The Church of Eleven22 - A Disciple Serves All People - Follow Me - Wk 1

Episode Date: April 27, 2025

Jesus leveraged all of His power to serve those that didn't deserve it. He said that we would be blessed and noticed when we do the same. - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Amen and amen and amen. How are we doing, church? Doing good. You don't look as good as last week. I'm going to tell you you don't look as good as you did last week. But you sound incredible. Holy moly, way to go. It's the biggest choir than all of Florida right here.

Good job. Don't tell me big churches don't sing. You did good. Hey, if you got your Bibles and I hope you do, we are going to be in John Chapter 13. I'll meet you there in just a few minutes. We are starting a brand new six-week sermon series about what it means to be a design.

Now listen to me. Easter was amazing. Amen? How many of you were at Easter? I already know the answer. Everybody. We had 44,000 people at all of our services. It was unbelievable. That's great, right? Praise God for that. And that's like, that's like human beings inside buildings. That doesn't account the online folks, all right? And I got so many texts this week from very well-meaning people like elders. They were like, oh, Easter was awesome. We literally had 42 services and they're like, you should get some risks. And I was like, I was like, Rest. This ain't time for rest. That was the starting line, not the finish line. You know what I mean? We had 251 people surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We're in the rest business. And so while Easter was amazing, we are not in the event business. We're in the disciple making business. This is what we are about. And so what this whole series is about is about how to be a disciple. In fact, our marching orders post-easter from Jesus are found in Matthew chapter 28. If you grew up in church, you already heard this one. It's called the Great Commission.

The Bible says this. It says now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted, that makes me laugh a little bit. I mean, think about it. There's the resurrected Jesus about to like Iron Man to heaven, you know? And some people are like, oh, it's God. And some people are like, man, I don't know. I'm still not sure.

Okay. So that's fine. and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And then we get this promise. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. The imperative in that great commission is not go. It is make disciples. A better translation might be, as you are on the go wherever you go, what we have been instructed to do is not big events. What we have been instructed to do is make disciples. And so a disciple begins when they surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

That's the starting line of discipleship. And so like I said, on Easter weekend, 251 people surrendered their life to the Lordship of Christ. So far this year, 847 people have surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Just for giggles, I asked, since Beach Baptism last year, so we didn't count Beach Baptism Day, but since Beach Baptist to last weekend, 2,667 people have surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. All right. So my job and the reason we exist on this planet is to help you be a new disciple.

That's it. It's to help you be a disciple. So for the new believer, or if you're a seasoned veteran in following after Jesus. Okay? I know some of you've been around a minute, right? You were in Sunday school with Noah. I get it, all right? The reality is that once you say yes to follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior,

you never graduate from discipleship. That the key question of being a disciple is simply this. What is my next step of obedience? Now, by the way, if you're one of the 2,600,000, and 67 people that have become a Christian in the last year, or you've never been baptized as a believer. Let me just go ahead and make it clear. You don't have to pray about it.

I prayed for you. Here's your next step is to get baptized at Beach Baptism this year. After this service, after every service, there's a baptism class. You should go to it. I'll see you in the water and we will baptize you in the name of Jesus. And it is an opportunity for you to go public with your faith and tell the whole world that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. you say, well, where do you get this step language?

Here's where I get it. Jesus made it up. In Matthew chapter four, when Jesus calls his very first disciples, here's what happens. Matthew chapter 4 verse 18, it says, while walking by the sea of Galilee, he, that's Jesus, saw two brothers, Simon, who was now called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and they followed him.

and going on from there he saw two other brothers James and John the son of Zebedee and in the boat with Zebedee their father mending their nets and he called them and immediately they left their boat and their father and they followed him what it means to be a disciple of Jesus is that you follow Jesus and so if by definitions you quit taking steps of obedience then you are not following anymore so every single one of us are called to continually follow in the footsteps of Jesus. In fact, in the first century, there was this famous saying

when a rabbi would ask somebody to be their follower, it was called Talmudine. And there would be this blessing when you began to follow a rabbi, and the blessing would be this, may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi. In other words, you would not just believe what they believe or believe what they teach,

but you would do the things that they told you to do, and you would actually become the person that they are. and that wherever they went and whatever they commanded you to do, that it was follow the leader, that's what you would do. And so if you've got your journal and if you do, you are varsity, okay? But you're not done. You don't get extra points or whatever. Maybe in heaven.

You get to eat first. I'm pretty sure. If you go to the, I think it's around page 50 or so. Nope, that's Timothy. Titus. Participation. Here we go. Post Easter.

Follow me. Look at this. If you open this thing up, what you were going to see right here, and you have seen this thing all over the place. is what we call the discipleship journey. Now, you're not going to find this picture in the Bible because I made it up. But based on what the Bible says a disciple is, this is what we are trying to help you become and me continue to step in.

