MARCH 7, 2010 “TABLE TALK:

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT”

John 13

William Barclay was one of the greatest teachers, preachers, and theologians in the church of Jesus Christ. He once told of an old man who laid near death and who was obviously very troubled. When asked what was disturbing him, the man replied: “One day when I was young I was playing with some other boys at a crossroads. We reversed a sign post so that its arms were pointing in the wrong direction, and I’ve never ceased to wonder how many people were sent in the wrong direction by what we did.”

The Passover Meal where Jesus gathered with His disciples for what He knew would be His last supper with them was truly a “crossroads” moment…for Him and for them. It was a moment that He dared not waste. Every minute counted, every word was precious, and every point of instruction was vital if they were to know the right direction to take once He was taken away from them. This was not the time for reversing signs, sending mixed signals, or sending them in the wrong direction. It was a time for Setting the Record Straight.

 It was time for His final Table Talk before He would take on the sins of the world.

Think about it for a moment. If you knew that you were about to die and could share a final meal with your family and/or friends, what would you say and what record would you want to make sure was made straight? What would be on your mind? Memories of good times? Wondering if they would fight over your will? What would you want to be sure that they knew and in what direction would you want to know they were headed in before you headed into heaven? What would be the focus of your Table Talk?

We know what the focus of the Table Talk was at the Last Supper, and it was a whole lot more than simply the institution of the Lord’s Supper and the bread as Christ’s body and the cup as His blood. Thanks to the apostle John who was there that night, we know a lot about this Table Talk, and it is spread from John 13 through John 17. 

In the final weeks before Easter, during this month of March, we’re going to look at highlights from these chapters. We’re going to listen in on the Table Talk of the Last Supper and find out what Jesus talked about then and what He is still talking about today to you and me as His 21st century disciples and ambassadors of salvation to the world. 

How did the Table Talk that night set the record straight that “crossroads” night so that the disciples would be headed in the right direction.

John 13:1-17

Jesus set the record straight about how we are blessed if we choose to be foot – washers in His name.

One of my favorite sermon illustrations when it comes to humility, repentance, and facing reality is one where a supertanker was trying to navigate its way through a terrbly thick fog. Suddenly, a light pierced the fog dead ahead, and so to avoid a collision, the massive supertanker radioed ahead and said, “Change your position 30-degrees north.” The reply came back, “Change your course 30 degrees south.” The captain of the supertanker arrogantly fired back, “Listen, mister, I’m a supertanker. You change your course 30 degrees north.” The reply came back, “Sir, I’m a lighthouse. I’d suggest you change your course 30-degrees south if you don’t want to run into me.”

One of the greatest attributes that Jesus lived, taught, and insisted that we as His disciples continue to live by is humility. He could have easily thrown His weight around as the Son of God, calling upon the power of heaven to vaporize His opponents because He really was the “supertanker,” wasn’t He? 

But He did not. He chose humility. He practiced humility. He demonstrated humility. And the Table Talk from the table of the Last Supper tells us that we will be blessed if we follow His lead and humbly “wash” the “feet” of the those in need.

The first section of John 13 is all about setting the record straight and pointing the disciples in the right direction for living the blessed life – and it comes through foot-washings. After modeling humility by washing the feet of His followers, Judas included, the Son of God told them this truth: “If you know these things [about foot-washing], your are blessed if you do them.” (verse 17.)

What Jesus was setting straight here and directing His disciples to see is that the road that leads to a blessed life is the road of foot-washing, and foot-washing is nothing less and nothing more than humbly looking for ways in which you can ease the burdens, bring some peace, lift the load, lend a hand, and offer your help to anyone and everyone who crosses your path on any given day…your Judas included!. That’s what this table talk tells me.

John 13:18-30

Jesus set the record straight about how we must be on guard for those things that lift their heel against us in the attempt to keep us from fulfilling our Christian mission.

As Jesus laid near to His own death, He wanted to make sure that the signposts at the crossroads for the disciples were very clear, especially when it came to those things that would try to crush them and knock them off-balance and off God’s game plan.

If I am going to step on something and crush it, like your foot, I will lift my foot and focus all my power and energy on my heel, for the heel is like a battering ram of strength. 

