Good morning. It’s good to have all of you
with us,
especially good to have our visitors with
us today.
We’re grateful for your presence and we
appreciate the time that you’re spending
with us in worship.
Take your Bibles, if you will,
and open them to John chapter thirteen.
We have recently been discussing the topic
of love from First Corinthians
thirteen. This morning we’re going to
spend our time
in this chapter as we consider learning
to love like Christ
in matters of service. Having an attitude
Of service like Christ. As Paul will write
to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians
chapter 13,
he will describe love and he will say that
love
is long suffered. It suffers long
and is kind. He teaches us concerning a
number
of things about love.
But as we look at the life of Christ,
we see some of those things lived out.
We see the very love of God lived out in
the life of Christ,
and we see the relationship that we are to
have with
our brethren exemplified in the life of
Christ
and the relationship he had with his
disciples.
As chapter thirteen opens up, you are in
the very last week of the life of Christ.
You are in the events as Jesus will
observe
the Passover feast there in the upper
room.
And you are in a section of scripture
where John is rehearsing for
us for our benefit through inspiration of
the Holy Spirit the things which Jesus
said and did while he interacted with
those
apostles. Now John covers this event
differently than
Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke focus more on the
meal,
the partaking of that meal, and the
memorial that is instituted after that,
that Lord’s Supper, which we just
observed.
John focuses more on what Jesus said and
what Jesus
did in relationship to the apostles during
that time in the upper room.
If you go back to chapter 12 and you
consider the events that have transpired,
we read back in chapter 12 and in verse
27.
Jesus says, Now my soul is troubled,
and what shall I say? Father, save me from
this hour.
But for this purpose I came to this hour.
As you think about what is going to
transpire in chapter thirteen,
understand that Jesus knew
why was here.
And understand that John is helping us to
fully grasp that idea.
Verse twenty eight says, Father,
glorify your name. Then a voice came from
heaven saying,
I have both glorified it and will glorify
it again.
Therefore the people who stood by and
heard it said that it had thundered,
others said an angel had spoken to him.
Jesus answered and said,
This voice did not come because of me,
but for your sake.
Now is the judgment of this world,
now the ruler of the world will be cast
out,
and I, if I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all people to myself.
This he said, signifying what death he
would die.
The people answered him, We have heard
from the law that the Christ remains
for ever. And how can you say the Son of
Man must be lifted up?
Who is the Son of Man?
Jesus said to them, A little while longer,
a light is with you. Walk while you have
the light,
lest darkness overtake you. He who walks
in darkness does not know where
he is going. While you have the light,
believe in the light that you may become
sons of light.
These things Jesus spoke and departed and
was hidden from them.
In the days that had preceded this,
Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead.
Jesus had called Lazarus forth out of the
grave.
And those who were present had witnessed
this.
As a matter of fact, they said to him,
as Jesus said for them to take away the
stone,
he’s been dead all these days.
He’s going to stink.
And yet Jesus will tell them to remove the
stone and will call for Lazarus
to come forth, and he comes forth.
As you get into chapter thirteen
That meal has been observed.
And we read verse thir chapter thirteen,
verse one Now before the feast of the
Passover,
when Jesus knew that his hour had come
that he should depart from this
world to the Father, having loved his own
who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.
As we open up the chapter, as this feast
is about to begin,
as this meal is about to be observed,
Jesus is going to focus on the apostles.
John is going to tell us that Jesus loved
his apostles and that he loved them,
as the text says, to the end.
Jesus’ love for the apostles wasn’t
circumstantial.
It was not temporary.
It was not that which came and went.
Rather, it was that which He loved them
perfectly.
But as you consider this idea,
consider who’s present as John is writing
this.
John is writing this while all of the
apostles are still present.
John is writing this as Judas
is still present. John is writing this
as Peter is present, the one who will
argue with Jesus about whether or
not he will deny Jesus.
The one who will rebuke Jesus when Jesus
is going to tell Peter that he
is going to go to the cross.
Peter will be told by Jesus, get thou
behind me,
Satan. As you consider who is present,
when we read that Jesus loved them to the
end,
consider that Jesus loved them to the end
in spite of the fact that they were
imperfect.
Jesus did not demand a perfect person in
order to love that person.
But then consider as well that among some
of them they were impetuous.
They were not well restrained in some
matters.
John was present. James was were pres ~
James was also present.
These two individuals who seeing something
that they did not approve of will
ask for the opportunity to call down fire
from heaven.
Peter.
The one who would so willingly declare
that Jesus was the Christ,
the Son of God.
The one who would step out of the boat and
walk on the sea to his Lord.
was present.
The same one who would deny Christ this
very night.
But he also loved them in spite of the
fact that one of them present
was impenitent.