The whole thing is rooted in our mission statement, our vision as a church, is that we're a movement for all people to discover and deepen. And there's the most important part, a relationship with Jesus Christ. And so a disciple means not that you just believe what Jesus believes, but you surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ and you have a relationship with him. And then like we've talked about for the last couple of years in the 1010 life, Jesus promises he's a good shepherd and we're his sheep and he speaks to his sheep. And we hear what he says and we walk in the direction that he's calling us to. And every single time we take a step of obedience in the direction that Jesus calls, we're always moving towards abundant life. and every single time we reject the voice of the good shepherd and move in a different direction,

the enemy is going to steal, kill, and destroy. And so who a disciple is? A disciple loves all people. Why? Because Jesus first loved us. A disciple discovers their identity in Christ. And a disciple deepens their relationship with Jesus by going deep with God in their faith and deepening with the faith family.

So first and foremost, it's about a relationship with Jesus. and we never, ever, ever graduated. Graduate from it. And those six words around the outside of that discipleship journey, that will be what we talk about for the next six weeks. And so today we're going to talk about a disciple loves all people by serving. Why?

Because this is what Jesus did for us. John chapter 13 is where we're going to be, all right? If you hadn't found John 13 by now, you probably quit. And just Google the verses. We'll put them on the screen. Here we go. The Bible says this, now, before the feast of the Passover, this is a really big deal. Okay, every single year they would do this meal to remember the Passover, which happened

and back in Exodus, where God saved his people out of Egypt, out of a slave nation, that God sent Moses to Pharaoh to say, let my people go, and he sent 10 plagues, and the 10th plague was called the plague of the firstborn, and Moses told the people of God to take a perfect spotless lamb, shed the blood of the lamb, and take a hissip branch and dip it into that blood, and then put it on the doorpost and up to the lentil of your house. By the way, if you did exactly what Moses told you to do, there would have been a big bloody cross on your door. That's the shape it would have been.

And the angel of death flew over that night, and wherever there was a big bloody cross, those people, the firstborn, was not killed, but they were spared. And eventually they made it to the promised land. And what they're going to do in this Passover meal, eventually they're going to do the Lord's supper, and Jesus is going to connect the dots for everybody

and be like, hey, that Passover lamb is sitting right here at the table. This bread, well, it isn't actually about lambs from a couple thousand years ago. This bread is about my body, and it's going to be broken for you. And this cup is the cup of grace. It's offered to you. Now, they didn't have any idea what he was talking about until they saw his broken body and shed blood on the cross the next day. But this is the context that we find ourselves. Now, before the feast of the Passover, check this out.

When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart. of this world and go to the Father. If you'll remember before the very first miracle ever happens in John chapter 2, Mary comes up to Jesus and says, hey, son, they're out of wine. And then Jesus says something that husbands, you should never quote this verse. Woman, what does this have to do with me? That's not a verse you want to memorize. That's what he says. Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. Well, now he knows his hour has come. And over the next 24 hours, he is going to do the thing that he came to do, to shed his blood for the atoning of sin.

And so Jesus in this moment, he knows that his hour has come to depart out of this world and to the Father. So he knows he's about to die. Let me ask you this. What would you do if you knew you were about to die? I mean, what would you do? Go skydiving, Rocky Mountain climbing, 2.7 seconds on a bull named Food Manchu.

Is that what we're going to do? But that's what we think about, right? We call that thing a bucket list. Before I kick the bucket, here's a list of things that I want to do for me. That is where our mind goes when we stare down our own mortality. Jesus' bucket list is to be faithful to the assignment that the Father gave him for the redemption of mankind. That is what he did. And when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father.

Father, he is going to love us, ultimately by laying down his life. It says, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end, which means this. Is the end here yet? The end's still not here. So that means just like Jesus is going to love the guys that he's eating with around the table in this moment, Jesus is continuing to love us in the same way. The NIV says it this way.

He showed them the full extent of his life. love. Now, you guys are varsity, so you already knows what's going to happen. But if you didn't know the end of this, and you were just to think, all right, how did Jesus show or demonstrate the full extent of his love? When he knows the power that he has, he knows the purpose for which he has been sent, and he knows the positional authority that God the Father has given him. How is he going to show the full extent of his love? A miracle? It's going to be like, watch this. And they go, and I'll levitate off the ground. That'd be cool.

Is he going to preach a sermon? It's not what he does. Going to hand out spiritual gifts? Like Oprah? You can walk on water and you can walk on water and you can turn water to wine. Is that what he's going to do? It's not what he does.

He's going to serve them. And this is how he's going to love them. Now listen, make no doubt about it. There are all kind of feelings associated with love. And if you don't have feelings, something's wrong. But the primary way that love is demonstrated in the scripture is just that. It is demonstrated. Love is the thing that you do.

My definition, I made this up, but I love it. Love is your joy in the Lord expressed towards others at great expense to yourself. And the reason that we can love one another is because God first loved us. Now, we've got all kind of feelings, and we use the word love. We just throw love around like I love tacos and I love the dogs and I love my wife. different kind of love and then some of you will say dumb things like my dog loves me

it doesn't your dog loves bacon and you're the bacon owner I'm just telling you if you were to die in your house tonight your dog would survive on your neck meat okay that's just true or if I went to your house and while you were dead I could give them to kind of my house with me with bacon

that's just it but we as image bearers of God and God is love we have the capacity to give and to receive love so he's going to show them the full extent of his love verse two so during supper when the devil had already put into the heart of judas ascariat simon's son to betray him this is bad man we're gonna we're talking about judas in just a little while but one of the things you got to pay attention to when you're a believer's got to pay attention to the

whispers one of the things that you're going to see here is that the the enemy the devil is going to like take over judas so this is just a point of theological reality i want to share with you the christian cannot be possessed by a demon Because according to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, you were already possessed by Jesus. The Bible says you are not your own, you were bought with a price. That means you were not possessed by you that Jesus possesses you because he paid for you. Now the enemy can oppress you. And one of the ways that the enemy oppresses the believer is what we call the whispers around here.

