Love Him or Leave Him
Scripture John 13:12-17
12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. 17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.
In a Feb. 2003 The Harris Poll uncovered interesting patterns of belief. This is what your friends and neighbors believe in:
- God: 90%
- Miracles: 89%
- Survival of the soul after death: 84%
- Resurrection of Christ: 80%
- Virgin Birth: 77%
- Devil: 68%
- Hell: 69%
- Ghosts: 51%
- Astrology: 31%
- Reincarnation: 27%
A lot of people believe in God, miracles, His resurrection, and the after life. Not a whole lot of people allow these beliefs to change the way they think and live.
Mahatma Ghandi studied the Sermon On The Mount when he was considering becoming a part of the Christian faith. After studying the Sermon On The Mount he wrote the following:
When I began as a prayerful student to study Christian literature in South Africa in 1893, I asked myself again and again, “Is this Christianity?” and I could only say, “No, no. Certainly this that I see is not Christianity.” And the deepest in me tells me what I was right, for it was unworthy of Jesus and untrue of the Sermon on the Mount.
What I believe Ghandi saw was an infatuation with Jesus and his teachings. People are attracted to Jesus to Jesus and His teaching. Not many people actually follow Him.
What separates the pretenders from the real followers?
The pretenders are infatuated with Jesus.
When I was in third grade I was in infatuated with my 3rd grade teacher. She was pretty. She was smart. She could do nothing wrong. I was in love. So I thought. When I found out she was married. I dumped her. There was nothing real about the relationship. There was no emotional or intimate connection. It was pretty much a one-sided relationship. I LOVED her. She just saw me as a student.
Those who are infatuated with Jesus only see the relationship as a one-sided relationship. They only see what they can get from Him. But when he asked for commitment, many walk away sad because they didn’t realize it was going to cost them so much.
The scriptures teach us that it is hard to follow Jesus! It cost you everything.
Matthew 19:23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Mark 10:23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!”
Mark 10:24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God.
Luke 13:24 “Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail.
John 6 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.” 66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
Many disciples turned away and deserted him! Why did they leave him? They saw the miracles, they heard his teachings, and they saw His compassion. Jesus gives them a hard teaching and they leave.
When it gets hard the pretenders leave.
- They stop following.
- Their heart grows hard.
- They make excuses for their unbelief.
When it gets hard, those who are willing to unmask themselves,
- Humble themselves
- Come back to Him
- Have a teachable spirit
- Cry out to God to help them in their unbelief.
- Their commitment to Him deepens.
Their commitment to Him is so deep – they respond like the disciples did in John 6 when Jesus looked at them and said, “Are YOU going to leave?”
Their response was – “Lord, to whom would we go?” In other words, “we have nowhere else to go. We are committed to you. Everything else, my job, my family, my stuff is garbage compared to knowing and being with you!”
He goes on to tell them, I have given you an example to follow. What is the example he shows them? He takes a basin of water, takes off his outer garment, and washes their feet.
In this act he is demonstrating what it means to follow Him –
- Your love must turn into action
- Serving other must become your way of life.
Because of his love for His disciples – he needed to wash their feet. He wasn’t obligated to. He wasn’t forced to. But because of His deep love for them – he needed to. He needed to demonstrate this act of servanthood to them. He tells them that slaves are no greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. These aren’t just words of inspiration to inspire them to go and do the same thing. NO… he lived out those words right in front of their eyes.
In the end, Jesus is going to separate the pretenders from the followers. He calls them sheep and goats.
The pretenders (goats) believe that
- God is keeping track of right and wrong.
- God is keeping track of how much we disappoint Him
- God is keeping track of how many times we fail Him.
- God is keeping track of our insecurities and our imperfections.
- God is keeping track of how many rules you break.
God is only keeping track of
- How well you love others. He says that if you can’t love your brother or your enemy there is no way you can love Him
- How well you forgive others. He says if you don’t forgive your brother/sister then he cannot forgive you.
- How well you serve others. He says if you don’t serve your brother/sister then you are not serving Him.
- How well you show compassion and mercy to others. He says if you don’t show compassion and mercy to others it will not be shown to you.
When you have unmasked the real you
- You don’t have to love others – you need to love others
- You don’t have to forgive others – you need to forgive others
- You don’t have to serve others – you need to serve others
- You don’t have to show compassion and mercy to others – you need to show compassion and mercy.
Jesus said in vs. 15, “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”
As you continue follow – the masks you wear become more evident. At the moment a mask is being removed – The question comes, ” am I going to leave Him or continue to follow His example.” Jesus is asking us to wash one another’s feet. He is asking us to kneel down, humble our self, and do the most uncomfortable thing in the world to do.
When it gets hard …..
Are you going to LOVE Him or LEAVE Him?
mondayschoolblog 