MythBusters: Can we really change the world?
Part I

John 13:1-17

I. Start
     a. Well good morning I trust that you are excited to be in the house of the Lord this morning.

     b. I have a friend back in Humble, His dad is a pastor in North Carolina, and he says he has sometimers disease. Sometimes he remembers things and sometimes he doesn’t. Well I’m 31 working on 100 and I have sometimers to so I’ve brought my notes with me this morning, because I don’t want you to miss out on anything that God has for you.

     c. Go ahead and turn with me if you will in your Bibles to the Gospel of John chapter 13. Matthew, Mark, Luke and then we come to the Gospel of John.

II. Introduction

     a. I like to watch TV. That should not come as a surprise, as most men like to watch TV. Unfortunately, I don’t have a whole lot of time to watch TV these days. But as I surfed through the channels late one night, while I couldn’t sleep, I came across the show called Myth Busters on the Discovery Channel.

It's a tough job separating truth from urban legend, but the MythBusters are here to serve. Each week special-effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman take on three myths and use modern-day science to show you what's real and what's fiction.

Here’s just a short list of questions they’ve tried to answer:

     Just how many balloons does it take to lift a 3-year-old child off the ground?

     Can an unsuspecting scuba diver be sucked out of the water by a fire-fighting helicopter and get spit out in the middle of a forest fire?

     Did the Greek scientist Archimedes set fire to a Roman fleet of ships using only mirrors and sunlight?

     If an elevator suddenly falls, can you save yourself in the nick of time by jumping just before it hits bottom?

Well today we are going to play the role of myth busters as we look into the world of relationships. Can we be world changers if we operate on the premise of give and take. This is just part I of a two-part message. So in order to get the whole teaching you’ll have to come back tonight for part II.

III. But Stand with me this morning as we honor the reading of God’s Word John chapter 13 starting in verse 1 and we’ll read through 17.

IV. Pray – You may be seated

V. Illustration:

People treat relationships like business transactions these days. I have a need in my life and you have what it is that I need, so in order for you to meet my need I will gladly give you something that I have that is lacking in your life.
It’s like the old cartoon character off the Popeye cartoon . . . remember Wimpy. He used to say all the time “I’ll gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

And so we have become barters. It’s a world of back scratchers. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. But these relationships have become dysfunctional in that like the cartoon, sometimes we don’t end up getting paid for our hamburger on Tuesday.

So the really smart type people – you know the doctors and psychologist and the like – came up with an idea. Well it’s really all about give and take. You give a little and then you take a little.

And that’s what people today base their relationships on. I’ll give you a little of what I have, but if you don’t give back then I’m going to take what you have. And if the person goes very long without giving, not only will you continue to take, but you’ll stop giving. And you’ll just have a take-take relationship. You’ll get everything out of that person you need and then dump them like yesterdays newspaper.

You see because taking from a person is getting something from them that they don’t want to give. You are violating that person. It doesn’t have to be sexually such as the case of rape. You can rape someone physically, emotionally and spiritually.

People say relationships are about give and take. They say that everything should be 50/50.

But I want to show you this morning that Jesus gives us quite a different picture of what building relationships is all about. What does Jesus show us about being world changers. You see relationships, whether it be husband/wife, parent/child, boyfriend/girlfriend, friend/friend or even stranger/stranger needs to be a give-give relationship according to Jesus. It’s not 50-50 it’s 100-100.

VI. Introduction

     a. Let’s set the scene here:

This story is one of the most memorable incidents in Bible. It was the night before Jesus’ betrayal and crucifixion. It was an intense time in Jesus’ life. His public ministry had ended. Jesus now turns his full attention to his disciples.
I want you to imagine this situation with me for a moment. In that culture the most demeaning task around was to wash the guest’s feet. This was job done by lowest slaves.

