SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: Please take your Bibles with me this morning and open not to the Gospel of Matthew this morning, but to the Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_01: The Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_01: Been so long away from Matthew that I had a hard time not just going back there, but I decided, no, let's let's see the Lord Jesus together today in the Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have your Bible or your device, I encourage you to take it and make your way to John chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: This is a familiar passage of scripture to many of you.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been in church or Sunday school long enough, you will have heard this account.
SPEAKER_01: And I trust that it will be a challenge to us this morning.
SPEAKER_01: John chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: One of the things that we really love about our summer service times is that we have more time together.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a joy, really a privilege, to be able to read extended portions of Scripture together.
SPEAKER_01: Not just little things, not just a section, but extended portions.
SPEAKER_01: So we love to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And it was Webb's idea that we read through Ecclesiastes, and I think that's going to be a good thing for us, challenging us to see life, as Jeremy said, life without God versus life with God.
SPEAKER_01: And here in this passage of Scripture in John chapter 13, Jesus understands that exact perspective because he is going to be leaving.
SPEAKER_01: And his disciples are going to be left to live life on this earth without him.
SPEAKER_01: So what instructions does he give?
SPEAKER_01: What insight does he give?
SPEAKER_01: John chapter 13, the scriptures say, John writes, 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.
SPEAKER_01: Now during supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 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, rose from supper.
SPEAKER_01: He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, he tied it around his waist.
SPEAKER_01: Then he poured water into a basin and began to pour that water over the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
SPEAKER_01: And he came to Simon Peter.
SPEAKER_01: And Simon Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, What I'm doing you don't understand now, but afterward you will.
SPEAKER_01: Peter said, No.
SPEAKER_01: You shall never wash my feet.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.
SPEAKER_01: Simon Peter said, Lord, not only my feet, but my head and my hands also.
SPEAKER_01: My head, my head, and my hands, all of me.
SPEAKER_01: Give me a bath.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, Peter, the one who's bathed, does not need to wash.
SPEAKER_01: Just his feet.
SPEAKER_01: For he's completely clean.
SPEAKER_01: And you are clean, but not every one of you.
SPEAKER_01: For he knew who was to betray him.
SPEAKER_01: That was why he said, Not all of you are clean.
SPEAKER_01: 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?
SPEAKER_01: You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.
SPEAKER_01: If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
SPEAKER_01: For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.
SPEAKER_01: Truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Nor is a messenger greater than the one who sends him.
SPEAKER_01: If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not speaking of all of you.
SPEAKER_01: I know whom I've chosen.
SPEAKER_01: But the scripture will be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.
SPEAKER_01: So I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am.
SPEAKER_01: Truly, truly I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: On April twenty-fifth, nineteen eighty-six, the power that held within the that was held within the Chernobyl reactor in Russia led to a buildup of steam within that nuclear reactor.
SPEAKER_01: And the end result of that buildup of steam was an explosion that rocked the reactor, that caused fissures in the one thousand-ton roof that was supposed to seal in all of the nuclear power held within that reactor.
SPEAKER_01: But it was not under control.
SPEAKER_01: That power was not properly harnessed, and as a result, destruction ensued, not just in that moment when some employees working at the reactor were killed, but the nuclear radiation led to fallout that extends still today.
SPEAKER_01: That's what happens when there is power, when there is strength that is not harnessed, that is not under control.
SPEAKER_01: You can give any any number of examples, any number of illustrations that describe or that picture that kind of event.
SPEAKER_01: I remember going to church camp as a kid and my first one of my first times riding a horse.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm one of those little tiny kids, and the horse is like 300 times my size.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm being told this is how you control the horse.
SPEAKER_01: Just turn the reins and it will do what you want.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I rode some horses that did that exact thing.
SPEAKER_01: I can remember being about six years old, and my my favorite horse at camp was named Ryan.
SPEAKER_01: It made such an impression on me that I remembered the name.
SPEAKER_01: Then I remembered another horse that I don't remember its name because it bucked me off.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Power, strength, under control.
SPEAKER_01: Or not under control.
SPEAKER_01: I would suggest to you that that is describing the difference between the Lord Jesus Christ and most disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me at this passage.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: The first twelve chapters of the Gospel of John detail the Lord Jesus' public ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And that public ministry was met with mixed responses.
SPEAKER_01: There were some that believed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and they put all of their trust in him and they followed him, becoming genuine disciples of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But that really was a minority of people.
SPEAKER_01: The vast majority were simply curious seekers without genuine faith.
