Jesus - The Humble Servant
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Let me start off by saying, I miss my church family.
We should never take for granted the absolute joy of worshipping together as the body of Christ. There is joy in being together in His house my friends. And i miss seeing your faces here.
I know the Lord will see us through this difficult time and we will rejoice in His presence again, together as His children.
Today we are going back to the gospel of John, so would encourage you to grab your Bible, and turn with me to John chapter 13.
Now is an important chapter, it signifies the beginning of Jesus last day my friends.
It is here this day that Jesus will bte with his disciples in the upper room, teaching them, demonstrating the role of a servant and even speaking again about his soon coming death.
It is here this day that Jesus will we with his disciples in the upper room, teaching them, demonstrating the role of a servant and even speaking again about his soon coming death.
In less than 24 hours, he will be crucified, the hour for which He came to the world to accomplish that He might redeem us from our sin.
And in , there are some important things that begin to unfold that I believe not only helps us understand Jesus role as Savior, but instructs in the necessity of redemption, forgiveness and servitude.
So join with me and lets begin by looking at , verses 1-5 to start off with this morning.
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. 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, 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.
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So I have three thoughts I want to share with you this morning.
1. The Hour Had Come....
1. The Hour Had Come....
The Hour Had Come....
The Hour Had Come....
This thought my friends is a pivotal one, here’s why: It tells us that all that God has planned in Christ Jesus is about to come into fruition.
We know from the foundation of the world God has planned for the redemption of mankind unto Himself. I believe God planned for our redemption in His own Son.
He knew in His omniscience we would fail, He knew we would fall victim to sin and in His love He would redeem us by the sacrifice of a perfect lamb, the lamb of God, His own son.
He did all this to redeem us, to purchase us back from the penalty of sin and give us eternal life.
look with me again at verse 1
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.
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There is a lot of information here in this verse,
The Timing of the day... The timing is before the feast of the Passover, it is actually just hours away. The Passover would begin at 6pm on Friday and the day portrayed here is Thursday, we call it Maundy Thursday, meaning Holy or Covenant Thursday, the day Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples before his death.
B. Jesus Knew the hour Had Come… The hour is the event of God’s work. This day is the reason for Jesus coming, it is the time of His passion, His death, burial and resurrection and yes, not long after He would return to His rightful place at the right hand of the Father and there wait for God’s timing to be made complete before returning to bring His church home.
All throughout the gospels we hear the phrase spoke that “His hour had not yet come…: but here it has.. finally is the time of his sacrifice.
And the last piece of information told to us in verse 1 is this… He had loved his own to the end…
C. His Unending Love revealed.... how, the end of verse one is rather striking. he loved us to the end. It means he never stopped loving us. Even until death He loved us and gave His life as a sacrifice, a ransom for sin that our debt might be made right in the eyes of the Father, that we would be made justified.
My friends we are sinners, we come into this world bearing a sin debt. That is why Jesus came.... we were guilty before God, to much red in our side of the ledger.
What would balance the books, what would make things right?
A sacrifice… but not lambs, goats or bulls… the one and only Son of God would lay down his life for us, being our sacrificial lamb that we would be forgiven.
The hour had come..
He came to redeem us, do you know Him today? You cant earn your way into heaven, but if you trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He will save you.
Now lets move on and consider our second thought for today...
Jesus demonstrates His Role of a Servant
2. The Messiah Would be a Servant
2. The Messiah Would be a Servant
Here is a thought for you to consider my friends, the world, especially the Jewish would never considered the Messiah would be a servant.
They looked to God for deliverance, from the tyranny of Rome and all those who would seek to oppress His people. They never understood their greatest oppressor was sin.
Sin had lead them into captivity, held them responsible before God and kept their hearts shackled by the attitudes and cares of the world.
Here is a little secret for you… sin still does these things in our hearts today!
Sin destroys, Sin uproots, kills and brings death to people. Sin my friends is worse than cancer, the Corona-virus or anything else. Why.. it can cause death in the worst way.. it can lead people to a second death… Hell.
Jesus came to be a servant,and to serve the Father and deliver us by the laying down of His own life.. He will take our place…
Lets look at the next portion of the text....
Look at verse 2-5
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, 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.
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, 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. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
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As we examine the text we see two forces at work, (1.) you see the Devil is at work. (2.) And you see that God is at work.
(1.) Satan has been constantly trying to hinder and defeat the Son of God. to keep Him from accomplishing His work. But the Devil is not omniscient, he is not all knowing as God is.. thus He never truly understands what God is preparing and just how God will accomplish His work in this world.
The devil believes if Jesus can be killed God’s plans will be thwarted… think back at the times when Jesus was in harms way and know this was the work of the devil. Let me share a few with you...
A. Herod tried to have Jesus killed as a child by having all the male children two years of age or younger put to death.
B. In the the Temptation of Jesus, the Devil tried unsuccessfully to have Jesus abandon God’s way three times and three times Jesus rebuked and resisted the work of the Devil.
C. Even Peter tried to convince Jesus to bypass suffering.. Listen to the dialogue of Jesus and Peter in Matthew chapter 16
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
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D. And finally, Satan had influenced the heart of one more than God had, Judas Iscariot, He would offer to trap Jesus for the High Priest for 30 pieces of silver.