And so by very close attention when you get those thoughts, when you get those ideas, particularly if they have to do with fear, shame, and condemnation, This is not a part of the vocabulary of the heavenly father. The vocabulary of the heavenly father is that he delights over you, that he rejoices over you. Conviction, no doubt, so that you will run to him. But condemnation, no way. I almost said, heck no. But theoretically, that would be exactly right.

Because that is hell speaking to you. And the enemy always sneaks up, man, especially anytime God wants to do a work in you. and the enemy always wants you to doubt at least three things about God. Always want you to doubt the word of God, the work of God, and the worth of God. Pay attention to that. He wants you to doubt the word of God. Did God really say, here's how it plays out in our life, are you really going to bring your first and best?

Does that still apply? That doesn't apply. Paul didn't know about the stock market. You shouldn't bring your first invest. You should get crypto. And then you can be generous. And I'm telling you, did God really say? Or this is not how you should do your sex life and dating life?

What does the Bible know about dating apps? That seems like a great idea. Anytime, anytime you begin to question the Word of God that comes from the enemy or the work of God, which is you, either by his creation or by his finished work on the cross to purchase you. The moment you've ever thought, well, when he died on the cross, that didn't really count for me. That counted for those other good church folk.

That's the work of the enemy. Or if he tries to get you to question the worth of God, Is God really worthy of your praise? If he loved you, he'd treat you better, right? Would he have let that happen to you if he really loved you? You've got to identify the voice of the enemy. So Judas is, the devil has put into the heart of Judas is scary. Simon's son to betray Jesus, verse three.

And 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. Check this out. Jesus knows his power, his position, and his purpose. And so can you. Because you can find your power, your position, and your purpose in Christ. So this is what he knows. And here's what he does, knowing that he's in charge. Not just that the room, he's in charge of the whole universe and has been from before there was a beginning.

And so here's what he does. He rose from the supper. He laid aside his outer garments, taking a towel, he tied it around his waist. He poured water into a basin, and he began to wash the disciples. people's feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Years ago, I was at a conference and I heard this real famous pastor say this, what do you do when it dawns on you that you're the most powerful person in the room? I know it rhymes, it sounds like a Dr. Sue sermon, that's kind of what he does, but it's memorable.

Jesus knows he's the most powerful person, not just in the room, but in the whole planet. And he decides to dress himself as a servant and serve. What do you do? When it dawns on you that you're the most person, powerful person in the room. And some of you are like, well, I'm never the most powerful person in the room. Yeah, you are. Some of you're actually the CEO or president or boss, okay, and you know, like people listen to you. But if you're a mom, if you're a dad, I mean, you might be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or you might just be the CEO of carpool line that day and there's a bunch of

kids there. But you're the boss. If you've ever had the remote, you're the most powerful person in the room, okay? So what do you do? What do you do? I'll tell you, this is confession time, all right? The whole sermon is about serving, and I'm not good at it. I'm just not. It's not my natural inclination to be like, oh, I can help with that. And so here's what I do. Most of the meetings that I'm in, I'm the boss around here because everybody works here, and I'm the lead pastor.

And the way I get treated around here, I get treated with such respect. Oh my gosh, such respect. People are kind to me, the people that I work with. We love each other. The elders just love me. I love them. I get treated with such respect. So when I am in a meeting.

and I know I'm the boss and everybody treats me with respect, I'm amazing. I don't have enough words to describe exactly how humble I am in that moment. Probably the best thing about me in that moment is my humility.

In fact, when people ask me what my best sermon is, I tell them, I've got one on humility. It's probably the best thing I've ever taught in my life, okay? And if you can't pick up the sarcasm there, you're going to not have a good time around here, all right? But the moment, it goes a little or the other way.

The moment somebody begins to question my authority, I begin to do things like, I'm your dad and you're my son and I brought you in this world and I'll take you out. That's where I go. Anybody with me? So what do you do when you realize you're the most powerful person in the room? Well, if it's going good, I'm real godly. When it's not going good, I flex. Do you know who you're talking to? Do you know what Jesus does? He dresses himself as a servant and washes the disciples' feet.

that when everybody else powers up, Jesus goes low, as low as he can go. Jesus humbles himself and he serves. Now here's the thing. Humility is not a feeling or a personality type. Humility is a posture, a posture. And it doesn't really matter what you think about it. Listen, the truth is like deodorant. It's not the belief that matters.

It's the application that makes a difference. Have you raised a teenage boy? You're like, oh, dude, well, I've got deodorant. I'm sure you own it. That's not the problem. And I'm telling you, man, there's a lot of church folk that believe all the right things about these things, but it is the application.

