TOES IN THE NOSE
John 13:1-20
S: Service
C: Jesus’ washing of feet
Th: Sacrificial service
Pr: SERVANTS MAKE THE ETERNAL DIFFERENCE.
Type: Inductive
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• We are to understand Jesus.
• We are to serve each other
• When faced with opposition, we still move forward.
Version: ESV
RMBC 06 February 05 AM
ILL Unexpected – psychic (by Robert Carroll)
A reporter, named Summer, was excited about an upcoming assignment. All week, she had been preparing to interview a woman known as a psychic. She wasn’t sure how seriously she was supposed to take the woman’s powers.
“Should I have a reading done?” Summer wondered to her coworker, Robert Carroll. “What if it’s bad news, like I’m going to die or something?”
But the morning of the interview, the psychic called. She was going to have to postpone the interview, she said. Something unexpected came up.
I hope you pick up the irony of that…
THE NARRATIVE:
Have you ever been confronted by the unexpected?
That is the testimony of the apostle John in the text we are studying today.
In fact, though John is writing many years later, he uses the present tense to describe the action.
It is so vivid in his memory that the past tense (which our translations use) will not do.
I am confident that the action of Jesus which we are about to explain surprised the disciples.
There was certainly a sense of irony, for it was very much on each of their minds who was the greatest among them.
For if they had not argued about it yet, they would soon.
They were a competitive bunch, and each one probably thought they could make a case about being the best.
Surely, John had felt he was at the top of the list.
He was one of the inner circle, and Jesus had unquestionably given him preferential treatment.
But many years later, John keenly remembers this action of Jesus as a rebuke to such selfish ambition.
The event begins in an upper room.
As Jesus and the disciples had come into the room there had been no servant to take care of the customary duties.
It is a different culture than what we are used to in our modern, suburban surroundings.
These were people that traveled by foot, walked in sandals and made their way on dusty roads that were cluttered with various unsavory things.
If there was no servant, it was the custom that the first one or two who arrived would wash the dirty feet of the rest of the guests.
But it is apparent that nobody in this group was in the mood for it.
They were enjoying the success of the week and began to be filled with bravado.
They were willing to fight for thrones, but not towels.
As the disciples are gathered, John describes the action.
First…
1. Jesus rises (4).
As all are seated around the room, reclining on the floor (there would not likely be chairs) and getting ready to eat, Jesus leaves His own comfort zone of the table.
He gets up.
He makes the move.
Then…
2. Jesus lays aside His garments (4).
He does so for a very poignant reason.
For over there in the corner lay two untouched objects.
They sit there in the corner.
Just over there.
Untouched…
Ignored…
By men who were proud.
They are the towel and basin.
So…
3. Jesus takes a towel (5).
And it is now, as the other men begin to notice Jesus’ movements, they are also able to interpret them.
For Jesus is about to do the very thing they were all too proud to do.
The raucous noise of laughing and cajoling slowed down to murmurs and whispers.
And then it became silent.
They were stunned.
Silence.
You could hear a pin drop as…
4. Jesus pours water into a basin (5).
He has wrapped the towel around Himself.
Jesus is preparing to do the unthinkable.
He kneels before John and…
5. Jesus washes feet (5).
He is down on the dirty floor.
He is literally at the feet of the disciples.
It is toes in the nose.
Their smelly, dirty feet are being washed and rinsed by the Lord of the Universe.
He is washing the feet of James, Andrew, and Matthew.
He is washing the feet of Nathaniel, Philip, and Thomas.
And it is a room that is absolutely silent.
For Jesus is doing for them the very thing they were all too proud to do.
He is doing the very thing for them that they were ashamed to do.
And the silence continues…
Jesus maneuvers around the room, until…
Until He comes to Simon Peter.
Peter is shocked.
This is beyond his imagination.
In his mind, Jesus should absolutely not be doing this.
So, of course, he breaks the silence and tells him so.
And we find that…
6. Jesus debates with Peter (6-11).
This is no job for Jesus.
This is too menial of a task for Jesus.
