"Open & Secret" Sermon: John 18:19-24

“Open & Secret”

[John 18:19-24]

March 30, 2018 Second Reformed Church

            After Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover and Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. When He finished, Judas, the betrayer, came, and with him a band of Roman soldiers and officials from the high priests and the Pharisees.

            Judas walked up to Jesus and kissed Him – the sign that this was the Man they were coming to arrest, and they bound Jesus took Him to the home of the high priest where Annas was waiting. Peter and John went with Jesus, but Peter waited outside; John went in. This is where our Scripture picks up.

            It was after midnight when they began to question Jesus, and it was illegal to hold a trial at night, still they began to browbeat Jesus with questions about His disciples and His teachings. The high priest and his retinue revealed the depths of their corruption, not merely because they were illegally trying Jesus, but because they brought no indictment forward – they brought no witnesses against Jesus (at this time). Their plan was for Jesus to trip up and provide them with evidence that they could convict Him with.

            “Who are Your disciples? Where do they work? What are their views on Rome? Do they follow God’s Law? What do You teach? What are Your views on the Scripture?”

            They were hoping that Jesus would say something new, something novel, something that went against the received teaching of the Scripture. But Jesus would have none of their games.

            “I have spoken openly to the world.” “I don’t teach a secret knowledge or a secret way to God. Everything I have taught has been out in the open – to the world. Not just to My inner circle, not just My disciples, not just the Jews – I have preached to the whole world – to anyone and everyone who would listen, I taught the same things of God, openly.”

            “I have always taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.” “I have spoken in the Temple and the synagogues, in front of crowds – in the accepted forums, in the legal venues, where anyone could hear Me, and where everyone knows to go to hear preaching and discussions. I have said nothing in secret. The Truth of God and His Salvation – the Gospel that I preach – is not a secret – there is no secret teaching that one has to learn or a secret knowledge that one has to achieve to get to a higher level with God.”

            Paul explains to the Corinthians, “But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God” (II Corinthians 4:2, ESV).

            In the early Church, there arose numerous groups of false teachers that we now call Gnostics – from the Greek word for “knowledge.” The thing that these false teachers all had in common was that they taught that Jesus and His Gospel were good for the common people, but, if you really wanted to be spiritual, if you really want to ascend to the heavens, there is a secret knowledge – a secret interpretation, that you need to be able to discern.

            Paul tells the Corinthians that this is nonsense: the Gospel of Jesus Christ is straightforward, and it is the same for every person, and it is proclaimed openly in every place. The Gospel is the same for every person – no secret knowledge or learning is necessary to receive the Gospel and God’s Salvation. Paul tells the Corinthians - this is the Gospel, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scripture, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep” (I Corinthians 15:3-6, ESV). This is the history of a Person – a human being – Who lived in the midst of people who saw Him and knew Him.

            True Christianity has no secret message: the message is open and proclaimed outright: The Savior died for our sins in accordance with the Scripture. He was buried. On the third day He was raised from the dead, and He appeared to over five hundred people – most of whom you could still talk with in those days, as they were still alive – eyewitnesses to Jesus and the fact that He rose from the dead.

            The Gnostics were not the only ones to teach that a secret knowledge is necessary to become right with God – to know God – to become God, as some false religions argue. The religious teachings of the Masons teach there is a secret knowledge of Jesus which is higher than what the common people receives and which is necessary for true enlightenment. The Jewish Kabbalah is all about a secret knowledge – not just red string bracelets. The Mormons teach there is a secret knowledge – first in the Scripture and then in additions to the Scripture. In Christian Science – it’s the secret knowledge and the realization that the material world doesn’t exist. Orthodox Jews believe that all of world history is secretly hidden in the Torah for the most enlightened to find. There are levels of enlightenment in Islam and Buddhism and Hinduism.

            Isaiah prophesied of the Coming Savior, “I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right” (Isaiah 45:19, ESV).

            The Message of Jesus is open and clear to all those who have ears, “I am the Messiah. I am the Savior. I am the Christ. I am the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Son of Man. I am the Son of God. I and the Father are the same One God. I am the God Who revealed Himself to Moses.”

            Jesus’ message has never been secret or hidden – it’s right out there for anyone to hear. And still, in this country, people of all religions are willing to say, “I don’t believe in Jesus as God, the Savior, but I believe He was a good teacher.” Really? If one of the teachers in our public schools system told our children, “I want you to understand that I am god and the only hope for you and the world is to believe in me and follow me as your savior.” Would we really say, “Oh, isn’t he or she a good teacher!”

            C. S. Lewis, in a famous quote, said that the one thing that is perfectly clear from the Gospels is that we cannot merely say Jesus is a good teacher – that option is not open to us. If someone says that he is god, the only savior – that is not a good teacher – that person is either a liar, or a lunatic, or he is exactly who he says he is – God. There is no other choice.