And so what Jesus is going to do is he's going to take the lowest of low rolls. Now, I know that washing feet in Christian circles has become like a thing, but it's only symbolic. You don't understand in the first century, the lowest of the low servant or slave was assigned to the foot washing because it was nasty. Have you ever watched the Jesus movies? Have you seen the chosen? See all that beach and not a lot of ocean? And they wear tivas everywhere, you know, open-toed sandals. And the road system, a lot of people

rode their animals where they were going. So it wasn't just dirt and sand on their feet. There was animal scubilion all over the place. And even though Da Vinci painted the picture, like they were all the judges from Germany on one side, that's the... That's not how they ate. They would lay around the table and people's feet would be up there by your hummus. You know what I mean? And you'd be like, hey man, somebody can wash off this before I get me some hummus? I mean, it was just like that.

It wasn't good. And so you, and especially you're a grown man washing another man's gross feet. It's not a good job. And nobody's taking the roll yet. And Jesus gets up from the table. And he goes over and he picks up two things. A towel and a foot washing jug. And I bet everybody in the room is like, oh gosh,

Don't pick me, don't pick me, don't pick me. Because earlier they had just been fighting about who, like, they were, the rank of who was the most important. The sons of Zebedee said in their mom, like, Mom, see if we can go be like senior VP of Jesus Incorporated. And I think they think that Jesus is going to walk over there and be like, all right, you're the worst. Come here, wash our feet. And Peter's like, oh, you know, that's what they're, don't pick me, don't pick me. And then Jesus blows their mind. And he wraps a towel around him.

And he begins to wash the disciples feet. And then he comes to Simon Peter. And Simon Peter thinks, this would be a good time for me to say a few things. That's what he always does. Here's how he starts. Lord, do you wash my feet? Gabnaubius, aren't we? All right, your seventh in line here, buddy.

Lord, do you wash my feet? And look at this. Oh, my gosh. And Jesus answered him, what I am doing now, you do not understand. But afterwards, you'll understand. Isn't that a clue? Like, you probably shouldn't say any more words. Like, you don't realize what's happening,

but if you hang in longer long enough, eventually you'll be like, oh yeah, that's what was happening. So maybe just keep your mouth shut and everybody will assume that you're an idiot, but instead he's going to open it and just make sure everybody knows that he is. By the way, there's so often this verse is very, very true. Something happens in our life. And we're like, why God? And Jesus could rightly say, what I am doing, you do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand. I mean, Romans 828 says that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose.

That he's at work for the good. So I'm just telling you, if it ain't good, God's not done. And it might not be till heaven until he makes it good, but God is at work in all the things. And so after Peter hears that he doesn't understand, what does he think? You know it would be a good idea? More words. That's what I should do right now. Peter said to him, you shall, this is very emphatic in the Greek.

You shall never wash my feet. He's like, dun dun da-da-da. It's kind of famed humility, but it's actually arrogance here. Anytime you look at the Lord of the universe and say, I think my idea is a better idea than your idea, you're out of step. You shall never wash my feet. And Jesus is like, all right. If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

That's great for, I can wash your feet or you can go to hell. That's it. And so he's like, oh, well, not just my feet, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus is like, would you just stop? Can you just, you know that one person in a disciple group that just screws up everything every time? This is Peter. You're just trying to have communion. He's like, you're about to mess up communion, man.

Can you just shut up for a minute? You don't have to take a whole bath. That's weirder. Stop it. And so Jesus says, listen, the one. who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but it's completely clean and you are clean, but not every one of you, for he knew who was to betray him. And that was why he said, not all of you are clean. Listen, don't miss this. He's for sure talking about humility and service,

and we'll get to that. But don't miss this. This is a picture of our salvation. I mean, the redemptive narrative of the scripture is happening on display right here. But Jesus, who was high and lifted up that was sitting on his throne with angels worshiping him nonstop day and night singing holy holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come and he knew that all things were created by him for him through him and unto him and he sees a need his children we are dirty and decrepit and in need of cleaning and what does Jesus do he gets up off of his throne and he takes off his royal robe and he dresses himself as a servant born as a baby and a

manger and for 33 years he serves us by fulfilling every promise and prophecy of the scripture and he serves us all the way to the very end not by pouring water in a basin but by pouring his blood out of his hands and feet so that anybody who would believe in him would be made clean in him then he put his robes back on and he's sitting back at the right hand of god the father interceding for you and me right now that's what he is doing this is a picture of the good news of the gospel And so he's saying, listen, you have already believed, and so you have been made clean by me. Then why do you need to wash your feet now? Here's why.

Because 1 John is going to say, hey, if you say there is no sin in you, you don't know Jesus. And so while we have once and for all been made clean before the Lord by putting our faith in him, the life of the believer is a constant repentance, a constant confession, not so that God will clean you up again, but what we constantly confess is that the cross of Jesus Christ has forgiven us of all of our sins, past, present, and future. And the same gospel that washed you and cleansed you the day you got saved continuously washes you and cleanses you so that you can understand and rightly walk in that right relationship with your Heavenly Father. This is what he's saying.

