Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches special Monday Morning Coffee podcast on this podcast, our preacher Mark Roberts will help you get your week started right. With look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further and better work the applications into our daily lives . Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And, he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee podcast for Monday, August the 26th. This is gonna be a great, great week for Dina and I. 'cause our granddaughter, Jane is coming to see us and that probably means there's gonna be chaos and craziness and everything's gonna fall apart, but it's gonna be a ton of fun and we're really looking forward to that. I've got some coffee here. I'm ready to talk about more than my granddaughter. I'm ready to talk about yesterday's sermon and I'm ready to talk about daily Bible reading. Do you have some coffee? Do you have your Bible open to the gospel of John? Get ready, get set. Let's go. Yesterday's sermon continued the preaching theme for the year, challenges to Christianity. And yesterday that sermon was all about people who don't think we ought to take the Bible so seriously. And you may have wondered why I didn't talk about do you take the Bible literally? And I wanna caution you got into this a little bit yesterday, but I just wanna say again, we need to be very careful about saying, I take the Bible literally, that's not the best way to phrase, not the best way to talk about our faith in God's word. Because there is so much in the Bible that is a figure of speech that's metaphorical. The Lord is my shepherd. God is not despite what Psalm 23 says, A physical, literal shepherd standing beside you with the shepherd staff, the crooking and all those kind of things. 'cause we're not literal sheep. So we don't take the Bible, we don't take everything in the Bible literally. But we do take everything in the Bible seriously. Just like when you read the news on the internet website or maybe some of you're still reading one of those old fashioned newspapers and it says, you know , Rangers mopped the floor with such and such . Nobody expects that that meant the Rangers went out, grabbed the other team, dip their head in a bucket and used them as mops. No, we don't take that literally, but we do think that means the Rangers won. We take that seriously and as we talk with people about reading the Bible, we want them to see that we read the Bible like we read any other book, we hold it to the same standards of evidence and we are looking to see what's going on there. And if there's a contradiction, can that be resolved just like any other book, because we take the Bible seriously and that's why we're doing daily Bible reading. And that's why we're in the Gospel of John. Get your Bible open. It's John chapter 12, beginning in verse 27 where we're reading today. It is Monday and today our reading is John chapter 12, verses 27 to 36 . Jesus once again, references being the light of the world, talks about being glorified, talks about being lifted up. All these themes in John's gospel are coming together. And that starts in John 1227. My soul is trouble that just shows Jesus's humanity. Sometimes we get all caught up in the deity of Jesus and we forget that Jesus was fully God and fully man. That means Jesus could sweat or Jesus could get tired or Jesus could be troubled. Verse 27. And so he asked for the Father to glorify his name. Remember, glorifying here is about the death of Jesus, and a voice speaks that only happens two other times. There's the voice that speaks when Jesus is baptized and then the voice speaks. When Jesus is transfigured, it seems to be for the benefit of the crowd. Verse 30. And Jesus really turns that then to talk about what's going to happen when he dies. Four things. Verse 31, 32, that happens when Jesus dies. He judges the world condemning sin. He drives out Satan. He's defeating the devil. He is exalted. Verse 32, when he is lifted up, that glorifies Jesus, he's exalted, and then he draws all people to himself. The mission of the gospel is for all. Now, there's some confusion in the crowd here. How can you be the Messiah if you're gonna be crucified? We don't understand how that's gonna work and Jesus doesn't really give them a straight answer. Verse 35, it's too late for that. The one who's gonna walk in the darkness falls. And if you don't believe in Jesus, things are just gonna get difficult and confusing and hard. But those who have the light, and I I give you a note here about light. The term sons of light is used in the Etsy scrolls and the rule of the community also in the war scroll. Paul uses that in first Thessalonians five and Ephesians five. And that designates a relationship to God, a relation , a relationship based impurity. And so Jesus says, come and be my disciples. But again, that invitation is a two edged sword. Accept and live, reject and die. Jesus comes to save . But Jesus also comes to condemn. If you won't be saved. We'll pick up that thought tomorrow on Tuesday. It is Tuesday and today our reading is John 1237 to 50 . We're completing the 12th chapter of John. I am so looking forward to talking