SPEAKER_01: They were intrigued by the power that they perceived in Jesus, whether that was healing a man born blind, whether that was feeding thousands upon thousands of people with just a few pieces of food.
SPEAKER_01: They were intrigued by this power present in this man, and they were curious about it, and they followed him for it.
SPEAKER_01: And then there were some who were merely antagonistic to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But this chapter in chapter 13 is an entirely different setting.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus isn't out amongst the people ministering in a public setting where there are thousands of people sitting down on a hillside listening to him teach.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the situation here.
SPEAKER_01: This is a private situation.
SPEAKER_01: This is his disciples and Jesus alone in an upper room.
SPEAKER_01: We might call this a family dinner.
SPEAKER_01: You have your close family present with you.
SPEAKER_01: This is family time.
SPEAKER_01: This is the Lord Jesus' last meal with his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: And he knows, he knows very clearly what will happen beginning in just a few short hours from this moment.
SPEAKER_01: He knows that after they finish eating, they're going to sing a hymn together.
SPEAKER_01: It was traditional, and then that they would leave the upper room, they would exit the city of Jerusalem, going out from the walls and cross over the Kidron Valley and go up into the Mount of Olives where the Garden of Gethsemane was.
SPEAKER_01: He knew that in that garden his disciples would fall asleep while he was praying himself into preparation.
SPEAKER_01: Praying so intently that his sweat dropped from his body as blood.
SPEAKER_01: He knew that shortly after completing his praying, Judas would arrive.
SPEAKER_01: Not as a friend, not as a brother, not as a disciple, but as an enemy who had betrayed him.
SPEAKER_01: He knew that he would be taken under cover of darkness, to be tried illegally.
SPEAKER_01: He knew that he would be beaten.
SPEAKER_01: He knew that he would be whipped.
SPEAKER_01: He knew that he would be crowned with thorns and nailed to a cross.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew all of this.
SPEAKER_01: He was about to depart from this world.
SPEAKER_01: But in that moment, just hours before all of what you know is going to happen happens, and he loves his own to the end.
SPEAKER_01: That takes strength.
SPEAKER_01: It's the power of God's Spirit to subdue self.
SPEAKER_01: It's the power of motive that considers others more significant than oneself.
SPEAKER_01: It's the power of focus to see something through all the way to the end.
SPEAKER_01: It's the same strength that relies upon the word of God and stands up to the temptation of Satan himself by saying, No, I'm not going to give in to that because the word of God says.
SPEAKER_01: But that strength, that power of spirit, that fortitude in the face of suffering and death is here displayed in love for others.
SPEAKER_01: Now in the privacy of the upper room, I would expect, I would expect Jesus to be preparing.
SPEAKER_01: To be preparing for suffering and death.
SPEAKER_01: I would expect him to be processing through what's going to be happening and maybe thinking through how is he how is he going to do this?
SPEAKER_01: How is he going to do that?
SPEAKER_01: Instead, we see him exhibiting love for his own.
SPEAKER_01: A love so great, a love so enduring that even the anticipation of the cross does not move his love.
SPEAKER_01: It does not shift his focus.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus said that the world will know that we are his disciples by our love for one another, he meant this kind of love.
SPEAKER_01: He meant this kind of love.
SPEAKER_01: It's a love that considers others more significant than oneself, even if all you have left is a few hours.
SPEAKER_01: Even if you know that you're about to suffer.
SPEAKER_01: Here, John records first what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: He tells us about an action that demonstrates the love of Jesus for his own to the very end.
SPEAKER_01: And that that action, what Jesus does, is an example to us of humility.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said in verse 15, I have given you an example.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of the easiest passages of Scripture to interpret, to understand what's going on, because Jesus tells us.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to wonder.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Everything that I've done here is an example for you, that you also should do as I have done to you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus washed the disciples' feet so that they might have an example to emulate.
SPEAKER_01: This is doctrine with significance.
SPEAKER_01: Now the doctrine itself is fleshed out more fully in Philippians chapter 2, where we we have the Apostle Paul telling us that Christ left the glories of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: He had all the prerogatives of God, the Son, all the glory, all the power, and he willingly set that aside for a time to wrap himself in flesh.
SPEAKER_01: What kind of flesh?
SPEAKER_01: Human flesh, that he might be like one of his creations, his creatures.
SPEAKER_01: So much so that he took on the appearance of a slave.
SPEAKER_01: Not just that, but he took on the appearance of a slave in order to die a slave's death.
SPEAKER_01: That's the doctrine fleshed out, but here its significance is given not in a theological statement, but in an example.
SPEAKER_01: During supper, verse 2, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 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, rose from supper.