But he says not all of you were that way. And then check this out. I don't know if you ever thought about this. This is what people let me think about. he washed everybody's feet, not just those who deserve it, even though nobody deserves it. But at the table that day, I mean, there's a denier, that's Peter. In fact, at this table, he's going to make promises. I would never leave you or forsake you.

And if all of these other suckers left you, guess who have two thumbs and want? This guy, that's Peter. You ever make me promises you can't keep? Yeah. And he still washes their feet. There's a doubter at the table, Thomas. Post-resurrection, it's like, I don't know, man. Unless I see it with my own hands.

And he gets weird. Unless I put my fingers in the holes. And Jesus washes his feet. There's a betrayer, Judas. And Jesus even washes the feet of the one that will betray him. Now that's grace. Scandalous grace. so if you think you're too far gone, you just don't know Jesus.

I've said it over and over and over. There's more grace than Jesus than sin in you. And when he had washed their feet, he put on his outer garment and he resumed his place. Now check this out. Notice who didn't get their feet washed. It was Jesus. They still haven't figured it out. You think somebody would be like, hey, you want me get you boss?

But they don't do it. You see, everybody says they want to be a servant until you get treated like one. in fact in our vernacular because the church has adopted this and this is totally leaked into some you know all the like quasi-Christian businesses out there and be like you need to learn to be a servant leader well the Bible doesn't call it a servant leader see we like to use the word servant which is what we're told to be and we like to use it as an adjective to the kind of leader that we're going to be like we take the man you want to here's the weird Christian thing that happens we actually take the commands of God and twist them so that we can use them to back door our tainment

so we can get more out of them and everybody really like us because we're so we're such a servant leader yeah Jesus says be a servant and if you lead anything man if serving is beneath you then leadership is beyond you because this is what Jesus does and then he says this do you understand what I have done for you you call me teacher and Lord and you are right for so I am if I then you're a Lord and teacher have washed your feet you also ought to watch one another's feet. Now listen, being a disciple isn't merely learning what Jesus taught. It's becoming like who he is. It's doing what he does. This is what it means in the first century. They didn't just sit around in a classroom and learn things about the Old Testament.

Jesus said, I want you to follow me and where I go, you go and what I do, you do. The Apostle Paul says the same thing in 1st Corinthians 111, to the church. He goes, this is how discipleship is going to work. Follow me as I follow Christ. One of the major reasons you need to be in a disciple group is so that you can be around some other Christians that are more mature than you so you can see how they love their wife. You can see what they do with their finances. You can see firsthand what forgiveness looks like. It will never be enough for you to just see me for 55 minutes preaching on a stage. This is the best version of me all week. Ask my wife. Okay. It's not enough. you've got to be in community with some people to see what an actual disciple looks like

so that they can model for you the direction that the good shepherd is calling us to go. And this is what he says today. He says, for I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you. He says that we're supposed to do this. Let me ask you this. I don't know what the, I don't know what the foot washing equivalent is today. Again, I know Christians do it all the time, but it's only symbolic. Like, I hate when I do a wedding and there's a foot washing.

I hate it so much. I just can't tell you how much I hate it. You know, and then I got to do it. I'm like, okay, all right, Levi. Go ahead and wash Rebecca's feet. It's always Bible names, you know. And then he gets down there with his towel. Here's the thing, man.

That's the cleanest foot in the history of feet. She had a NASCAR crew for six hours, like, on every toe because she knows there's going to be a little photo up there. That ain't this So don't do it If I ever do your wedding We ain't doing the foot wash thing All right so

So what's the worst job Whatever the worst job is That's this Like the job at your house Like clean the toilets Take out the trash Walk clean up the dog That's the weirdest thing in the world

You got human beings Just walk around with a bag of dog mess It's like, oh no one I do That's what this is If you're in college You've got a messy roommate This is like you just clean up for them I'm telling you, I'm not good at this.

The Lord has to continuously convict me. When I was in my fraternity house, this is the closer to hell I was ever in my life. I was very efficient. I had one plate, one fork, one knife, one cup. It was just me. So I just kept it clean, use it, that was it. One time it was so messy in our house,

I couldn't get my one plate under the sink to get water because it was just this mound of plates. Now, Jesus would have washed everybody's plate, but I ain't Jesus. So I knocked on every door. I said, hey man, y'all need to. you got to clean up your plates. And you know what?

Every guy told me, those aren't my plates. Oh, hey man, could you plate? They're not yours? Okay, so I threw them all in the trash. Then all of a sudden, everybody knew where their plates were. You know what I mean? I'm like, that's not on me, man. The Bible says, God detest a liar, so you can take that up with him.

So anyway, don't do that. Don't do that. Do the opposite of that. Whatever the thing is, he says, I have set for you an example. You should do just as I have done for you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not great. greater than his master. Jesus, the most high, made himself the most low.

So how low should we go? That's what he's telling us. We should do what he is done. Nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, check this out. Blessed are you if you do them? Not think about them, but do them. And there's a way that we are to do them.

He says that we are blessed. By the way, this is the same language as the beatitudes. So there is a blessing that we receive, but there's also a way in which we're supposed to do it. We're supposed to do it like the beatitudes. The Greek word is macarius or happy or overwhelmed with joy. That is not like begrudgingly doing something for somebody. He's saying that you will be blessed. And by the way, intentions in the kingdom of God are worthless.

