Summary:
The God of the Universe, literally kneels to wash the filthy crud off his disciples' feet. This is one of the most shocking and scandalous texts in all of Scripture.

Then Jesus says, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." At the end of that scene, Jesus says in John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We are called to love one another humbly, selflessly, practically, in such a way, that our tangible love serves as one of the most powerful apologetics for a watching world that desperately longs for the same love.

Audio Transcript:
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Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic. And if you're new or if you're visiting, we're so glad you're here. And we'd love to connect with you if you'd like to connect with us, and we do that officially through the connection card, and the worship guide if you filled out legibly. You can either toss it into the offering basket when it comes around after, or redeem it at the Welcome Center for a little gift that we prepared for you.

We also have an app that you can download in the App Store or Google Play, where you can keep up to date with what's going on Mosaic. The sermons are in their community, community group discussions, and then also there's a connection card in there as well. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift that is to gather as your people. And LORD, we pray that you continue to work in our hearts, a powerful work of humility. LORD, let us not just understand the gospel theoretically or just with our minds, let us understand the gospel with our hearts. Well, what does it mean that the God of the universe stooped so low as to become one of us, stoop so low as to meet our greatest need on the cross by dying for us instead of us, in our place, and coming back to life through the resurrection.

We thank you, LORD, that you didn't just give us an example of how to love you, embodied love. You didn't just teach us words of love, you showed us the greatest act of love, the greatest sacrifice. You came to serve our greatest need, and then with that you meet all of our other needs, and show us that you want us after we accept the Gospel to now also meet the needs of our brothers and sisters, fellow Christians, and also our neighbors. And you showed us that we never graduate beyond meeting tangible needs. And you showed us this graphically by washing the feet of your disciples, and you told us, “Go and do likewise.”

So remind us today of the basics, and let us master the basics, never graduate beyond the basics; never think that we no longer need grace, no longer need to extend grace. And Holy Spirit, come to the space, work deep, work in our hearts, and make us a people who are radically, sacrificially loving as we serve one another and as we serve our neighbor. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

If you're new at Mosaic, last Sunday we held our annual vision sermon, our value sermon; Love. Jesus. Simple. This is what Mosaic is all about. And today, we're going to talk about how that practically manifest itself through service. That's what we're going to do today.

Next week, we're starting a brand new sermon series that we're calling Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for Life. We're excited about the sermon of Jesus Christ, the Lion of Judah, and the Lamb of God, both tough and tender. We live in a city that does toughen us up at the expense of our tenderness, so we need both. And also, we live in a culture where many of us are too tender when it comes to the tough subjects of life.

So we're going to talk about the balance, that Jesus wants us to be both confident, knowing who we are in Christ, that our identity is rooted in him; and also humbled by the fact that the God of the universe stooped down to serve us and make us his.

Today, we're talking about, Love. Jesus. Simple, how it manifests itself practically that we are called to sacrifice and serve, just like Jesus did. We want to love. What does love mean? Love means to sacrifice, specifically tangibly.

Rod Dreher is a senior editor of The American Conservative. Two years ago, he wrote this book called The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. And in it, this is what he says. He says, “The culture has so de-censored Christianity socially, and politically and in all different ways. It's so hard to be a Christian in our current American culture, we need a different strategy.

“The idea is a serious Christian conservative can no longer live business-as-usual lives in America, that we have to develop creative communal solutions to help us hold on to our faith and our values, in a world growing even more hostile to them. We'd have to choose to make a decisive leap into a truly counter-cultural way of living Christianity, or we would doom our children and our children's children to assimilation.”

I understand what he's saying, and I feel the heart behind his argument. The heart is, “Hey, the culture is overwhelming the church.” And unless we go back and figure out exactly what we believe, unless we're rooted in the Gospel, in our traditions, in our Christian faith, orthodox historic Christianity; unless we do that, we won't have a counterculture with which to curb the stave off the water.

And he's saying, a lot of us, we see the floodwaters of culture change coming, and instead of piling up sand bags to keep the flood at bay of the culture change, he said we need to build an arc and we need to retreat, and we need to build strong communities, just like St. Benedict did. St. Benedict of Nursia, the early medieval monk. He retreated to the forest after Rome's fall. And I understand what he's saying, because he wants us to remain Christian.