That’s why people in the martial arts, if they are going to break bricks or ribs or toe bones, will channel all their power and energy to their heels.

The heel is a very powerful part of the human body and it is a very powerful part of the spiritual body. It is used in both worlds to break “ribs,” crush “toes,” and knock someone off balance.

Jesus set the record straight by not only informing the disciples that there was one in His circle, one who had eaten His bread and who had “lifted up his heel” against Him (verse 18.) – Judas. 

Jesus was also setting the record straight and saying in effect that anyone who comes to Him and is saved will automatically have a “Judas” power who will lift its heel against the believer in both the natural and in the supernatural worlds. 

In other words, friends, becoming a Christian is like becoming President. As long as you remain a mere senator or congressman, you don’t need Secret Service protection because not too many people lift their heels against senators and congressman. But let that representative become the President, and now you have people all over the world and in the opposing party who will direct their heels in his direction.  

Why?

Because that person now has power. That person represents something greater then himself. That person is seen now as a greater threat than ever before. And that person is now a number one enemy. And so people raise their heels against him.

Likewise for us as Christians, we have been marked. In the natural world, people we have shared bread with, dined with, loaned money to, spent time with, rescued, helped out, brought into our home, and so on, can become people who raise their heels against us in order to crush our testimony, kick us off balance, or try to land a blow that will break our spiritual ribs and knock the Holy Spirit wind right out of us.

In the supernatural world, of course, we have Satan and a legion of demons and evil spirits who will lift their heels against us in order to break our spiritual ribs, crush our feet with temptation so that we can’t walk in the way of the Lord, and their plan is to kick us off God’s game plan for us. Satan is a kick-boxer in the spiritual realms, and he has one goal and one goal in mind: to break your spiritual “ribs” and crush your “toes.” For he knows that if he can get to your “ribs,” he can get to your “breathing” so that you have no strength to “talk-the-talk.” And the enemy wants to bring his heel down upon your toes so that you can’t “walk-the-walk.”

Jesus set the record straight that night so that we might protect our “ribs” and “feet” and therefore, our faith, with what Paul called in Ephesians 6 the “shield of faith” for our ribs and the “gospel of peace” for our feet.

 A Christian who is not on watch and is not protected through prayer, worship, Bible study, devotional time, and a circle of “Secret Service” brothers and sisters in the faith, is a person who is vulnerable to having their spiritual ribs broken, their feet crushed, and their mission knocked out of commission. 

 That’s what this table talk tells me.

John 13:31-38

Jesus set the record straight about how even the most well-minded of us can deny him and our faith in Him if we veer from the way of love He gave and modeled for us.

The rooster weather vane on top of church’s like ours is not for the purpose of telling which way the winds are blowing across Hardin County.

 The rooster weather vane is meant to help us see which way the spiritual “winds” are blowing in and out of our hearts, in and out of our mouths, in and out of our lives.

Are the winds blowing in a favorable direction, building up the kingdom, spreading the gospel, speaking kindness and love and forgiveness and mercy to others just as God has spoken over us and into us?

Or are the winds of your faith blowing, like they did for Peter at that time, in an unfavorable way? Are the winds blowing in the direction of unfaithfulness, anger, hatred, bitterness, slander, malice, and all those other ugly winds that deny Christ and destroy faith and fellowship alike?

The rooster weather vane is to be a Christian’s “gut-check” to keep us aware of whether or not we are acknowledging and not denying Christ. It is designed to be our “gut-check” regarding love and if we are living it, for Jesus wasn’t kidding when He said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (verse 35.)

Jesus set the record straight that night about how we, as people who have eaten His bread and drank from His cup, may not betray Jesus as Judas did. But we may deny Him by not living out the gospel, loving others as He has loved us, and being foot-washers. The rooster weather vane, like our guts, will never lie. It will always indicate which way the wind is coming from and which way it is going.

And that’s what this table talk tells me.

Well, it was quite a start to the final meal, wasn’t it? The talk around the table indicated that Christians will be blessed if they choose to become foot-washers. It revealed that there will always be forces in the natural and supernatural world that will lift their heels against us in order to keep us from both talking-the-talk and walking-the-way. And finally, the table talk spoke a word of warning that we must be careful not to deny Christ and our faith by drifting and veering from the one thing that is to define us in this world – love.