Love of Christ in humility

Introduction: The Battle Over Dirty Dishes

Let’s be honest—nobody likes washing dishes. Some of us avoid it like the plague, stacking plates in an artful but highly unstable tower, hoping someone else will break first. Others master the art of the “soak,” letting dishes marinate for just long enough that someone else gets tired of looking at them and does the job instead. And then, there are those rare, noble souls who roll up their sleeves and get to work without complaint. If that’s you, congratulations—you’re probably the favorite child.

But let’s take it a step further. Imagine you’re at a big family gathering, and right when the meal is wrapping up, the most important person in the room—the guest of honor, the one everyone came to see—stands up, grabs a sponge, and starts scrubbing plates. Maybe it’s your grandmother who cooked the entire meal, maybe it’s the CEO of your company, or maybe it’s someone you deeply respect. You’d feel uncomfortable, maybe even a little embarrassed. “No, no, you shouldn’t be doing that!” you’d say, trying to take the dish from their hands.

That’s exactly how the disciples felt in John 13 when Jesus, their Lord and Master, got up from the table, wrapped a towel around His waist, and knelt to wash their feet. In their minds, this wasn’t just unusual—it was backward. Foot washing was the job of a servant, the lowest task in the household. Yet here was Jesus, the Son of God, doing what no one else wanted to do. Peter, always the first to speak, was so caught off guard that he tried to stop Him. But Jesus made it clear: If you don’t let Me wash you, you have no part with Me.

This moment was about more than just clean feet. It was a living parable of Christ’s mission—to humble Himself, to serve, and ultimately, to cleanse His people through His sacrifice. John 13 teaches us about the kind of love and humility Jesus calls His followers to, but it also warns us about the danger of rejecting the One who serves us first. Just like the disciples, we have a choice: Will we receive His cleansing, or will we try to stand on our own?

Disciples of Jesus serve in humility and love in reflection of Jesus.

The Love of Christ (John 13:1-3)

A. Christ’s Love Is Eternal and Unfailing (v.1)

“Having loved His own… He loved them to the end” – Christ’s love is:

Particular – He loves His own, the elect given by the Father (John 10:27-29). The good news for those who are in Christ Jesus, we have experienced this love. It is the Love of a friend, a brother, a God. God has shown his love through his unselfish interest in your well being. We read about that remember from john 3:16.

Christ love extends beyon those who are friend, relative and good, it extends to those who are unworthy of the Love of Christ.

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

He has loved us even when we did not love him. Spurgon writes: he has loved the sinner till he has made him a saint; he has loved, the foul and filthy till he has washed them with water by the Word, and presented them unto himself without spot

Persevering – His love does not waver, even when His disciples fail. No sin can remove us from his love, nor any heights nor depths the love of Christ

Romans 8:35–39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”

Sacrificial – Knowing the cross is near, He still serves.

one commentator puts our depravity in view with the love of Christ higher, he says that there are people who would buy a new car even if it meant their church went broke and had to close its doors. There are women who would dress in the latest style even if the mission cause died and every missionary had to be sent home. Yet we’re saints, we’re born-again, we’re believers—we have our marked New Testament! We may be Christians, but the love we have is a calculating and narrow love, a love that doesn’t give itself.

Christ doesnt think about those things but rather he has given us true fellowship with himself through his sacrifical love.

Christ’s love for his people is like a husband for his spouse. Well it exceeds a husbands love for his spouse. In Christ is love personified, exucuted and obtained. He is full of kindness and grace to you and to me. When we ponder the love of christ it should stir our emotions as a bride seeing her groom for the first time. He says of you that They are mine. An everlasting and distinguishing love.

Dont forget this love. When the days are hard, remember this love, when the days are dark remember this love, when you feel alone remember this love, when those close to you leave remember this love. He promises to never leave us nor forsake us.

Application: The love of Christ should bring assurance to believers, knowing He loves them to the end.

B. Christ’s Omniscience and His Authority Over All Events (v.2-3)

Christ is fully aware that Judas, under Satan’s influence, will betray Him (v.2).

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands…” (v.3)

His actions are not in weakness but in divine authority.

The cross is not a tragedy but a triumph—it is the fulfillment of the Father’s will.

Application: The sovereignty of Christ should embolden the believer to trust in God's plan, even in suffering.

The Humility of Christ (John 13:4-11)

A. The Servant-King Lays Aside His Garments (v.4-5)

Christ, the eternal Son of God, takes on the position of a servant.

A foreshadowing of Philippians 2:5–8 “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.” – “He humbled Himself…”

A living parable of His incarnation and atonement.

He washes the feet of those who will soon forsake Him.

Application: If Christ, the King of Glory, humbled Himself to serve, how much more should we?

B. Peter’s Objection and Christ’s Teaching on Spiritual Cleansing (v.6-10)

Peter’s misunderstanding (v.6-8)

“You shall never wash my feet!” – False humility resists grace.