            The message of Jesus is open and clear to all those who have ears, “I am the Messiah. I am the Savior. I am the Christ. I am the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Son of Man. I am the Son of God. I and the Father are the same One God. I am the God Who revealed Himself to Moses.” There were and there are and there will forever be only three choices – three responses to Jesus’ claims: He’s a lair. He’s a lunatic. Or, yes, Jesus is God, the Savior, just as He said He was.

            In the first century, there were over five hundred eye-witnesses to Jesus’ Resurrection – and don’t you doubt for a moment that they were questioned and questioned and questioned. We have, in the Bible, the written testimony of a few of those who knew Jesus and testified to being eyewitnesses to His Resurrection from the dead.

            If what Jesus says is open and clear now, it was even more so then. Jesus was there, in the flesh, speaking for Himself, testifying to Himself, day after day, for three years making the same claims about Himself. And the high priests and the Pharisees heard Him and knew His testimony – the claims He was making.

            So Jesus said, “Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” “Annas, why are you asking me what I teach and what I believe about Myself. Are you denying that there are hundreds of witnesses who could testify to what I said? Are you denying that you, yourself, have heard Me on many occasions, and you know exactly what I teach and preach? Are you really pretending to be ignorant, high priest of God, of what all the common people of Israel know?”

            Whack “Is that how You talk to the high priest?!”

            “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”

            They couldn’t say He was wrong. That hated what He was saying. But they couldn’t say He was wrong. They didn’t have any credible witnesses against Him. But they wouldn’t admit that He was right – that He was telling the truth. So, in frustration, they hit Him. And they tied Him up and sent Him away.

            Dan Brown (and friends) with his The Da Vinci Code (and others) write impoverished imaginary historical novels that pretend to expose the secrets of Jesus and the Gospel. The books open by saying they are novels but everything in them is historically accurate. And we assume that they would never have any reason to lie.

            Surely, the Pharisees and the high priests would never have a reason to lie about Jesus. They wouldn’t condemn Him in an illegal night trial and blackmail a Roman governor to have Jesus put to death...

            Brothers and sisters, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a secret. There are no mystical rites that we have to go through to understand it. There is no “higher life” we have to rise to to be “real Christians.”

            The Gospel is that God came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, lived, died for the sins of all those who would ever believe in Him, rose from the dead, and ascended back to His throne at the right hand of the Father.

            God came to earth, lived, died for our sins, rose, and ascend back.

            “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV).

            It is not a secret.

            Jesus said, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.”

            Don’t be confused:

            God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ – openly, not in secret.

            Jesus lived His life – openly, not in secret.

            Jesus was taken by a mob, brought before the religious and political leaders, and a great crowd of Israel – openly, not in secret.

            And on that first Good Friday, they crucified Him, and He died – openly, not in secret.

            In a few minutes we will receive the Lord’s Supper, and we will remember the life and death of Jesus on that first Good Friday. But we will also meet with Jesus now – openly – in the bread and the cup, as He ministers to us, strengthening us with His Grace. And we will also find our hope renewed, believing that Jesus has risen from the dead and ascended back to the Father, and the day is soon coming when He will return in glory to bring us into His Glorious Kingdom – openly, and not in secret.

            Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You for sending Your Son to earth to live a public and open life, calling all people to receive Him as God and Savior. As we consider that our sin sent Him to the cross, may our seeing Jesus in Your Word cause us to repent and follow after You all the more diligently. And may we be open and tell others about what You have done for all those who will believe in the salvation accomplished by Jesus. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

"The Humility of Love" Sermon: John 13:1-17; 31-35

“The Humility of Love”

[John 13:1-17; 31-35]

March 29, 2018 Second Reformed Church

The Lectionary text is far too large for me to cover this evening, so I would like to have us look at the theme of “the humility of love” in this evening’s text and just point a few things out to us.

Let us begin with the question: have you ever had guests in your home? Have you ever taken off their shoes and washed their feet?

It helps us to understand our text to know that in Jesus’ day, people wore sandals, or just walked in their bare feet, so their feet would become filthy. For the sake of a guest being comfortable, and to keep the guest from traipsing dirt all over the house, the host would instruct the lowest of his servants to wash his visitor’s feet. It would be the lowest servant who would be commanded to wash the visitor’s feet because..., well, no one wants to wash feet.

With that in mind, let us look at our text:

            Jesus gathers His disciples to have a meal before the Feast of the Passover. It is at this time that Jesus knows His time has come – He is ready to die and return to the Father. This is the time that the author of Hebrews writes about: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV). Jesus knows it is His time, and He looks forward to it with joy, while despising the suffering He will endure, because of the greatness of the joy of completing the salvation of His people and glorifying His Father as He returns from the world of sin and death to His throne at the right hand of God.

