Introduction

·        Please turn to John 13

·        A little later, we will be taking communion together to celebrate the broken body and atoning blood of Jesus Christ for us. This is a tradition Jesus started the night before He was crucified – “in which He was betrayed.” We call it an “ordinance” because Jesus commanded or ordained it on that night.

·        Jesus and His disciples were eating the Passover meal together in an upper room. The bread he broke that night was a loaf of bread from the Passover meal. The cup he passed around the table and shared with the disciples was the cup of wine that traditionally concluded the Passover supper.

·        The bread and cup were symbolic of Christ’s body and blood that was about to be crucified. But there was another symbolic act that Christ performed earlier that evening – the washing of His disciples’ feet.

·        Scene: the upper room; Passover meal; sun set and room is lit by oil lamps glowing and flickering; disciples reclined; dinner about to start; Jesus gets up.

·        Rd vv. 3-6

·        TWO PURPOSES IN FOOTWASHING: a picture of forgiveness and an example of service

A picture of forgiveness (5-11)

·        Silence; Peter objects (you, my feet?); duty of a slave; don’t realize (vv. 6-7)

·        Strong opposition; Jesus insists; deeper meaning – dirty feet and dirty heart. In getting on floor and washing feet, He is forshadowing an even greater humility as He suffers and dies to wash away their sins the following day.

·        Daugther Heidi found black marker, got ink all over tongue and mouth; had to be scrubbed with washcloth

·        Sin is like a stain. Try to ignore it; hide it; water, stain remover, bleach, just keeps getting worse. Our hands, our feet, our eyes, our ears, but most importantly, our heart.

·       Psalm 51 According to the greatness of your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin…Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow…Create in me a clean heart, O God./

·        Have you experienced the cleansing power of Christ?

-         Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

-         Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb

·                    Peter misses the point; thinks Jesus just means you need to we washed with water. Rd vv. 9-10a

·        Physical truth – bathe and then wash feet; spiritual truth – cleansing and forgiveness, confession of sin

·        1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

·        Rd. vv. 10b-11 – all of them had been cleansed and forgiven except for Judas.

·        >>A picture of forgiveness…

An example of service (12-17)

·        Rd. vv. 12-16 – greater to the lesser; be humble and kind toward one another; did toward disciples and Judas

·        Contrast with dispute in Luke 22:24-27

Luke 22:24-27 And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ “But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. “For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

·        Story of Samuel Brengle:

In 1878 when William Booth’s salvation army had just been so named, men from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of himself as a bishop, crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist. He was a Methodist miniser, Samuel Logan Brengle. And he now turned from a fine pastorate to join Booth’s Salvation Army. Brengle later became the Army’s first American-born commissioner. But at first Booth accepted his service reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, ’You’ve been your own boss too long.’ And in order to instill humility into Brengle, he set him to work cleaning the boots of the other trainees. And Brengle said to himself, ’Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?’ And then as in a vision he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, [uneducated] fishermen. ’Lord,’ he whispered, ’You washed their feet. I will black their boots.’

·        V. 17 blessed if you do (stop here today)

·        Application: Take up your towel – be humble and kind toward one another

      Maybe its doing a job you don’t like doing, or spending time with someone you don’t like. Maybe you’ve been doing a ministry a long time feel under appreciated; like you’re being taken advantage of; other people do less than you, and that if you wait long enough, they’ll get the message; even toward those who have deeply hurt you; will only serve on your terms.

      At home/school/work: serve your wife and kids after a long day; the outcast at school; that difficult customer

      At church: church fellowship; potlucks; prayer and visitation; SS and children’s church.

      You say, “I can’t do that” – are you a disciple? He promised to give the strength through His Holy Spirit Jn. 13:35

·        Conclusion & Communion - the cleansing power of Christ’s blood