Blessed When You Do This
John 13:1-17
Read John 13:1-11
He loved them to the end; there was nothing He would not do; His great act of love would nail Him to a cross. He didn’t have to…but that’s why He came.
It was promised to Abraham…I will bless… all the peoples on earth will be blessed thru your offspring.
It was forecast through the prophets from His birth ..Isaiah 9: “For unto us a child is born, a child is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders and he shall be called wonderful counselor, Mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.”
to His death Is. 53 But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions,
He was [l]bruised for our iniquities; All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Then, as Galatians says, When in the fulness of time came; just the right time; not a minute too late or a minute too early; at just the right moment in all of history, He was born of a woman and became one of us.
To do this, as Philippians says, “He did not regard equality with God a right to grasp, but emptied Himself, of His rights to kinghood, His right to be honored, His right to be served, He emptied Himself and took the position as a servant. He humbled Himself and became obedient even tho He knew it would cost His life and that He would die on an old rugged cross.
So He loved them to the end.
He knew who was sitting around the table: He knew Judas had already betrayed Him and would seal the deal in a few hours by kissing him on the cheek. But He washed His feet.
He knew that James and John were vying for power and position; wanted to sit on his right side and his left side. He didn’t want His church leaders to be about power; celebrity pastors with celebrity entourages that are unreachable and unaccountable and raking in millions of dollars to buy airplanes and palaces. But He washed their feet anyway.
He knew that Simon Peter was going to deny Him 3 times in just a few hours. Not once. Not twice, but 3 times…the last time with a curse; with an expletive. But He washed his feet anyway.
He knew that the rest of the disciples would scatter like sheep without a shepherd. But He washed their feet anyway.
And at this last time He would eat with all of them, He gets up from the table and strips down to his undergarment and puts a towel around His waste and kneels down and begins to wash the feet of these band of brothers. We don’t know what order He did it but the text says that when He got to Simon Peter that Peter told the Lord, “No! Not gonna happen!” Doesn’t that sound audacious? Arrogant? Foolish? To tell the Creator and Sustainer of all that is—NO! Jesus is about to sacrifice everything for Peter’s sake and yet Peter says, “NO!”
Well, Jesus doesn’t strike Peter dead; He does something much more stringent. He says, “Peter, you don’t get it. If you don’t let me clean you up, you will have no part of Me.” Well, Peter still doesn’t get it. But Peter’s MO is, when in doubt, babble on! “Lord, if that’s the case than was my hands, my head, everything. If hanging with you means taking a bath, I’m in!”
Jesus responds, “Peter, settle down. I’m making a point, Peter. My point is that only I can clean someone up.” He’s talking about redemption. He’s talking about salvation. “Peter, you can’t clean yourself up enough for Me. You can wash all you want; you can try as hard as you can; but you’ll never be clean enough for Me. Only I can make you really clean; clean enough for Me; clean enough for the Father. And in that regard, you’re already clean”
How would Peter be clean? Because He believed and stated many times that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of the living God. In a few hours his faith would be tested...but in a few days his faith would be strengthened when He met the resurrected Christ.
We are made clean spiritually be faith in the resurrected Christ. Are you clean? If not, you can be forgiven of every sin you ever committed or ever will commit and be clean enough for God. He knows what you’ve done. He knows who you are. He knows that you’ve resisted Him and refused Him and insulted Him by your disobedience. But He loves you anyway. He’ll wash you anyway.
Invitation
This was all right before dinner. Right before the Last Supper; the Lord’s Supper. And so we are going to observe the Lord’s Supper right now.
Instructions: soul searching/confession; when ready go to a table, get the elements and bring them back to your chair and we’ll take together.
Pray. Music. Then walk them through taking the elements.
But I left out one very important part of this narrative. Right in the middle of Jesus’ intentional loving them to the end, in the middle of his discourse with Peter about being clean, in the middle of this supper that would take awful shape the next day in the scourging and crucifixion of our Lord, He says something else. (John 13:12-17 on screen)
There’s an application here we can’t ignore. Jesus tells His followers, “If you call Me Lord, then wash feet. If I, the Master of the Universe was willing to serve you who are going to betray Me, then the least you can do is serve others. If you call me Lord, you will wash feet. You will serve.”
The word Lord means Master, Conqueror, Chief, Head, Monarch, King, Sovereign. If Jesus is your Lord, you will serve one another. Are you serving one another here?
By our best count, only ??/% serve the Body regularly here at G.O. campus. There are so many ways you can serve…list: children’s positions; youth; connections… I know you’re busy. I know you don’t want to be tied down and inconvenienced with a commitment. That’s your choice. But don’t tell me He’s your Lord.
If you haven’t been serving regularly and God is working in your heart right now, then in the worship folder write your contact info and in ….spot say, “I will serve.” And put it in the bucket when it comes by. But don’t lie. Most people who respond to our call to serve put there name on a card, turn it in, then never respond to our emails and phone calls. So don’t lie. I’d rather you be honest and not fill one out than fill one out and never respond and do what it takes to serve here.
We’re a really good church. But what keeps us from being a great church is in this area right here. If Jesus is your Lord, and you’re not serving regularly, then He expects you to serve this Body of believers. Will you?