And I know right now, listen, if you have a heartbeat, you're probably thinking, oh, that's probably help her out a little bit more. Okay, good. You should. But intentions are worth it. You have to do it. Don't you glad we serve a God that gets things done? He didn't push him on his nail-pierced feet. Be like, hope this works. No, he said, it is done. You know this to be true. Your intentions, anybody got a gym membership you don't use? How's that working out? I've told you before. Let me tell you what has never happened in the history of people. You've never rolled into church and people would be like, girl, look at you what you've been doing.

You've got, I got me a gym membership. Where do you work out? And I don't work out, but I got a gym membership. Plout out. That ain't how it works. You got to go. You got to do it. And then you're blessed. Now, here's what it's not. There's not a combination. A lot of people think God is like a genie in a bottle. And if I do a little bit of serving and I tip him a little bit at the end of the service and I say a little prayer. And then, you know, I get that thing right and then I'll unleash the blessing of God. No, no, no. The blessing is in the obedience. When we serve, we're like Jesus. And happier you when you are like Jesus. Blessing. are you when you are obedient because you're in alignment, alignment with who God created you to be. And there's so much freedom here, man. Our world tells us that you got to, it's a dog-eat-dog world, and it's a rat race, and you've got to do whatever it takes to get to the top. You know how exhausting that is? You know how much freedom there is is saying, no, I'll go last. No, I'll be leased. I've told you before, one of my little tricks. Sometimes I get to hang out with semi-cour. Christian famous people.

There are no actual Christian famous people, except for Billy Graham, but he's in heaven, but there's a bunch of Christian pastors and stuff and they think they're real famous. And so anyway, I get to hang out with these people. And you go to like a conference or something and everybody, I feel, I could totally feel it. I preached with Dr. John Piper last year.

I just wanted him, he touched my leg and I was like, glory of God, there it is, okay, I got it. I'm just telling you, I was it. I was fan girl in all the way. And then we do a dinner. And I can see a bunch of grown men that pastor churches. And we're like eighth grade girls at the dance. They're like, pick me, you know.

We're just wanna, everybody wants to sit next to him. Like, can I, you know? So here's a trick, here's what I do, here's what I do. Because I don't feel humble. So I have to humble myself. So when we get to the table, I just go to the bathroom. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. And when I get back, everybody's jockey for their position.

And I just take where they put me. And sometimes they're like, y'all move over. Pastor Job's sitting right here. Cool, man. And then oftentimes I'm way down there, you know, I'm like helping bust the table. No problem. But do you know how free that is? there's a blessing in saying, I'm going to go last because I trust Jesus.

Then it gets a little intense. He says, I'm 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. That's Psalm 41.9. This is Judas. Jesus washed the heel that would be lifted against him. He says, I'm 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 sin receives me, and whoever received me receives the one who sent me. Verse 21, and after saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and he testified, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. And you know, the disciples are like, oh, who you think it is? And I bet they're like, it's probably Peter. I mean, he screws up everything.

I heard on the mountain Jesus called him the devil one time. It's probably him. Verse 22. So the disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. And one of the disciples whom Jesus loved, by the way, that's the apostle, John, only called this in the gospel of John written by John. So that's awesome. He was declining at the table at Jesus' side, so he didn't do my bathroom trick. He was always like, no, he likes me the best.

So I'm going to sit with him. And so Simon Peter, most of the table. motioned to John to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. And so that disciple leaning back against Jesus said to him, Lord, who is it? And Jesus answered, it is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. And so when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Ascariat. Now let me tell you what is terrifying as one of the pastors of one of the fastest growing churches in the

history of America. Judas was a churchgoer. He was actually the treasurer. He had a job. He was like trusted. It turns out he was stealing, but they didn't know that. In fact, he was the one that always had the common sense approach to everything. Like one time this lady comes in, she was super shady, especially her past. And the dudes were like, what's she doing here? And she takes this very expensive jar of ointment, and she bust it open and everybody can smell it. And Judas, Judas is like, what is she doing? Do you know how many poor people we could have fed with that waste of extravagant money? So anytime anybody ever comes to me and like, look at all this.

Do you know how many people we could feed with all of the? I've heard that before. That's team Judas. Jesus is like, no, she's doing a good thing worshiping me. And so here's what scares me, man. From right here, everybody looks like a Christian. I mean, you do. Everybody looks to me.

Looks like you're going to heaven. And we're singing, made for more. sounded like you're going to heaven. Judas was in. He did Bible study with Jesus for three years. He never missed the Sunday. Judas participated in miracles. The Bible says that when Jesus fed the 5,000,

he didn't actually feed the 5,000. It was his power. He took that little lunchable from that little kid, and he prayed, God, here it is. And he handed it 1-12th into every disciple, and the disciples handed it out. This means, I mean, have you done a miracle lately? In the hands of Judas,

Judas participated in the miraculous. He heard the stories. He heard the gospel. He did everything. And he betrayed Jesus. Sometimes people will ask me, did Judas lose his salvation? No. He faked it.

