The Church of Eleven22 - S02E20 - Wash One Another’s Feet

Episode Date: August 23, 2021

This week, Pastor Joby talks about the event in John 13 when Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. He washes the feet of those that would follow Him, betray Him and deny Him. Many people find themselves in places of authority, not just at work, but at home as moms or dads. What do you do when you find yourself in a place of authority? What would it look like for you to “wash the feet” of those around you? If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. – John 13:14 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. – Romans 12:10

Welcome to deepen with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in. Hey, church family, welcome back to the Deep and Devo. I'm so excited to dive into God's Word. We're going to be in John Chapter 13. That's what we just covered last weekend.

And again, just to recap John 13, this is where, where Jesus is in the upper room with its disciples. And one of the keys, I think, is that the Bible says that Jesus, knowing that all authority had been given unto him, that he demonstrates, the NIV says, the full extent of his love to his disciples. And so the way he demonstrated the full extent of his love

is not another sermon, it's not another miracle, that he dressed himself as a servant, and he washed his disciples' feet. Now, I think this is the first time this has happened in the 20 weeks that we have been doing the Devo. I think this is the first time that our one another finds itself in the text that we're studying. I can't remember. Is that right, Robbie? Robbie is the guy that films these things for me.

And Robbie is quite the Bible scholar. And in fact, ladies, Robbie is single. And so what I'm trying to do here now is dress myself as a servant and just, serve Robbie's knees. Robbie's single is a good-looking guy. He's 27 years old, gamefully employed right here at the church of 1122, so you know he's centered in Christ. So if you are into a good time, some long hair and a mustache, then you should probably come. What service do you mostly attend, Robbie? Thursday night, 722. He sits over front, stage right, next to me. So anyway, so I think this is the first time that we find our one another

in the text that we studied this last weekend. So I don't want to just re-preach. the sermon, I just want to give you a couple additional ideas, and there may be some repeats here. So our one another is this. We find it in John 13, 14. Jesus, again, after he's washed the disciples' feet, after he has this awkward conversation with Peter, after he washes the feet of those that would follow him, those that would betray him, and those that would deny him, he says this, if I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

So there's our one another, that you, as a Jesus follower, ought to wash one another's feet. Now, I'm going to be honest, in the first century, we talked about this last weekend. This was the lowest job. It was a thing that you needed to do because when you came to dinner, they didn't sit up at a table like this.

They kind of lounged around this little, like, one foot table off the ground. And your feet could kind of be on people, near people, towards the food. That's just how it was. And they didn't bathe as regularly as we do, you know, no running water and all that sort of thing. And I don't know if you've seen the Jesus movie,

but there's whole bunches of beach with not a lot of ocean, okay? So, and they wear the little Jesus sandals, so you got a lot of stuff going on there on your feet. And so the lowest of low servants, before you would eat, they would anoint your head with oil, you would wash your hands ceremonially up to your elbows, and then a servant would come in and make sure your feet weren't completely gross.

So when Jesus is saying that we should wash one another's feet, what he does is he's setting for us an example. Because in the first century, and this is different than the way we think of discipleship today, in the first century, a disciple didn't merely learn the teaching of a rabbi. They weren't just a student to the teacher like we think of that today. Because we think the job of a student is to learn what the teacher teaches. But in the first century, a Talmudin, that's what a disciple is, the Talmuddin didn't merely learn the teaching of the rabbi,

but they did what the rabbi did, and ultimately their goal in life was to become who the rabbi is. So, by the way, this is why Peter, when he's in the boat and in the middle of the night, he sees Jesus walking on the water. Do you remember what Peter says to Jesus? If it's really you, Lord, then call me to come out and walk on the water with you. Because when Jesus says, follow me, what he is saying is, not only do I want you to learn what I'm going to teach you, I want you to do what I do and become who I am. That's what discipleship is.

And so what Peter is thinking is if you can walk on water and you, you're going to be able to you are my rabbi and my lord, then I ought to be able to do what you can do and I can walk on water too. So Jesus, knowing this, is saying, I am not just doing an act of service for you in this moment, but I am setting for you an example.

