Christ-Followers Serve Others

Introduction

In chapter 13 of John’s Gospel we will find numerous major transitions.

While the previous twelve chapters have been focused on Jesus public ministry to both the disciples and the masses in different locations throughout Israel, the next five chapters all take place in a room in Jerusalem where Jesus is with His disciples alone.

The previous twelve chapters have covered three years of Jesus life and ministry, now the next seven chapters will focus on about twenty-four hours; twenty-four of the most important hours in human history.

John’s focus shifts as well. While the key words of the previous twelve chapters have been light and life, now those two words will rarely be used. The key word of the next five chapters will be love.

In fact, the verses that tie this entire section together are found later in this chapter:

John 13:34–35 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John will now focus in on Jesus commandment to love one another as He has loved us; which is the greatest testimony we have as the followers of Christ.

So let’s begin this vital section by answering the first key question of this section:

How should a follower of Christ serve others?

Body: John 13:1-17

Verses 1-5

Jesus and his disciples enter the Upper Room to share one last meal together.

Typically a servant would have washed their feet when they sat down out of hospitality.

(Talk about their dirty feet…)

But there is no servant to do this task.

Now if the disciple’s were paying attention, one of them would have done it.

But they were too busy arguing about who would be the greatest.

In that setting, the perfect, holy, incarnate, Lord; creator of the universe, King of kings, Lord of lords gets up and performs this task reserved only for the most lowly servant in the house.

Jesus wasn’t mistaken here; he knew his position with the Father very well.

However, we see this sharp contrast between the selfish followers and the selfless Master.

Don’t miss this part either: Jesus even washed Judas’ feet.

The Perfect One at the feet of a traitor!

Why does Jesus wash the disciple’s feet, something only a slave would do in that society? We find the answer to this question in these verses:

His love for His own.

“his own people”

This does not negate Jesus’ love for the world, but that he had a special degree of love for those that were his followers. It is still true today.

“to the end” or “absolutely” or “to the fullest”.

Who really experiences the fullness of Jesus love? Only those who are his. i.e. the world can’t understand why we can have hope, love, peace, and joy through Jesus because they don’t have it.

He knew where He was going, so He didn’t need to prove Himself.

Jesus here is well aware of his deity, but doesn’t use it as an excuse to be served.

John adds this to emphasize the impact of the person who was washing feet. Not a simple rabbi and teacher, but God with us!

“…rank and privilege are not occasions for arrogance, but higher credentials for service.”

Verses 6-11

Peter shows that he would have fit in at many modern churches today. How so?

He doesn’t feel like it’s in Jesus job description to wash feet, it’s the role of another committee. So at first he refuses.

But then he switches and not only wants him to wash his feet, but give him a bath!

Sounds like a few church committees I’ve seen in my life!

Peter had certain expectations for the Messiah and feet-washing wasn’t one of them.

Peter’s ‘never’ here is “not for all of eternity.”

It was a zero-status job for people of no social standing...

Jesus lets Peter know that the path Jesus was to walk was not a matter of what Peter wanted or was comfortable with, but the path the Father had laid out for him.

And when Jesus says, “…but afterward you will understand” it means after His death and resurrection Peter would begin to understand the magnitude of what Jesus had done.

Peter would start becoming more aware of the nature of Jesus.

In fact, it could be what gave Peter the courage to serve the Lord as boldly as he did (aside from the HS of course!).

After Jesus says that Peter has no share with him if he isn’t washed, Peter wants him to wash him all over.

Wait a minute, is Jesus saying that Peter needed to have his feet washed to be saved?

Of course not. What he’s getting at is that the follower of Jesus follows God’s plans, not his own.

The idea is that Peter would not be in fellowship with him.

See, Peter was missing the point.

What Jesus was doing was spiritually and theologically significant.

He was humbling himself and taking the form of a servant, which he would fully do at the cross.

The disciples would be made clean by this selfless act.

Here’s the theology that we must grasp: For those who are His followers, who prove it by putting our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, we were cleaned of all sin by Jesus atoning sacrifice. It is completely and totally the finished work of Jesus on the cross that won this victory for us.

Because of this free gift, we must continually have our lives cleansed of unholy influences.

We are saved once forever (cleaned), but must continually be cleansed or our fellowship with the Lord suffers.

The believer is ultimately washed through the blood of Jesus Christ once and for all.

However, we are continually made clean of the wicked influences of the world through prayer, studying God’s Word, fellowship with the body of Christ, holy living, and other spiritual disciplines. Like foot washing, this must happen daily, not just once.

All of this is what Peter didn’t understand now, but would not only understand it later, but would be able to articulate it to others (especially through his epistles, 1 & 2 Peter)

For Peter, however, there was hope. Judas is another story.