SPEAKER_01: He laid aside his outer garments, he took a towel, and he tied it around his waist.
SPEAKER_01: He poured water into a basin and began to pour it over the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that he had wrapped around him.
SPEAKER_01: It's important in many passages of scripture to ask the question what's left out?
SPEAKER_01: What's missing?
SPEAKER_01: What's not said?
SPEAKER_01: And when we ask that of this passage, what's not said is that there's no other servant around to wash the feet.
SPEAKER_01: There's no other servant present at the entrance to this house to wash the feet of Jesus and the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: There's no servant in the upper room to wash the disciples' feet.
SPEAKER_01: People would often bathe before going to a party or a significant celebration.
SPEAKER_01: But the dirt and the dust of that arid country would be blown up, would just be puffed up from the ground with each step they took, wearing open sandals, their feet would get gritty and grimy from that dust.
SPEAKER_01: So by the time they arrived at their destinations, even if it's just a short walk, their feet would be gritty and grimy, covered in dust.
SPEAKER_01: And so these 13 men are now settled around a Passover meal, laying down on their sides, probably propped up on an elbow.
SPEAKER_01: That was common.
SPEAKER_01: That was just like us pulling up a chair today, not unusual for that time.
SPEAKER_01: And they did so reclining there with dirty feet.
SPEAKER_01: You see, it was common courtesy to provide foot washing for your guests.
SPEAKER_01: In our area of the country, it's notably present that we don't wash feet, we provide place for people to take off their shoes, right?
SPEAKER_01: We come into somebody's home and we we take off our shoes.
SPEAKER_01: That's the general pattern in our area of the country.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because of snurt.
SPEAKER_01: Those of you that are watching on the live stream and don't know what snurt is, it's dirt combined with snow, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's that that watery, muddy mess that we often have in the wintertime.
SPEAKER_01: So we take off our shoes.
SPEAKER_01: That's common courtesy.
SPEAKER_01: In ancient times, common courtesy was you provide some water to rinse off the dust and the grime from your feet.
SPEAKER_01: Generally, that was a slave.
SPEAKER_01: And not just a slave, but a Gentile slave, a non-Jewish slave, if you were living in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's because footwashing was considered a menial task.
SPEAKER_01: Something that was beneath the dignity of most people.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what was interesting is that Israel had a standard in place at the time that if anyone had a Jewish slave, if a Jewish family had a Jewish slave, which was possible, it was illegal for a Jewish family to force a Jewish slave to wash feet.
SPEAKER_01: That was beneath their dignity.
SPEAKER_01: They could force a Gentile, a non-Jewish slave, to wash feet.
SPEAKER_01: Disciples were expected to do almost anything for their masters.
SPEAKER_01: But even disciples were not expected to wash the feet of their masters.
SPEAKER_01: I would think that in this case, the disciples, after two to three years with the Lord Jesus, would willingly wash his feet, but that doesn't even enter their minds.
SPEAKER_01: They were more willing to eat the Passover meal with dirty, grimy feet than to wash feet.
SPEAKER_01: Now think about think about what you might utterly despise doing for someone else.
SPEAKER_01: What would you just turn your stomach to have to do for somebody else?
SPEAKER_01: If you can imagine something there, you might be getting close to what footwashing is.
SPEAKER_01: And then during the Passover meal, after they had begun to eat and remember God's God's miraculous power on display in the Exodus out of Egypt, God bringing his people through powerful signs and wonders, his redeeming work, as they're remembering all of that and they're eating together.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gets up, takes off his outer robe, wraps a long towel around his waist, to the astonishment of the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the appearance of a slave.
SPEAKER_01: But astonishingly, the disciples are silent.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: There's no response until we get to Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gets up in the middle of supper, changes clothes to his grubbies, starts doing the work of a slave, looking like a slave, and no one says a word.
SPEAKER_01: It must have been a curiosity, probably more than that.
SPEAKER_01: It was simply stunning.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God, he was going back to God, rose up and did the work of a slave.
SPEAKER_01: Now we could describe this in terms of Jesus' love, his heart of love.
SPEAKER_01: And that would be appropriate because of verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus here, understanding what's coming, is demonstrating his love for his own, even to the very end.
SPEAKER_01: But just as much as his love is his power and his strength, because this is the Son of Man whom Daniel saw next to the ancient of days.
SPEAKER_01: This is the one whom Micah said would come to redeem Israel, whose goings forth were from ancient times.
SPEAKER_01: This is the word made flesh.
SPEAKER_01: This is the creator.