The Message of John (iv) The Inescapable Challenge Which Arises from It

Like Peter, as long as we imagine we can get by without Christ’s cleansing we cannot be saved. Pride must perish. We are helpless sinners for whom no amount of good works, religious exercises, or Christian ministries can atone. Only the blood of Christ can save us

Christ’s response: “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

Spiritual cleansing is necessary for fellowship with Christ.

Peter’s rash zeal (v.9)

“Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

The believer must be washed once (justification) and daily renewed (sanctification).

The Message of John (iv) The Inescapable Challenge Which Arises from It

There is a once-for-all cleansing when we become Christians as all our sins are judged and put away in the cross, but in the course of our ongoing Christian lives sin obtrudes daily. That sin too is to be cleansed through a daily coming to the Lord for his renewed washing.

A distinction between true and false disciples (v.10-11)

“You are clean, but not all of you” – External association with Christ does not ensure salvation.

Judas, though outwardly religious, remained inwardly defiled.

The Message of John (ii) The Sinister Coalition Which Effects It

There is the solemnest of warnings here. Not all who profess to follow Jesus are truly ‘his own’. Even some who receive the outward washing of Christ are still unwashed in heart

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Application: Do not be content with outward religion—only those truly washed in Christ’s blood are clean.

The Example of Christ (John 13:12-17)

A. Christ Calls His Disciples to Follow His Example (v.12-14)

If the Master humbles Himself, how can His servants refuse to serve one another?

“You also ought to wash one another’s feet” – A call to humility, service, and self-denial.

B. The Blessing of Obedience (v.15-17)

Knowledge is not enough – “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

True Christianity is active, not merely intellectual.

The Message of John (iv) The Inescapable Challenge Which Arises from It

If he has acted thus, stooping in humility to serve us by washing us through his cross, how much more ought we to be ready to wash the feet of even the lowest and meanest of his followers. Conversely, to refuse to do so through pride is to proclaim ourselves superior to Jesus our Master, which is unthinkable!

The Message of John (iv) The Inescapable Challenge Which Arises from It

Humility is a universal Christian virtue to be expressed through sincere and costly service of others in Christ’s name

Application: Let no man think himself too great to serve. Humility is the mark of true discipleship.

The Exposure (John 13:18-30)

Christ’s Betrayal Was Foretold in Scripture (v.18-20)

Psalm 41:9 – “He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.”

Even betrayal fulfills God’s sovereign purpose.

B. The Sorrow of Christ (v.21-22)

Christ is “troubled in spirit” – The pain of seeing a false disciple perish.

The disciples are unaware – Outward profession does not always reveal inward apostasy.

C. The Identification of the Betrayer (v.23-26)

The beloved disciple (John) asks, “Lord, who is it?”

Christ reveals the betrayer by giving him the morsel – an act of honor twisted into treachery.

Judas was even in a place of honor, and the giving of the morsel was for the person of honor.

D. The Satanic Possession of Judas (v.27-30)

“Satan entered into him” – The fearful consequence of rejecting Christ.

Christ says, “What you do, do quickly” – The condemned soul plunges deeper into sin.

“And it was night” – Judas departs into literal and spiritual darkness.

Christ unveiled the heart of Judas and at his seconf coming he unveals the hearts of men in jusgement. As he brings his flock to himself, and those who are not his will face the wrath. The whole of mankind will be placed in one of two groups. Those who are of the Son and those who are of the devil himself.

Rejecting the light of Christ is a choice to embrace darkness, a darkness from which there is no return. Judas serves as a sobering reminder that witnessing Jesus’ miracles, hearing His teaching, and even receiving His personal invitation does not guarantee true faith. He experienced all of this firsthand—yet still turned away and was lost. This is why Jesus warns, “Put your trust in the light while you have it” (John 12:36).

The story of Judas’s betrayal actually strengthens our trust in Jesus Christ. Though Judas’s actions were wicked, they did not take Jesus by surprise or disrupt His mission. Instead, they fulfilled God’s sovereign plan, proving that Christ was always in control, even in the face of treachery. His knowledge of Judas’s betrayal, His willingness to endure it, and His ultimate triumph through the cross all affirm that our faith in Him is secure. Nothing—not even the schemes of the enemy—can overturn His purposes.

Conclusion: Lessons from Christ’s Humility and Judas’s Betrayal

1. The Humility of Christ Calls Us to Serve

True greatness is found in self-denial and service.

Let no one claim to follow Christ while living in pride or self-exaltation.

2. The Love of Christ Is Steadfast and Unchanging

He loved His own to the end—nothing can separate believers from His love (Romans 8:38-39).

3. The Danger of a False Profession

Judas was close to Christ but not truly His.

Outward religion is worthless without a new heart.

“Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

4. Christ’s Sovereignty in Betrayal Brings Comfort to Believers

Even the wicked actions of men serve God’s purpose.

In the darkest moments, Christ reigns supreme.