And I also understand how difficult it is to remain a Christian when everyone around you isn't. I understand that difficulty. I understand the temptation to go where there are more Christians, where it's easier to remain a Christian. However, Jesus Christ did not call us to be monks, he called us to be missionaries. He said, “I want you to be a city set on a hill, in order to shine the light of the Gospel.”

So instead of heading to the hills, as he says metaphorically or literally, we need to remain, and perhaps even as missionaries called to advance the Gospel, go in the darkest places of the world, and be rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we need the cleansing effect of the Gospel to continue sanctify us even when the world around us wants to sully us with sin of the culture.

My other big problem with what he's saying is this, that it can create an isolation mentality. And it's so tempting in our individualistic American culture. We already as Christians have this idea of having a personal relationship with Christ, which translates into having a private relationship with Christ. Therefore, we bifurcate between our private life, pietistic, spirituality and our public life. I don't think that's what the Lord is calling us to.

Therefore, how does this work itself out? Many of you church as just the place you go to. Many of you church as just like going to the movies. And this was actually a bigger problem for us when, for three years, we met at the Regal movie theater in Fenway. I had to tell people all the time, like, “Church is different than just going to the movies.”

How often do you go to the movies? When something really good is playing. When you walk into the theater, you find a spot as far away from anyone as possible. As you walk in, you give people a head nod, I acknowledge that you exist. And then you go to your seat, you take your popcorn, and you just enjoy the show. As soon as it's done, you're out and you don't want to talk to anybody.

Unfortunately, a lot of people view church like that. So maybe we don't withdraw to the mountains, but we withdraw to our personal lives. This is where my Christianity is. Jesus does not call us to do that. Jesus calls us to be on mission. He calls us to live out our faith. How does it practically? He calls us to serve. As Jesus Christ served you, serve one another. By this, the world will know that you are my disciples because of the love that you have for one another.

Many of you church as a last option. And if that's why you're here because life is just falling apart, we're glad you're here, we want to minister to you. But I would submit to you, that it's much more effective to invest in church, invest in community, invest in relationships before you try to draw dividends, and we do that just through serving one another.

The text for our time in the Word, today, is John 13:1-17. This is the night before Jesus Christ was crucified. And before he's crucified, instead of thinking about his own needs that he's about to experience unimaginable suffering, at the Last Supper he serves as disciples, and he serves them by washing their feet. Would you look at the text with me? John 13:1-17.

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.

He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”

Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

And when he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I've done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. And if I then, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is the messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these, blessed are you if you do them.

This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time together. We're going to look at the God who washes his feet, then we'll talk about receiving that washing, and then in return to extend that washing to one another.

First of all, the God who washes feet. How is Christianity different? What makes Christianity different from any of the other world religions and it does stand in a league all its own? This is what makes Christianity different. We worship a god who kneels. We worship a god who gets on his knees to wash the filth off the feet of his disciples. That's what makes Christianity different. God comes to us. He makes us clean. He provides a means for us to be purified, healed.

All the other religions say, “You need to purify yourself, cleanse yourself, and then you will be accepted.” Christianity says, “No, because of Christ's work of purification on the cross, all you need to do is accept it. And that's what makes you acceptable, just receiving the gift.”

Romans 4:5. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

We're not saved through our works; not even our works of cleansing ourselves, we're saved through the cleansing, salvific gospel of Jesus Christ. This foot-washing took place when? During the Passover. This is crucial. Why? This is the Last Supper that's taking place during the Passover. During the Passover, what was celebrated? The celebration was that the angel of death is coming, and the only thing that can save you from the angel of death is the blood of the lamb painted over your doorway.

And Jesus Christ comes, and he is the ultimate Passover lamb, who takes away the sin of the world; slain to spare us from God's judgment. And we need to accept that sacrifice by grace through faith, so to speak, paint the doorway of our heart with the blood of Jesus Christ, so that we do not experience the judgment that we deserve for our sins. And we see that everything Jesus does here is motivated by love.

John 13:1. 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.

So he loved them to the very moment of his death. And he also loved them completely; completely and up to the end, even though he's facing the most horrible suffering imaginable, he's not thinking of his own needs, he's thinking of his disciples needs. Who are these disciples? Were they faithful to the end as he was to them? No. Did they love him to the end like he loved them to the end? No. And here, we see that he's actually washing the fee of Judas, the one who betrayed him and sold him.

