The Love of Jesus
Notes
Transcript
ME
ME
Today we are going to talk about something that makes a vast majority of people uncomfortable… we are going to talk about a topic and a story where for most of us if I were to even suggest to repeat I venture a lot of us wouldn’t show up. It’s just too uncomfortable for us to wrap our minds around, we don’t want to get into the weeds of it we will write it off as some crazy people thing and not want anything to do with it. Then there are some of us here that will have no problem with it, they understand the meaning behind it and would jump right in, but let me just say it is not my intention this morning to pull out any basins and towels to get us through this, it is not my goal to make us all uncomfortable, but this is the next text so we have to deal with it… what if to take a little of the weight off if I just go ahead and say I don’t think Jesus in doing this was issuing some type of ordinance that we have to complete to get us to Heaven. I definitely don’ t think this is one of those things like baptism or communion… but I do think every once in a while it is a humbling experience…
But maybe you are like me and you have went to a footwashing service and you can remember it vividly. Some of you may remember it for bad or traumatic reasons, but I remember it for truly humbling reasons… I was in college at Asbury… split men and women… and we come to me, and the senior pastor, a man in his late sixties bends down to begin to wash my feet… and I lost it… and let me explain why… I loved this man… I looked up to him as my spiritual father… not because of his age, that had nothing to do with it, but I had sat under his wing and he taught me and I loved him for it… and even in that moment I didn’t think there was any way he should be washing my feet… I should be washing his… I wasn’t good enough for him to wash MY feet…
And even in a world where footwashing isn’t a normal occurance as it was in Jesus culture… it did something to me.. it hit me in a way… and it symbolized something that I need to look back on and learn from time and time again… and that is what we see in the story this morning… a lesson… a lesson that points forward to the cross and uses this moment to show us how we are to live our lives… a life of humility and service we see in Christ…
I would venture to say if it wasn’t a foot washing service there has been something in your life that you can remember and can relate to that was the most humbling experience ever… for most of us that comes in a moment that is similar… someone is serving us in a way we feel unfit… and here is where we pick up the story.
EXPOSITION
EXPOSITION
And as a sort of background into the story we will see this takes place in the upper room… if you read the synoptic gospels what you will see is this is probably happening in what we would call the last supper… hours before the death of Jesus, but this isn’t what is most important to John so he doesn’t bring that part up… the other details are what John is holding on to…
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
And again John is calling attention to the fact that Jesus’ hour has come and it is time for him to depart back to the father… and this certainly is a great thing we are reading… it says Having loved his own who were in the world… Charles Spurgeon of this verse says “What a title for us to wear, ‘His own’… the fact that you are truly Christ’s is a fountain of innumerable pleasures and blessings to our hearts…he distinguishes us from the rest of mankind, and sets us apart to himself…surely this is the highest honor that can be put on us…”
2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,
And let’s just stop for a second… this verse is so important… Jesus knew the Father had given all things into his hands… and he knew he was in control… there was no confusion about that for Jesus… there was no need to worry… John tells us in one verse one would betray him… but no worries… Jesus is in control…
And I love this, because my guess is if you and I are in Jesus place and we are at verse 2, knowing our betrayer is there we wouldn’t go on with the rest of what we are about to read, we most certainly wouldn’t wash his feet… but Jesus knows exactly what he is doing and knows he has nothing to worry about even in his betrayal he is in control… and thats why Jesus
4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.
5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
And knowing Judas is there… knowing what is coming he gets up, and he does something that makes no sense whatsoever… firstly, in this time period one thing you would need to know is this act would have already been done to them, as they come into the house there would have been a servant who had already washed their feet as they came in… clean them from the roads… and this would be one of the lowest servants… cleaning people’s feet… and so there is no reason for this to go on… but Jesus is about to teach them and us….
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
And I think we have to read that verse a little slower… it says he came to simon…meaning he washed some other peoples feet… and it was just silence… nobody said a word… stunned… until he gets to our buddy Peter….
And you have to think this is an instance where Peter finally said the thing that everyone was thinking… but Peter couldn’t contain himself because remember back in Jn 6:66-69
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,
69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
And so Peter has already declared him as the Holy one of God… the son of God.. the Messiah… and he is really taken back… The Messiah cannot be down there washing my feet… this is UNACCEPTABLE
7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
Peter, dude, look you don’t understand what is going on… and we immediately think of the outpouring of the holy spirit on man after Jesus raising to the cross…in hindsight we understand exactly what Jesus is trying to tell Him about how he will get the whole picture… we understand this all too clear… but Peter doesn’t… he’s in it… he’s not come to terms with Jesus dying… doesn’t think he’s going anywhere… so he responds.
John 13:8 (ESV)
8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.”
And it’s truly funny because the reason Peter doesn’t want him washing his feet is because he thinks Jesus is the Messiah and he sees him in such high regard… but at the same time he is commanding and telling Jesus what he can and cannot do for him…
And Jesus responds…
John 13:8 (ESV)
8 … Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”
9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
And I love it… this should give you a little tickle… Well then Jesus, if that is what it takes go ahead… wash all of me.. give me more of it.. I want all you got….and he still isn’t really understanding, but is understanding enough that he wants him to have more…
10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”
11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
And if you really listen, what we will begin to understand is this isn’t so much about the physical washing he is about to perform… but this washing is a bigger picture of what is to come… the work on the cross… and Jesus is basically telling them they have to be washed clean from sin by the blood of the cross… and yes, this is a lesson in humility… but it is also a lesson showing them what has to be done on the cross… and Paul also points out this point when he talks of this in Phil 2:5-11
So here we see a picture of the life of Jesus…. he had risen from his heavenly throne and come to the earth in the image of a servant to pour out his blood on the cross as a ransom for all of us… and here he rose from his seat at the table and poured out the water to take the form of a servant to serve them… and then he took his seat back at the table much in the same way he will return to take his seat at the right hand of the father… So in this moment he is teaching them.., showing them what is to come…
And so he asks them…
12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?
And its clear he knows they don’t understand… He already said they wouldn’t in verse 7
13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
And so he is trying to tell them what he just showed them… he’s laying it out there for them… he’s saying… Just as what I just did is going to point to the cross… about how I am living sacrificially for you… what I want you to do is live sacrificially for those around you…
And its great because technically he is using their own words against them… he is saying because you call me teacher and Lord it means you have to do what I tell you… its not enough just to hear what I tell you, but if you believe me to be your teacher and your Lord, you must obey me… do what I say… and what I am telling you to do is to live your life sacrifically…and he goes deep on it…
15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
And so he is telling us.. look there is nothing beneath you… it is just your job to server… in the same way that I served you… serve those around you… if there was ever anyone who had a reason not to do something… it would be me… but I served… and you should never think you are above anyone to serve… and as I researched this and read slower it hit me hard… we should serve everyone… and when we think it is below us that is a pride issue in our heart… thats the only reason we wouldnt….
and we can see that in the words of Paul Phil 3:5-6
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Paul is saying I had the pedigree… I had everything that I needed to be the best of the best in Israel… but
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
And he is saying all my stuff I built up.. .I count as loss … all I need to do is serve Jesus..
YOU
YOU
WE
WE
Can you imagine a world where we all did that… where we all served the world around us and laid ourselves down….
you give and take away…