These people didn’t just go outside and hop into their BMW or even their Saturn for that matter. When these people traveled they used the old Jerusalem cruisers. These were sandals. They were open everywhere except a strap to hold them on. They walked along trails that we not only dusty but also cluttered with all kinds of filth. They were walking amongst camel and donkey poop. While these people were clean by ancient standards, they bathed once a week, like our ancestors out in the Wild Wild West. They were clean, but they had some nasty looking, nasty smelling toe jam.

It was a common courtesy for the host to have his slave wash the guest’s feet as they entered the house.

Jesus had sent Peter & John to prepare for their meal together. The food had been cooked. The table had been set. And I’m sure the disciples thought this matter would be taken care of as well. It wasn’t!

As Jesus and the disciples enter the room they see towel & water basin in the corner. They do not see a slave to wash their feet. Perhaps some of them pause as they enter the room, wondering where the servant was—maybe wondering why Peter and John had not taken care of this important detail.
As they recline at the table, each disciple feels a little uncomfortable.

“Somebody ought to at least wash Jesus’ feet. But—if I do that, where will that put me on the social pecking order?

I would be at the Bottom of the heap. If I volunteer I’ll get stuck with that job from now on. Maybe if I just wait—somebody else will do it.

So here these guys are with Jesus and they’ve already started the celebration of Passover. This was their Christmas, their Easter. It was a time of celebrating God delivering His people out of Egypt.

And they’ve sat down and are enjoying a meal together and yet no one has washed their feet. Obviously we don’t know exactly what they were thinking, because the Bible doesn’t tell us.

But what we do know is here we have Jesus whose earthly ministry has come to an end, who is about to be beaten within an inch of his life give us the greatest example He has ever given. You know the old saying you save the best for last. Well Jesus saved His best teaching moment for last.

So what is it that we need to learn from this passage? What was it that allowed Jesus to be a world changer. Well we see very quickly that Jesus was a servant. So what is it about servanthood that allows us to be world changers.

VII. First what was it that allowed Jesus to serve? What was it that gave the Son of God (who was Himself fully God while he was fully man) what was it that allowed Jesus to serve? Look with me at verse 3. (13:3)

     a. Jesus knew where He came from. And Jesus knew where He was going. Jesus knew where He came from, and He knew where He was going. You say well what do you mean.

     b. God made each of us with three needs. We have a body, soul and spirit, and each of them has their own individual need. We have a physical need, we have a security need and we have a spiritual need. The physical belongs to the body . . . the security belongs to the soul . . . and the spiritual need, which we’ll call status belongs to the spirit.

               i. There’s a whole teaching in what I just shared with you, that we just don’t have time to get into this morning.

     c. But Jesus was able to serve because He had the status that He needed to serve. He wasn’t worried about impressing others or gaining significance with others. He wasn’t worried about what others were going to think of Him if He washed the disciples feet. Why because He knew He came from the Father and He knew that He was just about to go back to the Father and sit at His right hand.

And so in order to serve we must be secure in our relationship to God.

               i. How many times are we worried about what others are thinking of us. How many times have we said I can’t say something nice to that person at school, because I’ve got a reputation to up hold. I can’t talk to that person at school, because they aren’t so popular.

How many times have we as adults shunned someone because they don’t dress as nicely as we do. How many times have we shunned someone because they don’t drive as nice a car as we do or have the stuff that we have or because their too fat or because their too skinny or because they’re not as pretty as we are or they don’t smell as good as we do.

               ii. Oh God give us a heart that loves people. Give us a heart that loves all the people that you have created, because you loved us when we were ugly. You loved us when we smelled bad. You loved us when we were too fat or too skinny. You loved us even though you had to send your Son to die because of us.

Not only do we see what allows us to serve:

VIII. Next let’s look at how are we to serve? Look at verses four and five. (13:4-5)

There are 4 things that we need to see about how we are to serve.

     a. First Jesus “got up from supper”

               i. He left his Comfort Zone. He made his body do something it may have not wanted to do. He was enjoying a celebration with His 12 best earthly friends. He left the celebration knowing there was something that needed to be done.

