I’m grateful to be able to preach today back through our series, Through the Book or Through the Ministry of Jesus. Today in our series, we’re approaching what some call Jesus’s Farewell Address. This section of scripture is Jesus’s last extended communication with his disciples before his trial and subsequent murder. Where at the end of Jesus’s earthly life and his earthly ministry, he has been preaching and teaching and healing and making an impact all throughout Israel, in the north, in Galilee, in the south, in the Judaean countryside. Here at the end of Jesus’s life, we talked about this actually a few months ago, Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time. When he entered Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday, he was celebrated as a king. People shouted, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna, glory to God in the highest. He walked in and the next day he clears the temple and then he rebukes the pharisees. He teaches about the destruction of Jerusalem and the corruption of that terrible religious system. All of that led to become the last straw for Jesus towards the religious leaders who would ultimately hatch a plan to kill Jesus on Friday night. Today in our text, however, it’s not yet Friday, but it’s Thursday night.
In just a few hours, Jesus will be arrested while praying in the garden of Gethsemane. He will be tried in a crock of a trial. He will be killed on a cross in Jerusalem. And then a couple of days later, he will rise from the dead. That’s where we’re headed. And because Easter is a few weeks away for us, we need to pick up the temple a little bit of our series. Otherwise, we’d have to do another full year of this, which would be great, but maybe a little too much. So today I have the task that is a little bit overwhelming for me. I have the task of teaching through the entirety of Jesus’s Farewell Address. It’s a little bit. It’s five chapters, 3,500 words. I need prayer from all of you guys. So while you’re sitting here, you can intercede for me. All of this will take place during this last supper as Jesus has dinner with his disciples for the very last time. Today, my task is to present to you Jesus’s words, his instructions. My task is also to pull back the veil a bit so that you could be in the room with Jesus as he teaches his disciples for the last time on earth.
Again, it’s five chapters, and I think we’ll probably have to come back to this for a series in the future to be more complete. So today, I’m just going to hit some key ideas, some highlights, and pray we will find ourselves in that tension, in that room, as Jesus taught his disciples for the very last time. Are you guys with me? Are you here? Okay, awesome. As I prepared, I spent a fair bit of time considering what a farewell a address is. What is a farewell address? Actually, my brain brought me to some other Farewell Addresses. The Farewell Address I could think of was of our first President. In 1796, President Washington decided not to seek a third term of election. He was amazingly popular in post-colonial America and would have won the election by a landslide. But he decided to step away from that public service. And when he did, he chose, with the help of a couple of guys, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, to lay out his vision for the country in what he called his Farewell Address. This address was his way of communicating something like, Hey, do you appreciate my leadership?
And the country would have said, Yes. Have you been thankful for the work that I have done? And the country would have said, yes. Have you enjoyed my time as president? And they would have said, yes. And then he would have said something like, if you want a person like me or if you want the ideas that I have, here are the practices that I have kept that make me such a good President. In his address, he warned of a couple of things. I’m going to mention them, but I’m not going to make a political statement about any of them. The first is political parties. He warned that the country should not be divided into political parties. He warned that the country should not be involved in foreign wars. He said that the country needed religion and morality in order to sustain it. He warned of the dangers of national debt. And these words in his short speech, eventually written down and distributed nationally, became a blueprint of the philosophies of his government. Now, whether or not you agree with any of these he is or you agree he’s a good guy or not a good guy is beyond the point.
But what I would try to communicate with you is that a well-crafted, fairwell address allows its hearers to follow the ideas of the person that preceded them. It’s a way of He’s saying, look, if you want me, if you want the thing I have laid before you, here is what you need to follow. This is my platform. This is the structure of my beliefs. When I’m gone, if you wish to continue in my legacy, this is what you should hold to. And this is what we get from Jesus in John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. We see Jesus’s clear philosophies, his clear ideas of what he wants from those who will continue his work. Let me just go ahead and say this to you guys. I am overprepared. There’s moderately overprepared, and then there’s what I am today. I have too much information. So afterwards, if you want to talk about it, I’d love to. That would be so much fun. I told the guys backstage, there’s really three options. One option here is that I go way too long, which I’m going to not do. I’m looking at the clock. Amen. Option two is that I go way too short and I just leave out the stuff that’s important.