SPEAKER_01: He gives life.
SPEAKER_01: He is the undisputed ruler of the universe before whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess his divinity.
SPEAKER_01: This is the one who took the form of a slave.
SPEAKER_01: This is not weakness.
SPEAKER_01: This is strength under control.
SPEAKER_01: This is power with focus.
SPEAKER_01: This is focus and purpose and love and power all rolled together.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, for disciples who channel their energies, their strengths, their resources, their power and their authority for the good of God's people and loving service to them rather than selfish ambition, vain deceit, and the glories of the world.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Luke gives us an interesting tidbit.
SPEAKER_01: Luke tells us in his gospel that at this very moment the disciples were having an argument.
SPEAKER_01: Ironically, the argument was which of them was the greatest?
SPEAKER_01: It's like little kids sitting around a table.
SPEAKER_01: I'm better than you are.
SPEAKER_01: I can do more than you can do.
SPEAKER_01: But in this case, it's.
SPEAKER_01: And this is a running argument.
SPEAKER_01: You can look at Mark chapter 10 for more.
SPEAKER_01: It's been going on and on and on, probably for years at this point.
SPEAKER_01: And even John, even John, the one who recorded this encounter, was part of that running argument.
SPEAKER_01: That's humanity.
SPEAKER_01: We all want to be noticed.
SPEAKER_01: We all want to be important and significant in some way.
SPEAKER_01: It's part of our pride.
SPEAKER_01: It's why Genesis 3 happened.
SPEAKER_01: We want a noticeable place.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to do the dirty tasks.
SPEAKER_01: We expect someone else to do the menial things we prefer not to do.
SPEAKER_01: We want our way, we want our preferences, we want our ideals to be magnified.
SPEAKER_01: And mere hours before Jesus' arrest, the disciples are still fighting about who is the greatest.
SPEAKER_01: And then, in the midst of that argument, apparently without saying a word, the Lord, God with them, stood up, changed his clothes into the clothes of a slave.
SPEAKER_01: It's like us having an argument about who's going to clean the toilets because we're all too good to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And then in the midst of our arguing about it, Jesus changes into grubbies and starts cleaning them himself while we look on in stunned amazement.
unknown: What?
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: What's he doing?
SPEAKER_01: The one the one who had all things in his hands.
SPEAKER_01: The one who was about to return to the fullness of glory.
SPEAKER_01: And the Father's presence became a slave.
SPEAKER_01: Then he poured water into a basin.
SPEAKER_01: And he took that basin and he would put it under the feet of the disciples, and he would take water from that basin and pour it over their feet, working his way around the table, pouring water, wiping off the feet.
SPEAKER_01: Thirteen men.
SPEAKER_01: One of them is Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_01: God in the flesh.
SPEAKER_01: Eleven are devoted followers of Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_01: One is an enemy who would betray him.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus knows every bit of it.
SPEAKER_01: He knows every detail.
SPEAKER_01: And yet he pours water over their feet.
SPEAKER_01: And he dries them with a towel.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 12, when he had washed their feet.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that that's past tense.
SPEAKER_01: It's done.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't just happen like that.
SPEAKER_01: There's time that passes.
SPEAKER_01: There's a shifting that passes as he has to move the bowl of water to each set of feet and work his way around the table.
SPEAKER_01: And then when he has done that, can you imagine that?
SPEAKER_01: The king of creation taking the form of a slave and going one by one around the table, pouring water over feet and then drying them.
SPEAKER_01: He even washed Judas's feet.
SPEAKER_01: For some reason I just imagined them being especially stinky.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, maybe just me.
SPEAKER_01: But think about that.
SPEAKER_01: The one whom Jesus himself called a devil, that one had his feet washed by Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing that Peter would deny him.
SPEAKER_01: Not once, not twice, but three times.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing that the disciples in just a few hours would run away in fear, leaving him alone.
SPEAKER_01: In fulfillment of the scriptures, strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing all of that, knowing that Judas would exchange him for thirty pieces of silver, still he washed their feet?
SPEAKER_01: How many of us would willingly serve someone whom we know tomorrow is going to turn their backs on us and stab us in the back?
SPEAKER_01: How many of us would serve the person that we know tomorrow is going to betray us and leave us behind?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, aside from the cross, I don't think there's a greater demonstration of humility in all of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Here is the most powerful, matchless being in the universe doing the job of a slave.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because he loved his own to the end.
SPEAKER_01: And the image is loaded with irony.
SPEAKER_01: The greatest assumes the role of the least, all while the disciples are arguing about who's greater?
