my way or my kingdom." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." This is how we know Jesus was not talking about dirt. He was talking about sin. This is not about hygiene and washing feet. This is about holiness. You want to get to heaven, it's a holy place. So, you must be holy. So, how do you get holy unless you're washed? And we know how to get washed. It's by Jesus. John tells us it was his hour. What was his hour? The cross of Jesus Christ. His blood was shed for the forgiveness of your sins. It's by his blood you're forgiven of not some sins.

You're not washed of some dirt in your life, my friends. You are set free from every single sin. And Jesus did not die for some people. He died for all people. That's why he washed the feet of Judas the betrayer. That's called grace. And if God did it, we should do it, too. At Journey Church, one of our core values is to be gracegivers. And it sounds so good until you got to give grace to a betrayer. But Jesus did it, so we should do it. When someone doesn't treat you the way you should be treated, Peter denied him three times. God still gives him mercy. If Jesus did it, we should do it. Now, it's not just Peter and it's not just Judas. Think about it. Andrew, Bartholomew, all these other disciples, where did they go when Jesus was on the cross? They scattered. And you know what Jesus still did?

Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. That's love. And if Jesus loved, we should love. Our theme this year for 2025 has been love like Jesus. I had no clue how hard that would actually be. You cannot love like Jesus until you've been loved by Jesus. If you don't know how greatly you've been forgiven, then you won't forgive that greatly. John, the same author of the life of Jesus in the book of John, he writes the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. He says in Revelation 15, let me read this to you. Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of kings on earth. What did the King of all kings do? To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins. How? By his blood.

That's how King Jesus shows you he loves you. His blood was shed to set you free from your sins. I like how the Old English and King James version says it. Let me just read that last line to you. Unto him Jesus that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. That takes the whole foot washing to a whole another level. He washed us by his blood. Love gets down on the dirt and cleanses and serves. But it's not just to be a story where we see Jesus wash the feet. Look at the ending. When he had washed their feet, he put back on his outer garments, resumed his place, and he said, "Do you understand what I've done to you? This was a test. Do you really understand this? Do you understand what I've done to you?

Now, the motivation we know in John 13:1 is what? What's the motivation? Love. Do you understand? Jesus is asking how much I love you. He says, "You call me teacher and Lord, and you're right. He is the greatest rabbi ever. He is the Lord of all lords." And he says in verse 14, "If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, then what? You also ought to wash one another's." He says, "This example is not just a cute story that I'm doing. This is a commissioning. I'm sending you out to do the same. This is a commandment to love like Jesus." Unless we actually think that now we have to go out and wash people's feet. No, this is something so much more. This is serving. This is going low. This is loving people even when you don't feel like it. And Jesus says, "When you do

that, you will be blessed." Look at verse 17. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. Okay, just point to your neighbor, look them in the eyes, and say, "Do them. Do them." Come on, you can preach to them. That That was a whisper. Do them. Do them. Blessing does not come by knowing. Blessing comes by doing. There's a lot of people that know Jesus. There's a lot of people that know the scripture. But let me just tell you, there's a lot more people that need to start doing those things. We got to start living out the love of Jesus Christ. The late Mother Teresa was once asked, "How could you care for the poor? How could you bathe those lepers day after day in the leper colony in Kolkata?" And this is what she replied. She said, "Every person I bathe, every hand that I touch, I see the face of Jesus."

That's John 13 lived out. What would happen when you go to work when you see people as Jesus? What would happen when you go to school and you say, "I see Jesus." What would happen if you decide to start grabbing a towel like Jesus and letting the world know what the law of God says that we should love God and love our neighbors? The blessing comes not from knowing. So coming to church does you no good. It's information. The blessing comes when you leave church and you put it into action. And I got to warn you, too many times in America, we've made church about us. And this is hard for me to say, but let me just say I I've got a spirit of boldness unlike anything I've ever had in my life before. I need to say it to you.

We've got a messed up version of what church is. We think if the music is good and the preaching is good and the programs are good, there's something for my kids and something for the youth and as long as there's something for my marriage when it's messed up and as long as the coffee tastes good and as as long as this space and this place is somewhere where I want to invite a friend, that's the church I'll go to. But that's nowhere in the Bible. The Bible says you go and serve, you go and love. The Bible says that the church is the eklesia. That's the Greek word. Jesus used that word in Matthew 16 says, "I will build my church." The word church is actually not even a spiritual or sacred word. It's a secular word. It means the gathered called out ones. So imagine if you will, the king calls an army. They would eklesia. They would gather because they've been called out.