            And because He has loved all those that the Father has given Him, and because He has loved them until the end. Jesus is ready to die and return to the Father, because He has completed – and is completing His Mission – which is one of humbled love – that God would humble Himself in love of His elect to come to earth in human flesh, live, die for our sin according to the Scripture, and rise, ascend back to the Father. He loves us enough to purchase us with Himself: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (I Corinthians 6:19b-20a, ESV).

            And He loves us until then end. What does that mean? It means that Jesus loves us throughout our lives until the end of our lives, but it also means that He loves us to the furthest extent and to the depths of our need. Jesus loves us from sinful destitution to glory in the Kingdom. Jesus loves us from before the Creation. He loves us when we hated Him. He loves us when we receive Him. He loves us when we continue to sin against Him. And He will love us until He receives us into glory to sin no more.

            This love for all those who will believe in Jesus Alone is not diminished by Judas’ betrayal – Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray Him – it had been prophesied and is necessary.

            Jesus knew that the Father had given Him everything: He had come from the Father – He is God, Himself, and He was returning to the Father, rejoicing with the Other Persons of the Trinity in Glory.

            Knowing all these things – that His time had come, that Judas was betraying Him, that He is God, the Son, Who is with the Father from before the Creation and was returning to Him – therefore, He stands up, takes off His outer garments, ties a towel around His waist, pours water into a basin, and begins to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel.

            We don’t have to imagine what the disciples thought – Peter gives us the answer: “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

            “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

            “You shall never wash my feet.”

            The washing of feet was the duty of the lowest of the servants – not their Rabbi, not their Teacher, not the Savior, not God Incarnate. It was not the place of God to wash the feet of humans. It was beneath Jesus. Wasn’t it?

            Jesus answers Him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

            Peter responds characteristically, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

            Jesus tells Peter that if Peter does not allow Him to wash his feet, there would be a break in the bond between them, and Peter, assuming that more is better, tells Jesus if washing his feet strengthened the bond between them, then, if Jesus gives him a complete bath – that would even be better.

            But Jesus corrects 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.”

            What is Jesus talking about? This is more than a discussion about bathing habits and hospitality, isn’t it?

            In what way were the disciples clean that Judas was not clean? John explains in his first letter, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7, ESV). The other disciples had believed in Jesus savingly: they had “confess[ed] with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe[d] in their heart that God [would] raise[] Him from the dead, [and they were] saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV). The other disciples believe that Jesus is the God, the Promised Savior – Judas does not. And through the blood that Jesus would shed, they had all been cleansed of their sin. They had been delivered from their slavery to sin. But, as we have just said, even if you were to bathe and be clean, if you were to walk through the dusty, muddy roads in sandals, or barefoot, your feet would get dirty, right?

            So, if we are righteous before God, if our sins have been cleansed through the Blood of Jesus, if we are clean – what does it mean to say that our feet still get dirty? Our dirty feet that still need to be cleansed every day are the sins that we commit every day. Jesus has cleansed all those who will ever believe, and Jesus cleanses the feet of everyone who will ever believe until we are brought into Glory.

            A. W. Pink explains (708) that their persons were clean – they had received salvation through Christ Alone – but their walk – their day-to-day living – was still dirty – they still sinned, just as you and I do until Jesus returns. That is why we need to repent of our sin daily – if not more often.

            Paul explains, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25b-27, ESV).

            So then through the hearing of the Word of God, we receive Jesus – we are cleansed of our sin, all of our sins are forgiven and we are no longer inclined towards sin – we are made righteous. However, becoming holy – sanctified – is a process that continues until Jesus returns to bring us into Glory. God the Holy Spirit is working in us now to remove those “spots and wrinkles” that still remain in us – to wash our feet from the sin we daily pick up and track around in our walk.

            The disciples were already Christians – believers in Jesus Alone for salvation – they were righteous through the Sacrifice Jesus was going to offer on Good Friday – their bodies were clean. But they were not holy – they continued to sin – so it was necessary for them to wash their feet every day – for the Holy Spirit to work repentance in them each day. And the same is true for each one of us. We are forgiven – justified; Jesus has paid the debt for all of the sin of everyone who will ever believe, yet we still turn away and sin, and we do not lose our salvation in sinning, but we are called to repent of our sin and to continue by the Power of God, the Holy Spirit, working in us to become holy.

            Then Jesus asks the disciples if they understood what He has just done – that He has symbolically shown them that though they are righteous through Jesus, becoming holy is a process of God working in us.