This doesn’t make sense.
This is so embarrassing!
So once again(as he is prone to do), Peter tells Jesus what to do (and not do).
“You will not wash my feet.”
It is so clear that in the midst of Peter’s somewhat good intentions, he has no idea what Jesus is doing.
So when Jesus tells him that He must allow him to wash his feet or he does not belong, in typical Peter fashion, he once again dictates the terms to Jesus.
“Then wash all of me.”
“I want it all.”
Each disciple in that room receives this service from Jesus.
He washes their feet.
And after He did so, He asks them a profound question…
7. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” (12).
Think on the significance.
“My friends,” He pleas, “understand what I have done for you.”
Think larger.
Look deeper.
Go beyond the surface.
THE BACKGROUND:
You see…
8. Jesus knew that the cross was coming (1).
Make no mistake about it.
Jesus is in complete command.
In just 15 to 18 hours, He knows that He will be suspended between earth and sky.
The pain and agony of the cross are imminent.
But the last thing He is…is surprised.
He knows the hour has come and He acts accordingly.
This is the decisive end to His earthly ministry.
The crucial time of the cross is at hand.
And He is not backing down.
Not whatsoever.
For…
9. Jesus was motivated by love (1).
Again, make no mistake….
If there was anything plain for those that were willing to see, is that the focus of Jesus was not on Himself, but on others.
He had came to serve.
He had came for others.
Throughout His ministry, over and over again, He demonstrated the example of consideration and compassion.
And the text tells us, “How utterly he loved them.”
So fully conscious of His supremacy…
So fully conscious of His coming exaltation…
He chooses to be the Lord of the towel.
You see…
10. Jesus was moving forward to save humanity, even Judas (2-3).
Do not miss this!
Jesus moved around the table and washed the feet of each disciple.
Jesus washed Judas’ feet.
The devil was pounding at Judas’ soul, and so was Jesus.
As He pours water over the feet of Judas, He gently exposes what he is doing and where he is headed.
It is an opportunity to repent if Judas will take it.
Because He utterly loves each one, including Judas, Jesus fights to the end for his deliverance.
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY (Philippians 2:5-11):
Dear friends, we must not miss the larger truth behind the determination of Jesus.
When Jesus washes their feet, He was speaking to a much larger truth.
You see…
11. Jesus moved on our behalf.
In eternity, it was decided that He would not stay with the Father.
He would leave the fellowship of the Godhead.
He would come to humanity and meet them on their level.
So, He laid aside His garments, and…
12. Jesus left the glory of heaven.
He became God incarnate.
He left heaven, and moved to the inside of woman named Mary, made His way through the birth canal, and found Himself in the feed trough of animals.
He laid aside His heavenly garments to become, Immanuel, God with us.
It is so amazing that He put on a towel.
For…
13. Jesus took the form of a servant.
Here, again, is the King of kings, and Lord of lords…
And what has He done?
He has humbled Himself.
He has taken the form of man, so that He might serve mankind.
For three years, He sets the example.
He shows each one of us how to serve others.
But then comes the ultimate example of service…
14. Jesus poured out His blood.
Just as He had poured water in the basin, He now would poured out His own blood in death.
And just as He had washed feet, He now would come to wash hearts.
For it is…
15. By the blood of Jesus, we are made clean.
By His sacrifice on the cross, He is able to cleanse us of every human defilement.
He moves on our every guilt that comes from sin.
And when we receive Him, we find ourselves permanently and completely washed.
But the blood does more…
We receive the daily cleansing that we need.
As we confess our sin, the blood covers the contaminating effects of our sin.
And continually, we remain His.
So, let me ask this question…
16. Will you bow your knee?
Do you realize this is so contrary to our nature?
We live in a world that uses people.
To get to the top, we will back stab people.
We will compromise our values.
We want what we want, and we will do whatever it takes to get it.
But the gospel of Jesus challenges this wrong thinking.
It brings us to utter humiliation.
We must come to the realization that we can do nothing and that we have nothing to offer.
For we are all going to bow.