Option three is what I need the Holy spirit for us. It’s to strike a happy medium between too long and too short and then tell you exactly what it’s like to be as thrilled about this text as I am. I hope, in fact, and I’ve been praying for you all week long, I’ve been praying for all of you all week long, as I stand here, I continue to pray in my heart that you will experience the text as I have. I have been blown away by Jesus’s words, and I hope that you feel what I feel about his words as well. If you’re with me, let me get an amen. Amen. Then you could turn your Bible to John 13. John 13. As you’re turning there, allow me to define some terms that Jesus will allude to or will reference directly, fairly often. Here are some terms. The first term is the word word. Jesus will use this word fairly often. These words you hear from me are not my own, Jesus will say. They are the words from the Father. He will also say later on in 15, If you remain in me and my word remains in you.
When you hear the word word, what I want you to think of is not words. What I want you to think of is the whole of Jesus’s message. That’s what I want you to think of. So when you hear remain in my word, these words I have been given are not my own. What he’s saying is my message, my philosophy, my ideas. This is what Jesus calls the gospel of the good news, the gospel, his words, His message. So when you read the word word, think His message. Next word, the word disciple. We’re going to read this word a fair bit as well. What is a disciple? A disciple is someone who describes to another’s teachings or another’s message. In this text, we’re talking about those who subscribe to Jesus’s message, the whole of Jesus’s teachings. Good so far? Next word, discipleship. You’ve heard this word a fair bit? What does this mean? This means it’s the process of disciples following the message or the teachings more accurately. Yes? So it means, hey, look, I’m on the process of discipleship. Some have called it sanctification. I’m moving from one degree of glory to the next.
Those three words. Word, when you hear that, think message. Disciple, when you hear that, think someone who follows the message. Discipleship, when you hear that, it’s the process of perfecting your ability to to follow the message. Here we go. We’re flying, guys. John 13:1. It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave the world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the very end. The first verse serves as a heading of the section of scripture. Jesus is in hiding. The religious leaders want to kill him. They’ve been plotting his death for months now, and Jesus has picked a room to go away, to be away from the crowds, to be away from the religious leaders, so we could have one more conversation with his disciples. The text here tells us that he knew what was coming. Jesus was not surprised by the cross. Jesus was not some like, Oh, my goodness, I’m being arrested. He was not some victim to the whole thing. In fact, we learn that from the beginning of time, God had predestined that this event would occur.
And so he knows what’s happening. He knows what’s happening. And in a moment, the gospel writers make a point to highlight that he knows he’s going to die and he loves his disciples. By the way, this is the first time we are told explicitly in the Bible that Jesus loves his disciples. It’s alluded to several times. Sometimes he talks about loving the world or loving individuals, Mary, Martha, Lazarus. But this is the first time in the whole of the gospel that we hear that he loves his disciples. He’s their leader, but he isn’t leading them to use them. Like many in the world do. He doesn’t lead them because they aren’t like a puppet in his cosmic play. They aren’t just used to gain power or wealth or money. This isn’t a multi-level marketing scheme. His followers instead are loved by him and loved to the very end. I just want to let you know, brothers and sisters, as you sit here today, if you’re a disciple of Jesus Christ, you are loved by the one you call Lord. Like loved by him. I hope that that sinks into you. What a special thing that is to be loved by God, the author of life.
Now, it’s no coincidence that this section begins by talking about God’s love, because really what you’re going to learn, and this is the first theme that you have to to hone in. You’re taking notes, you should maybe write this down. But love is the dominant characteristic of Jesus’s message. Love. If you want to hear the platform of Jesus, it starts with love. Jesus loves. And that’s the philosophy. This faith that we’re in is about love. It’s about love. This religion that we’re a part of is about love. The gospel, the good news is about love. It’s a love for men. It’s God’s It’s love for men. It’s men’s love for God. It’s God’s love for Christ. It’s our love for Christ. It’s love for enemies. It’s love for those who are sojourners and those who are strangers. And so it’s not shocking that in the farewell address, Jesus will not only talk about love, but he will show, display how far, how wide, and how deep that love goes. This is what it says, verse 2. The evening meal was in progress. Again, we’re in a room somewhere in Israel, somewhere in Jerusalem. He’s hiding out.