So as I wash your feet, so you must wash one another's feet. Now, what does he mean when he means wash one another's feet? If you've been a Christian very long, maybe you've been part of a foot washing ceremony. I think I talked about that. This weekend, I hate them. It's gross.

It's kind of weird. We don't need to wash each other's feet. I get the sentiment of it, and I'm pro it. I mean, I get it. I've done it on mission trips. We do it when we commission our deacon sometimes. But even then, honestly, I'm going to be, I hate it, man, I hate it, right?

So he doesn't mean you literally should wash one another's feet. Because we don't need to wash one another's feet. You can wash your own feet. But what he is saying is, I have dressed myself as a servant. I have lowered myself lower than everybody else in the room, and I have done the one task that no one else wants to do. Many years ago, I heard a pastor in Georgia named Andy Stanley,

really famous pastor. You've probably heard of him. And he likes the rhyme so that we can remember his points. And he says this, what do you do when it dawns on you that you're the most, powerful person in the room. Let me say it again. He was talking about John 13, and he said this, what do you do? What do you do when it dawns on you that you were the most powerful person in the room? I'm going to tell you when I first heard that statement, I think it was 2005 or something,

I was rarely the most powerful person in the room. At this point in my life, oftentimes, when I'm in a room, I'm surrounded by people that according to the scriptures, I have a authority over. Because I'm the lead pastor of this church. I'm the head of my family. I am the father of my children. That's mostly who I'm in. And so let me ask you, what do you do? Because Jesus, sitting at the table, he knows this. The Bible says he knows that God has put all authority under his feet. Now, what do you do? When you look around and you realize you're the most powerful person in the room. You're the boss. You're the mom. you're the husband, you're the dad, you're the CEO. And now, some of you may think, well, I'm never the most powerful person in the room.

That's not true. That's not true. Sometimes you are the person driving the car and everybody else is riding with you. You're the most powerful person in the room. Sometimes you're running carpool and it's a bunch of little kids with you and you're the most powerful person in the room. Sometimes you stand up and you have hundreds of employees and you are giving a little state of the union address for the company. that you are the CEO of or whatever it is. So, what do you do? Now, I'm going to be honest, when I find myself in a place of authority, I'm just going to tell you,

I have two different reactions. One, if I get the sense that people acknowledge that I'm the lead pastor, that I'm the husband, that I'm the dad, you know, they, if I get that sense, then I really, you know, if I get that sense, then I really have a, I tend to respond by being super chill and really nice and kind and happy to help. But man, there is still this fleshly thing in me that if my authority is not recognized, then I have a tendency to flex or a tendency to establish it.

I have a tendency to, do you know who you're talking to? And you know what Jesus did? the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth, sitting in the presence of not just those who would follow him to death, but one that would deny him, one that would betray him, and one that would doubt him. You know what he did? He dressed himself as a servant, and he served.

So what about you? Now, here's what I want you to do. At work, at work, whether you're the top dog or you're at the bottom of the barrel, what would it look like for you? you to wash the feet of the people you work with. In other words, here's what I want you to pray about this week. This week, when you go to work, I want you, without any fanfare, without any pomp and circumstance, I want you to take on the job that nobody else wants to take on. I mean, it could be like empty the trash, and you may think, yeah, but we've got a service that does that.

Right, right. So if you work at the company and you, you work at the company, and you know, you know, you hire out a service that takes out the trash, then why don't you have the office where you take out your own trash and maybe you just leave a note for the person that normally does that and just says, thanks, I want you to know, for the 25 seconds it was going to take you to take out the trash, why don't you take this time and pray to God? I mean, why don't you do something like that? What does it look like? Everybody knows what that thing is at work. Or maybe the person that everybody else is talking about, what if you just leaned in and talked to them? You're going to have to be creative, but you've got to figure that one out. Husbands, how could you wash your wife's feet?

