Sermon in Rockford 11.10.2009

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let us unite our hearts in opening prayer and thanksgiving. Dear Heavenly Father, this morning you have again arranged for us this occasion where we may gather around your holy word. We ask, dear Father, for your service blessing, that you would comfort us and instruct us on this narrow pathway which we know through faith and which you have promised to us will lead to heaven's home with you one day.

We thank you, dear Father, for all the blessings of this day, for the life you have given, for the faith you have given unto your children, for all that we need temporally in this life for which we have been given so much. We thank you above all that you have given unto us your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, victorious over hell and death, and prepared for us a way to enter heaven's home with you one day.

We remember, dear loved ones, who are in times of distress, times of loneliness, in times of health, which has taken them from the activities of this life. We remember those who serve and live in faraway places, that wherever your children may be, they would be protected and guided to above all remain in living faith through your grace and love and mercy.

And yet we also remember those in the world around us who do not own the gift of living faith and do not have in their hearts the peace of forgiveness and the hope of eternal life with you. That your word would be heard by them and that the light of your kingdom would be seen by them so that they too could one day journey in this precious kingdom on earth which you have granted unto us to have the escorts of our believing brothers and sisters to help on the journey and to endeavor toward eternal home with you also.

We pray as your son has taught us: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

For our service this morning I will read the gospel text for today which is found in the gospel of Saint John chapter 13 verses 31 through 35. The words are as follows, in Jesus' name:

Therefore when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you, A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Amen.

The theme for today is the dual commandment of love, and this is so clearly stated when Jesus answered the question of the Pharisee, the lawyer, as recorded in Matthew. It tells us that when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question tempting him and saying, Master, what is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And it's often said how here Jesus condensed that ten commandment law into two: love of God the Father and love of our neighbor, to love our neighbor as ourselves—the dual commandment of love.

And we notice that it says love, to love God and to love our neighbor. Time and time we read and hear that message through the scriptures, through God's holy word.

In this thirteenth chapter of John, it begins by saying, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

It begins by saying how Jesus loved his own, loved his disciples, and loved them unto the end. This portion which we read is actually the beginning of Jesus' long farewell sermon where he spoke to his disciples soon before he was taken captive and put to death.

But not only did he speak in that farewell sermon to the disciples, but he spoke to God on their behalf. And so we also remember it or think of it in this way as his intercessionary prayer, and he prayed on behalf of his own to God.

But he loved his own unto the end, and even in his baptismal command when he said to go forth, baptize and preach, he said, Lo, I will be with you always, even unto the end of the world.

So again, it's comforting for us to know how Jesus loved his own, that he would never forsake them but would love them unto the end.

And so this familiar 13th chapter of John then relates to us of the time of the Last Supper, the evening before Jesus was betrayed, when he gathered with his disciples.

It tells us, as we recall, how when they had finished eating, he took a towel and girded himself and put water in a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet.

And Peter said, Lord, why do you wash my feet?

Peter, looking at Jesus, his Lord and Master, felt that this wasn't in any way proper—that this Lord, this Master, this King would wash his feet.

And Jesus had to tell him that if I don't wash your feet, you won't have any part with me.

Then Peter said, In that case, wash not only my feet but wash my hands, my head, wash my whole body, wash everything.

And then Jesus had to say that it's sufficient; it's enough if I wash your feet.

Then Jesus spoke to his disciples and said, If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

And we know what a beautiful picture this is of washing each other's feet, of serving and loving one another, comforting each other, but above all preaching forgiveness to one another, forgiving each other, washing this uncomely part of our body—the feet—that gets so dirty so quickly and so easily.

Just a few steps and they need washing again.

Jesus said, As I have washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet.

As I was reading this portion, thinking of our service today, the 17th verse struck me, and I hadn't really thought of it before, where Jesus said, If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.

If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.

It's interesting because I'd always thought of it where the one whose feet are washed is comforted to have those feet washed.

When we've been in distress of sin and we've desired forgiveness and God's grace and mercy, it's felt so good and we've been happy when we've heard that proclamation of forgiveness and our sins have been forgiven, and we're happy.

But here it seems that Jesus is talking to the one who served, the one who preached the forgiveness, the one who washed the feet.

He says, If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.

It caused me to think: one is able to serve another when one is able to preach forgiveness to another.

We know that it isn't through our power, our own power, our own wisdom that we serve even in this way, but through the power that God has given through the Holy Spirit and the love which comes forth from there.

It's in this way that we serve each other.

But how does it feel when you are able to forgive another, when you preach forgiveness to another, when you see that the comfort and the joy that it brings to the other one?

Doesn't it also bring joy in your heart? Doesn't it also make you happy to serve?

Jesus says, If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.

So beautifully and simply, Jesus speaks about the joy of serving each other, of loving each other: happy are you if you do them.