I am one of those type of people that when the snooze button goes off I’m looking for the nearest hammer, because man I’m comfortable. And it’s chilly outside the covers.

We have to be willing to go outside our comfort zones in order to be world changers. We’ve got to be willing to do something that is going to get our hands dirty. You know someone has to clean the toilets, right. And we have to be willing to do something that is going to cause some people to look at us funny. Hey man why were you talking to so and so – they are so uncool.

To be a world changer we have to step outside of what’s comfortable, but not only do we have to step into the uncomfortable…

     b. Look at the next part where it says he “laid aside his garments”

               i. To be world changers we are going to have to usually give something up. We are going to have to give up our time, our money, our car, our home, our job or maybe even our reputation.

You know technology is great. I love computers and such. I’m kind of a geeky guy. I know I don’t look like it . . . some of you are saying yeah right. But, I run a internet based business, so I’m at my computer almost all the time. I go out and cover high school sporting events with some high dollar digital camera equipment so I don’t have to spend all my money developing film. And I talk on my cell phone sometimes to and from the games.

Technology is great. And the whole idea behind technology is for technology to make our lives run better and smoother so that we can devote more time to the things that we enjoy, right . . . WRONG!

I tell people all the time, technology hasn’t allowed us more time for what we want, technology has just allowed us more time to cram other stuff in. We can do things so much faster and more efficient now that the boss doesn’t say go home, he or she says here I’ve got some more stuff for you to do. It’s not five o’clock yet.

To be a world changer we’re going to have to really look at where our priorities lie . . . and we’re probably going to have to do away with something or some somethings.

So in order to serve we have to leave our comfort zones, and we have to be willing to give up some personal pleasures.

     c. Next “he girded himself. Then he poured water into the basin”

               i. To be a world changer we see we are going to have to make some preparations. You see Jesus had to prepare to wash the disciples feet. He had to get rid of some of his outer garments. And he had to get the materials ready. In the same way we have to make preparations for service.

Some of us are going to have to do a better job in school so you can sound like an intelligent human being when you start speaking to people. We need to do a better job of learning history so we are not doomed to repeat it.

Some of us need to start making preparations to study the Word so you can show yourself approved. We need to make preparations to study so that when someone comes in attack of our faith we will have the power of the Word to make a defense. We need to study the Word so that we know how to live the abundant life within God’s parameters. We need to study the Word so we can lead others to Christ.

Some of us need to start making some preparations to change careers. Some of us need to start making preparations to be Godly husbands and Godly wives. Some of us husbands and wives need to start making preparations to be Godly parents. And some of us need to make preparations to be Godly children.

To be a world changer we have to be prepared. It’s like an athlete, unless he or she is prepared, both physically and mentally the coach can’t put them in the game. If you are not prepared physically, mentally and spiritually God can’t put you in the game, and you will just be relegated to watching from the sidelines or even worse from the showers.

And not only to we have to leave our comfort zone, give up some personal pleasures and be prepared…

     d. probably the most important of all “he began to wash the disciples feet…”

               i. Isn’t that great. He stopped thinking about it. He stopped preparing for it. He stopped planning for it and He just did it man. He just began washing their feet.

               ii. At some point we have to begin. We can think about it. We can pray about it. We can prepare for it. But at some point we have to start doing it. The Book of James calls us to be more than hearers of the Word only, we are to be doers as well.

If we want to be world changers we have to be doers and not just hearers only.

Well we’ve seen what is it that allows us to serve, and that’s having status with God. Next we saw how we are to serve.

IX. Now let’s find out who are we to serve? (13:5-11)

     a. This one is easy right. We are to serve our spouses. We are to serve our children and we are even called to serve our neighbors and the poor and those affected by tragedy like the Tsunami victims. Hey this is an easy one. Let’s move on.

     b. But look closely at the text.

     c. Jesus says we are to serve those who aren’t in total agreement with us. This may be a fellow brother or sister in the Lord that you just can’t bring yourself to like. But we are supposed to serve them nonetheless.
                i. The Bible doesn’t call us to like everyone all the time. The Bible does call us to love everyone all the time.

