Made for More

[00:00:00] Thank you. [00:00:03] Let's pray. [00:00:05] Dear Heavenly Father, you are a mighty and an awesome God. [00:00:10] And I stand in this room to challenge what you have challenged me so deeply, Father, that we will love one another and that we will honor others above ourselves. [00:00:24] I pray today that you will rest in this room, that you will rest in the heart of each person, and that your spirit will help us to see you better. [00:00:34] Can you show us that we are made for more? [00:00:38] In your son's mighty name, we pray. Amen. [00:00:42] I recently heard a story this week about a couple who got married pretty young. And the wife had a condition where she was slowly becoming blind. [00:00:55] And it ruined her. [00:00:57] She was depressed. She didn't know how to get out of the funk. [00:01:02] And her husband stood by her side and he said, listen, I've got you. We are going to figure this out. And his name was Mark, and her name was Susan. And so every day he was with her, he taught her how to get ready. He helped her get to work and get on the bus and cross the street and take the steps. But it got to a point where he worked at an army base, and he was just going into work too late. And so he said, okay, I've got to start getting into work earlier. [00:01:33] And again, his wife is like, how am I going to do this? How am I ever going to get ready, get on the bus, walk across the street, walk up these stairs and get into work? [00:01:45] And he's like, I've got a couple weeks. We're going to work on it and we're going to do it. And he helped her counter steps, and he helped her figure it out. And then it came, the day. The day where she was going to do it on her own. [00:01:59] And she got up, she got ready, she got on the bus, she got across the street, she walked up the steps, she got into work. And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, it all went beautifully. And on Friday, she got on the bus, and the bus driver was like, I have to tell you, you are a lucky woman. [00:02:22] She was like, lucky, I'm blind. [00:02:26] And he was like, no, you don't understand. There is a man when I drop you off, who stands on the corner, he's in an army uniform, and he watches you. He watches you get off the bus, he watches you cross the street, he watches you go up the stairs. And as soon as that door closes, he stands up tall, he salutes you, and he blows you a kiss. Okay? I thought this was like a fake story, but the person telling the story said he knew them and it was True. [00:02:55] Every day she thought she was alone. [00:02:59] Every day she was scared and she was afraid. But her husband never left her side. [00:03:07] He watched and he honored her. [00:03:12] He put her above himself. [00:03:16] And in a profound way, this is what God does for us. [00:03:21] He watches over us. He challenges us, and he shows us that we are never truly alone. [00:03:30] But the beauty of the Christian life is that God is our example. [00:03:35] That it's not just we sit in his grace and we sit in his love, but because we are so profoundly altered by that love, we do something different in our life. [00:03:48] He is our example, and our lives are meant to reflect something of who he is. [00:03:58] Our lives are meant to be connected to him and then reflect. [00:04:04] And in this season, in this week of political craziness, anyone over it? [00:04:10] There is like such an air about an energy. And I've just seen so many times families be torn apart. [00:04:22] And what I know is when you look for something, you will find it. [00:04:28] When you look for offense or you look for things to be angry about, you will find it. [00:04:36] But when you look for ways to show honor, you'll find it. [00:04:42] Honor, I think, is something that we hear about, but I think it's kind of been taken out of our value system. [00:04:50] Just in the Greek New Testament, the original language, you will see honor. The word is timae. Looks like time, but it's pronounced timay. It'll show up over 40 times, just in one half of the Bible, because I believe it was a value that God wanted us to care about. [00:05:11] I believe in a world that is so ugly, in homes that are divided, that he is saying, I have a better way. [00:05:19] And really the way we're going to define honor today is we're going to keep it really, really simple. It means to esteem and to value. But what I want to just this is how we're going to label it. It's to build others up. [00:05:33] When you dishonor, you tear down. But when you honor, you build up. [00:05:41] And the beauty of Jesus Christ is he doesn't ask us to live a life or do anything that he himself hasn't done. [00:05:50] And I think that when you look at the example of his life, the Bible can be so misconstrued and wield it as a weapon, but it was never meant to be that way. It was one to offer love and dignity and a better life. [00:06:06] And when we look at it this way, it starts to shape us. It starts to alter how we see and perceive reality. [00:06:15] And if honor is building up, then I promise you this week you're gonna have plenty of opportunity in your home, you're going to have plenty of opportunity to build your family up, to honor your husband, to honor your wife. [00:06:39] If you want a good marriage, you, honor, you want a common everyday marriage, you dishonor you, you tear down. [00:06:51] If you want something special in the lives of your kids, you, honor your kids, you find ways to build them up. [00:07:02] And in John 13 we see this incredible example that Christ sets for us. [00:07:10] And I think