And there’s a meal. They’re sitting around a table. He’s having this conversation with these guys. And before he begins to divulge to them what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a follower, his The whole philosophy, he goes, Hold on for a second. It’s in progress and says, The devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon, Iscariot, to… And I’m not even going to tell you what it is to do because you know. The text shows us the quality of this love by introducing a new character, Judas Iscariot. We were told that he’s one of the twelve, but he is prompted by Satan to follow the purposes of the devil. I mentioned this before, Jesus in hiding, and Judas will, like a spy, give over the location of Jesus for some money. That’s what Judas will do. Judas is going to leave this meeting, going to find some religious leaders and go, Hey, he’s praying in the garden. Give me some money. That’s what’s going to happen. He’s going to sell the place. This is before the capture. You might think this is a weird character to introduce at this time, but it actually shows us the quality and the type of Jesus’s love, because here’s what happens next.
We’re at the dinner. Here’s the man who’s been tempted by Satan. Are you ready? So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothes, it’s like his jacket, and He wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet. With the scene so elaborately set, what happens next becomes a parable of the message of the gospel. Before Jesus dives into the rich teachings, the rich economy of his teachings, he begins with action. He says, Look, I want you to know what love means, and here is what love is. I will take on the nature of a slave, and I will wash your feet. Slaves washed feet. Disciples washed their rabbi’s feet. And here is Jesus, the author of life, stoping down to serve them, and even going so far as to washing the feet of the one whom Satan has already taken advantage of. This is the demonstration of his message, because as I mentioned before, love is the dominant characteristic of Jesus’s message. This text underlays for us the quality of the love. The message of Jesus is a message that revolves around the idea of love.
And when I say love, I know that all of us have a visual in mind of what love is, but I want to crush that visual and replace it with something else. When the Bible talks about love, it talks about self-sacrificial love. That’s love that can only happen if you sacrifice yourself. It’s love for the worst of your enemies. It’s love that goes beyond words that leads to service. And Jesus will make this point crystal clear when he says this, a new command I give you love one another, how? As I have loved you, which means stoop down to make someone better than you. Become a servant of someone else, even those who ridicule you, persecute you, and even want to kill you. So you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciple if you love one another. What does this mean to the disciples? It means to love each other as Jesus has loved you is the only love that’s acceptable by God. I want to just make this point really clear. The love we’re talking about is not the love of our culture. I get a little bit frustrated by the way that my culture, our culture, talks about love.
Even our Christian culture talks a little bit about love. I You feel as though love, that word has been hijacked. It’s been hijacked by a generation of people like me, a narcissist, self-interested people who have watered down the idea of love into just saying love. Love is I love you. Love is that. It’s just words. To love is to say words. To love is to have good vibes. I feel like there’s love in this room. I don’t know what the heck that means, but that’s what I feel like. It’s like, man, there’s a good feeling. There’s a Love. There’s love in this thing. To love is to be tolerant. It’s to be ultra-tolerant. Whatever you want to do is what you should do, and that’s my expression of love for you. And if I don’t tolerate you, then I don’t love you. Love becomes a culture of kindness. It’s just about being nice. That’s not love to say that word. That’s not nice. That’s not whatever. And of course, I’m not saying don’t be tolerant and don’t be kind and don’t have good vibes. Have good vibes here, you all. And don’t say, I love you.