Judas, the one who is sitting there,
the one who had through the days as
he was the keeper of the bag for the
apostles,
had been stealing from their funds.
The one who,
earlier on, in the events that had
transpired that week had become.
Quite disgruntled at the woman who had
anointed Jesus,
and Jesus said it was in preparation of
his burial,
and yet Judas desired that the oil that
was used be sold because
it was worth so much and it could have
been given to the poor.
But John will tell us that Judas said this
because he was the one who
had control of the money.
The one who will depart from the
proceedings of this very night
to go out to betray Jesus.
While he is still present, we are told
Jesus loved them
to the end.
As we learn to love like Christ.
Consider first that we need to love the
imperfect.
We need to love the impetuous.
We even need to love the impenitent.
But as the events transpire that night,
John is going to emphasize what Jesus
knew.
And as you’re reading the writings of
John,
when when John says that someone knows
something.
It is significant. Over in 1 John,
John will tell us, hereby do we know that
we love God.
if we keep his commandments.
John will write, Hereby do we know
And he will talk about that we know we’re
saved.
He will talk about a number of things that
we know.
To know something for John was to be
certain of it,
to be assured of it by the testimony of
the Word of God.
To have no doubt whatsoever.
John would write as he concluded his
record of the life of Christ,
these things were written that
you might know that Jesus was the Christ,
the Son of the living God. So when John
tells
us twice in this text about what Jesus
knew.
He’s making it incredibly clear.
There was no misunderstanding.
There was no second guessing. There was no
guesswork involved in what Jesus
was doing. Consider what he says.
Now before the feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that his hour had come
that he should depart from this world
to the Father, having loved his own,
~ his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.
And supper being ended, the devil having
already put it in the heart
of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son,
to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the
Father had given all things into his hand,
and that he had come from God,
and that he was going to God.
Consider the things that John outlines.
John says Jesus knew his hour had come.
Jesus knew the time that was approaching.
Jesus knew what was happening that very
night.
Jesus knew the one who would betray him,
who was still sitting there. Jesus knew
that
the Father had given all things into his
hands.
Pause for a moment and consider something.
What would you do to keep someone
you loved from sinning?
What would you do to keep someone
you loved from dying?
What would you do to keep someone you
love?
From despair.
You say, Well
keep from them keep them from sinning,
I I I’d I’d try and correct them.
I I I’d I’d try and arm them. I’d try and
prepare them so that they don’t do it.
Jesus would tell Peter.
This very night before the cock crows,
you’ll deny me three times.
And Peter says, no, Lord, I’ll die for
you,
but I’ll never deny you.
Throughout the time of this week,
Jesus, just as we read in chapter twelve,
will tell his disciples that he’s going to
go.
Matter of fact, as he prepares to go to
Jerusalem,
he says, We must go, that the Son of Man
may be killed.
And yet there’s Judas.
Judas is present. Judas is hearing these
words.
Judas is going to be present this very
night.
And yet Jesus knows what is in Judas’s
heart.
As he looks around the room, as it were,
he sees person after person after person
after person who will
be in despair.
Before this night is over, the next day,
the next day, that will be locked away
in a hiding place come that Sunday morning
when the women arrive
at the tomb in despair that their Lord has
died.
We pause and we think, what would we do if
we knew that those whom
we loved were going to sin, were going to
stumble,
were going to be in despair, and some of
them would even die.
Well, we know what Jesus did.
Jesus prepared them for what would come
after.
Jesus knew that his hour had come.
Jesus knew that the Father had put all
things into his hand.
Jesus knew that he had come from the
Father and was going to the Father.
That being said.
After the supper.
Jesus lays aside his garment. We find
chapter 13,
verse 2, supper being ended, the devil
having already put it into the heart
of Judas Isgariat, Simon’s son,
to betray him, Jesus knowing that the
Father had given all things into
his hand and that he had come from God and
was going to God,
rose from supper and laid aside his
garments,
took a towel, and girded himself.
As you think about what John is telling
us,
perhaps there’s a little bit more than
what we often read.
if we’d understood what Jesus was doing.
See, Jesus wore a garment that we’re going
to read about before this night is over.
He wore a garment that the very next day
the the centurions are going to.
Choose by casting lots who’s going to get
the garment.
We’re told that the garment was one that
was woven from the inside out.
We’re told that the garment that Jesus
wore was
one that was somewhat unique. It was well
made.
So much so that they said, we’re not
dividing the garment.
But also consider that Jesus wore the
garment that was appropriate for a rabbi.
In the first century, at least from what
we’re told from historians and others,
the the the person who walked into the
synagogue,
the one who walked into the temple,
not just everybody was allowed to get up
and speak.
You had to be adorned appropriately.
Now Jesus will point out in numerous
different scenarios how poor he was.
He will describe to the one who said that
he desired to be his disciple.
