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In Larry’s class tonight we talked about influence and all the ways we can enhance that. As Christians we are changing spiritually into Jesus Christ and as Christ is formed in us we become powerful influencers without even trying that hard.
Let me give you a few examples. Many years ago several Parkway members got together to play Volleyball along with whoever else wanted to play. James was one of those other guys… about my age and looked like he had tried about everything this life has to offer. One evening he called me to the side and asked me to pray for him and his wife… they were having problems. That was the opening I was looking for and we prayed but I also invited him into our home. He started attending with us and at some point he told me he hadn’t been to church since he was a kid but saw something in our lives that was lacking in his and wanted to make a change.
The other guy was also a Volleyball player. He had been a drug dealer and been shot a few times and spent some time in prison. Also he told me he had been with about a thousand women. I asked him how that happened and he said that when the women came to buy drugs you also usually had sex with them. Of course all that was in the past for him. Anyway he was a really nice guy and I liked him. At some point he started going to the church where he was raised, got married and was very active in his congregation. He was a contractor and we hired him to do a few little jobs at the congregation where he also became friends with David Smitherman.
At some point he told me that the reason he started going back to church was because of me and David Smitherman and his respect for us. I had no idea.
I see people putting bumper stickers on their cars about Jesus and getting religious tattoos and quoting Bible verses at the drop of a hat and all that is OK… but let me see it in your lives because that’s the greatest advertisement there is for Jesus Christ. You want to be of great influence? Transform into Jesus Christ and be active in the community where people can see Him and you will help change a few lives.
In this parable Jesus weaves a story about a King who is throwing a wedding party for his son. He had his “A” list of invitees but they refused to come. So he sent the invitation again, this time with more details… fattened beef cooked to perfection, etc. They still refused to come and went about their own business.
Some of them seized the King’s messengers and mistreated and killed some of them. The King was so mad he sent his army and killed those murderers and destroyed their city.
Then he told his messengers to go out among his kingdom and find whoever they could to come to the party. It didn’t matter who they were. At last the wedding hall was filled to capacity.
As the King was intermingling with the guests he came across a fellow that wasn’t dressed appropriately. The King told his servants to tie him up and throw him into outer darkness… for many are called but few are chosen.
The King is God. The wedding party is the uniting of Jesus Christ (his son) with his bride the church (God’s people).
The first guests invited were the Jews. They rejected God’s invitation and killed his messengers (John the Baptist, etc.)
God destroyed them and their city (Jerusalem) in AD 70.
The next guests who were invited were the sinners and the Gentiles (the rest of humanity). Unlike the Jewish establishment they were glad to come to the party. However, some of them didn’t abide by God’s rules… they didn’t give up sin and were unsuitable to be at the party.
You see this wasn’t just a wedding party they were invited to… they were invited to marry Jesus Christ the Son of God… to become “one flesh” with him. But they didn’t recognize Him and they didn’t understand the unspeakable value of the gift they were turning down.
God still invites humanity to be in a spiritual relationship with his Son… don’t pass it up or you will be really, really sorry.
In John 13, the disciples were having a little argument among themselves about who was the greatest. I’m sure each of them had a little evidence to support their claim.
That’s kind of natural, I know among the three brothers (Me, Scott and Greg) sometimes I wonder… who makes the most money? Who is the most successful? Who is the strongest? Who is the funniest? Who does mom love the most? Things like that.
So Jesus is listening to all this and he tells them… that’s the world’s way, not my way. Jesus’ way is the way where one who serves others the most is the greatest.
Now… none of them thought they were greater than Jesus but Jesus had just stated a “rule of greatness” and he had to demonstrate that the rule applied to him as well. So he got down on his hands and knees and started washing their feet… 12 pairs of feet… 24 in all. Keep in mind… they had the ability to wash their own feet.
Jesus could have said… Peter, I’m going to wash your feet and then you wash John’s feet, and then John you wash James’… so forth and so on. And still get the message across. But that’s not what he did… he wanted each and every one of them to know that their Lord and Savior had personally washed their feet and that they were all EQUAL!
And I’ll bet Jesus did a bang up job of washing feet… those had to have been some of the cleanest feet in Jerusalem… maybe in the whole county… even Judas’ feet were spotless.
OK present day application since we don’t wash feet any more. What if you decided that once a month you were going to mow another member’s lawn… someone who has a good lawnmower and a strong back. You just show up one day and start at it and not only mow it but edge it and clean up afterwards. In fact, when you finish it's the best that lawn has ever looked. What if you did that? What if you served in that way?
It’s natural to compare ourselves to each other… after all it’s a human thing right? But we're not humans... we're the bride of Christ… we are “one” with him and we are sons and daughters of God. That has to mean that we have a little deity in us right? At least in the way deity acts. Let’s quit acting like a bunch of humans and start acting like God and then you will be really great.
