Fit for a Servant (3/17/19 John #48)

ATTN: Several high profile personnel are embroiled in the college bribery cases where they paid large sums of money and fabricated data to get their children into top colleges. I was really sad because one of them was in the show that I really liked growing up – Full House!

If anything, this confirms what our society values. We need to get to the top and stay on the top! It wasn’t enough that these people were on top – doctors, executies, hollywood actresses-  but they wanted to make sure their children followed their tradition and got to the top themselves. But this is not an isolated incident, is it? How many times have we seen people on top use and abuse their power to take advantage of the system and the people under them, whether it’s the powerful men or sometimes even women in the business world, politics, religious institutions, or Hollywood?

And in light of this, how refreshing it is to hear our Top Man, Jesus – the very top – stooping down to serve the people beneath Him not only with a towel and water, but with His blood?

TRANS: Today, we come to this famous passage that describes why Jesus is so beloved by world and yet not followed by many. He is beloved because He serves their ideal. We all have innate sense that He was doing something right – humbling Himself, serving the poor and needy, and giving His life for the world. But not followed because although we admire Him for doing that, we ourselves are not willing to live that way. How many in-fights are there within churches because they want to get to the top! But Jesus makes it clear that Christians are those who not only admire how He lived, but also follow how He lived. And the prime example is that of washing His disciples’ feet. Here’s my outline for the sermon. I want to focus on four words uttered by Peter: “Lord, do you wash me feet?” 1) Lord, 2) Wash, 3) Feet, 4) My

 

1. Lord

It is the Lord who is the washing the feet. This was a menial task not even the Jewish servants performed out of the respect for their own race. Only the foreign servants would do this. Roads back then were dusty and they wore sandals and feet would get grimy and smelly with dirt and clay. So, when they arrive at a home, they would be given water to wash their own feet. However, if a special guest arrived, a foreign born servant would be ordered to wash the guest’s feet. Jesus, not only the master of the house, but the master of the universe performs this lowly task. But if you hear the context, it’s even more amazing. John 13:3, “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…” And then He proceeded to wash the disciples’ feet.

        Jesus, knowing that all things had been given into his hands. That’s power. That’s unlimited power. The Father has just transferred all of His authority and power to His Son. We are not talking about puny power like being the president of the United States for 8 years but absolute power over every molecule in the universe that had he wanted, He could’ve recreated the universe completely new. And what does Jesus do when given that power back to Him? He kneels down and washes His disciples’ feet like a slave. This is mind-boggling.

What would you do if you are given authority to rule the universe any way you want? If that’s too great to imagine, imagine if you hit the Powerball Jackpot –  $500 million! You would go to work the next day in your brand new Lamborghini, walk up to your boss, put your thumb to your nose and say, “I’m outta here.” And for good measure, you would throw $100 bills around for all the extra company coffee you drank! Jesus? He puts a towel around His waist and washes the feet of his disciples.

A person who said “power always corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” apparently didn’t know Jesus. No one ever had absolute power – not Alexander the Great, not Caesar augustus or Nebuchadzzer. They couldn’t control death, for example. But Jesus did. He had power over His own death even. And yet, He lowers Himself and does the thing that not even a mere servant wanted to do.

Jesus is a new king bringing in a new type of kingdom with brand new values. There are two kingdoms in this world. The kingdom of the world, which the world lives under. And the kingdom of God, which the believers live under. Tim Keller says the values of the kingdom of the world are: power, comfort, success, and recognition. From the day we are born, we are off to the races trying to achieve those things – power, comfort, success, and recognition. That’s what those high profile people were trying to secure for their children, and if we are honest, we too want those things. However, Luke 6:24-26. the values of the kingdom of God, the one we are under are the opposite – He called them ‘upside down kingdom” values. And they are: weakness, sacrifice, grief, and exclusion. Luke 6:20-22 “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil,

Those of us who live for the kingdom of God value weakness, sacrifice, grief, and exclusion. Not that we seek them, but we welcome them into our lives when they happen as we seek Christ.

Jesus sought those values consistently in His own life and those who are following Him get to also value those things. It is the LORD who washed the disciples’ feet.

 

2. Wash. cleansing, purifying. (who’s cleansing who? Who does the serving?)

“Lord, do you WASH my feet?”

It is the Lord who washes. This is symbolic of God serving His own people. “The son of man did not come to serve but to be served.” Mark 10:45 Ok, we get that. He served us while He was on earth, but when we see Him sitting on His throne, we will serve Him then, right? Listen to this verse:  37 Blessed are those servants[a] whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.