He said, The the birds of the air have
nests and the foxes have holes,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his
head.
But the garment that Jesus wore was one
that matched
the attire of a rabbi.
We’re told from history that those who
were to speak in the synagogue were
to be adorned much like the priests of old
in that their robe,
the outer garment that they wore,
needed to cover from their shoulders to
their ankles.
They were to be adorned in
a way that demonstrated their position
and their authority to speak.
When you read in the text that he laid
aside his garment,
it doesn’t mean that he took all of his
clothes off.
It means that he took that outer coat,
that outer robe, off and laid it aside,
leaving his inner garment on. For the
Jews,
generally speaking, they wore an inner
garment,
they wore an outer garment. He lays aside
the robe of the rabbi.
He lays aside the robe that demonstrated
his authority
to speak and to teach in the tabernacle,
or sorry, in the temple and in the
synagogue.
And instead,
he binds about himself the towel of a
servant.
As you consider the first century.
Many of the people in that day and time
would have worn sandals,
they would have worn open shoes,
they would have been trotting down dirt
paths,
and so as they arrived in the house of
someone
who was their host, it was common and it
was.
normal that the host would have one of his
servants there ready
and waiting to wash their feet.
It was courtesy. It was what you did.
It wasn’t because everybody needed to have
nice,
sweet smelling feet so they could put
their feet in somebody else’s face.
It was because they were showing courtesy.
But if you consider the idea that they
reclined
at their table, that courtesy
was also distinctly aware of by those who
were present at the table
as to whether your feet had been washed or
not.
But as Jesus had sent his disciples ahead
to prepare the upper room and to
go and to find this location that they
would be shown as the disciples arrived,
as Jesus arrived, as the ~ the supper was
prepared,
and as they per they partook of the
supper,
and now the supper is over, nobody washed
anybody’s feet.
The supper’s now over. The time for the
showing of the courtesy is long past.
But Jesus, knowing that he was going back
to God and demonstrating his love for
them,
lays aside his teacher’s garment,
binds himself with the towel
of a simple slave, and begins to wash
their feet.
He came to them, began to wash the
disciples’ feet and
to wipe them with the towel with which he
was girded.
Then he came to Simon Peter, and Peter
said to him,
Lord, are you washing my feet?
Peter is dissatisfied with the situation.
Peter is disgruntled with what is going
on.
The same one who said, You are both Lord
and Christ.
The one who freely admitted that he was
from the Father.
The one who had been lifted out of the Sea
of Galilee
by Jesus is indignant that Jesus would
wash
his feet.
Jesus answered and said to him,
What I am doing you do not understand now.
But you will know after.
Jesus knew what was about to happen.
Peter didn’t.
Jesus knew that his time was coming to an
end.
Peter didn’t.
Jesus knew that Peter
was about to go through one of
the most difficult experiences of his
life.
And Peter didn’t.
Jesus says, You don’t understand what I’m
doing now,
but you will.
Jesus demonstrated his service to his
disciples,
to the impetuous, to the imperfect,
even to the impenitent.
As he washes their feet.
But as you consider what Jesus is going to
say,
Peter is going to respond to him,
you shall never wash my feet.
Peter is going to, in essence,
rebuke Jesus by stating,
I’m not letting this happen.
Peter considered the act to be beneath his
Lord.
Now we understand Jesus has taught them
many times and Jesus
has demonstrated through many different
things that the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven would be the servant
of all.
But it’s one thing to be taught that,
it’s another thing to be shown that.
And as Peter witnesses that very idea
demonstrated in the actions of Jesus,
Peter says, no, you’re not.
You shall never wash.
Jesus answered him and said, If I do not
wash you,
you have no part with me.
And pause and consider something.
How can refusing to be served
Keep an apostle from having part in
Christ.
Jesus warns Peter.
That the thing that was going on was so
significant.
That was so instrumental that if Peter
refused.
Jesus says you have no part in.
I want you to spend just a moment and
consider how little things in
our minds are incredibly big things to the
Lord.
Simple act of someone being washed,
their feet being shown the courtesy of
being served.
was to Peter something that he would not
stoop to
do to his brethren,
and he would not allow his Lord to stoop
to do to him.
And yet Jesus says, Peter, this is so
significant that if you do not allow this,
you will have no part in me.
We often look at the commands of God.
And we ask, how can that accomplish this?
How can this be that important?
Some will argue that that individuals will
say,
you know what, this is what God commanded,
therefore this is what we must do,
and this is how we must do it.
H how can you be so legalistic?
Jesus will say to Peter, If you don’t let
me wash your mo wash your feet,
you’re not my disciple.
That’s pretty legalistic.
There are things which God deems to be
important that we have no right
to make them casual.
Peter immediately reverses direction.