It also caused me to think, What is it that makes a person happy?

I know that from a medical standpoint or a psychological standpoint, there's a way to describe and define perhaps contentment or happiness.

But I think it's very simple.

We know that when, or we could easily think about, all the wants and the desires that we have in this life, and that when they are met or satisfied, it makes us happy.

But I think we don't stop to realize that it's simple things, it's little things that make us truly happy.

Now, when my mother is so, when she can't any longer do anything for herself but move one hand and say a few words, occasionally open her eyes and look around, she says, Help me, I need help.

We go to her bedside and hold her hand, and then she's happy.

She says, I'm hungry, and so we give a few bites of food, and then she seems so happy.

Or just to help turn from side to side, she's so grateful, and then she's happy.

She's happy to be home, to be with family, happy.

These are the little things that truly make one happy: our homes, our families, our loved ones, to be warm, to be fed.

And as God's children too, we know, to have the peace and joy of a free conscience, to hear the preaching of forgiveness.

These are the things that make us happy, brothers and sisters and little children.

And everything else that we have is nice too, but they aren't the most important.

It's those little things that make us happy.

Jesus speaks here about washing each other's feet, loving each other, serving each other.

He says, Happy are ye if ye do them.

I was thinking, even for me, it makes me happy to help my mother now.

It also brings joy in the heart to know that in some way it can help.

But again, this serving of one another, as we see it so beautifully, God's children, comes from the love of the Holy Spirit.

It isn't a work that we see the good in ourselves, but only that the Spirit prompts us to serve.

But also we receive strength and joy in serving and helping.

Even our own faith is uplifted when we can serve each other.

So we go to this portion which we read in the beginning that speaks of the new commandment.

It begins, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.

We are reminded how the glory of God was seen in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He revealed this unto us, unto man, that Jesus was His Son, and the glory of God was there in His Son.

Jesus continued to say, Little children, a little while I am with you, ye shall seek Me.

Whither I go ye cannot come.

So now I say to you.

Jesus was there saying to His disciples that I won't be with you much longer in the flesh, and you won't be able to come with Me where I am going.

So now I'm going to tell you something.

What He says is, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Here, we could wonder what is meant when Jesus says, A new commandment I give unto you.

Because we already read, even earlier from Matthew, how He spoke with the Pharisees about loving God and loving our neighbor.

It wasn't a new commandment that we should love God or love our neighbor.

But perhaps the new part here is where He says, As I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Because now the time was coming when Jesus' time on this earth would end as flesh of blood, His time here as the Son of God on the earth, being the victor or victorious over sin and hell and death, was going to be fulfilled.

He was going to be crucified and put to death.

Yet He was going to love His own unto the end because it is for this reason that He submitted Himself to this death.

It was because He loved us all so much that He was willing to die for us, for our sins.

And so, with this example of love, He says we should love each other.

This was the new part: that His time would end as flesh on this earth but His love would be seen, how He loved His own unto the end.

As He loved us, He instructed us then to love one another.

He said, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Again, as God's children, when we have been forgiven, when we are so happy to be children of God, when we realize what a blessing it is that we can live here in this kingdom with our brothers and sisters in faith to help us.

The love which we have felt and experienced in our own heart and the faith that we have been given also prompts us to love.

Again, not from our own power as a work but only as a fruit that we want to love one another.

It's such a special love that comes through the Holy Spirit and the bond of God's children.

Jesus says, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples.

We so easily take it for granted.

But when those outside of living faith come among God's children, they see the love that is there.

They notice that love.

They realize that they are not part of that same love.

And so, in this way, even the love of God's children is a sign that we are God's children, that we are the disciples of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.

It's a sign unto those on the outside of God's kingdom, a sign of God's kingdom, and how special, how precious it is.

We would also pray that those who see this love but do not feel that love, those who realize they are not a part of that love, that this even would prompt them to desire to be in that love, to repent of unbelief and all manner of sin, to be grace beggars, sinners, and put all that self-righteousness and false pride away to humbly ask for forgiveness and believe when it is preached unto them from the mouths of God's children, that all sins are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

Then they too can be a part of that special love and know that they are disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So today, brothers and sisters, remember to love one another, wash one another's feet.

Be thankful for the love which you have experienced in God's kingdom as a dweller therein.

Think of this matter when Jesus said to wash one another's feet as he washed their feet, that if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

Think about the joy that comes when you are able to serve, forgive, and love your brothers and sisters in faith.

Uplift your hearts to believe all sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

When we are able to put all sin away and endeavor in faith, that love is always precious and never gets cold.

When it gets cold, we know that there is reason to be concerned.

We need to hear and believe the gospel.

And I ask you, and you yet preach the gospel of forgiveness unto me.

I want to believe with you.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let us close in the Lord's benediction: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.