How God Talks to Us The way God talks to us must be the same way we, as a church, talk to the world We need to learn the language of God not only to talk to him, but to talk to the world
How God Talks to Us Sermon #1: Through Jesus (John 1) Sermon #2: With Glory (John 2) Sermon #3: With Grace (John 3-4) Sermon #4: With Forgiveness (John 8) Sermon #5: Through his POWER (John 11)
POWER is not the essential quality that makes God to be God Often we think of God only as an all-powerful being
What if you were God?
More than powerful, God is good, full of love, faithful, wise, merciful, gracious, forgiving…
God is powerful not only to create the world, but also to redeem the world power miracles power gospel, cross
“Christians should think of how God rescued them. He did it not by taking power but by coming to earth, losing glory and power, serving and dying on a cross. How did Jesus save? Not with a sword but with nails in his hands.” Tim Keller NYT, Sep 29, 2018
John 13.1-17 Last night before crucifixion Farewell words “A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.” Luke 22.24
John 13.1-17 1 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.
John 13.1-17 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3 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,
John 13.1-17 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 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.
John 13.1-17 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
John 13.1-17 8 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.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
John 13.1-17 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
John 13.1-17 12 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 have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.
John 13.1-17 14 If I then, 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 to you.
John 13.1-17 16 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. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
three actions 1. TO COME DOWN “T o wash the feet” was a humiliating service, a task of slaves “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…” (v.3) “You call me T eacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.” (v.13)
three actions 1. TO COME DOWN “T o wash the feet” was a humiliating service, a task of slaves “He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.” (v.4) “…though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself…” (Philippians 2.6-7)
Every boy wants to be a man. Every man wants to be king. Every king wants to be God. Only God wanted to be a boy. Leonardo Boff
three actions 1. TO COME DOWN T o talk to us God needed to come down, that is, He needed to humiliate himself What are the practical implications?
“The society in which we live suggests in countless ways that the way to go is up. Making it to the top, entering the limelight, breaking the record – that’s what draws attention, gets us on the front page of the newspaper, and offers us the rewards of money and fame.” […]
“The way of Jesus is radically different. It is the way not of upward mobility but of downward mobility. It is going to the bottom, staying behind the sets, and choosing the last place! Why is the way of Jesus worth choosing? Because it is the way to the Kingdom, the way Jesus took, and the way that brings everlasting life.” Henri Nouwen Here and Now
three actions 2. TO SERVE “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.” (v.5) …including Judas!
three actions 2. TO SERVE World’s The MINOR serves standard the GREATER Jesus’ The GREATER standard serves the MINOR The greatest among you shall be your servant. Matthew 23.11
three actions 2. TO SERVE Historical examples: A) Early christians in the plagues and diseases
“At the first onset of the disease, they [pagans] pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.”
“Most of our brothers showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbours and cheerfully accepting their pains.”
“Many, in nursing and curing other, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead… The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning high commendation so that in death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal to martyrdom.”
three actions 2. TO SERVE Historical examples: B) Addiction recovery in Brazil
three actions 2. TO SERVE Historical examples: C) Brazilian Night
three actions 2. TO SERVE Effects : He came to Simon Peter , who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” (v.6)
three actions 3. TO SPEAK “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” (v.15) “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (v.17)
three actions 3. TO SPEAK Words are empowered by actions Actions are explained by words
three actions 1.TO COME DOWN 2.TO SERVE 3.TO SPEAK In this order!
God talks to us with HUMBLENESS Are we doing the same?
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