to really get the full picture, we have to look at Luke and John. [00:07:15] So it's kind of the same story, but different pieces and parts of it. So in Luke we see that it is, it's the last hours of Jesus Christ's time on earth. [00:07:27] And in his last hours, he's spending his time with his guys, the 12 disciples. [00:07:34] And in this time the disciples are together, they're eating dinner and a dispute breaks out. [00:07:41] And the dispute is, who's the greatest? [00:07:45] They weren't even subtle about it. Like we find ways to drop in how great we are, you know what I'm saying? Like, I find a conversation to be like, I just did this, you'll never believe it. They weren't even subtle, they were just all in disputing who is the greatest. [00:08:02] And here Jesus is about to give his life, Walking into this room with his guys and how he shows up wrecks me. [00:08:16] He doesn't argue with them, he doesn't really even condemn them. [00:08:24] He models for them what true greatness looks like. [00:08:32] I think it's easy to self promote. It's easy to try to build ourselves up or make ourselves look better than we should. But at the end of the day, that is not greatness. [00:08:42] The end of the day, Jesus Christ defines what true authority, true power, and true greatness is. [00:08:49] So there's this dispute and then we're gonna look at John 13:1. Today, in the middle of this dispute, Jesus walks in, he sees his guys in this argument, and he sees broken people and he sees dirty feet. [00:09:03] And before we even get to the story, the author, John wants to point out a couple of things. And I want to show you these things because I think they're awesome. Before we even get to the story, John is pointing us to something. So John 13:1, it says 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. [00:09:36] The very first thing John is trying to point out is the truest nature of Jesus Christ. [00:09:44] The first thing he's drawing our attention to is that Christ's greatest motivation is love. [00:09:54] It's funny, because in Scripture, when you kind of compare it to other scripture, you get a fuller picture. And in Revelations, you see this moment where Jesus says, I am the alpha and the omega, I am the beginning and the end. [00:10:11] And now we're looking in this passage and he says, I love them to the end. It doesn't just mean it's when he dies or when he goes to heaven or when we die. It is this picture of completeness that he loves us with, a complete love, that his greatest motivation is love for you and love for me. And I don't know about you, but if I am the creator of everything, I don't know how long I could stand us. I can barely stand myself sometimes. [00:10:44] But John is pointing to you. Before we even get to the story, before I even tell you how Christ shows up, can I point out that he loved us more fully and more complete than anything else or anyone else in this entire world? [00:11:01] There was a story I heard from a pastor. There was a couple named Kenzie and Jamar. And I guess they were very good looking, and they got engaged. [00:11:12] And Jamar was going to make a few changes. And so he was selling his motorcycle and he was talking to all his guy friends, and they were kind of razzing him for selling the motorcycle. [00:11:25] And they were like, don't do it. You're setting a precedence for all of us. [00:11:32] Like this word is going to get out. I said, you hear what Jamar's doing for Kinsey? [00:11:38] He's selling his motorcycle for her. [00:11:42] And so the guys are like, don't do it. Whatever you do, just don't do it. Don't do it for us. [00:11:48] And Erwin McManus, this is who I hear the story from. He said he was in the room and he felt bad because Jamar was like, no, I just want to make a few changes. He was kind of like Heman and Hawen. But Erwin looked at him and he said, guys, you don't understand. [00:12:02] Jamar for 35 years has had all the things he's ever wanted. But he didn't have what he wanted most. He didn't have Kenzie. [00:12:12] And now that he has her, nothing else matters. [00:12:17] Love alters our perception. [00:12:21] Love alters what we value. [00:12:25] Love will always alter how we treat people. [00:12:30] And the very first thing John is saying is, you are loved by a God who will alter everything. [00:12:40] When you live in his love, it will alter everything. It'll alter your Conversations, it'll alter those heated moments. It'll alter even when you are hurt, how you respond. [00:12:53] And then it just gets more. John said, okay, so he loved us with the completeness. [00:13:00] Verse two, during supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. [00:13:10] Okay, so we're gonna stop there for a second with verse 2. [00:13:17] Jesus is sitting in this room. He has hours left of his life. His 12 friends are there. They're arguing with this dispute. [00:13:27] But Judas was there. [00:13:29] And if you know the Christian story, you know that Judas was one of his 12 disciples who betrayed him. [00:13:36] And it was literally probably hour, maybe moments before Judas goes to do what he's going to do. [00:13:44] And John's like, I want you to know the setup of the story. [00:13:49] Judas was there. [00:13:51] Have you ever been betrayed? [00:13:55] Most of us probably have. [00:13:58] And I hate to admit it, but I think my biggest regret and some of my biggest shame come out of when I was in my deepest pain. [00:14:13] And before I even get into this story, I can already hear the questions because I felt it all week. How do you honor someone when they don't deserve it? [00:14:24] How