                         1. Like is an emotion – it’s based on circumstances (the situation your in, something someone has done to you, whether or not your personalities mesh with each other)

                         2. My wife and I don’t always like each other, because you know when they say opposites attract, I don’t know if two people could be as opposite as we are (about the only thing we have in common is the love of Mexican food and our son). We’ll butt heads sometimes and we just won’t like each other for a couple of hours or so.

                         3. Some scholars teach that Peter and Paul didn’t really like each other all that much. They were totally opposite of each other. Peter was probably uneducated or undereducated. He was a manual laborer. Whereas Paul was very well educated. He was a Roman citizen and was very cosmopolitan. Both were great men of God, but they did their own thing.

                         4. Whether or not we like a person can’t be the determining factor of whether or not you serve others. As a business owner you find out real fast that you have to serve all the people – the ones you like and the ones you don’t care much for.

     d. But not only are we called to give or serve the ones we don’t like, we are called to give and serve far beyond that.

               i. When I was studying through this passage I wondered why John included so much about Judas and his betrayal of Jesus.

               ii. But in all of God’s wisdom, He inspired John to write about this event, because we are to serve our enemies just as much as we are anyone else.

               iii. You think it’s hard to serve someone that serves the same God as you do, but you just think differently or have different personalities. God is calling us to give and serve to those who don’t serve and trust in God. He is calling us to serve and give of ourselves to the very people who just flat hate us. Or even worse want to physically do us harm.

If we want to be world changers, we are going to have to come to place where we are willing to give to those we don’t like and we are going to have to learn to serve our enemies.

And finally the passage this morning shows us…

X. Why are we to serve? Look back at the text with me starting at verse 12 (read 12-15)

Shortly after World War II came to a close, Europe began picking up the pieces. Much of the Old Country had been ravaged by war and was in ruins. Perhaps the saddest sight of all was that of little orphaned children starving in the streets of those war-torn cities.

Early on chilly morning an American soldier was making his way back to the barracks in London. As he turned the corner in his jeep, he spotted a little lad with his nose pressed to the window of a pastry shop. Inside the cook was kneading dough for a fresh batch of doughnuts. The hungry boy stared in silence, watching every move. The soldier pulled his jeep to the curb, stop-ped, got out and walked quietly over to where the little fellow was standing. Through the steamed-up window he could see the mouth-watering morsels as they were being pulled from the over, piping hot. The boy salivated and re-leased a slight groan as he watched the cook place them onto the glass-enclosed counter ever so carefully. The soldier's heart went out to the name-less orphan as he stood beside him. "Son...would you like some of those?"

The boy was startled. "Oh, yeah...I would!" The American stepped inside and bought a dozen, put them in a bag, and walked back to where the lad was standing in the foggy cold of the London morning. He smiled, held out the bag, and said simply: "Here you are."

As he turned to walk away, he felt a tug on his coat. He looked back and heard the child ask quietly: "Mister...are you God?"

We are never more like God than when we give. If we want to be world changers we have to be 100% givers all the time.

XI. Closing

     a. Today we have too many people that come to Jesus, for what He can do for them. And while that is true that He can save you, heal you, He can deliver you and He can bring you peace and joy, God has called us out of this world not because of what He can do for us, but because He has a purpose for us. We have too many Christian takers today and not enough givers. We’ve got to get beyond ourselves and invest in others.

     b. Satan wants you to be deceived in the idea that you need to take care of yourself, before you can take care of others (You have to watch out for No. 1 because no one else is – that’s the American way) – America says you have to get yours before someone else takes it and there’s nothing left over for you.

     c. But God says you look out for others and you let Me look out for you!

     d. Aren’t you tired of the world that we live in today. Aren’t you tired of every time you turn on the television its nothing but filth or violence. Aren’t you tired of living in a world where people can’t get along with each other because they don’t think or act like they do. Aren’t you tired of living in a world of takers.

XII. PRAY

XIII. Invitation