SPEAKER_01: Me or you?
SPEAKER_01: Ah, it's gotta be me.
SPEAKER_01: Too often we live with the pride of the disciples when Christ would have us live in the power and strength of humility that his spirit works within us.
SPEAKER_01: This is why I think Jesus asks, Do you understand what I've done?
SPEAKER_01: And the answer is no, they don't.
SPEAKER_01: Not yet, they will.
SPEAKER_01: They will.
SPEAKER_01: Now, on the one hand, of course they understand.
SPEAKER_01: They would have had their feet washed hundreds, if not thousands, of times in their lives.
SPEAKER_01: But on the other hand, they clearly did not understand the symbolism because they're still arguing with each other out of their pride.
SPEAKER_01: They were to have an inner spirit of humility, strength under control, not one that is out of control, jostling for position.
SPEAKER_01: Now we start to begin to see the purpose in all of this.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Jesus intended this to be a teaching moment.
SPEAKER_01: First, he gives an example.
SPEAKER_01: He does something that says, here's a picture of what I want you to learn.
SPEAKER_01: And this is a learning moment because he asks, Do you understand?
SPEAKER_01: Do you grasp this?
SPEAKER_01: Are you comprehending this?
SPEAKER_01: Now, beginning in verse 12 and following, he moves from the example to his explanation.
SPEAKER_01: And that explanation has three parts to it: there's a reminder, there's a command, and there's a reward.
SPEAKER_01: You see, there's there's significance in this upper room moment, and it's important for us, just like these disciples, to appropriate the significance to our own lives.
SPEAKER_01: And that begins first with what Jesus reminds his disciples of.
SPEAKER_01: You call me teacher and Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Rightly so.
SPEAKER_01: That I am.
SPEAKER_01: If I, then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
SPEAKER_01: For I've given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.
SPEAKER_01: So first, Jesus reminds his disciples of who he is.
SPEAKER_01: He reminds them of who he is.
SPEAKER_01: They call him teacher, rabbi.
SPEAKER_01: They call him Lord, curios, meaning they are lower than he is on the social rung.
SPEAKER_01: They are disciples, Jesus is the teacher.
SPEAKER_01: That is a true statement.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus then flips those words around.
SPEAKER_01: You'll notice in the next part in verse 14, emphasizing not the teacher part, but the lordship part.
SPEAKER_01: He says, If I then, your curiosity, your Lord and your teacher, you see, it's the Lord Himself.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: It is God with us.
SPEAKER_01: It is our teacher who has stooped down to perform the duty of a slave so that we might be redeemed.
SPEAKER_01: Living as a follower of Christ means being strong enough to be humble.
SPEAKER_01: Not all it means.
SPEAKER_01: That's part of what it means.
SPEAKER_01: You see, a disciple is like a nuclear reactor.
SPEAKER_01: Because a disciple has the Spirit of God living within them, every single genuine disciple has the divine power at work within them.
SPEAKER_01: A disciple, then, is that power of God under control.
SPEAKER_01: Nuclear reactors are very carefully regulated.
SPEAKER_01: There hasn't been a new nuclear reactor established in the United States of America for a really long time because, in part, of how much they are regulated.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't do things just right, disaster will result.
SPEAKER_01: But a disciple is one in whom the Spirit of God works to produce the fruit of divine power.
SPEAKER_01: As the Spirit of God, that divine power works within the heart in the life of a disciple, pride is gradually subdued while humility is increased.
SPEAKER_01: How does that happen?
SPEAKER_01: Being human beings, we want a step-by-step plan for it.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: The wives want step one, step two, step three, step four, and the husbands look at the instructions and say, I don't need the instructions.
SPEAKER_01: But what Jesus tells us here is that we're not to go looking for six, ten, or twelve-step plans for humility.
SPEAKER_01: We look at Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we do.
SPEAKER_01: We look at Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Remember who I am.
SPEAKER_01: Yesterday was the anniversary of Charles Spurgeon's birthday.
SPEAKER_01: And I was reminded of this quotation from something that Spurgeon wrote in a commentary about Hebrews chapter two.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Therefore, look not so much at your hand with which you are grasping Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, look to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Look not to your hope, but to Jesus, to the author and the finisher of your faith.
SPEAKER_01: He goes on, we will never find happiness by looking at our prayers, by looking at what we do, by looking at our feelings.
SPEAKER_01: It is by looking at Jesus that we give rest to the soul.
SPEAKER_01: If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by looking to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, keep your eye simply on him and let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercessions rule your mind.
SPEAKER_01: When you wake up in the morning, look to him.