In John 13:26. Jesus answered, “It is he whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

Before the Lord's Supper, before saying, “This is the one who's betraying me,” he washed Judas' feet. And Jesus already knew that his disciples were going to deny him, that Peter was going to betray him. Still, he washed their feet. They didn't deserve it, that's the point, just like we didn't deserve the work of Christ on the cross as he poured out his blood to cleanse us.

John 13:3. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper, laid aside his outer garments, taking a towel, tied it around his waist, then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

I love how verse three reminds us of who this is who's about to do what he's about to do. This is the Son of God, who gave up the glory of being in heaven to come down to live with us in the incarnation. And he didn't just come live with us, he didn't just experience all of the human experience, what he does, that he goes in and he actually serves his disciples by washing their dirty feet.

Here's why this is important. As you progress in Christianity and as you progress in your career, there's two temptations. The temptation is, I have grown beyond meeting people's practical needs. Here's how the practical works. You get an education, and then you work for a few years in your career, you're like, “I know how much my hour is worth. My hourly charge is $600 an hour.” Not mine. I'm saying some of you.

And you're like, “Any work that I do outside of my job, if it's under that, I'm going to outsource it.” And there's this temptation to outsource all of the basic stuff in our lives, and there's an app for absolutely everything you can imagine, just to outsource everything. And that mindset, it creeps into like the practical relational stuff as well.

I've got four daughters. The youngest is two. The oldest is 11. 11 years I've been a father. I've got a PhD-and-a-half in fatherhood in everything that that entails, including changing diapers. And as I was changing a diaper this week, I'm like, “Man, I wish I had an app for this.” Like I wish someone would just come and do. I just want to... “Get that done.”

And in the church we see this as well, where it's like, I've been a Christian long enough, I don't need to be doing X, Y, and Z. I'm so glad that God did not do that. I'm so glad that God wasn't tempted to outsource meeting our greatest need. By the way, he couldn't; he was the only one who could meet that.

So we see this incredible humility, that the same God who upholds the universe, who holds everything together as Colossians 1 says, that the one who tells the angelic host what to do, this same God humbly gets on his knees and washes the dirty, filthy feet of 12 undeserving disciples.

And I don't need to get into the graphic details of how their feet were a lot dirtier and nastier than our feet. I'll just say two words; no indoor plumbing and animals on the streets, and everybody walked everywhere. They walked on those streets, they walk into that house, and they expect someone to wash their feet. They're looking around and no one's doing it, there's no servant here; it's just Jesus and the disciples. And Jesus gets down and washes their... By the way, he's on his knees. I think this is important.

It doesn't say that he's on his knees, but you can't do what he did without getting on your knees. You can't just wash someone else's feet by stooping over. You got to get down and you got to get your hands dirty. This is important, that the God of the universe gets on his knees. He humbles himself to the point where he kneels before us to meet our need.

The shepherds when they heard that Jesus was coming, they were on their knees. The Magi when they brought treasures to Christ to honor him were on their knees. Peter when he realizes that he is in the presence of the Son of God gets on his knees. The woman who snuck into Simon the Pharisee's house in order to wash Jesus' feet from the alabaster jar, she gets on her feet.

In just a few hours, Pilate's soldiers who placed the crown of thorns on Jesus' head gave him a shepherd staff as his “scepter”, and they beat him to a bloody pulp. Then they got on his knees in mocking worship, crying out, “This is the King of the Jews. Hours before that, Jesus gets on his knees, holds out his hands, and with his hands; the same hands with which he fashioned the same feet that he's about to wash, he cleanses the filth and the dirt.

By the way, the progression of this text is the same progression as Philippians 2:5-11. And there's a parallel between these two texts.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In the same way that Jesus rose from the throne next to God the Father and came down, he rose from his chair and he laid aside his garments of glory, and he laid aside his garments in the same way that he took on this towel; he took on, clothed himself in humility, girded himself with a towel that did a servant's lowly job. And by the way, that's whose job this was. This is a job for the lowliest of the servants. Friends didn't wash friends' feet. There is no example in all of ancient literature of a superior washing the feet of an inferior.

And Jesus pours water into a basin in the same way that a few hours later has his blood will be poured out in order to cleanse us from the grime of our hearts, the guilt, and the defilement. And after he washed his disciples' feet, he wipes them. And what does he do? He takes his garments back up, and he sits at the table in the same way that Jesus Christ after his resurrection ascends to the right hand of God, the Father, and resumes his place in glory.