with you about this on Zoom tonight. Great discussion in Zoom. And I think we'll pick up some of the threads of what we talked about last week when people don't believe we get more of that in 42 and 43. Really good conversation about that. Hope to see you tonight in Zoom. Let's work through some of this, the tragedy of unbelief. Verse 37. This is a terribly sad verse, and in some ways summarizes Jesus's public ministry, persistent unbelief. And now we get the application of Isaiah 53 in verse 38 is being applied directly to Jesus and it just speaks of the astonishment at the rejection by God's people. This message is gonna be difficult. It's unexpected. People aren't getting outta this what they thought they were gonna get outta this. So they reject it. That's the message in Isaiah 53. They reject the Messiah and of course ultimately put him to death. And the problem here is because they're blinded, they're hardened. Verse 40. Well, how did God blind them? How did God harden them? Does this speak of some kind of overwhelming sovereignty of God? Here's people who wanna believe, oh, they just love Jesus. And then God says, no, you're not gonna believe I'm gonna harden your heart. Well, of course not. Of course not. They're hardened by the sending of the light. They're blinded by the sending of the light. That's probably a better tie together of those metaphors. The light causes some to come to God, but others, it blinds them because they don't want Jesus. They don't want to do what's right. And 42 43 show that it's not. Verse 39, oh, they couldn't believe, oh, there's the sovereignty of God. He's overruling. No, no. Verse 42 says, they did believe. They did believe, but they didn't publicly acknowledge that. They believed because they were afraid of men. They love the glory that comes from man, verse 43 more than the glory that comes from God. So then we get this summary of all that Jesus has done in public teaching. And you just get a bunch of these themes. We'll talk about this a little bit tonight in Zoom, but the keynote of the book, verse 44, is believing in the one who was sent, the one who is the light. There's just so much here about the major themes. And please notice in 47 and 48, you get people who believe, but they don't do anything. That's a fail. Verse 47. And then you get people who don't believe at all that outright rejection, verse 48. And that's a fail. You need to accept the words of Jesus. Verse 49, because they are the father's words. They are the words of God. So one writer said, this ends any sort of public ministry for Jesus in the book of John. His remaining time will be spent with his disciples. And in the actual passion events of trial crucifixion and the subsequent resurrection appearances to his believers, things change. Now, big change in the gospel of John. It's all about time with the disciples and then the events of the crucifixion. See you tonight on Zoom West Siders the rest of you. I'll see you tomorrow as we continue in John's gospel. Welcome to Wednesday. Today we're reading John 13, one to 11. And if I seem like I'm in a hurry, it's because I'm so excited about getting to Bible class tonight. This evening at West Side , we end our auditorium class and move into the two small auditoriums that we have. And that prior to Covid, we were always using those. An auditorium class is difficult to manage. People are all spread out, they can't hear other comments. It's a very, oh , it's a really difficult situation to learn in. It's a really difficult situation to teach in. I'm very excited to be resuming the Christian graces in second of Peter, and I'm very excited to be resuming that in the small auditorium, people always call that Mark's classroom. And it hasn't been my classroom in a really long time, and it will be again tonight. But before we get there, let's talk about John 13, one to 11. This is the famous place where Jesus washes the disciples feet. This does not occur, I should not say doesn't occur, of course it occurred. It's just not recorded in the synoptic gospels. But John tells us about this incredible event. It's all about the love that Jesus has for his disciples because Jesus has been loved by the Father. And I would say this before the feast of the Passover, John 13 verse one. I wanna be really careful here. There's people who really get down in the weeds on the chronology of this. And when you could take the Passover and could you do it a day early? And there's all kinds of stuff that goes with that. People get really, really tied up in that. We're not gonna do that. We're not gonna go there. I think before the Passover is not a heading here for the section, it just says that before they ate the meal, Jesus did this. And the idea of world is really important in verse one. It occurs 40 times and it draws a very sharp contrast between Jesus and his own and the loss, the people who are outside of those who are following Jesus the Christ. And then we get a mention here about Judas, and there's some stuff here about temptation that ever put it into the heart of Judas scar . And again, don't get lost here. It just means that Judas was tempted, one writer said, if the salesman is at the door, it is