That's it. First of all, you can't lose your salvation. The Bible says salvation is the Lord. It's not yours to lose. It's not like a set of car keys, you know? Or you can't do like, find my salvation. Blu, bleep, bleep. Oh, there it is.

I lift it over there. That's not how it works, man. The real question is, can God lose one of his children? Absolutely not. Judas was never one of his children. How do you know that? Just look at the lips of Judas himself. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, the same event is being talking about here from a different camera angle.

And it says this in verse 20, when it was evening, and he had reclined at the table with the 12. And as they were eating, Jesus said, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me. and they, the disciples, were very sorrowful, and they began to say to him one after the other, is it I, Lord? I bet Peter went first. Eleven times, is it I Lord? Is it I Lord?

Is it I Lord? Is it I Lord? 11 times, they go around the table. Is it I, Lord, that words curious. Then look what happens if you skip a few verses down. And Judas, who would betray him, answered, is it I, rabbi, you never knew him as Lord. It's terrifying.

You could show up every week, you could participate, you could hear the sermons, you could fill out the journal, you could serve in every area, you come to saturated, you can get baptized every year at Beach baptism and somehow, you know, change your name, and we don't know who you are, whatever. You could do all the things. You could do all the things, and if you think your doing is going to get you to heaven, you don't know him as your Lord and Savior. here. So let me ask you, do you know him? Do you know him as your Lord? Because Judas didn't. Verse 27. And then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him, into Judas. And Jesus said to him, what you were going to do, do it quickly. Now, no one at the table knew why. He said this to him, and some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, buy what we need for the feast, or that he should give some money to the poor. So after receiving the morsel of bread,

He immediately went out and it was night. And John is not just recording like the time of day. He is also talking about the spiritual reality of Judas. He has walked from the presence of light that he was just having dinner with and now he is in the presence of darkness. And yet even though he was going to betray Jesus, Jesus was not caught off guard. He knew exactly what was going to happen. Verse 31.

And when he had gone out, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified? And God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. He is talking about the cross. He is talking about salvation. Listen, the reason Jesus died on the cross is for the glory of God. And God is most glorified when God demonstrates his justice, his mercy, and his grace at the cross. Now, you see, God is for you.

Don't make any doubt about it. If somebody dies on the cross for you, they're for you. It's just not all about you. It's all about the glory of God. That's why he went. Verse 33, little children, yet a little while I'm with you. You will seek me. And just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you where I am going, you cannot come.

That's heaven. And then he says, a new commandment I give you. There's 613 commandments in the Old Testament. And I bet the boy's sitting around, you know, Matthew, John. They're like, oh, write this down. A new commandment I give you. Now he's just demonstrated something, right? He dressed himself as a servant.

and he washed his disciples feet, and he goes, all right, here's a new command. Everybody ready? A brand new commandment. That you love one another. And they went, wait, that's not new. That's all over the Old Testament. I mean, Leviticus 1918.

So this is supposed to love our neighbor. And then here's the new part. Just as I have loved you, you were to love one another. That's new. That the way we're supposed to love one another, serve one another, take care of one another, is the way Jesus has loved us.

How does he love us? He goes first. Husband is wise, do you ever get sideways at home because you're waiting for the other one to go first? Jesus' love is unconditional. Anybody got that person at work just aggravates the life out of you? Don't point.

I'll be like, yeah, that's my one more. Hopefully the Spirit of God will change Tammy over here, okay? So, can you imagine how frustrating we must be to the Almighty God? Why are you frustrated? Because people don't do what they say they're going to do? Because people are liars. because people make it about themselves.

Don't these things frustrate you? Have you seen you? And yet even though we're the most frustrating being on the planet, God, because God is love, he places his love on us, and we're supposed to love frustrating people the way he loves his frustrating children. That he relentlessly pursues, he never gives up, and he serves.

He serves. That's how Jesus loves. And ultimately, he loves us by going to the cross. Then he says this, by this, by this, by what? By loving one another as he has loved us. How did he love us? In the temporary, he dresses himself as a servant, and he took the lowest job. Ultimately, he loved us by dying on the cross for our sins. By this, all people will know that you were my disciples. By your voting record, by your t-shirt, by playing Christian music loud in your car with your windows rolled

down. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. You want to change the world? Be a servant. The Great Commission is therefore going, make disciples. That means find people that don't know about Jesus, tell them about Jesus, and help them be a disciple. The Great Commandment is love God and love people. Some churches get really good at the Great Commission,

they forget about loving people. And Jesus says, you want to change the world? Serve, love one another. Here's the point. Jesus leveraged all of his power to serve those that didn't deserve it. And he said that we would be blessed and notice when we do the same thing. And so that is a general reality in your life. Like this week, if you're the person in power, mom, dad, boss, older brother, athletic kid, cool girl at school, whatever it is, then you serve.

But also, it also means you could serve right here. See, serving is kind of like a muscle, man. it grows with exercise. And so there's a lot of ways that you can serve right here at 1122. And I want to give you the opportunity to. By the way, if you're currently on the serve staff, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, we couldn't do it without you. We need you in the parking lot, we need you on the doors, we need you in the kids' face,

and you guys crush it. And it's not, we don't have this gaping need right now. That's not how it goes at all. We're just teaching the Bible. You want to be blessed and you act like Jesus and serve. So if you want to serve, you text the word 44, 1122. You take served to 44 1122 and we will get you plugged in. You can serve right here at the church on weekends.