In verse 31 of John 13, toward the end of the chapter, it says that what Jesus did here, it uses a very interesting word to describe his service. It uses the word glory. Verse 31. 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.

Jesus, how are you glorifying the Father? Jesus, how are you glorifying yourself? In John 12:32, the verse prior to our verse, we see a hint. Jesus answered them. He said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

When Jesus talks about glorifying his name, glorifying the name of the Father, glorify and the Holy Spirit, he's talking about the service. He's talking about the sacrifice that's at the heart of the cross. Jesus was glorified through the cross. Jesus glorified the name of the Father through the cross. And this is absolutely counterintuitive, because the cross is the opposite of glory. The cross is the epitome of humiliation. The cross is the epitome of shame. There's no worse way to die than to be stripped, to be flogged, to be scorched, to be given a splintered cross to carry, to be nailed to that splintered cross, and then hung up as a public spectacle to everyone, a spectacle of humiliation.

And Jesus says, “This is the way that I'm going to glorify God the Father. Why? Because what does it mean to glorify God? It means to magnify his attributes. It means to show people what God is like. Then at the cross, we see what God is like. God is love. We see Christ on the cross, the Son of God saying, “This is how much I love you.” And we also see his justice, the justice of God, that that's what it took for our sins to be forgiven. Justice had to be paid; justice and love merging together at the cross. Love and grace shine forth.

Hebrews 1:3. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. And after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High.

So what he did with his disciples' feet is a picture, it's a metaphor, an analogy of what he's ultimately going to do on the cross. In the same way that he washed his disciples' feet, he's saying, “I'm going to the cross in order to provide purification for the greatest filth,” the filter of our hearts, the filth of our sin.

Now, what do we need to do with that? And God does command that we do something with that. This isn't just theory. This isn't just theology to stimulate us intellectually. Christ says, if this is true and it is, he proved it through his resurrection, then we are to respond. If he provided a means for our hearts to be cleansed, we are to receive that cleansing. And we see that in this point to receiving the washing, we see that the story stops abruptly when Jesus comes to wash Peter's feet.

In John 13:6. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” And the pronouns here are emphatic, showing Peter's utter shock. Look at Jesus' response, and it's fascinating.

Verse seven. Jesus answered him, “What I'm doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head.” And Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

By the way, this is the way that Jesus communicates. I remember I had a preaching professor in seminary who said, “If you're not clear, then that wasn't a good sermon.” And my response to him was, “Have you ever read Jesus' sermons?” Like texts like this where it's like multilayered communication, like multidimensional.

What's going on here is that Jesus, as he's having a conversation with Peter, and it's a physical, tangible act of service, but it's also a metaphor for what he's doing on the cross. As he's doing the washing, he talks about two different meanings of the washing. “I'm washing your feet, which is a sign of washing your heart, but there's two ways that I wash the heart. The first is justification where I wash you. I wash you from the guilt of your sin and you're washed forever. The second is the washing of sanctification.”

So in our salvation process, there's three categories that every single Christian needs to know. Justification is the moment that you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you've repented of your sins. You are washed completely of the shame, and guilt and the condemnation. Justification; you're justified, “I have been saved.”

Now begins the process of sanctification, where the Lord, day by day cleanses us from any remnant or vestige of sin. And when we die, we get a glorified body, no sin, and we will live in an embodied future in the new heavens and the new earth. We'll be glorifying God and rejoicing forever.

This is what he's talking about here. So first, he says, “Peter, if you don't receive my washing, if you don't receive my purification, you have no part of me.” Unless Jesus is your Passover lamb, unless you have applied his blood by grace through faith to your sins, you are under the curse of death. You were separated from God. “So accept it,” he says. And that's why he says in verse 8, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

But then there's a second understanding of the washing. The first is washing of water regeneration. That's Titus 3:5. The second is the blood of Jesus cleanses us, continues to cleanse us from sin. That's 1 John 1:7. The first is all washing of regeneration. The second is that the Lord cleanses us as we walk in this world, and as our souls get sullied with the dirt of the culture around us.

Jesus doesn't tell us to retreat into the mountains, metaphorically or literally, he tells us to follow the way, follow the path, be missionaries in this world; missionaries, not monks. And as we walk in this dirty world, our feet get dirty, our souls get dirty on a daily basis. And you know what I'm talking about; things you see, things you think, and it's coming at us at just a breakneck speed, so we need the once for all cleansing, but then we also need the ongoing application of that cleansing, and that's what Jesus is talking about.