best to ignore the knocking. And I think that's exactly right, the salesman's at the door. But Judas does not ignore the knocking. He opens the door and will, yes, he's gonna betray Jesus the Christ. I do think verse two is here, so that we know that Jesus wash Judas feet. That has got to be one of the most poignant moments that's ever occurred. I wonder what Judas was thinking when that was going on. Of course, Peter jumps up verse six and says, we're not doing this. You can't be washing my feet. Remember, this is very menial labor. There are some rabbis that said not even a Jewish slave could be made to wash feet. So can't be doing that. Peter says, we're not gonna do that. And then Jesus says, if, if you don't let me do that, you're not gonna have a part in me. Well, then of course we get the stupid remark and Peter says, well then wash all of me. And he completely misses the point about what's going on. I should say something about verse eight, have no part that term is regularly used with respect to inheritance. In Luke 15 and 12, the prodigal son says, I want my part. So it's a strong term by Jesus. And so you can see Peter's strong reaction, I want a part, I need to be a part . And then we conclude He knew verse 11, who was to betray him. That's why he said, not all of you are clean. So the disciples are watching Jesus do this unbelievably lowly, humiliating act of washing dirty feet. And they're trying to put this together and figure out what just happened. Tomorrow we'll talk about what just happened , because Jesus tells them why he did what he did. It is Thursday. It is Thursday, and today we're reading in John's gospel, John 13 verses 12 to 20. Here's where Jesus explains foot washing . And in a minute I'm gonna talk a little bit about foot washing. Let's work through this text. Verse 12. Do you understand? Do you know what I have done unto you? No . Understand is a theme here. And they don't understand what Jesus has done, which means they're not gonna understand the crucifixion either. They're not gonna get it. They don't understand about serving, giving yourself up. And look at that tight tie in verse 17, between knowing and doing intellectual knowledge, having it in your head, that is not sufficient. We do. We have to do what God has told us to do. And so verse 18, Jesus quotes out of Psalm 41, where David laments a very painful experience. His enemies are attacking him. Maybe when he is sick, there's probably a reference there to a oph fell who turns his back on David and joins Absalom's rebellion. It's a terrible, terrible time lifted up. His heel can be the idea being kicked, or it can be He walked out on me. I'm seeing your heels as you leave me and are no longer faithful unto me. Then Jesus says that his mission , verse 20, has the very highest authority and the failure to serve Jesus is a failure to serve God. Now, a lot of folks are still stuck back in the foot washing thing. Why are we doing that today? Why? Why, why ? Why don't we foot wash? Jesus even says, you know, Hey, you need to be doing this. Aren't we supposed to be doing this? And sometimes we see foot washing ceremonies today that could be a very public kind of thing. Various religious denominations will have a very public ceremony where a leader will wash some feet and so forth. A lot of that, I always, always look at that a very jaundiced eye, you know? And I know that if someone gets invited to a foot washing ceremony, the bishop is gonna wash your feet or the pope is gonna wash your feet. What do people do before they go to that foot washing ceremony? Yeah, <laugh> . They wash their feet. Nobody wants to take off their shoes. It is stinky, nasty. Hey, I heard you're gonna wash my feet. So I haven't washed my feet in the last 17 days. Nobody would do that. And a lot of that just shows that's become a ritualized kind of thing. It's not what happened in John chapter 13. Lemme just say a couple of things about why we don't wash feet today. First and foremost, I'm gonna say this. We do wash feet today. We do wash feet today, just, just with a better understanding of John 13. Can , can I, can I unpack some of that? First and foremost, if Jesus is commanding foot washing, why don't the disciples then get busy and wash feet? Hey guys, get up and do this. I mean, yeah, Jesus has just washed their feet, but it would still show humility and service if that's what Jesus wants. All these guys need to get up and do that. I think the context alone shows that that is not the point. Now, Jesus only wash the feet of the 12, and there are other people in the room. Don't forget that there are always extra disciples around Jesus, so, so there would've been some other dirty feet that could have been washed, and there's no foot washing going on. That says a lot about what Jesus is going for, and it's not literal foot washing. What Jesus did here wasn't a religious ritualized act. It was an act of service. And the lesson here is not to wash feet but to serve. And that does go on today. That does go on today. That's what I meant when I said we're still washing feet. Galatians six, one and two, bear one. Another's burdens. We are still serving. When a , when a lady cooks a meal