Untitled Sermon (4)

Introduction

As we are approaching Valentine’s Day I have been thinking about various people, as well as, certain parts of myself. Now this message is going to include aspects of love but it will be all about love, with the exception that Christ is the very embodiment of love.

As tomorrow approaches and as my week as been one with a lot of activity and change, I couldn’t help but think about my wife and think about all the others that value Valentine’s Day in different ways. Some love the holiday, some hate the holiday. Still some are indifferent about the holiday not really caring what happens but treating it as just another day.

As I was praying and thinking and talking to the Lord about this Sunday, asking Him what it was He wanted me to share, I knew He was leading me towards something that had to do with others and service. As I continued to listen, He directed me to when Jesus washed the disciples feet.

He begin telling me, more specifically, how no one is greater than their master and if I am doing this, then you should also. So let us unpack this passage a little bit this morning.

Body

Read John 13:12-17

John 13:12–17 NKJV

So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Now this morning’s message may not be super animated and dynamic and demonstrative, but I want to communicate a point that has been communicated to me by Our Lord.

No servant is greater than their master and no student is greater than their teacher. Likewise, no messenger is greater than the one who sent him and this is the portion that I want to spend time on today.

As we begin I want to talk a little about footwashing and the significance of this action, demonstrated by Christ. In this passage, we see Christ bend down after taking off his outer garments placing himself in a humble place both through appearance and action.

Footwashing was an act of a servant, or more a slave, not of a master.

Footwashing was also a practical practice we when understand that the contemporaries of this time wore sandals and their feet would often be dirty long before their entire body became dirty. This act of service was not just to humiliate someone or to remind someone of their status, but was also an act of service to one who is respected or who is greater. Christ demonstrated those who are least will be the greatest and those who think themselves to be the greatest will be the least.

Christ, then, stands up and replaces his outer garments and begins to teach the lesson through words to his disciples. First showing them, then telling them. This order is something that has been on my heart and has been creating quite the impact to me. I want to be better, and I know this is one way I can.

Footwashing is not where the power and the blessing comes from in this passage. Of course, footwashing is a humble act of service performed on another person, however, there are plenty of other opportunities for us to express humble service in practical ways to those around us. The point and power behind what Christ did was to take an action and a service that was common at the time and perform that humble action while being of such extraordinary prestige.

The service is not as important as the intent and if the intent, even being one of humility, is not humbling to us we have missed the mark. That or if the service is one of humility but is done to someone that does not demonstrate our humility we have equally missed the mark.

For example, if I wash the feet of a homeless person or give the clothes off my back to someone who is homeless and cold, it will have much greater impact of humble service than if I do it for the President of the United States.

Conclusion

We are called to be sharers and teachers of the word. This teaching and this sharing has never once been mentioned as only lip service and preaching. Action more often is inferred or included in all the teachings of Christ and the Apostles. In Old Testament Scriptures, we often find the very lives of the messengers and prophets to exemplify their teachings and instruction.

The Scripture says, “nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.” The messenger carries the same prestige and respect of the one who sent them. It is understood that whatever is done to the messenger is done equally to the one who sent them. The messenger is supposed to be a direct representative of the one who sent them and to show the very nature and character of their superior.

This being said, the messenger must understand if an act of service any other action is performed by their superior, they should not see themselves as exempt from performing the same action. Christ is the Father and the Father is the Son, as they send us to spread the word we must understand ourselves as their messengers. This position and this calling is one of extraordinary honor and deserves all reverence. We are to be the representatives of Christ, showing the word not just through word but through deed, the character of Christ. As we end, I want to pray this prayer I found while studying this passage.

Great God, in Christ you call our name and then receive us as your own, not through some merit, right or claim, but by your gracious love alone. We strain to glimpse your mercy-seat and find you kneeling at our feet. Then take the towel, and break the bread, and humble us, and call us friends. Suffer and serve till all are fed, and show how grandly love intends to work till all creation sings, to fill all worlds, to crown all things. - Brian A. Wren

D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 468–469.