Scripture John
13:1-17
A
new command I give you - love one
another.
On April 18,
2014, as the climbing season was beginning on Mount Everest, a massive
avalanche crashed down killing 16 Sherpas. Sherpas = the local people who make
their living aiding foreign climbers to achieve their dreams of reaching the
highest point on Earth. This avalanche was the worst tragedy on the mountain,
and has called into question whether climbing on Everest would ever be the same
again.
The film;
SHERPA looks at how Mount Everest's Sherpa community united in grief and anger
to reclaim the mountain following this devastating tragedy; and features
members of the Sherpa community, their families, and western adventurers who
were getting ready to climb Mount Everest before the tragic event, which served
as a turning point for many of the Sherpas and their families as they
considered whether to continue working on the mountain.
If you were
an Everest Sherpa, would you have continued helping other people achieve their
dream after several of your family and friends had been killed in this tragedy?
And although more than 4,000 people have scaled the summit
since Sir Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first conquered the mountain
in 1953, hundreds have also perished.
SHOW TRAILER
Let me read to
you the ‘love sherpa’ training manual
Scripture
John
13:1-17
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.
6 He came to Simon
Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
7 Jesus replied, "You
do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
8 "No,"
said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus
answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
9
"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not
just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"
10
Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his
feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11
For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one
was clean.
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.”
What is a
Sherpa? Someone who is trained to take others to the summit of the highest
place on earth - Mt. Everest. What is a
disciple of Jesus? Someone who is trained to take others to the summit of the
highest place on earth – love. How? By themselves being willing to take the
risk and go to the lowest place on earth, washing
someone else’s feet. The Sherpa
risks their lives so that others may get to the top. The disciple gives
their life so others may know the greatest love of all – the love of Jesus Christ!
Wait – we
think washing someone’s feet would be humbling and difficult and costly for us
– but that was just Sherpa love training 101.
Let’s jump ahead to senior year – what was Jesus greatest act of love?...how
did he show the full extent of his love?...what did Jesus do to show how we
must live for others if we are going to call ourselves disciples of Jesus? Look
at what Jesus says just before the Passover meal they were about to share - John
12:23-28 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell
you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it
remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man
who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this
world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me;
and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who
serves me. "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save
me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name!"
Luke 14:27 And anyone who does
not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my (sherpa) disciple.
Why should we
love others? Why not just leave it at “Jesus loves me this I know, for the
Bible tells me so?” BECAUSE:
1 John 4:7-12
Dear
friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves
has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God,
because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one
and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not
that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God
lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John
4:16-21 God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God
in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have
confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. (What are you afraid of?) There is no fear in
love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.
The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (Why
do we love others?) We love
because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates
his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he
has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this
command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
FOOTWASHING
TODAY requires losing pride, giving up status, and choosing to love in the way
the other person needs to be loved more than only loving in ways we want to
love.
Foot washing is having the tender conversation with someone
we know is hurting.
Foot washing is asking the questions that people may not
initially elicit but are desperate to pursue.
Foot washing is listening – really listening – in a world
that only wants to hear their own voice.
Foot washing is sacrificing a portion of our hard-earned
money for the sake of the work of the Kingdom – the Church’s work – so that
more and more might find the road to Life in Christ.
Foot washing is sacrificing personal preferences in order to
reach others in ways they will understand that may be unfamiliar and perhaps
even distasteful to us.
Foot washing requires practice. You need to practice on
others. Others need to practice on you. The practice makes you more like Jesus.
You become more whole, more loving, more like Christ. And people notice.
So, how are you going to love like Jesus? How are you going
to wash someone’s feet?
It’s not a choice. It’s what a trained Sherpa does –
sacrifices so that others may reach the summit. It’s what a disciple does –
sacrifices so that others may know the fullness of the love of God in Jesus
Christ! If one 10th of Jesus’ followers would do this one thing –
the world would be turned upside down and won for Jesus Christ. Are you ready - to be a love Sherpa?
COMMUNION
LET IT RISE
www.bible.com/events/27362
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