John 13:10. Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but now every one of you.

And that's where he's talking about Judas. Here, he's talking about the fact that the gospel isn't the way that we just become a Christian. The gospel is also the way we continue in the faith. You enter the Kingdom of God; you start a relationship with God by trusting him through the gospel. Then you take every step by continually being washed by his grace.

2 Timothy 2:1. You then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. At first glance, Peter's refusal when he says, “Jesus, you're not washing my feet,” at first glance, it sounds a very humble. And actually if I were there, I'd probably do the same thing. Like, “No, no, no. I'm good, Jesus. My feet are nasty.”

I actually, whenever I come to someone's house and they're like, “You got to take your shoes off,” this is a house where you got to take your shoes off, I'm like, “No, you don't want me to do that.” I carry an extra pair of socks with me, just in case. I want to be a good neighbor. You know what I'm saying? It was like, “No.” It sounds almost like, “Jesus, I don't want you to get into my filth. I don't want you to get into my mess. What if you see something else there?”

It looks like it's humble, but it actually stems from pride. Here's what I mean. Peter wasn't comfortable with just accepting something from Jesus without reciprocating, you know what I'm saying? Like when someone gives you a birthday present and you're like, “I didn't know we were on that level relationally. Now I got to figure out how much this cost, and I got to figure out when your birthday is, and I got to I got to reciprocate.”

That's what's going on here. Where if, Jesus, if I receive this, then you can call me to do whatever you want to call me to do. And that's part of how the Gospel works. Like Jesus paid it all, he can ask you to do whatever, like all to him I owe. Like, “We'd rather pay for the salvation,” or like, “Jesus, I'll accept as a loan, and then I'll pay it back with interest.” And part of it is because we want to take credit for our own cleansing process, our own salvation process, or our own healing process. And Jesus says, “No, you can't pay back salvation. You can't earn salvation.”

All of our righteousness is as filthy rags. Holy Scripture says, the only thing we can actually offer God is our dirty feet, which is a symbol of our dirty hearts, and pride often masks itself under humility.

In verse eight, Peter say, “You shall never wash my feet.” “Jesus, you can wash them to the other disciples' feet. They definitely need some cleansing. Their feet really stink. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like them or like you, not like me.” It's sounds humble but it's very prideful. The reason why Jesus did this, I don't even think it's about the feet. It's the whole of like, to receive grace, you need humility. Like sit there, rest, and know that I am God and I will cleanse you. That takes so much humility.

And Peter is actually embarrassed by Jesus doing this. It seems beneath his dignity to have the God of the universe come so close, get so tender and wash filth that that's so close. Pride sometimes drives us to serve Christ. And any service we render Christ should always stem from gratitude, not from pride. Not, Jesus, look, I've received this free gift, but now I'm going to repay. That's a prideful mindset.

Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So have you been humbled by receiving this washing? If not, what's in the way? And I'll tell you what's in the way. You know, it's in the way, it's pride. I find this text so important. Before we get into serving others, this is where we got to start, because you can serve others out of pride and you can serve others out of wrong motivation, but we got to get started here. Is your heart humbled by the cross? Does God's love cause you to hate sin? Does God's love motivate you with love so much so that you are willing to serve others?

This is crucial in our city in particular. I've lived in the city for 10 years, and in my whole time, I have never met a humble person. Never. I've met a lot of self-righteous people. I've met a lot of pretentious people. I've met a lot of arrogant. I'm right there with you. There's not one humble human being. Some people are growing in humility. That's the only difference. We need to grow in humility. And we do that by receiving washing every day. Lord, cleanse me. Lord, wash me. I need your gospel. And then as we do that, we have the grace to then extend washing to others.

Jesus says in verse 14, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I've given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.” What does he mean, literally? No, of course not. Some churches do take this to mean literally. They actually have foot washing ceremonies and kicked that around at Mosaic, grow the church one way or another. No, that would never work here.

And by the way, when churches do that, you're not really washing dirty feet. Because if I knew that a foot-washing ceremony is coming up at church, I'm going to get my first pedicure ever. Ever. I'm going to make things easier.

Now, what he's talking about is meeting practical needs of people in several different categories. And I'll just give you a few examples. And this is the way we truly love one another by meeting practical needs. And this is why we can't retreat. This is why we have remain where we are and reach the people around us, love the people around us, so that the watching world sees us love one another.

