Living What We Believe - 18

LIVING WHAT WE BELIEVE – Week 18

A Healed People

A Believing People

A Saved People

A Sanctified People

A Spirit-Baptized People

WE BELIEVE

In the Lords Supper & washing of the saints feet

John 13:14–17 | NLT

14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.

15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.

16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.

17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

Throughout the gospel of John, Jesus is shown as the God who came down:

John 1:14 | NLT

14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

John 3:13 | NLT

13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.

John 6:38 | NLT

38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.

The glory of God was united with Jesus’ human nature. When Jesus washed His disciple’s feet - He performed the undignified act of a servant.

Jesus is the Divine Servant. Jesus has called His disciples to be servants. His act of footwashing is an example we should follow. Christians are not to be concerned with status, but service. Footwashing signifies the blessedness of serving in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus Laid Aside His Garments

John 13:1-5 | NLT

1 Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.

2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.

4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,

5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.

This occasion happened during Passover.

Jesus sacrifice on the cross is footwashing.

Philippians 2:5–11 | NLT

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.

7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,

8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Why Does This Offend Us?

John 13:6-10 | NLT

6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”

8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”

Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”

9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”

10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.”

***Why clean feet were important***

vs 10 – we have be baptized in water and have been made clean – sometimes those who have been cleaned get contaminated by sin – footwashing is a sacred sign of continued cleansing from sins committed after water baptism

Like Peter, many of us resist footwashing. It is an awkward ritual. It places us in a compromising, even undignified position. It suggests that we need to be cleansed. Many of us are offended when faced with the truth of our spiritual condition. We prefer that our sinful condition be kept secret. Jesus calls us just the same.

We should participate in footwashing as an act of faithful repentance because we need to be cleansed.

A New Commandment

Footwashing narrative begins with a statement of Chirsts love for His disciples

1 John 3:16-17 | NLT

16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.

17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?