He says, Lord, not my feet only,
but also my hands and my head.
If if if the washing is that important to
you,
don’t stop with my feet.
Wash all of me.
Jesus said he who is bathed needs only to
wash his feet.
As he’s pointing out, the lesson isn’t
about how your hygiene is.
The lesson is about something different.
He says, the one who is bathed needs only
to wash his feet,
but is completely clean. And you are
clean,
but not all of you.
As Jesus will say these words,
John tells us what was in Jesus’ mind,
for he knew who would betray him.
Therefore he said, You are not all clean.
Don’t you appreciate
How the Holy Spirit seemed fit to help
us to understand the mind of Christ.
by telling John something that John,
who was present in the room, never would
have known.
On his own, that the thing that was in the
mind of Christ when he said,
You’re not all clean was Judas.
Judas who hadn’t raised any objection to
Jesus washing his feet.
as he prepared to deny him and hand him
over to the authorities for
the payment of thirty pieces of silver.
Jesus says not all of you are clean.
But then consider he says
Do you know what I have done to you?
As the text continues,
verse 12, he says, So when he had washed
their feet,
taken his garment, 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.
Jesus
As he had demonstrated this action toward
them,
had not demoted himself. He had not given
up his position as their teacher
or their Lord. He had demonstrated
something they needed to learn.
He says, You call me teacher and Lord,
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.
As Jesus demonstrated this, he shows to
them that what they
had failed to do.
What none of them had considered for a
moment to do to the brethren
was the problem.
Because as they observed all of them
walking in,
as they observed the feast being prepared,
as they observed the supper as they
consumed it,
as they observed all of these things,
they were all aware no one had served
them.
But what they didn’t do was choose to
become the servant.
Jesus says, 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.
When Jesus says you should do as I have
done.
Bear in mind who he’s talking to.
Bear in mind what they’re about to go
through and bear
in mind the position they are about to
hold.
They’re about to go through his betrayal,
his trials, his crucifixion,
his death, and his resurrection.
All true.
But they’re also about to observe in the
days coming forward from this point,
the institution of the Lord’s church,
the giving of the and the pouring out of
the Holy Spirit and the power that they
would receive on the day of Pentecost.
They are about to be given authority,
as Jesus said they would in Matthew
chapter sixteen,
and given the keys of the kingdom.
And as he is preparing them not just for
this night,
and not just for the day to come,
and not just for the interim time between
his death and his burial
and his resurrection, but for their
position as the leaders of the church.
Jesus reminds them what I have done.
you must do. He’s not instituting a
process of washing people’s feet.
He’s instituting servant leadership.
He’s instituting that how they treat their
brethren will determine whether
or not they’re his disciples.
Jesus is going to tell them before the
night is over that the world will know
that
they belong to him by their love for one
another.
He will say as he gives them the
instruction,
for I have given you an example that you
should do as I have done to you.
Verse sixteen 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.
He presents a challenge.
If you think you don’t have to serve,
then you think you’re greater than I am.
For I came to serve. He presents them with
an with an instruction,
he presents them with a challenge,
and he presents them with a blessing.
Verse 17.
If you know these things, blessed are you
if you do them.
As you consider learning to love like
Christ,
as you consider the example that Christ
left for us,
it is an example that demonstrates that
position
and prominence and authority simply
designate someone
as a servant of all.
As Jesus will wash their feet,
he demonstrates his love for them.
Not because they were perfect.
But because he was. He demonstrates his
love for them to the end.
No matter what they did, no matter whether
they handled the situation correctly
or not.
But he also demonstrates what he knew that
they didn’t.
He knew what was in their heart.
He knew what was in their mind.
He knew what was behind their motives.
And he loved them anyway.
In Romans chapter 5,
Paul will write of the love of God.
That God demonstrates his love toward us
in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
If you consider your love for your
brethren
This very morning, can you say you love
like Christ?
Or perhaps our love is a little bit more
like Peter’s,
a little bit more like John’s,
a little bit more like James or Philip or
Bartholomew,
where we say, yeah, we love them.
They’re our brethren. But I’m not taking
my garment off to wash their feet.
We love them as long as they’re perfect.
We love them as long as they agree with
us.
We love them as long as they always do
what’s right.
Jesus loved them to the end. If you have
need of the invitation
of Christ this morning to put Christ on in
the watery grave of baptism,
to die to self, to be risen, to walk in
newness of life,
to be washed by Christ. Jesus said,
if I don’t wash you, you don’t belong to
me.
You can do that.
If you’re member of the body of Christ and
you’ve decided to love only
as you’ve been loved by your brethren.
Maybe it’s time to set aside the garment,
to once again adorn yourself as a slave
and to serve.
If you have need of the invitation of
Christ,
it is available as we stand and as we
sing.