In fact, say, I love you more often than you probably should. Say it boldly, I love you. I love you. I love you. Amen. But this is not the love Jesus is talking about. The love Jesus is talking about is almost militant. It’s radical. It’s a radical militant self-sacrificialness for someone else. For Jesus to love someone is to say that this man has been coerced by the devil. This man is following the work of Satan himself, and you, Peter, you’re about to disown me three times and the rooster is going to crow. And all of you guys are about to abandon me. And all of you in my point of greatest need are going to totally disregard who I am. And yet I will still serve you, and I will still become your servant, and I will still become a slave for you. I love you. And that love is on full display as I take the nature of a servant and place your needs ahead of my own. That is to love. It’s to serve your enemies, not to gossip about them. That is to love. You and I have become so used to ridiculing people and talking badly about people that I think we have lost the place of love in our lives.
I hear people talking about the President. I hear people talking about the the person running for President against the President. I hear people talking about them, and I go, wow, I don’t know. That doesn’t sound very much like Jesus Christ. That doesn’t sound like I’m going to serve him and I’m going to honor him above myself. That sounds like I hate him, and he’s my enemy. It’s just one thing. I hear people talking about their bosses. Oh, gosh, what are we doing? By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, the way you talk badly about your boss. What are we doing? What are we doing? Who are you? We’re disciples, aren’t we? I thought we were disciples. To love as Jesus loved is to place someone above yourself, even if they are your enemy, even if they are there to kill you and hand you over. So I ask you the question, do you love as Jesus loved, or are you okay with loving as the culture has allowed you to love? Those are your choices. I have to keep going. From there The day Jesus rises from the ground and begins to teach them.
He tells them that they’re all going to betray him. Peter, you’re going to leave me. All of you are going to leave me. These guys who have been following him for three years are all going to abandon him, and he just plainly explains it to them. And then he says this, Don’t let your heart be troubled. What a compassionate God. You’re all going to leave me. But hold on. Don’t be sad. Don’t be sad. You believe in God believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have not told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you may also be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. You’re all going to leave me, but don’t be so sad because I’m going to take you to be with me. Now, Thomas, one of the disciples, hears this but does not understand what he’s saying. He thinks he’s going somewhere to prepare a house for these guys.
You’re all going to leave me, but over there across the Mediterranean Sea in Rome, I’m going to get you a house, and we’re going to build a new kingdom over there. That’s what he thinks. And so he says, Lord, we don’t know where you’re going. We don’t even know where you’re going. So how can we know the way? We don’t know, and Jesus masterfully uses this opportunity to teach them a lesson that is so deep and so profound that we could spend an entire series just on this line. Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know me, you do know him, sorry, and have seen him. The way is not what Thomas thought it was. It’s not a literal route. And the person, sorry, and the destination is also not a place Both are people. Here, Jesus is explaining to us something that’s so important that you know, and it’s this, that the Father is the goal of Jesus’s message. I have to talk about this because it’s critically important.
Jesus is saying, Hey, look, I’m going away to the place where you should be going. If you’re a follower of me, you’re going to go to this place. And Thomas is like, Where is that place? And Jesus says, The place is the Father. And he goes, Well, how do I get there? What’s the way? And he goes, I am the way to get to the Father. The goal of Jesus’s message is to return to the Father. What does this mean? I think of the image of going back to the Garden of Gethseman. Oh, sorry, back to the Garden of Eden. Remember the Garden of Eden? The Bible tells us that in the Garden of Eden, you walked with God in the cool of the day, that you were not ashamed, that you had no sin, that there was no pain, there was no murder, that there was no destruction. The Bible also tells us that sin has separated us from God’s presence, but that Jesus can bring us back to the presence of God, to the place where sin cannot go, where there is no more pain and suffering. And so I want you to understand that the goal of the message of Jesus has been and will always be to bring people back to God.