Jesus was fully aware that Judas was not clean and would betray him

Notice that Judas wasn’t saved, and thus was not clean.

The question is sometimes raised, was Judas free to make this choice, or was he possessed by the devil?

While it is true that Scripture says the devil “entered in”, that might not be referring to demon possession in the literal sense.

Judas act was his free choice and he was fully responsible for it, however it was carried out according to the plan of God.

God didn’t deal with it once it came up, but foreknew, and thus foreordained it to happen.

It the difficult balance between this thing we call free will (which isn’t stated as such in Scripture) and God’s sovereignty.

In this case, the devil clearly played a part in Judas’ decision, yet Judas still had the ability to say no, he just chose not to say no.

Verses 12-17

Here’s the kicker of this passage: your Teacher & Lord took the role of a servant and washed dirty, nasty feet; from now on I want you to do the same for each other.

The timeless truth is found in verses 14-15...

So, should foot washing be an ordinance of the church?

Not necessarily, though there is nothing wrong with the practice either.

Foot washing is a metaphor for keeping each other clean through fellowship and discipleship, and about serving each other in humility.

A better way of looking at it would be that we should all commit to the practice of serving others in humility.

Foot washing is not seen in the early church other than in 1 Timothy 5:10 where it is talking about widows of good reputation and is about typical Middle Eastern hospitality.

Thus, the point of this passage is clearly stated in verses 16-17...

So What?

How should a follower of Christ serve others?

A Christ-follower serves others out of love for God and God’s people.

At the outset, John shows that Jesus does what He does out of love for His disciples. That love is the exact same love He has for all of us.

If He is truly your Lord and Savior, then you must strive to follow the example He set in love. In fact, in a couple weeks we will see Jesus say this:

John 14:23 ESV

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Therefore, we must serve others first because we love God and second we strive to love those who God loves.

But what about those who are unlovable?

Good news: You have my permission to not serve those you believe are unlovable when you do the following two things:

Show me a text of Scripture where Jesus gives you permission and/or a commandment about not serving the unlovable.

Prove that you are considered perfectly lovable by absolutely everyone else.

Until that, serve others out of love for God and love for others!

A Christ-follower serves others in humility.

The church in America desperately needs people who are humble enough to do what needs to be done without drawing attention to themselves, without feeling entitled, without complaining about how rough you have it, without demanding credit, without a feeling that certain jobs are “beneath” them.

We have a couple of generations of church leaders now who have pushed the false teaching of user-friendly, seeker-sensitive, relevant-at-any-cost churches.

The unintended consequence of this has been a couple of generations of people that believe that it’s the church’s job to cater to their felt needs. The idea being, “If the church doesn’t offer me _______, I’ll go to the one up the street.”

Don’t get me wrong, there’s no problem in finding the church that is the right fit for you and your family.

But, the questions we should ask about our churches are:

Is this a place where the Gospel is clearly preached and articulated?

Is the worship focused on glorifying God and celebrating what Jesus has accomplished for us?

Is this a place where we can grow in our walk with Jesus?

Is this a place where I can use my gifts, skills, passions and willingness to serve the Lord and help the church more effectively fulfill it’s purpose of reaching people with the Gospel, baptizing new believers and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commanded?

These are the types questions we must ask at our church. Not, “What do I want?”

Serving humbly takes Jesus at His word. It says, “If Jesus washed people’s dirty, nasty feet, then what job is too low for me?”

“Am I greater than my Master, Jesus?”

Paul says it better than I could:

Philippians 2:4–11 ESV

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

A Christ-follower serves others regardless of their worthiness.

One of the things that blows me away about this passage is that Jesus washed Judas Iscariot’s feet.

Jesus knew full well what Judas was about to do, but He washed His feet anyway.

We will focus a lot of attention on Judas’ betrayal next week, but for now, I want us to think about this within the topic of service.

If Jesus washed Judas’ feet, then who is too unworthy for me to serve? (I’m not preaching now…I’m meddling!)

This might mean we need to figure out how to forgive another person. This might mean we need to figure out how to live peacefully with someone. In might mean we need to do the hard work of mending relationships. Or, it might mean we need to love someone even when they don’t love us back.

But, we need to constantly look to our example.

I have this statue on my desk for a reason...

A Christ-follower serves others knowing he or she will be blessed by God.

The Five Love Languages...

My love languages are words of affirmation and gifts...

My first fight with April...

If you are looking for worldly affirmation of your service, then you are looking in the wrong place.

Being blessed by God for what people don’t see is far better than all the praise in the world, because it lasts!

So, we ought to serve, not looking for credit, position, or praise. We should do it because we know that someday we will hear the most beautiful words we can hope for: “Well done my good and faithful servant!”