do you honor someone when they have hurt you? [00:14:30] How do you show honor when you don't want to? [00:14:39] And Christ models it. [00:14:43] He models it because I think what he's saying here is honor says a whole lot more about the person who gives it than the person who you're giving it to. [00:14:59] Honor is a choice. [00:15:02] It's a value, but it's also a choice. [00:15:05] And I can choose to respond in a way that is above. [00:15:11] I can choose to live in a way that, okay, you might get this week. Angry conversations about politics. I've already had a couple of them. [00:15:22] And see, I can let those angry conversations let me become what I hate, or I can choose to listen and honor and just say, that's interesting. [00:15:39] Try it. [00:15:41] Honestly, that's an interesting thought. [00:15:44] See, I'm not going to prove myself. I'm never going to. In those conversations, you're never going to change someone's mind when things are ugly and heated or when you have been hurt and your heart is just angry. It's very rare that you are going to change someone's mind. [00:16:04] But you can change the whole tone of a room, the whole temperature of a room, by choosing honor, by choosing love, by saying, okay, they might not be a part of my life anymore, but I'm going to pray for them. [00:16:22] By if I have been betrayed, my first thought is cancel to talk about you, to Tell all my friends. But I'm choosing something different because we are made for more. [00:16:35] I am choosing to honor and to not tear you down, but to build you up. [00:16:45] And if I could get a redo, it would be in the moments of betrayal. It would be in the moments when a friend has let me down. I was studying for the sermon and I'm remember this stupid thing I said to my friend who I just, I was hurt by and it hit me like a ugh. [00:17:00] And what I did was I apologized to God, I apologized to the person, and then I walked into my future and said, I'm going to do it better next time. We can't go back, we can't redo. [00:17:12] And honor says more about us than it will ever say about the person we're giving it to. [00:17:19] The third thing that John wants to set up before we even get to the story is verse 3. [00:17:29] 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, he rose from supper. Sorry, this is verse four. I didn't put it on the screen. He laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, he tied it around his waist. [00:17:47] John saying he loves you with the completeness he knew he was going to betrayed. And he showed up differently and better. [00:17:59] And God was given all authority and all power. [00:18:07] What do you do with the power you have? [00:18:10] If I knew someone was going to betray me, I think I would work some magic. [00:18:20] If I knew my friend was going to kiss me in betrayal, there'd be some soldiers that were ready. [00:18:29] God had given Christ all authority, all power. [00:18:36] He could have done anything he wanted to do. But he's in a room with these guys describing who's the greatest. [00:18:44] And literally Christ is there, he's the greatest. [00:18:50] But what he does is he then shows them. [00:18:54] He shows them what power and greatness looks like. [00:18:58] And in our upside down world, it's hard for us to live this way because it feels not good. [00:19:06] But Jesus, he got up from the table, he took out whatever outer garment he was wearing, he put a towel around his waist, he filled up a basin of water. [00:19:20] And the Holy One, the Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords, he kneeled down, he lowered himself and he washed his disciples feet. [00:19:40] Peter kind of reacts funny because he's Peter. And he was like, no, no, no, you can't wash mine. [00:19:46] And I relate to that. Like I would never allow my dad or probably my husband or sister, like nobody's washing my feet, you know what I'm Saying, they're good looking feet. But like, I can understand Peter being like, no, no, no, no, I should be honoring you. [00:20:06] But Christ says, listen, if I don't do this, if I don't wash you, if I don't wash the dirt from your feet, you'll have no part with me. [00:20:17] And the beauty for every single one of us was this was a setup. [00:20:22] This was setting up their mind for something that was to come. [00:20:26] That on the cross, Jesus Christ took their sins, took our sins, took their dirtiness, took our dirtiness. [00:20:39] He took it and he made us pure. [00:20:43] He washed us clean. [00:20:47] As he lowered himself, I could just imagine him knowing fully each of the hearts of his disciples. [00:20:54] I can imagine him washing their feet and knowing the darkest secrets, knowing the darkest spots, the darkest pain, and not being disgusted by it, but being drawn even closer to them through love. [00:21:17] And he washes their feet. [00:21:19] And then he gets up. [00:21:23] And in verse 12 through 15, he says this, blind without my glasses. When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garment and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done to you? [00:21:40] You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. [00:21:44] If I, then your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet. You also ought to wash one another's feet. [00:21:52] For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. [00:22:01] This game of honor starts with humility. [00:22:07] It starts by saying, I. [00:22:10] I'm going to put others ahead of me. [00:22:14] It starts by making a choice in your heart that his love is life altering. [00:22:24] And because