QT 27 Mar 13, Loving others through serving

John 13:1-5, 12-17 (NIV) It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

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12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

NOTE: This is the key pillar of the Christian message. It turns upside-down the world's view of status. Jesus is Lord and Teacher, and as he says, rightly addressed by those terms. But Jesus is not above being a servant to all. Nor do his titles make him more important than others. Each person has value in the kingdom. No one is more important than any other person. No person is above serving, not matter how minuscule or 'low' the task is. In this setting, no one took upon themselves the role of the servant who would wash the feet of the visitors. They had all taken baths and only needed their feet to be washed to be clean. One wonders why they could not even have done it for themselves. But no was willing to lower themselves. The scripture say that Jesus washes their feet to show the full extent of his love. Serving is an act of love, not of power, not of pride, not of abasement, but purely of love -- love for others. We serve, not to check off a square, but because we want to show our love to those we are serving. Any other reason is selfishness and violates the very purpose of the act. Jesus set the example and told the disciples to do as he had done. So, we are to serve out of love. Not out of duty or some works-oriented abasement but out of love for others. And in that attitude, there is a special blessing as well to those who serve in that manner. The blessing is not the motivation, it is the outgrowth of love-motivated serving. We are blessed because we serve others in love. We do not serve others to be blessed.

QT 14 Mar 2013, Israel's prolonged battle with sin led to greater levels of depravity

Judges 19:1a, 22-30 (NIV) In those days Israel had no king.

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22 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him."

23 The owner of the house went outside and said to them, "No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don't do such a disgraceful thing."

25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 26 At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.

27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, "Get up; let's go." But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

29 When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it said, "Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!"

NOTE: The wickedness of this passage defies belief. In some ways, it seemed hard to top the story of Micah and the Danites, but this easily surpasses it in ungodliness. God records it for a purpose, it is the ending story of Judges, a book that while it portrays a repeated cycle of sin shows an even greater issue, a descent into deeper levels of sin. Judges tells us in story what Romans 1:17-32 says didactically. And the picture is one of a people being "sold" into their sin in much the same way as Paul describes the human race as "God gave them over … to their sin (last part paraphrased)." The man was wrong in how he treated his wife. The owner was wrong in how he treated the women. The wicked men were wrong in their desire for homosexual sex and for their treatment of the women. And the people were wrong for not recognizing and dealing with the sin issue in Israel sooner. Modern day armchair commentators will say that God is wrong but that is a misunderstanding of scripture. Nowhere does God approve or substantiate the actions. The scriptures record accurately what happened but the story does not speak to God's character but rather to the character of man. And even more terrifying, it speaks about the character of a religious people (the Jews) who were to represent God on earth, and their incredible failures to be a witness for God.

The other message of this passage is that in the end times, this will be the picture of the church, another group of people who call themselves by God's name but become a religious people living in a manner completely opposed to God's moral rules (2 Tim 3:1-5 "… having a form of godliness but denying it's power").