for someone and the family that someone's been sick and that bring a bunch of food over there, we're washing feet. Somebody goes over and mows grass, washing feet, go see somebody in the hospital, prays with them, encourage that washing feet we're serving. The emphasis is on serving not a wooden over literal , hyper, literal application. How many times in John have we seen people go super literal with things? Oh, how can you enter into your mother's womb? Don't, don't do that to John 13. Instead, go for what Jesus is teaching, which is we serve one another and we'll pick up in John chapter 13 as we finish the week. I'll see you on Friday. It is Friday. It is Friday. All kinds of great things starting to happen here. Football season's about to get underway, hunting season's about to get underway. Crazy great stuff's about to happen. And we've got our granddaughter with us. And so there's all kinds of stuff going on there. Lots of chaos, but lots of fun. Let's read our Bibles a little bit. John chapter 13. This is verses 20 to 26. This is the betrayer and really where we get down to business with Judas Scar after saying these things for 21, Jesus was troubled in his spirit. We need to think a little bit about how awful this is, especially because eating with someone in Jesus's culture means that you accept them, you're part of them, them, there's a relationship there. This is a very tight kind of thing. It's in , it's just unthinkable that somebody could betray Jesus from the inner circle. And that's why the disciples look at one another, verse 22, uncertain of whom he spoke and the whole idea of being betrayed. Jesus just raised Lazarus from the dead who's taking Jesus on the power that Jesus has. There's gotta be a lot of things going on. We ask the question, what are Peter and John seeing here? What Peter and John are seeing here is a lot of contradictory things. You can't you , you can't betray Jesus. You're part of the apostles. And then if somebody did betray Jesus, what difference would that make? Jesus has all power, but one of his disciples whom Jesus loved was reclining at Jesus's side. So remember, nobody's sitting in a chair. European style , American style , they're reclining. You eat with your right hand, you recline on your left elbow. So they're reclining around the table. And the disciple whom Jesus loved is there. Who is this? We're gonna get more about him. He will be at the cross chapter 19, verse 26 and 27 at the empty tomb, chapter 20, verses two to nine in Galilee 21, 1. And he's the one that writes this gospel, chapter 21, verses 24 in 25. There's lots of conversation, of course, about the identity of the beloved disciple, but it is, I believe, without question, John, it is John. He is the one who is referencing all of these events, who's writing all of these events and who instead of saying John, he just says, it's just a note of grace. I I'm the one that that , that Jesus just loved, and I'm the beloved disciple. It's not a boast, it's just something that John is doing to keep his identity anonymous so that we're more focused on Jesus and , and of course, Peter verse 24, he's just been rebuked, kind of made a , made a fool of that out of himself by saying the wrong thing during the foot washing. So he doesn't really wanna speak now. So he motions to Jesus , to John, Hey, ask him who it is, ask him who it is. And there would be lots of discussion and conversation going on. And so Jesus is able to save verse 26, maybe not public proclamation to everybody, but to say quietly to John. It's the one that I give this bread to, and nobody would maybe notice anything. Verse 27, as Jesus hands the bread to Judas, some people think Judas is in the place of honor right beside Jesus. He may have reached across the table to give him bread. We're not entirely sure of the arrangement who's sitting where. Actually, of course, nobody is sitting anywhere who's reclining where, but Judas now knows Jesus is onto him, and I think that's gonna spur him to work faster. Probably the most important part of our reading today is verse 30. It was night. The hour of darkness has come. Jesus is the light of the world. But as we read in chapter three, people do evil things in the dark. And it is now the time of darkness. The hour of darkness has come. It is night that sets the stage for everything that's going to happen to Jesus in the rest of this gospel. That concludes the podcast for the week. Thank you so much for listening. If the podcast is helping you tell people about it and leave a rating or a review. So until Monday when we open our Bibles together again, I'm Mark Roberts and I wanna go to heaven and I want you to come to , I'll be with you on Monday with of course, a cup of coffee. See you then.

Thanks for listening to the Westside church of Christ podcast. Monday morning coffee with mark . For more information about west side , you can connect with us through our website, just christians.com and our Facebook page. Our music is from upbeat.is that's upbeat with two P'S UPP , B E A T , where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others. And we look forward to seeing you again with a company coffee, of course, on next Monday.