That’s the point. I cannot overstate this. The goal of Christianity is about finding God again. It’s about being close to God again. It’s about knowing him and loving him and having his peace and his presence and the fruits of his spirit in our life. The goal of our faith is not good friendships. Can I tell you that the goal of our faith isn’t even the awesome relationships you have here? It’s not even a happy marriage. It’s not. It’s not about fun events. It’s not about finding relief from your anxiety. It’s not about finding freedom from your fears. I mean, that’s not really what the goal of Christianity is. It’s about one thing. It’s about finding the Father. The goal is God. That’s the goal. The goal is Revelation 21, where we are in the presence of God. And what does it say? There are no more tears. But that’s the fruit of the goal. Does that make sense? But the goal is God himself. And there are no more wars, and there are no more politics, and there’s no more suffering, and there are no more bombs killing people, and there’s no more gun violence, and there’s no more sex slaves, and there’s no more hatred for people, or racism, or insecurity, or disease, or diabetes, or cancer, or The goal is this.
You follow Jesus and you get God, and God rips away all the things that have made you so disappointed about the life you live. Follow Jesus and you get God himself. That’s the goal of our faith. It should be the goal of your life and to view everything else. You should view everything else as not quite enough. It’s not quite good enough for you. You know what? I can get a lot of money. Man, that would be dope. But it’s not quite good enough for me. I want God. You know what? I can have a great marriage, and I want a great marriage. Amen. But that’s just not quite good enough for me. I want the Father. I want the Father because I can have a marriage and not have any peace. You know what I’m saying? I want the Father. I need his storm stopping word in my I want the Father. Philip continues this discussion. He then astutely asks a question, If the goal is the Father, then Jesus, show us the Father. That’s what he says. Philip says, Look, I get it. The goal is God. Just show it to us and that would be good enough.
And Jesus replies, Don’t you know me, Philip? Even after I’ve been among you for such a long time. Come on, dude. Do you get it? Anyone who has has seen me, has seen the Father. This is so, so, so, so good. Man, I wish I could talk about this more. Jesus here is not only insinuating that he is divine, but he’s also making a very practical point that Paul will later double down on. By the way, when Paul says we see the body of Christ in the church, this is what I think Paul is connecting to, that we get a small glimpse of God’s presence amongst those who are here. Now, you don’t get it perfectly, but you get a small glimpse. There’s no more war, at least there shouldn’t be in the church. There’s no more hatred. At least there shouldn’t be in the church. There’s no more violence and a little more rage. And it’s not perfectly clear, but it’s just a glimpse of the Father in the body of Christ. Again, I wish I could talk more about this, but I have to go on. The dialog continues and leads now to Jesus introducing what he calls the advocates or the Holy spirit.
And here’s why the introduction of that is so important, because the way it works is you see God amongst us because God lives inside of us in the version of the Holy spirit. Does this make sense? So all of us have a version of God that pours out and the advocate comes and defends us and teaches us and inspires us and moves us and allows us to obey Jesus’s teachings. And so amongst this crowd, we get see a glimpse of heaven even before we get there. Chapter 15, we go to and we begin to look at a new characteristic. So we have the divining characteristic of the message, which is love. Then we have the goal of the message, which is the Father. And here we get the mission of the message. Why is this even here? Why does Jesus have a message? And here he explains it. It’s so good. John 2:15, verse 5. It says, I You are the vine, you are the branches. Here’s the illustration. Why do you have to have this profound new philosophy for life? Why do you need it? Well, let me explain it to you. Because you want to push out the evil from the world?
Yes, you do? Awesome. Well, you have to stay connected to the one who is life giving and is spirit giving. Here’s what it says, I’m the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my word remains in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourself to be my disciple. ‘ Jesus begins by saying that I am the true vine, this is in verse one, and the Father is the gardener or the vine keeper. And then five verses later, he says, I am the vine, You are the branches. The notion of the Father as the vine keeper is not surprising, given the Old Testament tradition, going back to some imagery found in Psalm 80, Ezequiel Chapter 15, I believe, and then the famous passage in Isaiah Chapter 5. This illustration is redone here, though, and this time God is still the vine owner, but there is a new character, and it is the vine, or the vineyard owner, and it is the vine.