We will either do it because we want to, or because we have to.
THE PRACTICAL TEACHING:
17. We are to understand Jesus (12-13).
We must be careful to not be going so fast that we don’t think this through.
It is, in part, why we come to the table.
We are to understand Him.
We are to know Him.
We are to love Him.
For the exalted has washed feet!
And because He has set this example…
18. We are to serve each other (14-17).
We need to be ready to perform the lowliest service
We are not to think too highly of ourselves.
We should not think something is below our dignity.
We are to what needs to be done as people of the towel.
ILL Service: Bob Pierce (from Strobel Outrageous Claims)
David Jeremiah wrote about the founder of World Vision, the international Christian relief agency. Bob Pierce had advanced leukemia, but he went to visit a colleague in Indonesia before he died. As they were walking through a small village, they came upon a young girl lying on a bamboo mat next to a river. She was dying of cancer and had only a short time to live.
Bob was indignant. He demanded to know why she wasn’t in a clinic. But his friend explained that she was from the jungle and wished to spend her last days next to the river, where it was cool and familiar.
As Bob gazed at her, he felt such compassion that he got down on his knees in the mud, took her hand, and began stroking it. Although she didn’t understand him, he prayed for her. Afterward she looked up and said something. "What did she say?" Bob asked his friend.
His friend relied, "She said, ’If I could only sleep again, if I could only sleep again.’" It seemed that her pain was too great to allow her the relief of rest.
Bob began to weep. Then he reached into his pocket and took out his own sleeping pills, the ones his doctor had given him because the pain from his leukemia was too great for him to sleep at night.
He handed the bottle to his friend. “You make sure this young lady gets a good night’s sleep," he said, "as long as these pills last."
Bob was ten days away from where he could get his prescription refilled. That meant ten painful and restless nights. That day his servanthood cost him greatly. But even in the midst of his suffering, God had infused a supernatural sense of satisfaction that he had done the right thing.
But you know, sometimes it is easier to serve people we don’t know.
There is not any extra baggage.
But how about our family members that drive us crazy?
We have been angry with some of them.
Or there are people we loathe.
We can hardly stand to be around them.
Perhaps there is someone in this room you have not spoken to in years.
It is time to put the pride aside.
It is time to be a man/woman of the towel.
And let us remember that…
19. When we are faced with opposition, we still move forward (18-20).
Jesus we facing the cross, yet He moved forward calmly.
He was unafraid to do what had been prepared for Him to do.
And then there was Judas…
His heart was hard.
The greed of his own heart resisted Jesus.
He was at the brink of disaster, but it was still a towel that Jesus used, and not a sword.
So, please see this clearly…
20. SERVANTS MAKE THE ETERNAL DIFFERENCE.
Going low and serving others is a high and holy dignity.
It is a principle of the kingdom of God.
And when it is applied, people come to know and love God, discovering their real purpose, and experiencing the joy of eternity.
COMMUNION:
Philippians 2:1-11
If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care — 2 then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. 3 Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. 4 Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
5 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. 6 He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 7 Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! 8 Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death — and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
9 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, 10 so that all created beings in heaven and on earth — even those long ago dead and buried — will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, 11 and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
© 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
We are united together because of the work of Jesus.
Those of us that know Jesus are invited to share in the elements of the table.
If you do not know Jesus, that is, you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, you do not trust Him with your life, that is, you have not been changed by the message, just let the elements pass by.
Please wait until the time comes when you do have that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
Being led in prayer by Herm Geraci, let us take a moment and thank Him for favoring us with his mercy, love and kindness.
(Prayer)
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
Neil Yerkey will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
RESOURCES:
John: That You May Believe, R. Kent Hughes
NIC: John, Leon Morris
SermonCentral:
What to Do With Dirty Feet, Richard Tow
Aiming Higher Be Stooping Lower, Douglas Bryan
You Gain by Giving Yourself Away, Joel Smith
The Towel or the Sword, Glen Madden
Swollen Heads Vs. Smelly Feet, Ted Sutherland
The Towel Wearers, Ray Stedman