One is literally, she'd probably love that. Like, if you just did a little pedicure thing, I don't know how you do all the toes and all that junk, but you could get a little bucket and get some warm water in it and literally wash her feet. Or if you got young kids, you know what you could do, fellas? You could get real creative and give her an entire day off. Sounds crazy, right? because she didn't really get a day off. And one of the ways that you could serve her is you take the kids and you take the house and you take the pets or whatever

and you send her to do whatever she's into, to the beach, to the spa, whatever it is. Or maybe you do the thing that isn't technically your job. I don't know how you've split up your chores and I'm not saying there's man chores and women's chores, but maybe you do the laundry or you clean or you cook or whatever it is. You do the thing that isn't normally your job.

You do it. it. And again, with no pomp and circumstance, okay? Because sometimes, man, one of the things I hate to do, I hate to unload the dishwasher. You know, I don't know why I hate it. That's why I have kids. I make them do it, which is anti what we're talking about right now. But whenever I do clean the dishes, I'm the loudest dish cleaner in the house. Why? Because I want everybody to see what I'm doing. Don't do it that way. I'm talking about just as a kind, servant-hearted gesture to your wife, pick a thing this week and do it. wives, you probably do most of the serving in your house. You do. But how could you wash your husband's feet? Two things. One, say thanks. Say thanks. Even if you're the primary breadwinner in your home,

no problem. But he is the one that feels the responsibility for everything in your house. You have no idea what it would be like to serve him by just saying thank you for what he does and what he provides, and not to get all Song of Solomon on us here because we're in John 13, but one of the ways that you can honor and serve him like crazy is just lean in, make a move on him to say thanks. Now parents of kids, how could you wash your kids' feet? What does that look like? Now, often this is the toughest because what you'll, if you're like me, you'll begin to think,

well, you know what, I wash their feet all the time and I provide everything. They're not even thankful. All right, time out. how grateful and thankful are we to Jesus? How much did he have to put up with his disciples? They're grumbling, they're complaining, they don't understand what he's talking about, and they do almost nothing that he says to do.

And yet in that moment, he dresses himself as a servant, and he washes their feet. So maybe you would try this. This week, instead of busting your kid for not taking out the trash, the next time they forget, what if you served them and you took up the trash and then you just told them you loved them?

Something like that. If you're not married, don't have a family, then how about with your roommates or with your group of friends? Next time, why don't you volunteer to drive and pay? Or why don't you pick the worst job in your roommate's situation? Man, when I was in college,

it was terrible, man. It was really terrible. And the worst job was trash because we didn't do it like weekly like you ought to. We played trash jenga, which means we would stack up trash and stack up trash and stack up trash, and whoever the last person to touch it when it all came tumbling down, it was your responsibility to take it out.

You could go months. It was terrible. It would have been a good idea for me. It would have meant a lot to my Christian testimony towards my fraternity brothers to just volunteer to be the trash guy. instead of always playing the trash game and saying not it. You see, the reason that we serve is because Jesus came and served us. Let me just remind you of these words in John 13, beginning of verse 12,

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? You call me teacher and Lord, and you were 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 have 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 the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them?

And here's what the blessing is. this week when you decide to serve someone, that you in those moments will be more like Jesus. And that's what the blessing is. Let me pray for you. Dear Father in heaven, Lord, we confess when our egos take over. And when it dawns on us that we are the most powerful person in the room when we're the boss, when we're the mom,

when we're the husband, dad, when we're in charge. And we demand to be treated that way. God, may we repent of our selfish ways. God, may we, out of a response to the way that you loved us and served us by going to the cross, the act of ultimate sacrifice and service for those that you love, may we, in response to that, dress ourselves as a servant, get down on our hands and knees, and do the lowliest job, wash one another's feet. And Lord, we thank you that there is blessing in that.

We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for joining us for Deepen with Pastor Jobi Martin. If you're looking for additional resources to help you further deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ, visit co-e-22.com slash resources. We're praying this message you heard today helps you experience God in a unique and fresh way.

And as always, be free.