SPEAKER_01: When you lie down at night, look to him.
SPEAKER_01: Let not your hopes or your fears come between you and Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Follow hard after him, and he will never fail you.
SPEAKER_01: Look to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus said to his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: I am your teacher and your Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's right.
SPEAKER_01: So if I am your Lord and your teacher, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: And if you look at him, what's going to happen?
SPEAKER_01: You're going to start doing like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: For me, it's it's a frightening experience to see myself and my children.
SPEAKER_01: It's a frightening experience to hear things come out of my children's mouth that I then recognize that's me.
SPEAKER_01: But that is our Heavenly Father's glory.
SPEAKER_01: That when we look at Jesus, the Spirit of God begins to make us like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: After reminding them of who He is, Jesus gives them a command.
SPEAKER_01: You also ought to wash one another's feet.
SPEAKER_01: For I've given you an example, right?
SPEAKER_01: That you also should do as I have done to you.
SPEAKER_01: Throughout centuries of church history, some have taken this to mean that the church has a third memorial.
SPEAKER_01: That is, we have communion, we have baptism, and we have footwashing.
SPEAKER_01: But I don't think that's what Jesus meant here.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the context.
SPEAKER_01: This is in the midst of an argument about who is the greatest.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: The disciples are all gathered together.
SPEAKER_01: This is the family meal, and the kids are arguing about who's better.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is grieved, knowing that in just a few hours he's going to lay down his life for them.
SPEAKER_01: And so in loving them to the very end, he serves them.
SPEAKER_01: This is not about the act of washing feet, it's about the attitude and the heart of one who took on flesh to be like a slave.
SPEAKER_01: This is not a command to go around washing feet.
SPEAKER_01: The significance is not in what Jesus did, the significance is in the one who did it.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we first look to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We look at him.
SPEAKER_01: Because what's the significance of this passage?
SPEAKER_01: What really makes this account significant?
SPEAKER_01: If this was John washing everybody else's feet, eh, big deal.
SPEAKER_01: John.
SPEAKER_01: It might be something if Peter washed everybody else's feet, because Peter was always better than everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: That might say something.
SPEAKER_01: No, this is this is the one who made you.
SPEAKER_01: This is the one who sits enthroned above the circle of the earth and he looks down at the people on the earth and he considers them so small that they look like ants in his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: The significance here is in the one who did it, not in what he did.
SPEAKER_01: The significance is in the power and the strength and the authority of the one who put on flesh to become like a slave to love his people.
SPEAKER_01: This is a command to think less of yourself and more of others in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: To consider others is more significant than yourself because you love them to the end.
SPEAKER_01: Because nothing is beneath you, even the arrogant person that you can't stand.
SPEAKER_01: Our consideration must be to put others first.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
SPEAKER_01: Next up on Jesus, Jesus' planner on his Google calendar is going to Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_01: Next up after Gethsemane is Caiaphas' courthouse.
SPEAKER_01: Next up after Caiaphas' courthouse is Pilate's judgment seat.
SPEAKER_01: Next after Pilate's judgment seat is carrying a cross.
SPEAKER_01: But he took time to serve.
SPEAKER_01: This is a command to have the heart of God, to consider others more significant than ourselves, to be humble enough to stoop to the lowest place possible, even that place that we might think that we cannot go to because we might receive wounds for going there.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why would Jesus give us that command?
SPEAKER_01: Truly, truly, Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is is the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_01: He's already said that.
SPEAKER_01: He's the curiosity, he's the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And that means that the disciples are taking the role of the slave in the image.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the one who sends.
SPEAKER_01: They are the ones who are sent.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, if the Lord, if the master stoops to do a slave's work, then those who are his followers should at least do the same with the same heart.
SPEAKER_01: Acting in humility by taking the lowest position is to be like our Lord.
SPEAKER_01: If we fail to do so, then we're not acting like Jesus, but we're arguing about which of us is greater.
SPEAKER_01: Lastly, Jesus says there's also a reward.
SPEAKER_01: If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
SPEAKER_01: See, Jesus knows that eleven of these twelve disciples are going to be sent.
SPEAKER_01: If they're going to be sent, then they need to go in the heart and the attitude of the sender.
SPEAKER_01: If they're his disciples, they need to go with the spirit that gives power under control to be like their Lord.
SPEAKER_01: If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
SPEAKER_01: It's not enough to know what God expects.
SPEAKER_01: It's not enough to know what Jesus wants from us.
SPEAKER_01: We must be doers of his word, right?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what James tells us?