he did it for you, when I need grace in my life, I go to him. [00:22:35] When I want strength and power in my life, I go to Him. [00:22:41] But when I want a fullness of character, do I think of Jesus Christ, the God of the universe, Do I think of him as a servant? [00:22:55] Because that's exactly who he was. He came to serve, not to be served. [00:23:02] And in humility, he shows us how we respond in life, how we show up for people deserving or not deserving. [00:23:15] And when in my desperation, in my neediness, I want the grace, I want the love, I want the servant God. [00:23:25] But when I'm hurt, when I am offended, I want the wrath of God. [00:23:32] Can I get one amen in this place? [00:23:35] But Christ shows us a backwards model of what we're used to. [00:23:42] He flips the script and he says, hey, I am an example. [00:23:48] I am an example of how you should live. [00:23:51] I am an example. And because I bear the name of Jesus, Christ, I want to reflect something better. Church. I want to reflect his beauty, his dignity. And what I want to challenge us today is you bear the name of Jesus Christ. [00:24:11] We are the church. We should be a light in the dark. We should be a representative of who he is and not falling equal to every other dumb game. [00:24:24] We are made for more. [00:24:27] And so I challenge you. I want you to find ways to outdo one another in love. [00:24:34] I challenge you. Start in your home, start in your workplace, and just see what God does there. [00:24:41] I challenge you in this place. Outdo one another in love, honor, build up. [00:24:51] Because there is a name that we are all marked by. Every human is created in the image of God. [00:25:00] And if I want his love and grace, I want it to work in my life. [00:25:06] And I want to bear the name with honor. [00:25:10] I heard a story about Babe Ruth. [00:25:14] So Babe Ruth was kind of like a troubled kid, kind of like the bad kid. And he was sent off to a school when he was pretty young. And as he. I think he was like 18 when they signed him. And he's kind of considered one of the greatest home run hitters of all time. [00:25:32] And you can tell I did my research because I'm not a sports girl, but he. [00:25:40] They built the new stadium, and I think it was in the third inning he ended up hitting a home run. [00:25:47] Now, he is known for signing lots of balls, signing lots of pieces of paper and clothing, but it was very, very rare that he signed a baseball bat. In fact, there's only seven in existence. [00:26:01] And he hit that third inning home run in the new stadium, and he decided to give it to a young boy who had hit the most home runs in the town he was in. And so this young boy, I believe his name was Victor, got this most prized possession, the signed Babe Ruth baseball bat. And he cherished it his whole life. For 60 years, he cherished it. [00:26:32] But then he was on his deathbed and he had no family, and he wanted to show honor to the woman that took care of him, his nurse. And so he gave her the baseball bat. But much like me, she didn't really know much about anything. And after he died, she put it under her bed for like decades. [00:26:54] And everyone knew that there was a seventh bat out there, but it had been missing. Like no one knew where the seventh Babe Ruth signed bat was. And so I think it was like 16 years later she really had the desire to start a restaurant. And she was like, I wonder if that bat he gave me is worth anything. [00:27:18] So she took it to this Memorabilia shop. And the guy was like, could this be? And he did all this research, and he found out that this was the missing seventh bat. And he said, you need to take this to auction. And she took it to auction. And I think they raised something like $1.3 million million dollars for this babe Ruth bat. [00:27:39] And she was able to open her restaurant, but then she gave the rest of the money to this charity that Babe Ruth really adored for kids. [00:27:50] And she has this quote. So I'm going to pop up this quote. [00:27:55] This is what she said, because the media couldn't understand, like, why would you give so much of the money away? But this is what she said. The bat was only valuable because Babe Ruth's name was on it. The only reasonable thing to do was something that honored his life. [00:28:14] The bat was only valuable because of whose names was on it. [00:28:19] Our life is valuable. [00:28:22] We are not common. [00:28:24] We are not normal. [00:28:26] We are set apart by God. [00:28:29] We are his. [00:28:31] And our life is only valuable because of whose name is on it. The name of Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Our life is only valuable because of whose name is on it. [00:28:49] So it's only reasonable that I do something with my life to honor the name I bear. [00:28:59] Let's pray. [00:29:01] Dear Heavenly Father, you are so incredibly good. I can never do justice to your scripture, but my heart longs for every person to know your love. [00:29:12] My heart longs for them to know that we are made for more and that our value is not through money, through stuff, through winning, through being right, Father. But our value is only found in you. [00:29:24] And so I pray that you will let our love be reflected. If we are going to be known by our love, Father, then let us reflect how much we love you. Let us choose to build each other up. Give us ways, Father, where we don't be a part of the darkness, but we be a part of shining something beautiful into this world. [00:29:45] I trust in you and I hope in you. In your son's name we pray. Amen.