The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E12 - Foot Washing

Episode Date: April 7, 2020

In one powerful moment, the King of Kings took the lowly role of a servant, providing a model of service for all who follow Him. “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.” — John 13:14

Hey church, welcome back to Devo Time. If you got your Bible, we're going to go to John chapter 13. One of the things that Jesus institutes on Holy Week is the Lord's Supper. Now, we're going to look at some events described by the gospel writer John that happened that same night in that same place. And so I do want to let you know this weekend for our Easter services, we are going to celebrate communion. And you need to remember to make sure that you get your communion elements. Again, if you want to keep it super Southern badness, no problem, you can get like some grape juice and some crackers or something like that. If you want to go high test like Jesus did and do real wine and unleavened bread and glory to God, however you roll. And also, just want you to know

if you're nervous about serving communion as if only ordained people can do it, that is not in the scriptures. In fact, if you are a believer in Jesus, then the Bible says that you are a priest, that we are what is called the priesthood of believers. So I ordain you, it's okay for you to serve communion. So make sure you have the elements. Because what we'll be remembering is the gospel. That's ultimately what communion is, the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus.

That Jesus took this ancient, this ancient traditional meal called the Passover meal, where for thousands of years, God's people celebrated the Passover. Then on the night that Pharaoh let the Israelites go out of Egypt, that God sent an angel of death to pass over Egypt. And whoever had the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their house, that angel of death would pass over.

And so this meal that they would partake of was to remember that day. And then Jesus sits down with him and says, hey, you remember that Old Testament event with Moses and the Passover lamb and the angel of death? and you've been celebrating it year after year after year after year. Yeah, he took the bread and he broke it and he said, that's me. This is my body broken for you. Then he took the cup, which represented the blood of the lamb's shed,

to go over the doorpost to protect us from judgment and wrath. And he says, this is a new covenant. The old covenant was a covenant of law. The new covenant is a covenant of grace. And as often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you're going to do that in remembrance of me. And so when you eat and when you drink, you are remembering the gospel,

but not like remembering. It's more like when you celebrate an anniversary, you remember your anniversary, but you don't just remember that a thing happened. Like Gretchen and I just celebrated our 20-year anniversary, actually on the Sea of Galilee, which is a pretty smoking place to celebrate 20 years. we don't just remember like what did we do oh yeah we made a vow and how long ago was it oh yeah it was 20 years

no no no you're not just remembering when you celebrate your anniversary it's like you take what you committed to in the past and you bring it up here in the future and you are reliving and celebrating the fact that this thing is still real for you that's what it means to remember Jesus remember the gospel through the broken body and his shed blood in communion So this is what happens in John chapter 13. It says this. 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. Now, how is Jesus going to love them? He knows that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto him. He knows that his time is healed. and near, and so he is going to demonstrate his love for his friends. And he doesn't preach another sermon, he doesn't sing him a song, here's what he does. During supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Ascariate, 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, he rose from supper, he laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, he tied it around his waist. Now, let me stop right there. Let me ask you this question. What do you do when you look around some room and you realize you're the most powerful person in the room? Now, some of you're like, well, that never happens to me. Oh, no, no, no, it does. It does. It might be in a room with your roommate and you realize that the lease is in your name

and they're renting a room from you, or it might be in the swagger wagon and you're driving or used to drive the carpool and you look around and you're in charge of the AC and you're in charge of the radio, or you might be a CEO and you look around the business and you're like, yep, or it might be a team meeting,

or you might be the dad or the husband or, like me, the lead pastor. What do you do when you realize I have the power? Because this is what Jesus says, or this is what the Bible says about Jesus. did he knew that God had given all things into his hands, that he had come from God and he was going back to God. He looked around the room and he knew he's the most powerful person in the room. What do you do?

I tell you what most of us do. We make sure everybody knows. We do. We take credit. We make sure that we get respected. You know who you're talking to here? I'm the boss. I'm the dad.

This is how you talk to me. Or sometimes we not only make sure everybody knows, but we exercise our authority over people. We start telling people what to do. Hey, I'm the boss. You clean that up. You go get me something. It could be as simple as when you go into a restaurant,

remember those? When you go into a restaurant and you sit down and somebody comes to serve you, you're the most powerful person in the room in that moment, at least at your table, because you're getting the order. And in that moment, what do you do? See, I have a tendency to flex. I have a tendency to make sure that everybody knows how powerful I am and that I'm in charge.

But Jesus, knowing that all authority had been given under him, and to display to his disciples the full extent of his love, he rises up from supper, he laid aside his outer garments, he takes a towel and he ties it around his waist. He dresses himself as a servant. Now here's the thing about being a servant. in our day and age. Everybody's cool with being one until you get treated like one.

Everybody's okay volunteering to serve somebody as long as there's a clear beginning and end to it. In fact, in Matthew chapter 20, Jesus says anybody that wants to be first needs to be a servant. And in our culture, we use servant as an adjective to the kind of leader that we are. Oh, I'm a servant leader. no no