Doesn’t this mess with the picture we have of God in heaven? Most of us assume that in heaven, we will be serving God. God is on his throne and we are His servants and we will attend to his needs. “Hey, soongyol, fetch me some fruit from the garden of eden, will you?” But that’s not the picture of heaven. It’s a banquet. It’s a wedding party that will never end. And who are His guests? We are! And Jesus, as the bridegroom is the host. And He will serve us!

Besides, why would God need us to serve Him? He needs someone to bring him juice because he’s thirsty sitting all day long on the throne? He needs someone to dance for him and entertain him? No. being God is that he has no need of anything. He has everything already. There’s nothing that we can offer him that will make him happier or better. [our children are our retirement plan?]

So, what Jesus tells peter is, unless you are willing to receive my service for you, you have nothing to do with me. The pharisees tried to earn this. But this can only be given and received. Gospel is not a “do”! Gospel is a “done”! And what God does for you daily!

Do we serve God? Absolutely. There are many verses that attest to this. However, we must remember it is the Lord who served us with His life first, and we serve Him only as a response with gratitude, not in order to earn His favor, but to demonstrate our thanks and love.

 

3. Feet

“Lord, do you wash my FEET?” Why the feet? Because that’s the part that touches the filth of the world. In this context, the washing of feet represents the daily confession of our sins. When Peter asks Jesus to wash his whole body, Jesus says, “Dude, that would be really awkward. A grown man washing another grown man’s body.” J/k. Rather He says, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

What does He mean that he’s already taken a bath? That means Peter’s been covered by the justification given by God. He’s already been accepted by Jesus and His Father. Jesus is saying: “I have adopted you and cleansed you of all sins. However, that doesn’t mean that you don’t sin anymore. Although, your standing is right with me forever, but since you live in this world, you still sin. And you need to confess those sins daily to get cleansed and have your fellowship with me renewed daily.”

ILL: If I may illustrate this, imagine that God gave you a royal robe to wear at the point of your conversion. When you gave your life to Christ and received Him by faith, you have been justified by your faith, which means you are declared righteousness since Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to you. So, that royal robe that Jesus wore, perfect and spotless, is given to you. You have become a son or a daughter of the Most High. However, you are still in this world, and you take that robe to places you shouldn’t go to, or say things that are not fitting for royalty, and everytime you do that, that robe is soiled. God will not strip you of that robe, but it will need to be washed. That’s when you need to go to Jesus, who cleaned you in the first place, to get clean again. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:9

4. My

Peter asks, “Do you wash MY feet?” This was said by Peter to object to what Jesus was about to do. He’s really saying, “You may have washed other’s feet, but my feet you will not wash because this is too condescending for you!” But listen to what Jesus says, “8 If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

What Jesus is saying is, “Unless you let me serve you personally, you and I have no relationship.” Jesus had to do this for all whom He consider His own. This was deeply personal to peter and the disciples. Jesus touched their feet and they could feel His hand going through the toes, the balls of the feet, and the crusty part of the feet in the back…

The moment you become saved is not when you say Jesus is Lord or even Jesus is “the” Lord, but when you says Jesus is “my” Lord. The thing that the demons can’t do. They know that Jesus is the Lord and the savior, but they can’t say He is my Lord and Savior….

Jesus washed Peter’s feet. He became personal to Him. But have you considered the timing of this event? This was done the night before Jesus was to be arrested. And what did Peter do when Jesus was arrested? He denied Him three times. And Jesus knew he would deny Him. As a matter of fact, right after washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus says to Peter that he will deny Him three times the very next day.

Try to wrap this around you head – Jesus washed Peter’s feet tenderly, servilely, personally, knowing that those very feet would walk away from Him in just a few hours.

APP: husbands and wives, imagine you have read perhaps a secret text or email, and you found out that your spouse will walk out on you for another man or woman tomorrow. How would you react? Young people, what if you found out that your mom or dad would walk on you and the family for another family tomorrow? How would you react? Would you make them a nice dinner? Would you massage their feet?

Jesus washed the feet of the very ones, not just Peter, but all of the disciples, who would walk out on Him.

5 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

CONC:  As One, unless we are serving one another to the point of weakness, sacrifice, grief, and exclusion, we are not really loving like Jesus. Jesus chose humiliation in serving us. Do we serve each other and love each other to the point of humiliation? Let’s show the world that we belong in the kingdom of heaven and not in the kingdom of the world.