SPEAKER_01: And when we're doers, when we hear what he says, when we when we assimilate his word into our lives, we are blessed by the Master.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's interesting to me that John was one of the arrogant disciples.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted the prime position next to King Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Where is he at the supper?
SPEAKER_01: Right next to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Right where he wants to be.
SPEAKER_01: John was one of those disciples.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted the power, he wanted the privilege, he wanted the prestige of being Jesus' right hand man.
SPEAKER_01: Yet he is the only disciple to write this account.
SPEAKER_01: I think he learned his lesson.
SPEAKER_01: I think in that moment, the word of God displayed in humility pierced his heart.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's the first half of my sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at another side of this moment in the upper room.
SPEAKER_01: We'll do it briefly.
SPEAKER_01: This is a side of this upper room moment that I think is easily missed.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like seeing an x-ray.
SPEAKER_01: In an x-ray, you see the structure that holds up the body, right?
SPEAKER_01: You see the framework that holds up the outer muscles and the skin and the tendons and the ligaments and all that stuff that's built onto the structure.
SPEAKER_01: We need the structure underneath to build a house of humility.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, dressed as a slave, washed the disciples' feet.
SPEAKER_01: His temperament was to speak before thinking.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you are gonna wash my feet.
SPEAKER_01: Peter's not about to let his Lord do that kind of menial work.
SPEAKER_01: Peter's not about to wash someone else's feet.
SPEAKER_01: And he's really not going to let Jesus wash his feet.
SPEAKER_01: The time would come when Peter would understand things better, but in this moment he was a little out to lunch.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, You, with emphasis, you, Jesus, are never going to wash my feet.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, I have enough respect and honor and fear and worship of who you are that you will never wash my feet.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure that Peter would later say that it's generally not a wise thing to tell God what to do.
SPEAKER_01: But before the cross, Peter had this pattern of rashness that showed itself in foolishness.
SPEAKER_01: Because he was still learning that humility lesson.
SPEAKER_01: If church tradition is true, I think he did learn it because he was not willing to be crucified upright, because he was not worthy of being crucified in the same manner as his Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Then we hear this stunning statement.
SPEAKER_01: If I do not wash you, you don't have any share in me.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, you guys have been arguing about which one of you is the greatest.
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, all 12 of you can't be the greatest.
SPEAKER_01: At best, you get one-twelfth of a share.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, if you don't get washed, if you're not washed, if you don't take the bath, you don't even get one share.
SPEAKER_01: You have no part in me.
SPEAKER_01: They'd all been arguing about who was the greatest, who would get to sit beside Jesus in his glory, but now if they're not washed, they have no part of him?
SPEAKER_01: That's not something Peter was willing to consider.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted everything.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted every part of being with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so another rash statement erupts.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, not just my feet, give me a bath.
SPEAKER_01: If having a part with you forever is about washing, then wash all of me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Listen, Peter, calm down.
SPEAKER_01: Calm down.
SPEAKER_01: You took a bath before coming to supper.
SPEAKER_01: The one who's bathed doesn't need to wash just his feet because he's completely clean.
SPEAKER_01: And you are clean.
SPEAKER_01: But not every one of you.
SPEAKER_01: If you bathe before going to the Passover meal, you don't need to bathe again.
SPEAKER_01: But your feet need rinsing because they become dusty and dirty from walking to the upper room.
SPEAKER_01: If you've bathed, you don't need to bathe again.
SPEAKER_01: But you do need some partial rinsing of your dirty feet.
SPEAKER_01: And that washing is necessary to have any part of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He's speaking here of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: When we first come to faith in Christ, there is this total washing, there's this bathing, this cleansing, whole body, as it were.
SPEAKER_01: It happens once.
SPEAKER_01: Because the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit only happens once.
SPEAKER_01: Once you are a new creation in Christ, there's no need for yet another recreation.
SPEAKER_01: But once you've been bathed in Christ, it doesn't take very long for you to realize that your feet are getting dirty.
SPEAKER_01: Because you sin.
SPEAKER_01: During daily life in a sin-cursed world, we do get dirty and we need our feet rinsed by Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's significant that John, this same disciple, is the one who writes for us in 1 John chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
SPEAKER_01: But if we confess our sins, if we acknowledge in humility of heart before the Lord Jesus that, yes, I am your disciple, I've had that cleansing, but yes, Jesus, my feet need rinsed.
SPEAKER_01: What does he do?
SPEAKER_01: He's faithful and he's just to pour the water over our feet and to dry them.
SPEAKER_01: The person who has bathed is clean, but needs an occasional rinsing of sin.
