Among the extraordinary feats of history is the medical process of heart transplants. It is the actual procedure of removing a diseased heart from a patient and replacing it with the heart of a deceased donor. A surgeon would perform the transplant procedure on a patient who has a diseased heart, there is no other treatment available, and the person is at risk of dying.
There are many causes that bring a person to this critical medical need. Potentially among those causes would be unhealthy eating patterns and lack of self-care practices.
Today we begin a series of eight messages on “Learning to serve in a Service-less Age”. The title is unfriendly. Immediately every one of us has a planted image in our minds of what it means to learn to serve in a service-less age. Whatever image we have framed in our minds, we can be sure of one thing – to live that life we will need to undergo a spiritual heart transplant. Ours is a world that invites unhealthy practices that our humanity has ingested into our psyche and it encourages self-interest practices. If we hope to live a healthy life after this eight week series, we must begin with the reality that we’re looking at heart surgery. The alternative is to merely go through the motions of church and Bible message and eventually, die.
As with any medical procedure there is a process for the end result. There is the prep. This stage is the analysis of the conditions existing prior to surgery. We then move toward the procedural problems or that point in the surgery where complications sometimes occur and the patient is at risk. When surgery is successful, the final stage is the post-op. Here we see healing, health and follow-up to a normal and productive life.
Let’s get started. First,
1. The Prep
If you knew this was your last day on earth, how would you fill the time? A website asked people this question. Here’s a few answers.
* Be with my wife and kids
* I will restitute my ways, preach a good message to people around me and conduct a night vigil
* Confess my sins and then I’d go to sleep
* Treat myself to the best food ever. And take some sleeping pills and doze off
* I’ll pray to God to extend my stay for 75 more years!
Jesus was going through the roughest night of his life. Verse 1…
Jesus never had any personal aspirations of longer life, confessed sins or eating binges. His only desire was to demonstrate the strongest, deepest love possible for his followers, his friends, before he died.
“Just before the Passover feast” (v1) is an interesting phrase that John placed strategically in this passage. Before we can have any true “Passover” experience there must be the transplanting of the human heart – not the fist-sized organ in our bodies pumping blood through our veins but the deeper side of us that pumps purpose, values and beliefs; it is that part of us that knows it needs to face the real me to becoming a better me against the knowledge that my purpose is to glorify God in the whole of my living. The focus must always be about him. It is a process that John also speaks of when he said in 3:30 of Jesus, “He must become greater, I must become less.”
Before surgery, the medical team sterilizes the outer skin of the body that is about to be surgically opened and operated on. The patient and surgeon go through a scrub-down process for sanitation needs. Before any true Passover of the heart there must be washing.
General Albert Orsborn captured it well with the words, “Wash from my hands the dust of earthly striving.”
There is a very real sense that Jesus was preparing his own heart. Barclay offers an insight that almost sounds sacrilege at first. Yet, it must be true if Hebrews 4:15 is to be believed – we have a high priest who “has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.” Barclay offers, “Jesus knew all things had been given into his hands. He knew that his hour of humiliation was near, but he knew that his hour of glory was also near. Such a consciousness might well have filled him with pride; and yet, with the knowledge of the power and the glory that were his, he washed his disciples’ feet. At that moment when he might have had supreme pride, he had supreme humility. Love is always like that.”
One of the most dangerous traps for a leader is pride in status or power – or both. It is worth noting that Blanchard and Hodges in “Lead like Jesus” say that the King James Version of the Bible uses the word leader only six times, it mentions the word servant more than nine hundred times. That tells us something very important. The road to greatness is service. The apostle Paul warns us of the temptation to “think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.” (Romans 12:3) In those times the best posture to overcome the temptation is to stoop to a menial task; to assume as Jesus, the posture of a slave.
The Prep continues in verses 6-8…
“The Guardian” is a powerful movie depicting the life and risks of Search and Rescue teams. A trainee is intent on breaking the swim records and rescue stats of the legendary Master-chief Ben Randall (Kevin Costner). Ben laments quietly to himself “records” because young Jake Fischer is missing the real focus – saving lives. At the end of Ben’s career, he and Jake had developed a deep and powerful relationship. As Ben was leaving, Jake pressed him as he had several times, “I need to know. What’s your final number?” regarding the number of saves Ben had. Ben answered, “Twenty-two.” Jake was shocked at so few people saved.
“I lost twenty-two Jake. That’s the only number I kept track of.”
The counter to pride is humility. Sadly that is often beyond our reach. Many times we face Jesus’ words, “you do not realize now what I am doing” (v7) with confusion. Because we don’t understand we tend to reject his words. Someone has said however, that, “If we reject the example he set when he washed his disciples’ feet we refuse the relations to our fellows to which it calls us; and this is to reject him as Master.”
The Prep for surgery demands we see humility as an honorable calling rather than a degrading posture. Blanchard and Hodges in “Lead like Jesus” help us understand what humility really means.
* “People with humility don’t think less of themselves; they just think of themselves less.
* “People with humility don’t deny their power; they just recognize it passes through them, not from them.
* “Humility is realizing and emphasing the importance of others. It is not putting your self down; it is lifting others up.”