Jesus didn't say, “Go and make monastic communities where you're loving one another, washing each other's feet where no one sees that.” He says, “I want you loving each other here now, so that the unbelieving world sees it.” That's John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you,” in the context, washed your feet, “You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

This is one of our greatest apologetics to the unbelieving world, that this is a community of people that loves one another practically. What do I mean by washing each other's feet? I mean, practical service. We'll get there. It starts with realizing that we live in close proximity with one another. There's always relational gunk. There's always relational dirt, filth, whatever, stuff that accumulates. And how do we deal with that? We need to forgive.

The blood of Jesus cleanses us by procuring forgiveness. Jesus said, “I cleanse you,” therefore, “And I forgive you.” So the way that we wash one another's feet, spiritually speaking, is we forgive one another when people sin against us. Assumption, they will sin against us because we're living in such close proximity with one another in community, where we need to extend forgiveness. And the great parable of this where Jesus tells a parable of a guy who owes the king 10,000 talent debt, and this is 150,000 years of wages for a working person.

They guy can't pay it back. The king forgives him. That guy then who's forgiven goes and finds a guy who owes him 100 days of wages; 150,000, 100 days of wages, and starts choking him out and says, “If you don't pay me back, I'm going to send you to prison.” The king hears about that and he's not happy. And the point is that God has forgiven us an incalculable debt. How can we not... how can but forgive others?

Another way that we wash each other's feet, metaphorically, is correction. We live in close proximity. We see other people's sins. We see their mistakes. We see their folly. And God commands us to call one another out, to speak truth to one another lovingly. This is so counter-cultural. We are so non-confrontational, personally; online, different story. But personally, we don't want to... like live and let live. Like, “I don't want to know.” Scripture says, if you love one another, you speak truth in love. It's washing of the crud of this world through the word. We speak the word to one another.

Ephesians 5:26, talking about Jesus, “...that he might sanctify her,” the church, “having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” We received Jesus' graceful correction, and that gives us power to then extend graceful correction and receive graceful correction. Those are all aspects of foot washing. Galatians 6:1. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you be tempted.

So forgiveness, correction, and practically just serving one another. When you see someone's practical needs as brothers and sisters, we are to meet those practical needs, however that looks. And when you've received the Lord's serving you, you can serve others from the right motives and with the right expectations.

Right motive is, I'm not trying to get something from you. And with the right expectations, even if I don't get a thank you, I'm still going to do this because Jesus Christ commands me to. And it requires less focused on our own rights and needs, and more on others.

Generosity is another example. When we recognize that God has given us everything, it frees you to give generously. 1 Corinthians 4:7. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Matthew 10:8b. You received without paying, give without pay. 2 Corinthians 9:8. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

And then the final practical way before we close out with explaining why those little cards are in front of you and why the greeters were extra emphatic in making sure you got a bulletin today. We'll get there. Refreshment. When you come home after an exhausting day, and there's nothing more refreshing than washing up. There's a spiritual sense in like we get exhausted in the Christian life. Living the Christian life, in particular in a place like Boston, it's hard.

And we need to encourage one another, and we do that by refreshing one another with God's Word. And that's done with time. That's done with margin in your life, where you have time for other people, where you can sit with them, and listen and speak a positive word of encouragement to their life.

Even St Paul, the great Apostle needed this. 1 Corinthians 16:17. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.

What does it mean to refresh another spirit? I don't know. But after you're done spending time, they're like, “Duh. That was great. I feel so much better. I feel so I feel refreshed. I feel encouraged. There's something there.” Philemon 7. For I've derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

Why do we serve at Mosaic? We serve at Mosaic, and we talk about service at Mosaic because it's more blessed to give than to receive. It's more blessed to bless than to be blessed. It's more blessed to serve than to be served. It actually is really good for you.

Health professionals have been telling this for a while. The BMC Public Health cohort studies, it took 40 papers that selected five randomized controlled trials and 17 cohort studies. And one of the things that they said was that when you serve other people, when you volunteer, when you give up your time, up your energy, what happens is, it actually has favorable effects on your health. It lowers depression, increases life satisfaction, and actually lowers the risk of mortality, but... big caveat, you actually have to love the people that you're serving. That's the big caveat.