Why is the vine so important? Because the branches can finally bear fruit. If you read the Old Testament illustrations, what you find is that there is a vineyard and God is the vineyard owner, but the vineyard could never bear fruit. It was a terrible vineyard. It was a terrible vineyard. And here Jesus goes, No, the reason the vineyard was so bad is because it did not have me. I’m the one who will give you life. I’m the one who will multiply this effort. And so I want you to see the mission here. The mission is fruit. The goal is for all of us to bear fruits, to bear fruits, to bear fruit. You’re a branch that’s required to bear fruit. How do you do that? You stay so connected to God that you bear fruit. You stick to his words. You stick to his message. You follow it to a T. You work on your discipleship. You get better and better and better at following it. And all of a sudden you become someone that propagates the blessings of Jesus into the world. You create a happy garden in your little small square. You know your family is like a vineyard.
God is the vine owner. And there’s a vine there. It’s Jesus Christ. He’s the best dad, the best mom, the best parent, the best, period. And if you are connected as a dad, as a mom to the vine, you will bear healthy fruit in your family. And it will multiply and your children will follow, and your children will bring blessings, or maybe the people who see your family will follow, and they will bring blessings. And what you do is you create a garden of blessings because you’re connected to the vine, and the cycle continues. So the goal is to get to the Father. And how do we get the whole world to the Father? Well, you bear a lot of fruit. You bear a lot of fruit. By the way, the activity here isn’t to bear fruit. Bearing fruit is the result of staying connected to Jesus. So you can’t be like, you know what I’m going to do is I’m going to bear some fruit this morning, smile on my face, and I’m just going to be a happy guy. Look how happy I am. Here I am. I’m really joyful. It doesn’t work like that.
What it works like is you’re so connected to Jesus that you can’t help but be joyful. You’re so connected to Jesus that you can’t help but bring blessings to people around you. I stay connected to the teachings of Jesus, and so I have the divine divine impact of God in my life. That is the strategy. Stay connected to God’s word, and you will bear much fruit. We’re running out of time. We have to continue. Love is the characteristic. The goal is the Father. The mission is to bear fruit so that the world sees God in reality and in the flesh. And that leads us to the enemy, the enemy of the message of Jesus. What is the enemy? If the world hates you, keep in mind, it hated me first. If you belong to the world, if you belonged to the world, it would love you as your own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. This is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you? A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they that will persecute you also.
Jesus brings us a new idea here about his platform, and it’s that there will be an enemy. There will be an enemy, and that enemy is the world, the the world. In other words, the world is the other ways that people believe will get them to God. If the mission, if the goal of the gospel is to get you to the Father, then let’s say this is the line, I should have done a chart. The world is any line that says it’s going to get you to the Father without being the way of Jesus Christ. That is the world. Or Ways that say you don’t need the Father to get the things the Father provides. So instead of the goal being the Father, it makes a new goal, which is peace, which is joy, which is whatever. It makes something into an idol. And that becomes your God. All of those things are the world. It’s those things that say, look, I want a world free of war. Do you want a world free of war? I do. Yes. Agreed? Amen. Okay, awesome. And I think that the Father can’t get us there. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to use this different philosophy to get us there.
That is the world. Does that make sense? Okay, I want to use the philosophy of education. If people were just smarter then there would be no more racism. By the way, that’s not going to happen. You can educate people as much as you want, and they’ll still be hate in their hearts. That’s the way it works, right? It’s this idea that if you, oh, you know what? I I can do? I can be a pacifist. And if everyone’s a pacifist, there will be no more war. Yeah, that doesn’t really work because not everyone’s a pacifist, and so still someone will create war. If we all became liberal or conservative or whatever other isms you want to put in there, then the world will be better. All of these things are a teaching of the worlds. It’s how do we get the things God says we can get from him without the Father. That’s the world. And what Jesus is saying is the world, all of those philosophies, will hate you. They will hate you. Do you know why they will hate you? You know why they will hate you? Because you believe the only way to get there is Jesus Christ.