Jesus just said be a servant and so he gets up from the table he takes the towel he ties it around his waist he pours water into a basin and he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them

with the towel that was wrapped around him and here's what you have to understand maybe you've heard this before in the first century there was a whole bunch of slaves and servants the actual word is due loss and so what they would do the lowest of the low of the low

was the person that was responsible for washing feet. Hospitality was huge, man. Huge, really big deal. They didn't have March Madness and cable TV, so meals would take hours sometimes. They also didn't sit up at a high table like I'm sitting at here, but they would sit at these really low tables

with a bunch of pillows basically around the outside of the table, and they would lounge while they would eat. They'd eat with their hands and, you know, a lot of pita and hummus and things like that. And they would kind of be lounging around, and all day long, wherever they went, they had those hip Jesus sandals that you see in all the movies,

and so their feet were pretty nasty. And there were cows and mules and horses and donkeys and all of that stuff, and their excrement would go right on the street, right on the sand and the dirt, and animal dung would get on people's feet, and then when it was time to eat, you'd be laying around the table,

and somebody's feet inevitably are within arm reach of you. So it was customary that the lowest of the lowest of low servants would wash people's feet before they ate. And Jesus looks around and there apparently that guy was off that day and instead of expecting one of his disciples to be the lowest, he makes himself the lowest. And he pours water into a basin and he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with a towel wrapped around him. And he came to Simon Peter, who said to him, of course Simon's going to say something, right? Peter always talks first, he always talks most, and he says,

Lord, you wash my feet? And Jesus answered him, what I am doing, you do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand. So I don't know if you have a hard time being served, but Peter had a really difficult time being served by Jesus. And Peter's like, hey, whoa. boss. Are you serious? You're going to wash my feet. And so Peter says to him, you shall never wash my feet. And Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me. You see, we are

saved by grace. It is an unmerited gift of God towards us. Peter, by the way, Peter just can't keep his mouth shut. I mean, Peter is messing up communion right here. I'm sure Jesus is like, bro, can just one time, can you just, I'm the leader, can you just, I'm the leader, can you just go with what I'm trying to teach you here? And Peter's like, no, no, no, no, no. You can't bow down under me and me receive from you. And Jesus says, well, if you can't receive a gift from me, then you have no part with me. What he's alluding to is the gift of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, there's a lot of church people. And honestly, they're not saved because they've never received the gift of Jesus Christ, the free gift of Jesus. They believe,

deep down in their soul that they too must do something to earn their salvation. And if you think that, if you believe that, then you have not put your faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. You are putting your faith in your current work to try to help Jesus out. Essentially what you think is Jesus, when you died on the cross, that didn't count for me or it wasn't enough for me, so let me help you out. And so Jesus says, if you don't receive this, gift. If you don't receive this gift, if I don't wash you, you have no share with me. So then Simon Peter says to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands in my head. And Jesus says to him, the one who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. You are

clean, but not every one of you. In other words, you see, this is a classic fundamentalism here. Like, Jesus, I'm going to take what you offer to me, and I'm going to add to it and add to it and add to it. and he says you are clean and if I have cleaned you you're cleaned and he says not everyone is clean for he knew for he knew who was to betray him and that is

that is why he said not all of you are clean and 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 and they didn't because there's no response

and he says you call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, 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've given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than those who have sent him. So Jesus says, as I have taken the lowest position to demonstrate my love for you by serving you.

And if you are a follower of me, then you will be blessed if you do likewise. So last week I talked about how do we love one another out of First Corinthians chapter 13. This week, once again, from John chapter 13, Jesus has set for us an example that we, that we should be the greatest service. Listen, it starts in our home. Let me ask you, what's the worst job in your house? What's the worst job in your house? Clean in the toilets? Then guess what? You should be the first one to volunteer. In fact, if all of you are believers in your home, do you know what? You should be waiting in line, not to go to the bathroom, but to clean the bathroom. Dad, you should be first, followed by the kids because they're the worst, and then mom is probably at the end because she probably does it the most. You should be waiting in line when the dishwasher gets finished. You say, please, please, please. No, no, no, no, no. I want to be blessed.

Let me be the one that blesses you by doing these things. Maybe this week we would surprise one another by following in the footsteps of Jesus and displaying our love to one another, that when you look around the room, you don't think what's in this for me, but you think, how can I serve? I can tell you one way that we can serve in our very own community.

We have been told that we are in our entire state, we are in a severe blood shortage. Just because of the shelter at home, people just aren't really thinking about this. And so on Wednesday, at all of our physical campuses, we will have blood-dry buses there with one blood, the big red buses. And we would invite, we would like to invite all of us

to get up from the table, address ourselves as a servant, be very uncomfortable. I don't know if you like getting stuck with needles and all of it kind of stuff, but get over it. And I don't know what could tell our community, I love you more than Christians giving their blood because Jesus shed his blood for us. Also, we have a whole bunch of ministry partners, and they are in severe need of all kind of goods, all kind of things that we need to donate.

So when you show up to donate blood, also go on our website, C-O-E-22.com, and there will be a list of goods that you can donate. Now listen, we're going to be practicing all of the CDC recommendations on cleanliness and social distancing and all of the things. So don't worry about that, okay? Dress ourselves as a servant. Let's demonstrate our love for this community. And Jesus says that we would be blessed if we do so. He goes on to say, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I am, I know whom I have. I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread was lifted his heel against me. I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe

that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I sinned receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one sent me. So, Jesus is sending us into this world to do for this world what he has done for us. When it occurs to you that you are in a position of privilege and a position of power, a position of resource, then Jesus says that what we should do is we should humble ourselves and serve one another, serve our friends, serve our families, serve our community, by dressing ourselves as a servant and doing the job that nobody else wants, like giving blood, or donating things or serving right in your home. Let me pray for you.

Dear Father in heaven, Lord, your word commands us that our attitude should be the same as your attitude. That though you were equal with God, you did not consider that something to be grasped or touted. But you humbled yourself. You humbled yourself as a human, you humbled yourself as a servant and even humbled yourself in obedience to death on a cross.

God, may we be the same. May your spirit in us lead us this week as we prepare to celebrate your resurrection. God, may we be blessed by blessing one another and serving them. We pray it in Jesus' name.