It's the word apostles. They've been sent out. Now they gather. That's what the word church means. So the church is meant to be those who go and make disciples. It's a verb that while you're going, you're living out the ways of Jesus in your life. Doesn't say you're perfect. Doesn't mean you have it figured out. Doesn't mean you condemn with the word of God. For there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You don't tell people how dirty they are. You tell people how you've been set free from your dirt and how they can be set free as well. That's what the church is. I love a journey that we continually remind each other. It's all about Jesus. Say it with me again. It's all about Jesus. So at journey we serve. At journey we pray like Jesus prayed. At journey we give.

At journey we bless. At journey we encourage. At journey we speak the god of god's word. Not the preacher but every minister who knows God's word goes and ramas speaks the word of god. We have a god that gets low. So at journey we get low. Jesus says in verse 20, "Truly, truly, I say if you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." The God who goes low says, "I need you to do the same." The God who made the heavens and the earth grabbed a towel, so we should start grabbing some towels. This God says, "You want glory, it's going to start when you get down." I want to just say if you come to

Journey Church and you've been attending here for months or even years, some of you it's been years and years and years and years. If you don't serve here and you don't give financially here, this actually isn't your church. You're just taking. And what I I want to just say, just look around you right now. We got no room for your friends and family. So, if this isn't your church, I want to just commission you in in the most gentle, loving way I can say. Please go find another church. We need your seat. I I know we need to go to a third service right now. Right now, we need to go to third service. You know why I'm not going to third service? We need more people to step up and serve and give.

And if we do, we can reach a third more people than we're reaching right now. Last Sunday, we had more than 300 kids here at Journey Church. We opened up a third service. We're going to reach more family and more kids. But if you want to just come sit, if you want to just say what's wrong with the church, I understand we do not do things perfectly. If you're looking for a perfect church, I got to tell you right now, in the fine print of our bylaws, we're far from it. I've made a lot of mistakes as the lead leader and I love some of you that have made it through it with me because I got no problem repenting and saying, "I've done something wrong." But I'm at a point right now. Listen, our life is short. Let's do great things for the glory of God. And if you're just looking

for a church you can sit in and take something from it, I just want to say this is not it. You say, "Well, what does that look like to serve?" Well, every every month we do growth track. You can go through Growth Track. The first and second Sunday of every single month, both services go through Growth Track. It'll tell you what we believe and how you can be a member at this church. No, you get no special card. You don't get voting privileges. Just means this is my family and I'm going to be involved. There's no like perfect place for you. The place we need you the most, kids. You don't like kids. We'll take you in security. We need more security. We got security all over this room that keep me safe, that keep this church safe. All over the place. We got security. We need parking team. We need people with hospitality. If you you want to make this place welcome and help make coffee, we need ushers. We need greeters.

We need people in our youth and our young adults. We need small group leaders. And not a one-sizefits-all. Just do something. If you have already been through growth track or you want to even fast track getting on a team, you can go to our website. You can fill out a connection card. Go to the connect link and just fill out a connection card. Say, "I'm on the team." Third service, I'm in. I will serve. You're not giving financially. Go to our website. You can give right there. Listen, if you're visiting for the first time, you're like, "Is this pastor angry? He's yelling a lot. What's going on?" Let me just tell you, I'm not angry. I love you. I just The Christian life is not an easy, comfortable, predictable life. It is the most glorious, great life, but it is hard, uncomfortable, and wildly unpredictable. And if you're going to be a part of this church, you got to join the journey. I say this in growth track.

You know, it's one thing to watch the winning team and we're winning. We are winning. People are getting saved. People are getting healed. I I heard just this week, Thursday night, at pursuit night, someone we prayed for with an eye problem week after week after week of persistent eye problem that doctors could not fix because of the power of prayer was completely healed. We're on the winning team. So, you can be up in the grand stands cheering, saying, "We're on the winning team." Or you could be on the team. And it feels good to watch the winning team. It feels even better to be on the winning team. And and we're just a we're just a big family around here. I'm so blessed and grateful for so many of you. And and if you are just checking out Journey,

please come back tonight at 6 p.m. and see Watto. Yeah. Please recognize that we're just we're like Peter. Sometimes it takes a while. You got some grace. If you're like, "Great, I got to find a new church by next Sunday." There's a little grace. You got three weeks to decide. All right. That's the legal language. I I'm going to just I'm going to cut to the chase here because I've actually run out of time. Let me let me get real. The most important thing that we want here at Journey Church is for you to be saved. We want to see you in heaven. And what I love about God is he did not make this difficult. So in just a moment, I'm going to give you an opportunity to be saved. And the Bible says, "Today is the day of salvation." Which means this. Don't wait for another day. Do not wait for a better day. Let me be really clear. Jesus doesn't say, "Go clean your life out and then believe in me." He