At least you should. So here’s what I think about. The world is the enemy of Jesus’s message because you say, look, Amen. Those other things have similarities to the gospel, but they’re not the gospel. I think about Romans 3, let God be true and every other human being be a liar. A liar. The ideas, they’re captivating, they’re tempting, they They make us, they draw us in. But honestly, they’re all fraudulent compared to the philosophy of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You want to get to God? There’s only one way. It’s through Jesus Christ, our Lord. You want to change the world? There’s only one way. It’s through Jesus Christ, our Lord. I wish I could talk more about this. Each of these ideas could be the whole of a sermon or of a series. But I want you to know just on this statement here that in this church, we don’t believe that there is a single philosophy that will heal the world apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you come in with a wisdom that comes from the world, Amen. You’re welcome here. But I want you to know that eventually it will be purged out of you and replaced with something so simple that is Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.
This is the platform. Are you ready? Here it is. Love is the dominant characteristic. Do you love? Do you love? The Father is the goal. Do you have another goal in mind? Are you like, You know what? I wish I’m here because I want to be whatever. The goal is the Father. The goal is God. Fruit is how we propagate this mission. Fruit, fruit, bearing much fruit. And the last thing is the world is the enemy. Here is the question. Here’s the question for you as we conclude here. Is this what you’re signing up for? Is this… Obviously, there’s other that can fit in all the lines, but is this what you signed up for? Do you want to love? Do you want to love? Do you want to love as Jesus asked you to love? Is God your actual goal? Are you abiding in Christ and so bearing fruit? Have you flatly rejected the philosophies of the world? Flatly. I do not subscribe to any of them. I’m not a conservative. I’m not a Republican. I’m not a Democrat. I’m I’m not an independent. I don’t have allegiances with this group or with that group.
I’m none of those things. I am a Christian. Is that what you signed up for? Is that what you signed up for? Is this what you want? Out, or have you settled? Have you settled for a type of Christianity that’s just really cultural Christianity? Have you settled? And God, you know what? I go to church on Sunday. I have a group. Have you settled? Have you settled? You come to church, you immediately walk out and are the same exact person that you were before you walked in. I want to tell you plainly, This is who this church wants to be. We want to be disciples. Amen to that? Amen. Like real disciples. And we want to sell for anything, anything that’s below that. We want to be real disciples or nothing else. The whole goal of being a Christian is to be like Jesus. It’s not for me to create a version of Christianity. It’s to be like Jesus and be as close to him as I possibly can be. That’s what I want to do. I don’t do it perfectly, but that’s what I long to do. I know that’s what so many of you want to do.
I tell you, and I’m telling you, if you’re here in this congregation, this is who we want to be. We don’t want to be 75% Christians. We want to be 100% followers of Jesus Christ. I I want to ask you, have you settled for anything else? I want to close with where I began as I invite the worship team up. George Washington. I mentioned George Washington, but you know that people didn’t really follow any of those things. People today talk a lot about how George Washington was the best President. Again, who cares about what you think? I’m not trying to be political. But what do you see in our country? Do you see political parties? You sure do. Do you see a country that’s constantly at war? You sure do. Do you see a national debt that I believe is out of control? You sure do. People love to talk about the fact that they love George Washington, but they really, really are just giving him lip service. I see this similar thing happening in the church. I believe the church loves to talk about Christ, but have abandoned his worldview. And I’m just saying, I don’t want to be that guy.
I don’t want to be that guy. I have a long way to go, but I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want this church to be full of those people. Let’s build our lives on his word. Everything else is sinking sand. We’re going to close by singing a song, and we’re going to stand. You can all stand with me, but when you sing it, I don’t want… It’s a song that is like there’s a chorus. There’s a chorus. We sing a lot. It’s I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. We sing it a lot, but I want you to think about what you’re saying and sing it if you mean it. Have you actually decided to follow Jesus? Because if you have, I want you to lift your voice, sing it out, let your praise be known, let other people hear it so they understand what it truly means to follow Jesus Christ, our Lord. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Je. I have decided
My everything. All I have and all I have to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. No turning back. No turning back. I will give to you. I will give to you, Everything. All I am and all I have. All I am and all I have to bring. I will give to you my everything. All I am and all I have. All I am and all I have to bring. I will give to you my And I will follow my heart’s name. All I am and all I have to bring. My Jesus, I am yours. I will give to you my everything. All I am and all I have to bring. My Jesus, I am yours. I will give to you my everything. All I have to follow Jesus. I am yours. Let’s do it one more time. Let’s lift it up. I will give to
follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided I’m excited to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. At this time, we have someone who’s hearts open to following Jesus and giving you her her whole life. You could be seated. This is Elizabeth.