Verses 6-8 are a symbol. They represent life with its pain, much of which we cannot explain especially in the context of faith. This act of Jesus represents responding the only way one can in most instances – with love. There are dirty aching feet of illness, suffering, lost jobs and abuse. We could create an endless list of examples. The only appropriate response to the dirty aching feet of life is love. The gentle touch of human hands that care and become the incarnate Christ in human form. This is possible as far as we invite the Spirit of Jesus to reform and rule where selfish hearts use to live.
There is a final lesson in The Prep stage. Verses 8-10…
One of the biggest problems we have with bringing people to a place of confession of sins and salvation is their thinking that “I’m a good person.” They cannot bring themselves to a place of saying ‘I am a sinner and I need God’s forgiveness for my sins.” Arrogance or pride is very powerful.
Those of us who have come to that place of confession and salvation face a different, enslaving power yet similar. It is a false sense of security – “I’m saved!” It involves going through life thinking everything is just fine or “I’m not doing too badly. There’s an issue here and there but I’m okay.”
Peter was having a personal struggle with the events of this night. His rejection that he needed a service performed involves several realities, one of which was likely his embarrassment that he hadn’t offered to wash everyone’s feet first. He likely thought of it but the posturing and power struggles would not allow him to stoop to the task.
There is something more with which we all struggle. We understand servant living as things we do for other people. And it is that in some respects. But there is something even more difficult than servant living that gives; it is servant living that is willing to receive. Being a servant is not only what we do for others but also what we allow others to do for us which otherwise we are embarrassed to receive.
Verse 10 is a beautiful picture painted by one writer this way. We’re to understand this verse as Jesus acknowledging that we have salvation because we confessed our sins to Christ and accepted his atonement of the cross. We have however, “accumulated some road dust” and so need our feet washed. Road dust like doubt – distrust – adulterated thoughts – questions, etc.
Once we get past The Prep we face
2. The Procedural Problems
Verses 12-15…
Many of us will remember the stories of Caledonia and the disputes around Native land claims in 2006. One story recorded in May 2006 proves interesting for our purposes. You can read the story at http://www.caledoniawakeupcall.com. “Native activists and OPP have both increased their numbers on the north side of the Grand River where protesters have erected barriers, flags, banners and tents in the last week. OPP spokesperson Paula Wright said police quelled a minor disturbance at the site on the weekend and are investigating a complaint that things were tossed from the Highway 6 bridge at motorists on Highway 54 along the Grand River. Wright described the new barricades as a "posturing position." "It’s their way of letting people know they’re there, they’re more noticeable there," she said.”
John does not provide the account but Luke (Ch22:24f) does. Jesus had likely performed the foot-washing and he and his team had eaten the meal. They were probably only barely finished when the three-year old dispute about who would be greatest among them broke out one more time. The disciples wanted people to see them in places of prominence and influence. One writer paints a picture that is pointed and too familiar. “The old rivalry, the old strife, as to which of them should take the highest place, broke out among them again; and there they stood, with dusty feet and with hot jealous hearts, wrangling as to whose duty it was to play servant to his brethren.” They actually fought over who should wash the feet. While Jesus’ people where posturing for position Jesus took control of the situation and postured as a slave. Can you see why Peter may have said, “No way, you’re not washing my feet?”
I mentioned earlier that pride is one of the most dangerous traps for a leader. As pride is dangerous for a leader, power and position also poise a dangerous threat for the church. The fight of posturing for position in the church has been a powerful force in creating havoc in the body of Christ.
The procedure started with the object lesson but there was still some distance to go before the procedure was complete. Jesus pushed them to understand where real power and position lies. It lies at the feet of another person. You cannot find this greatness on a throne. If you want it, you must get down on the ground.
Blanchard and Hodges in “Lead like Jesus” offered a play on the word EGO. It can serve as an acronym for Edge God Out or Exalt God Only. To this Blanchard and Hodges say, “Do you seek to Edge God Out or Exalt God Only in the way you exert influence on those around you? The answer to that question reveals whether you are driven to protect and promote yourself or called to a higher purpose of service.”
There’s one final stage to receiving a transplanted heart. It is
3. The Post-op
I want us to come back to an earlier question. “If you knew this was your last day on earth, how would you fill the time?” The answer determines the condition of our hearts. It tells us if we need heart surgery. Jesus exposes our heart’s condition by the response we feel to Jesus’ words, “do as I have done.” In The Post-op stage of the heart transplant, Jesus throws a final lesson our way – verses 16-17…
This conditioning only happens when the heart and mind of Jesus replaces every other love and passion. One writer encourages us, “when we are tempted to think of our dignity, our prestige, and our rights, let us see again the picture of the Son of God, girt with a towel, kneeling at his disciples’ feet.”
One author called Jesus’ posturing a “powerful adhesive for Christian fellowship.”
We must go back to God many times to have an assessment of our condition. We need to be sure that we stay healthy once he has performed the procedure of receiving a transplanted heart.
WRAP
* “Learning to serve in a Service-less Age” requires first of a transplanted heart. Before that, everything else we’re to share in the next seven messages is of little benefit.
* The Prep is process of looking inward and facing the truth about ourselves especially when it is not pretty or pleasant.
* The Procedural Problems remind us that it’s not an easy process. We will face a tough time getting there. But we can make it!
* The Post-op is a lesson of regular follow up with the Great Physician to keep us healthy and on track with our recovery plan