The devil sought to kill, steal and destroy… he was at work trying to hinder God’s plan..
(2.) And as I said a few minutes ago, God was at work as well. He had sent the Son in the world to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus would serve God and them, and He taught it and what it meant to His disciples as well.
Verse 3 reminds us that Jesus knew and understood his hour was at hand and now it was time to work and that all things were given into His hands. He was the agent of God, the Son who was serving and would die as a sacrifice for sin.
But instead of basking in the power of that nature, His authority … Jesus took the form of a servant… if you think about it in Paul’s way of speaking.. He emptied Himself, meaning He lay aside His glofy… to serve us/
And if you look at our text you see it… they have come into the room, it has been set up and prepared. the meal is there, table and places to sit. There is a bowl of water and a towel there for a period of refreshment.. but no servant to wash their feet.
So Jesus lays aide his robe, He girds himself with the towel and begins washing their feet.
Jesus is doing a couple of things here. Just as Jesus laid down his life, soon unto death we are reminded that we should lay aside our life as well. Secondly, no one is greater than His master.
You see to touch the feet of another was regarded as menial slave work, it was an assignment given to Gentile slaves. The disciples should have taken care of all this, but we find Jesus instead taking are of their need.
Isn’t that what Jesus has done… He took care of our need. Just as their feet were dirty from the travel of the day, the needed cleansing Jesus was there portraying the work of a servant, cleaning them and getting them ready for the meal, for the time they would spend with Him this night and for the Work he was leading them to accomplish after the cross.
The point I am making here is that Jesus served, and gave His life for us. Shouldn’t we serve?
Yes!
The world is in Need of Jesus. We can serve and show the world that the Savior stands ready to save them, there is still time.
But what keep us… US!
Jesus said if anyone would come after him, let him lay down his life, take up His cross and follow me..
Have you laid down your life? Your Will? Your whatever to take greater hold and walk more closely to the one who died for you?
Therein is life Found.
Now my friends, just one last thought for today…
3. Jesus demonstrates Cleansing is Needed....He did so as a Humble Servant
3. Jesus demonstrates Cleansing is Needed....He did so as a Humble Servant
I told you earlier that man’s most basic need is to overcome our greatest problem. That is sin!
Sin is the junk of life that ruins us. It is the one thing that separates us from the Father, keeps us in bondage and lead us to death, straight to Hell.
But the good news is this… it doesn’t have too. Jesus died for me and you. And In Hid death, he lay aside all to love us to the end. And He demonstrated that clearly upon the cross.
Lets look at our text again.. Verses 5-11
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. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” 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!” 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.”
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They would not take on themselves the role of a servant, so Jesus did and he begins to wash the disciples feet, all of them, remember Judas doesn’t depart until later. - So this doesn’t represent salvation in the sense that this event is one whereby Jesus is giving Salvation to these men.. They are saved as we are by faith.
Then Jesus comes to Peter, but Peter objects,. Master you cannot wash my feet.
Peter knew the situation wasn’t right, why was Jesus serving them, He or any one of them should be serving Him. But they didn’t understand at the moment and now pride is getting in the way. You cannot do this to me, Peter objects.
Verse 8
8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”
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John 13:8
Did you hear Jesus response to Peter.. It is a “either / or” type of response, I came to serve you and others but it you do not allow me, you can have no place with me. Literally you will not be a heir of me, having no place in my kingdom family. He would not be able to share in what was being prepared for him
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
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So what does alll this mean?
Jesus is demonstrating to the world that cleaning from the ruin of this world is needed.
Peter didn’t need an entire bath, just refreshment. He (Peter) was the Lord, all the traffic of life would be washed away and he would be clean.
Along the journey of the day, their feet collected the dirt of the roads, the dust of walking and from the wind. To cleanse the feet is to make one clean as they entered a home and sat for a meal.
I am reminded that we can have no part in the Kingdom of God unless we are clean, so symbolically, we must be clean from our sins.
Also, we must be like Jesus along the course of this life. Jesus said i came not to be served, but to serve and give His life for a ransom for many - .
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus loved all of these men and the world to the end. The time has now come to serve the will of the Father and to give His life as a ransom for sin.
Jesus is preparing the disciples, be ready for we do not know the day or the hour of our Lord’s return, just as they didn't understand how close they were to the passover lamb laying down His life as a ransom for sin.
But switch for a minute are you ready?
Have you given your life to Jesus, is it clean as you stand in front of God knowing that if today were your last you would leave this world and embark into His presence or would hell be your future estate.
Or today, is there some road grim upon you, those sins where by you got yoruself dirty along the way and you need a little cleanings, forgiveness to get you ready for what God has for you today?
Today He wants you to know He loves you.
Today he wants you in ready for that which He has set before you
Today do you trust Him? In the midst of our pandemic, all we truly have is Him
and Today, what other needs do you have? He stands ready to help you today
Jesus came to serve you, to die as a ransom for sin that you could be forgiven.
Will you trust Him today?
Pray
Cleansing needed
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. 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, 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. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” 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!” 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.”
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? 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. 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. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
