John 13:1-17
Here are some New Year’s Resolutions that you can keep.
1. Gain weight. At least 30 pounds.
2. Stop exercising. Waste of time.
3. Read less. Makes you think.
4. Watch more TV. I've been missing some good stuff.
5. Procrastinate more. Starting tomorrow.
6. Stop bringing lunch from home: I should eat out more.
7. Get more toys.
8. Get further in debt.
9. Don't believe politicians.
10. Focus on the faults of others.
And...
11. Never make New Year's resolutions again.
What a unique opportunity to deliver the last message of the year old year and the first message of the new year. It truly is a humbling experience. Still, it is not near as humbling as the story of Christ.
Christ who was with God and was God, according to John 1:1, made himself servant to all.
Philippians 2:5-8 says it like this
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
-The Glory of Christ
-The humility of Christ
-John 13:1-11
1It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
7Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
8"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
9"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"
10Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean.
Please note
-Jesus, the host, did the servant’s job.
-Explain the position of Peter as the one who should have done this act.
-Jesus even washed the feet of the one who would betray him.
How are we to act?
-John 13:12-17
12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
-Luke 22:24-30
24Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
How can we not serve, when the mast, redeemer, creator of all served?
In what ways can we serve?
-Serve the “least” of these
-Mark 9:33-37
- 33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."
36He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."
A young boy was walking home through the park after attending a Sunday School class. Somehow, he couldn't stop thinking about the lesson for that day on Jesus' "Parable of the Last Judgment." What impressed him most was when the teacher said, "When you give something to another person, you're really giving it to Jesus" ...
As he continued through the park, he noticed an old woman sitting on a bench. She looked lonely and hungry. So he sat down next to her, took from his pocket the package of "M & M's" he had been saving and offered some to her. She accepted with a smile. He liked her smile so much that after she had eaten the M & M's, he gave her more. This time they exchanged smiles and, for a while, they sat together in silence, just smiling at each other. Finally, the boy got up to leave and, as he began to walk away, he turned, ran back to the bench, and gave the woman a big hug. And she gave him her very best smile. When he arrived home, his mother saw a big smile on his face and asked, "What made you so happy today?" He said, "I shared my M & M's with Jesus. And she has a great smile."
Meanwhile, the old woman returned to her little apartment where she lived with her sister. "You're all smiles," said the sister, "what made you so happy today?" To which she replied, "I was sitting in the park, eating M & M's with Jesus. And, you know, he looks a lot younger than I expected."
-Make yourself humble.
-remember that Peter should have washed the feet, but there was too much pride.
- Illustration from the life of Joseph.
-Joseph was cast into a pit by his brothers and sold into slavery.
-Joseph made himself a servant, so much more than a mere slave, and so rose to a position of power only to be tossed into jail.
-Even in jail his servant’s heart brought him into power and he was eventually raised to the right hand of power over all of Egypt.
- Illustration from the life of William J Seymour
-Studied under Charles Parham of the Topeka Kansas Pentecostal revival in a school in Houston, TX where he could not “attend” classes and so was employed as a janitor and listened to the lectures from outside the open door to the classroom.
-Seymour went on to preach on Azusa street in LA and from there the Pentecostal movement spread across the country and to the rest of the world.
-Where would we be without this servant leader?
-If we are all leaders, then we will have some pretty strange looking lines.
- A young woman wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."
-Make yourself willing.
-If not me then who, if not now then when?
- Illustration from the life of D. L. Moody
- A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.
Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses. Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world’s only famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret.
When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never know by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. Perhaps the episode is a vital insight into why God used D. L. Moody as He did. He was a man with a servant’s heart and that was the basis of his true greatness.
-Make yourself available.
-If none knows you are willing, then how can you serve?
- Our church was saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our most valued members, Someone Else.
Someone's passing creates a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Else has been with us for many years and for every one of those years, Someone did far more than a normal person's share of the work. Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone's list, "Let Someone Else do it." Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results; "Someone Else can work with that group."
It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the most liberal givers in our church. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed Someone Else would make up the difference.
Someone Else was a wonderful person; sometimes appearing superhuman. Were the truth known, everybody expected too much of Someone Else. Now Someone Else is gone! We wonder what we are going to do.
Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it? Who is going to do the things Someone Else did?
When you are asked to help this year, remember - we can't depend on Someone Else anymore.
Foot washing?