            Then Jesus says, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.” Jesus could have received the death penalty for saying that: Jesus says, “You call me didaskolos and kurios, and you are right for so I am.” “You call me master rabbi and...” The word kurios is used in the New Testament as the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Adonai, and the Jews used the word Adonai for YHWH, the most holy and personal of God’s Names that God told to Moses. The disciples would have understood the words – if not the entire meaning, Jesus says, “You call me master rabbi and Almighty God, and you are right, for so I am.”

            We can imagine them in stunned silence as Jesus continues, “If I then, [the Almighty God and master rabbi], 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 a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

            Jesus says, a servant is not greater than his master. If the master does x, it is not below the servant to do x. In fact, the servant ought to follow the good example of his master and do x.

            Jesus, the master rabbi and Almighty God, had done something that would have been scandalous for a mere human master to do – He has washed His disciples’ feet. He is showing them that becoming holy is a process, although we are instantly justified through Jesus’ Sacrifice, becoming holy is a process that God works in us.

            Is Jesus teaching them that they ought to literally wash each others’ feet? Most scholars and denominations say He is not. So what is Jesus teaching them – and us? Is there something that we can do to help each other progress in holiness? Is there anything we can do to help each other refrain from sin?

            Although He is God Who restores the Image of God in us and makes us holy like His Son, God works through us to accomplish His Will. So we are to watch out for each other’s feet. In love, we ought to do everything we can to help lead each other away from sin and to follow after good. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

            If we know someone is tempted to sin in certain circumstances, we ought to do all we can to keep that person from being tempted and falling into temptation. Don’t offer an alcoholic a drink or bring him to a bar. Don’t give a glutton a whole cake. Don’t tell a gossip a juicy piece of news. If someone starts to badmouth someone, tell them you’re not interested in hearing it. Invite people to give food to the poor, to attend worship, to see the good in another person, to take better care of his body. And so forth.

            We ought to do all we can to keep each others’ feet clean – to turn each other away from sin and to lead each other towards the good.

            After Judas leaves, Jesus tells the rest of the disciples that He is now glorified and God is glorified in Him, and that since God is glorified in Jesus, Jesus will also be glorified, and He is glorified in that moment. Jesus is revealed for Who He is – God’s Plan is revealed, and God is better seen by the disciples in that moment.

            And He tells them again that they could not go where He is going; Jesus has to face the Wrath of God alone – as the One Sacrifice for everyone who would ever believe savingly in Him.

            And Jesus says, “A new commandment I give 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 you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

            Well, how much did Jesus love them? Jesus explains how to be great to the disciples: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25b-28, ESV).

            And Paul writes: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, thought he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, 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” (Philippians 2:5-8, ESV).

            How much does Jesus love? Enough that the Almighty God would humble Himself by sending the Son to take on a human person, serve His Creation, and allow Himself to be put to death for those He came to save.

            This is not masochism. Jesus does not call us to learn to enjoy being abused by people.

            This is not being a doormat. Jesus stood up for what is right and He spoke the Truth and exposed sin.

            This is the humility of love that says, “I’m going to refrain from doing something because Peter is here, and I know if I do this or say this, it will lead Peter into sin.” This is the humility of love which says – privately, “Peter, I’m concerned that you are sinning and don’t even realize it, could we talk about what you’re doing?” This is the humility of love that says, “If I do this or say this, it will help Peter, he may become a more faithful Christian, and it will glorify God.”

            This is the humility of love which says – ultimately, as we see in the book of Acts, when Peter and the apostles had been let out of prison with the warning that they were not to teach about Jesus again, “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at the right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him’” (Acts 5:29-32, ESV).

            This is the humility of love which says, with Paul in prison, “Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be ashamed, but with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet, which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, Because of my coming to you again” (Philippians 1:18b-26, ESV).

            God has called us to a life of service in glorifying Him, and by serving Him, we receive joy. Jesus has shown us that we are not above doing anything for anyone for the sake of the Gospel. And in washing the disciples’ feet, He has shown us that we are to humble ourselves in love to help each other progress in holiness – to the Glory of God.

            Shortly, we will receive the Lord’s Supper. In the elements of the bread and the cup, this same Jesus Who physically walked on this earth two thousand years ago, will meet with us spiritually and give us the grace that we need to be able to do all that God calls us to do. Let us trust Him, and follow after Him in humility, showing love, that the whole world will know that we are His disciples.

            Let us pray:

Almighty God, You sent our Master Rabbi, when we hear that He washed the disciples’ feet, we respond with disgust, not wanting to do likewise. Humble us and let us see that if God, the Son, was willing to come to earth to save us from Your Wrath for our sin, we ought to be willing to do anything You call us to do in love and to Your Glory. Strengthen us now for the work You have given us to do, mature us and make us holy, after the Image of Your Son, for it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.