You can serve during the week. You can serve with our local partners. You can serve globally. If you walk out to any of our lobbies, then we'll have staff people and they got this little serve pamphlet thing and you can't take it so I'll have enough of them. But you can be like, they'll show you all the ways to serve. There's a little QR code right there, you know,

and you can click on that and you can sign up to serve right now and you will be blessed also. to our brothers at Columbia and Union and Duval's women's, okay, check with your chaplain. And to our brothers that live stream with us right now at Marion, because some of you're like, serve, I'm serving eight to ten. What can I do? All right, well, you can still talk to Kish, all right? Kish is running it for us there.

And so your folks locally can tell you how you can be like Jesus and serve at your campus right there. And we have a bunch of campuses launching this year. St. John's is launching. St. Augustine is launching and Palacca is launching. And so one of the cool things about every time we launch a campus, there are so many more opportunities for you to be blessed. And here's the thing, man, when you serve, I'll do it.

You have no idea what hangs in the balance. I am a result of a volunteer at his local church, First Baptist Dillon, South Carolina. I am a result of him saying yes to a serve opportunity. Coach Bull Lee was a deacon there, and they needed somebody to run Camp Pine Hill Baptist Retreat Center. And at a meeting, he said, well, the way he tells it, he went to the bathroom, and when he came back, he was in charge.

So sometimes, you know, God works in mysterious ways. But he did it, and he was a high school football coach. Do you know how busy a high school football coach is in July? But instead, he dressed. himself as a servant. And he served middle school kids. Not because he loved middle school kids, because he loved Jesus. Does anybody love a middle school kid? You've got to have the spirit of God in you to do that. Do you realize that? And he loved us. And one night at camp, he shared the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if that dude doesn't serve, I'm not saying you

wouldn't be saved, but you wouldn't be here. There would be no here. He has no idea what hung in the balance from one simple yes of him feeling a nudge from the good shepherd and saying, all right, I got a thousand excuses why I don't need to do it, but I'm going to do it. And he signed up to serve. Let me tell you, there are a couple of heroes around here for me. And they are my kids group leaders. And my kids don't get special treatment. They're just in the student ministry, you know, they were in that grade and that age, and that's the group they were in. and a big part of the reason my kids are walking with Jesus the way they are is because when they couldn't talk to mom or dad guess who they could talk to

they had some adults around here they didn't just volunteer but they served faithfully faithfully and they have no idea what hangs in the mountains my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be different because of this young man and this young woman that decided to pour into some students' lives around here. Can you imagine, think about this, imagine when you were 15 years old. Don't think about it too much. Can you imagine if you had the you right now in your life

when you were 15? Don't you bet? I bet there'd be a few less scars, amen? So why don't you sign up to serve and be that in the life of some of our students or kids? And if somebody would be like, well, I'm not good at anything. Why don't you be on the welcome team? Can you breathe?

Do you have a face? Can you stand by a door? I dare you, man. Just a minute we're going to close. We're going to sing like saved people, man. We're going to sing about our love for Jesus. And your feelings matter. What you do with your life also matters in our demonstration of our love for Jesus.

I mean, in fact, in Matthew chapter 25, Jesus is like, oh, you want to love me? Serve. You serve the loss, and you serve the least, and you serve the last. That's how you love me. And so we're going to sing, and we're going to bring our tides in our offering. It's also an incredible way to serve that you bring your first and best and you should probably come pray And you say Lord I want to be blessed I want to be blessed at home. I want to constantly dress myself as a servant and every opportunity I get I want to be like you and I want to do the dishes and not loud you know what I mean? Wives you ever seen your husband

do the dishes loud make sure everybody knows he's doing it here they are not like that that's what I do so bad but you would come and you say all right Lord I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll do whatever you want me to do. And one of the greatest honors of my life is that you might use me in a small way for the advancement of your church and your kingdom. So here I am. I'll serve. We'll be back here. Let me pray for you. Our good and gracious heavenly, Father, God, I thank you for the army of serve staff here at the church of 1122 that constantly don't make it about them, that just constantly dress themselves as servants in the parking lot and the kids and students. and worship teams and production and all the things.

God, I thank you for an army of 1120 tours that serve locally at First Coast Women's Services and fight against human trafficking and serve the Tim Tebow Foundation and all the things. And God, I thank you for so many that go on to the mission field to serve globally. God, may we be of church that just continuously echoes, here I am, send me, and that we would just pray and tune our ears into the good shepherd and that you would give us the courage and the faith and the obedience to do whatever it is that you have called us to do. God, I pray that wouldn't just be a thing that we sign up to do once a week at our church.

That would be a posture that we take with all of our life. Because that's what you did for us. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. So church, would you please stand and respond? We're going to sing, we're going to bring, we're going to pray. and if you would like to sign up to serve, you text the word serve to 44, 1122, and we will be in touch with you very, very soon about how you could be blessed by doing what Jesus told us to do. Let's respond.