SPEAKER_01: And my friend, if if you have not placed your faith and trust in Jesus alone for your sins, you're still dirty all over.
SPEAKER_01: You need a bath.
SPEAKER_01: And no water that comes out of the faucet will wash your sins away.
SPEAKER_01: It's only blood that washes your sin away.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, and you know that you've already been angry this morning.
SPEAKER_01: You've already sinned in a way that grieves the heart of God this morning, but you've been bathed.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, let me wash your feet.
SPEAKER_01: Confess your sin to me.
SPEAKER_01: Acknowledge to me that yes, I I need I need my feet washed.
SPEAKER_01: And what does he do?
SPEAKER_01: He takes off his garment, he wraps a towel around his waist, and he comes and he brings cleansing.
SPEAKER_01: It's required of all disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Judas, of course, is the prime example of the one who's not clean.
SPEAKER_01: The you at the end of verse 10 is plural.
SPEAKER_01: You are clean, but not every one of you, all of you, eleven disciples had the initial cleansing likened to bathing.
SPEAKER_01: All except Judas, who would betray him.
SPEAKER_01: You see, our bodies need an inner structure.
SPEAKER_01: We need our skeletons.
SPEAKER_01: That's why sometimes if you if you break a leg or you break a limb or something like that and it can't support you anymore, they put something else in there to support it, whether it's a rod or whether it's a plate or whether it's screws.
SPEAKER_01: You need that.
SPEAKER_01: A home needs framing upon which to put the sheetrock and the siding and the shingles.
SPEAKER_01: Humility also needs a structure.
SPEAKER_01: The necessary structure is cleansing.
SPEAKER_01: We must come to Jesus in faith for the forgiveness of our sins to be justified by grace through faith.
SPEAKER_01: And upon that foundation, the Spirit of God builds in his power walls and rafters as we see Jesus and as we grow in understanding and Christ-likeness, and the Spirit then begins to develop the fruit of humility, displacing the pride that exists in our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: And as we walk the dirty paths of life, you're gonna say, No, I want my pride back.
SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna take it back.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna get your feet dirty, you're gonna get angry, we're gonna tell a lie, we might exaggerate the truth, we might boast, we might gossip, but genuine disciples don't need another bath, you just need your feet washed.
SPEAKER_01: And so we come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Why do we come to Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: We come because he's our Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We come because of who he is.
SPEAKER_01: We come because he's our teacher, and as our teacher, he has taught us to come in confession.
SPEAKER_01: And so we come to Jesus, our master and our teacher who took on the form of a slave who himself is willing to wash our feet so that we might be cleansed from our sin.
SPEAKER_01: That makes for a welcoming and a safe home.
SPEAKER_01: It's safe because of its inner strength, its inner power established in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: It's safe because it's been cleansed from sin.
SPEAKER_01: It's welcoming because it is driven by humility and love for others.
SPEAKER_01: It's in that way that we become like Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We become like Christ because the Spirit of God living within us is that power and that strength, but under the control of God's Spirit, it doesn't explode.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, it's controlled and driven by humility.
SPEAKER_01: When we understand that, when we grasp the significance of seeing Jesus, when our ears are open to hear his command, when we understand his reasoning, and we pursue the reward of obeying him, then all of a sudden other things begin to make more sense.
SPEAKER_01: Things like husbands, love your wives.
SPEAKER_01: How?
SPEAKER_01: As Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.
SPEAKER_01: Other things begin to make sense.
SPEAKER_01: Fathers, do not exasperate your children, but instead, in humility, bring them up in the love and admonition of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Other things begin to make sense.
SPEAKER_01: Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.
SPEAKER_01: Guess who wrote that?
SPEAKER_01: Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Good old Peter.
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to ask him this question.
SPEAKER_01: I want to know when he wrote those words, was he imagining, was he remembering the image of his Lord and teacher rising from the supper table, setting aside his garment, clothing himself with humility.
SPEAKER_01: Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility.
SPEAKER_01: Toward one another.
SPEAKER_01: For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_01: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you.
SPEAKER_01: May we be disciples who are nuclear reactors.
SPEAKER_01: Not the kind that explodes in our pride, but the kind that exhibits the strength and the power of God's Spirit under the control of God's Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Because we see Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, we come and we bow before you.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, asking for your help.
SPEAKER_01: Without your spirit, we are no different than these disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Instead of being who you've called us to be.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, may we under the power of your spirit live not in the work of the flesh, but in the power of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So that all of His fruit, divine fruit, produced under His power, would be evident in us.
SPEAKER_01: And so display to a watching world that we are your disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.