doesn't say, "Go fix your life and then follow me." No, he says, "Believe in me and out of your life will come rivers of living water." Here's what it means. You believe in Jesus, you're forgiven of your sins. You're given the hope of heaven because you're sealed with the Holy Spirit. When you believe in Jesus, you get the great inheritance of all that God offers. It's yours. Because the Bible says in John chapter 1, to all who did believe in him, who received his name, he gave the right to become children of God. That's who you are in Jesus, a child of God. Of all the things today, I started with John 13:1 that I care about over your life is you know you're loved. Because if you know you're loved, you're a beloved child of God. That's who you are. Even when you don't know it, you don't see it, you don't feel it. This is not about emotions. This is about faith. And faith sometimes says, "I'm gonna take

the truth over what I feel, and I'll tell you, God will bless that." Because now that's obedience. That's abiding. And when you abide in the Lord and obey his word, fruit's going to come out of you. Blessings is going to come out of you. And then when people think it's you, you got to say, "It's not me. It's all about Jesus. I've been loved by Jesus. That's why I live like Jesus. So, I want to give you an opportunity with eyes closed all across the room. I want to say if that's you and you say, "Yes, I've got dirt in my life. I've got dirt in my soul. I'm tired of carrying this dirt in my life." We want you to make that decision right now. Would you just raise your hand nice and high and all the other eyes are closed, but you could even open your eyes. Praise God. I see that hand. Amen. I see you and God loves you. He's for you. Anyone else just raise your hand and wave it to me. I want to I want to see who's saying yes.

I want to be clean. I want to be set free. I want to be saved today. Praise God. I see you. If you raise your hand, you could open up your eyes and look at me because I just want to say, "Welcome to the family. I see you. Praise God." Amen. Praise God. We're giving you a little booklet to just share some next steps cuz this is the beginning of a greater journey. You're going to get baptized next. Someone over here. Praise God. Yes. Yes. I see you. Praise God. Amen. Anyone else? Just wave your hand at me. Say, "Yes. Yes. I want my dirty soul clean today. And you are. You'll be set free from your addictions. Praise God. From this day forward. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. I love it. You from this day forward, you're forgiven. Your sins are washed. You are loved. Praise God. I see you. Amen.

Amen. Anyone else? Just right. Right where you are, they say, "This is your day of salvation. This is your day that you're a child of God. From this day forward, you're accepting the grace of God, which is a free gift to say you are who God says you are. Loved, forgiven, set free, healed, whole. You have hope from this day forward. Last last time, I'm going to ask this. Anybody else? Just raise your hand. Someone over here. Praise God. Yes. Praise God. Amen. Listen, the truth is we all need Jesus. So, I want you to just pray this prayer with me right now. I'm going to just say some short phrases. I want you to repeat these words after me if you believe it today. Anyone that's ever believed in Jesus, let's all say this out loud together. Believing in faith.

Prayer is talking to God. It's listening to God. You could pray anywhere at any time. God doesn't need the right words or eloquent words. He just needs your real heart. So pray to him when you leave here. Pray to him even if you don't feel it. Ask God to reveal himself. So pray these words with me. Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I believe in you. Wash my soul. Wash my soul. Forgive me, Lord. I trust in you. I receive your spirit receive your spirit to live in me. to live in me. I have your hope. I have your hope in Jesus name. in Jesus name. Now I I'm going to continue to pray and I want to just pray over the church right now. I want you to be in a posture right now. If you would just maybe even open up your hands and just open them up

to receive from the Lord just symbolically what you're going to do in your heart. Lord Jesus, I pray for your church that you would wash us clean. That we would receive your love today, God. Not that that we would receive it and be clean, but we would go out and love other people, Lord. That this community needs you, Jesus. So, we're asking that we would go love like you, Jesus. Help us to grab the towel even when it's tough. Help us to grab the towel and love the people that are right next to us. that we live with. God, I pray for revivals in the school that as kids wash metaphoric feet, as they they love their teachers, as they love the least of these, God, as they love deeply, revival is right here and it's in our hearts. So, I'm believing today that what you've done through your word, you're going to continue today, Lord. Central Oregon shall be saved because you did what needed to be done. You died on the cross. You were buried. And on the third day, you rose from the grave.

And we thank you that that same power that rose you from the grave is the power you've equipped us with, your Holy Spirit. So now flow through us. Flow through your church, God. Empower us to do things that we would never do on our own by your power, by your grace, and your love. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. And amen.