And this is Dr. Michael Poulin, professor of psychology, University of Buffalo. He says, “Helping appears to only be good for you if you really care about those you're helping.” In two separate studies, he says, “I found that volunteering on behalf of strangers also weakens the link between stress and health, but only for volunteers who have generally positive views of other people. In other words, helping may be good for you specifically to the extent you're likely to experience compassion for those you help.”

So here's the practical side of everything we just talked about. Obviously, wash one other feet. You do as Jesus did. Here's how we do it practically at Mosaic as a church body. We are a church plant, meaning we don't own our building, we're brand new church. So everything that you see that happens here is setup and teared down. This church is run by an army of incredible volunteers, and has been from the beginning. One of the reasons why we service practically, we just need people to serve. The second reason is it reminds us of what the Lord calls us to.

In the hustle and bustle of the crazy speed and pace of the city, sometimes we forget. So what I talk about when you serve at Mosaic, I talk about it as a recalibration, where it's like, “Oh yeah, the Lord called me to serve. Oh yeah, the Lord called me wash feet. Oh yeah, the Lord called me to do as he did.” So that's one of the reasons why we call people to serve at Mosaic.

The second just really practical reason is Jesus told us to. And the third is that this church just can't run apart from volunteers. The average church in America engages 43% of their attenders in some volunteer role. Average church in the US, 43% of attenders serve. The top 10% of churches engage 72% of their attenders. Pretty good. Where's Mosaic at? If you don't count kids, which I'm not that comfortable with because I think our kids need to be serving, we're at 60%, which is pretty good. That's pretty good. We're still not magna cum laude. We're still not up there in the top 10%, so there's room for growth.

But here's why that statistic isn't really accurate. Because a lot of our volunteers, volunteer in multiple roles. So if you count unique volunteers, it's only 46% of attenders; barely above the average of 43%. And Mosaic Boston, we don't like being average. I mean, you know what average is? Average is like a 2.5 GPA. Average is like C. That's not us.

I believe in you. I think we can get into that top 10% this year. And we have multiple needs. I'm going to read off the needs. If the Lord leads you to serve at this church, the way that we'd love to follow up with you is fill out the card that's in front of you. It's either in the pew or in the worship guide, and you can toss it in the offering basket when it comes around.

Here's where we have some needs. In terms of our music ministry, our band by the way is incredible, is so gifted. Before I say the needs, let me just say, you hear the level of music here that we have been gifted with. So if you are at that level. This is important to say because there is like a try-out process. And if you try it out and you don't make it, don't get mad at me. I'm not even there. And we still love you. And there's other ways to serve. We need to female singers. We need three guitarists, two basses, two drummers, and two keyboard players.

For the morning greeting team, we need 12 new volunteers. The greeting team is the really happy, energetic looking people. So if you are an extrovert or can fake it, we'd love for you to sign up. And I know in this city, those people... like you guys are unicorns. So we need 12 unicorns for the greeting team.

Morning setup, we need six new volunteers. By the way, set up is incredible time to just get your cardio in on a Sunday morning. You just get here, you got to carry stuff, so you're welcome. Morning tear down, we need eight new volunteers. Evening Service, our 5:00 PM, we need greeters and tear down, accommodation of 10 new volunteers. Morning security, we need 12 new volunteers.

For the Mosaic teens ministry, we have a thriving teens ministry. We need three volunteers in the morning, and four in the evening, so seven total. Mini Mosaic, we need four front-table greeters, and then for flexible floaters. I think that's people who can do absolutely everything; so the Julian Edelman of service.

And then the video slide team, we need some volunteers. And then also community groups and community group hosts, we need hosts and leaders, co-leaders. So if you're interested in that, if you're blessed with the spiritual gift of a living room, that would be helpful.

So with that all said, you can respond on that little card, be like, “Yeah, I want to practically serve and help out the church. Even if I'm here for like a year, even if I'm here for six months, I want to invest while I'm here in order to see the kingdom of God expand.” With that said, would you please pray with me over the conclusion of the preaching of God's Word?

Lord, we thank you for this church. I thank you Jesus that you promise to build your church and that the gates of hell will not overcome it. I thank you for every single person who has sacrificially invested in this church by giving time, and treasure, and talent. And I pray that you draw many more to serve and continue to fill our hearts with this incredible love, and spirit of generosity and sacrifice, so much so that we're willing to wash one another's feet, however that may look. I pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.