I’m here with Jody and Asia, and we want to introduce you to Liz. I can’t wait for you guys to get to know her, but I’m going to let her share, and then we’re going to add her to about God’s Kingdom today.
Thank you, Cami. So I realized that… All right. Take your time. It’s okay. I realized that to know God and to have a relationship with him. It’s two completely different things. It wasn’t until I literally beg God, beg God himself to show me that he’s real. Imagine that me asking God himself to show me that he’s real, that he’s listening to me, that he loves me, that that he hears me, and he did time and time again. And I still chose to live a worldly life and a life full of sin. And it wasn’t until I felt so I just felt so abandoned and so lost and so broken, where then I chose to seek a relationship with him. It’s like my spirit wasn’t satisfied with the world and what all it had to give me. But it wasn’t like, I love Jesus, and I want to learn how to love him, and I want to meet him. It wasn’t like that. It was just my spirit felt so lost. I don’t know what I’m doing. It was like, I’m in danger, feeling. I chose to have a relationship with him, just seek a relationship with him, literally learn him.
Tony said, his instruction, what does he like? What is he doesn’t like? What angers him? What does he want from me? And literally seeking a relationship with him. And my life has changed. My heart is different, the way I think is different, how I love people, how I forgive people, and problems or conflicts or disadvantages, if you will. I don’t look at things the same anymore. I look at them as beautiful opportunities to be a reflection of him. And my heart is just taking so much weight off of my heart and off of my mind. And I just encourage anyone that’s struggling to don’t wait. Don’t wait until you’re broken or that you’re on the pavement and to call on him. You know what I mean? I mean, if that’s what God is going to put you to call him, then so be it. But it’s such a dangerous place to be in. Yeah. Yeah. So I just wanted to share that. All right, Liz. So we have two questions for you. Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he came down to Earth, lived a sinless life, died for your sins, and was resurrected on the third day?
Yes, I do. And what is your good confession? Jesus is my Lord and savior. So because of your good confession, we can now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit. You receive the gift of the Holy spirit, the forgiveness of your sins, and be added to God’s kingdom. Amen. Amen. Amen.
We’re going to see a lot to it, to pray together. We’re going to take the breath that represents Jesus, his body broken, and the juice that represents his blood. Let’s pray. And as I pray, I’m going to read a little bit of John 17 in my prayer because I totally forgot it. Let’s pray. Lord, we’re so thankful for you. Father, just watching Liz and her share is profound because it’s just a reminder of the way that all of us feel without you, which is abandoned and broken and almost dangerous on the edge of danger. And Father, let it never be that we feel like we would be decent people without you. But let’s just be totally engulfed with the idea that with your son and with your spirit, Father, we are fully renewed and fully made into the beautiful images of the people that you want us to be. Father, in your prayer in John 17, you asked for things that I want to ask for on our behalf. Father, you asked that we would know you and that knowing you would be eternal life. Yes. Father, I pray God that we would know you and our knowledge of you would produce eternal life.
Father, you also prayed for us that we would be one as you are as united with your Father or as the Son and the Father are united, so we should be united to each other. God, help us with that. We don’t even know how to do that apart from your spirit. God, allow that to happen in this room where we feel one. Father, also, I pray that you would protect us like you asked your disciples to be protected. Father, just be with us. Protect us from the schemes of the world. Protect us from the lies of Satan. God, and as we take this communion that represents your body and your blood, I pray we’ll remember the sacrifice of your son so that we can remember how to be sacrificial to one another. Lord, we love you and praise you. Christ’s name, amen. Amen.